BorderLinx is a service which allows you to create a US or UK shipping address. You can then shop online and have the items delivered to your BorderLinx-created address.

Later on, you can consolidate all your items in one package and have it shipped to your home country. It is a nice service that allows you to access US/UK online shops that do not deliver outside their own countries. It also allows one to save on shipping by consolidating all their items into one package.

Sadly, BorderLinx recently announced that they will no longer be supporting Kenya. (Just like PayPal!).

Cessation Of Cross-border Delivery Service To Kenya
Dear ,

After several months of investigation and attempting to reduce the incidence of fraud, we have found ourselves in the unfortunate position of having to cease providing cross-border delivery services to Kenya with immediate effect. We have considered a number of options to avoid this action, but the incidence and risk of fraud for Kenyan transactions is too great for our business to absorb.

Regrettably, we will be closing the accounts of all Kenya customers. If you have any packages which are still in one of our export facilities, please give us your instructions to release the shipments no later than Friday, 16 December 2011.

For those customers who have used our services for legal and honest purposes, we are truly sorry that we have been forced to take this difficult decision. If you have any questions, please contact our live chat service via the website.

Yours sincerely
The Borderlinx Team

Visit www.borderlinx.com

Kwani how prevalent is fraud in Kenya, jameni? If this goes on, we shall not be able to do any online business. 🙁

No.

No, we don’t take clients like that.

No, that’s not part of what we offer.

No, that market is too hard for us to service properly.

No, I won’t bend on this principle.

No, I’m sorry, I won’t be able to have lunch with you.

No, that’s not good enough. Will you please do it again?

No, I’m not willing to lose my focus, and no, I’m not willing to compromise.

Courtesy of Seth Godin.

Ok, let’s start from the beginning: do you even like Kenyan movies?

Up until yesterday, I did not like them. This was mostly because I knew next to nothing about them. Then my good friend came over and we watched some… they were pretty good!! Much much much better than I would have thought. In fact, I think they may be better than Nigerian movies. Who agrees? Have a look at the following trailer to get a taste of what I mean:

So anyway, after my friend had left and I was all alone at home, I felt like watching some more so I quickly thought I’d google and find where I can buy Kenyan movies online. Guess what? Not only could I not find a place to buy Kenyan movies online but I could actually not find any one site which focused on Kenyan movies. This is just sad, ama?

So, I decided to do something about it. I gave my friend (mentioned earlier) reigns over SpaceYangu to turn it into a Kenyan movies hub. Perhaps in the future we can actually also sell movies on there. What do you think of the site?

www.spaceyangu.com

This is an experiment in what we can do with such a site. We’ll keep you posted on how it goes. Sawa?

For now, you can like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/spaceyangu

Cheers!

As the economies of many African nations fall back into bad habits, Kenya’s government has decided to fight back. Kenya has become the first African nation to publish detailed government spending plans on the Web in an effort to fight persistent corruption. East Africa’s foremost economy, which intends to be a center for information and technology innovation, anticipates the data to improve financial transparency for citizens, lenders and investors.

“It will be particularly useful to policy makers and business persons who require timely and accurate information in formulating policies and making business decisions,” President Mwai Kibaki said, upon launching the site www.opendata.go.ke.

“I also call upon Kenyans to use this government portal to enhance accountability and improve governance in our country. Reliable and timely data is the basis for determining whether government is delivering services effectively and accountably.”

According to Kibaki, the country’s information, communication and technology sector is expanding at about 20% annually. The web site will offer information ranging from the national census to government budgets. Graphs and maps will show, for example, how much is apportioned to education and health facilities around the country, allowing for easy examination and evaluations between regions. Such financial information about the government was not as easily accessible before now. In a process hindered by bureaucracy, those seeking the information had to get approval from authorities or buy it from the government printer.

“This is the first open government portal in Africa, making Kenya one of the world’s leading exemplars of open data … better enhancing transparency and accountability in government operations,” said Johannes Zutt, World Bank country director for Kenya.

The data is taken from key sectors including planning, education, health, finance and the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics on population. Kenya fell down the grades of Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index last year, falling to 154 out of 178 countries. The Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) has said graft and misappropriation of government funds consume up to 40% of gross domestic product. Several departments have been involved in corruption scandals, with some ministers facing graft charges, but none have been convicted so far.

This transparency is all well and good, however, reflecting policy misperception and investors’ receding confidence, four prominent regional currencies – Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania’s shillings and Ghana’s cedi – have all hit record lows against the dollar this year. By contrast, South Africa’s rand, a deeply traded emerging market currency rather than a more exotic “frontier” unit, is at a four-year high. With an election impending next year, the central bank has undervalued the impact of soaring world fuel and food prices, even cutting interest rates in January in the face of accelerating inflation. It has since overturned the change, but the damage has been done. Together with its selling of shillings to build reserves, investors’ already slim trust in the currency has vanished.

“Africa now is an international attraction. If we do not continue to develop our skills, we could well find someone asleep at the wheel,” said Roy Daniels, head of trading for Africa at Rand Merchant Bank in Johannesburg.

Author Bio:
Kate Croston is a freelance writer, holds a bachelors degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. She writes guest posts for different sites and loves contributing high speed internet service related topics. Questions or comments can be sent to: katecroston.croston09 @ gmail.com.

Remember when we wrote about Raspberry Pi a couple of months back? For those who do not know, the Raspberry Pi is an amazing little device that is actually a fully functioning computer. It is not much larger than a persons finger credit cart and consists of not much more than a processor (CPU), a USB port to connect a keyboard, and a way to connect it to a TV.

The development of this device is at an advanced stage and it should be available for sale in about 2 months. The device itself looks to be very well made and perfect for use in places like Kenya. Because:

• It is extremely affordable at Kshs 2,500 for a FULL modern computer. Not one of those refurbished things in town.
• Just for emphasis, this is a full computer system which you can use for Word processing, watching movies, or even playing games.
• It can be connected to your regular TV. You don’t need to buy a separate screen.
• It is very mobile – it fits in your pocket and consumes very little power (you can run it using regular AA batteries.

The video below is of these device being used to watch a movie:

I think this device can revolutionise computing in Kenya. Now, personal computers have a chance at being as widely used as mobile phones.

I am going to get myself one, or three of these. Are you going to get one?

Well, in keeping with our tradition of changing the look and feel of likechapaa.com every year or so, we are very pleased to announce that Like Chapaa now wears a new look.

We think (and hope) that this is better than the old one and that it is easier on the eyes and that it makes it easier for you to get around the site.

What do you think of our new look?

PS: The new look is courtesy of Nickel Pro.