Thus Spaketh Idd Salim

March 18, 2010.

It is the Tandaa Local Content Conference today in Nairobi. Thanks to ICT Board again.

I am at iHub Kenya and just heard Wanyama [@kenyafreelancer], say “What more do we Kenyans want? We have Fibre now”

I am at iHub Kenya and just heard Cynthia Muyoti of FabGuru , say “Facebook has made my business better? 1391 fans todate and I am soon expanding my Shoes Business”

Seated next to me is Agosta Liko, Mbugua Njihia and John Karanja. I hear talk after talk. Aly Khan Satchu talks about how anyone can be rich and gives examples.

So I brainstorm with fellow coders and the question becomes; ‘How can Kenyan Coders be rich?’. Not the “i can afford to go out and i own a toyota” rich. Or the “I pay all my bills and my rent is always paid on time” rich. How about the “I look at the food names on the menu, not the price before I order rich”, or the “I am undecided whether to drive my Range or my Mustang today rich”.

50 Cent said ‘get rich or die trying’ [GRODT], but I tell you, try ‘get rich or get rich’ [GRoGR]. We are in a position never experienced before. So, for free as usual, I will list the top 10 opportunities that are there open-legged and wet and just waiting for Kenyan coders to smell the coffee and dive in and start making the old-Money conglomerate wish they could impregnate their daughters.Only coders?? Naaah! ANYONE can jump into the eChapaa bandwagon. It is free and there for everyone.

My Top 10

1. Local Digital Content – Yes. Content is the buzzword. Enough Said. Anything you know [Yes, am speaking to Pamela, Wangechi and Anyanche] is sellable. Just grab word-press and google-checkout and walla!
2. Content Discovery Tools – Coders. The challenge is yours. Java Applications, Desktop Applications. There is over KSHS 100M not made per month by PRSPs because of lack of content discovery tools. That is why the guys down South are inviting  likes of Symbiotic to go down there and consult on HOW to convert content and knowledge into wallet-content.
3. Mobile Apps – Think of anything useful as a mobile phone app and there are 100, 000 people who NEED it and will PAY 20 bob each for it.
4. Mobile Games – Here we go again. the limit is only your imagination. grab a keyboard and write some code!! Stop these silly excuses that ‘programming is hard’. I got a miserable B in KCSE and can code, sembuse wewe!! But whatever you do, please don’t use VB.
5. Hacking and Security – The silence is deafening, but the hackers are on their way. Be equipped to defend Kenya. Your hacking knowledge will be invaluable in 3-6 months time. Tick.. tock…
6. Animation and Design – Some foreign jamaaz came here, partnered with HomeBoyz Studions and now are making millions of dollars per month. What are Kenyans doing? Facebook all day and complaining about how hard life is, how much of a a parent-hater Esther Arunga is and how much money Ruto is stealing. Kaeni papo hapo.
7. Kenyan Social Networks – YES. I said it. You can start your own Facebook tomorrow and become rich like crazy. There are 4M Kenyans with an Internet Connections. This number grows by the day. there are only 580, 000 kenyans on facebook. This is 14.5% percent of Kenyans with Internet. So what are the other 85.5% doing? Waiting for you to give them something better. Something Kenyan. Something more contextual. Lala tu.
8. Adult Sites – Ati Eish? We all know Kenyan is the mdinyano capital of East Africa. An average slut makes KSHS 2, 500 per night. And those are the cheap ones. Connect the clients and the vendors. Simple as! I wont say anything more.
9. eParty – Bring clubbing to the mobile phone. Hook people up to YOU on thursdays, fridays and sato. Just charge each user 10 bob per week. Kenyans will pay.
10. Your own WebTV Show – If you are that Kibera guy who can dance like MJ or that Kileleshwa bathroom singer, get heard online! Make some money. Sell yourself!

So maswali ni, what do KENYANS want! Are you going to waste all day thinking up cocky status updates for facebook and poking strangers who you mean NOTHING to, or are you going to monetize your time? Are you going to waste your life away in the digital world, or are you going to focus on what will really make your momma smile in public pointing at you and say, “yeah! that’s my baby!”. Are you going to complain all day about the government, corruption, the kaanjo and these bloody foreigners, or are you going to take control of your life?

Amua mwenyewe!

Ehh, back to code! Pole timo.

On Tuesday, I had the pleasure of being in the same room with some very influential development oriented people. Meeting was held at ICT board, hosted by PK. Invited were Symbiotic, MobileMonday, Safaricom, Top PRSPS and Developers in then Kenyan Mobile Arena

It was a good meeting of minds and well worth the time and effort. For Once, I was in a room with some guys from Safaricom who had their brains bigger than their Egos.

Present

Paul Kukubo – Head of ICT, Lewela and Kaburo

2 Peters from Safaricom, Sylvia Mulinge,

Salim, Timo from SMC, Wesley from Letti Games, Cellulant, Adtel and IMS teams.

Absent

All other Jokers in the country.

Agenda

• Why Safaricom is seen as a monster by Kenyan Software developers. Perception being that most ideas sent to Safaricom disappear at the Marketing department and and get ‘stolen’ to make Safcom all this BILLIONS, while the real inventors languish in poverty.
• How do we as inventors and developers work together with Safaricom and make a living out of code.
• What are the key failure factors met by developers while dealing with Safaricom.

Mangumi na Mateke

The top 2 issues and responses are as listed below.

ISSUE: The current locus standi is grim and really pathetic. Wesley argued that Apple Automatically gives the developer 70% shares and keeps only 30%. This encourages the developers to innovate and pays them immediately. Safaricom and the PRSPs take over 75% leaving the developer with a measly and satanic 25%. As if that is not enough torture and an abuse of human rights, the developer WILL NOT get paid until after 4 months. A Kenyan Mobile developer CANNOT live on code, unless they decide to follow the path of the weak and prostitute themselves and get employed

RESPONSE: Safaricom expressed willingness to shift the revenue shares to the favor of the developer. Developers will get as high as 90% of the money they bring. Systems that bring DATA traffic and thus bring residual income to Safaricom, e.g. Sembuse from Symbiotic, will also attract special treatment and revenue share models from Safaricom.

ISSUE: There are SO MANY requirements from Safaricom before a developer can get to the platform where their services reach the market. CCK Licence, PRSP Licence etc.

RESPONSE: This challenge fell to the PRSPs. It is, obviously out of the Safaricom domain. Adtel and IMS expressed willingness to incubate developers and their systems [Apps, Games, Ideas] at a very sexy revenue share.

There is a positive vibe from Safaricom at last which might indicate the following:

• The actual problem and cause of the ‘Safaricom ni Madogi’ movement in Kenya by coders is due to the red-tape between the entry-level marketing department and the upper tier. I remember going with a proposal to SafCom and Evah from VAS asking if we were read to accept 5% revenue share while SafCom kept 95%. I felt like crying. Maybe she was Joking. Meeting people higher up makes you realize that SafCom aint all that bad.
• Safaricom have started to realize that Voice and SMS are dead! The next frontier for MSP Mkwanjalization is DATA and DATA driving solutions. Step in Java Developers!
• Safaricom have started to smell the coffee. Which is good. Of late, they have just been inhaling the AC!

Lemmi go back to code. Mbugua is giving me that ‘you have not coded for 12 minutes straight’ eye! And No, Deno, Safaricom have not ‘onad me kando’ to do a positive blog about them. Good stuff is happening.

Alot of times, I have been stopped on the streets [on my way to Laico for lunch] by many a coders with the same question. ‘Salim, I want to make money using SMS shortcodes and tun my own campaign ya kulipua mabilioni kama ile ya Safaricon. Nidosike kama Sebi na ninunue Kompressor sita za pink.’

So, being the big brother I am to a few, I always cancel my lunch and take the person to Savanna Loita, and explain it all.

• How it works
• How much money once can make
• What different types of billings are available
• What are the best people to partner with to get value
• How to promote your service

Now, After the Arsenal Loss, I woke up refreshed and sober. I can share this with the public. So here we go.

Premium rate SMS services are a value-add SMS revenue model for Mobile Service Providers (MSP) customers, that is run by Premium Rate Service Providers (PRSP) and Content Providers (CP) to drive revenue via SMS and SMS-related services.

By Law, MSPs (Safaricon, Zain, YU, ME, Orange and PineApple) are not allowed to run ANY shortcode business directly or indirectly, as this would kill the small players (But we all know SafCom does it anyway, huh?)

To become a PRSP, you will need to pay KSHS 210, 000 to CCK for a license, and renew it anually for KSHS 100, 000. This allows you to book Shortcodes with the MSPs. If you dont have 210, 000, you can become a content provider and book a shortcode from a PRSP.

There are two types of shortcodes in Kenya.

• Golden Shortcodes : (e.g.) 5050, 8008, 4441. Easy to remember, cute on the eye and cost KSHS 200, 000 application and a monthly of KSHS 10, 000 per month, per Network + VAT.
• Normal Shortcodes : (e.g.) 4034, 2346, 4659 etc. Kawaida shortcodes for KSHS 10, 000 per month, per Network + VAT.

So if you want to run a normal shortcode on 2 networks (e.g. SafariCon and Zain), you need KSHS 20, 000 + VAT per month and you FULLY own the shortcode and can run your own services on it and rake in cash, as long as you can advertise them and make them popular.

So, Where is the money?

When you book a short-code, you need to decide the following:

• What Billing band should it be? – Bands start from KSHS 3.5 per SMS where you make 0 (Read Zero) Shillings to one that the client gets charged around 100 bob per SMS. Most people settle for KSHS 10 to KSHS 60.
• Should it be MO-billed, MT-billed or MO-MT billed? MO-Billed means user MUST have the money e.g. the 10 bob, on their phone before engaging you. MT means user gets billed once SMS lands on their phones. MO-MT is obvious. Means user gets billed half on send and half on receive.
• How much money you want to make. Obvious huh?

So, How much money Do I Keep?

Well, I was hoping we dont fika here. This is the saddest part of the entire business. Normally, based on whether you are a PRSP or a CP, the moneymatics are as follows:

• Unless you have received 1, 000, 000 SMSes on your shortcode, the MSP takes 50% revenue, PRSP takes between 10-30% of the remaining 50%. So, if you are charging 20 bob per SMS, you take home between 7-9 bob per SMS, PRSP takes between 1 to 3 bob and Safaricon takes 10 bob; bila adabu.
• Zain have a better deal at 30% if your volumes are high.

Errrr, yeah. I will answer the rest personally.

Back to code.