Setting up a boda boda business in Nairobi: challenges you are likely to encounter

One of the challenges you are likely to encounter while setting up a boda boda business in Nairobi is that of getting a ‘stage’ to operate from. You find that you can’t just go to any ‘stage’ and start picking passengers from there. Most of the boda boda stages in Nairobi have their 'owners', and for you to be allowed to operate from there, you have to go through a difficult process. But if you are willing to operate from a sub-optimal/less prime stage, then the process won’t be so grueling.

Another challenge you are likely to encounter while setting up a boda boda business in Nairobi is that of getting a trustworthy person to employ as a boda boda rider. You need a person who will give you a fair share of the earnings/the pre-agreed target amount without fail. You need a person who will take care of the boda boda motorcycle as if it was his own. And of course you need a person who won’t run away with your motorbike. It can be a challenge, but if you use your networks, especially your rural home networks or your estate networks, you can eventually find a trustworthy boda boda rider employee with good guarantors.

Yet another challenge you are likely to face while setting up a boda boda business in Nairobi is that of getting parking space for your boda boda. Unless you live in a house with your own compound where you can be parking your boda boda, you are likely to face quite a bit of a challenge in this area.

Why has the cyber business in Kenya become so popular?

Nowadays, almost every major street in a Kenyan town is bound to have several cyber businesses. The question that I keep on asking myself is as to why the cyber business in Kenya has become so popular. I have several hypothesis, to explain why that is the case.

First of all, it is important to understand that several years ago, the Kenyan government opted to move most of its services online. So today if you wish to apply for a Kenyan passport, you have to start the process at a cyber café. If you wish to apply for a KRA PIN, you do so at a cyber café. If you wish to apply for a business permit, you do so at a cyber café. If you wish to file your Kenya KRA tax returns, you do so at cyber café… you could go on and on. And all that is on top of the traditional Kenya cyber café business revenue streams, which included internet browsing, photocopy services, typesetting services, printing services and so on. What then becomes clear is the fact that the cyber business in Kenya has lately become quite lucrative and that is why many people are venturing into it. 
But I have my fears: that the field may soon become too saturated, at which point the cyber business in Kenya will stop being very profitable. For the time being though, it seems that the most popular business venture in Kenya is that of the ‘cyber’.

Does the Technical University of Mombasa still offer certificate courses?

When it used to be known as the Mombasa Polytechnic, the Technical University of Mombasa used to offer a wide variety of certificate courses. Does it still do so? 
I ask that question because when I came to Mombasa, one of my goals was to enroll for a certain certificate course at the Technical University of Mombasa. But then I was held up by other responsibilities, to a point where I never got the time to enroll for the certificate course at the Technical University of Mombasa. 
I remember when it was the Mombasa Polytechnic, and they used to run full-page newspaper ads for various diploma and certificate courses. Some of them would be in engineering technical fields, whereas others were in business fields. 
You actually come to realize that many of the middle class professionals in Mombasa were actually trained at the Technical University of Mombasa when it was a polytechnic. Many of them did relatively simple certificate courses at the Mombasa Polytechnic/Technical University of Mombasa, then worked their way up their various fields, to a level where today they are viewed as ‘consultants’ in their respective fields. 
But I also appreciate that many of the certificate courses are now offered at the Mombasa Technical Training Institute and at the Mombasa Coast Polytechnic among other TVET institutions within Mombasa City.

Where in Mombasa can I buy a computer?

If you are seeking to buy a computer in Mombasa, there are several places you can go to. In my experience, the best place to shop for a computer in Mombasa is the area around Casablanca in Mombasa CBD (Moi Avenue Mombasa). There are lots of computer shops there, and because they are in fierce competition, it is possible to get a very good deal there. Whether you are looking for a brand new computer in Mombasa, a refurbished computer in Mombasa, a laptop in Mombasa… and so on, if you visit that stretch between the Moi Avenue-Digo Road junction and Mapembeni, you are likely to get a very good deal.

Another area where you can get good deals on computers within Mombasa is area around/opposite Mombasa Public Health Department in Mwembe Tayari. One of the best computer shops there is Ken Computers Mombasa. They tend to have a good stock of all types of computers and their salesmen will address any question you may have. As you move up that street towards and past the Kenya National Library Services Mombasa branch, you find several other computer shops where you can also get decent deals.

You can also visit the various malls in Mombasa, including Nyali Mall though what you are likely to find there are brand new laptops on sale.

Listening to Eene FM Presenters is Fun

On my last visit to Kibwezi and Makindu towns, I noticed that many people were tuned to Eene FM. I decided to ask one of the fellows for the Eene FM Kibwezi frequency and once he gave it to me, I tuned into the station using my phone. I was trying to understand exactly what it was that was making many of the people in these parts of Ukambani to tune into Eene FM. 

The specific time when I first tuned into Eene FM was on Saturday mid-morning (between 10 am and 1 Pm) when they have this program where they review Kamba benga music and interview Kamba benga musicians. I later on got to listen to other Eene FM programs, and it soon became clear to me why the station is attracting such a huge audience. The reason is in that the Eene FM presenters (at least most of those I got to listen to) are fun. They bring up issues that are of concern to Kamba people, use fun language, and tend to avoid infusing English words in Kamba conversations (which has become a major problem with Ukambani elite nowadays). 

It seems as if the people who recruit presenters for Eene FM really know their business. So I would say that part of the reason behind Eene FM’s growing success is its presenters, who are individuals that are truly worth listening to.

How do I repay mcoop cash loan?

Well, the way I normally repay my m-coop cash loans is by first depositing the funds into my cooperative bank account. So like I go to a cooperative bank agent or to a cooperative bank branch and deposit the funds into my main cooperative bank account there. Alternatively, I deposit the funds into my cooperative bank account using the m-pesa pay bill number 400200.

Once the money is in my account, I dial *667# and follow the steps to transfer the funds from my main cooperative bank account to my m-coop cash account. And once the money is in my m-coop cash account, I then use it pay for the loan. 

I don’t know if there is a way of depositing funds directly into the m-coop cash but the approach I am describing (of first depositing money into my main cooperative bank account, then transferring the money from there to the m-coop cash account) seems to work just as well for me. One trick I usually use is that of ensuring that I pay 1 shilling extra to cater for any cents that may be in my loan calculation (and to thus ensure that the loan doesn’t remain marked as ‘outstanding’). Thus, for instance, if my m-coop cash loan amount was 10,050, I pay 10,051 to have the extra 1 shilling cater for any cents that may be above the main figure. That is just how I do it and it has so far worked well for me.

How do I travel from Mombasa to Taveta?

If you want to travel from Mombasa to Taveta, you first need to take the Mombasa to Nairobi highway, up to Voi. At Voi Caltex junction, you need to turn left, and drive on for about 2.5 to 3.5 hours to arrive at Taveta, which sits on the Kenya-Tanzania border. The actual Kenya-Tanzania border post is at Holili town, some distance from Taveta town itself, but Taveta is the main town around there.

If you are using public means, you need to first need to go to Mwembe Tayari and board a Voi-bound Matatu or Bus there. There are numerous matatus that ply the Mombasa –Voi route, though they tend to take as much as 40 minutes to 1 hour to get filled up fully. The various low-cost Nairobi bound buses (like those that carry from the Kobil petrol station in Mwembe), including Chania Cool, Chania Executive, Kathi Executive, Renee and others usually accept Voi-bound passengers. You can also take the Zighe Sacco matatus, the Wumeri Sacco matatus and the 2TS matatus (depending on the one that you find carrying at the stage) and pay the fare to Voi. Once you get to Voi, you will find matatus plying the Voi-Taveta route, and yours is to get into one of them and bid your time as it fills up. The Voi – Taveta matatus take a lot of time to fill up, and you should be ready to wait for as much as an hour or two, unless you are traveling during the ‘rush’ time or unless you are lucky to find a matatu that was almost getting filled up. 

The journey from Voi to Taveta is an interesting one, with beautiful scenery all along the way, and with a high probability of you seeing at least one or another type of wildlife along the way.

How do you find houses for rent in Mlolongo Nairobi?

Finding a house for rent in Mlolongo area of Nairobi (it is actually in Machakos County) is actually quite easy. That is because (at least the last time I checked) the houses that are vacant tend to have posters announcing the vacancies outside. Thus, as you walk around Mlolongo area, you are bound to find ‘1 bedroom house for rent’ or ‘2 bedroomed house for rent’ or ‘double room for rent’ or ‘room for rent (single) or ‘bedsitter for rent’ signs. Usually, the signs come with phone numbers you can call, in order to make further inquiries about the various houses for rent that are available in Mlolongo.

Many of the houses for rent that are available in Mlolongo phase 1 and Mlolongo phase 2 are of the single-room variety. Actually, in Mlolongo phase 1, most of the houses used to be of the mabati variety, but those are increasingly being phased out by the stone/block buildings.

In Mlolongo phase 3, there tends to be some very cheap houses for rent. But getting to Mlolongo phase 3 from the highway can be quite a hassle, especially deep in the night, unless you happen to have private transport means. Or unless you happen to be the sort of person who is always home in reasonably good time or you are working within the area. But it is nonetheless a nice, quiet area.

Where is the Kenya truck driving school?

If you wish to become a truck driver in Kenya, what you need to do is enroll for a heavy commercial driving course at any driving school. Then once you earn your Kenya heavy commercial driving license, you need to find a way of entering the trucking industry. Perhaps you can consider going into the trucking industry as a ‘conductor/turnboy/drivers assistant.’  It is while working within the trucking industry that you would get exposed to the big trucks and semi-trailers, and once you understand how those work, you can book the test for  the semi-trailer driving license endorsement. And if you prove to be competent, you would get the endorsement entitling you to drive the big trucks/semitrailers...
That at least is the path that most of the people you see driving those big trucks followed. I don’t know if there is any driving school in Kenya that offers direct training for semitrailer and trailer class endorsements. What I know for a fact is that besides having the endorsement on your driving license, you also need to be ‘known’ within the industry before you can start getting jobs. That is why the idea of venturing in after getting your heavy commercial Kenya driving license is always a good idea, as you network and get known. This ensures that immediately you earn the big trucks driving license endorsement, you can get a job with some degree of ease, as you would already have gotten known in the ‘industry’ by that time.

Which are some of the major slums in Mombasa?

It is always difficult to know the cut-off point from which we differentiate 'low income neighborhoods' from 'slums'. Thus, what appears as a 'slum' to one person in Mombasa may not actually qualify to be termed as a slum from another person’s perspective. That being said, one of the areas within Mombasa island (Tudor area) that is widely viewed as a slum is Muoroto. Others that are viewed as slums within Mombasa Island are Kaa Chonjo (which is in Tudor area as well) and Burukenge. There is also that area just after Ganjoni along the old railway line where there are some structures that would perhaps qualify to be termed as a slums, near KPA staff quarters.

On the western side of Mombasa, areas that are considered to be slums include Kibarani (which is to be found between the Kibarani Bridge and the Changamwe round about/interchange along the old railway line) and Bangladesh. Others are kwa Skembo (along the southern bypass, just around the port rietz hospital) and Kalahari which is somewhere near KPA’s gate number 18.

These seemingly slum areas offer very affordable accommodation for people who are down and out as well as people who have recently arrived in Mombasa and are yet to find their niches. Mombasa slum areas tend to have a mix of quite decent houses and some very badly off dwellings. Like the last time I checked in Kibarani, there were relatively decent dwellings going for up to 2,500 shillings, but also some rather badly off dwellings going for as little as 700.

Is the KMTC Diploma in Pharmacy Hard?

I wouldn’t say that the KMTC diploma in pharmacy is hard, but for sure it is challenging. If you posted a good performance in KCSE chemistry, biology and math, then you probably have what it takes for you to successfully complete the KMTC diploma in pharmacy. Of course, the courses you will have to go through while trying to attain a KMTC nursing diploma will be far more challenging than anything you encountered in high school chemistry, math and biology. But the expectation is that by the time you are joining the Kenya Medical Training College for a Pharmacy Diploma, you should have matured and your mind grown to a level where you can absorb harder concepts. Plus you should have developed better studying discipline, to enable you cope with the KMTC pharmacy diploma studies.

The course is for sure challenging, but is worthwhile, because if one manages to go through the KMTC diploma in pharmacy and subsequently manages to pass the pharmacy and poisons board exam, then there would be opportunities galore waiting for him or her. The KMTC pharmacy diploma is one of those qualifications with which it is very hard for one to miss a job completely. What can be challenging after completing the KMTC pharmacy diploma is the aspect of getting a pharmaceutical technologist job in a government hospital. But if one is willing to start with those jobs that entail being employed in a chemist store or being initially employed as a pharmaceutical technologist in one of those low profile private hospitals, then it is highly unlikely that one would completely miss an opportunity. One can start with such lowly positions, before ascending to pharmaceutical technologist jobs in the Kenya government or in the high profile private hospitals.

How do people manage to get KWS Jobs (Kenya Wildlife Service Jobs?)

I think most of Kenya Wildlife Service jobs are advertised in the media, and people proceed to apply from there. But I have also heard of cases where, for instance, people just present themselves in person during the Kenya Wildlife Service game warder recruitment exercises, and earn themselves jobs that way. There was actually a time when the Kenya Wildlife Service recruitment exercise became controversial, after it became clear that only folks with lower grades (was it D- and E?) were being recruited, with I think folks who had anything above D plain being told that they were overqualified! But then the KWS management came out strongly in defence of that policy, arguing that folks with higher grades would end up starting to look for other opportunities after having been trained at a huge cost... I don’t know if that policy is still there, though the KWS warders of these days seem to be relatively well trained, educated and enlightened.

What I know for fact is that there is a 'careers' page on the Kenya Wildlife Society website, which folks who are looking for KWS jobs ought to make a habit of visiting regularly, as some jobs are advertised there. What I also know for fact is that KWS jobs are often advertised in the media, including the Daily Nation and Standard. And yet another fact I know for sure is that it helps to network with individuals who have successfully managed to get KWS jobs (both current and former KWS employees) especially if they happen to be friends or relatives, so that they can explain to you how the system actually works, as far as recruitment goes.

How has Mavoko Secondary School managed to grow so much?

I remember when Mavoko Secondary School was starting out in the early 90s, and it was viewed as just another local school (or an Harambee school as they were known those days). Fast forward to 2020 and the last time I was in Athiriver, I couldn’t help getting impressed with the way Mavoko Secondary School has grown over the years. From just a few classrooms and a staffroom that they started out with, today Mavoko has all the facilities and amenities you would expect in any serious school. Frankly, I never imagined that a day would come when there would be several blocks of buildings at Mavoko Secondary School, but that day has already come and passed.

I think several factors have helped Mavoko secondary school to grow so fast.

One is visionary leadership from the people who have had the chance to head the school over the years. They have, for instance, managed to see to it that the school’s land is well protected in an area that is notorious for land grabbing, while also ensuring that the school’s financial resources were properly utilized for its development.

Another factor is fast population growth in Athiriver, which has served to ensure that there is a steady stream of students joining Mavoko secondary, which has in turn translated into bigger capitations.

Yet another factor is the input from various Athiriver-based companies that, at least in the earlier days, would make contributions to Mavoko secondary as part of their CSR programs.

Yet another factor is input from the local political leadership, including the Harambees that helped to set it up and regular allocations from the Mavoko CDF. It helps that for quite a number of years, Mavoko secondary school seemed to be the only promising public secondary school within Athiriver town. The others like Star Sheikh, Athiriver AIC High School and Athiriver Academy High School were private entities.

It helps too that Mavoko secondary has managed to keep on posting relatively decent results, with strong showings in extra-curricular activities such as drama as well. That has earned it goodwill, with people seeing it as a venture worth supporting.