The other day, Amazon announced that it would be shipping to Kenya and Nigeria (though I thought it has been shipping to Kenya all along). Even as people celebrated this announcement, I couldn’t help but think of the opportunities there are to sell in the global market, yet we have remained mostly importers. The web has make it possible to import a car from Japan…
Read MoreA few days ago I was thinking about my life and excellence: We like to say “I am doing my best”. Are you really? — Gatwiri (@RookieKE) July 27, 2015 I have really been struggling with excellence of late. Last year, I left full time employment for a couple of reasons, top on that list being: I was tired. I’d had a rather steep…
Read MoreThe romance and relationships landscape is changing. We have more women in graduating from universities than ever before, joining the corporate sector and going up through the ranks, and earning more than they have before. We are also marrying later in life, compared to our parents (especially mothers) who married in their early 20s. This means that as women look for a partner to settle…
Read MoreIn the past, the companies that have achieved great success are companies that have been able to come up with great ideas, keep them secret, then release those ideas into the market with a bang, changing the way we solve problems. A great example of this is Apple launching the first phone that not only had a touch screen, but was a phone, an iPod…
Read MoreEntries to the 2015 African Blogger Awards are now open to bloggers, Instagrammers, Tweeters, Facebookers and YouTubers across Africa. The African Blogger Awards are the first programme that measures online and social influencers’ reach and influence through data analysis. This provides the opportunity for influencers to be measured objectively against their peers based on their reach, resonance, and relevance. Categories include Advice, Fashion and Beauty,…
Read MoreIn the wake of Transcentury’s success from an investment club to a publicly traded multi million dollar company, joining an investment group or a chama as they are popularly called has become the default first step to investing for most young people. Chamas are a great way to get ahead because by pooling funds, you are able to achieve more as a group than you can…
Read MoreAfter I wrote this post, I had a lively discussion with @Roomthinker in the comments section. He made great points on the importance of formalizing your business before you go out to sell your product/solution to the market. His view was that this is critical if you want to be taken seriously by the corporates or out in the business world and I fully concur with him….
Read MoreA few years back I wrote this post after buying cake from Nakumatt which I discovered to be stale on getting home. Upon returning the cake on the same day, I was treated with suspicion and I swore to never buy cake there again. I compared Nakumatt with Amazon, which treated me with absolute trust, despite the fact that I am based in this continent which is home to the…
Read MoreWhenever I hold a conversation with a group of techies, the issue of Kenyan corporations stealing ideas from young techies comes up for discussion. We all know how it happens; you come up with an idea that is useful to a big corporation, say a mobile banking platform for a bank, or a payment platform for a mobile service operator. You spend some time building…
Read MoreMr Kamau: Woow! What a beautiful flat you have built Mrs Otieno. Retirement is certainly going well for you. Share the secret. (Kenyans love to know the secret to wealth and success) Mrs Otieno: (smiling) There is no secret Kamau. I started saving with National Social Security Fund (NSSF) when I first got employed at 22 years old, and last year when I retired, they paid me…
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