NTV - Turning off Youtube Channels...

Yesterday was a VERY sad day for me, an ardent Youtube user.

Well, as my confides might know, I was living in Uganda from 2004 to 2008. The I realized that unless I was selling matoke, there was no place for a coder like me there. I was always speaking Greek and talking of ‘advanced systems’. So I decided to come back to Kenya.

In 2007, me and some friends in Uganda decided to Start a Youtube Channel and named it Ndazi TV (NTV). This was meant to be a joke-site for lovers of Quarter-Ndazi like me, Danoch, Sibelenje and Cris Kiagiri. All Starehe boys LOVED quarter ndazis.

So, we registered the channel : http://www.youtube.com/ntvuganda

Then come 2008, Kenya’s NTV station started broadcasting in Uganda as NTV Uganda (A TV Station). I sent various proposals their way via email detailing how they could create a station-buzz using technologies like email,  web, social media and SMS. They called me on various talk shows like Money Matters etc.

Little did I know, that NTV would screw me in the rear orifices.

So on 24th July 2009, After I had relocated to Nairobi, I got an email from Robert Samuel Muganga of NTV Uganda. it read:

Hullo Sir;

Iam called Robert Samuel Muganga an IT/ Tech Support Engineer with NTV – U.
I got your address from Rosemary, and yes for some time now we have
perused through the channel on a request from administration.
It appears that due to the changes to the company group policy, all
divisions including NTVU are required to have a web presence with Youtube
only that by the time we checked we already had a presence to which we had
control over the content;

Would you please kindly  relinquish the passwords for this channel. we
would highly appreciate that sir.

Best Regards
Robert Samuel Muganga
IT/ Tech Support Engineer
NTV – Uganda

I was appalled! Now NTV wants to take what was rightfully mine!

I replied apologizing for the name collision stating it was purely coincidental.

So, they did not respond or contact me again, but last week, to my utter HORROR, it appears they had contacted YouTube, who YANKED me off my Ndazi TV network, deleted ALL my content, changed my passwords  and handed the channel over to NTV Station.

Wazi.

Increase your SMS revenue to 155%.

Recently, the revenue share model for SMS services running on short-codes was revised and, as always, it anti-enterprenural.

As hot girls might tell you, I don’t like beating around their bushes and I always dive right to the meat of the moment and this being a weekend post, i will make it straight to the point, like me.

So, I will share model 1 of 3 and hopefully, it will be of use to someone.

The Locus Standi

The current revenue share model for Kenya is like this:

SMS Service on Safaricon

Government – 26% (16% vat + 10% excise),

SAF 50% (of what remains after tax) – if your traffic is less that 1M smses or 40% if it is more.

PRSP 20% (of your 100%, which is 50% of the after-tax value.)

You – A hefty 80%, from which you must the government another 5% with-holding tax.

So for an SMS service charging the client 10 bob per response, The share will be:

Govt : 2.6, Saf : 3.7, PRSP : 0.74, You: 2.96 (less 5% W/h tax : 2.812)

Same applies to other operators, give or take 5% from their share. or yours.

So, for you to make something sensible, e.g. 5 Bob per SMS, you must charge at least 20 bob.

The Solution

When I designed the Easy Hisa System for Standard Investment Bank (SIB) as an adaptation of our Mobile Stock Trading and tracking suite, we decided to try a different revenue model. Today, I will share with you the revenue model, so that you can use it to maximize on SMS revenues.

This model is simple and is applicable to banks, insurance companies, stock brokerage houses, bars and clubs etc. Think outside an in-existent box, and the possibilities are unlimited.

Success Story: How SIB is doing it

SIB Opted for a model that is simplistic and traffic independent. The profits are always HIGH and fixed. Client gets charged normal SMS rates to access the system, e.g. 1 bob for YU and 2 bob for Zain.

At SIB, I have setup a MODEM pool with SIM cards for all operators. All lines are the same e.g. 0711/0751/0734 (900009) and clients just need to SAVE their network number to their SIM as SIB.. or Broker.

Anytime a client needs to check the status of their shares order, balance etc, they just send a normal-rated SMS to SIB on their address book and we receive the SMS, process it and respond. Mara iyoiyo… Cost on their Airtime, 2 bob. Needless to say, SMSes come to the client using out TumaSMS gateway and are masked as the broker sees fit.

Now comes the big question. How does the broker make money?

The clients have been educated to see this as a convenience service and looking at the kawaida cost of going to your broker of KSHS 100+ coz of transport etc and the time wasted because of Jam etc not forgeting akina morio, they gladly pay the 10 bob SIB charges as a service fee for this service.

EasyHisa passes a journal to the internal brokerage system and charges the client’s trading account 10 bob, a revenue stream from which SIB keeps 100% profits. 10 outta 10.

So here, the client pays 12 bob to get information that would have cost them 100 bob. In 5 seconds when it would cost them 1hour+. SIB keeps 100% profit as opposed to 28.2%. Simple, Easy, Neat!

Jidosishe mzee, dont dosisha wadosi.

Back to code.

Just 24 Hours After I criticized the Safaricom ‘s Fuck-Kenyan-Developers attitude and big headedness, they  have brought down their Innovations fraud site.

This was meant to be a trap to take ALL ideas in Kenya, own them, sue any coder who implements such an idea after contacting them and OWN all ideas in Kenya.

Thanks to Google Cache, you can still access that Sad site HERE and read how Kenyan developers were to lose out financially and intellectually, had the site stayed up.

A myriad of Safaricom IP addresses have been hitting my blog and also, alot of script-kiddie hack attempts hitting my hardened firewall.

[Added for political correctness] – Kudos to user JM for sharing the Cache Link.

SHAME ON SAFARICOM. The frauds are finally getting exposed.

This post is meant to serve as an update for this post

This project has been stalled a bit due to the tedious and unneccesary steps it take to get Mpesa access from Safaricom.

We are ready to go on yuCash and ZAP, but still waiting on Mpesa.

The Open and Free payment gateway will enable:

• Anyone to eCommerce-enable their website in 5 minutes.
• Anyone to be able to track their payments and convert money between Zap, Mpesa and yuCash.
• Be network Agnostic.

Will update ASAP.