Initiative to encourage women across the continent to start their own businesses and help drive prosperity for their countries
Parapet turns sprucing up organizations into an art
Talking about sex in many African societies is considered taboo
Ambitious young woman sets up a unique parcel delivery service
By Brian Yatich
The parcel delivery industry in Kenya has changed over the past decade, with public transits and electronic mail dethroning the original postal services.
According to a report by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), this change can be attributed to the growth of e-commerce and the internet.
The report, however, says there are very low numbers of access points in various regions in Kenya to meet demand for the logistical services available.
Inspired by the need to provide fast and secure logistics service in and around Nairobi, a Kenyan entrepreneur has decided to sink her teeth into this industry, brushing shoulders with international parcel companies like TNT, DHL and the likes.
“I bought a TV online and it took more than a week to be delivered so I thought what the problem might be and that’s how Dana came about, that’s how I thought of a courier service,” says Nancy Amunga, the CEO of Dana Communications.
She says timing is her strong point, if anything she likes everything done promptly.
“I’ve heard individuals and companies complaining that their orders have taken too long to be delivered, others say it usually takes six hours and sometimes even longer once they have placed a call for a delivery,” she says.
Being a casualty of the same scenario, Amunga decided to be part of the solution and assist companies, especially e-commerce and online shop stores, in satisfying their customers by making sure their parcels gets to them safe and secure.
Armed with her savings of around US$100 in March 2014, Amunga decided to set up a courier rider service that collects, delivers and dispatches products and runs errands.
Amunga’s soft spot for business grew from her interaction with start-ups, having attended several intra African investment as well as entrepreneurial seminars.
Faced with the problem of raising capital, she moved from selling vintage to insurance and has engaged in various activities including modelling as well as directing TV shows until she finally owned her own logistic company.
“I am happier where I am despite the challenges,” she says.
She attests that safety and security of how they handle their client’s products is the firm’s core principle and feature that gives them an edge on competitors.
“Our main aim is to make people happy as we make their lives easier and comfortable. We make sure we keep an open communication with our clients and also seek their feedback every now and then,” she says.
“Starting a company from scratch is never easy; you have to be very passionate about it. The work involves dealing with many clients simultaneously and meeting people who have different attitudes and expectations. You always have to be patient and listen to them,” she explains.
She says social media and various e-commerce sites have been key marketing tools.
“The satisfaction that I see on my client’s face every time we do a good job and the fact that the company has been able to employ some people means we are contributing to the betterment of this country,” she says.
She, however could disclose figures, but indicates annual revenues are well over a million shillings.
She attributes her success to patience, discipline and hard work.
The main challenge Amunga faces is finance.
“We would like to be able to cover all the regions in Kenya where there is demand. We are also looking to expand and cover the whole of east Africa,” she adds.
The 24-year-old Multi-Media University graduate was awarded the Top 25 Under 25 Entrepreneurs award by Vimal Shah, KCA University and African Garage in 2015.
She has contracts with corporate organizations like Lake Gas Limited, EMS limited, PigiaMe-online shop and KilliMall.
“You should always go for something that you are passionate about, be different and never give up,” she says.
Now, African Laughter satisfies insatiable appetite for news
By Ben Oduor
In the last five decades, Kenyan media has blossomed into a vibrant industry from a single broadcaster controlled by a de facto one-party state to hundreds of media outlets on digital platform.
With such milestones, coupled with a relatively socially responsible space, the country’s media has become one of the major industries in Africa, attracting both local and international investors.
Among them is Jenny Luesby, a passionate media mogul on an overwhelming mission to fly her firm to distant horizons.
However, before focusing on the Kenyan market, Luesby had worn various professional hats as a business journalist, serving as report writer and duty editor for BBC, author and analyst at Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) and industry correspondent, news editor and reporter with Financial Times.
She also had a stint at France’s Decision News Media where she served as editor-in-chief and editorial director before jetting to South Africa to globalise the news service for Mineweb.com, a web-based international mining publication focusing on mining, investments and finance.
It was while pursuing her professional mission in 2007 that she was contracted by Nation Media Group (NMG) to act as the launch consultant for its new daily business newspaper, Business Daily, which was set to launch within the first quarter of the year.
“When I was recommended to NMG by the International Institute of Journalism to act as a trainer and launch consult to the business newspaper, it was an irresistible opportunity. I had previously worked in the country for BBC and took a Masters Degree whose thesis was on Kenya. The country was a special place for me,” she says.
Growing African Laughter
However, during the course of her career at East Africa’s largest media house and at a time when political tensions were heightening in Kenya, an idea struck her.
“Why not engage Kenya’s online media platform constructively into one with a direct societal impact?”she thought, resulting in the birth of African Laughter, a public relations firm, with three employees and about Ksh2million capital.
According to the entrepreneur, as a market test-gauge, and privy to the high unemployment levels in the country, she started off with a service that specialised in listing jobs and providing human resource tools to individuals, a move that aimed at generating cash to create more editorial websites.
Later, Luesby says, her company partnered with AccessKenya, a communication and IT infrastructure service provider,to offer public relations services in a deal that lasted two years.
“Even though the contract ended after two years, it was a huge project for us,” the director says.
Unfortunately, in 2010, the firm underwent a devastating moment when it lost its computers twice to burglars and found itself in the middle of property wrangles which immensely affected its operations.
To add salt to a fresh wound, the same year the company was defrauded of over Ksh1million by its administrator, a development that left Luesby wondering whether she made a wrong decision by venturing into the business.
“I was hopeless. I spent time asking God whether I had made the right decision on the business,” she says.
To set the firm back on its feet, the economist sold her wedding ring, a spare cell phone and borrowed money from Chase Bank.
Nine years later, the risks are paying off as the firm now offers a wide range of services from PR, contract publishing, e-marketing solutions, consultancy and training, while its staff and revenues have increased to 20 and about Ksh35million consecutively.
“In some very subtle background kind of way we have changed our bigger agenda. This has been a project of passion,” says the business commentator, adding that the firm culturally undertakes comprehensive three-month training for new staff.
On the publishing front, African Laughter publishes Kenya kidz- a family news website offering information affecting Kenyan families and children, farmers’ news service-BizAble.org and a regional PR news distribution service PRAlerts, which has about 2 million views a month.
Additionally, the firm runs an independent news agency supplying content to both local and international newspapers, with over 1,000 bylines in NMG publications, Standard Group newspapers, some magazines and foreign news services.
Further, with its wide public relations services, African Laughter has served a huge clientele ranging from Hass Consult (Property Index), Thika Greens, AITEC (conferences), Westgate Shopping Mall, Securex, Stanbic and real estate firms, among other clients in the region.
Capping success
Cognisant of its milestones, the firm has been accorded both local and international awards.
In 2012, it received the EAC Media Award on agriculture and food security for its reporting on East African Community integration. It was also a finalist in First African Climate Change and Environment Reporting (ACCER) Award in 2013.
During the same year, the firm was recognised by the Food and Agricultural Organisation for its outstanding contributions to food security in Kenya, as well as accordance for the CEO as CNN African Journalist of 2014.
Also, the website Kenyakidz was a joint runner-up in the African Fact Checking Award 2014.
Going forward, the award winning journalist says she wants to see African Laughter go regional through its expanded news agency, while providing high-scale PR services.
“I’d want to be one of the greatest general managers in the region before retirement,” she chuckles.
Firm helps you grow your business
By Ben Oduor
You have just borrowed a huge sum of money from the bank with intentions of investing in horticulture.
Armed with the cash, you prepare a big piece of land and plant your seedlings within the early weeks of the rainy season, optimistic of a good harvest.
Unfortunately, the sun scorches, and the weatherman hints of a serious drought within the coming months. True to the announcement, the heat takes a toll on your crops, and the bank comes after you demanding its money. You are devastated.
Occasionally, enthusiastic traditional farmers have dared unpredictable weather conditions and gracefully reaped fruits from their labor. On the other hand, weather conditions can sometimes be unbearable to the crops, resulting to losses that lead to emotional and economic setbacks.
This, experts say, is largely contributed by failure to apply modern farming methods.
It is because of this traditional farming backdrop that Smart Solutions Africa (SSA), a multi-national consultancy firm which offers operational models to public and private institutions, has set strategies in motion to mitigate such challenges.
Through one of its products, the farmer’s kit, which majors on greenhouse construction, technical support and advisory, the enterprise ensures that once they have supplied and installed the greenhouses, they walk their customers all the way to harvesting through technical and professional support, giving them an edge above their competitors.
Emily Njuki, the firm’s co-founder and director says their services go beyond selling greenhouses as they provide extensive agricultural advice to clients, analyse and test the soil through a partnership with the Kenya Agricultural Livestock and Research Organization (KALRO).
The firm has also partnered with the Youth Enterprise Development Fund- a body that provide loans to Kenyan youth enterprises- to refer to them youth groups interested in agribusiness.
“Through this partnership, we give greenhouses to young people and offer them technical support,” she says.
Growing Smart Solutions
Five years ago, Njuki was restless. She had been working for Interconsumer Products Limited as a brand executive but was dissatisfied with the way companies offered their services.
“I identified a huge gap in the way agencies operated their business. They were not giving clients the best,” she says, adding that at that point, she started packaging her ideas to bridge the deficit.
With her marketing background and long experience working at a big corporate, she was fortunate to meet Patrisio Njeru, a PhD holder in quality management and a lecturer at the time stationed at the then Kenya Polytechnic (now Technical University of Kenya) , who also envisioned a similar investment.
“With my marketing background, coupled with his quality management experience, we were set for the business,” she says.
Armed with two laptops, the two started sourcing for clients, at times meeting them at Njeru’s office.
With sh120000 from their savings, she reckons that they incorporated SSA in 2011 and officially kicked off operations in February 2012.
At the early stages, the firm suffered low capital streams and had few services to test the waters, but now has laid a formidable footprint in the Kenyan market with offices in 10 regions in the country and the head office in Nairobi.
Jack of all trades
Currently, the firm offers solution based services such as trade management, merchandising, product launches and sampling, consumer competition, agribusiness solutions, fish ponds and liners supplies, environmental impact audits and greenhouse construction, technical support and advisory services.
The director says marketing is one of the firm’s drivers for it has enabled the enterprise attract a huge clientele base over the years.
For instance, the firm has been outsourcing services and merchandising staff for New Kenya Cooperative Creameries for the past four years and for promotions and merchandising on behalf of Premium Foods Industries and Inter Beauty Products Limited.
Also, it has recruited merchandise staff for Nokia East Africa and trained human resource staff for the county council of Mbeere.
Additionally, SSA has just signed a mega deal with Safaricom which will see the firm popularise a new service promoted by the mobile service provider, called shupavu- which has been on the mobile banking segment- to its users.
“Smart Solutions Africa’s approach is to bench-mark firm’s operations and management strategy against global standards,” it says in a statement, adding that the approach ensures customer ownership and brands that keep the promise and surpass consumer expectations.
To keep clients satisfied, the firm says that it engages organisations in identifying existing gaps and develops remedial strategies to bridge them.
It is partly for this reason that Njeru was listed by Business Daily among the Top 40 under 40 promising male entrepreneurs while Njuki won the CFC Stanbic Rising Star Award Entrepreneur of the Year 2015.
Further, in 2013, Njuki was appointed minister for Youth and Sports by Embu County Government.
Going forward, the food scientist, who also has a Masters in Business Administration, is optimistic that Smart Solutions will be among the multibillion shilling firms in Africa in the next decade.
In order to support the emerging SMEs, there is need to begin to structure solutions to SMEs not as a parallel system to the formal supply chains, but to resolve how best to integrate SMEs and the informal sector into the formal supply chain
By Flora Mutahi
As a continent we are increasingly experiencing the difference made by Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs).
SMEs have, over the years, become a reliable business segment through which African investors have innovatively built agile strategies to meet the dynamic needs of different communities.
In striving to meet market needs the SMEs have gradually over time cemented themselves into key stakeholders and an integral part of the systems meeting market demand and driving socio-economic progress at both national and regional levels. They are also the key drivers of diversity, often proving more gender and diversity inclusiveness and reaching their clientele through more innovative approaches and with more appropriate products than the larger enterprises can provide.
The challenges that the SME sector faces have been well document, and tended to be challenges in access to markets, capacity constraints and inadequate access to financing and other supporting services. The sector is characterised by instability and high business mortality rates. Most are also informal and not compliant with business regulatory statutes and standards.
In order to support the emerging SMEs there is need to shift beyond the old traditional approach of addressing SMe issues such as access to finance, capacity, skills independent of the national and international supply chains. There is need to begin to structure solutions to SMES not as a parallel system to the formal supply chains, but to resolve how best to integrate SMEs and the informal sector into the formal supply chain.
To achieve this we need to restructure the way we do business in order to include informal traders and SMEs as key contributors to formal supply chains. This is to establish systems that will include traditionally subsistence sectors such as smallholder farmers and pastoralists, and rural non-agriculture sectors such as cottage industries and rural processors as members of formal contracted supply chains that meet the national and international standards.
To achieve this inclusive environment where SMEs will be key players we will need to establish ways to formalize market relationships and contracting systems between markets and SMEs, and create conditions where there will be a supportive environment which will provide the SME and informal level with the resources and capacity needed to be contracted partners servicing an increasing share of the growing local, regional and international demand.
A key step will be the introduction of tailor-made and innovative approaches at sector and product supply chains level to reenergize and drive SMEs to coordinate with each other within structured supply chains. This needs to be in ways that will enable the informal sector, smallholder farmers, rural and urban based SME businesses to function in a coordinated environment where they are brought together to enable them reach the economies of scale and efficiency needed to meet the standards required in local and international supply chains. They need to be able to access commercial services and support systems that enable them to deliver quality products to the market, and to market their more innovative products.
The question is what can be done to enable SMEs to conduct business at a global level from an advantageous position? How can SMEs and the informal sector become reliable contributors to local and international supply chains? What are their strengths and how can we leverage this to make these businesses sustainable sources of growth for our future?
We can begin to identify markets and sectors where SMEs can be coordinated to contribute to the supply of agriculture and manufactured products, or in trade systems, within a structured supply chain, and where possible structure services on commercial terms to enable them play this role.
Formal SMEs contribute up to 45 percent of total employment and up to 33 percent of national income (GDP) in emerging economies and this number is even higher in Kenya where an estimated 80% of the new jobs over the last decade have been in the SME and informal sector. If we add what is commonly referred to as ‘informal SMEs’, these numbers could be significantly higher.
What this means is that SMEs are already a major part of national and international trade systems. What we need to build is a robust and sturdy ecosystem that ensures that SMEs are able to provide services within better structured ecosystems.
A key step in this direction is for formal public and private sector markets/buyers to begin to engage SMEs by creating trading and contracting systems that include SMEs and the informal sector as an integral part of the supply chain; we need to restructure the way they are engaged and ensure that as a part of supply chains they have the requisite capital and skills needed to meet local and international standards. In this way SMEs will not just create jobs but productive jobs that will make a long-lasting contribution to poverty reduction
Initiatives such as the Kenya Industrial Transformation Programme that seeks to support SMEs to grow by US$ 150 Million in GDP and employ more workers is definitely a crucial starting point for our country for instance. There are a significant number of SMEs that have reached the size and level of complexity to participate in more sophisticated value addition and export activities.
As we look forward to Kenya hosting the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD 14), it will be interesting to see how we propose to uplift our SMEs. The Theme, From decision to action: moving toward an inclusive and equitable global economic environment for trade and development” promises to look into these issues and provide tangible and actionable ways forward. It is time to start looking inward for our economic solutions, and for Africa, the importance of SMEs to our goals of prosperity cannot be ignored.
The writer is the Vice Chairperson of the Kenya Association of Manufacturer.
After years of chunky and bulky card based loyalty systems that have inconvenienced customers with wallets full of cards, M-Zawadi now gives a sigh of relief to customers who no longer need to carry any card while shopping.
By Bonface Otieno Kanyamwaya
Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw once said that some men dream things that never were and ask ‘why not’. These are the words that best describes Naftal Nyabuto Obwoni, Chief Executive Officer, M-Zawadi Holdings Limited.
He says that in 2015, armed with Ksh. 2 million from his savings, he co- founded M-Zawadi Holdings- a company which deals with cardless mobile based loyalty solution (M-zawadi) that enables service providers especially Small& Medium Enterprises or retailers to acquire, interact, reward and retain customers.
“This has been made possible by the adoption of the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) a technology that does not depend on internet but uses simple SMS push similar to the M-pesa technology,” he says.
Unlike other card based loyalty platforms, Obwoni says that this platform enables customers with any mobile phone to receive and redeem loyalty from any M-Zawadi registered merchant with only a mobile phone number as a card.
The platform also gives one the ability as a retail or as a service provider to interact and attract a wide spectrum of clients since the platform engages customers who are either using smart phones or feature phones.
“What we are offering is a solution which looks at how SMEs can reduce the cost of introducing loyalty programs. This includes the cost of buying cards, the machines for printing cards, the infrustures of card readers and the over heads for administering them. It costs about Ksh. 500 to print one loyalty card meaning that a business targeting a million customers under the card scheme is likely to spend over Ksh. 500 million,” says Obwoni.
M-Zawadi also provides users with a back-end, accessible via web. The back-end provides the merchant with business intelligence modules where they can map consumer purchasing behaviour. They can also generate specific insight on specific customers such as the number of visits and which products were purchased the most. Importantly, the business intelligence modules can allow a small business with multiple branches view the performance of each branch.
Consequently, it allows a registered user to transfer points to other users but within the same brand/merchant. This helps merchants to retain their loyal customer base and at the same time introduces new customers to their brand.
Furthermore, it allows merchants to advertise deals and promotions through a unique M-zawadi app portal with instant messaging ability to communicate with customers who like or follow their promotions. The platform also allows merchants to form a coalition with non competitors in order to allow customers to redeem points at various partner outlets thus giving more value to loyalty.
So how does it work?
The CEO says that for one to use the platform as a customer, first they need to register on the platform which can be done via USSD or an android app. He notes that users with feature phones or who prefer to use the USSD module dial *415*100# from their mobile devices, which then ushers in an option to register.
After following the prompts, the user can then begin earning points. The users can also download the app from Google play store. Upon registration, he can then start earning points every time they shop at an outlet registered with M-Zawadi.
“Assume that you visit your barber and your cut is Ksh. 300. The barber simply asks you for your number and having registered, they award you with points based on their pre-determined reward system.”
He notes that the solution is especially effective for merchants and is available via web, POS and App adding that for users with a physical POS but lack the internet, the M-Zawadi API allows for the storage of the data locally to be assessed when the internet becomes available.
For the merchant, he says that a customer’s number become their unique identifier, through which they can reward the user with points for transactions.
The awarding of the loyalty points takes place via a smart phone where as a merchant you ask for the customer’s number, enter the amount they purchased before they can receive their points.
Partnerships
In a bid to ensure that one can use the solution even when he is not in Kenya, the firm has partnered with a number of international gateway platforms for payment such E-Gift Africa, a subsidiary of eGiift.com that has 4500 brands across the globe that offer loyalty scheme to member partners.
Through this partnership, M-Zawadi users are able to trade the value of their loyalty programme with any of the affiliate partners.
For instance, an M-Zawadi customer can purchase an item at a particular shop, earn some points but redeem the value from any coffee shop or through any other organisation that is also in the partnership.
Challenges
One of the biggest facing Obwoni’s business at the moment is inadequate finance. He says that the situation has even been made worse as banks have denied them credit to be able to upscale their operations.
“A number of banks do not want to support start-ups because they want to reduce risks,” he says.
Secondly, he says that a number of Universities in Kenya are still producing half graduates without the required skills set in the market.
Going forward, he believes that in the next five years to come, M-zawadi is going to be a house hold name not only in Kenya but across the globe.
“The uptake is going to be very high because Kenyans have appreciated the solution we have created,” he concludes.
Just as the dust settles following the stormy arrival of Uber in Kenya, another player is set to join the fast-paced taxi business
By Jacob Otieno
If you are living in Nairobi and frequently use the city’s taxis, then chances are you have heard about Uber. It has been causing traditional cab drivers sleepless nights.
To express how much they were aggrieved by Uber’s arrival, the local taxi operators recently ganged up and rioted against the new comer, accusing it of providing services at lower rates, grabbing their customers and driving them out of business.
Ironically, the anti-Uber revolts only made matters worse for the aggrieved party. Uber quickly gained popularity in Kenya and attracted new customers.
And now the competition in the tax business is about to get even more exciting for the taxi customers.
Another player is coming to Kenya, except this time it will not be targeting cab drivers. It is called SafeMotos, Africa’s Uber for motorcycle taxis.
Inspired dream
As the name suggests, SafeMotos is a technology that was primarily developed to bring safety to African roads starting with Rwanda.
It mainly focuses on protecting the motorbike taxi users from reckless and notorious boda boda operators while at the same time striving to make taxis the safest and most convenient means of transport in African cities and towns.
The founders, Peter Kariuki and Barrett Nash, were inspired by a grisly road accident that almost claimed their lives.
The accident, Nash says, involved two notorious motorbike taxis and a reckless truck driver. The boda bodas, which normally trail each other at super speed, suddenly smashed into the truck on a steep and slippery road.
“I survived the accident by minor injuries, though my friend lost three teeth and gnashed his lips,” Nash recalls.
It so happened that the two friends cum business partners were already working on a mobile app that was meant to bring safety in the chaotic world of boda bodas when the accident occurred.
The accident, Nash says, was like fuel that accelerated the development of SafeMotos, a smartphone application that connects customers to safer motorbike taxis at the click of a button.
Though the technology bears significant resemblance to America’s Uber, which connects customers to cabs, SafeMotos works with motorcycles.
The app is installed on the smartphones of the moto taxi operators. SafeMotos is then able to receive the motorcycles’ accelerometer, gyroscopic and Global Positioning System (GPS) data through the mobile app.
“The app enables us to monitor the behaviour of moto drivers on the road. We then rate the drivers using telematic data and only connect customers with the safest of them,” says Nash.
The monitoring and selection process helps in instilling discipline in the driver and encouraging them to provide better customer service. SafeMotos offers incentives for good performance. These include receiving tips from customers.
Additionally, during the recruitment of the drivers, SafeMotos evaluates drivers to ensure they are certified and have at least three years of moto driving experience. They must also be equipped with protective gear.
Nash says they are currently working with 60 motorbike taxis making 200 trips per day. This translates to 1,400 trips per week and about 5,600 trips monthly.
The customers get picked up from any location of their choice using a localised User Interface (UI). They can also easily pay from their SafeMotos wallet, which can be connected to mobile money, cash, and credit cards, with prices being calculated based on the distance covered.
The customers pay 100 RWF (US$0.13) per kilometre whereas the moto taxi drivers pay SafeMotos a commission of 20 percent, amounting to 20 RWF (US$0.03) per kilometer.
“Our drivers, however, take less money per kilometer compared to the other motos,” says Nash.
SafeMotos take-off
In June 2015, SafeMotos began its operations in Kigali Rwanda.
With a seed capital of US$ 120,000 they received from a Venture Capitalist who was impressed by the SafeMotos concept and also the developers’ resolve to succeed, they were ready to hit the road running.
“Rwanda was a good starting point for us. It was one of the many African countries where motorcycle taxis had become the main mode of public transport,” says Nash.
Rwanda was also among the countries with the highest number of road fatalities involving motorcycles.
“We found that you are 328 times more likely, as a motorist, to die in a vehicular accident than in the UK with the vast majority of the accidents involving motos,” says Nash.
WHO also notes that there are 26.6 road traffic deaths per 100,000 people in Africa compared to the global average of 18 road traffic deaths per 100,000.This is despite the fact that Africa is also the least motorised with only two percent of the world vehicles.
“We are striving to bring down the huge number of deaths on the road using our app,” says Nash.
The app, according to Nash, is more than just a copy-paste of Uber dropped in Africa.
SafeMotos team has learned that African drivers and passengers do not like reading maps to show them direction as is the case in the Western countries. They have thus created an alternative User Interface based on the commonly understood landmark system.
“In Rwanda, we have been able to identify key landmarks across Kigali. These have become very helpful in giving direction to the SafeMotos passengers and drivers,” says Nash.
In addition, since most of the moto operators still can’t afford smartphones, SafeMotos has come up with a micro-loaning programme whereby the drivers can get the smartphones and pay for them in small installments out of their daily incomes.
“We also know that SafeMoto drivers need to be online all the time, yet they don’t have sockets for charging their phones. We are therefore installing affordable charging sockets on each of the motos,” says Nash.
Journey ahead
SafeMotos have been operating in Rwanda for close to a year and they are now planning to expand to other countries across Africa including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and beyond the East Africa region.
And just like CNN confirms, this could be the start-up to watch in 2016 and beyond.
Yululate combines functionalities of a directory, search engine and referral system to connect customers to businesses
BY Tullah Stephen
User reviews and ratings have over time proven to be sales drivers. A majority of customers now want to see online reviews and ratings of a business before deciding to make a purchase. It is estimated that 69 per cent of consumers search for reviews online, with 88 per cent trusting them as much as they would trust personal recommendations. For long, these practices were associated with internet giants form oversees such as Tripadvisor and Yelp.
But now, more than ever, ratings and reviews are having an impact on businesses of all sizes in Africa. “Online reviews and ratings are critical in not only attracting consumers to business, but boost sales as well. It is another way for businesses to market their products to new customers,” says Imran Khan, the director and co-founder of Yululate Kenya.
Yululate is a website that combines functionalities of a directory, search engine and referral system to connect customers to businesses. According to Khan, Yululate.com is meant to consolidate feedback for businesses to build up on their product as well as empower consumers to hold service providers accountable for the services or products they offer.
The biggest impact of Yululate, he says, has been giving a voice to those consumers that have had to silently suffer for long. This it has done by harnessing the power of the mobile phone.
In addition, the site also provides a level platform for SMEs to compete with large corporates. For a long time, Khan explains, consumers have been known to only shop at places they are familiar with. If it is dining, they would probably go to a hotel simply because they know or were referred by people in their close circles. “This makes it difficult for SMEs that happen to offer exceptional services.”
Khan says having businesses reviewed opens up opportunities or prospective clients. In addition to helping consumers make their purchasing decisions, these reviews can serve as vital sales tools for brands weaving them into the overall marketing and sales process.
Imran Khan, Director and co-founder of Yululate Kenya
Signing up on Yululate is simple. Users can either sign up by filling a simple form or by using their Google, Facebook or twitter login details. Once signed in, the user can rate the business available on the site by clicking on the “write a review box” and selecting the business you want to rate. There are five categories from the site namely; Auto, Finance services, food and travel, Lifestyle, real estate and professional services.
Once selected, users can now give the business a rating and then go ahead to write about the experience. Once submitted, the reviews are then approved by the team at Yululate before being published on the site.
The review approval process explains Khan, takes three steps. The first step involves an automated process that filters offensive words. Second, the team at Yululate goes through every single review that comes in for approval. And finally, Yululate contacts the affected businesses and gives them two working days to offer a response to the damaging reviews.
Before posting the review, the customers are asked to authenticate their experience through a receipt or any other form of evidence.
Yululate charges businesses for a premium listing at KSh10,000 per year. This amount includes their map location, up to 30 key words, six images and detailed company profile. There are also advertising packages for businesses as well. “We currently have slightly over 35 companies in the premium listings and 12 companies that have advertised on the site. In total we have reviews of about 2,500 companies or businesses a majority of which are in the food and beverage industry.”
Business longevity, explains Khan, is today more than just supply of services and products. “It’s about giving the best service and great products to your consumers that keeps them coming back and more importantly gets businesses new customers, because if you can’t, there are others who can.”
Khan reveals that the website will soon roll out a plan that will see it provide market intelligence reports for business to make informed strategies in the market. “We will be able to gather data such as those on consumer buying behaviours and preferences. In return we will provide in-depth and detailed insights on market trends. Large companies are today using business intelligence to calculate the profitability of millions of customers daily, track their interaction with websites, identify hundreds if not thousands of transactions in real time, whilst giving employees a 360-degree view of every customer. “SMEs will now be able to have a level playing field with large corporates as well other competitors of the same size.”
To further scale up its services, the company is seeking investors. The additional capital to the tune of US$250,000 will be used for a new improved website, developing a new mobile app and advertising among other uses.