We see it happening all the time in the US and Europe. Companies starting a blog to increase their touchpoints and transparency with their customers. Riyaz just let me know that Capital FM has started their own called, Breakfast at Capital Hill. They’re more fortunate than most companies, in that they have a megaphone (radio station) to let everyone know what they’re doing.

I’ll be interested to see where they go with the blog. If they will use it for edgy content, use it for viral marketing purposes, or just connect better with their listeners. Any of the above reasons could be useful to them.

Since they’ve just started, I’ll put my 2 cents into what I think of the blog so far. First, I understand they might be using Blogger just because they don’t want to deal with hosting issues. However, blogger does allow you to alter the templates, so let’s see some branding and a cool design. Second, make it possible for people to leave anonymous comments. Not everyone has a blogger account, and it’s a barrier for listeners to leave comments. Third, it’s been a few days since I looked at the site, and it appears they haven’t updated it. If they hope to be successful, they need to be consistent.

I was able to meet up with a couple more tech guys in Nairobi on Thursday. Nicholas Ochiel, the creator of Cheeseforge, helped put the meeting together (in picture with me). I was really impressed with his programming knowledge, as well as his overall understanding of the mobile market in Kenya. He’s done a lot of development work based around SMS and mobile devices, which is intriguing to me, especially since I’m busy with getting stuff off the ground with Zangu.

I was also able to meet Josiah and Louis, two professional developers who work for companies in Nairobi. Again, their knowledge of the industry in Kenya is amazing. I keep thinking that they need to get together with some of the other university students or Ayo Africa guys and leverage their combined knowledge.

As usual in my discussions, we talked about the various opportunities for web development in Kenya. We talked at length about the need for a mobile/web payment system that could be used by non-techies and those with little internet access. Basically a mobile/web bank that supplies micro-credit to applicants. An extremely interesting idea with profitable business model – I hope somebody does it.

Louis and Nicholas have a long-time sparring match over what is more important for the success of a product: Marketing or Quality. This was another hotly debated topic that I plan on covering in another post. Great thoughts by both of them. Thanks for the time guys, it was well worth every minute of it.

NOTE: Read Nicholas’ notes, they’re much more detailed

One thing that I have yet to come across in my travels and meetings around Nairobi, is anyone who knows a good homegrown Kenyan graphic designer. It’s really interesting to me. There has to be someone in town who has some Photoshop skills… right?

There are plenty of artistic people in Kenya, so is it because these people don’t transfer that drawing skill to the screen? Is there a disconnect between computers and artists here?

I’m at a loss. Someone help me out here. Point me in the direction of a top notch Kenyan graphic designer, or explain why I can’t find one.