Sam Wakoba: The man beind Tech Moran
From the 28th to the 30th of July this year, PAWA254 and Bake held a riveting three day MasterClass on Blogging and Social Media Tools for Journalists and UPmagazine secured two spaces for its journalists to attend so we could report back to you, our faithful audience, about what we learned.
This is the second of two articles we have written on the masterclass. We decided that we wanted to share with you a conversation we had with one of the speakers Sam Wakoba, a Kenyan blogging and social media tech guru and the mind behind Tech Moran, a media company that covers news on innovations across Africa.
So what exactly does Tech Moran do?
At Tech Moran we focus specifically on entrepreneurship in tech, mostly people who are doing start ups. It is mainly digitally based.
What does Tech Moran mean?
Moran is Maasai for warrior, when you go to a maasai village it’s the moran who will take you around. So Tech Moran is Tech Guide for Africa.
How is tech looking in Africa?
It’s looking up; I think it’ll be the next big contributor to the GDP in the next 10 to 15 years. Tourism is already on the out due to terrorism, and real estate is too expensive. Tech is coming in because it’s easy to start, and many guys are doing it.
What is the most interesting thing you’ve covered recently?
There are several but I like this group of guys doing something called OkHI founded by Timbo Drayson. OkHI wants to solve Kenya’s addressing problem by enabling creation and secure sharing of physical addresses via your mobile phone. I think it’s brilliant; an address for every home.
Do you cover all kinds of technology, including for example farm equipment?
It’s true that most innovations deal with or use tech and we can do it all, but as opposed to just any tech in Nairobi what is most popular is the web and mobile start-ups.
How many people are in TMT?
We are six. I founded it in August 2012. It was kind of hard staring but not really, I used to stay home work the whole day then continue into the night. I was working alone, it was my vision and I was passionate about it. It was kinda hard but then again after a few months I got a business deal.
What are the benefits and disadvantages of going solo?
A benefit is the freedom; you can decide I’m sitting home, in my couch, in my pants or shorts and slippers and work the whole day in a vest or half naked. The flipside, you need to pay bills- if you’re not making money then you might go under if you don’t have support.
How does Tech Moran make money?
We have banners, stories as ads- sponsored content, where companies pay us to push a certain agenda.
With sponsored content do you sometimes reject some clients on the basis of ethics?
On ethics… of course, I wouldn’t take on something to do with porn for example. Otherwise we would reject sponsored content if for example a client wants us to take down a competitor’s ad and replace it with theirs.
Is there a way to make it clear to your viewers which content is sponsored and which is your own?
There are specific accounts for all sponsored content, you don’t publish under anyone elses name. So if it’s OLX sending us a story we publish it the way it is, even if there are typos, sponsored content isn’t touched by us. With reviews the client has to accept that he is giving the app, gadget or website to us, we give our review. We realised that people want to know what we think, if stuff works or if it doesn’t. It works because people like to chase; if you say their app is crap they will chase you, so it works to be unbiased whether we’re being paid or not.
Has a company ever pulled out because of a review?
Not necessarily pull out, but some have wanted us to pull down the review. We tell them we’re not pulling it down because this is a review, you either stick with our review or don’t come with us. It goes back to the same thing the more you maintain your truth the more people think this has value.
Email Tech Moran at info@techmoran.com or follow them @techmoran
By Ondi Madete and Adam Kiboi
