Kenya business moving online?

Apologies in advance if this blog post comes over as more of a stream of conciousness...

For some time, I have been thinking about website based businesses and how they can generate revenue (unlike let's say - a blog, or rather, this blog).  Somebody I met for the first time last night, who by some miracle had read a post or two on this site, had a quick answer to my whinge when I said I wondered why I bothered with writing a blog for7 years since it can hardly be viewed as a revenue generating exercise.  He said; "well, not everything in life is about making money is it?"  I was firmly put in my place - but I am still fascinated by the question; how do websites make money - is it luck, one good idea or is there simply a huge amount amount of leg work involved in any successful business, be it web based or no. (I'm always on the look for the easy option, obviously....)

Apparently (for now) the highstreet is dead and ONLINE is where it's at.  Globally, shopping online has gone wild.  This trend is facilitated by a plethora of websites that sell things, websites that offer a market place for others to sell things through and websites that just offer free information (sponsored by advertisers), oh and there are also online magasines - (but do online mags every actually make any money? Really?)

Last weekend I spent time with someone visiting Kenya who has a business selling made-in-Kenya sandals online via a UK based website.  She loves her business but constantly struggles with issues of consistency, quality and challenges of matching up supply with demand.  Getting things made in Kenya involves dealing with local suppliers and producers and from what I can glean from friends involved in small, creative businesses here, a lot of heart ache is involved when suppliers fail to replicate the high quality expected from overseas online shoppers who are used to buying near perfect, low priced stuff from China.  In my opinion, the US, UK and Europe still have a long way to go before they are ready to accept authentic 'ethical' fashion from Africa - but that's another blog post.

Online Market Place:
So I moved my focus to web based businesses that are not actually selling their own stuff - but acting as a vehicle for other sellers.

I got interested in the big, successful UK based website called; notonthehighstreet.com - because I was reading about the founder of the business in a UK newspaper supplement.  She started her website (rather creatively - from her kitchen table) with a friend in 2006 (at around the time I started this blog).  The concept behind their web based business is to create a market place for quirky gift items that are not readily available in the shops.  Their business is now HUGE - but when I read the terms and conditions for the small scale suppliers who use their site - it got a bit ugly, with rules such as;  Do not approach customers directly with your own marketing material, do not use any sites similar to ours or you will be in breach of your contract - and so on...

I have looked at the website called Closet49 - that is doing a similar thing here in Kenya.  They are a fashion website offering Kenyan clothes, accessories and shoes from various stores locally.  You can pay via MPesa (rather than credit card - not everyone has one here in Kenya) and I guess the delivery is by courier (in the absence of the lovely door to door service of the UK Royal Mail).  The concept behind Closet49 is similar to my-wardrobe.com - another successful, global online brand but I wonder how it will do?  Is there enough of a market here?

Doubtless, the number of new Kenyan web based businesses are increasing, reflecting trends that are happening around the rest of the world - but how successful are these sites and how many fall by the wayside after a year or two?  For instance, I think that the buy/sell website uzanunua that was launched in 2010 has now disappeared. 

My guess is that generating online revenue is a tough business.  My non-revenue generating attempt at moving this website to www.africaexpatwivesclub.com has been rocky so far and a bit of a waste of time, mainly because it seems only to act as a spam magnet.

Exciting new Kenya Fashion websites that I've just heard about:
Closet49
Watch this Space - a Kenyan online fashion magazine by Cranium Ink
Blogs I know that have evolved into successful business websites:
Rock n Roll Bride


Let me hear your thoughts on this thorny matter?... The turnover of online businesses that crash and burn must be huge globally.  In the meantime, Best of British to all of those fledgling online businesses in Kenya that are popping up - I hope that you overcome the challenges and succeed!  No doubt I'll still be sitting at my crossroads to wait and watch....

Rain and power cuts

Have you ever seen one of those Dutch Old Master paintings. They are often dark and might perhaps depict a lady sewing by the light of a candle? You may think, poor her – how can she possibly see anything by the light of that one candle? How times have changed. But here, in 2013,so life is in Nairobi! It’s raining, ergo no power. In our household, we actually get by quite well with only one or two candles. Our eyes get accustomed to darkness quickly and are happy to feel our way around the house; the kids don’t seem to get freaked out. We could probably be better organised with solar lights and torches – but I don’t like planning for power cuts. We would all much rather that they didn’t happen.

Last weekend, we had no power for 4 days (a 10 year record for us). The good news was that fortunately, for 3 of those days – we weren’t home (otherwise I would have been going demented). A very dear friend popped over each day to run our tiny generator for a few hours to keep the fridge going. I still had to throw out my frozen shellfish mix that I was hoping to make into a seafood chowder one day. It just wasn’t worth the risk!

Last Friday, we packed the car (x5 bikes and 3 mattresses plus food and water) and set off merrily for Naivasha, waving goodbye like Swiss Family Robinson. Little did we know that the mother of all storms was about to hit our suburb – it’s epicentre seems to have hit our road. Within hours, eleven trees in our neighbour’s plot fell (though this says something about the size of their garden). Major branches fell off trees in our garden causing great alarm. One very large branch managed to fall squarely on top of one of our washing line poles – stoving it clean into the ground so that only the top T-section was visible. I guess it must have been terrifying to have been here. Trees fell this way and that, rendering the whole street impassable. Imagine the ‘twister’ in the Wizard of Oz (or to be a little more up to date; Oz the Great and Powerful) – these are the kind of storms we have been having here!

The rain has been unbelievable, even by long rains standards here. So far, 30 people have died in Kenya due to flooding and landslides and thousands displaced from their homes.

Love the African Print shoes

Don't you just love these Kitenge print shoes!  Very on trend internationally too.  They are made by Zenabally - but not sure where I can buy them from here in Nairobi?!

See the write up in 'African print for your feet' The Nation

Easter Staycation

Easter weekend in Kenya is invariably a wet one.  Where ever you go - beach or bush, it is basically going to rain.  Rain and various additional contributing factors such as available funds, a recent expensive holiday already taken, a planned trip away this coming weekend and one daughter saddled with piles of revision, meant that, shock horror - we decided to stay home.

I'm not very good at this.  For weeks now, people have been exchanging news of the upcoming Easter plans.  "Where are you going?  What are you doing?"

My inbox has been flooded by Easter weekend away offers from safari camps trying to drum up low season 'local' trade, while international tourists shy away from rain and politics.

If I was at home in England, we might be lucky enough to visit family for a big meal at some point over the weekend.  There would be some chocolate and that would be enough.  My impression is that the weight of expectation would not be so high as it is when living overseas.  When expats hit a national holiday, at every opportunity (and in the absence of extended family members to visit), they tend to travel, take a safari; go to the beach.

Buckling under peer pressure, I have subjected my family to some pretty poor, knee-jerk Easter weekend trips away.  Once we went to Malindi.  Two entire days of the 4 day holiday were spent in the car.  The 3 nights we spent in the hotel were a purgatory of mosquitoes, extreme heat, 100% humidity and muggy, overcast days.  Needless to say, any chocolate we had, melted.  Last year we forked out a fortune, only to find that the lodge was taking advantage of their 'low season' to renovate (and therefore close) the swimming pool and some of the tents - but still insisted on charging top 'national holiday' dollar for the privilege.  (Funny how the travel agent never mentioned this...).  The year before that we plumped for a last minute cancellation at a KWS banda in Meru. (see previous post on our trip to Meru)

This year, I was sorely tempted to join good friends who were heading to a lodge in Tsavo West.  In the event, they ended up spending one night in their car hounded by tsetse flies, after being stuck in mud by an overflowing river for 24 hours - so, in retrospect, giving that one a miss was a good decision.  (They may not have been thinking the same thing - if we had been with them, we could have pulled them out!).

So, how did the staycation go?

Friday - I nearly go mad.  What have we done?  This is a four day holiday... what am I going to feed everyone?  It's raining.  The electricity has gone off.  The dogs are bringing mud into the house.  I miss Gladys and Florence!  The revision is going badly.  Helping our 12 year old revise is a thankless task.  the other two kids are stir crazy.  I'm stir crazy.  I think of where we could go - just for one night, then when the power comes back, send a frantic 'last minute Easter booking request' out to a lodge.  Perhaps we could still go somewhere!  My husband says "look, it was your decision to stay.  We're staying."

Saturday. - I have got hold of myself.  I started reading a book (first time in ages) - exhale.  We are making headway with the revision.  Normality returns when Gladys and Florence arrive for a morning's clean up.  Heaven.  I take my eldest down to the local shops and we choose a whole lot of rental dvds.  The two kids go on a bike ride with Dad, we all meet up have a family coffee together.  I make a cake for tomorrow.

Sunday - we go to lunch with friends.  It's absolutely lovely.  The kids spend the afternoon on a sugar high and are thrilled to be let out of the house and seeing their mates.  It's still raining though, and the power/electricity is off all night and all day.  The day ends with another enormous thunderstorm.

Monday - A trip to Nairobi National Park is planned for the afternoon.  No power so we go out for breakfast at our local cafe.  I recognise a few people.  It's reassuring to see people out and about on a national holiday.  Perhaps we're not the only ones who decided to stay in Nairobi.  The park was fun.  The sun came out (briefly).  A few cars were stuck in mud here and there and my husband waded into an overflowing river in order to add to the debate between 3 cars to see if it was passable (all good fun).  Had a lovely sundowner picnic.  Saw a giraffe on the road, a rhino next to the road and two adult lions with two cubs sitting right on the grassy verge on our game drive out.


On balance, we had a lovely time and saved ourselves a packet. 

Why I hate Facebook?
As you may have surmised, I am an absolute sucker for being swayed by peer pressure that I have vow never to join, the horribly unhealthy Facebook because it's all about showing off and telling people about the marvellous things you are up to (okay, it's a bit like a blog).  If I was on Facebook, my face would be perpetually green.  I don't see myself as a particularly jealous person, but put it this way, it's bad enough hearing about everyone else's holidays on the school playground or supermarket check-out queue - without having their holiday snaps staring back at you every time you go oline!

Admittedly, I am having a pretty tricky time convincing my eldest daughter that it's not a good idea to join the evil networking site....

Telegraph article: Why women constantly lie about life on Facebook