Tag Archive for 'web'

Kenya ICT Board to offer grants for (local) digital content and software applications.

Published on June 2, 2010 in Uncategorized. 5 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

According to the news today, the Kenya ICT Board has issued a call for proposals from Kenyan firms and software application developers for grants to support local content and software applications. The grants are being coordinated via the Kenya ICT Board for the Transparency and Communications Project (TCIP) which is funded by the International Development Association to the Government of Kenya. The TCIP has a total of US$ 114.4 Million of which the Kenya ICT Board will apply for US$ 4 Million for the grants towards local digital content development and software applications.

The grants have been broken into two distinct opportunities. The first is for the Government Information Portal at www.information.go.ke as well as other web and mobile services that provide Government Agencies and the General Public better access to content and information. Therefore, these grants will be focussed on specific content and information, innovative new content and applications and finally urban and rural community based applications.

The second set of grants are focussed on private sector content and applications that include SMS, Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and E-Services. More specifically, this set of grants will support both individuals and firms that develop innovative communications and information applications that harness mobile and web-based technologies. The grants will cover the expenses for service and content development, as well as awareness building.

The grant amounts for both sets of grants will be US$ 50,000.00 for firms and US$ 10,000.00 for individuals. Each grant one awarded will be valid for a period of one year and grant initiation will commence no later than 2 months from the date of award.

The Kenya ICT Board will be taking written questions on grants and their application procedure between the 3rd June 2010 and the 24th June 2010 for which answers will be posted online on the Kenya ICT Board within 7 days of receipt. ALL questions have to be submitted via email to grants@ict.go.ke
In addition to questions being submitted, the Kenya ICT Board will be holding four grant pre-application workshops as follows:

  • Mombasa Polytechnic: Mombasa, 18th June 2010
  • Maseno University: Kisumu, 22nd June 2010
  • Moi University: Eldoret, 25th June 2010
  • Kenyatta International Conference Center (KICC): Nairobi, 29th June 2010

The grant application procedure will all be done online and full details as well as instructions can be downloaded from the Kenya ICT Board web site at www.ict.go.ke. In addition, prospective grant applicants can visit the Kenya ICT Board offices if required.

Emirates launches mobile web site in Kenya.

Published on June 1, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Emirates customers, around the globe, now have the option of booking their flight from the palm of their hand - through their phone's mobile browser - giving them the freedom to book a getaway anytime, anywhere.

Last week Emirates, the leading global airline launched their mobile web site in Nairobi, Kenya. This new development obviously takes advantage of the fact that Kenya has close to 3 million mobile users who access the mobile web on a regular basis. As result, booking a flight with Emirates whilst on the move is now a reality, via the mobile web. The Emirates mobile web site has been designed to work with over 3000 mobile devices meaning that its highly accessible.

At launch, the Emirates mobile web site has an impressive range of services such as flight booking and management, mobile check-in, searching flight schedules and status and even checking the in-flight amenities available on a specific flight. Essa Sulaiman Ahmad, Emirates Regional Manager for East Africa stated “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.”

Emirates customers who want to use the mobile web site must have an internet enabled device to access Emirates.com. Once they log on to they will be automatically redirected to the mobile optimized version of the web site. It will be interesting to see how well the Emirates mobile web site and services perform in a highly advanced mobile market such as Kenya. What is certain is that this will raise the bar for other domestic and international airlines operating to, from and within Kenya.

Pigia.me for online classifieds in Kenya.

Published on April 9, 2010 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , .

I have to admit that the last few weeks have been quite hectic for me so my blogging has been on a hiatus of sorts. However, I stumbled on something today that I just had to blog about!

Late last year, I did a post on what at the time seemed to be the emergence of an online classifieds race in Kenya. It appeared to me then that the potential (and apparent?) front-runners we’re the Kenya edition of the wildly popular Craigslist and Nation Media’s N-Soko. Sadly, neither of these online classifieds web sites seem to have really taken off to-date when you look at the overall volume of listings as well as the amount of activity they are generating in terms of user traffic. I suspect that this is so due to two major factors.

In the case of Craigslist there really hasn’t been much marketing (online or offline?) to create awareness for their Kenya classifieds. Therefore, as a result, even though CraigsList practically dominates the “free” classifieds space globally, its relatively unknown in Kenya as hardly anyone is using it. On the other hand, N-Soko has been marketed quite heavily through Nation Media’s online and offline properties but ultimately its a paid service and not free. At the same time, although N-Soko has more classifieds listed than CraigsList, it quite simply isn’t that appealing or user-friendly.

Therefore, its quite a pleasant discovery that I made today when I stumbled on Pigia.me (as a side note, “pigia” means “to call” in Kiswahili). Pigia.me (at this time) is a “free” Kenyan online classifieds web site that has lots of promise. The first thing that struck me about Pigia.me is that it has a simple and minimalist user interface that is also highly intuitive and appealing. The second thing is that Pigia.me recognizes the importance of the mobile web in Kenya and has a mobile version at Pigia.me/m (Current estimates for Kenya indicate that as many as 2 million mobile subscribers go online via their mobile phones). The third thing about Pigia.me that I like is that they have social media profiles linked to their web site on Twitter and Facebook. In a nutshell, from my perspective, Pigia.me has the potential to become the front-runner for online classifieds in Kenya!

Other aspects about Pigia.me that I like are that they have limited the classfied sections to the following:

  • Property.
  • For Sale.
  • Services.
  • Jobs.
  • Personals
  • Community
  • Accommodation and Travel.

The other interesting aspect is that apart from these listings, one can also post events to the classifieds on Pigia.me. In addition, they have also broken down classified listings by cities and towns in Kenya. As of this writing, Nairobi has the most classified listings in Kenya as is to be expected at 320.

Going forward, the online classifieds space in Kenya already has a huge number of web sites that are vying for leadership (too many in fact to list them all here!). Its clearly a massive opportunity for whoever will get it right and pick up a critical mass of users. One thing that remains to be seen is who will get the right business model that appeals to both buyers and sellers, as well as advertisers – its still very much early days. However, for me, Pigia.me is probably the best effort I have seen so far that manages to be simple, relevant, user-friendly and well-designed, all at the same time.

Photos from dotMobi Meetup at the iHub.

Published on March 12, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

These are photos from the dotMobi registry meetup at the iHub yesterday. An interesting presentation was made by Francesco Cetraro who is the Business Development Manager for the registry. They have lots of web sites that are useful for mobile (web) developers. Here is the link to the photos which you can also tag.

Business Daily report on Mobile Phones shifting Web Development in Kenya.

Published on December 17, 2009 in Uncategorized. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

The Business Daily today did a report on how the ever growing mobile market in Kenya is now affecting how corporate web sites are being built by web developers and digital agencies. Basically, more and more Kenyan organizations want to ensure that their web sites can be easily accessed on the mobile web which is growing at a massive rate. I was interviewed for the report on behalf of Dotsavvy. You can read the full report here>

Embracing Digital Marketing Presentation at Kenya Music Week 2009.

Published on December 13, 2009 in Uncategorized. 6 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Earlier today I was at the Kenya Music Week (KMW) 2009 event to make a presentation titled “Embracing Digital Marketing”. This is the third year in row that I have made a presentation at the KMW and its amazing to see how much changes every year in terms of the Internet and Digital Media in general. This time last year, there was no (real) broadband in Kenya and the Internet was really really slow and expensive. We also did not have the current low(er) Internet access charges as well as an ICT Bill that is going to support the growth of local e-commerce.

Going forward, because of all these developments in 2009, and more to come in 2010, things are only going to get better for the Kenyan Music Industry where digital music is concerned. This will lead to dramatic changes in Kenya’s digital music development, marketing, distribution and monetization for all stakeholders. Already, many seem to be ready to cash in on the digital music scene in Kenya. For sometime now, Safaricom has been offering mobile music and ringtone downloads via its Safaricom Live portal. There have been other players like Cellulant, Interactive Media Services and Adtel who have also been in the mobile music and ringtone downloads space for sometime now.

Today, I also learnt of Vuma which is an online music portal dedicated to Kenyan music and operated by the Music Copyright Society of Kenya as well as Liberty Afrika. Vuma is operated as a joint venture that enables Kenyan musicians to market and sell their music online in a revenue share model. Vuma is fully e-commerce capable and currently offers the ability to buy music online using credit and debit cards. Currently, Vuma is charging an average of Kes. 60.00 per song downloaded. Vuma also has a mobile version of its web site which makes a lot of sense considering recent research shows that mobile Internet access is the fastest growing segment in Kenya.

However, at this time, Vuma does not yet offer mobile based payments using either Safaricom’s M-Pesa or Zain’s Zap mobile payments systems – this will be very key if Vuma is to have any chance of achieving critical mass in Kenya amongst over 18 million mobile subscribers. I now know of at least three online mobile payment systems in Kenya that are being operated by Verviant (PesaPal), Intrepid Data Systems (iPay) and Symbiotic Consortium that work with M-Pesa and Zap. I also understand that NairobiNet Online is working on an online mobile payment system. Vuma could easily work with any one of these providers to achieve this objective.

To download my Kenya Music Week 2009 presentation on Embracing Digital Marketing for the Kenyan Music Industry, go here>

Mobile Web Advertising taking off in Kenya.

Published on November 15, 2009 in internet marketing. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

The big news of the past week was the announcement from Google that it had acquired the mobile web ad network Admob for US$ 750 million. Now, for those who have been using or tracking the mobile web ad market for sometime now, this was no real surprise since Admob was significantly larger than Google on the mobile web for display ads on mobile web sites and applications. Buying Admob effectively makes Google the largest mobile web ad network in the world, when you combine Admob with their existing mobile advertising offering(s).

Google’s acquisition of Admob is significant for several reasons, at least from my perspective. I have been writing now for the better part of a year that the mobile web is undoubtedly the next big thing for Africa and other emerging markets when it comes to Internet growth. For one thing, its a known fact that most new Internet users in countries such as Kenya and elsewhere in Africa in are getting online in droves, but primarily on the mobile web, via their mobile handsets.

Recent price reductions, bandwidth upgrades and nationwide ubiquity of mobile Internet access are creating an enabling environment for a sharp increase in usage and new subscribers. Naturally, this means that over time more, if not most Internet users in Kenya, as well as the rest of Africa, will access the Internet via the mobile web. As a result, where there is an audience, there will be a market for advertising – the writing is on the mobile screen! The future of advertising online (especially in emerging markets) is going to be on the mobile web!

In Kenya, Google already has a regional office that has been operational for several years through which they have been leading initiatives such as local versions of Google Maps, Google SMS, Google Adwords, Google Apps, YouTube and Google AdSense. The integration Admob into its offerings means that Google will bolster its revenues from Advertisers who want to potentially (and eventually?) reach 18+ million Kenyan mobile subscribers via the mobile web, in a highly targeted and contextual manner (Kenya currently has around 4+ million Internet users).

In addition to generating more revenue by selling mobile web ads, there is another possibly more interesting aspect to Google’s acquisition of Admob which is access to rich mobile web usage data and statistics. In a nutshell, Google will be able to capture and monitor (global) usage trends on the mobile web much more accurately than it ever has before. Access to qualitiative mobile web usage intelligence will ultimately drive key mobile strategies for Google’s product and service development initiatives.

In terms of mobile web usage intelligence, the current Admob web site already provides a tantalizing view in its monthly reports. Admob’s Mobile Metrics is a monthly compilation of reports that you can download which have detailed global mobile web usage statistics for different regions and countries. In fact, just last month when I was in South Africa for the Mobile Web Africa Conference, I happened to meet an Admob representative who said that they we’re “thrilled” by the Kenyan market since they achieved 180 million mobile ad impressions in a recent month – thats HUGE by the way considering that Kenya still has very few local mobile web sites so most of these ad impressions must have come from non-Kenyan sites.

To further reinforce the fact that Admob is already doing well in Kenya, I was recently contacted by another mobile ad network, Inmobi. Inmobi also claim that Kenya is delivering impressive mobile web ad impressions to the tune of approximately 35 million per month for around 50 mobile web sites through which which their ads are displayed. Also, according to BuzzCity, another global mobile web ad network, Kenya enjoyed 52% growth and replaced United Kingdom in 5th place in its 2009 3rd quarter index report. Incidentally, Kenya was also the only country amongst the Top 5 that enjoyed positive growth.

The bottom line is that the mobile web ad market is booming in Kenya. Going forward, the question is whether this will be enough incentive (yet) for Kenyan and African businesses, brands, and developers to jump into the game and start building mobile web sites and applications to monetize this fast growing advertising channel!

Mobile Web Rising in Kenya.

Published on October 31, 2009 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Some interesting Internet usage research findings for East African cities we’re announced this past week by TNS Research International. The research found that Kampala in Uganda has the highest level of internet usage with 53% of the population there being online. Nairobi in Kenya and Arusha in Tanzania are tied at 49% usage whilst Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania has 31% usage. In Nairobi, the research findings also indicate that Nairobi in Kenya that 31% of the population uses the Internet on a daily basis and 49% use the Internet weekly whilst 20% use it often.

Also in the news this week is that apparently 45% of Internet users in Kenya access the Internet via their mobile phone. Is that really possible? This would imply that if Kenya has around 4 million internet users in total (currently) then approximately 2 million Internet users are doing so on their mobile. Having attended the Mobile Web Africa Conference in South Africa earlier this month, what came out repeatedly in a good number of speaker presentations is that Kenya is one of the major mobile web countries in Africa in terms of growth and overall usage. This is something that I have repeatedly noted in a good number posts on this blog.

So, going forward, if the mobile web is already experiencing major growth in Kenya, what exactly are we doing to take advantage of this new reality? One thing is for sure, most of the mobile web sites that are heavily trafficked in Kenya and the broader East African region are NOT local. More specifically, some mobile web sites that dominate East African usage are Twitter, Faceboook and Wikipedia (See Opera Software’s State of the Mobile Web for Africa here). However, as far as I can tell, a good number of Kenyan organizations do not have mobile web sites as yet. However, its good to see that the Daily Nation has a mobile web site at http://mobile.nation.co.ke as does the East African Standard at http://www.eastandard.net/m.

Although it will take time for Kenyan organizations to take advantage of the mobile web, I am pleased to note that two mainstream companies have already made the mobile web leap! The first is Kenya Airways (KQ). Earlier this week, it came to my attention that they launched a KQ mobile web site at http://www.kqwap.com. I don’t why they didn’t register a more suitable domain name like kqmobile.com or kenyaairways.mobi but they do get the general idea spot on!. More specifically, the KQ mobile web site channels both information and services such as flight status, flight schedules, contacts, press releases, baggage, careers, and special offers.

The other Kenyan business that has created a mobile web site is CFC Stanbic Bank at http://www.cfcstanbicbank.mobi. The mobile web site was developed by a South African digital agency through Standard Bank who are CFC Stanbic Bank’s majority shareholders in Kenya. The CFC Stanbic Bank web site provides information and services such as their profile, bank accounts and investment services, calculators for loans, sports sponsorships, competitions, branch locations and contact information.

In conclusion, it looks like the Kenyan mobile web is indeed taking off and its only a matter of time before every business in the country will need to  consider having a mobile web site if this is where the market is clearly headed. In related news this week as well was the launch of Safaricom’s Kes. 200.00 unlimited daily bundle and Orange Kenya’s new low rate of Kes. 1.00 per megabyte on their Kes. 3,900.00 monthly bundle. Its (gradually) getting even cheaper to get online via the mobile networks’. Indeed, the mobile web is rising in Kenya!

Morgan Stanley’s Mary Meeker predicts the Mobile Internet future.

Published on October 23, 2009 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Mary Meeker’s Internet Presentation 2009

Looking for a Savvy Business Developer.

Published on August 2, 2009 in Internet Jobs. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

We are looking to recruit a Business Developer to assume the responsibility of generating new business for our products and services. This position will entail the following:

> Generate new business for existing and prospective clients.
> Identifying and developing opportunities.
> Take part in varied, stimulating and challenging projects throughout East Africa
> Work as part of an elite Business Development team
> Be self motivated and a first class communicator with a professional and articulate manner.

The key skills and experience required for the role of Business Developer include:

> 2+ years sales and marketing experience.
> University Degree or Diploma Level Education (or the equivalent in work experience)
> Excellent sales skills, including experience of establishing need, objection handling, negotiation, closing
> Superior proposal writing skills and the ability to make compelling business presentations.
> A tenacious and organized approach to business development tasks.
> Proven ability to build business relationships
> Proven track record of working within a target driven environment and achieving these targets consistently
> Commercial acumen
> ICT literate.

Where you will work:

We have a great office in one of Nairobi’s quieter suburbs near the city centre with lots of windows and a very open floor plan. We dress down most of the time, but are always at our best in front of clients.​ We are professional and the management team is very hands on and engaged with the work that is done.

We try very hard not to require more hours that are required of anyone and we strive to work 8.30 to 5.00 pm every day with a one hour lunch break.​  That said, we’re flexible and recognize that we all have lives outside of the office – and we also know that sometimes, especially when deadlines demand it, normal working hours just won’t get the job done.​  When it doesn’t, we act accordingly – and we show our appreciation when people step-up.​  We use our leave days and so will you, for your sanity and ours.

If you are that special talent we may be looking for, kindly send us your CV on jobs@dotsavvyafrica.com by the 10th August 2009.
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