There is a friend of mine on twitter who keep on asking why African techies are always excited about projects and websites which don’t make money. At first i was a bit annoyed with his all the time criticisms of the local techies but later on I realized that through that may be he is making them better. In my opinion the following might be the reasons:
1. Lack of Business Confidence
The last time I attended skunkworks Mr. Kukubo mentioned Lack of Business confidence on his speech as the missing link for the young entrepreneurs and the developers. Since then i took it upon myself to test this theory and believe it or not it is true.? Most young people are in business as transit point. They are? only there because there is no job offer for them at that moment and they are constantly? in the look out for any opportunity. I do understand them and i don’t blame any body in such a situation but the truth is,? it is hard to serve two masters. May be the best of option is to be employed and get into business once you are completely ready. I once sought? advice? from Samuel Waweru the owner of Samnel Insurance Brokers and Samnel BVM holdings and? he had a very interesting angle on how to go about being successful in Business. “Kachwanya, if you want to be a great entrepreneur, you have to burn bridges, be like soldiers who crossed the bridge to the enemy’s territory and then their General bunt down the bridge. Now at that point they had to win the battle or die. The option is only succeed or succeed.” He said without blinking. Business confidence means believing in what one is doing and presenting it a such.
2. Poor Pricing Model
The major reason why local developers are poor and will remain poor for sometime is because they are cheap. Don’t get me wrong here and it is good to provide things at affordable rate but I think the software and Web products are have never been priced fairly in Kenya. What is the right price for local customizable payroll system? Or Insurance brokerage System?? I was once told story by a friend mine who was working at? Real Insurance (Formerly Royal Insurance Company East Africa Ltd) how the company bought a very expensive Insurance Software from UK which cost the company to the tune of Ksh.16 millions and took like a year to get it working. Even after that it was still not perfect. Now compare that two friends of mine Mr. Steven Makhanu and Mershack Nyagah who have a perfectly functioning Insurace Management system and who are always ready to install their software for the price as low as Ksh.50K. Now i know you probably asking how do i know that the software by two friends is better. Well, it is simple i had the same friend? who told me of the Real Insurance Story to compare the two and yeah the verdict was Local one is better. Now whose fault it is that the local developers are not making money? Partly theirs and partly the attitude around here . Developers are fault because they don’t believe in their products as i have mentioned and those who do, are in hurry to make small money that they will take anything for their products.
3. Bad Attitude
How about the attitude? Sometime back after I covered the Nokia Launch for the support for the local developers and publishers? someone asked? on twitter generally whether there are developers in Kenya. And the answer is yes there are but we don’t give them support because we like foreign made stuffs. That last statement has brought me a? lot of criticisms from people who think i am just advocating for local developed systems and websites? which probably don’t meet the standards. But that is not the case, to me it is about National interest and being proud of what the local lads are doing. When people embrace locally made goods, services, the people behind such expands their reach, employ more people, and in the long run the economy of the country get expanded as a result. That does not mean they should not be told where they are wrong. And yes we are now living borderless world but even with that countries like US and even Western Europe still protect their local industries. If you didn’t know it, it is the real reason why the World Trade Talks keep on collapsing.
4. Focus on the wrong Direction
Most people come up with systems and their main hope is to get bought out, or form closer partnership with companies like Safaricom who have proved that they don’t care about the local developers despite promising to work closely with them.? Deep inside, i think Safaricom see local developers as beggers, and as a wise man once said, the power in a relationship lies with person who cares the least about? it. The local developers care so much and dream about partnering with Safaricom while it is obvious that Safaricom doesn’t give a damn. That was clearly demonstrated when they ignored very nice systems like Sembuse developed by great local minds ( Mbugua and Idd Salim) and Iborian.com and went for South African Mxit (MXit instant messenger software allows you to connect with friends for free from anywhere in the world using your mobile or PC). My initial reaction on the Mxit deal was of mixed emotion, how dare they kick the local developers on the knee like that, you see not many people know about the Mxit in Kenya and by the look of it it is Safaricom which will popularize it. But later on i Realized that we don’t know how they came to agreement, we don’t know who parted with what for the deal to go through. And at the end how many people will leave a good deal when it come to them regardless of where it is coming from. It made sense to me, Safaricom owe it to their shareholders that they make money for them and if they think it is the right way, then no problem.? Back to the developers it is high time they shift focus to to other startups, or even small operators like Yu and Orange
5. Lack Of Funding
There are no many VCs around and in that if the focus is to get Funding then one might get very disappointed. Banks are not ready to fund startups and in particular those? dealing in IT stuffs, specifically software. This is not a Kenyan thing only.? Banks don’t like taking big risks and that is why they only? love? to give money to tangible businesses. The local lads should check on the other avenues for raising the? capital and funds for starting and even expanding their businesses.
For the reactions? on the Mxit deal
Whiteafrican take: Mxit is Imported into Kenya here
Mbugua Njihia : Safaricom shuns local solutions, but strikes a deal with South African based Mxit Post
Idd Salim opinion: Safaricom launches their innovative Made In Kenya Mxit Application here
Moses Kemibaro post: Safaricom plugs into MXit. here
No more need be said. Note to Internet entrepreneurs. http://bit.ly/cEQx6a