The Alchemist is a good place but is less integrated…
（英語のあと日本語）
I generally don’t stay in a hotel in Nairobi, but I stayed in one during TICAD Nairobi as Mpho and I needed a place to stay near KICC where the TICAD VI was held. And we actually did stay in a hotel in CBD where is considered not the safest place in Nairobi (don’t tell anyone!). Actually, the hotel itself was decent (value-for-money), and staff was quite friendly while I am quite certain no Japanese businessmen or diplomats had ever stayed there because of the location.
Obviously, we did all we needed to do to make sure we are safe (which is basically not walking around at night) and we were safe and all. But being in the sketchy neighborhood for several days made me think of new business ideas to create a safer neighborhood.
I am in no way professional in this area, but I believe that the keys to increasing safety in a neighborhood are increasing diversity and decreasing anonymity. In other words, an integrated community may create a more peaceful and secure neighborhood. Instead of gentrifying an area by renovating and creating buildings, we need to design a space around people who already exist there to nurture interaction among themselves.
I wonder if we can create a space, ideally, a multi-purpose creative open space that houses hotel/restaurant/coffee shop/event space/workshop space in the middle of CBD where there are already constant traffic, but no one really stays. I know few places similar to what I have in my mind is popping around the world. They are mostly accommodations but the space is open to the local community. What if Maki & Mpho can create a space like that where we can share our brand stories using multiple media while making the community safer!
As I was thinking about how we can create a space that is not just for richer locals and foreign tourists, I thought of the Hostel Village in Yokohama’s rather ghetto-like space where former day laborers on welfare are gathering. An entrepreneur, Mr. Okabe, created a hostel to bring in young people and budget tourists to the area and changed the atmosphere and environment. Together with a group of friends, I used to go there to test some projects together with Mr. Okabe to bring in more diverse people.
This idea has to be explored with my Kenyan partners…
In 2014, Kenya launched the eCitizen portal site for its citizens and visitors to get access to various public services including applying for a passport or a visa. Since its launch, the number of people who registered on the portal has been growing. According to a news source, as of February this year, 1.23 million Kenyans registered on the portal and 2.4 billion shillings (roughly 24 million USD) have been collected. Besides its growth potential, there are several aspects of this service that I think is amazing:
It is cost effective: This is an obvious benefit as you can cut middlemen and administrative costs. The service can also save users’ opportunity costs coming from having to go to government offices during their open hours, and queuing up in long lines.
It can address corruption: Online transactions create more transparency in fees and payment, and consequently discourage corruption.
You can pay via mobile money including M-Pesa (Vodafone/Safari.com run leading mobile payment service in Kenya).
It is meant to be a one-stop portal: Citizens can seamlessly access to various services provided by various agencies. Once fully implement, the portal can allow citizens to access to 15 services including various licenses and certificates.
It saves time: I applied for eVISA and my visa was ready just in 2 business days.
My visa application via the ePortal was super easy as well. You basically need a digital file of a passport size photo, a scanned copy of passport, and hotel booking info, and you are good to go… I hope that they soon set up the portal ready for the East African Tourist visa which should encourage more travelers to visit the Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda.
Last year, I was traveling around a number of cities in Southeast Africa including Nairobi, Kigali, Addis, Joburg, and Capetown. But I have to say, by far, Nairobi was the most entrepreneurial and creative city among them.
I was lucky to see cultural/creative events in consecutive weekends, and I met so many creative entrepreneurs there! One of the events was called Africa Nouveau, which was started by a musician, Muthoni Ndonga, who wanted to address the lack of platforms for artists, musicians, and other creators to showcase their creative work and started an event called Blankets & Wine, a previous format of Africa Nouveau. As the name of the event suggests, it is basically an opportunity for Nairobians to hang out in the park with blankets and wine while enjoying local designers, musicians, creators, and artists showcase and perform their work.
Such event is also the best way to meet up with many creatives at once – you basically meet all key people there! I had an amazing fun while efficiently getting know many creators in the area.
