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All posts by Onyango Oloo
With Future CORD & Jubilee Leaders, Friday, Aug. 25, 2000 in Toronto
By Onyango Oloo, Editor & Publisher
On Friday, August 25, 2000, the Kenyan community in Toronto, Canada hosted several Kenyan politicians when we organized a public symposium at the basement of the public library at Dufferin and Eglinton from 6:30 pm to 11:30 pm. Onyango Oloo, who moderated the session which included panel presentations from all the visitors as well as a robust and lively Question and Answer segment during which the Diasporan Kenyans in Canada put ALL the guests to task, was among the people who went to the Pearson International Airport to pick up the guests-among them Raila Odinga, William Ruto and Najib Balala (above). This is where these two snaps were taken. The late Orwa Ojodeh, Dr. Kavetsa Adagala, Peter Kaindi and Prof. Tumbo were also part of the entourage. Dr. Matunda Nyanchama and Adongo Ogony represented the Kenyans in Ontario.
Reveries of ’82…
Showcasing Zesty, Feisty Kenyan Women
By Onyango Oloo, Editor & Publisher
Women took centre stage at the August edition of the Kisumu Business Exchange Forum which continues to draw a diverse crowd of professionals, business people, bloggers and others interested in networking concerning economic and commercial activities in and around Kisumu.
In a slight departure from the usual format,
Peter Achayo, the founder and convenor of the Kisumu Business Exchange Forum announced that in honouring three women who had made an impact in business and professional life, their stories would unfold through a series of “interviews” instead of the usual presentations.
He invited blogger
Onyango Oloo to facilitiate this segment.
First up was
Seraphine Ruligirwa-Kamara, a successful entrepreneur, certified corporate coach and motivational speaker. Seraphine is the Lead Coach on all the Seraphine Consulting suite of coaching programs. She is an established entrepreneur with over 13 years experience in advertising, brand and corporate communication. She is the Founder & CEO of EG BrandHouse a leading advertising firm enhancing the memory of brands by providing innovative, functional and distinct promotional and corporate communication products.
Despite her “foreign” sounding name, Seraphine informed her audience that she was born and grew up in Ugenya, Siaya County. She acquired her name through marriage across the border to a Ugandan. 
She regaled and inspired all with her reflections and recollections
on the path she had traveled professionally. Seraphine is an electrifying speaker.
The equally phenomenal
Frida Owinga, the CEO of Passion Profit School of Entrepenurship. She is a leading authority on entrepreneurship, leadership and management competencies. With over 25 years experience and education in organizational leadership and management from Regent University, per passion centers around equipping individuals to build sustainable and successful businesses of excellence. She is also an alumnus of the Small Business Management program of Small Business Advisory of Georgia in the United States, and USIU, Goldman Sachs Women in Entrepreneurship program. After working in several leadership and management positions in the retail, travel and hotel industries which had clients in North America, United Kingdom, Australia, Japan and South Africa she has acquired skills to work with diverse situations and diverse industries. She was the CEO of Excellent Image, Inc. a provider of leadership and management training, coaching and consulting designed to align people and processes for optimum results.
Forum attendees listened very keenly to
Frida’s witty and profound insights of how to set up. stay in and prosper in business as she gave many real life examples of her challenges, inspirations and successes over the years.
Lydiah Saina holds a senior position at the National Bank of Kenya. She was on hand to explain the range of products the Kenyan owned financial institution had on offer; the impetus behind their recent
“Yellow” branding campaign and of enormous relevance to her listeners, how the National Bank was working with small and medium based enterprises.
Later she had the honour of cutting
the special cake made by Eden’s Pot Restaurant in celebration of the growing success of the Kisumu Business Exchange Forum.
The trio of Lydia, Frida and Seraphine were by no means the only remarkable and awe inspiring women at the event.
Please stay tuned for a cameo profile of the dynamic sister act of
Ann Joyce Roche and Fiona Akumu, a feisty twenty something twosome that I ran into at the third edition of the Kisumu Business Exchange Forum.
The fourth edition
takes place on Thursday, September 5, 2013 at the same venue.
Trying a Duo of Enspire’s Goodies…
By Onyango Oloo, Editor & Publisher
As I said in a previous blog entry in mid July, rising smartphone upstart Enspire is on the verge of an audacious grand entry into Africa with a not to be missed launch before the end of 2013.
In an anticipation of that event I got hold of two of Enspire’s goodies to get a feel of what they are offering for different segments of the burgeoning market which is slated to grow in double digit figures over the next couple of years.
First I wanted to see for myself what was there for the average person in the urban areas and countryside. Someone who wanted to have a good phone with some of the features that have become standard. I wanted a no frills phone that could survive a trip to my village-where we do not have electricity. I wanted something that could allow me to capture some of my auntie’s magic moments as she ages gracefully in her nineties. Nothing flashy enough to attract the undue attention from a hungry youth looking for something to grab and sell for supper. If I needed to answer the call of nature in the middle of the night, was there a phone from Enspire that would guide me to the pit latrine fifty metres away?
Well, I found exactly what I was looking for.
The
Enspire 1033.
The gadget is hands on.
You grab the phone and start calling without having to undergo a grueling seminar from some nerdy IT guru or wade through a cumbersome instructions manual.
To begin with, the phone is cute.
Its simple design is very easy on the eye. If like me, you have more than one service provider, you do not have to cart around two phones because the 1033 has the convenience of a dual SIM slot. Yes. Whether in town or countryside you can take a snap of your grandma, the local scenery or whatever you want to share. Apart from listening to your favourite Lingala, Kwaito, Hilife, Bongo, Reggae, Raga, Rai or Rusha Roho tunes on the built in MP3 player, you can follow the breaking stories in Chad, Burkina Faso, DRC, Malawi or Kenya on the built in FM stations which catches all your favourite stations plus crucial feeds from the BBC, Radio Deutsche Welle, Voice of America, South Africa Broadcasting Corporation, Radio China International and other outlets.
And for those of who live in the village or have arrived there from town over the weekend, you do not have to worry about the phone suddenly going into a coma, just as you are about to return some crucial call. This is because the Enspire 1033 battery can last up to one week without needing to be recharged.
And speaking of urgent calls from Mother Nature, no worries in that regard if it is a pitch black Savannah night when nature urges you to do the needful. The Enspire 1033 has a powerful torch that will guide you successfully to the latrine even if it located further than the farthest distance Usain Bolt covers in his remarkable world beating sprints.
Even though I was only testing the 1033 for the purposes of this review, I have changed my mind about returning it. Not only is this a keeper, but I will purchase one for my rural cousin in the western part of the country.
Now, let me tell you something.
There is a peacock who resides inside of me.
I normally keep the bird with the amazing technicolour plumes strictly under wraps, not letting it out even for a peek.
When it comes to smart phones, is there a living, breathing human being on this planet who does not like to strut, show off the features of their little toy, pretending to make long distance calls even when they have no airtime?
Well, I usually do not go that far and for me, a smart phone is better be smart because I am too old to be playing with toys.
My neighbour upstairs has a Blackberry– a knock off that is.
I saw a lady on the bus strumming a Samsung Galaxy-I forget the series number and did not want to annoy her by asking her if she was sure that her phone was not fake.
The way I am, if I have to have a smart phone, it must live up to its name and be, well, INTELLIGENT.
That is, it has to have some kick ass applications that will make the guy ogling it from the corner of his eyes gasp “Wow!” involuntarily.
It has be a phone that someone rushes to PHOTOGRAPH with their phone so that they can go out and buy it the very next day.
It has to have a great camera. Lots of goodies-GPS, GPRS, auto rotating touch screen, mega giga byte storage, Wi Fi, Blue Tooth, Media Player, Radio, USB portability… you know what I am talking about!
If that is what you have in mind, try out the
Enspire Dream 8145.
To begin with, if there was a contest for slim phones, the 8145 would surely emerge triumphant on the winner’s podium because when I slipped the beauty into my pocket, I discovered to my pleasure that it was lighter than my house keys!
The Enspire Dream 8145 is barely 8 milimetres thick and at 110 grams, it goes head with paper when it comes to weight. It has a bright sharp 824 pixel on a 4.5” screen (measured diagonally as always). The 8145 has a camera has a 5 mega pixel sensor which sits behind a 5 element F/2.0 aperture lens and shoot a 1080 video.
To go a bit technical on you dear reader, the chipset in the Enspire Dream 8145 is none other than Mediatek’s MT6589 which is rising up the charts in terms of popularity with smartphone aficionados.
Best of all, the 8145 is in the Super Premier Seria A League when it comes to its operating system.
It is fired up with Android’s 4.2 Jelly Bean!
Need I say more?
I probably should especially to those who think that I am talking a plastic bag full of multi-coloured sweets from the supermarket.
Android’s
4.2. Jelly Bean is simply stupendous.
Why?
Well, get this:
With Android Jelly Bean 4.2. the Enspire 8145 has enabled wireless display making it possible for the user to share movies, YouTube videos and anything on the screen on a HDTV. The graphics are smoother and slicker; with the Daydream feature Android 4.2. exhibits useful and intriguing information when the smart phone is idle giving a chance to flaunt photo albums get the latest news from Google Currents and more.
The Beam in Android 4.2. makes it easy as 1-2-3 to share videos and photos with a simple tap as well as sharing contacts web pages, directions and other applications.
Widgets can be personalized and Android 4.2. is more accessible especially to visually impaired users with blind users having the option of choosing the Gesture Mode when they want to navigate the user interface using touch and swipe feature in combination with voice activated commands.
I think I have done my job.
See which of the two Enspire models you want.
You can have both if you want- probably from one of the outlets run by Synergy Innovation who are the main dealers for Enspire in the East, Central and Southern African countries that Enspire is rolling out its products in over the next two months or so, including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Malawi.
Given that it is only now that Enspire is venturing into the African market, I naturally fretted about the warranty and service issues.
So I decided to give a call to Mike Asola, Africa head honcho for Enspire’s parent company, Cellon Communications Technology, one of the leading manufacturers of established brands in the telephony sector.
Beaming with vim and zest, Mr. Asola assures me that this is a matter already taken care of.
“We recently signed a deal with two service centres based in Nairobi, Kenya. Beamspot Communications, with offices in Kedong House, Ralph Bunche Road near Central Business District and Waltz Electronics located along Thika Highway will be the Authorized Service Centres to do repairs including non-warranty, customers abuse; replacing accessories like batteries, chargers and hands free sets; cleaning parts; replacing PCBA and LCD connectors, camera, microphones, ringers, speakers, antennae, keypads as well as performing different levels of repairs.”
Watch this blog space as we bring you more information on the big day when Enspire officials will unveil its Africa operations.
Silas Odero and His Homecoming Message of Hope and Profit
By
Onyango Oloo, Editor & Publisher, Kenya Sizzle
According to http://www.jambonewspot.com/ a blog which says its raison d’être is “serving the Kenya Diaspora news need” in a post filed on June 27, 2013, Kenyans living outside the country sent home a whopping 45.05 billion shillings in the first five months of this year alone. Citing official statistics from the Central Bank of Kenya this represented a 5.5% growth from the 42.7 billion Kenya Shillings remitted in 2012. In the single month of May 2013, Kenyans in the diaspora remitted 11 billion shillings back into the Kenyan economy, with 52% of this coming from the United States and Canada and 26% from Europe.
It is estimated that the numbers of Kenyans abroad (and “abroad” includes parts of Africa like South Africa, South Sudan, Rwanda, Namibia, Zambia, Botswana, Tunisia, Egypt; as well as places like India, China, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Iraq (yes, the country whose capital is Baghdad) Afghanistan (yup, that war torn country), New Zealand, Australia not to mention Fiji, Kiribati, Tonga, Vanuatu as well as the more traditional overseas domiciles of North America like Canada and the United States and Europe (Britain, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, France, Sweden, Czech Republic, Poland, Greece, Bosnia, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Moldova etc) is around three million individuals and their families.
This cash infusion is a tremendous boost to the economy-which is the commercial fulcrum and economic hub of the East and Central African region.
But then there is the sordid underbelly of this story.
That is the tragedy of the drain brain which has particularly afflicted Kenya very hard.
According to some academic research, 51% of medical doctors trained in Kenya live abroad with the bulk choosing the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia and South Africa-in that order.
Check out this link for more information.
Of the 30,000 Kenyan students who go to study abroad, only 9,000 return home.
Given the fact that the remittances from the Kenyan Diaspora is a fraction of the total earned and saved income of Kenyans living overseas, if we do an opportunity cost assessment we have to conclude that the presence of Kenyans residing and working outside the country is a net LOSS to Kenya’s economy.
But before any of my readers rush off to the highest peak of Mount Kenya to hurl themselves to their ultimate suicidal doom in utter angst and despair, let me share an uplifting tit bit.
70% of Kenyans living and working in the UK want to COME BACK to Kenya PERMANENTLY. Only 1 in 10 Kenyans in the British Isles are determined to stay on in the UK for the rest of their natural lives.
The passage of the 2010 Constitution, especially with its dual nationality provision (diluted as it was) served as a boon and incentive for Kenyan professionals resident overseas to think more seriously about packing their bags and coming back home.
Of course as we say this, we are very cognizant of the fact that in this increasingly globalized, networked, facebooked, pinterested, googled, rssed, linkdin, tumblrd and tweeted world, the concept of “home” is fluid, as it is elusive and ever shifting as many people commute between various places they call home across the world and even within their own national boundaries-like my former University of Nairobi year mate who has homes in Shanghai, Chicago and Riverside Drive in Nairobi.
Many Diasporic Kenyans are trooping back home every month after decades of living in frigid, desolate but affluent, more liberal and technologically advanced far off demi-mondes.
One such happy and contented returnee is
Silas Juma Odiero.
Just inching into his forties, Silas lived, studied and worked in Europe for almost a decade. He arrived in the UK to pursue studies in the field of insurance. At first he lived in London and later on in Tewksbury and Cheltenham in the Gloucestershire area of England. At the end of 1996 he moved back to Kenya. The next year he joined his eldest brother who was doing business in Milan, Italy.
He later on settled down with a woman with origins in the Philippines whom he had met in Italy. As a husband wife tag team, they decided to go into business, starting small doing deliveries for people who supplied fish.
He remembers his time in Milano
with fondness and nostalgia.
“For a while I operated a very successful business called AFRICIA INTERNATIONAL dealing with packing and supplying fish all over Italy- varieties like
sea bass,
sea beam,
carpaccio and crustacean sea food like
lobster and
shrimp. I must say that Italian people are among the best in the world. They are honest, compassionate and quite generous once they get to know you. In fact, I always credit four Italians- an elderly man called Domenico Pedol and his son Marco (in his late twenties when I met him) who took a leap of faith in me. I will tell you about Sapore and Felice in a second. But let me start with the father and son. They owned and operated a company called Gado Pesca which is still very big in the trucking business in northern Italy supplying sea food all over Italy. The father Domenico took an immediate liking to me, hiring me as one of his drivers when I went to look for business with him because I already had my own operation. At first I was perplexed why he should employ me when I was self-employed. Later I was to understand that he was determined to introduce me to his much wider network. And he did this without thinking about the colour of my skin or my ethnic, linguistic or cultural background. You asked me about reports of anti-immigrant feeling and racist experiences and I can honestly tell you that while there are there; while it is true that Milan is the base of
Silvio Berlusconi who has been supported by the bigots in the
Lega Nord (Northern League); while
Forza Italia is a political force to reckon with spouting its xenophobia, my own lived experience with the Italians I met and interacted with still feels me with joy and respect because they treated me as an equal, with dignity, professionalism and as I said before, honesty.”
An even bigger “miracle” still awaited Silas.
Marco Pedol, the son, one day just decided to take a leap of faith in Silas Odero.
“Marco was a down to earth guy. He was always in scruffy, stained overalls busy among the other workers of Gado Pesca. Very few people knew he was the son of the boss. One day he called me into his office and just out of the blue he announced that he was donating three vans to me. He told me not to worry about paying for them because the business he was going to throw my way will cover all those expenses. And he was right. Within a very short time I was making a very decent living, even if you use Euro terms to calculate my earnings.”
And that was not the end of the story.
The father, Domenico, recommended Silas to another of his business associates, Sapore de Mare who gave Silas two more trucks.
Later a fourth Italian , Felice, well wisher who had a company called Allogel, also stepped up the plate to give Silas another helping hand. In fact, he was the first. Felice was Silas’s very first client who gave him tons of business at the outset.
Odiero then goes on to puncture and deconstruct widely held myths about the people of Italy.
“There is a stereotype that ALL Italians, especially those in business, are somehow involved with the Mafia.
Yes it is true that the
Mafia is there-for example they control the garbage disposal business and are quite influential within certain political circles.
The Camorra is also another very powerful organized crime network. But the vast majority of Italians are just simple hardworking and honest individuals as you can see from the four examples I have just given you.”
From this great start, Silas simply blossomed and prospered in the Italian trucking sector.
At the height of his success, Silas owned 15 refrigerated
Iveco vans traversing the length and breadth of Italy and even having forays into Marseille, Nice and other parts of France.
His annual revenues before tax almost reached the millions-not shillings, but
US $$$$$.
Life was beautiful, la vita è bella to hijack the title of an Oscar winning
1997 Italian movie, starring the incomparable Roberto Benigni who also directed it. It was simply la dolce vita, the good life, to reference an even more famous magnum opus of
Italian cinema written and directed in 1960 by the critically acclaimed auteur and maestro Federico Fellini.
Sila Juma Odiero emphasizes that all the good things that happened was all with the grace of God.
So why not just stick there?
Why relocate back to a so called Third World back water, alleged “Failed State” teeming with corruption, over 70% youth unemployed; still ravaged by the AIDS Pandemic and with a less than stellar record in terms of human rights and democratic governance? Why abandon the efficient autobahns of continental Europe and lightning fast internet connection of London for the snail pace traffic jams and the equally languid cyber cafes? Why risk the almost daily urban car jackings?
He gives a very simple answer:
“Two things. First, I needed to come back home. Kenya is where I was born and raised. With all the education, training, skills and successes I was blessed with, I needed to give back to the country that had first educated me and trained me for all that I have managed to achieve in life. And I was convinced that the pastures were actually greener back here than out there.”
This robust endorsement of Kenya by someone who has tasted more than a measure of economic success in the Diaspora over many years may startle the hordes of bright eyed, naïve, wannabe Kenyan emigrants who toil and moil day and night hoping to “kwenda majuu” as they say in the Sheng patois, which is the de facto lingua franca in large parts of Nairobi. Many of these Kenyans pining for the day they would fly out of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to catch a glimpse of the ever elusive American (or Canadian, British, German, Korean or Indian) Dream are sometimes unfortunate victims of con men, human traffickers and some of their own lying relatives vegetating in the West.
The second major reason for Silas Juma Odiero to pack his bags and relocate to Kenya is more mundane.
“The Italian economy went into a tailspin around the year 2004; this is BEFORE the major global crisis which came as a thunderbolt in 2008 or the current Eurozone crisis. Tens of thousands of workers were laid off. For those of us in business, our clients started cutting back on their orders and we experienced difficulties servicing our obligations. It was harder to get short term infusions from the banks or make other arrangements which had been routine just a few years previously. Unfortunately even today, in 2013, the situation in Italy has not improved. If anything it has got much worse. I was reading the other day that the recession in Italy has extended into an eighth successive quarter meaning that it has gone like this for the last two years. The economic growth has contracted to 0.2 %. Well to go back to my story. I had to think of a Plan B. Instead of waiting until I was out of options, I decided to divide my trucking business into two and sell off both parts to new owners. The proceeds from that sell off, plus my savings over the years then allowed me to actualize my dream to come back home.”
So what did he do upon arrival?
He explored a venture into the tourism business. But that did not go as well as he thought. A versatile man, he then got into publishing. At one point he had the contract to do the inflight magazine for
Jet Link the Kenyan owned airline company, a lucrative deal until Jet Link itself went belly up-for reasons outside the scope of this article.
He then launched Sweet & Spicy, a magazine geared towards showcasing “culinary adventures” a venture that he still operates as the Publisher and Managing Editor under his Sterling Magazines Ltd.
But it is at the location of his current flagship that I first met him during the launch of the Kisumu Business eXchange Forum in early June this year. The venue was at a swanky restaurant serving Mediterranean fare in the leafy suburbs of the Upper Hill business and residential district just outside the Nairobi CBD proper. Located on the first floor of the Nelson Awori Centre, adjacent to the private, high cost Nairobi Hospital
,
Eden’s Pot Restaurant
on Ralph Bunche Road, off Valley Road, across from yet another outlet of the Nairobi Java coffee house franchise; it is in the vicinity of the British High Commission, the Japanese Embassy, Ford Foundation a slew of corporate regional headquarters and close to a clutch of Kenya government ministry offices camped at a place simply called “Community” in reference to the former sub-headquarters of the East African Community in Kenya.
Silas Juma Odiero owns Eden’s Pot and adores it the way a parent is affectionate about an only child. Talking of kids, Eden’s Pot is still an infant.
But a baby who has made its arrival in the hospitality industry in Kenya instantly noticeable. It is very busy for most of the week with a cross section of patrons- from diplomats in the surrounding embassies, to business types, professionals, married couples or new lovers looking for an exclusive romantic spot where they can stare lovingly into each other’s eyes as they sample from the sumptuous menu which includes
pastries,
bites ,
juices and soft drinks, lunch specials like roasted butter nut soup, fish fillet otolana or ox liver Florentine with mashed potatoes; special offers like T-bone steak and owner’s favourite sirloin…to prevent the saliva dripping from your mouth becoming a flood to mopped away, I will stop there.
Apart from hosting
the Kisumu Business eXchange Forum for the third consecutive month, Eden’s Pot has also been the launch pad
for the cerebral architect singer-songwriter
Dan Aceda aka “Chizzy” latest CD as well as the rendezvous for all kinds of
bashes and birthday parties.
But hey, I am talking too much about Eden’s Pot.
Today, I wanted you to meet Silas Juma Odiero: a Kenyan who flew out to theDiaspora and made a triumphant , as the late great Martinique born Negrititude poet Aimé Césaire would say in French:
retour au pays natal (return to the native land).
It appears life in Kenya for Silas is once again, La Dolce Vita redux.
Success is intoxicating and contagious.
So much so that it is enticing
Silas’ elder bro, who also goes by same Odiero surname moniker to make that decision to pack his bags and leave the UK, where he has been very successful in business for more than twenty years.
Yeye pia, ameamua kurudi NYUMBANI.
Next month, if not the following mwezi…
Onyango Oloo in Nairobi
Enspire’s Audacious Splash Into Africa
By Onyango Oloo, Editor & Publisher
The nexus between timing and opportunity equals thrill, boom, buzz and pizzazz.
That is the exact spot where
Michael Asola is nestling restlessly at the moment.
He is pumped up, focused and ready to go.
How would you like be at the epicenter of a technological ripple, driving a continental buzz?
Well, ask Michael.
The thirty something Kenyan born entrepreneur is heading the African division of the next big thing in smart telephony- Enspire.
With a presence in Latin America, Europe, Canada and the United States Enspire is set to cut a swathe in the booming smart phone market with its dazzling array of beautiful well designed, user friendly gadgets that stands out in the uniqueness from the other industry behemoths Samsung and iPhone.
Take the
Enspire M 8047 L for instance.
Apart from the usual goodies- browser, video player, MMS, SMS, MP3- the 4.7” Quad Core comes with a 3.0 mega pixel front camera, and another 8.0 mega pixel camera at the back apart from being bundled with GPS G-Sensor, Light & Proximity Sensor, LED Indicator; Dual SIM (Normal + Micro SIM) an E-Compass plus Noise Cancellation with Dual Mic.
Not to mention data connectivity up to 5.76 Mps and very efficient WiFi capability.
Or the ultra slim
Q9047L model whose dimensions are 140×67.5×7.96mm with built in features very similar to its M8047 sibling.
Or the
8690NM
The most exciting thing about this range of smart phones evokes goodies from a candy shop:
Jelly Bean.
These gadgets run on the new
Android 4.2 Jelly Bean platform.
Which means a lot.
With Android 4.2, these smart phones enable wireless display making it possible for the user to share movies, YouTube videos and anything on the screen on a HDTV. The graphics are smoother and slicker; with the Daydream feature in Android 4.2. exhibits useful and intriguing information when the smart phone is idle giving a chance to flaunt photo albums, get the latest news from Google Currents and more.
The Beam in Android 4.2. makes it easy as 1-2-3 to share videos and photos with a simple tap as well as sharing contacts web pages, directions and other applications.
Widgets can be personalized and Android 4.2. is more accessible especially to visually impaired users with blind users having the option of choosing the Gesture Mode when they want to navigate the user interface using touch and swipe feature in combination with voice activated commands.
Enspire is a name that will soon be dripping from a lot of lips in Nairobi. Mombasa. Kisumu. Nakuru. Kampala. Dar es Salaam. Kigali. Bujumbura. Juba.
And parts beyond.
Enspire is a code word for excellence in digital communication, soon to be a by word for cutting edge telephony; a synonym for hand held quality multi-media experience.
The quantum leap in technology now provides the savvy, the smart; the busy, the impatient upwardly mobile professional/entrepreneur/technocrat; the well connected government insider with an opportunity to interact the best smart phones available on the market.
And you do not have to be in Frankfurt, Chicago, Marseilles, Buenos Aires, Sao Paolo or Yokohama to access these gems of mobile wizardry.
You could be a Kenyan, a Ugandan, a Rwandese, South Sudanese, Burundian, Tanzanian or Congolese living and working anywhere in East and Central Africa.
Or for that matter a Namibian, Gambian, Nigerian, Malian, Algerian, Libyan, Cape Verdian or Mauritian.
Enspire wants you to have that cutting edge smart phone in the palm of your hands without having to board an inter-continental flight to Europe, China, Japan, Australia, the Middle East, North America or Latin America.
Enspire is entering Africa with a swagger and a flourish by the beginning of the last quarter of 2013.
There are plans for a launch in the Kenyan capital that will unveil Enspire’s bold move for a sizable chunk of the growing African mobile market.
“We plan to sell 2.5 million phones in this market over the next 24 months” a buoyant Michael Asola, Cellon ( Enspire’s parent company), Head of Africa operations tells me over a cup of cappuccino in a downtown Nairobi restaurant.
“Enspire will change forever the negative perceptions and assumption that some people have that all smart phones are unaffordable and out of their reach. We will demonstrate that high quality, reliable and innovative products can be pocket friendly in terms of price.”
Michael demonstrates the unique features of the
M8045 – 4.5” FWVGA Quad Core Smartphone that Enspire unleashed in April 2013. It has a Quad Core processor, ultra slim (its dimensions are 135.5x66x8.1mm) and with a big screen (4.5’’ FWVGA 16M TFT/ Cap. TL Multi-touch). Its data connectivity goes up to 7.2 Mbs and comes bundled with GPRS, Wi-Fi and other goodies with a memory of 4Gbs to cite but a few of its amazing features. And the M8045 is just one of a whole range of smart phones manufactured and marketed by Enspire.
While the M8045 is obviously targeted at a certain niche on the upscale end of the market, Enspire is fully aware of the complexity, diversity and socio-economic range in Africa, so it is rolling out a well thought strategy of market segmentation to offer products that match one’s income and economic realities.
“We have entry level full feature phones, affordable smart phone as well as the high end offerings I have just demonstrated,” Michael informs me.
For instance, there is the 1033 entry level camera phone which comes with 64 MB memory, a 400mA battery a camera which captures 1.3 mega pixels. It multimedia features include a video player and recorder as a music player and an FM radio. There is an option of buying a model with dual sim capability. The thing to note is affordability with all those goodies thrown in.
Other Enspire feature phones targeting the ultra low cost affordable segment of the market include the C 3033; C3070; C35537; C3670; C3773 and the M3523.
A couple of rungs above that in terms of sophistication and price are the low cost smart phones which range from the 4.0” dual core M8135 smart phone and its cousin the M8140.
From there you get to where Enspire is trying to stamp its emerging niche leading in the ever sophisticated full feature smart phone super league where it is determined to go head to head and toe to toe with such industry giants as Samsung, iPhone, LG, HTC and Black Berry.
Given its long history of manufacturing some of the best phones of the above brands under special arrangements, Enspire’s parent company Cellon, is convinced that it can match and surpass what the other digital superstars in the smart telephony sector are dangling before the ever discerning smart phone consumer.
In this line, Enspire have put together an ensemble of irresistible products aimed at those who value quality, precision and clarity over cost when picking their smart phones.
Marketing this diverse range of feature and smart Enspire phones in the emerging African market is both a challenge and attractive proposition for Michael Asola.
“We have done our groundwork. Some of our well known competitors, (without mentioning any names), have had a huge impact in Kenya for example. But some of their methods of market entry and domination have had their dodgy and suspect aspects. Some simply slap their logos on older refurbished phones from brand leaders like Nokia which are being phased out before slipping these second hand phones into the market. Also the mass importation of phones from certain parts of the world has had the effect of dumping cheap and inferior products on to the African market.”
Michael pauses, pondering pensively before adding:
“Enspire is doing things differently. We will not flood the market with junk. Our emphasis on quality, even when we hawk our ultra low cost feature phones. And we will carefully plan our inventory when we supply the market.”
“Look out for us all across Africa. Once you touch an Enspire, you will be hooked because you will be provided a unique, value added experience.”
Enspire plans its African launch in the last quarter of 2013, probably in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi with plans to roll out in eleven other countries around the continent over the next few months.
For more information contact:
Michael Asola
Managing Director – Africa
1st Floor, Reinsurance Plaza, Taifa Road – Nairobi
P.O Box 77208-00611,
Nairobi.
Tel: +254 202 166 131
Cell: +254-722-354633/+254 734 956 177
E-mail: michael.asola@cellon.com
Skype: mikeasola
A Longish Tweet to Safaricom CEO
Dear
Bob Collymore:
Earlier this Saturday 20th of July night (it is summer in my former hometown of Toronto where my 22 year old son lives with his mother; winter in Durban where my younger sister misses her twenty something daughter polishing her Spanish in Ecuador and chilly in Nairobi) I used 234 to access your customer care people.
When they finally came to the phone, this was the gist of my bitter complaint:
I live around the Pipeline area in the Eastlands part of Nairobi, close to the Taj Mall end of the Eastern By Pass. I have a Safaricom line on my Android powered Enspire smart phone. I also have a Safaricom modem loaded with mega tonnes of data bundles.
If I want to make a simple phone call, sometimes I have to perch on my toilet seat or lean over my kitchen sink. In fact the customer care guy I was dealing with kept telling to go “somewhere” where there was “network” since he could barely catch a word I was saying. In exasperation, I patiently explained to him that this was precisely WHY I was calling- to COMPLAIN about poor reception.
If I want to get on the internet, I fall down on my knees and pray very hard. My supplications to high heaven are never answered- I guess there is extremely poor network even in those celestial neighbourhoods.
Apart from Safaricom, I have modems sold to me enthusiastically by your rivals- Airtel and Orange. But they do not work either. Since you have neither acquired nor merged with either mobile service provider, I will concentrate on Safaricom, of which you are the reigning head honcho.
About three years and three months ago, whilst I was residing in nearby Donholm, just off Outer Ring Road, half a block from where Jogoo ends on that roundabout which leads either to Tena and Umoja or Pipeline and Embakasi depending on your ultimate destination, I made a similar earnest call to Safaricom, citing the same network problem.
My complaint was dutifully and diligently recorded. I even had an official service number assigned to my case.
All very good.
Except that exactly ZILCH happened to that matter. By the time I moved to my current residence barely a month ago, NOTHING had been done to install the long promised booster to enhance reception.
Today at around 2300 hours I received the following text message from Safaricom:
“Dear Customer, Service Request 1-4BC2UHH was created under your subscriber 0715 XXX XXX.”
At least the Customer Care rep followed up on his pledge to file an official report.
But what happens now?
Will I have to wait for three more years to ruefully discover that Safaricom does NOT, as a matter of fact, CARE about its millions of subscribers?
Especially if they live in the Eastlands section of the city, as opposed to say, Runda, Karen, Gigiri, Loresho, Muthaiga or Kitisuru?
We are already stuck with the infernal Jogoo Road/Outer Ring day long traffic grid lock which costs millions of shillings in lost person hours as workers and professionals trudge along at slower than snail pace to get to town which should take a maximum of twenty minutes.
Now for those of us who feel we are digitally connected enough to telecommute via our smart phones, high speed modems and other devices we find ourselves stuck in the information superhighway because the richest company in East Africa is reluctant to do anything about mobile and internet connectivity.
Mr. Collymore, you have decades of experience overseeing major mobile networks in the UK, Japan and now Kenya. I do not have to give you a pep talk on the digital divide. Our country boasts that it is on the cutting edge of the information and communication technological revolution sweeping across the African continent. We claim to be the regional economic hub, indeed the hearbeat of the East and Central African economy.
But do we really deserve these accolades when residents of the Kenyan capital can not make a simple phone call or get internet access on the platform of the most successful mobile service provider, Safaricom?
Mr. Collymore, short of committing suicide in utter frustration, should I just give up and emigrate, say to Marrakesh, Morocco, Dhaka, Bangla Desh or the capital city of your own country of origin,
Bridgetown, Barbados?
Sincerely,
Onyango Oloo
First Thursdays Celebrate Kisumu Resurgence in Nairobi
By Onyango Oloo, Editor & Publisher
On its very second outing, the Kisumu Business Exchange Forum is already a triumph rippling with excitement, eagerness and curiosity among professionals, event managers, entrepreneurs, angel investors, bloggers and media scribes.
July 4th is known around the world as the day Americans celebrate their independence. But July 4th in Nairobi this year was the occasion for a different reason to toast.
It was the first Thursday in July this year and therefore right on schedule for another rendition of the Kisumu Business Xchange Forum launched in June.
Largely the brainchild of
Peter Achayo, a marketing consultant and founder of Gravitas– a firm which does a whole slew of things around marketing, event management and other areas of business development, the July edition of the event attracted many of the people who attended the launch plus a number of interesting newcomers.
The star attraction was definitely the Deputy Governor of Kisumu County,
Ms. Ruth Odinga.
A business executive in her own right, Ms Odinga had stopped by to gauge for herself what the event was all about. She soon found herself the centre of attention after being invited to address the cocktail party attendees.
She applauded the efforts of the organizers in putting the monthly together, quickly quipping that if it was about Kisumu, then it may be a good idea to arrange a similar evening in the Lakeside city itself.
Ms. Odinga said that the devolved government in Kisumu County was determined to make Kisumu City a viable business entity with plans to make it a free port and point of entry to the wider East and Central African region. She said that with expansion and upgrades, Kisumu could easily help in decongesting Mombasa and provide backward and forward linkages to Mwanza and Bukoba in Tanzania and Fort Bell and Jinja in Uganda. Already the dredging of Kisumu Harbour was underway and there was an intensified campaign to rid the city of the noxious hyacinth weed.
Apart from the Deputy Governor of Kisumu’s powerful and inspirational speech, there were other powerful presentations.
Antony Murunga, a board member with Lakeview Heights spoke about their real estate project Home Afrika which is unfolding in the Riat Hills on the outskirts of Kisumu City. This theme was very much in tandem with Pius Omollo from the National Housing Corporation making the case for Kisumu as a real estate investment destination.
Fascinating also was the detailed exposition titled “Small Scale Farming as a Sustainable Business” by Karobia Njogu from CMS Africa. Karobia told the keenly attentive audience that there were many models of small scale farming citing success stories from around Kenya ranging from biogas start ups which needed as little as 40,000 shillings using livestock manure and kitchen waste to yield gas and organic fertilizer which had the added advantage of protecting the environment and producing clean, healthy and renewable energy; the possibilities of harnessing solar power, producing energy saving jikos, soap manufacturing, baking before going on to expound on animal husbandry involving both diary and ranching activities targeting the beef, poultry, pork, fish and dairy markets.
There was profit in exploring lucrative shrubs and herbs like aloe vera, neem and other products, especially if one focused on adding value as opposed to just harvesting the raw crops. Horticulture was already big with the European flower market getting a sizable chunk of its supplies from Kenya. Fruits and vegetables were also valuable sources of income for those who were committed to follow up on these suggestions.
Edwin Ayieko from Nairobi Governor Kidero’s office was on hand to give an overview of the workings of the national capital region’s county government.
Because of the packed schedule, some eagerly awaited presentations such as the much anticipated “Confessions of a Serial Entrepreneur” by Cellon Communication’s Africa Managing Director
Michael Asola were held over until the next edition of the Kisumu Business Exchange Forum.
That event is scheduled for August 1, 2013 at the same venue Eden’s Pot. The theme this time around will be “Women from Kisumu in Business”.
Those who have attended the Kisumu Business Exchange Forum so far include: Investeq Capital Ltd, Batley Ole Keko Engineers, Church Missionary Society, Multi Media Mobile Ltd, Quantity Surveyor, Outsource Consulting Services, University of Nairobi School of Business, Alvetta Group, Ambalian Company Ltd, Power Talks, Sokonie Insurance Agency, Sibi Printers Ltd, Kost Indica Projects Consult, Pamoja Capital Ltd, Outsource Design, Apa Insurance, Aka Studio, Breezer International, Cellon Telecommunications, Brandits, Structured Finance Consultant, Light Media Pro, Cargo World Conveyors Ltd, Eraeva Catering Services, Sixth Sense Creative, Unicorn Capital Partners, Harmony Sound Ltd, The Star, Zenani.Co.Ke, Victoria Gold, The President’s Award, Babyvazi Creations, Mavazi Timamu Creations, Global Travel Management and Eden’s Pot Restaurant which is of course the physical venue for the monthly Kisumu Business Exchange Forum.
Eden’s Pot proprietor, Silas Juma Odiero was among the very first people to embrace the idea of the monthly networking meeting and was enthusiastic in offering his business establishment in a show of true commitment to the process.
Look out for an interview with Mr. Odiero in an upcoming post here on Kenya Sizzle.
Karibu
Welcome to Kenya Sizzle, the exciting new blog that showcases business, technology and innovation in a dynamically changing Kenyan environment.
Enjoy!
Onyango Oloo
Editor
Dunia Sizzle 