Thus Spaketh Idd Salim

Well, on march 11, I had the privilege and the pleasure of meeting the creme-de-la-creme of Kenya’s Mobile Industry. The MoMo Kenyan chapter if official BABY! SHe is alive and kicking in Kenya.

The list is endless, but top of my mind was Paul Kukubo, Mark Kaigwa, Pratik, Forrest, Aly Khan Satchu, Kaburo, Lewela, Ronald Meru, Timo, Leon Asoyo Oywero, Kemibaro, Erik Hersman, Caroline Juma, Norman Gombe, Oscar from Zain… Just to mention whose who smiled at me, shook my hand and spent some seconds to talk to me with either advice or questions.

Slowly, Idd Salim is becoming a celeb. Hehehehehehaters. Relaxini bana. Cant a brother get some recognition?

Hersmann stated that the world is waiting for the Kenya’s version of FacebookMobile, but with focus on Local content and trends. I told him about our Zunguka Mobile site and he was pleasantly surprised. I smiled thinking, “A black Facebook on steroids. If only Symbiotic had 1/6473868 of the development investment/budget of Facebook. But no one believes in Kenya. We have to fend for ourselves!! Innovative Geniuses doing hand-to-mouth programming with emphasis on code-for-food-and-rent.”

Mark as always was happy and enthusiastic about our products like Sembuse and TumaSMS and hoped that GotIssuez could do a collabo with Symbiotic. I asked only one Question? ‘Why not?’. There is alot of content repetition in Kenya. What we need is content aggregation. Nipe nikupe. As in, Symbiotic.

Moses Kemibaro, the man whose mind is not narrow and got words like the mighty sparrow was next. “Salim, congrats bana. Your website was ‘Kenyas Blog of the week’ in the Business Daily”. I had no idea! Thanks BDA. BDA march 11, page 17. Moses then Introduced me to the great Aly. Well, the Kenyan Version.

I was most likely speaking from a whole meter below the Tall Aly. I think he was standing on his Wallet. Nevertheless,  I am sure he got me verbatim when I Explained how he could use the Sembuse platform to monetize his NSE Stocks Data on rich.co.ke and rake millions. Make the data go to the people, not make people come to your website for data. He was all smiles. Watch this space.

Ronald of Adtel and Norman of IMS told me sweet things I like hearing about some things we call USSD, MONEY and CHAPAA.

And then came a God-sent moment. No, not me finally speaking to a Female. I was doing dudes all night jana. I met this guy whose jobbo is to get poor and orphaned kids from slums and teach them photo-shop, web design etc, and then empower them to be self-reliant with web jobs. I told him about Symbiotic being a Company formed by Old Boys from Starehe, understand sponsorship and charity to the letter.

We are pamojaz with him and we got no Issuez with helping. I also suggested he talks to MobilePlanet. What I hear is that Safaricom has given ONLY mobile planet access to USSD and locked out all the other developers and PRSPS and these kids could really benefit from knowledge of USSD coding. maybe at last in Kenya, we can see more innovative solutions on USSD rather than wait for a Semeni every 3 years. [Btw, i have no beef with Semeni and I believe it is a great solution. It is actually named after Semenya, a real champion of the people. But come on, this is Kenya. We have the best coders and thinkers on earth. Am sure we can do better if these APIs are opened.]. Or maybe my Informer meant Safaricon, and I heard Safaricom. I stand corrected.

Speaking of our Beloved Saf, I did not meet anyone from Safaricom at MoMo. Either they were not there, ama maybe tu ni network haikuwa.

Oscar, Bi Juma and the rest of the esteemed Salim-meeters were all positive and I am sure all this will come to a good end. Or is it a start?

Only time will tell.

Err, Code time it is.

<< Part 1 Here

Along came Safaricon

Those guys from henga (Wahenga) once said ‘Mtegemea Nundu Haachi kunona’. That is normally the truth because as we see it all over, then BIG companies are always helping out the small ones, even if via mergers and acquisitions, for the good of everyone. Google just bought AdMob last week for USD 750M [KSHS 54.7 B].

However, In Kenya, the saying was officially changed to ‘mtegemea nundu, haachi kusota’.

The 2003 experience

I vividly remember in 2003. I was co-habiting at UoN with some of my Starehe Old Boys. Like most Kenyan Coders, I was all-brains and bubbling with Ideas, but NO Money. So, Me and my Friend Wasena Angira went to Safaricon with our very brilliant Idea. We called it 2GeS [2^nd Generation Email Service]. This solution would help one aggregate all his emails using a simple web Interface we had created and would get an SMS when new mail checked into any of his/her email accounts. Via USSD, the user would then quickly peruse his emails and decide whether it is necessary to rush back to the office or cyber to read the mails. User could set parameters and priority levels based on sender, subject or message body.

Assuming Safaricon was there to help the innovators be able to finally afford some groceries, we did the demo, shared the documentation and the entire concept. Talk of a cute gal walking with a shirt with the words ‘Take me, I am single and desperate’ in Westlands.

‘Very nice concept, we will get back to you in 2 days’, was the response. And so we walked back to westlands stage smiling at each other everytime we saw a nice car because we knew, ‘we will own 2 of those each, soon’.

OHHH!! How wrong we were!!

We got a regret email stating that Safaricon was not immediately looking at email over SMS and that they will get back to us.

Needless to mention some time after that, Safaricon and Google did a replica of that system. Thanks to God, it flopped. Amazingly, [possibly just coincidence].

I do not have enough facts to intelligently comment on the origins of mPesa, OkoaJahazi or Sambaza concepts, but I know some people that talk about coders who went to Safcon, were told off via email or call, only to see their product on a billboard and all over news. Powered and Owned by Safaricon, ofcourse.

The 2009 experience

So, fast-forward 2009. We are more equipped and stronger. More technically adept and mentally sanguine. We develop and test Sembuse version 3. A mobile Social Network that comes with Real-time Cheap Messaging, Operator Agnostic payment, SIM-Independent Revenue model and a ground-breaking Advertising Engine [ManenoAds].

So we go to Safaricon with after a request for a meeting from JM, we send an NDA and they send an email saying that all but MJ have signed the NDA, but we can proceed with the meeting. We go to Safcon House and meet with a group of 3 marketing department staff and 2 VAS Staff. All names available. We take them through the system and all its workings, discuss revenue models etc.

‘Very good product. So, what do you want from Safcon’, The VAS lady asks. ‘One-off Licensing cost and a revenue share’, Says TM. ‘Hmmn, Revenue Share? How does 90% Safcon and you 10% sound’, She Asks.

Ohh dear! 2003 all coming back to me.

We found a way to get off the meeting amicably and they were to ‘get back to us’. Till today, we have not yet received the NDA. MJ bado hajasign.

Amazingly, [possibly just coincidence] Safaricon started a CLASSIFIED service on Safcon Live, aiming to cannibalize on our ManenoAds ad engine. Needless to say, it was a kindergarten implementation of our concept.

The advice

I have shared this idea with a lot of people and the following was the collective advice I have got on how to deal with Kenyan Corporates:

1. The NDA is just a piece of paper. Go to ALL meetings with a lawyer. No phone calls. Insist on Emails and always CC your lawyer.
2. Don’t deal with middle or low-level staff. They will steal your Idea, package It as theirs and sell it to senior management. They are mostly under-achievers who will do anything to get noticed. They are kawa people like you who HATE to see you walk in with an Idea and walk out with a check right before their very eyes. Above all, they will just waste your time.
3. If you can’t deal with SENIORS or OWNERS, then it is not worth your time. God has given you that Idea and he will open other doors for you.
4. Don’t be intimidated by company size. Remember, Companies like Safaricon are just ‘Jogoos was shamba’. With their 12M subscribers they are non-entities in the global scene [read: Mjini]. Using LinkedIN and simple google searches, you can find bigger fish who can take up your idea in a more professional level and manner.
5. Look for a VC or a non-kenyan investor to put money in your idea and LAUNCH BIG. A small launch is like a small erection. It impresses no one and just exposes your Ideas to the hunters and gatherers.
6. Offshore is better. Why Non-Kenyans? Because there are no real investors in Kenya. We have not met someone who can put USD 100k in faith and equity on an IT startup. Kenyans have no faith. All we have met are people who want to put KSHS 1M for 80% ownership of your solution and your life. Remember it is Software. Not Bread.
7. Never give up. Like Jose Chameleone said, ‘Chako ni Chako’.

More Soon…

Starting today, we will be experimenting on a ShortCode model for Sembuse.

Mrs Milas Omit has contracted us to design for her a CocaCola Wahi-Kuwahi Campaign as a test-case to prove that our short-code model works. We accepted the challenge. And The service was born. (She fully owns the Idea and the solution. We merely designed and implemented it.)

Here is how to use it:

• Go to Sembuse Mobile and register or login. Or SMS the word FREEDOM to 2346 to get a direct link.
• Go to ‘Your Texts’.
• On the message type, select Sembuse – 1000 xters.
• On the To : Type 411. (411 is our internal info-service shortcode and not the SafCom 411). This Message will not be charged.
• On the Message type what you have. If you have WAHI 1000, type WAHI 1000. Not what you want!!
• In the above case, If a Kuwahi of 1000 is found, both users will be alerted via the Sembuse Inbox (under your texts) and will be advised on the hook up.

Cute huh?

Come on!! What did you expect from us at Symbiotic?

Real Solutions for real people baba!!

Now it gets better: If you have a service that might need a shortcode e.g. ringtones, matching, helplines, horoscopes etc… Holla!

We will rent out a dedicated short-code to you and you will run your own service e.g. 4412, 1234, 9999 … whatever you want!  Make money via Sembuse, starting today!

Kazi Kwako.

Now incorporates a web version available at wap.zunguka.com.

Allows you to access and enjoy all the features of Sembuse even if you can’t/don’t want to install a Java App on your phone.

Test drive the service today!