Tag: kenya

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“

*SPECIAL* Silicon Savannah: Business Lessons from East Africa Talk

Overview

We’ve got a slightly different format for this episode – it’s a recording of a talk that I gave on a recent trip back to London.

It was held at a co-working space (@huckletree) to an audience of people interested in learning more about the business scene in East Africa.

We have a bit an intro and overview of the main industries in the region before delving into a few other topics which haven’t really been covered so far on the podcast

  • Some thoughts around how technology in the region is being adopted quicker, leapfrogging the developed world
  • How the education system means it can be difficult to hire in East Africa
  • And a discussion around the implications of Brexit and the Trump election on the region

About half way through we get to Q & As which, in my opinion is the best bit as we get to cover some more contextual questions of the business scene.

Some of the questions might be a bit tricky to pick up, but you should be able to work out what’s going on from the resulting discussion.

In any case, this is a slightly longer episode than you might be used to, but with the diversity of topics we cover, I hope you find it useful.

If you have any thoughts, questions or comments, just drop me a message on Twitter @Sam_Floy or by email [email protected]

Presentation slides

 

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Dream. Grow. Be Found. How Fuzu equips thousands of Kenyans for the workplace, with Jussi Hinkkanen

Overview

The demography in East Africa dictates that tens of millions of people will be entering the job market in the coming years

There is not only a challenge of creating jobs, but also guiding individuals on a path of what they want to do.

People typically lack the career counselling framework from, say, their families, especially for roles such as “digital marketing manager”.

Jussi is building Fuzu – a platform to guide people through their careers.

We discuss growing a company with a base in both Finland and Kenya,
how Fuzu categorises their type of job seeker and the challenges of bringing a disruptive business model to a traditional market.

Jussi also has probably the best rationale I’ve heard around the role of “for profit” and “not-for-profit” organisations in solving large scale social problems in developing markets, something I’ve always struggled to grapple with myself. It comes in at around 12 minutes.

For now though, I hope you enjoy the episode.

 

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Here are some of the key quotes:

“Youth unemployment is a massive challenge”

From my 13 years at Nokia in emerging markets this became very clear.

“The old tools don’t work”

We need to make something more exciting and more practical for the millions of people in Africa pouring into the job market.

“Finding your way”

Fuzu is for people to understand where they want to go with their careers. People don’t typically have career guidance.

“Fuzu is a fully online experience”

1) Platform for dreaming 2) Platform for growth 3) Platform to be found

“Career employability platform”

Is how we (try to) summarise what we do in a sentence

“Community is growing”

We have around 200,000 users and are growing at about 10% a week

“We’re agnostic”

Fuzu uses machine learning to segment the user base and then speak to them in a relevant manner. We have 7 segments.

“Fully automated experience”

By automatically directing people through their career using data and machines, we can do it at scale.

“None of the segments are large enough”

And so we decided to go after all seven from the start. We can then create a platform with which to flow content through.

“To tackle a significant social challenge – be a business…”

The challenge with non-profit approach is that there’s not a fundamental innovation loop which results in a mediocre platform. We could have got millions and millions in funding had we been “not-for-profit”.

“… however NGOs have benefits too”

Especially when it comes to playing to their strengths, especially with regard having deep networks and an understanding of the social problems.

“120 million people”

Will be entering the market in Africa between 2010-2020. By 2035 it will be the largest jobs market in the world and so something needs to be done.

“We’re two-sided”

Job seekers have a freemium model, and then for the employers have a fully paid service.

“To disrupt, you are competing with conventions”

Fuzu are going up against the classifieds businesses and traditional recruiters. It takes employers some time to warm up to the idea.

“We can find you the needle in the haystack”

Much faster. We can match it with the best talent once you launch a campaign, as well as doing active “head hunting”.

“We combine the strengths of Kenya and Finland”

The R&D team sit in Finland as they have a lot of experience. On the ground in Kenya we do content and marketing. We’ll look to move the R&D team to Kenya as people get more familiar with software like Ruby on Rails.

“Pretty easy on the jobseeker side”

People understand job platforms – our barrier to growth is that people need to invest time in writing their story, like with LinkedIn.

“Similar to LinkedIn”

The white-collar workforce are on LinkedIn in Kenya, but the platform has been slow on the education side of things.

“Inertia in the B2B market”

How to build trust and sell innovation to the businesses took longer than expected, getting back-end tools in place might have been a good idea.

“Plan your market entry”

Fuzu won the award for best entry with a tiny budget, in part through partnering with 16 tier one employers.

“I wouldn’t be happy with < 25 million users”

A platform like this works at scale and so in 5 years time I would hope we would be pan-African with many active users.

“Fuzu means…”

Self-made success in Swahili. I know right, a four letter word for quite a specific concept..!

Social Media Follows etc.

Website:  Fuzu
Facebook:  Fuzu 
Twitter: Fuzu

We Farm are building an SMS-based social network for farmers, with Kenny Ewan

Overview

When you consider different ways of getting information, you might think of going on Google or reading a book

But how to do this in an environment with no libraries, computers, let alone internet access?

Farmers in the field have limited means to get information and We Farm are looking to help by providing a Peer to Peer platform for farmers to send SMS questions and answers to each other.

Kenny, the CEO, and I discuss the process – of pairing these questions and answers, why he thinks people are altruistically contributing to the platform and the most common question that they get asked by farmers…

At times the audio is a little bit iffy, but we’ve done our best to edit things to what is hopefully an acceptable level, if you want some more information head to samfloy.com / podcast for the show notes.

For now though, hope I you enjoy this episode with Kenny from We Farm

 

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Here are some of the key quotes:

“We Farm is a crowdsourcing app…”

For people without the internet. Primarily people are connected via SMS.

“Farmers interact with We Farm”

They send in a question of something which they would like to know. Typically about how to deal crop pests or when the rains are coming.

“Machine learning”

The We Farm algorithms process the messages sent through and match the question to other farmers who can answer

“The 150,000th farmer”

Is soon to be onboarded onto We Farm. We’ve just had our second birthday

“There aren’t other tools for farmers”

If you’re using an old school feature phone there are limited services for you. What we do even more so is empower the community.

“A lot of farmers have never been asked their opinion”

This is how We Farm is looking to challenge the “top down” approach of assuming that poor people need to be told what to do.

“Offline marketing in a digital age”

One of the challenges we have is to sign up farmers. This is typically through radio and partnerships along the supply chain.

“We are for profit”

But have a social mission at our heart. Our model is similar to a social network, like Facebook and Twitter, which become profitable at scale.

“Data for multi-nationals”

One of the big amounts of value that We Farm generates is through tracking droughts and diseases as they develop, providing this hard-to-get information to commercial entities.

“Building algorithms”

We’re looking at taking plain text SMSes and categorising them into whether this could be, say, Foot and Mouth disease. Our tech is built out of London.

“60% of questions answered in 24 hours”

This is pretty similar to online services like Quora. In the data we can see things like when people are charging the phone.

“A core human need to contribute”

Which is often the primary reason why farmers answer questions. We’re tapping into the same motive as why people write on Wikipedia.

“Non-financial rewards”

Are overwhelmingly preferred by farmers, rather than cash incentives. People like to be recognised on the radio.

“Young to old”

Younger people seem to be asking more questions, and older people answering them. This is an interesting East Africa cultural dynamic.

“Detecting existing answers”

This is something we’re looking at doing to provide a quality service for our farmers – using our existing bank of answers to answer common questions

“There is some filtering of answers”

Though ultimately it’s based on how the community responds to the questions sent. It’s difficult to block derogatory words because, for example, the Swahili word for “coconut” is “nazi”

“Branding for both”

One of the challenges has been having We Farm make sense to both VCs in London and farmers in East Africa.

“Channel agnostic”

We want farmers to get their information from We Farm, whether it’s SMS or Twitter or whatever over the next few years.

Social Media Follows etc.

Twitter:  WeFarm
Website:  WeFarm
Facebook : WeFarm

Paying for textbooks by the page: how Kytabu is disrupting Kenyan education, with Tonee Ndungu

Overview

The main way that students learn how to pass an exam is by reading from a textbook.

Traditionally, this has been built on the premise of publishers printing physical copies,
distributing to schools and taking cash payments.

This all comes at a cost, which is prohibitively high for a lot of schoolchildren in East Africa.

Tonee and I spend this episode discussing Kytabu.

They’ve turned the model on its head by digitising the content of these publishers, and allowing students and teachers
to access what they want, when they want it,
renting chapters from a book at a few US cents per day, paid for with mobile money

We also discuss how a lot of Kytabu’s employees are still at university, other trends that Tonee sees in the East African EdTech space and how a different interpretation of doughnut can completely undermine attempts from abroad to distribute educational content

It’s a great example of using scalable technology to disrupt an industry, and so I hope you enjoy

 

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Here are some of the key quotes:

“Kytabu is an EdTech application”

We’ve taken the entire curriculum that a student needs to pass Kenyan examinations, put it on a mobile application, and rent it out using mobile money.

“It’s being used everywhere”

We’ve never done a national launch, but it’s grown organically and is being used beyond just Nairobi

“15,000 users”

Is the current number on the app. Our potential comes in being able to get it into schools more. There are 8 million schoolkids in Kenya, so the potential is there.

“Supplementary education”

This is the main demand we find for Kytabu: students who are studying in school, and want additional resource when they’re revising.

“On the app, it’s the same content that’s in textbooks”

All of the content which is on Kytabu comes directly from Kenyan textbook publishers. This means that it fits directly with the curriculum.

“Smartphones”

It’s a smartphone application which somewhat reduces the app’s reach, but we’ve still found that enough people have mobile devices to use it.

“You now don’t need to buy a whole textbook”

Because the book is stored in the Kytabu app, it means that people can just rent it for a day/ week/ term rather than have to find the cash to buy a book which could get lost.

“Around a shilling (1 USD cent) per day”

It’s super affordable and can be lower. We’re seeing schoolkids spending around 7-10 shillings a week to access the content that they need.

“It doesn’t sound like a lot…”

But for the publishers, it makes sense. This is a scalable way in which to distribute their content, and incurs almost zero costs compared to the printing, distribution and piracy costs that come with physical textbooks.

“Schoolchildren use it for revision”

We use students using content for 85% of their curriculum. Our assumption is that they have the other 15% in hardcopy”

“Teachers use it in class”

They download everything for a whole term in the subject. We can see each week when they are using the content, and so can work out what they’re teaching and when. They’re spending $2-4/ month for all of their content needs.

“We need all subjects”

It only really makes sense for us to get everything at once, rather than focusing on just specific subjects (such as Science rather than Maths). Teachers are looking for very specific books, rather than just “a science textbook.

“Only 16% of Kenyans have access to a book”

Not all of the books, not some of the books, but just one book. And so by being able to rent them through a digital platform it hugely improves the accessibility.

“The publishers have been great”

They understand how digital is the future and how they need to embrace it. Kenya’s largest publisher lost millions on piracy last year, and so it’s compelling for them to work with Kytabu.

“Kytabu works for them”

It doesn’t really make sense for them to build their own platform. Students are interested in content from different publishers. Textbook publishers are in the content production industry, not really making a digital platform.

“70:30”

That’s the sell we have with publishers. Publishers come to us now – it’s a compelling sell now that we have the relationships with the publishers.

“A lot of interest in video”

This is one of the main trends that I’m seeing in Kenyan EdTech, along with an increase in teacher generated content. Another is parents buying tablets for their kids to use in school.

“Kytabu is completely Kenyan”

The whole team is Kenyan. Without myself and the CEO, the average age is 22. The majority are still at university, who manage their time between studies and working at Kytabu.

“Education is big, but slow”

The main surprise is the scepticism around new educational tools.

“Traditional donor money goes to non-thoughtful programmes”

Programmes that look to spend money to send stuff out to rural communities often miss the local context. The stories need to be local otherwise they won’t be adopted or understood.

“We want video to be more than entertainment”

We want Kytabu to start using video into the learning experience, such as taking museum experiences and bring it to the classroom. We also want to define what Kenyan content can be.

“Kytabu means book”

In 69 languages. Crazy, right.

Social Media Follows etc.

Website : Kytabu
Facebook : Kytabu
Twitter : Kytabu

Kenya’s first local producer of coconut goods. Kentaste’s hustle to get in supermarkets and more

Overview

One of the growing international product categories is goods made from coconuts.

The health, and taste, benefits of coconut oil and coconut milk have caused a rise in demand for these types of product

In Kenya, hundreds of thousands of coconuts are grown each year, and yet were not processed into these high value goods.

In this episode I talk with Sakina from Kentaste, Kenya’s first coconut good producer.

We discuss the process of making coconut products from their coastal factory, knocking on doors at supermarkets to get listed and then paid and how to use coconut oil with your dog

As a consumer of Kentaste products, which is part of why I wanted to go and interview them, I can also say that it’s really good stuff.

In any case, I hope you enjoy this packed interview with Sakina about all things coconuts

 

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Here are some of the key quotes:

“Oil, milk and cream”

These are the main coconut products that we produce since 2012. I head up the Sales & Marketing.

“Our farmers supply exclusively to us”

We collect coconuts from up and down the coast, bring them to our factory and then process them into products.

“2,000 farmers”

Supply to both of our companies. One is Kentaste, the other is just oil for export.

“There’s a different processes”

Milk and cream in one way, oil in another. We have to decide how we’ll use a coconut as you can’t do both.

“We choose based on demand”

The oil is a higher margin product, but we decide what to make based on orders that come in.

“Kentaste is in all major supermarkets”

Some buy huge volumes directly from us, though almost all of our customers buy through a supermarket in Kenya.

“The challenge is in getting paid”

Working with supermarkets is difficult. They say they’ll pay in 60 days, but it ends up being 120+ days. This makes running the business really difficult.

“Cash flow is so difficult in this industry”

We’re at the mercy of when supermarkets will pay us, and so we’re always seeking out investment options that can help with us getting cash in the business.

“It’s difficult to get listed in any supermarket”

The process is long-winded, requiring sending samples and price lists. They often forget about you and so it requires you to follow up incessantly.

“Every week we go to the supermarkets”

We go to the Head Offices of each supermarket on rotation, knocking on doors to make sure that they don’t forget about us.

“If sales start moving, orders keep coming”

Though if they’re not, then work needs to be done on markeing to get people buying more. They won’t tell you if sales are down, it’ll just be that the orders stop.

“Middle to upper class, mostly women”

Are the major demographic. A lot are using coconut oil for cosmetic reasons. We know this from supermarket data but also talking to customers at trade shows.

“We’re the only local producers of coconut products”

Compared to imported alternatives. Everything about Kentaste is local, all the way down to where we “source” our employees…

“It’s not an easy business to run…”

Which might be why we’re the only guys doing it. Sometimes there are no coconuts which farmers can bring to us, and there are issues with running a manufacturing business professionally.

“Coconuts grow best at the coast”

The climate is better grown here, rather than in Nairobi. In the rainy season, the farmers can’t climb the trees to bring them down which affects supply. Most is from just having coconuts on their plot of land rather than commercial farms.

“We can roll out products within a day”

If we get coconuts in the morning, then by the afternoon we have tins of coconut milk ready to go.

“Kentaste is ‘The Kenyan Taste’”

It’s not wholly associated with coconuts but with all-natural products, such as flour and other products. For coconuts, we’re also thinking scented baby oils and cosmetics.

“Use coconut oil with your animals”

Add it to their shampoo to give them a glossy coat of fur and remove fleas.

Social Media Follows etc.

Supermarkets: “you will find us everywhere”
Website:  www.kentaste.com
Facebook: Kentaste Products Limited 
Instagram: Kentaste Products Limited

Preventing food waste through solar powered fridges, with Luke Davey from Inspira Farms

Overview

One of the recurring themes throughout conversations with agriculture companies is the problems with post harvest loss

If produce can’t be kept cold then it will perish quicker and as a result farmers lose out on income

Cold storage (essentially a big fridge) offers the solution, but in an environment with inconsistent power supply, and poor access to capital, this has proved difficult.

In this episode Luke and I talk about how Inspira Farms are using technology to solve this problem.

We discuss how the technology they’ve developed is innovating the market, the compelling financial arrangement they are able to offer farmers and how selling in Kenya is different to doing so in Rwanda

I found this a really interesting conversation to cover the landscape of agriculture in East Africa, and so I hope you enjoy it too.

 

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Here are some of the key quotes:

“Inspira Farms is an off-grid agricultural technology company”

We focus on post-harvest solutions, primarily through delivering cold storage units for horticulture produce, along with financing and other options.

“We focus on Kenya and Rwanda”

In East Africa. We have a global presence but this is where we have consolidated for right now.

“30% of food to waste”

This is from the “farm gate” to the “processing plants”. Primarily this is due to a lack of post-harvest solutions.

“The whole world struggles with post-harvest solutions”

The existing technologies are very expensive and require things such as consistent energy supply. This is rare in developing countries.

“There are four key components of what we do”

  1. The modular stand alone structure which becomes an asset
  2. A software component allows a greater amount insights on the produce
  3. Cooling components which can run off solar
  4. An interest free loan to aid financing

“$5,000 – $20,000”

Is the cost of a unit being delivered to you. Based on the creditworthiness of the applicant the down payment will be 20-50%

“We need a single business entity”

Sometimes this is an individual farmers, sometimes a collective, sometimes an entrepreneur who rents it out.

“People want cold storage”

It’s in huge demand but people are often shocked at the cost of cold storage. Thankfully it’s an easy process by which we can quantify the farmer.

“It’s a big box”

That meets international food safety standards. We can provide shelving, but it depends on each.

“Building along the supply chain”

One customer has cold storage on the farm, others at the processing plant. The vision for these customers is to take it the whole way, with refrigerated trucks as well.

“It’s not a 2 day sales process”

Our recognition is increasing with more inbound than outbound enquiries. That said, it takes time to understand the customer, and make the sale.

“Our team is global”

Who we draw upon, bringing a range of skills at the right time. Technical expertise from Italy, account managers to do due diligence.

“Kenya is vastly more developed than Rwanda”

In terms of the agricultural development. Rwandans, however, are more matter-of-fact about the costs of what the technology cost.

“It was built to grow with the farmer”

The modularity aspect of cold storage units meant that farmers wouldn’t have an under-utilised asset for 5 years, but instead could grow with Inspira Farms.

“Patent pending”

We’re getting patents on our technology which means it will be harder for other companies to imitate us. Essentially get the insulation without having to build brick and mortar structures.

“100 units in 3 years would be really good”

There are lots of strategic projects that we have happening internationally, but for now, my focus on getting units on the ground.

Social Media Follows etc.

Website: www.inspirafarms.com

LinkedIn: Inspira Farms

Twitter: @InspiraFarms

Facebook: InspiraFarms

Start Up Energy Transition Awards

No need for uni. Moringa School’s world class coding school in Kenya, with Audrey Cheng

Overview

Most business is about matching demand with supply.

From her work as a Venture Capitalist talking to businesses about what would help them grow, Audrey found that resoundingly the answer was “tech talent”.

Investigating the options available to students wanting to learn these skills, she found they were sub par.

Moringa School is addressing the need by providing world class education in how to build apps at an affordable cost.

We discuss the innovative teaching methodologies that they adopt, ways of breaching the skills gap in Kenya, and prospects for taking these vocational based higher education alternatives across the continent and into different skills.

Our interview was on the balcony outside of their office and so it gets a little windy at times, but either way, I hope you enjoy.

 

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Here are some of the key quotes:

“We have a 95% job placement rate”

Graduates from our school go into working on coding jobs across the continent.

“There’s huge demand”

Growing companies are all looking for talent, however it just wasn’t around. Audrey looked into how computer science education could be improved and started Moringa.

“We use a ‘flip classroom’ model”

Students are put in charge of what they need to know. We also use other group learning techniques based on neurological insights to give the best possible learning experience.

“Our students come from various sources”

Some from High School. Some from college. Some on a career break. A lot are seeing it as a good investment in order to then get a job.

“It’s extremely affordable”

The same price as a semester at a traditional college (around $350)

“We work backwards from the skills employers want”

This means that it becomes easy for people to slot into tech teams at the companies, as they have learnt all of the relevant skills to hit the ground running.

“The program is different to the US/ Europe”

Critical thinking isn’t taught in schools, which is much more based on regurgitation. Moringa teaches creative thinking through introducing mental frameworks for how to approach problems.

“Interview skills are also taught”

Such as communication, feedback and basically instilling confidence that people can prosper in the workplace.

“Self teaching is good, but not great”

Most developers who are working already taught themselves from the internet. This means they are susceptible to picking up bad practices.

“The Moringa course comes from the US”

We partner with a couple of courses which are highly rated internationally, and then adapt the content accordingly at Moringa.

“We make money through school fees”

This is our primary revenue stream. In time we might look to expand this out in other ways, such as getting people from the UK/ US to learn to code in Kenya and see the tech scene there.

“It’s beyond coding”

The trend that we’re seeing from the World Economic Forum and other industry experts is how to make higher education more linked to relevant employment skills and not just a piece of paper.

“West Africa is next”

In 3 years we want to have a presence in another location, and also be offering lessons in another type of skill.

“Moringa is a herb”

It’s like a superfood. We view what we do as medicine for the pain in society (education)

“There was some resistance”

Mainly from parents who were wondering whether this was a good investment for their kids. Now we’re beginning to prove the value of the education, it’s getting easier.

“We want to build a hacker house”

Right now people are coming from different countries/ cities, finding accommodation and then coming to school. We eventually want to build a dormitory/ community around working and living together.

“Some people see schools as a good business”

And so the government are wanting to keep checks that Moringa are acting properly. Having a Board member who was the ex-ICT Minister for the Kenyan government helps.

“We’re going to raise money!”

In early 2017 I’m off to the US and Europe to get our first bit of outside investment into the company. We’re wanting to meet the demand which raising investment can facilitate.

Social Media Follows etc.

Epicodus: programming programme

Hack Reactor: coding bootcamp

Moringa plant

First Round Capital: Audrey’s ideal investor

Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

Website: www.moringaschool.com

Twitter: Moringa School

Uber for ambulances. Why most Africans can’t call 911 and how Flare solves this, with Caitlin Dolkart

Overview

There are some ideas that, when someone tells you about it, your first reaction is surprise that there even needs to be a business

I had this reaction about Flare, which is improving how people get access to emergency care in Kenya.

Described as “an Uber for ambulances” it is consolidating the 50 companies that exist in the country so that there is one place for patients to call to get fast emergency care.

Essentially making a something akin to 999 (or 911 in the US).

We discuss the current state of the emergency healthcare market across Africa, the stepped process in which they are deploying the app and educating the population that this is a service that can actually exist.

It’s one of the most interesting conversations I’ve had and so I hope you enjoy

 

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Here are some of the key quotes:

“We saw a supply and demand imbalance”

Working in healthcare across Africa for several years, my co-founder and I saw a need to bring people closer to the sparkling new hospitals that are being built in the region.

“Our first focus is emergency response”

In Kenya, and indeed across the region, there is an abundance of ambulances

“There is no equivalent of 911”

Each of these private healthcare companies exists independently and has its own unique phone number. There is no centralised number to call.

“It takes 2 hours to get an ambulance”

Whereas in New York its 7 minutes. Flare is here to really improve upon this latent inefficiency.

“Most people don’t even consider calling an ambulance”

The process is so painful (identifying location, negotiating price…) that people will typically call their friends, a taxi, or other means with which to get them to a hospital.

“The ambulances look similar”

They have sirens and can overtake traffic and contain all of the supplies that are typical in an ambulance in the UK or the US.

“Ambulance companies are for profit”

They look to generate revenue from the call outs they make to cover their costs. Though in 20% of the time they will take someone in, say, a roadside emergency and not charge.

“$55 per trip”

The cost of a trip in an ambulance is between $30-$100. The spread is owing to time to get there, but also the sophistication of the equipment in the vehicle.

“Flare with stitch together all of the companies”

Right now there are 50 different phone lines. As a customer I would contact the nearest ambulance to me.

“Customers will download the app”

The main benefit for this is the geolocation of patient. It makes things easier in terms of matching with the closest ambulance.

“Flare is for profit”

We will take a percentage of each trip. Right now demand is really suppressed and so we think that by creating a better user experience, we can really grow out the market for emergency care.

“We see a public-private partnership”

At the moment, the state doesn’t have the resource to offer this service. Flare are carving out the portion of society who can pay for the service with a view of extending it later, probably with the help of the government.

“To start, it will be like Uber on the back end”

Our first phase in rolling out Flare is to manage the behind the scenes logistics of deploying the correct ambulance. Patients will still have the same experience, but things will be more organised.

“India does something similar”

The benefits of launching in a developing market is that there are no existing systems to compete with. You not need to unwind current behaviours, you can jump straight to the solution.

“It’s not just Kenya”

The market structure of many small ambulance companies (where Flare gives most value) is present across other sub-Saharan countries, meaning there is a room to expand.

“You need a neutral stitcher”

Having no affiliation to a particular ambulance company means that Flare are in a good position to be organisation to consolidate the players in the industry.

“No one realises there could be a better way”

From customer interviews I’ve been surprised to see people think through how they would be get to a hospital in an emergency. People don’t think it’s possible to call an ambulance.

“There are ways to shortcut people using the app”

It could be in terms of educating people, or having the app pre-downloaded, or linked to the “Emergency” features that many smartphones have in-built.

Social Media Follows etc.

Blog: blog.capsule.co.ke

John Oliver on 911:

Inuka Pap uses mobile money to help low-income savings groups, with Waweru Kuria

Overview

Cash is risky business, and in Kenya, mobile money is big.

People living in rural areas are liable to have their life savings lost if it is kept under the mattress.

Many engage in lending co-operatives whereby a community organisation acts as a bank for people who need money in an emergency.

This is, however, pretty archaic and inefficient meaning people can’t get instant access to cash when they need it quick.

Using a digital platform that connects mobile money to these rural co-operatives, Inuka Pap is making it possible for people to get access to the funds in an instant.

Waweru and I discuss what the lending landscape looks like, their social mission of providing free insurance, and the blurred lines around whether they themselves are a bank or not.

As a side note, the day after I interviewed Waweru he pitched Inuka Pap at Seedstars, a global start up competition, and won the title for Kenya! You’ll see that he has knack for storytelling.

Also, a car alarm goes off in the background right at the end, so apologies for that…

In any case, I hope you enjoy!

 

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Here are some of the key quotes:

“The dream started many years ago”

I have always worked with ways of improving people’s lives, through churches and other organisations. Inuka Pap started properly in January 2016.

“We don’t save money in banks”

In rural Kenya, where I grew up, people do not put their money into an actual bank account. Instead there are savings co-operatives (SACCOs) which communities are a part of.

“Getting a loan took 2 days – 2 weeks”

In a moment of needing a loan, it would take time to actually get the cash you need. This is due to the logistics of issuing cash and travelling to the SACCO head office.

“Inuka Pap means…”

Rise up, instantly.

“Our platform does mobile money for lending co-operatives”

Mobile money penetration is >90%. The infrastructure works whereby even in deep rural areas, someone who is sent money can withdraw cash from a kiosk and pay for services immediately.

“We don’t deal with who gets what”

Co-operatives are in the business of knowing how much each farmer can and should receive. Inuka Pap isn’t directly involved with who gets what, it simply makes the payment of these transactions much more efficient.

“A cash environment is risky”

When people keep physical notes stored in their house for emergencies notes are liable to go missing to drunken husbands or hungry rats. It also makes it harder to get a credit history with the co-operative because all of these savings are kept centrally.

“People don’t care about Inuka Pap…”

They care about their co-operative. Once the co-operative uses Inuka Pap individuals feel comfortable accessing their money much quicker.

“Our user base is now 12,000”

In less than eight months. Many individuals are using the service through their co-operatives across the country.

“Some co-operatives have been around for hundreds of years”

For example one that is based around a coffee planting community. The running of these co-operatives has been in the family and so they are deeply set on how to run them and are very comfortable with how they live. This means they are less open to Inuka Pap, at first.

“Small co-operatives take it up quickly”

They are less set in their ways and are generally forward looking when it comes to running their co-operatives.

“We are paid 15% of what co-operatives make”

Co-operatives make money on the interest that they charge to individuals. Inuka Pap earns 15% of this amount.

“The loans are high interest”

They’re not for 12 months but instead are more like a 30 day emergency loan. Being through a co-operative, all of the money goes back to the group which has benefits.

“There are 16,000 co-operatives”

Serving 13 million people. And so we are confident that the market size is massive.

“After 5 million people we’ll move out of Kenya”

There is pent up demand not just in Kenya but also around the rest of sub-Saharan Africa. We’ll move on there afterwards.

“Talent is tough”

Attracting the right people to work at the company is difficult. Our CTO works remotely from South Africa.

“We’ve kind of made our own co-operative”

Individuals can access loans directly through our app which, because we own the money being paid back, is pretty profitable.

“Direct savers can get free medical insurance”

Using the retained revenue we are paying for users of the platform to have free medical insurance. We’re the first in Africa to do this.

“A lot of businesses fail because someone got sick”

In an emergency when a family member has to go to hospital the only way to access funds is to take capital out of the small business that someone runs.

“Are we a bank? No idea!”

We think of ourselves as a platform that helps people save and access money. The government are on our side, but we’re not sure whether to consider ourselves a bank or not.

“There’s a big opportunity to partner with telcos”

In every country the mobile providers are looking to push their mobile money platforms. If we can have close ties with these services then it can get Inuka Pap to a wide ranging audience very quickly.

“We are good to learn from others”

At Inuka Pap we are very open to feedback and are wanting to learn from others. If there are individuals or organisations who want to come to the office and show us what we can do better, we’d love to hear from you!

Social Media Links etc.

Website: www.inukapap.co.ke

Twitter: @inukapap

Email: [email protected]

Inuka Pap wins Seedstars Nairobi