On Thu, Nov 24, 2011 at 7:08 AM, Mbugua Njihia <mbugua@symbiotic.co.ke> wrote:

The recent closure of Kalahari locally and in other African markets put into sharp focus the current state of m and e commerce in Kenya. A number of conversations I had in the past week pointed to the need for a service that “breaks the ice” for consumers to appreciate buying and selling of goods online and on mobile. The service of choice was seen as classifieds.

A simple search for classifieds online will bring a whole list of providers, with all, more often than not calling themselves the number one destination. Cutting to the chase, let us look at those I consider major players and what they may or may not be doing right. - bit.ly/u4aeBk

@Njihia. A very nice and balanced article :-) I like the use of words "scraping", this is a real problem I faced early on, on the site I ocassionaly maintain. I had to block static ip addresses just to get around such content use abuses. For those who want to know the reality of online business, it requires a 100% commitment to such a project but financially the returns in our market are not worth the turnovers unless you are ready to put in a 3-5 year plan. How DealFish is going to pull through such remains to be seen, I'd still ask computer programmers to ensure that Nation and Standard media have the latest technology methods available to them to be effectively competitive.

**--If I ever wrote code on a system for the better of consumer freedoms or choice, I'd rather create the complete system with people who share the same views than give out a single line of code to code thieves who will use it to defeat the principles of freedom and choices---2011--Me--**