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A MAGAZINE FOR THE CAREER-PERSON AND ENTREPRENEUR
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EDITOR'S NOTE 03
THE FUTURE OF WORK 04
SAVINGS: THE BIG MYSTERY 07
BRIAN BOSIRE: FOUNDER AND CEO 10
Contents VENTURE PHILANTHROPY 19
SAM MAJANI: FOUNDER AND CEO OF GHAFLA 22
THE 36 QUESTIONS THAT HELP PEOPLE FALL IN LOVE 26
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Editor’s Note Hello & Welcome to White Collar! We’re glad to have you with us for this issue. Clayton M. Christensen, an American academic and business consultant once said “Disruption is a process, not an event, and innovations can only be disruptive relative to something else.” On this issue we tackle tech and entrepreneurship from a local Kenyan perspective and look at two trail blazers in their respective fields. Brian Bosire, the founder and CEO at Ujuzi Kilimo and HydroiQ, and Sam Majani, the Founder and CEO at Ghafla. We’ve also surrounded these interviews with editorial pieces that voice the growing concerns of what a future of disruption could look like. I mean, like Clayton Christensen said “innovation can only be disruptive relative to someone else” and at the expense of someone else. We ask questions like will there still be jobs after everything has been automated? What will the future of work look like? However to kick things off we look at saving the world, through environmental conservation, not from a moral perspective but from a profitability standpoint. As always, we love hearing back from you. Keep reaching
Contributors:
Michael Kiruthi, Esq Daniel Kathare Ian Macharia Kyama Kivuva
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out to us across our social platforms.
Kyama Kivuva
ManuKyama 3
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Find out what all the fuss is about.
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F
rom a period starting in the years around 2015, there has been an incredible surge in popularity for the content produced by scientific futurists. This surge in popularity did not happen because they changed their talking points but because they were finally approaching an event horizon where we can begin to substantiate some of their claims. At the forefront of this movement is Google’s head of engineering, Ray Kurzweil. Ray Kurzweil is a master inventor and is famous for predicting the need for search engines back in the 1980’s: “I saw that by the late 1990’s there was going to be so much information online but there would be no way to find it and that by then we would have the computation resources to create something to help us find what we were looking for. What I could not predict is that out of the fifty projects that created search engines, that it would be these kids working out of a Stanford dorm that would take over the world of search,”
over a series of three games. The game of Go is one of the best tests of strategy & intelligence. This is an excellent indicator of how far machines have come.
Bad news first, what’s the downside? Employment/work as we know it will be disrupted. In order to understand why and how work will change, we need to properly define work. Over the past decades, if not centuries, institutions have been designed on a model of scalable efficiency, which means that they found that it costs less and more efficient to have everything under one roof.
The percentage of intelligence, on earth, that is human… is shrinking.
He said this referring to Google’s co-founders, Larry and Sergey Brin. Up to date Ray has had a success rate of 86% on his predictions of the trends in IT and lately he’s been repeating one message which is that technology is advancing and it is doing so exponentially. “The percentage of intelligence, on earth, that is human… is shrinking,” was what tech titan & innovator Elon Musk said as an opening line when asked about Artificial Intelligence. Machines can compute (calculate) better than people and they do not get tired or distracted, which means they can solve logic related problems better than people, repeatedly and consistently over long periods of time and all this at almost zero cost which makes them the ideal worker. From a strictly ‘intelligence’ standpoint we have seen machines break through barrier after barrier. On 27th of May 2017, it was reported that Google’s AlphaGo Artificial Intelligence beat the world’s best GO player, Ke Jie of China,
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And when they designed this model they defined work as: Tightly defined tasks: Tightly defining work was a move to streamline communication with the hope that it would reduce confusion. This definition was created during the industrial boom when all that the hired labour was supposed do was follow instructions. The tasks had to be highly standardised: During the industrial revolution companies started to offer a given quality of service/commodity and the customers became accustomed to it and so, no matter what, they had to maintain a given standard and this affected the workers as well because they were required to make a given quality of product. The best example of this is fast food restaurant chains. No matter where you are in the world, you can get a McDonalds burger in about 7 minutes. The tasks then have to be tightly integrated: These tightly
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defined and highly standardised tasks were then tightly looped and integrated by phasing out anything that caused delays or anything that was thought to be inefficient. This allowed for a decent quality finished product being completed in good time. When discussing the automation of jobs, John Hagel, a Silicon Valley management consultant with over 35 years’ experience with tech and big business, said: “If that’s what work is (these tightly defined, highly standardised & tightly integrated tasks) then machines can do that much better than people can. They don’t get distracted and they don’t get tired, they don’t get sick. They do it efficiently and predictably.” John Hagel went on to add, “I know that there all kinds of studies being done that show ’47 per cent of work... or 28 per cent of work would be lost to machines. But if that’s what work are (tightly defined, highly standardised and closely integrated tasks) then 100 per cent of it will be automated. To add to the bad news there, there is a lot of talk about the gig economy, short term contractors doing work as gigs for others. A good example of this is Uber with the drivers carrying out routine tasks. But then again if that’s all that the gig economy is then all those jobs as well will be lost as well.” John made those statements in 2017 and as of 2018 we’re beginning to see the promised disruption. Around March 2018, in the state of Arizona, Google’s Waymo started a beta test program where they offered fully autonomous rides to the beta app users, and this is without any accompanying safety driver in the car. Fully automated driving is just the beginning. Other industries are also experimenting with automation as well, for example, Sony’s R&D department made their AI listen to over 13,000 songs and the software went on to write its own song and they are currently working on having the AI drop an album. Conventional employment is about to be disrupted.
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Is there an upside? Well yes, there’s an upside for manufacturers because it’s going to be cheaper to produce goods since majority of their labour costs will be eliminated. This will in turn drive down the cost of goods and services; case in point the uber-driver makes up about half the cost of expenses. In his highest profile talk since he left office, President Obama described technology as the greatest threat to his country’s workers and spoke of work not just as a means to earn a living but as providing a sense of dignity for humanity. Factors like AI will increase the global wealth gap exponentially and policy makers are considering taxation schemes which will yield different models of a ‘universal basic income.’ This will be a way to provide for everyone’s basic needs. There are a few experimental pilots of the Universal Basic Income being tested out across the world. Wall Street Journal’s Jason Bellini covered the Ontario’s Universal basic income pilot and it’s clear that we’re still a bit far from getting it right. However, there has been a 10x improvement in entrepreneurial risk-taking in places where Universal basic income pilots are being tested out. It turns out that when people’s basic needs are taken care of they can actively risk trying out new ideas. We know for sure that a radical disruption is going to take place, because it has already started and we applaud every effort to try and adapt to it by creating entirely new models to manage with the coming change. However, an interesting thing to point out is Universal basic income in done at the national level and not a global level. What if these tech companies with a global reach, were taxed globally & the said funds then redistributed globally? Also, is this something that the United Nations should oversee? We’re open to having these conversations across our social media. ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
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magine this situation; you are a young adult, preferably between the ages of 24 and 30 year, living in a great big city such as Nairobi. If that isn’t scary enough, sit tight for some more context. You graduated from your undergrad or master’s degree a little while back and now live in your own cosy place. You are brimming with optimism and have all your life ahead of you; debt free, the career you wanted, supportive friends and family, and going on dream holidays. There is just one little problem: this is all in your head! Well, most of it at least. See, you don’t come from an affluent a background as you’d prefer, so here’s the most likely scenario of your life. You graduated from whatever program you were in with the help of government or private debt, so the monthly repayments always nag at the back of your mind. This means that you have to have a job or two, any job. So, basically you work to live as opposed to the other way around. Your days start at 5:30 a.m. for what will be an intense and stressful day, so much that you may not have the time (or money) for lunch on some days. You put in up to 16 hours a day, inclusive of the traffic, of course. It feels
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as if you will go mad at the end of such a draining day. The weekend cannot come fast enough. Ah, the weekend, a heaven sent break when you get to spend your hard-earned money. This is why you live in the city anyway, so many activities to indulge in, yet so little time. Your friends are also free on the weekends so you know it will definitely be eventful. All events are up for grabs; concerts, shows, or sports. Sometimes you travel out of town for a change of scenery, when the money allows, of course. Between your utility bills, rent, food and groceries, travel expenses, entertainment, student debt and tax, your pocket can’t seem to catch a break. So, exactly how should you save?
Budgets? For many young people, the notion of saving is as foreign as a rainstorm in a desert. We just can’t quite seem to let go of the little luxuries. As young adults, there are so many expenses against a limited source of income. What’s all the buzz about saving money when you are still so young anyway? Well, saving can come in handy when you least expect it. From emergency funds for out-of-pocket expenses and sudden loss of income, savings are essential safety nets especially if you live in a city. While the urban lifestyle can be unforgiving, there are a number of ways though which young working adults can stash money away for rainy days. The first step is creating and
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sticking to a budget. Budgets allow you to paint a picture of all expenses versus earnings. Get a clear picture of recurrent expenditures such as utility bills and transport costs, and then set aside this money. Similarly, a budget will help you figure out how much to spend on nonessential activities such as dining out and other entertainment activities. You may use app such as YNAB (You Need a Budget), Acorns, or Mint to assist you to accurately break down and keep track of your expenses. Finally, set saving goals that will enable you to achieve your ultimate target(s). Regardless of how you choose to go about this, make sure your expenses are well within your income, and that whatever little you do not spent at the end of the month goes into a savings account.
The Little Things Despite having a budget, city living will still be expensive. However, the good thing is that now you know what you need and when you need it. For wardrobe expenses and furnishing the house, consider going thrift shopping only as it tends to be less pricey. Buy items from your recurrent expenditure in bulk in order to get discounts. Stick to public transport as often as possible, and when you really must use a taxihailing service, only go for ride-sharing options. Consider walking when you can; it will also double up as exercise. Bring packed lunch to work and ditch coffee altogether, because such a small expense adds up to a sizeable bill by
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the end of the month. For purchase that are non-essential, try to delay them for as long as possible to see whether the impulse for buying will disappear on its own. When looking to go for entertainment, attend free events and happy hours so that you spend less money. You can as well bring the party back home with your friends if you must, instead of going to expensive cocktail events. While we’re on the subject of friends, consider splitting the rent with one of them as roommates.
Social Jetlag Do not feel the pressure to keep up appearances for social reasons. The age of social media means young people cannot avoid comparing themselves to others. This will help
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you avoid the unnecessary financial outlay such as regular out-of-town vacations, which are never that well planned, leading to huge expenses. Additionally, such social pressure ensures that most weekends are completely wasted through destructive behaviours. Ensure that you model your personal goals independently within reasonable expectations, and not after those of those. Unplug yourself from social media if you must to avoid falling prey to other people’s lifestyles.
to start small and simply keep at it. Eventually, some semblance of the financial freedom you yearn for will materialize. Then keep going.◊ ◊ ◊
It may feel a bit overwhelming when the odds are stacked against you as a young adult. You have to work a lot for less than you expect or deserve while attempting to construct the social life wish to have. The secret is
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A conversation with Brian Bosire Founder and CEO at Ujuzi Kilimo and HydroIq “…It’s a world of possibilities,” said Brian, “It’s a WORLD… of possibilities.” He repeated in a lower, hushed tone.
Small talk moved to jokes and then to genuine conversation:
And as I registered the pause, I finally began to grasp the full weight and potential of what was going on at Ujuzi Kilimo and HydroIq. It was about 11:09 am and I was wrapping up the interview. Through the session there were moments when he would briefly space out, or make side notes on his laptop. He seemed to be juggling about 3 or 4 other thoughts at the same time. “I have always been curious. I keep looking at things and wondering, how does this work? Can it be improved? And if we were to, how would we make it better?” This is a continuous process for Brian, which means that ideas pop up at their own discretion irrespective of time and place.
Who is Brian?
Everything kicked off with the usual pieces of conversation, “hope you found the place okay” and the ‘I usually take this or that route because it’s faster’. Walking into his offices I didn’t know what to expect. I wondered if they really had ‘the stuff’, or if they were something ordinary wrapped in good PR. Would they live up to the hype that comes with winning ‘Best, Internet of Things (IoT)’ at Apps Africa, and the ‘Judge’s Choice’ award at the Google impact Challenge?
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It's actually hard to describe myself. Uhmm… I'm an engineer. I'm eager to try and solve problems. I'm very curious. In any situation I find myself in, I'm constantly examining how everything goes on, trying to find if things could be done better?
Tell us more about your background: My background is in Electronics Engineering and I studied that at JKUAT (Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology) and halfway through I realized entrepreneurship could be one of the more exciting things I could do. I actually started spending more time developing my businesses rather than going to class. I left school late in 2016 and at that point I was already running two start-ups (that was Ujuzi Kilimo and another one that closed down called Electrosoft). Before that though, I went to Kisii High School. I think that’s where my journey into the engineering world started. We did these very technical subjects, power mechanics, electricity, and that was my passion in high school.
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What was your childhood like? Did you enjoy it? My childhood was happy and content. My family was not rich, it was fairly basic; my dad was a civil servant and my mom was a high school teacher. It was a classic rural setting. I think that kind of setting contributed a lot to how I turned out because, in the rural village a lot of the basic needs are available annd this gives you the ease and comfort you need in order to think big. I’m the second-born in a family of six siblings. My sister, who is the first-born, had a lot to do however from a cultural perspective, my father would pull me aside and say ‘being a man you have a bigger responsibility.’ So I grew up feeling that I have a responsibility to look after and inspire my siblings.
I remember at one point we didn’t have electricity and so we bought and installed a solar panel. I didn’t like how the connections were done so I actually cut out all the wiring in our house and made it much more efficient because there was a lot of wastage in cabling. Another case happened around high school. We were lucky enough to be the only guys who had a radio CD player and all my friends in my neighbourhood would come to our house to listen to music.
The western education system isn’t good or bad either. It comes down to culture. For them, kids are actually encouraged to follow their passion and the systems are already in place to support them along the way.
Who were your role models? Frankly, when I was a kid I really didn't know anything about role models. The first time I thought that somebody could be a role model was when I was in high school and it all came as a result of curiosity. There were a few teachers in school that everyone looked up to however we were learning the basics behind a lot of technology and I started to see past the products and acknowledge the minds that made these devices. The intelligent minds behind all these products from the mac book to the radio were my role models whether I knew who they were or not.
Looking back, were there any personality traits in your early life that signalled a career in Tech & Business? Yeah. I was the child who opened up all the device at home to try and figure out how they worked. No device was
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left untouched, hehe! The interesting thing is the more I studied these devices, the more I wanted to replicate what I saw or improve the existing design.
So I took some radio parts, fixed it and I found out that I could actually put out a signal. My friends could then just tune in with a scanner radio and still listen to music at their home. I had made a broadcasting station and didn’t know it. I think that was when I knew I was going to become an engineer.
Do you feel that education has adequately equipped you for your career and business? If not, what changes would you advise to help improve the uality of education? I can’t say that the local education system is bad. It's more about how you train people within a particular system. I think the good thing about the local system is that it offers a wide range of information, which can be a good and bad at the same time. For me I feel it probably worked out well because if somebody tried to observe me since my childhood with the intention of trying to herd me into following a particular path, I probably wouldn’t be the person that I am, now.
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What was your first job, and what did you learn from it? I worked as an intern twice. My first job was at Equity Bank, as an agent relationship officer, which is the title for the guy who moves around tallying books and assessing agents. And frankly, I was really bored. That lasted for just one month. Then in my third year I went to Mumias Sugar Company and I think that was the most exciting job I had, and it ended up lasting for about four months. At that point, there was a lot of investment in new technology at Mumias and I was really curious about how industrial processes worked, how was structured and managed.
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After that the third job I had was for a day. I was offered some job at Kenya Power and worked for a day and quit! I don't like places where there is a lot of comfort. The first day I went, I worked in the I.T. Department, ensuring that all their computers and everything is running OK. You walk into an office, somebody calls and says they have an issue; then you realize actually the problem is that they never switched on their sockets. And then we had to, of course, record what you've done for the day. How do you even record that? “I switched on a socket”? People were so comfortable that if there was no work to do they were happy just take tea and relax.
What made you decide to into business, and why did you choose farming as starting point? When I look back to when I started the entrepreneurship journey; I was more of an engineer than an entrepreneur. I remember going to the farm five in the morning until five in the evening and having accomplished nothing. I used to challenge my mom, “Why are we spending all this time? What are we doing?” So I said the first thing is just to have a simple thing that farmers could get information out of. Nothing was really defined per se, but that is what I wanted to do.
BRIAN BOSIRE
The western education system isn’t good or bad either. It comes down to culture. For them, kids are actually encouraged to follow their passion and the systems are already in place to support them along the way. Now if we did the same in Kenya, it wouldn’t work out as well as it does over there. Imagine if you pushed a kid in Marsabit, for example, to pursue music. As wonderful as music is, how would he use it to improve the quality of the lives of the people in his community? We need to first look at the surroundings; Is the infrastructure and the ecosystem capable of supporting the career of our choice?
Your first company Electrosoft failed. What lesson did you get from your experience? The first thing I learnt is that it’s important to manage personal expectations and also that the quality of people you surround yourself with matters because they shape what kind of entrepreneur you become. When I started out I would say, “Within three years, I’ll be earning money.” And everybody around me at that point nobody knew nothing about entrepreneurship. So you are only one selling out this big vision and when everything fails, it's hard actually say that things are not working. So starting off, just be patient and just be curious and learn a lot.
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The best thing is look for people who have already done something. They go a long way in helping you skip some of the stupid mistakes that you would make. So learn, be patient, and get the right guys.
What does UjuziKilimo do? When we started the whole idea was having a gadget that my mom will stick into the ground and two minutes later she knows what’s going on with the soil for example, “My soil is too acidic, I need 20 kg of lime to start off”. We set out to help farmers make better decisions. We spent a lot of time on the business model. It wasn't really defined but the problem was clear and we had the solution. In fact, we were recognized, in 2015, by the American Society for Mechanical Engineers for creating this solution. We had a working product but we needed to figure how we would make money from it. That was a big challenge because then we had to look at the cost of this gadget; production alone costs about KSh.30,000. No farmer will spend that amount on a single purchase especially if it isn’t an immediate need and to be honest that's probably their entire farming budget.
We however found out that the better way to do it, was to offer a data centric service; so we gathered as much data as we could from our devices, and created a platform which would provide information on demand. Information can cost as little as 1 shilling per text. This model worked and woke us up to the fact that our most valuable asset is actually not just in the gadget but the data collected from the gadget and how we distribute it. So Ujuzi Kilimo evolved to become an agricultural data company. Traditionally if you’re doing soil testing, you could take A MONTH from sampling to sending it to a lab and finally getting information at quite the expense to the farmers. We are doing that in FIVE MINUTES at the farm! We took things a step further and integrated satellite imagery. So it means as long as they know the location of the farmer I can tell everything about the soil remotely. Which is now a very huge leap frog into reaching the most remote areas. Of course, we care distributing that information to farmers but we have also noticed that input suppliers need it as well and have started to collaborate with some of them. So one of the things that we're doing in Central – where we
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just started piloting- is we figure out what your soil needs, it could be lime. So, Why don't we then stock and deliver that lime to you? We’ve ended up creating a predictive model that anticipates our client’s needs. It has surely been a journey of learning ‘on the way’!
Are there any missed opportunities that you wish you leveraged? I don’t think there is. Because, for me, almost everything I’ve done has probably been born from a challenge. However the closest I could relate to missing an opportunity is not realizing how powerful connections to the right people can be. Data science is the common thread that ties both your companies together. What could local companies and start-ups gain by incorporating Data science into their practices? Generally speaking, we are at a point called Industry 4.0 where everything is data driven. We cannot afford to ignore or avoid data regardless of whether you're the biggest monopoly or the smallest start-up or just any individual person. Companies are going to great lengths to get more and more data. And instead of just storing all that accumulated data about everything and everyone, it makes more sense to start sorting the data, and this starts to reveal trends which become valuable insights. The insights you get open up whole new worlds.
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Let’s focus in on hydro logistics Africa, which you have called the world’s first virtual water Network operator. What does Hydro logistics do? The idea really came out of a very simple experience. You’re at the house, and your water gets disconnected. It’s the only story everyone in Nairobi shares. Also after intense water shortage you still have to pay the water bill. It is a very clear challenge and it’s one that we’re continuing to solve. Because water is life, the main interest lies in controlling the resource. However if we can look past control, we see the main issue resulting in shortages is the fact that in almost all African countries about half of the water is lost before it reaches the consumers, and that is clean, drinkable, treated water. The second issue is about how people bill for the water. There are reliability and consistency issues here. A good example is the best performing public water utility in Kenya which is only collecting probably 50 to 70 per cent of the revenue they are owed. And because they aren’t making as much money as they should, they can’t afford to do upgrades and this leads to more water leakages and losses. And more losses means less money is collected. See the cycle? HydroIQ ideally want to make every drop of water count. We want to bring transparency. And by transparency, we mean everything from the distribution channels to the consumer. The second element is on bringing reliability and efficiency within the
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systems. Because if you're able to even track a drop of water from source to final destination, that actually unlocks a lot of insights on where you actually need to put your money. Currently, it takes more than six months to even identify a water leakage. If that could be done tended to within a day or two, that is millions of litres of water made available to the consumer. The third thing is how we as consumers actually use water. Generally speaking, water consumption per individual has been reducing because of increased efficiency in the machines and the things that we use at our homes. If you could give consumers the power to understand their consumption, you unlock a lot of savings on water. HydroIQ aims to fill all these gaps, bring transparency in the water distribution networks by creating a smart water grids. The second aspect is to enable people to track their consumption, and make payments, and actually understand that “we are doing this because we consume this amount”. I get my water bill, even in his office, sometimes it comes to Kshs.9,000 and then the next month we get Kshs.1000. We want to end situations like these.
How does HydroIQ differ from other companies like Kamstrup (which has been around for over 25 years) that offer smart meters? The thing is, the fact that there's a lot of players is one of the biggest advantages. Our play is not to go into in the smart meters. I can actually attest that in the next 10, 20, 30 years smart meters are going to be their standard because of the efficiency. The only issue is the cost of introducing these technologies. That being said our play is not going into meter production like Kamstrup, Honeywell, Siemens who are all device makers have the products and they have their platforms for smart metering. But the issue is they're only approaching it from one side. For us, we are open; what we want is to be the guys who
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complete the loop. So when you bring a smart meter tool and install, it that is the one side of it. What completes it is the end user experience. How do I get my readings? How do I pay for the water? Is there transparency? Can these guys be trusted? Most people don't even remember that there is a meter somewhere. So if you come into the market selling the meter, you are not capturing the real problem for the consumers who the majority and the drivers of the market. We call ourselves the biggest virtual water network operator. We don't want to own the infrastructure, but we want to have the biggest platform that integrates to whoever is the player on the infrastructure part. The meter is just sending data. That is one side. The other side is: what you do with the data. Third, is the information and educational aspect of the consumers?
You have identified poor water infrastructure as one of the problem areas facing Africa and the world. In a country such as Kenya, our local governments manage water distribution. Are you collaborating with government institutions? Government is interesting! It’s always the biggest player in the room. The other aspect is; when you're starting off, don't feel like government plays a bigger role. But when you map out your business for the next 2, 5, 10 years you have to factor in the role of government. For now we just having those conversations at a very basic level, trying to link with what is highly regulated, from WRMA (Water Resources Management Authority) to WaSReB (Water Services Regulatory Board). There's a lot of players and county governments are the ones managing local water resource and this has been the case since we got a devolved government. Now that water is devolved, every county governments have a say. Governments don't want disruptions to an ecosystem that is somewhat working. They regulate everything to ensure as much stability as possible.
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But we are a technology company, we don't want to feel limited by some regulation, we want to disrupt. So it's a balance; we try to tell them that the beauty of this, educate them, tell them that this is the best way forward. I always say that the biggest thing is let the consumers drive everything. Getting a million or everyone in Nairobi using HydroIQ; I don't think our government would be in a position to deny us. So the more adoption you have, the faster you grow, the more feedback you get from both sides, then more credible you become in front of government.
Do you feel as though your innovations have been better received internationally rather than locally? The biggest difference I think is the culture.
I feel like we have a long way to go as professionals and just as entrepreneurs.
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In Kenya, you grow in an environment where things go slower, lesser expectations, and more understanding to failure. When abroad if you go out and say, “I’ve registered a company and we are doing this,” then you better do that. The standards are already set high. In Europe, you as a start-up, you are obligated to ensure that all your statutory requirements are met from day one. On the work ethic as well, there’s a bit of a difference and it’s mostly centred on to the self-drive of the person. Generally, I feel like we have a long way to go as professionals and just as entrepreneurs. Our systemthat probably was the first question you asked about the educational system educational system - is not giving the right skills to prepare people for the real world. We’re producing graduates with no skills. And you start to wonder why Africa has such a tremendous skills gap.
we are considering Tanzania as a logical next step. Given their farming practices there it seems to be one of the best places to start the east African pilot. For HydroIQ, our biggest target for next year is to hit our target of 30,000 households. I think it could bigger or less, depending on the guys that we work with. We want, in our second year, to cement our presence as the guys who actually bring transparency the water system. Whether you're a consumer, think of a wrong bill and think of HydroIQ; if you’re a water utility or supplier think of your revenue losses and think HydroIQ has the solution. ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
What's next for you your company? For Ujuzikilimo, we've been concentrating our efforts on Central region, it’s our first market and we are working with over 11,000 farmers over there. By the end of the year we’ll be in three other most active regions in Rift Valley and Western. By the end of 2019 we intend to be working with over 100,000 farmers in Kenya. We'll also be setting up at least one pilot in East Africa and
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T
he Stone age did not end for lack of stones, The age of oil will end long before the world runs out of oil.” Guess who said those words… okay I’ll spill. It was Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani, Saudi Arabia’s former Minister of Oil and Mineral Resources & also a former Minister at The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries OPEC. And having almost 50 years’ experience in the field of oil Sheik Ahmed was one of the few who saw the future clearly.
the tech behind how we capture and store energy is rapidly improving. This means that tech companies are finding ways to build larger and larger wind turbines, which can now turn more and more of wind into useful energy. Moreover the way we store energy is improving as well, meaning that wind energy is more consistent now. Cheaper more consistent energy has always been the goal and wind does that cheaper, better and cleaner than almost all combustibles.
We have to ask ourselves if we’re doing things in the most efficient way, and by efficient I mean cheap and with the smallest possible environmental foot-print. Case in point on the 5th of November 2018, there was a rather wordy Bloomberg article that read “A Tesla Model S traveling 1,000 Miles would need power generated by about 2500 cubic feet of Natural gas or just 33 minutes of blades spinning on a giant offshore wind turbine.” The comparison there is alarming. It is perfectly obvious that half an hour of moving air is worlds cheaper (practically free) than 2500 cubic feet of Natural gas. And, given the exponential rate of progress,
Wind looks like one of the most attractive investments right now because it costs less to get way more, compared to most combustibles or other energy sources. And the good news is, it’s still getting cheaper. However attractive wind is, the prettiest girl at the energy dance has to be Solar. The rate of change in the cost of Solar is so fast that it makes the cost of wind power look stagnant. Let’s look at the last 40 years; in 1977 the price of 1 watt of solar was $77 and now it costs 30 cents. That’s a mind boggling…250 times price
What’s Good For The World Is Also Very Good For Your Pocket SAVING THE WORLD ISN’T JUST MORAL, IT’S MORE PROFITABLE TOO
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reduction. You cannot overstate how huge this is. And yes, you guessed it… It’s still getting cheaper. This means that now, in the sunniest parts of the world solar is the cheapest energy to buy, especially on a large scale. Coal may currently cost 6 cents per kwH but we’re beginning to see solar projects of a similar output cost less and in 2017 the state of Tucson, in Arizona signed a deal of less than 3 cents per kwH. The record however goes to Dubai, which signed a deal for 2.42 cents per kwH. This isn’t just the lowest price of Solar energy in the world. It’s the lowest price of electricity of any kind generated on the face of the earth, ever! It’s obvious that some kind of disruption is happening here because the last time growth happened was during the silicon-valley tech boom. A lower cost of electricity makes it possible to cheaply manufacture or run a data centre; basically it makes it cheaper to create value and this works wonders for the living standards of locals especially in a day and age where every cent counts. People are still incredibly sceptical about the potential of Solar/Wind; How consistent can they really be? What happens when the sun is not shining or it just isn’t windy?
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It’s been found out that Solar and Wind actually complement each other; the sun shines during the day and the wind blows mostly during the night. Also according to the seasons, there’s more sun in the summer and more wind in the winter. A balance of two would make the perfect couple! Despite the synergy, it is always better to err on the side of caution and so we have to look at batteries as well. As it turns out, the cost of batteries is dropping at the almost same rate as that of Solar, while performance is steadily increasing. What we’re trying to do with all this innovation is to create a surplus of energy so that it can be possible to lower its cost to almost nil in order to propel innovation forward while still protecting natural resources. That, however, is only one part where technology is creating a surplus and meeting the world’s demand head on.
Can we have the cake and eat it too? The food industry is constantly being criticized because of how inefficient it is. The East African did an interesting piece on this where they discovered that post-harvest loss between farm and table totals about 30 per cent of all grains and 50 per cent of all fruits that are harvested. These figures are staggering and if this issue was properly addressed there could be a lot more food on the table and at cheaper prices too. What happens to the food that doesn’t make it to the table though? It’s discarded and left to rot in compost heaps which produce methane. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas 28 to 36 times more effective than CO2 at trapping heat in the atmosphere over a 100-year period. In America landfills are the third-largest source of human-related methane emissions, accounting for approximately 14.1 per cent of these emissions in 2016. Something needs to be done about this, especially because methane can have a lot if utility if properly harnessed. Methane is quite the cash cow.
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Speaking of cows, the beef industry is also being seen as having a terrible impact on the environment with headlines like ‘Giving up beef will reduce carbon footprint more than cars, says expert…’ Agriculture is a significant driver of global warming and causes 15% of all emissions, half of which are from livestock. Furthermore, the huge amounts of grain and water needed to raise cattle are a concern to experts worried about feeding an extra 2 billion people by 2050. However, If there was another was another way to get food, would the general population go for it? Case in point ‘In vitro meat’ (100% meat that promises to significantly reduce the use of resources without harming any animals) would people be open to eating meat grown in a lab? We’re seeing more and more innovation around food from the molecular level in a new field of science called cellular agriculture, one company leading the charge here is Clara foods, which creates egg whites without any eggs. A future is fast approaching where food will be printed at the individual’s home rather than bought and it seems like it will be better for the environment. But will it be good for us? The best answer is we don’t know yet. However if the printed food were good for us, then the people on the cutting edge of the industry will be responsible for feeding a majority of the world and their net worth would increase exponentially. Advancements in technology will reduce the cost of energy, food and water to almost nil while at the same time, conserving the environment and generating a lot of value.
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W H I T E C O L L A R I| SI SS U SU E E0 10 01 0
Interview with
SAM MAJANI Founder & CEO of Ghafla, leading news & entertainment platform in Africa
Cool and gloomy weather couldn’t keep us off the balcony. We settled there, both Majani and I, summoned by the view overlooking the lush, carefully manicured gardens of his family residence. The conversation started off slow, discussing how small the world seemed because of all the acquaintances we shared and then dipped a toe in geo-politics and business. We discussed past mistakes and laughed at them but made sure to underscore the lessons learnt. Ghafla was is steadily growing and is currently present in 6 countries across Africa; Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda and South Africa. This is an impressive feat given all that the company has been through. When the laughter peaked and started to fizzle into silence, the entire mood shifted and I fired the first question at him:
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Who is Sam Majani? A man doing his best to make a small dent in this world.
Tell us more about your background; What was your childhood like? Did you enjoy it? Who were your role models? I feel like I should just say Ben Carson like every other Kenyan kid but mine was an obscure programmer called Hideo Kojima whose work I came across early in life.
SAM MAJANI
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b. Looking back were there any personality traits in your early life that signaled a career in Media and business? No, I was forced into this life by circumstances. The entrepreneur life chose me
c. Do you feel that education has adequately equipped you for your career? I do believe my time at Strathmore School was key in instilling principles of self-discipline that are key to succeeding in life. If there's one thing that school is good for, it's that teaching of discipline.
You had the idea of a Kenyan lyrics site before you started Ghafla. How did that go? It was a success for what it was, but the market for Kenyan lyrics is just not that big at the end of the day and I had to grow past it.
What was the vision you had when starting out Ghafla in your bedroom? My vision was to make the Kenyan entertainment industry a part of everyday mainstream discussions, and I think that has happened. Back in the day you wouldn't have people discussing celebrity lives daily like you do now, and I think Ghafla was a big part of driving that shift, since we were the first to do daily entertainment news in Kenya.
What qualities do you look for in the team that you work with? We are now a remote company, hence self-drive is crucial to our operation. That is the key quality I look for in hiring nowadays.
What do you say back to those who call Ghafla a ‘fakenews’ outlet? Originally we were hyper focused on quantity of content, since we were the first to do daily entertainment news in Kenya. That was our competitive advantage but it meant that quality was compromised. Now that all media companies have a daily entertainment news arm, the shift is now on quality as a competitive advantage.
How do you come up with new ideas? The trends online inform most of my decisions editorially. The internet is a constantly shifting landscape that will sweep you off if you don't adapt yourself to the times.
When building a career, how should one choose which company to work with? In this Kenyan economy is there room for being super choosy? I’d sat take any good offer that comes! :D
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Are there any missed opportunities that you wish you leveraged? Not really. I always take a stab at opportunities that I see as lucrative. If it succeeds, well and good, and if it fails, at least I tried.
Have you invested in any companies or start-ups? If so, what qualities do you/would you look for in companies that are potential investments? I have invested but not in the way people imagine. I mostly help friends and family who I know are good for it. The point isn’t to get a return on that investment but to help more companies succeed.
What is the greatest challenge you’ve faced while building your career? My main challenges are mostly personal and psychological. I have a predisposition to addiction, hence typically when I find something I like to do, I go for it 200%. Before I started Ghafla, I was out of the house for the first time, and I went wild with the taste of freedom and tried everything. This is where I discovered my predisposition to addiction. I went hard into drinking and partying and ended up being discontinued from school. I hit rock bottom! It was very difficult. This is where I learnt that I have to consciously reign myself back to normalcy when I find myself going to deep into any particular thing. As hard as this period was it taught me how turn my weaknesses into strengths and I focused my addictive personality onto ghafla, from my bedroom and the rest, as the say, was history.
What turbulence was present at the beginning of your partnership with Ringier? I’ll have to pass on this. I said enough on the techweez interview.
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How should the average start-up prepare for share sale or a buyout? Honestly, the best time to be bought out is when you don’t need to be bought out. All the technicalities aside, a buyout is basically just a negotiation and you want to be the party that can afford to be somewhat belligerent and unreasonable, because they need you more than you need them. In my situation this wasn’t the case but I tried to navigate it best I could. However a good example of what I mean is Facebook’s acquisition of what’s app. They spent about 19 Billion to purchase whats-app, while the company was only generating tens of millions per year. Facebook’s need to stay relevant made them spend a lot more than they needed to.
What was it like re-inventing yourself and your company? I thought that selling would solve all my problems. But after trying to sell and it not working out I realized that the best thing would be to re-jig it in a way that works. A few things were making it difficult to run the business one of which was the aggressive style of writing. A style of writing where no line was too far to cross and you’ll write anything as long as it’s facts. It really wore me down. So one of my first moves was to soften the editorial. The point has always been to inspire an emotional reaction, and looking at things in hindsight, and especially through the lens of analytics, articles with a more positive sentiment get more hits. We’ve focused on this way of doing things that can be described as ‘lovey-dovey’ or cute but it’s easy even just for me. We found out that we don’t have to lean on shock value and that comes with a lot of ease for me, because there are no more threats of lawsuits, no more angry phone-calls demanding that I take down articles and so on. Hehe. Also making the business work-from home made things easier, because you were decentralizing operations. In case
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of anything like power outages at one home, the rest are still delivering on their services.
we have start-ups like Ushahidi which is one of the leading in terms of disaster management.
It also spared the expense of rent and office utilities, meaning I had a bit more profit to play around with.
Another Kenyan company that has surprised me is Sport Pesa. Despite them being in a moral grey area they are doing amazing things. It is one of the most searched terms when you start to rank Betting companies, even globally.
How do you define and measure success? Before I started all this I had two big dreams in my life; creating software that would be widely used globally and playing a role in helping local Kenyan artists make an impression globally. See, I’m a hardcore fan of Kenyan music, like Hard core. I went to Strathmore School where local music was seen as shady, and so the only real fans of local music were me and a friend of mine called Martin Maina. And that’s all we’d talk about, the music and how they moved on the local radio station charts. I felt that, and still do, it’s a point of pride to celebrate local content and I envisioned something where we would constantly discuss local music and the local music Industry. I have seen the role that these music channels like, MTV Africa and Channel O, played in building the hype and credibility of Nigerian and South Africa Music. For me success would be using my platform to do the same thing for local music that these channels did for Nigerian and South African music.
We also have this company, Africa is talking. This company is leading the charge when it comes to bulk SMS APIs. Recently they raised over a Billion shillings. They form the foundation where other companies can build on, and they are consolidating their base by building a network across African Telcos.
Do you feel that your career has made you a better person? Yes, definitely yes. Coming from the rock bottom that I previously described, the career going well does wonders for esteem. And even as a man, having a good career gives you even more courage and you can start to experiment and risk even more. It’s a great motivator.
What’s next for Sam Majani? I’m still all about my hustle. I want to scale Ghafla. The plan has always been to go global. ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
In your own words, what can be done to allow for African start-ups to compete globally? I feel like that there are some that do. The issue is ‘prophets’ don’t get any recognition in their home town. But
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36love
Questions that help people fall in
The topic came up in the middle of a book club meeting that I recently became a part of. So far we hadn’t discussed any books and I was beginning to think that, this was just an elaborate excuse for people to meet up and hang out on Saturday evenings so that they can help each other rationalize ‘the human experience’. This was exactly what I was looking for! “So there’s this set of questions,” started one of the members, “they’ve been said to help people fall in love.”
Immediately my mind went to this New York Times piece by Mandy Len Catron. This written piece pointed to the work of the psychologist Arthur Aron, who succeeded in making two strangers fall in love in his laboratory, through his study. At the end of the study they list two sets of questions one for ‘small-talk’ and another for ‘closeness generation’. The study in itself is purely academic and drains away all emotion or sense of wonder, and it begs the question will an experiment that generates love in a laboratory setting, have the same rate of success in a real world scenario?
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In the real world, there’s plenty of ambient noise from conversation and background music. If done in a restaurant or bar, then there’s a high chance of interruption from wait-staff or the occasional run in from a friend from college/high school, who keeps talking despite the fruitless attempts to end the conversation and the constant hints that you were on a date. Could these questions survive the constant interruptions that colour everyday life? I’d advice that you think ahead, and factor privacy into your plans if you’re going to use these questions. It’s obvious that a majority of the people skimming through this article are looking to use these questions. So here are some of the rules that were used in the study:
Be honest: no matter how good/perfect you want to seem to your partner, be honest about
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your views. People can smell a lie a mile away and it will end up causing disconnect instead of closeness. Discussing things that might be uncomfortable is part of the process and vulnerability is key when fostering a genuine connection.
Both should answer the questions before moving on to the next one: one party should ask the questions, and after the other party has given their answers, they could give their answer as well.
Don’t rush through the questions: The point is to have productive conversation, not to complete an exam.
Follow through on everything, even the 4 minute session of eye-contact at the end of these questions. With this in mind we have to ask the question, what about how things worked before? What about physical attraction, spontaneity and seemingly effortless conversation that leads to affection? Well, if you’re one of the few who has no problem navigating the awkward mine-field that is ‘human interaction’ then sure, by all means stick to the method that’s always worked for you. This study and questions in no way cancel out the way people fell in love in the past, if anything they give an opportunity to those who have a hard time opening up to try their hand at getting affection. Some would argue that this ‘laboratory manufactured’ love isn’t as real or authentic as the kind that happens spontaneously, simply because of how it came about. I mean, can intimacy be manufactured? Would it be real? These questions are difficult to answer because they are just like most other human experiences, love and intimacy are incredibly subjective and as far as we know people can experience the same event in completely different ways. Case in point, look at all the generic prank shows
out there where the same prank is carried out different unsuspecting individuals and in turn we get a diverse range of reactions. The movie Newness, by director Drake Doremus and writer Ben York Jones, interrogates this thought through Martin and Gabi’s date when He asks her if she’s ever been in love and she answered “yes, I think so, I mean when people say they’re in love it’s because they think they’re in love, right?” Point being there really isn’t a way to quantify this experience outside of the individual. So whether it happens organically or in a controlled environment, it’s up to the people involved to determine how real what they have is, and no one else. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, here are the 36, closeness generating, questions:
Set I
1. Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest? 2. Would you like to be famous? In what way? 3. Before making a telephone call, do you ever rehearse what you are going to say? Why? 4. What would constitute a “perfect” day for you? 5. When did you last sing to yourself? To someone else? 6. If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year-old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you want? 7. Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die? 8. Name three things you and your partner appear to have in common. 9. For what in your life do you feel most grateful?
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10. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be? 11. Take four minutes and tell your partner your life story in as much detail as possible. 12. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be?
Set II
Set III
25. Make three true “we” statements each. For instance, “We are both in this room feeling ... “ 26. Complete this sentence: “I wish I had someone with whom I could share ... “ 27. If you were going to become a close friend with your partner, please share what would be important for him or her to know.
13. If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, the future or anything else, what would you want to know?
28. Tell your partner what you like about them; be very honest this time, saying things that you might not say to someone you’ve just met.
14. Is there something that you’ve dreamed of doing for a long time? Why haven’t you done it?
29. Share with your partner an embarrassing moment in your life.
15. What is the greatest accomplishment of your life?
30. When did you last cry in front of another person? By yourself?
16. What do you value most in a friendship? 17. What is your most treasured memory?
31. Tell your partner something that you like about them already.
18. What is your most terrible memory?
32. What, if anything, is too serious to be joked about?
19. If you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are now living? Why?
33. If you were to die this evening with no opportunity to communicate with anyone, what would you most regret not having told someone? Why haven’t you told them yet?
20. What does friendship mean to you?
34. Your house, containing everything you own, catches fire. After saving your loved ones and pets, you have time to safely make a final dash to save any one item. What would it be? Why?
21. What roles do love and affection play in your life? 22. Alternate sharing something you consider a positive characteristic of your partner. Share a total of five items. 23. How close and warm is your family? Do you feel your childhood was happier than most other people’s? 24. How do you feel about your relationship with your mother?
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35. Of all the people in your family, whose death would you find most disturbing? Why? 36. Share a personal problem and ask your partner’s advice on how he or she might handle it. Also, ask your partner to reflect back to you how you seem to be feeling about the problem you have chosen.`
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