You have a solid defence. Your delivery of the product was to be based on a consideration, which obligation he has failed to meet. My advice is you must have always have a contract.Having the contract is not enough though, your agreement must also be enforceable, one you can actually act on. Alot of business agreements sound good on paper but when the crisis actually arises, other considerations like reputation,business relations and money hinder the enforceability of the penalties of the agreement, rendering it useless. Tumezoea! This is the typical Kenyan scenario and its built upon the following Kenyan myths: 1. Software should be free, you can just download it from the net! 2. There is always a developer out there who costs less. 3. Kenyan software products are not as reliable as foreign products, especially on support. Further, the state seeks to protect consumers;the assumption is the provider knows enough to protect himself . In our fledgling ICT industry, most coders are exactly that, just coders with little or no knowledge on business processes. The few that have had the guts to accept that inspite their technological brilliance, they lack the skill to develop a product lifecycle, business processes, marketing et al and have partnered with friends or collegues with these skillsets are the so called ICT market leaders. Their products may not be so brilliant, but the delivery and structures around them are. Third,I believe the biggest hinderance is the fact that most of us behave as if there is not enough of the pie to go around hence the undercutting. Africa is the new Asia people, and here is where all the IT billionaires are going to be made. If your solution or idea is really that good or novel, take time to grow it and give it structure on which to stand. On Fri, May 14, 2010 at 5:18 PM, Sam Nzau <sampishabby@gmail.com> wrote:
hehehe chris, what are u sayings? "Kampalans" and good when it comes to paying though they kinda fear us Kenyans. They deal with us with caution
On Fri, May 14, 2010 at 5:06 PM, Chris W. <dabnix@gmail.com> wrote:
Heheheh @ Sam Just make sure Kampalans don't demand you pay them upfront as the developer before taking prospective projects coz you are Kenyan!
All this happens I guess coz Kenya has and is graduating to another level and a cost has to be paid for the Market to transform and break even.
Why... currently if one demands a down payment or a certain amount for projects, the consumers always play around mainly because we have numerous people around 'scavenging' for the jobs and are willing to work at 1/4 your proposed amount just to win the job.
Its time for us to change our mentality and stay firm with Business Ethics.Be your brothers keeper.Tommorow you will be on that seat!
Chris_w. dabnix@gmail.com
On Fri, May 14, 2010 at 4:12 PM, Sam Nzau <sampishabby@gmail.com> wrote:
Man, man, man...what is it with us Kenyans?? This has happened to me numberless times:
1. In Nov last year a rich couple was starting a BIG restaurant just opposite Methodist church(commonly known as Methodist roundabout) on your way to kawangware. the restaurant is called Pumulla restaurant or something close to that. So the woman approached me through a friend, she needed a complete integrated restaurant POS(front office, waiters, kitchen, accounts, stock control and everything else). So we met at the site, discussed for around 3 hrs until we concluded that i do the job ASAP. I tried to explain to her that doing the system from scratch would be costly and time consuming but to her "Money was not the problem!". what she wanted was the system then i would say how much i wanted(i had mentioned 150k). I trusted her cos i could see big things happening on site, mean the type of work which was going on plus the ride she had was no joke. So i begun the job, no down payment no nothing with only huge promises in my pocket! within like two weeks of regular phone conversions(using my airtime) and meetings(Burning my fuel) i came up with a 90% working demo. They were both very very excited and sure thats what they wanted. I was also very happy knowing i was about to eat with chop sticks! a week, or so, later i had finished the remaining bit, so i called the lady and informed her that the job was over. Ever since....the rest is history buddies. eight months later whenever i call, if im lucky my call is picked, they are always in meetings, or out of town, or they'll call later.
2. Dec last year another lady called(she had read an advert i posted in the daily nation selling a Pos) so this time she wanted to know whether i can develop a system for her drycleaning business in Madaraka shopping centre(CLEANWORLD DRYCLEANERS) (just next to Kutwa club). so i said why not. We meet discuseed everything including the specifications and payments. we agreed i should come up with a demo the get my first instalment. thats is a small system, so within like 7 days i deliverd the completed system! we installed on her comp, i trained and they begun data entry. When i asked for the down payment problems begun. "U know i hav to discuss with my partiner , , u know i hav to use it for atleast two months to ascertain, u know, u know"....the rest is history...7 months and still waiting, no single cent
3.
4.
I had to get of freelance. im employed in Kampala now. Kenyans Lets change
On Fri, May 14, 2010 at 3:25 PM, Peter Karunyu <pkarunyu@gmail.com>wrote:
On Fri, May 14, 2010 at 2:59 PM, Mash <kihahu@gmail.com> wrote:
Phares, I'm not sure the law has been passed as yet.
Its actually the Finance Act of 2005 and came fully into operation in 1st Jan 2006. _______________________________________________ Skunkworks mailing list Skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks ------------ Skunkworks Server donations spreadsheet
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