Ni Kuhama – of course this site is by Airtel as a way to market themselves. The thing that really makes it interesting for me is the quickness of execution in purchasing a whole other domain (nikuhama.com) instead of using something like airtel.com/nikuhama. Kudos.

mamamealsonwheels a website that lets you order meals from a number of restaurants and then they deliver to your home or office; they also allow you to send shopping lists to them and they can do your shopping for you. First off, I must say that the design is spot on! Really well done. The business idea here is a good one and I hope and pray that these guys get the success they deserve.

natakanyumba – as the name says, these guys assist you in finding the nyumba that you want. It is often said that a website to help Kenya find real estate online is a massive opportunity that has not been adequately addressed. I personally do not like natakanyumba.com’s choice of colours but that is just an opinion. All in all the website is pretty well done. Let’s hope the execution to capture this market is just as good.

Zanaa – is the website of “a non-profit whose mission is to craft tools from within Africa to slay the giants of poverty”. I must say that the website is exceptionally well made – it is just beautiful! Kudos sana to the web developer! More of the same please.

50-50
Kenyan Gamer Supply – a site that sells Xbox Live, PSN and iTunes cards in Kenya. I think it is an interesting business but I feel that the website could have been better made…to me, it seems it needs more graphics and attention to detail, considering what the site is about.

Flops
Bluu Nile Hotel – this site looks like it was done in 1999. The creators definitely need to take a look at modern web design trends. Also, notice the site’s domain “bluu-nile.awardspace.biz”. This site does not exist on its own domain name but uses free web hosting from www.awardspace.biz. Surely in this day and age everyone should realise the importance of a unique domain name that your own, ama?

Source Code – I saw this site’s advert on Facebook. Considering that the site is under construction with over 250 days to go until it launches (according to them), is there any value in spending money on Facebook right now? Not to mention the fact that their demo page is…undone

Mutahi.info – Mutahi (I presume that’s the site owner’s name) created a simple website to sell his car. I think it is an innovative and brilliant idea. Gone are the days when a “For Sale” sticker on your car will suffice.

Zebu Mob – a site that is a bit like Groupon, the difference being that Zebumob seems to be focused only on advertising instead of selling discount coupons. Interesting approach, eh? Their website is brilliantly done – but it must be said that the Zebumob Facebook app could be made better, considering that much of what Zebumob offers is inside Facebook.

Wadawida – nice simple, clean website that tells you all about the Taita people (of Kenya). I, for one, wish to see more similar sites celebrating our country’s diversity. [Disclosure: I hail from this community. Partly.]

Kenya Memorials – did you recently lose a loved one? Well, now you can immortalise him/her on Kenyamemorials. They also offer a directory of funeral service providers. it may not be a “happy” line of business but the site is well done and it looks like they are doing pretty well. Kudos.

Flops
Newsupdate.co.ke – this site promises to bring you ‘daily Kenyan news updates’. The only problem is that, at a glance, the overwhelming majority of news (‘featured’ news, specifically) on this website is… well, it is not ‘Kenyan news’. Also, at the moment, seems like images on the site are broken. Though to give them credit, the site does have local news that feels like it is from mashinani.

Chukua.com – yet another directory-type website. Lots of these are being built, it seems. The thing that sets Chukua.com apart is that it is not only a directory but a marketplace – whereby you can set up an online “shop” on chukua.com. The site is very well designed and thought out. Good luck to the creators!

Nairobi Living – well, it is another directory-type website. Though I must say that Nairobi Living looks to be elegant and well done.

Samosa Queen – a website that represents a business based in Dallas, Texas, USA whereby you can order samosas, mandazi or chapati online. The design is a bit “dated” but it does the job – nice and simple!

50-50
Maridadi.co.ke – is an online clothing store. The design is beautifully done. Kudos to the developers on that front. However, the checkout process is not so intuitive – when you click “buy now” the page refreshes, but it is not immediately apparent what happened. Could be improved. 🙂

Flops
Jambo News Pot – this is supposed to be a website which aggregates local news. Unfortunately, the site’s design does it no favours at all and makes the site look haphazard and unorganised. The excessive adverts near the top are also an eyesore (though perhaps they indicate the site is earning the owners a pretty penny). Could be better!

For those who don’t know, DukaPress is a freely available piece of software that you, or anyone can use to set up an online shop easily and quickly.

screenshot of a DukaPress shop

When we released DukaPress, we primarily thought that its main users would be local. As it turns out, the vast majority of people who use DukaPress are not from Africa. While this is good, we have been hoping to come across some well done local sites powered by DukaPress. In this post, we showcase a few of them.

1. Black Malaika – a really well done website from Tanzania that sells arts and crafts from East Africa. I must say that DukaPress has been very well implemented here.
2. Pamoja Shops – an online community/marketplace focused on the Maasai Market concept. Pamoja Shops offers vendors the opportunity to sign up and open up their own online stores to sell African handicrafts.
3. Rusha Ndege – RushaNdege is an online community of aviation enthusiasts in Kenya. They use DukaPress to power an online shop that sells pilot equipment and accessories.
4. DJ Kalonje – it was a personal pleasure to learn that DJ Kalonje himself uses DukaPress. (DJ Kalonje is an award winning Kenyan DJ.) Kalonje uses DukaPress to sell services. Although I must admit that DukaPress itsels is not well implemented on hist site…
5. Drip n Dry Kenya – describing themselves as “Nairobi’s ultimate dry cleaning services”, Drip n Dry use DukaPress to enable customers to submit inquiries regarding their cleaning services.

So, have you ever wanted to have an online shop? As of this moment, DukaPress has been downloaded 8,972 times and here is a list of some of the most beautiful sites made using DukaPress. All those people cannot be wrong, can they?

Get your own shop today: www.dukapress.org

DukaPress is proudly Kenyan!

Love.Me – this is an online flower shop. The site’s creators must be commended for a job well done. The design is nice, clean and crisp and the buying process is simple and understandable. Kudos for a job well done!

Sandstorm Kenya – the website for Sandstorm Kenya, which makes hand crafted items. We find the website and online shop to be extremely well designed. Kudos!

50-50
Ask a Doc – this is an interesting site that promises answers to all your medical questions. The answers are provided by real doctors. I have not actually received a question to my answer yet (something for them to work on), but the site seems like it can go places. Good job.

UrbanSlice – is a website that is to provide a personal shopping service i.e. you can use UrbanSlice to order from your favourite stores and have them delivered to you, no hassle. The problem is that, currently, it looks like just another online shop and the whole idea of “personal shopping service” seems to be lost. Let’s hope that someone is working on this. otherwise, the site looks good.

State House Girls – the website of State House Girls’ high school. While the web design could certainly do with a little sprucing up – mainly balancing out the page elements and making it look neater – I think the site is pretty good. Someone is certainly working hard to make this site a success. However, perhaps they have overdone it with the ads on the side (I would think that the main purpose of such a site is not to sell ads) and the links for Free and Bulk SMS on the main menu (would high school students really be interested in these?).

Cute & Cuddly an online shop for baby clothing. I like the idea, and the design. However, a few improvements need to be made: 1) the shopping and checking out process needs to be made more intuitive; and 2) for users with screen resoltions of 1024 (width) and below, the site design seems broken.

Nairobi Living – is a local search and business directory. I find the site to be well thought out and nicely designed. Kudos to the makers! Though one is tempted to say “….yet another local directory?”.

Shameless Clones
Tokea Online – it seems to be an East African social network (like facebook, but for EA). it looks brand new and so it is “sparse” as far as content goes. But the design, I must say, is well done. Let’s wish them luck!

Update 7/2/2011: it seems that TokeaOnline is a shameless clone of a site design and setup freely available all over the net. Another site using the same setup is FunKenya. it is good to try and build an online business, but one could surely do better…

Flops
mmiarch – this seems to be the website of “mmi architects”. Even by the presumably low Kenyan standards, this website is particularly poorly done. One wonders what the hell the “web designer” was doing…

beckyzshoes – an online shops selling men’s shoes. Except that it is run on a .blogspot blog. FAIL. I cannot believe that these guys actually advertised on Facebook!! if you want to sell anythign online, 1) do not do it from a free website and 2) use professional e-commerce software (like DukaPress which is 100% free).