Monthly Archive for June, 2011

Google announces strategic partnership with KeNIC.

Published on June 24, 2011 in Uncategorized. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Joe Mucheru of Google speaks at the KeNIC AGM

Google this morning announced a strategic partnership with the Kenya Network Information Centre (KeNIC) at the 2011 Annual General Meeting (AGM). KeNIC is the registry for Kenya’s Country Code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) which is .KE.

Joe Mucheru from Google stated that currently their aim in Africa is to make the Internet an integral part of everyday life – business will become a later focus. The bigger issue for Google at this juncture in Africa is bringing Internet access to the masses, as well as helping generate local content.

The strategic partnership with KeNIC is to grow the number of domain names being registered under the .KE name space. According to Joe, Google is focused on the following key areas in Africa:

  • Access – Making Internet access available on as many devices as possible and especially the mobile phone. To achieve this, Google has extended Internet connectivity to Universities and is also peering its content at the Kenya Internet Exchange Point (KIXP). Google is also pushing access to Google Apps to enhance productivity amongst Students and Faculty at Universities in Kenya.
  • Relevance - Google is pushing products and services that are localized for Kenya. One of these is Google Baraza which has increased interest in local content from a question and answer format – hence the name Baraza which means “meeting” or “forum” in Kiswahili. Google is also localizing its content into local languages and currently over 30 African languages are supported.
  • Sustainability – Google wants to make the Internet sustainable in Africa. This is being achieved through training and other forms of support such as working closely with Governments. In this way, Google is working to help create local ecosystems for its offerings and the countries where it operates in Africa.

Joe went further to point out that Africa currently has a domain name ratio of of 10,000 people to 1 domain name. In Kenya, the ratio is 2,500 people to 1 domain. The goal and part of the reason for the strategic partnership with KeNIC is to increase .KE domains to 6 or 7 times of what is currently in Kenya. Globally, the ratio of people to domains is 90:1. Google wants to work with KeNIC registrars to make this happen in Kenya too.

Victor Munyua of Google speaks at the KeNIC AGM

Victor Munyua also spoke. He is Google’s Commercialization Manager and had worked for Google in the UK for over 7 years before relocating to Kenya. Victor’s role here is to assess and realize the market for commercializing Google’s offerings in Sub-Saharan Africa. Victor stated that the Google ecosystem needs to be started and grown over time in this region.

Victor, having worked in Google in the early years in the UK, says he saw the market for online advertising grow from US 50 million per year to currently US 4 billion per year. His focus was always Google users and how to bring them to both online publishers and advertisers through Google. This “connecting” is what has made Google so successful globally and he sees the same sort of growth happening in Kenya in the future.

Victor noted that the total advertising spend in Kenya is currently US$. 600 million per year but digital advertising spend is only 1% of this figure at US$ 6 million. There is lots of room for growth as there are over 10 million Internet users in Kenya. Victor pointed out that in markets such as the UK, digital marketing is 25% of total advertising spend per year. Victor was quite bullish when he stated that digital marketing in Kenya could be worth US$ 2 Billion in 5 years time.

Joe Mucheru and Victor Munyua of Google answer questions at the KeNIC AGM

Both Joe and Victor concurred that the future of digital marketing in Kenya will be small businesses – they are the ones who will grow the market. The problem at the moment is that traditional advertising still forms the bulk of advertising spend in Kenya but this will change, as has been the case globally. They suggested that KeNIC registrars stand to gain in the transition to digital marketing from traditional marketing and they have already seen international players coming to set-up in Kenya to tap into this growth opportunity.

Victor suggested that Kenya is a “mobile first” market meaning that as much as 60% of digital marketing spend in the future could be mobile-based. The global trends that Victor saw in the UK is that initially the market is slow to adopt digital marketing but once they started getting solid results the spend on digital marketing grew dramatically over the years. The important thing to note is that to-date digital agencies are Google’s biggest partners and NOT the traditional ad agencies, per se. Therefore, KeNIC registrars need to plug into this opportunity.

Joe also noted Google will work with KeNIC stakeholders to prepare for these emerging business opportunities. However, it starts with a domain name for every business in Kenya. These businesses need a platform that is easy to understand and use to fully realize their Internet business potential. Google Apps and the Google Adwords API are already generating billions of dollars every year. Joe stated Africa is only 2% of the global Internet and so the room for growth is enormous, going forward.

 

[Video] Interview with Mikul Shah of Eat Out at Pivot25

Published on June 23, 2011 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

This is the last of four interviews I had last week at Pivot25. This one was with Mikul Shah who is the Founder and CEO of Eat Out. Eat Out is a web site that provides comprehensive information on restaurants in Nairobi as well as reservation services and special discounts for customers. In a nutshell, Eat Out helps restaurants generate interest and eventually business. In addition, existing and prospective customers can find and explore the restaurant scene in Nairobi via Eat Out.

Eat Out was one of the finalists at Pivot25 although they did not win their highly competitive category. However, they have made already won several awards over the past year or so and have even become profitable in under a year with limited funding.

In the interview below, Mikul talks about their plans to launch Eat Out mobile which they expect to extend their reach in the Kenyan marketplace. In addition, he is currently in discussions with Nokia and Equity Bank and hopes to achieve strategic partnerships that will help Eat Out become an even bigger success in Kenya.

You can watch the interview with Mikul below:

VirtualCity’s John Waibochi talks Mobile Apps at Pivot25 [Interview Video]

Published on June 22, 2011 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .

I had a video interview as below last week with John Waibochi of VirtualCity at Pivot25 in Nairobi, Kenya. John and VirtualCity are probably best known on a global basis for winning the Nokia Challenge last year where their mobile-based supply chain application won them US$ 1 Million from a field of numerous other global competitors. In the process, they put Kenya and Africa on the global stage for innovative mobile applications, once again, in the footsteps of Ushahidi.

John shared some perspectives on what he thinks about mobile apps and the mobile ecosystem in Kenya, as well as the broader East African region. He generally thinks that within the next couple of years, East Africa will see the arrival of mobile apps that could be as globally successful based on the presentations he saw at Pivot25.

He also felt that mobile app developers in the East African region need to focus on apps that can be commercialized but not through advertising revenue as this has not been successful to-date. Lastly, he also felt that there were good prospects for social apps focussed on development in Africa but the developers behind them need to really see how they can also benefit from them since they would need to be targetted at the public sector and non-profits. 

You can watch the full interview below:

Uhasibu, the award-winning, cloud-based, and mobile web capable accounting application designed for Kenya.

Published on June 22, 2011 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Uhasibu is a cloud-based accounting application that has been developed by Michael Pedersen whom I featured in a blog post here last month on PesaPi, an open source API for Safaricom’s M-Pesa that he also developed. It seems that Mike has been busier than I thought and from what I can tell he has managed to develop an entire accounting application, as well, with Uhasibu.

Enter Uhasibu, a cloud-based accounting application that has been built from the ground up to work specifically for Kenya rather than being adapted to Kenya as is the case with many accounting applications in use in Kenya today. I had a chance to interview Mike last week at Pivot25, a mobile apps competition where Uhasibu was one of the five category winners. Uhasibu has been designed to work in the cloud on both PC and mobile web – which qualified it as a mobile app.

Uhasibu, according to Mike, has been designed to be cost-effective and user-friendly. He is targeting Accountants as well as Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as his key target markets. He reckons that Uhasibu could potentially become a leading accounting application in Kenya since its affordable and does not require large upfront investments – all one needs is a computer or mobile device connected to the Internet, a user account and a web browser once set-up to use it. You can visit the Uhasibu web site at Uhasibu.co.ke

You can watch the brief video interview that I had with Mike on Uhasibu last week at Pivot25 below:

Tim Njiru introduces the Poken to Kenya [Video Interview]

Published on June 22, 2011 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .

The business card is dead. Long live the Poken! Below is a video interview I had with Tim Njiru at the Pivot25 event held last week in Nairobi, Kenya, at the Ole Sereni Hotel off Mombasa Road. Tim is a well known media personality and blogger who has been diligently and passionately promoting the Poken in Kenya over the past year or so, and especially via social media.

Poken is a nifty flash disk sized device that replaces business cards by letting users exchange contacts and social media profiles by simply making contact between their Pokens using Near Field Communication (NFC) – a wireless technology for mobile communications that is fast gaining momentum globally.

I first encountered the Poken in South Africa in 2009 during a conference and the concept at the time blew my mind away – no business cards required, just a Poken! All of us attending the conference got a Poken and I have to confess I have not used mine since then as no one in Kenya seemed to use them – until now that is.

The Poken is much more than just a device for contact exchange. Having recently looked at their web site, it has evolved into a complete contact and document information exchange platform that is also available on mobile handsets and other types of devices.

My opinion is that for Poken to become successful in Kenya, it will need to become much more widely used at conferences and events. This is going to be a tough sell but then again so were the very first mobile handsets in Kenya, and now we take them for granted.

As seen in the video below, Tim is marketing two Poken models which are the Poken Pulse for Kes. 3,000.00 (with 2GB memory which can also double up as a flash disk) and the basic Poken Spark for Kes. 2,400.00. You can reach Tim on Twitter as @timnjiru or his blog at timnjiru.com. For more information on Poken in general, you can visit their web site at poken.com.

InMobi research finds that 72% of Kenyans purchase on mobile devices

Published on June 20, 2011 in Uncategorized. 9 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .

Press Release

Recent research by InMobi shows that 72% of Kenyans purchase on mobile devices compared to 59% of Africa mobile web users that have purchased digital or physical products through their mobile devices

Research by InMobi, the world’s largest independent mobile ad network, reveals that African mobile web users prefer the mobile channel (46%) to their Desktop (10%) and even In-store (44%) when shopping for Apparel, Consumer Electronics and Entertainment Tickets. This clearly highlights the shift to ‘shopping on the move’ across Africa.

Surprisingly, non-smartphone users have an even higher preference of browsing and shopping using their Mobile versus Desktop than smartphone users.  This signifies the higher dependence on mobile devices among feature phone users as it’s their primary means to digital content in many cases.

The study conducted among 3,100 African mobile web consumers, found that 51% of Kenyans have only ever purchased digital goods via their mobile device.

Commenting on the study, James Lamberti, VP Global Research & Marketing at InMobi, commented that “Mobile shopping is becoming increasingly commonplace in Africa.  It’s an exciting time for the consumer, retailer, and manufacturer as mobile shopping solutions will become more accessible, intelligent and compelling to use.  With the high level of consumer acceptance a new mass reach retail channel has emerged setting up huge opportunities in the world of mobile advertising. ”

Most popular purchases from mobile devices in Kenya:

Product % Buying
Digital Goods 66%
Apparel 12%
Entertainment Tickets 12%
Travel 9%
Other 1%

Full results of the study, conducted in 14 countries among 15,000 consumers, will be released in a global research roadshow to leading agencies, brands, analysts, and journalists. For further information, please visit www.inmobi.com

About the Study

The study, entitled “A Global Consumer Perspective on Mobile Shopping”, was conducted among 15,000 consumers in 14 countries in North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia during February and March 2011.  Consumers participated in the study directly through their mobile devices offering the mobile ecosystem a point of view on mobile shopping among mobile Internet users.

About InMobi

InMobi is the world’s largest independent mobile advertising network. With offices on four continents, it provides advertisers, publishers and developers with a uniquely global solution for advertising. Its network is growing fast and now delivers the unprecedented ability to reach 314 million consumers, in over 200 countries, through more than 35 billion mobile ad impressions monthly. InMobi was recently selected as the 2011 Always On Top 100 Mobile Companies in Silicon Valley.

InMobi is venture-backed with marquee investors including: Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers and Sherpalo Ventures. The company has offices in Nairobi, London, San Francisco, Bangalore, Tokyo, and Singapore.

To learn more, please visit www.InMobi.com/research, follow us on Twitter @InMobi, or read our blog at www.InMobi.com/InMobiblog/

Is Silverbird’s demise the end of cinema in Kenya?

Published on June 10, 2011 in Uncategorized. 19 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

I am what you would call a movie buff, meaning, I take my movie watching quite seriously. I am the kind who does the whole hog – the popcorn, the large soda, a nice pre-booked and central location in the cinema to watch – I take movie watching seriously. Its been good in Kenya to be a movie buff for the last decade or so when we first started getting releases coming a few years and then a few months after prime time in other global markets. In the last few years, we have become accustomed to getting movies at the same time they are released in London, New York or Tokyo. In addition, the deluge of cinema halls that opened up over the last decade in Kenya, and especially in Nairobi, have made me and lots of other folks a spoilt lot – we took it for granted. Until now that is.

This week saw the Silverbird Cinema chain in Kenya come to grinding halt. This was covered today in two of the major dailies and over 100 employees are now unpaid and unemployed. The signs were pretty obvious as far back as April 2011 when they stopped bringing in new movies for sometime whilst the competing Fox Cinema chain continued to do so. I will not forget going to the Westgate Mall in Westlands and finding the whole massive Silverbird facility completely shut down last month. Yes, the writing has been on the wall. Silverbird was going down. The really sad thing though is that I believe that most Kenyans (who can afford it?) would rather spend a decent amount of money watching a movie at a good cinema rather than the Kes. 50.00 pirated (and low quality) DVDs that are now available on every street corner in Kenya.

It seems that no one really knows what happened to Silverbird Cinemas in Kenya but the news reports today seem to imply that there was a funding crisis and possibly mismanagement? Their facilities were without a doubt world-class and everyone can attest to the fact it seemed like they were onto a good thing. I have no doubt in my mind that someone, or, some business is going to pick up the pieces, either wholly or partially and revive it. Movie buffs like me will gladly pay the premium and still go to the movies to watch that next big blockbuster, on time, on quality, in wide-screen 2D or 3D. Meanwhile, we will need to contend with fewer cinema screens for the time being, and even fewer movie choices as a result. I certainly hope its not the beginning of the end of cinema in Kenya but it may well be just that.

Emirates Launches Mobile Boarding Pass Service in East Africa.

Published on June 8, 2011 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Press Release.

Nairobi – 07 June, 2011 – Making travel even more efficient, Emirates now offers customers the option of receiving a mobile boarding pass on their internet-enabled mobile device – providing customers with a stress-free, paperless travel experience.

The service is available to all passengers who utilize Emirates’ online check-in facility out of Dubai up to 24 hours in advance. Passengers can log on to www.emirates.com, and can choose to receive a web-link to their mobile boarding pass by email or SMS, that displays a barcoded boarding pass on their internet-enabled phone.

“The launch of Emirates’ mobile boarding pass not only supports paperless travel and the reduction of paper waste, but also meets the demands of a new era of travellers, who seek a more sophisticated and efficient means of managing their business and leisure travel,” said Mohammed H Mattar – Divisional Senior Vice President Airport Services, Emirates.

He continued: “The mobile boarding pass puts flexibility and control completely in the hands of our customers, while making a small step towards reducing our environmental impact.”

The mobile boarding pass can be scanned and read directly at all check-in counters, airport security check points, Dubai immigration, Emirates First Class and Business Class lounges, and boarding gates. The service allows customers to keep all their travel information in one place, while also safe guarding the environment through paperless travel.

In the first year of implementation, it is estimated that the use of mobile boarding passes alone will save a minimum of 550 kilograms of paper. Across the Emirates Group, over 3.6 million kilograms of paper and cardboard have been recycled in the financial year 2010 – 11.

Following the launch in Dubai, over 30 other mobile boarding pass compliant airports, have been identified for implementation across the Emirates network.

The launch of the mobile boarding pass services follows the launch of Emirates mobile booking services in mid 2010. Designed to work with over 3000 mobile devices, Mobile Emirates.com has been optimized to ensure that customers on the move can easily and efficiently access the emirates.com website, through their mobile phones.

“Consumers are far more mobile than ever before. There is a constant need for products and services to cater to the fast paced lifestyle that today’s individuals lead, people want it here and now, without exception,” Essa Sulaiman Ahmad, Emirates Regional Manager for East Africa said of Emirates mobile booking and boarding services.

The new sophisticated functionality ensures that the Emirates website is downloaded in the appropriate format for each specific mobile device, allowing customers to perform a multitude of tasks including; booking and managing a flight, mobile check-in, searching flight schedules and status and even checking the in-flight amenities available on a specific flight. Once they log on to www.emirates.com they will be automatically redirected to the mobile optimized version of the website.

Oliver Rippel of MIH Internet presents on the state of e-commerce in Africa at NetProphet.

Published on June 6, 2011 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , .

I just watched the video presentation as below on the state of e-commerce in Africa by Oliver Rippel from MIH Internet that he gave at the recently concluded NetProphet event in South Africa. Dealfish, the online classifieds business that I run in East Africa is part of MIH Internet and is mentioned Oliver’s presentation – which gives some interesting insights as to where e-commerce is, and, where it is headed in Africa. Enjoy!