DealFish.Co.Ke Website

DealFish.co.ke is a brand new Kenyan classifieds website.The DealFish site makes it easy for members within a community to buy, sell, rent and find products and services as part of a like-minded community.The website lists a wide array of items and services  from property to jobs to second hand goods - all in one place! 

 The user friendly  E-Commerce platform enables one to find the best deals on accessories, clothings, cars...etc. It also enables users to trade off items that they no longer use.DealFish.Co.Ke also has a Facebook page where users can get the latest information on the portal. DealFish has a presence in the following African Countries:

•  South Africa
• Cameroon ,
• Cote d’Ivoire ,  
• Ghana ,  
• Tanzania ,
• Nigeria ,  
• RDC ,  
• Uganda

DealFish is run by MIH Internet Africa, a division of the Naspers group.

World Cup Brings Paypal to South Africa.. ?

South African's can now fully enjoy the seamless benefits of the secure online payment service PayPal thanks to  a partnership by a local Bank- First National Bank (FNB) and PayPal International. South Africa in March 2010 became the st African Country to officially join the PayPal secure online payments platform(see official PayPal Blog announcement).On a positive note entry of PayPal to South African subscribers may prove to be the entry point of the service to other African Countries  on the other hand this just demonstrates how Africa is inherently incapacitated perhaps 'by design' in fully utilizing or harnessing the power of E-Commerce and secure online payment systems.

What perhaps may be puzzling to pundits is, whether the fact that South Africa will be hosting the 2010 World Cup may have  had any influence if at all, for the service provider to venture into this market especially after many African Bloggers had previously campaigned for the entry of the service to Africa but to no avail.Efforts at the same were met with excuses of procedural and technical difficulties .

See the following posts:

1.  David Oluinyi Ajao's post of date : 29/09/2007  wherein he stated Paypal's response as to why Africans could only send but not be able to receive payments was that

"PayPal is constantly working to expand and improve our services for our customers. We hope to be expanding our availability to include more countries, however, due to the complexities of global expansion, we cannot give a timetable for this....

2.  My First initial post on the issue which was later highlighted at the World Bank Blog  , one of the solutions propounded was for Africans to get an African solution for effective online payments .However the issue would be foolhardy since a majority of western merchants preferred PayPal as the medium of payment thus disadvantaging Africans.

How that  has changed in the case of South Africa and in the current context proves to be an enigma of sorts.However ,still it is a positive step though meager at best for the African market. A South African blogger at Imod.co.za indicates that despite the positive development still the South African user of PayPal may not be able to fully enjoy the full benefits of the service.

Notehall.Com

The internet continues to morph each day as it comes; NOTEHALL.COM is an internet site where college student classmates can exchange and or trade lecture notes.The site aims to be the ultimate student resource information retrieval portal while at the same time enabling college students to get paid for lecture notes that they have uploaded online. While the idea is ingenuous ,the likelihood that the site will encourage laziness, class abstention, cheating etc is quite high.

The site has currently been in use at the University of Arizona, Arizona State, and University of Kansas since August 2009 and has over 13,000 active users and over 5,500 documents available for sale. Many students have been able to make money on the site selling their lecture notes and study guides indicating its popularity amongst the youth.



The site also intends to encourage student interaction thereby making the internet an academic friendly portal.However such interaction if not effectively monitored may just yield the opposite results especially seeing the frailty and inexperience of the young students who are the target market.Without doubt NOTEHALL.COM will revolutionize the way students make use of the internet. I know for a fact that many of my colleagues during campus often surfed the internet in order to get free class notes on various subjects often with little relevant results.Hence the idea may just work.The question however that remains .is the venture academically ethical? This being a matter of personal principle may just receive varied reactions.

The site was founded by Sean Conway & Justin Miller .The two were recently featured in ABC budding entrepreneurs show SHARK TANK on 6th October, 2009.(For the clip click on the LINK)

Pay Per Click Ads Management 101

Any Company ,individual, seller, service provider...etc seeking to build a steady online presence for their commodity/service needs to understand the basics of Pay per Click Ads. Without doubt pay per click advertisement rake in the most profits and traffic for successful online retailers. An example of a pay per click advertisement forum is Google Adwords which according to this wikipedia article on AdWords grossed Google a profit of USA dollars $21 billion in 2008. Unfortunately most business in Sub Saharan Africa have little knowledge on how these advertisement platforms work and how to build a brand around them with successful keywords. It is therefore necessary that they consult experts in the field in order to know how to effectively market themselves using the internet. I would recommend visiting and signing up with Reciprocal Consulting.com in order for them to be effectively appraised on ppc management and the basics behind it!

Seeing that advertisers spend money to ensure that your adverts are displayed online and that users actually click through ,it is important that they monitor how this money is utilized and in an effective manner. The need to monitor the performance of advertisements especially with the influx of click fraudsters has led to the development of consultation firms such as Reciprocal Consulting . So don't just sign up for PPC campaigns without first getting good targeted advice from internet marketing industry professionals.

Website Review:A CheapSeat.Com

I find it quite interesting the kind of online resources you can come across over the Internet.Next year will be the world cup in Africa and i was interested in searching online to see whether i can book a ticket online and came across a totally unrelated website that i think deserves my worthy review.The website is A cheapSeat.Com

A cheap Seat.com is an professional online ticket broker portal that enables Americans get the cheapest ticket deals to key arena tickets across the Country for various invents including sports,music, movies,theater, entertainment exhibitions ...etc.The site include cheap ticket deals for:

• Radio City Music Hall Tickets: an entertainment venue located in New York's Rockefeller Center which is hailed as "the showplace of the Nation"
• Key Arena Tickets for events at grand stadiums including : New York Yankee's Stadium, Fenway Park Stadium, New York Giants Stadium Park ...etc
• MGM Grand Theater at Foxwoods Tickets where famous singers and actors perform.

The website is quite a ready and authoritative online resource which provides for shipping of tickets within Canada & America.You should check it out!

Alertpay Africa's E-commerce Alternative for Paypal

Use of Paypal as an e-commerce payment,trading and money transfer solution by many developed/Western Countries severely hampers the capacity of many Africans to trade profitably over the internet.For the most part Paypal allows African users to only send but not receive money.

I previously wrote a post on the limited services that Paypal offers for African Users and its non effectiveness ;unfortunately much has not changed since then.The Paypal website now states that you can actually send money to over 190 Countries including Kenya ,Somalia etc But a question still remains how is the person going to receive the funds since as per the Paypal Account setup for Kenya you can only send money ,there is no tab for receiving or cashing money but just for depositing funds to your Paypal account. This status quo has left many confused but fortunately enough there is a solution on the horizon which allows you to receive funds and or send funds unhindered.The Service is": AlertPay

Alertpay allows you the opportunity to send and or receive funds electronically through the use of an email address.As an Alertpay user you can open a Business or Personal Account which will allow you to do any of the following:

1. Deposit Money
2. Withdraw funds
   
3. Shop Securely Online
4. Receive Funds
5. Use your credit card online securely
6. Receive money in over 22 currencies(including South African Rand)

I believe rather than wait for Paypal who have been previously lobbied to expand their services to Africa, is better if African online Business users to subscribe to Alertpay as many overseas businesses are now switching to this e-commerce solution/alternative for Paypal.

Sponsored Conversations

Amy Africa Qlog Website Review!

Amy Africa and her Eight By Eight team; Infinite Web Marketing Solutions have a website called amyafrica.com that may prove very useful for businesses desirous to improve the E-Commerce experience.The site offers unmatched expert advice,tips and techniques for successful e-commerce trading ,online marketing solutions and communication.

What struck me though is that unlike a traditional blog it is interactive, eliciting questions from users and that is why it is called a Qlog.Among the areas the site provides solutions include :

• Search Engine Optimization(Seo)
  
• Website renovation and critique : whereby the team evaluates your online marketing strategy and points out strengths and weaknesses for your implementation and improvement.
• Internet Marketing
  
• Email Marketing (usability & Conversions)
• User Involvement
• Product Presentation
• Selling Techniques
• Shopping Experience

I found their page on E mail capture to be quite informative.I often find unsolicited mail(spam) to be bothersome and unfortunately many businesses make the same mistake by sending unwanted emails. The Amy Africa Qlog suggests that before Businesses engage in e-mail marketing they should first adopt an opt in communication strategy.The thing is to try and get permission from the reader otherwise the strategy would be a waste of time.

Without doubt there are some useful tips on the site which is barely a month old and as the site is an open forum it is expected that there will be tons and tons of information at the site on the various topics in the near future.User's to the site are encouraged to submit questions which are answered on the site!

On a thumbs down note the website is full of click through ads on its side bars which i believe can be an eyesore.If Amy Africa can reduce on that they will be on the way to untold success !You can visit the Qlog at http://www.amyafrica.com

M-Pesa Account Payments & Statements

Ever since the innovative M-Pesa mobile phone money transfer service was introduced by Safaricom, i believe that i have sent thousands of shillings through the service that were i to get a statement tha would be sufficient proof of my liquidity and ability to service any loan. Its only recently that i realized that my bank statements are suffering since i normally cash my salary cheque and deposit the amount into my M-pesa account ! The paramount disadvantage with this is that at the moment i dont think its possible to get a written statement of how one has transacted over a period of time !Atleast Safaricom has not notified us of such a service if indeed it exists.The thing is, Banks/financial instiutions etc may not be able to capture the credit worthiness of an individual if they fail to take into consideration that many people now opt to use M-Pesa as compared to traditional banking.

I believe im not the only person with such a predicament and i believe Safaricom should now look into this.It is estimated that close to 5 million Safaricom users have subscribed to this service! Thass a whole lot of money being moved around! Issuing subscribers with statements (at a fee and on request of course!) can be an added value service and also enable them to rake in more income and enable subcribers trace, clarify and monitor their M-pesa accounts!

There are innumerable opportunities for the Safaricom M-Pesa service to morph and capitalize on! It may be possible for Banks to even charge or collect outstanding loan accounts through this service!I hope the strategic advisors of Safaricom will consider this!

CallingAmerica.com Free USA Calls !

New Multi-Billion Convention Centre At Jomo Kenyatta International Airport

A Qatari based Afro Asia Investment Corporation is set to make the biggest direct foreign investment venture in Kenya to date by building a modern state of the Art Trade Expo Centre worth Kshs 26 Billion at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport(JKIA). The International Convention Centre will feature a five star hotel, hospital,a trade expo/exhibition centre, shops amongst other amenities will be a grand mall unrivaled within the region and will attract foreign exchange, employment opportunities an other untold benefits.

The Government will grant the investor a 80 year concession thereafter the centre will be handed back to the Government.The complex will be built on a 90-acre piece of land that has been Leased to the investor for the 80 year period.The deal to construct the centre was executed yesterday by Kenya Airport Authority Managing Director Mr George Muhoho and the Doha based developer Mr.Mohamed Kilani yesterday.With the current Governments heavy investment in the Infrastructure(roads, fibre optics etc), Kenya's economy is bound to grow steadily despite the low economic growth expected for the last financial year.The new project is expected to be complete in the next two years(maybe 5 the way things work here).Eventually Kenya will reclaim its status as one of Africa's strategic investment hub!This is certainly good news to many Kenyans especially the business community.The only impdiment to this is the rampant corruption by the political elite- a culture that must be effaced for any meaningful growth in this Country.

The Paypal Campaign

Some time back i did a post on Paypal here at Siku-moja, by so doing i expressly stated that i was beginning a campaign to ensure that Africa is given an opportunity to utilize all the facets and services available at paypal because we are loosing out in our e-commerce due to being sidelined by Paypal !That campaign has been given favorable response and highlighted in various forums, i therefore will hereby provide a link to the various discussions and websites that this matter has caught attention:

1. First link is at http://www.blogrunner.com/snapshot/t/news/international/countriesandterritories/kenya/
2. David adjao highlights the Paypal plight at http://www.davidajao.com/blog/2007/09/29/why-paypal-features-in-africa-are-limited/
3. PSD World Bank Group also chose to highlight my post at :http://psdblog.worldbank.org/psdblog/2008/07/paypal-not-in-1.html
4. Squidoo highlighted the post at https://www.squidoo.com/paypalweb
5. Global Voices Online also caught the que and highlighted the post at http://globalvoicesonline.org/2008/06/19/africa-is-paypal-effective-in-africa/
   

And how did paypal respond(this may be of interest to Erik of White African blog):

"I work for PayPal and wanted to let you know where we are in expanding our services more widely around the world. PayPal's intent is to expand our services globally wherever there is demand for our product -- whether that's Africa or anywhere around the world. Because PayPal has to comply with local regulations and integrate with the local financial infrastructure, these things take time. We are watching this market closely and will let you know when we roll out more advanced services. Thanks for your interest in PayPal.

Sara Gorman
PayPal Inc."

Yes, this was a campaign that was worth undertaking and i hope Paypal will hasten their initiative to tap into this emerging markets!the sooner the better.Once again this highlights the power of citizen media- the posts on this blog are not just for entertainment purpose but to improve the African experience online, and you will agree that together we are doing good !My blogging experience highlights the fact that one has to consistently keep up on what they believe in if they intend to achieve any good!I hope Africa will benefit from Paypal activities to the fullest extent in the near future!

(some good news just got the CNBC interview DVD , will upload it soon, though i hate how i looked-must have been the lighting!)