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.

Earlier this week, we launched our new eBook:

Have you ever thought about getting an online job? Imagine a job which you can do from your own bedroom, in your pyjamas. Imagine a job which you can do at your own time (you can wake up late everyday and spend the afternoons on Thursday playing tennis). Could this lifestyle be for you?
Scenario 2: Have you looked long and hard and struggled to find legitimate online jobs? We wrote this book for you. Many people go out looking for online jobs without doing the basic preparations. They end up as an online scam statistic. Do not let this be your story. Our book guides you through the things that a beginners should know and we suggest several places where you can find well paying legitimate online jobs. We even go as far as guiding you through the use of one very popular online jobs website/service.

Buy this. Now.

This e-book is meant ONLY for beginners and it teaches you how to start the process of getting your first on-line job. If you get JUST ONE ONLINE JOB, this course will have paid for itself!!

More information on the ebook is available here: Dummies Guide to Getting an Online Job

Some good news

1. We now have some free excerpts from the ebook that you can read before you buy. This lets you asses the book for yourself.
2. We’ve running a special offer where you can get the book for Kshs 500 instead of Kshs 750 because we think you’re awesome.

Cheers!

There are two ways to look at that question.

Seth Godin writes:

The usual way is, “How little can I do and not get caught?” Variations include, “Can we do less service? Cut our costs? Put less cereal in the box? Charge more?” In short: “How little can I get away with?”

The other way, the more effective way: “How much can we afford to give away? How much service can we pile on top of what we’re selling without seeming like we’re out of our minds? How big a portion can we give and still stay in business? How fast can we get this order filled?”

In an era in which the middle is rapidly emptying out, both edges are competitive. Hint: The overdelivery edge is an easier place to make a name for yourself.

Are you looking at how much you can give your customer and still be in business, or how little you can give them without them noticing? Which side of the divide do you fall on?

I just read a very disturbing article on The Standard titled: Board rejects 47 degree courses.

A few years back, I was a student at JKUAT. My room-mate was doing a course named “Bachelor of Science in Mining and Mineral Engineering”. This course, like any other engineering course at JKUAT, takes five gruelling years to complete and is in now way ‘easy’. My friend struggled through five years of his life and should be completing his course around June of this year. Nice, eh?

As it turns out, his course is one of the 47 engineering courses that the Engineering Registration Board (ERB) has rejected and will not be recognised.

To put it simply, my room-mate and countless others have wasted five years of their life. They will have nothing to show for it. Can you imagine that? How much money wasted? How much time gone forever? How do you even start to recover from this?

The ERB took this drastic action because the universities were offering very low quality engineering courses. For experience, I can say that this is true. Many of the engineering courses in our country are shamefully sub-par. Our universities and colleges focus too much on making money than on providing quality education.

Of course the ERB’s action is loathsome and painful to many but the real blame lies at the feet of our “institutions of education”. Ours is a broken system.

How can we fix it?

A parting shot:

From “The Loss of the University,” in Home Economics: “The thing being made in a university is humanity. given the current influence of universities, this is merely inevitable. But what universities, at least the public-supported ones, are mandated to make or to help to make is human beings in the fullest sense of those words — not just trained workers or knowledgeable citizens but responsible heirs and members of human culture. If the proper work of the university is only to equip people to fulfill private ambitions, then how do we justify public support? If it is only to prepare citizens to fulfill public responsibilities, then how do we justify the teaching of arts and sciences? The common denominator has to be larger than either career preparation or preparation for citizenship. Underlying the idea of a university — the bringing together, the combining into one, of all the disciplines — is the idea that good work and good citizenship are the inevitable by-products of the making of a good — that is, a fully developed — human being. This, as I understand it, is the definition of the name university.”

It is often said that housing/land prices in Kenya always go up and can never go down. You just cannot fail if you invest in real estate in Kenya. But is this really so?

According to The Standard, a report by the Central Bank of Kenya and the World Bank indicates that only 1 in 10 Kenyans can afford to buy the home they live in, even if they get a mortgage (assuming they even qualify to get it).

I think the question must be posed: What is a bubble? According to Wikipedia, An economic bubble (sometimes referred to as a speculative bubble, a market bubble, a price bubble, a financial bubble, a speculative mania or a balloon) is “trade in high volumes at prices that are considerably at variance with intrinsic values”. It could also be described as a trade in products or assets with inflated values.

Specifically regarding housing/real estate bubbles, Wikipedia further says: A real estate bubble or property bubble (or housing bubble for residential markets) is a type of economic bubble that occurs periodically in local or global real estate markets. It is characterized by rapid increases in valuations of real property such as housing until they reach unsustainable levels relative to incomes and other economic elements, followed by a reduction in price levels.

Now, back to the Central Bank report. Here are a few selected excerpts from the report:

• only eight per cent of Kenyans — 320, 000 households — can afford a mortgage was shocking
• for one to buy a house worth Sh2 million, for example, one must have a net salary of Sh100,000, and service the loan at Sh42,000 a month for a period of 15 years at an interest rate of 14.5 per cent. Those earning less have no place in the mortgage industry and must find another way of owning their dream house
• The shocking revelations also indicate that the total mortgage loan book in the country is only 16,000 accounts, while the total value of mortgage loans, as at the end of December last year was Sh133.6 billion. This means that, technically, only 16,000 people/organisations in the whole of Kenya have taken up mortgages
• It is also an indication that buying property in Kenya is predominantly for the rich, who opt for cash sales as opposed to mortgages.
• Professionals in the housing sector say the findings reflect the high level of speculation on land that has pushed property prices through the roof

Only 1 in 10 Kenyans can afford to buy the home that they live in, and even fewer Kenyan can afford to take up mortgages. In my mind, this report clearly indicates that the Kenyan real estate market is in the middle of a bubble. Real estate prices have gotten to be so high that the great majority of Kenyans just cannot afford real estate.

Sooner or later, this bubble will burst and prices will come crashing down. Many of the “me too” real estate developers and investors will lose vast sums of money. It is just a matter of time…