Why East Africa desperately needs Social Media

We know that the Fortune 500 of North America have prominently used Social Media to extend their brands, engage fans and encourage more brand loyalty but even without mounting the SM wagon I'm pretty sure they would still continue to mint out the millions and billions.

Some of East Africa best brands on the other hand are still swimming in mud ponds and at best shallow waters. Case in point, East Africa is still mostly known for Safaris and Idi Amin and in most cases it is notorious events like political violence and corruption that put the region on the global agenda. How many know of Def.ini.tion? East Africa's brands need to make money, not coins and that wont happen while they are tucked away in the modesty of a small office in downtown cities.

Social Media is a great tool not because it's the best new thing after websites (which i have to admit in East Africa's case have become online brochures thus losing the whole point) but because it relies heavily on social connections which is a key human need. The need to connect with people with whom you share common interests or with people you like and to spread that knowledge is what empowers Social media like Facebook, Blogs, Twitter and a host of other platforms like YouTube.

A well managed Social Media strategy has the following benefits for little known brands that want to get their word out there:
1. Get the company face out there. The more people see your logo and the faces behind the team, the more likely they are to choose you even when your services are wanting (Plenty of telecoms do this)
2. Get your voice heard. You're only as wise as the number of people consulting you for wisdom. Even if you have the best ideas and no one hears them, you're just as empty as the tin you're sitting next to.
3. Sell your services in multiple ways as many social media platforms are integrated and this helps to magnify your online 'ad' especially since information on the net tends to spread much like a virus.

The key to a successful online campaign however is that it must be planned and managed as well as customized to the needs of the specific company.

Here's what we've done with Enterprise Technology

Plenty of white elephants in East Africa

The word "nfunirawa" comes from Luganda, a popular dialect spoken in the East African country of Uganda, and is loosely translated to mean "What's in it for me?". Companies that try to sell technology solutions and services in East Africa will often find this word used in the upper echelons where you are expected to 'line' the pockets of the technology decision maker who is already earning a salary that allows him to travel abroad on holiday more than once a year- in comparison to the rank and file who foot daily to work.

Because technology vendors are not selected on suitability or practicality but for the ability to line the pockets of the final decision maker(and sometimes his underlings) technologies implemented do not solve the problem for which they were implemented or 'almost' which as we know, does not count.

As a result, we find plenty of white elephants--technology projects that have only taken off theoretically(national ID project); technology projects that have died in infancy(rural internet projects); technology projects that do not factor in pressing issues like power availability, maintenance cost, local ownership (one-laptop per child); technology projects that do not include lowly stakeholders who unfortunately will be the major users of the technology-secretaries, assistants(consequently pcs gather dust or are used only to check personal email); the list of failed projects is long enough, unfortunately so is the list of donations for the ICT sector , whose donors will be satisfied with reports stating minimal results or a poorly crafted website.

We need to ask why with all the technology available in East Africa, the best ranked company in East Africa is KENOLKOBIL (EX-KENYA OIL CO.) at 79 out of 500 according to the The Africa Report http://www.theafricareport.com/rankings/top-500-companies.html. At a distant 139 is Safaricom then a distance off at 176 is Total Kenya. In other words, even though East Africa has 'invested' heavily in technology, the region's businesses do not seem to be earning as much as their West African or North African counterparts which have made similar investments in technology.