Interesting Kenyan Sites #11

October 31, 2010 by 4 Comments

Stoundi – I had the good fortune to learn of this website from the developers themselves! It looks like it can be something amazing – for one thing, the technology behind it is very advanced (they use artificial intelligence technologies). Basically, this is an “answer engine” and the creators of the site say that they are building it to be able to give you answers to any question you could ever have (to do with local stuff). So, for example, if you wanted to know the Governor of Kiambu county, you would just ask Stoundi and it would return the answer. Nice eh? Good Kenyan technology!

Simple Motion – if you look at it closely, this site will simple blow you away! It is a news aggregation site built by Kenyans for Kenya. And they use some of the most uniquely amazing technology. For instance, they are the first (and maybe only) company in the world to have videos embedded on maps! (The site is, however, not fully done yet.)

50-50
PesaPal – Have a look at this page. It seems that PesaPal has done little SEO, going by the fact that the site’s description in the search results is not optimized. I’m not bashing PesaPal, but why wouldn’t they do this? It takes a minute or so only…

Flops
The Office of the Prime Minister – You’d think the site would look as good as the PM’s spanking new offices, eh? Not so. While the design is okay, many links on the site seem not to work. And what are those squares on the home page? I’d expect better from a website of such a ‘large’ office.

K24 – I do not know what the K24 site even looks like….because they’ve been hacked and cracked. Invest in security, people.

K24 hacked

K24 hacked (click to view larger)

Filed Under: Cool Sites

8 Ways to Impress Your Boss While Doing Less

October 30, 2010 by 1 Comment

While we usually write about how to successfully grow your business, I know that a lot of people aren’t there yet. A lot of people are still working the 9-5, dreaming of being a Business Owner. While I worked for “the Man”, I still wanted to be “lazy” while being successful and get promoted. For the most part, these are some things that I did to be successful, while beginning on my road to being a Lazy Owner.

  1. Become Great Friends with Your Boss – While it doesn’t always seem fair, people naturally respond better to people that they like. If you establish a good relationship with your boss, they’re more likely to give you some leniency or provide a better review for you. Don’t brown nose – just treat them like an old friend.
  2. Know What Your Boss’ Boss Wants – In the end, you are only getting directions from your boss because they are getting directions from their boss. The sooner you understand what these are and what is motivating them, the sooner you can help meet those needs, and not worry about what you used to think was important.
  3. Focus on the Major Tasks – Once you know what your Boss’ Boss wants, focus on those tasks. Get them done right and get them down right away. Again, this is the most important stuff to your boss and they will look at you as being indispensable if you’re meeting their needs on time, all the time.
  4. Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff – Too often, I would see people worried about the smallest details that didn’t make any difference. Don’t miss the obvious stuff but don’t spend hours worrying about formatting, etc. Focus on the important things – that’s what your boss will remember.
  5. Send E-mails Before You Go To Work and After You Go Home – You don’t have to actually log on and do any work but it shows dedication to your boss when they see e-mails at 7AM and 11PM. Just save an e-mail or two that you want to send or respond to one that doesn’t take much time.
  6. Volunteer for Everything – Initially, this is counter-intuitive but it can eventually reduce the amount of work you do. I also think it’s one of the best ways to impress your boss – shows that you can handle the multiple responsibilities of someone at a level above you.
  7. Get a Personal Assistant – So this might not be feasible if you work in a government or financial industry and it could be frowned upon by some employers, but if there are any repetitive tasks you have that can be outsourced, take advantage of the opportunity to impress your boss.
  8. Know Something Better than Anyone – Don’t become the jack-of-all-trades. Make sure that you’re the resident expert on at least one subject area. You don’t have to keep up on multiple domains but you become indispensable to your boss.

What do you think of these?

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With:

Scientific Advertising (Free Book Inside)

October 28, 2010 by 5 Comments

The time has come when advertising has in some hands reached the status of a science. It is based on fixed principles and is reasonably exact. The causes and effects have been analyzed until they are well understood. The correct method of procedure have been proved and established. We know what is most effective, and we act on basic laws. – Claude Hopkins

Scientific Advertising by Claude C. Hopkins is a timeless classic written many years ago but a book whose powerful principles still ring true to this day.

It contains 21 chapters of timeless strategies you don’t want to ignore in your advertising and marketing efforts.

In fact, David Ogilvy once said: “Nobody, at any level, should be allowed to have anything to do with advertising until he has read this book seven times.”

If you are an entrepreneur, I highly recommend that your read this book, it will teach you timeless concepts behind advertising and marketing.

You know what? We’re giving away free copies of the books. Just leave a comment below and we’ll pick winners in three days. Your comment can be about absolutely anything, but it would help if you added to the conversation. Good luck.

This book is also available at the Chapaa Shop.

How do you do your business advertising?

Filed Under: Tips Hacking and Reviews Tagged With:

TwentyShop – A Free WordPress Theme

October 26, 2010 by Leave a Comment

TwentyShop - a free WordPress shopping theme for DukaPress

TwentyShop - a free WordPress e-commerce theme for DukaPress

Dear readers, we’re pleased to announce that sometime last week wee released TwentyShop which is a free WordPress theme for your DukaPress powered online shop. With TwentyShop, we aim to start to demonstrate what you can do with DukaPress. It is the first of many!

Click here to view a Live Demo
Download it by clicking here.

Please leave any feedback or queries in the comments below. 🙂

Filed Under: Miscellaneous

Identifying a Good Business Idea

October 26, 2010 by Leave a Comment

There are several ways of finding business ideas; I will highlight a few in this article. My favourite source of business ideas is to start a business that addresses the frustrations of the customers. If you notice that so many people are getting frustrated by something then you could be on to a great business idea, provided you can alleviate the frustration and make some money from your solution.

Next time you hear people complain about something, ask yourself if you can provide a solution to that challenge. I recall the time when Celtel was the only mobile phone operator in Uganda; a person needed close to a million shillings to own a mobile phone and had to pay for calling credit through the nose. That is when MTN came into the picture to ‘help’ the frustrated Celtel clients; MTN offered affordable handsets and cheaper calling rates and customers flocked them.

Another source for business idea is something you love or are passionate about. My wife loves to shop for clothing and shoes and I am happy about it, here is why. My wife figured out that she could shop for other people and they pay for her effort that gave birth to her outfit business. I met another woman who transformed her love for health and fitness into a personal fitness business. So do you have a hobby that could give rise to a business idea?

You could also turn an old idea into a money spinner. A successful business idea does not have to be brand new. You could tweak an old or existing idea and rake in the cash. Have you noticed that up to the 1980s students going to boarding schools would go with packs of ground nuts, maize corn and sugar? Then some folks said wait a minute how about if we offer a five litre pack of juice, biscuits and crisps to students? In your case how about if you opened a meat shop that can keep away flies?

The last idea tip is hanging on to the tail of another successful business. Of late many soda drinkers have been raving about mountain dew, a Pepsi Cola brand. If you run a restaurant or grocery, stocking mountain dew is a good idea to pick up. I have seen several businesses hanging onto the tails of a successful telecommunication or paint companies and you can also join in.
– James Abola on The Daily Monitor

What do you think of Mr Abola’s approach?

Filed Under: Small Business

Reflections with Safaricom’s (former) CEO, Michael Joseph

October 25, 2010 by Leave a Comment

This is a video taken by Moses Kemibaro at the iHub, nairobi on October 20, 2010.

This is a video I took on Wednesday the 20th October 2010 which was Shujaa Day (formerly Kenyatta Day) in Kenya at the iHub, Nairobi. Reflections with Safaricom’s Michael Joseph (MJ) was a 1 to 2 hour long session whereby a select group of invitees got a chance to ask Michael Joseph questions on his wildly successful and “peculiar” decade at the helm of Safaricom, Kenya’s leading mobile network. The video has breaks here and there but its more or less everything he spoke about. I hope you enjoy hearing MJ’s words of wisdom as much as I did. – Moses Kemibaro

Watch the video:

Legendary, eh? What do you think of the man, and the Safaricom that he built?

Filed Under: Miscellaneous

Interesting Kenyan Sites #10

October 24, 2010 by 2 Comments


Pata Jibu – this is an interesting looking Kenyan Q&A site. The design looks sharp and smart. Good job, I wish them success. They just need to market the site a little more and they could make it. Maybe.

DealFish – there are so many directory-type sites in the Kenyan space. And so many of them are so poorly designed. DealFish is not among those, it is extremely good looking and functional if you ask me. Real Kenyan quality, for a change. I just hope that they get the success they deserve…

50-50
KenyaSource.net – I don’t know, I don’t like the design. And it is yet another site in what is becoming a crowded space (directory-type sites). Despite not liking the design (which may be down to personal taste), I think the site is well made and it works. Their success will depend on how well they execute their business plan. Good luck, and kudos.

Flops
The Kenya Revenue Authority – There is no doubt that the KRA site is changing Kenya. I applaud them for bringing essential Goverment services online. I especially appreciate the online PIN and VAT services. Kudos KRA, you are doing exactly what Kenya needs! However, you can easily do it better. The KRA site is not particularly well designed, there is little in the way of usability design and your service is just “down” way too often. When you offer some services “online only”, you need to make sure the site is always up and working. I believe the KRA has the resources to do this the right way and that is why I am listing them as a “Flop” even though they’ve done so well.

Here’s a typical complaint against the KRA: I just hate it that if you were to visit their offices at Times Tower you’d be told that everything is accessible online while it’s like a puzzle to navigate the site!

Please act on this and improve, dear KRA.

Filed Under: Cool Sites