Author: Sam Floy

The social (and commercial) upsides of building an online parenting platform, with MumsVillage

Overview

One of the upsides of the internet is the ability to collect and store information that was previously only passed down between generations, or spread by word of mouth.

One of its downside though, is that it’s a very big place, and trying to find relevant information can be a thankless task in a world where we’re all short on time.

Of all the information that’s out there, Mums Village is looking to organise it for a discrete set of people

Mums in Kenya.

Isis, the founder of Mums Village, and I discuss the platform she has built.

 

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We go into what Kenyan Mums are wanting to know about, the partnerships they’ve built with local and international business and how she’s seeing the next wave of internet users engaging with content in a different way

What I like about this is how Mums Village sits in the middle of two sets of people who each have a need.

Namely, that they are providing value to Mums (whom they don’t charge) and that this aggregation into one place is valuable for brands looking to connect with them (where they do charge).

This is a good lesson for any entrepreneur looking at creative ways in which they can build a business.

Also, we make reference to a podcast interview with a company called Lynk.

You can listen to that episode by searching for the Services Marketplace episode when scrolling through the archive

In industry circles, it’s known that new Mums are a valuable market segment to own.

As a consumer juggling many responsibilities, they are typically willing to trade time for money, however this comes with an expectation of a higher level of trust.

When it comes to building trust, people generally favour getting advice from those they know already, and with the advent of the internet, it’s possible for these discussions to be happening online.

Mums Village is taking the conversations at the school gate and aggregating them into an online platform.

This includes all types of media, whether it be articles, forums or even a TV show, all with the central message of making the lives of Mums easier.

In order to bring greater value to their users, the platform partners with organisations looking to connect with Mums, offering products and services that will be of benefit to them.

The platform has been going for a couple of years already, and with Isis’ experience scaling Google and MTV across Africa, they are setting their sights beyond just Kenya.

This is a great episode both for learning how to build a two-sided business, being at the frontier of converting offline conversations online, and also to hear about insights on the East African parent.

Lessons and Insights

Biggest insight: I’ve had to unlearn my approach to how users will find us online

Our content: We’ve given brands a new way to engage via The Mums Village Show

Find them Online/Other Helpful Links

Website: https://mumsvillage.com/

Facebook: MumsVillage

Twitter: MumsVillage

Instagram: mumsvillage

Mums Village show: mumsvillage.com/videos/

Lynk podcast episode: Service Marketplaces

Where does hair comes from? The global supply chain of human wigs and weaves

Overview

This is an episode I’ve been wanting to do for a long long time.

One of the things I’ve found bewildering working in the region is the frequency with which the females I know change their hair style.

From month to month it can change drastically and, dare I say it, unrecognisably. On occasion I have momentarily re-introduced myself to new colleagues on account of a completely different hairstyle changing their appearance.

Anyway, this episode is all about hair.

Luxury hair to be specific which, as you’ll find out means it comes from the real hair of other humans.

It’s honestly one of the most fascinating interviews and businesses on the podcast so far.

 

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Gisela, founder of Zuri Lux Hair and I discuss the global supply chain of human hair,the huge sums paid for it in their Congolese outlets and how she has grown this enterprise from a side hustle to a fully fledged operation.

Gisela and I discuss her luxury hair business, one which began as a side hustle, and now employs people across the region.

The main focus is the hair extensions that Zuri sell.

Their brand is all about luxury, and this means that the hair extensions are made of real human hair.

We discuss the global supply chain involved in this, and how hair from Brazil is considered the best. She often goes to China on quality control, to ensure that the “bundles” of hair are high quality won’t go bad once they have been made.

Time is spent covering the demand side too, and how people will spend a fortune on good quality hair.

Each wig/ weave costs $100-300.

Zuri is looking to expand their offering beyond just luxury hair and into other luxury beauty products. They’re currently in Congo, Uganda and Rwanda, and will be looking to expand beyond this through their sales agent network.

Lessons and Insights

Biggest lesson: How big (and underserved) the market is

Biggest insight: “Our hair extensions are like cocaine”

Find them Online

Facebook: Zuriluxuryhair

Instagram: zuriluxuryhair

Website:  http://www.zuriluxhair.com/

How the “Distributed Economy” thesis could revolutionise how we think about Africa’s development

Overview

This is a slightly different episode of The East Africa Business Podcast where  we’ll be covering a thesis around development.

When you consider how countries and societies have spurred economic growth it has all happened through urbanization.

Streams of people moving from rural livelihoods to populate cities where they would find a better life and more opportunities.

Underpinning all this was energy.

Opportunities and wealth are a function of economic productivity and in order to produce more, power is needed to run, say, factories.

Historically this has been generated centrally, in a power station and sent out via the grid.

This has favoured a society built around these central sources of power and hence led to the rise and growth of cities.

Azuri Technologies, however believes that this same path does not need to be taken in Africa

 

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In this episode Conrad Whitaker and I discuss macro trends around the continent’s development,how off-grid solar can change the paradigm for migration patterns and ultimately what their view of the future is with the distributed economy.

I’d love to hear any feedback you have for this episode. I certainly found it to be one of the most thought-provoking interviews done to date.

(hence why it goes on for a little longer)

More information

How countries and societies develop is a fascinating discussion, and one which acts as a bedrock for any understanding of how businesses operate.

This episode offers a new perspective on the paradigm which Africa can take, opening up the possibility to leap frog the development paths taken in other parts of the world.

Azuri Technologies are in the business of providing low-income households with their first reliable electricity source, through solar powered devices.

Whilst a light bulb (and satellite TV) could be viewed as just basic necessities, the fact that these have been powered through individual energy sources (as opposed to “grid” electricity) is, to Azuri, just the first step in a new trajectory of development.

Going forward, other basic needs can be provided to rural communities without the need of building expensive and difficult foundational infrastructure.

The interview is longer than normal as we delve into Africa’s current status quo and how it might differ from elsewhere in history.

We discuss how enabling basic infrastructure increases economic productivity in people which then catalyses economic growth. An example being that with light at night, children can study more and people can spend more time cultivating their land.

If listening at home and thinking how an idea you have might hit into the bigger picture of the continent’s development, this episode is a must.

Lessons and Insights

Next big thing: solar powered irrigation systems 

Biggest insight: “The distributed economy theory predicts that Africa’s development will leapfrog the West”

Find them Online

Website: http://www.azuri-technologies.com/

Facebook: AzuriTechnologies

Twitter: Azuri_Tech

YouTube: azuritechnologies

Kasha opens up access to sanitary pads in East Africa through last-mile distribution

Overview

There are certain products which, let’s face it, are more embarrassing to purchase than others.

You don’t think twice about buying a pint of milk, however things such as contraceptives, or sanitary items make you a bit more self-conscious, especially if you’re an awkward teenage girl.

Kasha an enterprise in Rwanda, started by solving the very discrete problem around girls accessing to affordable, quality sanitary items which can cause long-standing societal issues, such as school drop-out, if not solved.

 

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They are now running an ecommerce platform delivering female products throughout East Africa to women on all levels of the social spectrum.

Joanna, the CEO and I discuss the different customer segments they have on Kasha,the mechanisms by which they reach their users,and how their B2B offering of data-backed insights is funding those customers typically overlooked as unprofitable.

We conducted this interview in Joanna’s office, in Kigali and near the end, there was a huge downpour of rain which you can hear in the background.It doesn’t distort the interview, and if anything brings you closer to appreciating the changing microclimates of Rwanda, but just a heads up, in case you’re wondering.

For now though, let’s get started on this great episode with Joanna.

Kasha is a social enterprise based from Rwanda, but which is soon expanding to Kenya, and then beyond.

Joanna started her career at Microsoft, and then at Gates Foundation, the latter being an early sponsor of a pilot they were running.

The mission driving Kasha is that no girl should be prevented from access affordable, quality healthcare products.

This means having various channels for the different customer types, based on their income, but more importantly geography: we spend time discussing the various routes to market needed for both urban and rural delivery.

More recently Kasha has moved into other products that females wish to buy, namely in the beauty section.

The business makes money from various channels, one of which is the insights and feedback possible from their rural customer base. Companies such as Unilever have no way to get such feedback, and so the Kasha platform is able to provide.

Lessons and Insights

Biggest learning: even though we’re e-commerce, a call centre is incredibly important in building trust.

Biggest insight: “Bottom of the Pyramid” customers are even more aspirational than I imagined.

Social media etc.

Website: http://kasha.co

Twitter: KashaRwanda

Instagram: kasharwanda

Facebook: kasharw

The need to digitalise the pharmacy business in East Africa, and the benefits that come when you do

Overview

Pharmacies are found in almost every community in East Africa, however the way in which they are currently operating leaves a lot of room for improvement

The business is largely run from pen, paper and phone meaning shop owners don’t have the visibility on how everything is run.

Beyond this though, there is a huge potential to drive change in the medical space through formalising the way in which medicine is delivered across the region.

In this episode Jess Vernon, CEO of Maisha Meds and I discuss how her technology company is using data to improve how local pharmacies are run and their ambitions to transform the broader industry.

 

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Moved to Kenya 8 years ago

This has been my goal for nearly a decade. I went back to the US for medical school before returning to work on improving private sector health

It’s a Point of Sale system for pharmacies

We collect data on everything there is to do pharmacies. This helps them with their supply chain operations.

There are 6,000 licensed pharmacies

MM operates in Western Kenya where half the population lives. Currently there are 100 pharmacies signed up by our operational team.

Credit is biggest feature

that pharmacies request. Almost all of them do it, but MM now has this as part of the software. Pharmacies are now able to track the credit they give.

We take $100 downpayment

Most people pay between $100-200 to set up.

The owner is away

And so the main use case is being able to see, at a glance, what is happening with their pharmacy. Visibility is key.

Medication packages

This is our main focus for 2018 – helping them grow their business through the insights we collect.

Most medicine is made in India and China

MM is plugging into existing supply chains. There are usually 3/4 touch points to get to the pharmacy and so we’re looking to move up the chain.

“Maisha means life in Swahili”

It used to be a name about trees, but that had connotations with witch craft/ herbal medicine.

“We leverage the data across the supply chain”

As opposed to other POS systems that just track the movement of stock etc. This is the part which makes us relevant in the health sector.

Strategy is to get usage

And so we focus on getting in pharmacies around the region. For this, we partner with the Gates Foundation, GIZ and other grant funders.

A great product is driving growth

As a result of having a stellar software developer who can run the process.

There’s seasonality

It depends on when people receive throughout the year, as well as at the beginning/ end of the month

“During harvest time, our sales go up”

People have more money around this time which trickles through society, including a spike at Christmas once city family go home.

“We compete with a Whatsapp group of pharmacy suppliers”

Currently pharmacies make orders are made over the phone, with prices being quoted on a case by case basis.

MM can drive what pharmacies sell

We can shift towards having evidence based medicine in pharmacies as well as diagnostic tests.

Social Media

Twitter: https://twitter.com/maishameds

Website: https://maishameds.org/

TechCrunch article on market networks (which are like Maisha Meds)

Why Ethiopia needs a localised version of Uber, with Habtamu Tadesse from ZayRide

Overview

In many parts of the world, ordering a taxi from your smartphone is the new norm.

Until July 2016 though, this was not possible in the country of Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous country.

There are several nuances about Ethiopia which made it difficult, and it was only once Habtamu returned to his home country after several years away that the capital Addis Ababa now has this service.

It’s worth saying that Ethiopia is distinctly different from the other countries featured so far on this podcast. The ruling government runs a relatively closed economy, and there are strict regulations on anything involving interaction with the international business community.

In this interview, Habtamu and I discuss just this, and some of the workarounds that he has had to develop in order to operate in Ethiopia.

We cover how people have debit cards, but can only use them to withdraw cash, national company ownership for particular industries, and also how unlike other countries that Uber and the like work in, it’s illegal for private drivers to earn money giving rides.

There’s lots in this episode around doing business in a difficult place, and the strategies to overcome it, and so beyond just leaning about Ethiopia, I have no doubt you’ll get a lot from it.

 

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Born in Ethiopia, raised in Boston

I returned to Ethiopia after working for Uber in Boston with a view of bringing the idea Addis Ababa. Only 4% of Addis population have private transport so there’s a big need.

We’re better than Uber

Mainly because the internet is poorer than elsewhere we have designed our app to better fit the environment. Namely compressing the app size (because of 2G connectivity) and having a call centre.

Logistics companies have to be Ethiopian

Owing to the regulation a logistics business has to be Ethiopian, meaning Uber/ international companies couldn’t operate here. This is aside from the technical difficulties.

We went to the Ethiopian CIA

The equivalent government entity were required to sign off on signing up ZayRide. They were concerned with the safety of passengers which was all sorted.

July 2016 was the first ride

The first customer didn’t realise that he was the first customer. The passenger was a US expat who heard about it on the radio. He had a great experience.

We partner with bars on Friday nights

ZayRide gives 15% off on evenings when people may have been out drinking. There will be a partnership where the bar will include a code at the bottom of the receipt

You pay cash to the driver

It’s not possible to use international credit card processors. There are no ways to process debit card payments. People have plastic cards, but it can only be used to withdraw cash.

We’re building our own payment processor

There are costs involved with paying cash in our business. ZayRide doesn’t want to wait for someone else to build it, and so they are doing it themselves.

Mobile payments

Essentially it works by transferring money from one account to another. From the users’ perspective it feels the same as paying with a debit card, except that they’ll swipe it at the end of the trip.

Ethiopia is way different from Africa

In Ethiopia businesses are wary of anything too automatic. Having a physical device so business owners can “feel” the money they’re receiving. They want it to be tangible, and so don’t trust mobile money as much.

Government official’s phone number

It’s normal to take the personal number of the officials that you work with. You’ll call them up at night, it’s normal here.

Limousine fleet in Boston

A lot of the taxi drivers in Boston are Ethiopian and so I was able to sign them up on behalf. I could see that it would be a big opportunity.

Series A funding

To date it’s been funded by Habtamu’s Ethiopian restaurant. For the next level, investors are from Kenya, London and the US.

Personal cars not allowed to give rides

The regulation prevents private drivers from giving rides to people. The rationale is that it would take business from taxi drivers who have invested in their car. ZayRide have overcome this by having a crowdsourcing scheme.

Increasing supply is important

Currently there are 8,000 cabs and there should be 40,000 cabs. The market hasn’t corrected itself as Ethiopians don’t view taxi driving in a positive way. Drivers make lots of money though, which isn’t always seen.

Looking after our drivers

This is pressing for us. Maintaining a good relationship is key for us – we meet with the Taxi Associations every fortnight so that they feel part of the decision. Everyone is happy.

100,000 customer base

This is a big target for us. Partly through partnerships with hotels and NGOs. This will be done partly through offering tablets to the hotel lobbies so guests can hail a ride easily.

A dying tribe…

Is the inspiration for the name of ZayRide. They live on an island and the population has now dwindled to 5,000. ZayRide is named this way to give them recognition.

Social Media Follows etc.

Website: http://www.zayride.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ZayRide/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/zayride/

Running an online business in Ethiopia when the power goes out, with Feleg Tsegaye from DeliverAddis

Overview

When running an e-commerce company in most parts of the world, there are certain things you can take for granted. Namely that your customers can get on the internet in order to use your service.

In Ethiopia, this isn’t always the case.

The country regularly has power outtages meaning the population are without electricity and businesses are forced to adapt.

Even when the lights are off though, people want food, and part of the reason that Deliver Addis is still in business is that they have had the creativity and tenacity to overcome such issues.

Feleg and I discuss how they created offline procedures for his online company, attracting investors in a nascent climate, and the steps they take to onboard restaurants to their platform.

It’s a great insight into business in Ethiopia, and so I hope you enjoy.

 

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Ethiopian parents, raised in the US

After growing up in  the US I felt a need to return to Ethiopia and create opportunities for people there.

I was getting hungry…

and the fact there wasn’t a food delivery service in Ethiopia made me think why not create on

Others like me

It seems that there are others in Addis Ababa who are also “hungry and lazy”

Not many motorbikes

Unlike other African countries, Ethiopia doesn’t have the same “boda boda” culture. This makes it difficult when sourcing drivers.

Cultural things to overcome

Ethiopian culture doesn’t value urgency as much as some other cultures. This means that we have a training programme that people need to pass in order to meet the requirements.

Keep it asset-lite

Sometimes Deliver Addis will rent back a bike from the driver, if the driver owns it themselves. Deliver Addis then rents the equipment back from them.

Women are too smart to ride motorbikes here…

So all of our drivers are men. The longest serving driver has been there for 3 years.

We have a rota

To ensure that there is coverage. Drivers will self-organise this to ensure they have X drivers on call.

Restaurants are big fans of us

DA delivers a lot of volume for them, and so as long as the kitchen is open, they can make money.

There’s a lot of data

We track popular dishes as well as time spent on different parts of the flow in order to optimise the experience.

Minimise number of clicks

This is our goal in terms of placing an order. Optimising for where they spend time on the site.

Investors understand our business

We just closed our investment round from international investors who have a presence in Ethiopia.

Ethiopian investment climate isn’t mature

Especially when it comes to technology businesses. There are a number of blockers to overcome such as the internet being shut down.

How to overcome no internet?

For an ecommerce company it’s pretty critical. When it happened we overcame the situation mainly through using phones, and developing offline procedures.

We had our best month…

In the month without internet. People found our number and were able to order still.

Ties with Jumia..?

There could be some sort of partnership that exists, as they don’t operate in Ethiopia.

Deliver Addis is nuanced

There have been additional steps necessary to ensure that our business works, in Ethiopia especially.

Tenacity is key

Often Feleg will hit the road and go deliver a meal when it’s needed. The boss is in there with me.

Have a presence beyond Ethiopia

A goal is also to go to other countries. Feleg owns additional domain names, such as www.deliverafrica.com and www.deliver.africa. The latter was more expensive.

My favourite dish is vegan

It comes from a chain restaurant that has developed an awesome tofu dish.

~$3 delivery

There’s a view to start charging restaurants also in the future. But for now we just want to have a good catalogue in place

Restaurant onboarding

It takes several stages. The first is to have a “blind taste test” which involves someone from Deliver Addis coming in to have a meal. Looking at the cleanliness of the bathrooms as well is a good gauge too.

Hole in the wall

We look for the places with a great value proposition, and so aren’t too worried if it’s not a big established restaurant.

Ethiopia is worst case scenario

From a technology perspective, it’s really difficult to work. Therefore when we look at other places to go, it’s somewhat “trial by fire”, but if it works here, it’ll work everywhere.

Tech is all me

Feleg has built the tech platform himself. The servers need to be in Ethiopia as the cloud computing doesn’t really work.

Organic growth

There hasn’t been a marketing spend yet, word of mouth has got us this far.

Social Media Follows etc.

Website: https://deliveraddis.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/deliveraddis

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deliveraddis/

African rocketship BitPesa use blockchain to enable international payments, with Elizabeth Rossiello

Overview

This week we’ve got an excellent episode which looks at applying breakthrough technology, to frontier markets.

You’ve probably heard of Bitcoin and blockchain, and here Elizabeth Rossiello CEO and founder of Bitpesa and I discuss how this technology can help African businesses grow through improving how they make international payments.

Why? Well in mature markets there’s a lot of liquidity between different currencies, meaning if you wanted to trade between Euros to Dollars to Pounds, the fact there’s lots of people trading it means you can get a good price.

However, when you are looking to trade African currencies, there’s not so much activity meaning companies are getting caught with high high prices to move money around the world, such as paying suppliers.

Bitpesa has stepped in to provide financial remittance services for anyone wanting to buy or sell African currencies, with Bitcoin and digital currencies acting behind the scenes to smoothen the process.

Just a heads up that this interview took place over an internet call which is different to the in person episodes done to date, and also that Elizabeth will be speaking at The Economist’s Innovation Summit in Nairobi, and so be sure to check that out if you’re interested in learning more.

 

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The business began 2013

I’d been working with MFIs across Africa. The issue I saw was businesses needing to get financing in local currency.

A way to buy African currency abroad

Is the problem Bitpesa solves. We’ve looked at how technology can solve this problem. B2B quickly became the best use case.

Bitcoin is part of our technology suite

We use Bitcoin as one our digital currencies. 70% of the business touches Bitcoin at some point. “We love using Bitcoin, but we’re not obsessed with it”.

Transferwise is a potential customer

Bitpesa is a market maker in African currencies. It’s brought about from having on the ground operations in all African countries.

Raised $10m

This has spent on physical operations, licences and IP. We use debt financing for inventory float.

Joint ventures weren’t for us

When it comes to growth, whilst it might be quicker to partner with a local company, going forward this isn’t the best way to generate value.

Typical use case

Nigerian pharmacy needing to pay suppliers in Hong Kong. They deposit Nigerian currency and Bitpesa pays out in Hong Kong Dollars.

Digital currencies allow us to extend beyond our reach

When we don’t have a physical bank account, we’ll send money to a broker who will accept, say, Bitcoin.

We’re not caught up in Bitcoin fluctuations

The transaction is executed almost instantaneously, and the risk is also mitigated just like any other broker that’s operates around the world. It’s just a different technology.

There haven’t been many African exits

Which means investors can be unsure about investing in the region. There was also a fizzle of the mobile money innovation in Kenya where regulators got in the way of innovation.

“Advice to regulators: don’t close your eyes to innovation”

You can’t stand in the way of an ocean of innovation. Regulators seem to be receptive to the idea of using Bitcoin and blockchain technology and so I’m excited for this.

I don’t believe there’ll be one mono-currency

And so I’m a firm believer that fiat currencies will remain in 50 different countries – we’ll be there for companies to exchange money in those regions.

Social Media Follows etc.

Website: www.bitpesa.co

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bitpesaltd/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BitPesa

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bitpesa/

Revolutionising access to credit in Africa through Peer-to-Peer lending, with Hilda Moraa

Overview

Many international studies have pointed to the lack of SME financing as being a huge blocker to a country’s development.

In the context of Kenya, many small business owners are excluded from the formal financial sector due to the high operational costs involved with opening and running a bank account. As a result, they have no formal credit history and are not able to get a loan.

Pezesha are seeking to overcome this by giving the unbanked, their first step on the formal financial ladder.

Hilda, the founder and CEO, and I dig into the difficulties of getting a bank account (and by extension, a loan), how Kenya’s ubiquitous mobile money network facilitates their business, and how they are layering on their data analytics to the dynamics of the existing social investing culture in Kenya.

This is one of those episodes that can leave you scratching your head at times, but nevertheless shows the huge potential for technology and financing to transform a region.

 

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Pezesha means financial empowerment

We empower the unbanked population through affordable mobile credit. This brings hope and freedom to them.

We’re not a lender per se

We’re sitting in between and creating a platform that builds upon the sharing economy.

Our customers can’t go to a bank

To get a loan to grow their business. This is because they don’t have any financial history or any formal credit records to verify them.

The majority of Kenya lives on <$5/day

The banks see them as risky and, because it costs money to run a bank account in Kenya, simply having a bank account open costs operational fees which excludes them.

The unbanked have moved to mobile credit

Mobile money penetration is at 85%. Hilda’s grandmother has M-Pesa, living upcountry.

M-Pesa has become the bank of the unbanked

Allowing them to transact, and send and receive money. This gives them the services previously only possible with a (paid) bank.

We utilise chamas

A chama is a social network who come together to save and invest around a common goal. The money is typically rotated around the group. People meet in person, regardless of social background.

“Pezesha is automating Kenya’s social investing culture”

This comes from partnering with the chama network. This means bringing in technology to, say, credit score their members as well as increase the level of financing that they get.

Fund of funds

There’s then a dynamic of external investors funding the chama group and become part of the returns.

“We have Kenyans lending to Kenyans they’ve never met before”

On the back of Pezesha’s platform, it’s possible to build trust. The credit score combines a borrower’s willingness and ability to pay.

Alternative data

We use mobile money transactions, as well as different datasets to profile and understand the customer. This means we’re not reliant on just one form of information (i.e. M-Pesa transactions) but having things such as psychometric tests as well.

Agents on the ground

We have people who are our out doing a lot of the onboarding and collections out in the field.

We want people to walk up the financial ladder

The ideal is that they can walk in and get a bank account and a loan as a result of the credit history that they have got from Pezesha. We want to normalise the effect so others can trust the unbanked population.

We’re a data company

We sit in between existing financial players and utilise credit scoring.

You get a 7-12%/ year return at the bank

Despite this being high, investors won’t be proud with that type of return. With Pezesha, you get 13-36% annually.

Average loan size is $50

This is used to buy weekly stock and then 30 days later, they’ll pay $55.

People are paying back!

This was one of the (nice) surprises: that there are lots of the unbanked population who are still paying back on their loans. This is in part because by paying back they are helping to fund other fellow Kenyans.

Website links etc.

Website: www.pezesha.com

This gives details on how to be a borrower or a lender on Pezesha.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Pezesha/

Partners: CGAP, DFS Lab

How mSurvey’s Head of Data leverages the company’s big data for insights never before possible

Overview

Understanding your customers is an incredibly important aspect of any forward-thinking business.

In many developed markets there are reams of public data available to understand demographics, as well as established market insight companies who give a perspective on consumer tastes.

In Kenya, however, this was difficult. mSurvey was borne from a PhD student’s frustration at not being able to get such insights, and five years on the company is one of the region’s flagship start up success stories.

In this episode Sam Kamande, who is mSurvey’s Head of Data, and I discuss the many applications of their technology platform, how the fact that African consumers are very comfortable communicating via text message is good for their business, and the vision for utilising the big data they collect to give a holistic view on the African consumer.

This is a cracking episode, full of tid bits of information on the East African economy, doing business and generally the real impact of applying technology to an area that has been historically overlooked.

 

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I’m Chief Data Scientist

Helping clients get the most insights out of their data. After working in corporate life I returned to a role in mSurvey to help with the next phase of growth.

Supporting engagement between consumers and organisations

This is mSurvey’s core mission and what we are working towards. We’re giving a voice to customers who previously haven’t had the opportunity.

It was hard to get insights

The founder came to Kenya from the Caribbean for his PhD, and soon found that it was difficult to get insights from unconnected people. It’s been five years of solid growth.

In Kenya, sim card ownership is 120%

A lot of people have two different sim cards. One will be for voice, the other for data.

12 million interactions in Kenya

Coming straight from consumers. There’s a bit more in the Caribbean. Because some people are engaged twice, there are probably 11 million unique users.

80% of mobile usage in Africa is texting

Therefore there’s not much apprehension in responding with a mobile survey.

We’re replacing the feedback box

The typical use case is going to a bank and having customers give feedback via a text message after they’ve been there. This is part of how mSurvey has been able to engage 11 million, by partnering with large organisations and helping them get real-time feedback from their customers about their experience.

Real time feedback

The mSurvey product is called Voice of the Customer. This allows companies to get instant feedback from customers who pay via mobile money. When someone gives a bad rating the manager will be able to reach out by the time you’re back at the car. Conventionally this wouldn’t happen.

Net Promoter Score

This is one question which is asked: how likely are you to recommend us to a friend? It tracks customer loyalty and is a predictor of revenue. Tracking through mSurvey allows companies to measure this over time.

More and more companies take customer experience seriously

This leads to greater customer loyalty. Getting the NPS score is still relatively nascent in this part of the world.

Collecting data in Africa used to be expensive

We enable people to understand the market in a quick and efficient manner. mSurvey allows organisations to have a quick turnaround which can be used in conjunction with other market research.

Build a relationship

We don’t blast out messages to everyone. Our goal is to have a long lasting relationship with the 40,000 audience.

Segmenting the audience

We’re looking to grow the width and depth of our audience. We’ll do this by learning more about people through the conversations that we have.  This comes about from interpreting the answers of the surveys and bringing together data points.

Provide the best understanding of the customer in Africa

This is the vision of mSurvey. This gets closer through the product Consumer Wallet which helps to understand how much is being spent by the Kenyan consumers. They understand the 10% of mobile money, what  about the 90% in cash.

Average wallet size

Which is the average expenditure in Kenya, comes about through engaging the audience every day, and understanding how much they pay. From this we derive the measures and can segment it by gender, age and location.

Betting has become very significant

If you’re in the water business, your competitors are not other water companies. If the consumer is struggling they might decide to reduce their water consumption, and instead spend it on betting. Instead of buying one more beer for $2, instead I’ll spend it on betting. The bar has therefore lost out on that $2.

The reward is 20 cents

Consumers get paid this for responding to a question. It gets factored into the cost of the service delivery.

$5 per question

This is the rough cost for doing an audience on demand survey. The price comes down with volume. They’ll guarantee, say, 1,000 responses, and with a ~65% response rate they may send 1,400 conversations.

Customer experience

Biggest surprise? Businesses in Kenya are taking customer experience seriously. Even the government are treating their citizens as consumers. It gives consumers an avenue to keep organisations accountable, and that they’re taking this seriously.

Social Media Links etc.

Website: www.msurvey.co.ke

Sign up to our audience: send msurvey to (+254)0700040030

Request a demo: via the website

Java House: “Starbucks of Africa“