2. Agenda
•Objective and Methodology
•Executive Summary
•Market Landscape
•Kenyan Population Demographics
•Internet Usage in Kenya
•Mobile Telephone Usage in Kenya
•Demographic Makeup of Kenyan Internet and Social Network Users
•Comparative Analysis of Social Networks
•SWOT Analysis
•Recommendations and Conclusions
3. Objectives
•Provide a comprehensive market landscape that analyzes the Internet
and mobile telephone markets in Kenya
•Determine the demographic makeup of Kenyan Internet and social
network users
•Identify and analyze similar social networks in Kenya and other nations
•Conduct a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats)
analysis of creating a social network for Kenyans
•Provide recommendations based on research findings surrounding the
creation of a social network for Kenyans
4. Methodology
Social Focus Marketing employed secondary research tools to collate,
analyze and summarize publicly available information from various
sources. All sources are cited. It should be noted that the conclusions
and recommendations in this report are based on research findings
and on the interpretation of those findings by Social Focus Marketing.
These conclusions may or may not represent the views of Mr. Leparan.
Since this market research report is based on secondary sources
instead of qualitative or quantitative primary sources, the information
and recommendations in this report should be considered directional
rather than conclusive.
5. Executive Summary
•Kenya has become a model for socio-economic development in East Africa as it
enters a new phase of social, economic and technological growth. It has a
committed government and motivated private sector are aggressively investing
resources
•Kenyans are eager to communicate with each other, access information, develop
social relationships, purchase goods and services online, network, and utilize
digital technologies.
•Kenyans primarily use the Internet for email, social networking, for
entertainment purposes and to collect information to stay informed on events,
politics and sports.
6. Executive Summary
•Much of the Kenyan population is not a regular user of mobile phones and the
Internet.
•Many Kenyan and regional social networks have simply tried to copy Western
social networks, which has not attracted users away from the large social
networks like Facebook and Myspace
•The potential for a Kenyan social network is very promising if it incorporates
certain realities of the current Internet market landscape. A successful social
network needs to be unique, relevant, and appeal to a broad demographic.
8. Kenyan Population Demographics
•Population - 40,046,566
•Median Age -18.9
•Kenyan Diaspora – 2 Million worldwide (est.)
•Kenyan Diaspora Remittance – Ksh 150 B
•Education Median – 10 years
•Population Below Poverty Line - 50%
•Unemployment – 40%
9. Internet Usage in Kenya
•Internet usage is rapidly rising,
growing 87% from 2009-2010
•Internet penetration is less
than the world average, but
higher than the African average
•Mobile phones provide cost
effective means to access the
Internet, high-speed bandwidth
and DSL is still too expensive
Kenyan Internet Penetration
10. Mobile Phone Usage in Kenya
•19 M Kenyans have mobile
phone subscriptions , talking
on average 86 min. a month
•Four main mobile phone
providers are fiercely
competing for consumers
•M-Pesa account holders
transfer Ksh 33 M a month
•Mobile platforms are
available to send and receive
emails from SMS
Kenyan Mobile Phone Penetration
11. Demographic Makeup of Kenyan Internet and
Social Network Users
•Synovate – Digital Divide Study – 2009
•1,000 random Kenyan adults over the age of 15 surveyed about Internet
usage and preferences
•Boost sample of 500 Internet users from major urban areas
•TNS Group – Digital Life Study – 2010
•50,000 consumers from 46 countries interviewed about online
preferences and usage
•Kenya included in survey
•Facebaker.com
•Online resource that measures Facebook usage statistics
12. Demographic Makeup of Kenyan Internet and
Social Network Users
•Kenyans are accessing the
Internet to email, social network
and for entertainment purposes
•The majority of Kenyan social
network users are in the 18-35 age
group
•Kenyans want to have more
access to the Internet
5%
43%
36%
9%
2%
1%
1%
13-17
18-24
25-34
35-44
45-54
55-64
65+
Kenyan Facebook Users by Age
13. Demographic Makeup of Kenyan Internet and
Social Network Users
•Facebook, Myspace
and Twitter are the
most commonly
accessed social
networks
Most Commonly Access Social Networks by Kenyans
14. Comparative Analysis of Social Networks - Regional
•Mashada
•61,000 users from Africa and across the globe
•Focuses heavily on blogging, but has chat functions, game room and
users can upload pictures
•Simple, clean, “uncluttered” interface
•MyGamma
•Mobile, SMS social network
•Users can access mobile blogs “moblogs”, chat rooms, games
•Advertising model that pushes out ads to users mobile phones
•Whive
•East Africa social network very similar to Facebook
•Users can send free SMS text messages through network
15. Comparative Analysis of Social Networks - Kenya
•Kasarani
•Approximately 4,000 Kenyan users and 1,000 from across the globe
•Blogging, message boards, friend finders and users can upload photos
•Doesn’t seem to be used frequently by users and there is no advertising
•GotIssuez
•Social network for Kenyans to express their viewpoints on issues
•Very little user interaction on social network, but GotIssuez Facebook
page has over 3,000 users who “like” the page and has frequent posts
•Sokopal
•Kenyan social network/website that offers discounts and deals to local
businesses to be purchased through website
•Simliar to Groupon in the US, but unable to maintain daily deals
16. SWOT Analysis
•Strengths
•Increased government and private sector spending in high-speed bandwidth
access
•Greater competition and reduction of data rates from mobile phone
providers
•Sustained growth of Internet users and total overall Internet penetration of
population
•Partnerships between organizations to provide low cost Internet-ready
technology to lower income Kenyans
•Familiarity of Internet users with current popular social networks such as
Facebook, Mashada and MyGamma
17. SWOT Analysis
•Weaknesses
•Preexisting Kenyan, regional and worldwide social networks
•Creates onus to create a unique Kenyan social network
•Must be able to attract users away from current social networks
•Opportunities
•No other social network besides Mashada has gained foothold in Kenya
•Six million Internet users in Kenya and an exploding mobile phone market
•Opportunity to evaluate other social networks and pull features that are
successful and discard features that are not
18. SWOT Analysis
•Threats
•Internet businesses/social networks operate in a competitive environment
•Advertisers – or lack thereof
•Continuing to stay relevant and fresh for users is difficult and time consuming
•Myspace used to be the world’s number one social network, now it
pales in comparison to Facebook
19. Recommendations and Conclusions
•Resist the urge to develop a social network that is a Kenyan version of
a successful “Western” social network
•Develop a social network that is either scalable on a mobile phone,
while not losing any functionality, or has a mobile version of the main
social network
•Develop portions of a social network that can be accessed by SMS
20. Recommendations and Conclusions
•Tap into the mobile phone operators as partners, not just advertisers
•Take advantage of the Kenyan Diaspora’s remittance back to family and
friends by integrating M-Pesa, YuCash and Zap or other marketplace
options into a social network
•Consider the possibility of targeting a niche Kenyan population
