Kenya's astonishing internet growth: six key trends to watch

For many years, Kenya was known as fertile ground for agriculture, but increasingly it's becoming known as a place where technology companies can grow and flourish. Many new technology players from across Africa have chosen Kenya as a base to serve their East African interests, to expand and launch new products and services into this dynamic regional economy.

By Mark Kaigwa

23 Dec 2010

1. Online classifieds

MIH Internet Africa and the Bid or Buy group are both set to go head-to-head for the classifieds market in Kenya, and in other emerging African markets across the continent.

After the launch of its mobile directory business, Mocality, MIH has been putting resources towards Dealfish, hiring and building the team to run its operations in Kenya, having made its ambitions for the classifieds market clear.

The online classifieds market is huge in South Africa, and with more players in the market, the prospect of success for the rest of Africa is an opportunity worth noting and capitalising on.

For now, it has been mainly AdWords and targeted Facebook advertising, but the stage is set for the two to go head-to-head for this market as the new year approaches against local and international players including Uzanunua, Craigslist Kenya, Pigia.me, Sambazasoko, Dudubaya, PataUza among others. After what has been seen from mobile business directory Mocality, MIH might have the benefit of an established crowd-sourcing scaling model for Dealfish. This same model in Mocality's case saw the company make a radical jump from 15 000 Nairobi businesses to more than 60 000. Mocality have recently expanded the model to the coastal city of Mombasa.

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About the author

Mark Kaigwa is a creative director and marketing consultant born and based in Nairobi. He is a contributor on [[www.memeburn.com]].