Do You Want An Online Job?

September 14, 2009 by 1 Comment

More Freelance Jobs

PHP/MYSQL Developer – We are in need of an experienced PHP/MySQL developer to build or modify an import/data transport mechanism for www.maneno.org, a blogging platform for Africa. This should be about a one week, self-contained project for a single developer and it is expected for any candidate to base work on other open source models freely available, but deliverables will have to be originally sourced code. Minor front end coding is a plus. Knowledge of multilingual issues and solutions also greatly favored.

Ghost Writer – We are a leading, interactive marketing company specializing in web 2.0 design, seo, social media, online advertising, and web analytics. We are seeking a U.S. based ghost writer to develop compelling, up-to-date blog entries for our corporate blog. You must have a deep knowledge of the latest internet marketing trends including: popular web design trends, social media tactics (think facebook/twitter), seo tactics and new findings, video optimization, etc.

Experienced bloggers – We are a new network about to launch sometime in October looking for experienced bloggers and social networkers to fill each position in the following hot topics:
– Celebrities and Entertainment (TV, Movie, Theater)
– Sports
– Music
– Fashion
– Political/Influential Leaders
We are looking for experienced bloggers who will share relevant stories and experiences in the topic that they are passionate about.

Technology blogger (printer industry) – Are you a journalist with experience writing about technology? Do you find printers interesting? Would you like to take a deep dive into the world of consumer and office printers? If so, please apply for this unique opportunity.

Freelance designer – We are looking for a Freelance Web Designer to work with us and our clients over the next few months. We are offering the right candidate 2-3 projects per month for the next 3 months. The Candidate must possess a keen eye for detail, a high level of creativity, and be able to show they can deliver on time and work to specific deadlines.

Web designer, logo designer, graphic artist needed – We’re an established Canadian sport-art site who recently lost a key graphic designer. We need to finish what’s been done and get our site ready for the upcoming season. Our site is an exploration of the intersection of sport, art and culture through the use of poetry, articles, numbers and short stories. We focus on the Montreal Canadiens and navigate the iconography of this storied franchise.

Finally, Some Hot Freelance Jobs


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More Online Jobs

September 7, 2009 by Leave a Comment

More Freelance Jobs

Project Manager – PSD to eCommerce is looking for a talented project manager to handle all the client communication and project management for the company. You will be required to be somewhat knowledgeable with how the PSD to HTML slicing industry works, and how the pricing works. It is a bonus if you understand the eCommerce industry to (Magento, Shopify, wp-ecommerce), but it is not required, you must be willing to learn though.

Mobile phone programmer – Butterfly Works is interested to find someone who can program and test a game to work on mobile phones in East Africa. We will design the game and send you the specs, it needs to work on all phones with a color screen from different manufacturers. We wish to find someone with experience in programming who also knows the mobile phone usage in East Africa specifically Kenya. The game is about peace keeping and is aimed at young people. If you are interested please contact us with your bio and previous experience, thanks!

Copywriter wanted – Seeking a freelance copywriter for a small web site job. Please send url, examples and your rates to apply or contact me for further info. Preference for those based in Australia.

Content Writer – Need a writer to produce 5-10 fairly extensive articles / blog posts (1,500-2,000 words) on the topic of birthday parties for kids. There may also be ongoing blog work available, but the initial work is for 5-10 posts. We have a template structure for the posts that you’ll be able to follow. Need to be able to do extensive research – link to quality / relevant content. And potentially do some social media marketing as well.

Blogger needed – DigMyDrive is a new Website that allows members to ‘give their take’ on topics in specific driving categories. We are looking for bloggers to take on each category, posting 3-5 blogs per week on newsworthy topics or topics relevant to category members.

Experienced Flash Developer – Digital Aisle, the leader in interactive touch screen applications, is seeking an experienced Flash Developer.

Interface design – We are looking to build a music sharing website and need an excellent designer. We only require the HTML / CSS / PSD deliverable. You must love design, and be obsessed by perfection in design. Please send a long copies of your previous work and expected pay.

Freelance web designer and developer – We are a new social venture (not for profit) looking for a designer and web developer to develop an on-line marketplace.

Weekly newsletter article writer – Generation X Finance is an established personal finance blog that targets readers in the 25-45 age demographic. Topics generally include investing, saving for retirement, banking, taxes, and tips on saving money. In addition to the regular blog posts Generation X Finance has an email newsletter that goes out weekly. Each newsletter will generally feature a short 250-500 word original article covering some relevant topic. In addition to the short article there are links to three of the most recent blog posts with a brief introduction.

Finally, Some Hot Freelance Jobs


Need help?
How to get an online job.
How to avoid online scams.

This post is a weekly feature – we post a list of online, work-from-anywhere, jobs every single week. Be sure not to miss the next list of jobs. Subscribe to Like Chapaa today, or sign up to receive free email updates.

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Kenya’s N-Soko Vs Craigslist

September 5, 2009 by 2 Comments

N-SokoSo this week saw the arrival of Craiglist to Kenya. I’ve waited for Craiglist to come home for years and now it’s finally here. For those who aren’t familiar with Craigslist, it is one of my all time favorite websites. Craigslist is basically an online classifieds site. Its claim to fame is that its (mostly) free model has largely destroyed the paid classifieds market in the US and elsewhere. It is also run very admirably. Can you imagine one of the biggest web brands with a total employee count of <20 (last time I checked)? Paul Graham, in How to Start a Startup, mentions Craigslist in an interesting way, “I advised startups never to let anyone fly under them, meaning never to let any other company offer a cheaper, easier solution. Another way to fly low is to give users more power. Let users do what they want. If you don’t and a competitor does, you’re in trouble…. The ultimate way to be nice to users is to give them something for free that competitors charge for. During the 90s a lot of people probably thought we’d have some working system for micropayments by now. In fact things have gone in the other direction. The most successful sites are the ones that figure out new ways to give stuff away for free. Craigslist has largely destroyed the classified ad sites of the 90s…”

So, the mighty Craigslist landed in town…just when the local giant, the mighty Nation Media Group, was launching its own online classifieds service, N-Soko. Now, I did not get a chance to have a look at N-Soko (because it was pulled down – shame!!) but Moses Kemibaro had a look and writes, “N-Soko, …even though it has the backing of East Africa’s largest media business, is on the backfoot. Whilst N-Soko is a great initiative in terms of creating a local online classifieds brand, the whole execution of the web site is lacking. It feels disjointed from the homepage as you open up separate browser windows for each category of classifieds. It quite simply does not feel as simple, user-friendly or as well put together as the spartan looking Kenya CraigsList.”

Now, currently, the N-Soko site shows “Site Under construction”. From Moses Kemibaro’s post, it is fair to assume that the N-Soko site had been up when he had a look at it. So, what happened that it was suddenly pulled down and slapped an “under construction” sign? And, Moses mentioned that some ads were already live on the N-Soko site. Pray, what happened to those? I don’t know, readers, this is just not good. I’m all for local creativity and enterprise but you got to do it right.

In my mind, NMG just put something together and launched it in the tried and tested Kenyan style of “good enough”, ugh. And it would have worked too – N-Soko would be heavily pushed by the NMG and would be successful, no doubt. But Craiglist came along. I’d bet that part (or all) of the reason that the NMG site is now “under construction” is the entry of Craigslist into the equation. This marks the first contact in what I hope will be a hot battle of two great sites. The wars for online Kenya are just getting started. 😀

We’re living in interesting internet times.

Filed Under: Internet Culture Tagged With: , , ,

Ever Thought Of Building An Online Community? [Interview]

September 3, 2009 by 2 Comments

For the readers that don’t know, our interviewee today, Francis, is the founder of The Young Professionals Google Group, a java guru, and a successful internet entrepreneur. He sells e-books as well as advertisements on his Google group. Bwana Francis is also the chairman of the League of Young Professionals – a club in which I am a member.

Q. You’re quite an achiever, tell us about you
I am a software developer by profession and a social entrepreneur by choice. My passion is to see how we can tap the incredible power of web 2.0 technologies (specifically on communication and collaboration) to create great communities and then harness their power and influence to create capacity to solve problems, produce ideas and valued products. There are various tools and applications that individuals, groups, organizations and businesses use/ can use among them message boards, blogs, websites and web portals, mailing lists, news sites, SMS solutions, social sites like twitter and facebook etc

YP Google group is just one of such tool we are using to create a community of passionate young professionals who have a shared purpose of developing themselves and building a better Kenya.

To illustrate the enormous power of such technologies and the online communities around them, one needs to look at the role they played in the election of President Barrack Obama. Voters were reminded via SMS to go vote, could follow the updates of their candidate on Twitter & Facebook, huge amount of campaign money raised online as well as having vibrant discussion of issues on blogs, message boards and mailing lists. We do also have fortune 500 companies who have companies’ weblogs for their staff to blog about the personal life and their companies’ products. The ascendance of free and open source software can also be attributed to this.

Q. How did it start?
It started when I was doing my BSC in computer science. I become passionate about programming by seeing it is possible to create applications which can be used to solve a real problem. Once I got into web technologies, through curiosity and experimentation I looked at the available tools that could be used to achieve the goal, and a Google group and facebook group were the entry points. With time, I and the team I work with, shall be churning out a more integrated platform of all the technology to build great web portal

Q. What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?
Most of the challenges were intrinsic (within), and I mean the prejudices and bias that the environment taught me as I grew up. Mostly everyone believes after campus you should be employed and not to experiment with ideas and risk. To overcome such I had to unlearn what I have been taught so that I could absorb new ideas and perceptions.

Secondly, IT is a field that requires specialized technical expertise some of which is rarely taught in schools. For example, to build my programming skills I had to proactively learn the java programming language for over four years through self study.

Q. What are the challenges of being an entrepreneur in Kenya?
There are two sets of challenges, one uniquely specific to internet industry and secondly the challenges of any business startup or initiative.

With regard to 1st, the % of Kenyans who have access and use internet regularly is around 8.6% of the total population as compared to countries like USA who have above 46% usage. So a large percentage of the population doesn’t access any product, service or platform that is internet based.

With regard to the 2nd, among the top challenges I can pinpoint that cuts across all industries in Kenyan context are firstly getting funds to finance your venture, secondly fierce competition from established and large global companies and thirdly building a successful business requires a large investment of your time and needs patience and commitment

Q. What was critical to your success?
It’s hard to single out one or a few since I believe it’s a whole set of skills which I could call the winning combination, but they generally fall in 3 domains.

  1. My ability and the passion to learn. Generally I buy & read at least 2 books (mostly on business & management) a month.
  2. Technical expertise. My programming skills are very good and I never cease to try to become even more qualified. I am always sharpening my saw, learning new skills and craft I need to get something done, being more competent either in programming or any other roles
  3. Emotional Intelligence. Mastered myself, can manage myself and my relationship with others. Can easily understand my emotions and the behavior of others.

All the three orchestrated together, I can say they are what is critical to my success.

Q. What about the competition and marketing, do you need to advertise, print flyers participate to conferences or is it mostly word of mouth?
Mostly through word of mouth and email marketing.

Q. Do you think that in order to “make it big” online you have to live in a Western country? Or does Kenya offer more or less the same opportunities?
Definitely that is a myth. Making money online is possible since I am making quite a lumpsome. You just need to have the right product, well priced and packaged and target the right audience.

Q. Where do you see yourself and your business (es) in the next 5 years?
I believe we shall have built the required competences and products to provide communication & collaboration solutions, be it to political parties, large organizations, community groups, NGOs, Small and Medium Enterprises and well as having flagship enterprise applications for mass usage.

Q. If you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently?
Not really, same direction but different routes. With experience I have come to know which works and which doesn’t work. Definitely I would avoid the latter, while only keeping the former.

Q. What advice do you have for internet business entrepreneurs in Kenya?
I will quote Charlotte Bunch who once said “We do not need, and indeed never will have all the answers before we act…… It is often through taking action that we can discover some of them.” Lets not be afraid to try and fail, it’s through trying, failing, having false head starts that we can only make great reaps ahead.

That’s all for today readers. If you’d like to hear more of Francis, please join the YP Google group and The League of Young Professionals. You can also reach him at the following:

Email – francis.mwangi.chege[at]yahoo.com
Alt – francis.mwangi.chege[at]gmail.com
Phone +254 721 663 208
On Twitter – https://twitter.com/francismwangi
On Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/profile.php#/profile.php?id=1579110764&ref=profile

PS Francis has a very good deal on a package of 800+ ebooks.

Filed Under: Interviews Tagged With: ,

500 Million Dollars, Gold Farming, And A Death Cry

August 29, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Nearly 500,000 people in developing nations earn a wage making virtual goods in online games to sell to players, a study has found.

Research by Manchester University shows that the practice, known as gold-farming, is growing rapidly….Professor Richard Heeks, head of the development informatics group at Manchester who wrote the report, said gold farming had become a significant economic sector in many developing nations.

“I initially became aware of gold farming through my own games-playing but assumed it was just a cottage industry,” said Professor Richard Heeks from the University of Manchester who wrote the report.

“In a way that is still true. It’s just that instead of a few dozen cottages, there turn out to be tens of thousands.” Prof Heeks said very accurate figures for the size of the gold farming sector were hard to come by but his work suggested that in 2008 it employs 400,000 people who earn an average of $145 (£77) per month creating a global market worth about $500m. But, he said, the true size of the sector was hard to estimate – it could easily be twice as big. – BBC NEWS.

I used to run a video games’ arcade near Pangani in Nairobi – the business was good and the experience quickly made me realise that kids in Kenya nowadays are very much into games. We don’t have a shortage of people who can play games in Kenya. But many of these people who can play games are on the street and unemployed. Why isn’t gold farming working here in Kenya? I think that it can be a significant source of income for young people.

The following video is an in-depth look at the realities of gold farming in China:

Most MMO players hate gold farmers and it is not hard to find “All gold farmers must die” videos on youtube. Mostly, though you get them as all “Chinese” gold farmers must die. I think this is sad, and wrong. People have to realise that different people play for different reasons – some for fun, and some for a living.

When you get people with more money than time and others with more time than money the two will find a way to meet. What do you think?

Filed Under: Internet Culture Tagged With:

Do You Also Want To Be A Successful Freelancer? [Interview]

August 26, 2009 by 20 Comments

For the readers that don’t know, our interviewee today is an accomplished freelancer from right here in Kenya! She’s one of the most successful local freelancers I have heard of, having won a one year government tender to offer writing and editorial services for a regulatory state corporation recently. Imagine that! Our interviewee pens her thoughts at: http://kenyanfreelancer.blogspot.com. You can also find her on her website: www.smurtnotes.com

Q. You’re quite an achiever, tell us about you.

Thank you for having me here. I am writer, blogger, editor and proofreader. I found my passion in writing about a year ago and decided to pursue it, at first on a part time basis before taking it up full time at the beginning of the year.

Q. How did you start?

I started freelancing by chance. I had been working in corporate Kenya since leaving collage and my last FT job was in the banking sector. Upon leaving the bank and back into the overcrowded job market, I was searching for a job when I chanced upon an online magazine (nairobi.tujuane.com; I still write for them) searching for contributors/freelancers for their business magazine. With little knowledge about online writing but a salient passion and determination for writing, I put forward my application and like they say, the rest is history.

Q. What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?

The people over at tujuane were very supportive, understanding and offered the much needed help. However, the reality of working as a freelancer hit me so hard that it took me a while to adjust. Without a regular work schedule, daily commuting and no boss to answer to, at first it seemed like an easy thing to do, but it took an enormous amount of determination and self-discipline on my part to make it work.

I was also battling with the idea of telling people that I freelance which I must say is somewhat new here in Kenya. (Interestingly, saying you freelance is coded to suggest that one has no regular FT job hence searching). But after much thought, I realized what I did/do is no different than what people with a 9-5 do, just that I work from a home office with my own set of rules, structures and schedules and a very demanding boss-me. This has helped me greatly.

Q. What are the challenges of being a freelancer in Kenya?

Getting people to understand that being a freelancer is not about lazing around the house in your pyjamas and a bowl of pop-corn seated in front of the TV, while others are busy working out there. It’s still difficult to explain to people that I work from my home office, at times working 10-12 hours a day.

There is also the notion that one is not a professional or cannot deliver to par as those working in an office setting.

Finding clients has been an uphill task as Kenyans have been socialized to believe a 9-5 or operating an office outside your house is how one should be making a living. But, I must say this perception is changing, thanks in part to technology that has made it easier and fast to communicate with one’s clients anywhere in Kenya and/or the world.

Q. What was critical to your success?

Having a vision and believing in my abilities. I have also continuously sought to improve my skills by reading widely and attending workshops that can impart the necessary skills needed to be successful.

I am also a risk taker as I believe one can only know the extent of their abilities by taking wise and well calculated chances. Toss in a bit of luck, passion and drive; and you have a winning formula.

I do not view my freelancing as a hobby but as a business, thus putting in place the necessary business structures to support it.

Q. What about the competition and marketing? Do you need to advertise, print flyers participate in conferences or is it mostly through word of mouth?

I can say most of my clients are through word of mouth, networking, knocking on people’s doors and contacts I make at conferences. Having a presence online (blog) has greatly contributed to my marketing efforts. My business card acts as my marketing tool by clearly stating what I do and how I do it.

As for competition, I do not worry about it as the market is large enough for any one person, let alone a multitude, to fully exhaust it. It also depends with one’s line of work, how specialised, demand and market forces.

Q. Do you think that in order to “make it big” online you have to live in a Western country? Or does Kenya offer more or less the same opportunities?

I do believe, as long as you have high speed internet, patience, persistence and good judgment when it comes to making a living online, it does not really matter where you work from. I personally started writing online and still do, before sourcing for clients’ offline.

Q. Where do you see yourself and your business(es) in the next 5 years?

When I made the decision to freelance full time, I ensured to put in place a strategy that will chart my path to accomplishing my goals and vision such as working with a large corporation or even the government-but in the distant future, say, in three years time. But, this came sooner than expected and have had to make adjustments to my plans for bigger things. In the next five years, I hope to have made significant strides by having a freelance agency where businesses, government and NGOs can come to and source for highly skilled freelance professionally for their projects here in Kenya.

Q. If you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently?

To be honest, I wouldn’t change a thing as I have learned so much during my short stint as a freelancer and still do. The only thing I would say… why didn’t I start this sooner!

Q. What advice do you have for internet business entrepreneurs in Kenya?

Just choose an internet service provider that charges for unlimited usage on a monthly basis. This will save you the first headache of working online/remotely without running a huge bill on internet usage. Trust me on this!

Have a contingency plan just incase things do not go as planned e.g. the current power rationing or how to meet your deadlines and other obligations when you are under the weather.

Last but not least, there are so many scams out there and one has to be very careful when venturing into internet business. Google is there to help you filter companies/individuals that want to make you a statistic of scammed individuals online. Just search for companies that you feel are not genuine or suspicious. You maybe surprised what comes of it.

For aspiring freelancers, one thing that needs to be clarified and understood is that not everyone can/should freelance let alone do it successfully. It takes guts, passion, determination and vision, and of course, an entrepreneurial spirit to make it.

Good luck and all the best.

That’s all for today readers. If you’d like to read more, please visit:
Smurt Notes Editorial
http://kenyanfreelancer.blogspot.com
twitter.com/kenyafreelancer

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Sunny Bindra’s Sunwords.com – What It Can Be

August 22, 2009 by 7 Comments

So I’ve been poring over Sunny Bindra’s articles really heavily recently. I love his writing and he makes excellent business sense every time he writes. I always, always end up comparing his ideas to those of Seth Godin. In all honesty, they think quite alike on how a business should be properly run. Don’t take my word for it, have a look at their websites and decide for yourself. For those who don’t know, Sunny Bindra writes in the Sunday Nation. Seth Godin is based in the USA and is a renown best-selling author.

So, did you have a look at the two authors’ sites? What do you think? I’ve followed both writers for some years now but it was only recently that I noticed that sunwords.com is, in my view, not all that well developed. I say this with all due respect to Sunny Bindra – I don’t mean to bash him in any way! However, I am an avid reader of his writings and I just wonder, why isn’t his online presence as big as it could be?

Just think about it. How many people LOVE his Sunday articles? I bet a whole lot of people love and respect his work. This is his introductory blog post. See that? 46 comments on day one! However, the rest of his 100+ entries (all beautifully written) have just a handful or no comments. Contrast this with bloggers such as Shiko or Mama whose comment count goes into double digits regularly.

Okay, okay one could argue that Sunwords.com gets a lot of visitors but very few leave comments. That would explain things, right? I thought so too, until I had a look at sunword’s visitor stats. According to Statbrain (hint: Statbrain is really useful to carry out e surveillance on other sites), Sunwords gets 320 visitors a day. Now, I’m nowhere near as popular as Sunny Bindra but Like Chapaa gets 570 visitors a day.

Now, I don’t know about you but I think that Sunwords should be a lot more successful than it is. I have my own thoughts on how to build a successful website but I bet Sunny has access to people much much better than I am at doing this. The big question in my mind is this: why isn’t Sunny doing more with his website? I do not know. There are probably very valid reasons for this. I would, however, like to point out some reasons why it may be of benefit to make Sunwords.com more successful.

Sunny Bindra is already very very successful by any means. However, more success won’t hurt, surely. Ama? Let’s take a look at Om Malik. Om Malik, in my view, is a classic example of the opportunities that the internet can bring. I’m no authority on this but Om Malik has been a writer for a long time. At some point, he set up a website and grew it. Then he set up another, and another……now he owns GigaOm, which is among the top 50 blogs worldwide by Technorati Rank, and is part of CNet‘s 100 Most Influential Blogs. And what about Seth Godin? I believe that, over the years, his blog has been one of the key, if not the key, ‘things’ that sell his books so widely. One of his books is even based on his blog’s writings.

I believe in Sunny Bindra’s wisdom so much that I know he can do something similar. He is already popular, all that’s needed is a little more focus to build an online brand. The possibilities would then be endless. What do you think?

Picture by arturodante.

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