Do you Like Chapaa?

July 4, 2009 by Leave a Comment

So what’s this site about?

This site is about exploring the big wide web and discovering cool little things, novelle ideas, as well as ways and means of making our lives better. It focuses a lot on making money on the internet because I think it is about time us Kenyans got into this in a BIG way.

I know a little about this topic, and I am burning to share it with you. Why don’t you tell me what you need to know, so that I can write about it for your benefit? It’s super easy, you see. At the end of every article on this site, you can leave comments. It’s an easy way of seeking clarification. Why don’t you try it?

Alternatively, go here, or email me: chapaa[at]likechapaa.com (replace [at] with @)

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If you’re going to do it, do it now

July 1, 2009 by Leave a Comment

The world today requires less planning and more action, more now and less later. If you don’t do it, someone else will. If it’s not done, it’s because you haven’t done it.

So pick up the phone, write that later, send out that application…just do it! Waiting for later is pointless.

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Customer Service

June 27, 2009 by 2 Comments

I was at a bank today, one of the nice big ones (the mighty KCB, in fact). Guess what? I was in line for a hole hour and, get this, there were only two people ahead of me in the queue! The lady who was serving us kept disappearing into some back room for long stretches of time. God knows why!

So it got me thinking. Why do banks in Kenya always, always have long queues? And why is it that there is always a counter or two with no teller present? I cannot find a logical reason why “management” would let this happen. Can you? Perhaps it is the same flawed logic that opened up the opportunity for, and led to, the rise and rise of Equity bank. Who knows?

This just goes to show yet again that the average customer in Kenya is maltreated. And not just by banks, by everyone – with Safaricom being the chief and most visible culprit!

If you think about it, you will realise that that the maltreatment of the customer is not just a Kenyan affair, it happens everywhere. Often, the mentality is that customer service is some sort of necessary evil. Why else is customer service often an afterthought? Why else would companies, by the truckloads, be signing up to outsource customer support services (think overseas call center)? Jeez, outsource customer service? Really?

Customer service is not a cost center. Customer service is a profit center. Indeed it is the cheapest form of marketing.

Photo by 23am.com

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How to do what you love

June 22, 2009 by 4 Comments

What do you love?How many people do you know who really love what they do? How many people would keep on doing what they do even if there was no pay? I bet there aren’t so many such people, are there?

But yet, we are always told that to really excel at something, you need to love doing it and be passionate about it. How do we get there, how do we find such things?

An interesting and practical way to do what you love is to “keep producing”. For example, if you have a day job you don’t take seriously because you plan to be a novelist, are you producing? Are you writing pages of fiction, however bad? Or are you waiting for that undefined moment in time when you can *start*? As long as you’re producing, you’ll know you’re not merely using the hazy vision of the grand novel you plan to write one day as an opiate.

“Always produce” is also a heuristic for finding the work you love. If you subject yourself to that constraint, it will automatically push you away from things you think you’re supposed to work on, toward things you actually like. “Always produce” will discover your life’s work the way water, with the aid of gravity, finds the hole in your roof. (Paul Graham)

So that’s my advice to you, don’t wait till God-knows-when to start doing what you love. Do you even know what you love? How many even discover something they love to work on? A few hundred thousand, perhaps, out of billions. That’s why you need to start doing something, anything. “Always Produce” until you find something that really tickles your fancy.

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Respect

June 17, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Yesterday I had the good fortune to make a presentation to a potential buyer to one of the companies that we are trying to sell. The young man just oozes self confidence and, I must say, some cockiness. He was very interested in the company up for sale and we spent a good while talking at length about it. Then things went to the dogs.

This young man, being very eager to see us have him buy the company, did something that pissed me off. His self confidence grew into self importance and arrogance. I felt the change, when he started viewing me as someone he could manipulate and/or coerce. Believe it or not, he delved deep into personal questions and made some not very subtle hints that if I should “assist” him, he would assist me – his main form of assistance being the implied subtle offer of a job with his company. How sad. The man could possibly have known that I do not care about jobs in the slightest.

So what’s going to happen next? His bid was immediately disqualified and he lost the deal. Why? He failed to respect me, and the organisation that I represent.

How do you treat the people and organisations that you come in contact with? Do you treat them with the respect that they deserve?

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Of Flying Cars, Cyberbullies and Games That Make You Vomit

November 17, 2008 by 1 Comment

Where, exactly, can we draw the line between virtual and real?  Here's a round-up of some thought provoking news:

There's been a lot of talk about a new game: Mirror's Edge.  The game is really nice and is action packed as you would expect of a 1st person shooter but that's not why people are talking about it.  Apparently, the game is so realistic that all the jumping around and rapid motion can make you vomit. Whoa!  Read the review.

The US "Pentagon's mad science division Darpa is helping build thought-controlled robotic limbs, artificial pack mules, real-life laser guns, and "kill-proof" soldiers. So it comes as no surprise, really, that the agency is now getting into the flying car business, too". Read the rest of the story at Wired.

We end with a sad story of Loli Drew, a woman charged with creating a MySpace account that was allegedly used to harass a teenager.  "Drew is charged with one count of conspiracy and three counts of unauthorized access to computers after allegedly creating a MySpace account for a nonexistent 16-year-old boy named "Josh Evans."  Drew and two co-conspirators allegedly provided fake information to MySpace to set up and maintain the account in 2006. The Evans account was used to flirt with and befriend Meier, who'd had a falling-out with Drew's daughter.  The fake "Josh" ultimately turned on Meier and told the girl that the world would be a better place without her. Meier already suffered from clinical depression, and shortly after that final message she hanged herself in her bedroom." (Wired News) May she rest in peace.

(Cyber-bullying involves the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behaviour by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others.)

Bonus: Read how a sex-offender set up a fake church.

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Help the Democratic Republic of Congo

November 8, 2008 by Leave a Comment
The situation in the DRC is getting serious and a lot needs to be done, and fast.  Of course many African countries are trying to do something but while they, and the powers that be in the DRC, try to do something, people in the DRC continue to suffer.  This makes me think back to the post-election violence here in Kenya.  That period made me realise that one of the most helpful things in any crisis is information.  The availability of information helps everyone greatly, information empowers everyone.  To this end, Ushahidi has been deployed in the DRC.


Ushahidi was created and first used to collect information during the post-election violence in Kenya.  It is an ingenious use of crowdsourcing to help manage information in crisis-hit regions.
I believe it’s deployment in the DRC will be quite useful.

How can you help?
Spread the word.  Crisis information can be submitted to Ushahidi via sms or online.  Let people know of the DRC’s deployment and the mobile number to use.  Things are getting very serious in the DRC, let’s all help make a difference.

Mobile Number: +243992592111

 
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