Harnessing local e-inventions to promote livelihoods- the case for Huduma.socio/ Audacious creators.
This short articles showcases, the utility the internet is, how mainstream, global north online based platforms have invaded the global south. It is agreeable that this has stimulated economic growth to an extent but there are pit falls. The concluding paragraph highlights how indigenous innovations are rising to the challenge, and have created alternative platforms to tackle the challenges. These platforms have been built with awareness of the dynamics and contexts of the people which they have been built for.
The internet is a grapevine for innovation and technology and global north has taken initiative at thunder speeds in creating platforms that have revolutionized work, ideas, connectivity and technology. Facebook is one to reckon with and according to their statistics (https://newsroom.fb.com/company-info/ the site attracts 1.56 billion daily active users according to the March 2019 report and as of March 31, 2019, there were 2.38 billion monthly active users on Facebook globally.
Uganda’s current population is estimated at 45 million people and the average Ugandan age at 16 years. This statistic places Uganda as one of the fastest and young populations globally. It is said that young people are versatile and easily take on new inventions including social networking sites. What first started as mere social networking sites have now progressed into commercialized spaces for marketing, buying and selling of good and services. According to this site https://www.internetworldstats.com/stats1.htm Estimates Uganda.s Uganda based Facebook subscribers are estimated at 2.6 million and more generally internet penetration at 47. 4% of the Country’s population. With a reduction in mobile phone costs and hopes of getting more jobs and work from the internet, this trajectory is expected to increase tremendously. Currently many online businesses have sprung up, applications developed to solve all sorts of challenges, from road usage, saving human lives, foods, soft skills, social networks amongst others. With these, the internet poses great opportunities for more innovations and revolutionizing work and problem solving across the country.
However given the background of these Northern based platforms- with their highly motivated capitalistic tendencies, with automated online payment systems, increasingly, local online platforms are facing challenges with keeping up with high structured fees. There is a steady increase on fees as informed by the increasing subscribers to the platforms. Unfortunately, without clear guidance on their usage many upcoming business for young people in Uganda are losing a lot of money to these establishments. Double trouble is that since all systems are automated there is no room for arbitration and later on refunds. Nakimuli’s case exemplifies this. Nakimuli set up her online clothing shop in January 2017. In order to attract more clients, she started paying for Facebook Adds. For this payment system to be efficient, her bank account has to have a certain figure on a monthly that is paid to Facebook. This is an addition to the ground rent she pays for her physical shop in down town Kampala. This fateful Wednesday in March, Nakimuli made her deposit as usual to a tune of 600,000 thousand for Posts adverts. However this time, the automated feedback was not aptly updated and the deposit slip was in negative. She ran up and down, sent emails on Facebook Help to no help. If she needed the service, she had to pay again. This is one of many stories of business operators operated on Facebook face in Uganda and ultimately, the charge is higher than the dividends achieved.
These and other circumstances have pushed indigenous innovators to the drawing board, to offer solutions to the frustrations of young and startup businesses in Uganda. The Huduma.socio network was formed to enable Ugandans and Africans to grow their business online within convenient means. It is estimated that if at least 10,000 Ugandans subscribe to the system, they will be able to reach their intended markets at lesser costs. The system was designed with knowledge of challenges of young starters, unique challenges of women internet users and thus inbuilt prices take these into account.
Written by Sarah Nakame
:P
This short articles showcases, the utility the internet is, how mainstream, global north online based platforms have invaded the global south. It is agreeable that this has stimulated economic growth to an extent but there are pit falls. The concluding paragraph highlights how indigenous innovations are rising to the challenge, and have created alternative platforms to tackle the challenges. These platforms have been built with awareness of the dynamics and contexts of the people which they have been built for.
The internet is a grapevine for innovation and technology and global north has taken initiative at thunder speeds in creating platforms that have revolutionized work, ideas, connectivity and technology. Facebook is one to reckon with and according to their statistics (https://newsroom.fb.com/company-info/ the site attracts 1.56 billion daily active users according to the March 2019 report and as of March 31, 2019, there were 2.38 billion monthly active users on Facebook globally.
Uganda’s current population is estimated at 45 million people and the average Ugandan age at 16 years. This statistic places Uganda as one of the fastest and young populations globally. It is said that young people are versatile and easily take on new inventions including social networking sites. What first started as mere social networking sites have now progressed into commercialized spaces for marketing, buying and selling of good and services. According to this site https://www.internetworldstats.com/stats1.htm Estimates Uganda.s Uganda based Facebook subscribers are estimated at 2.6 million and more generally internet penetration at 47. 4% of the Country’s population. With a reduction in mobile phone costs and hopes of getting more jobs and work from the internet, this trajectory is expected to increase tremendously. Currently many online businesses have sprung up, applications developed to solve all sorts of challenges, from road usage, saving human lives, foods, soft skills, social networks amongst others. With these, the internet poses great opportunities for more innovations and revolutionizing work and problem solving across the country.
However given the background of these Northern based platforms- with their highly motivated capitalistic tendencies, with automated online payment systems, increasingly, local online platforms are facing challenges with keeping up with high structured fees. There is a steady increase on fees as informed by the increasing subscribers to the platforms. Unfortunately, without clear guidance on their usage many upcoming business for young people in Uganda are losing a lot of money to these establishments. Double trouble is that since all systems are automated there is no room for arbitration and later on refunds. Nakimuli’s case exemplifies this. Nakimuli set up her online clothing shop in January 2017. In order to attract more clients, she started paying for Facebook Adds. For this payment system to be efficient, her bank account has to have a certain figure on a monthly that is paid to Facebook. This is an addition to the ground rent she pays for her physical shop in down town Kampala. This fateful Wednesday in March, Nakimuli made her deposit as usual to a tune of 600,000 thousand for Posts adverts. However this time, the automated feedback was not aptly updated and the deposit slip was in negative. She ran up and down, sent emails on Facebook Help to no help. If she needed the service, she had to pay again. This is one of many stories of business operators operated on Facebook face in Uganda and ultimately, the charge is higher than the dividends achieved.
These and other circumstances have pushed indigenous innovators to the drawing board, to offer solutions to the frustrations of young and startup businesses in Uganda. The Huduma.socio network was formed to enable Ugandans and Africans to grow their business online within convenient means. It is estimated that if at least 10,000 Ugandans subscribe to the system, they will be able to reach their intended markets at lesser costs. The system was designed with knowledge of challenges of young starters, unique challenges of women internet users and thus inbuilt prices take these into account.
Written by Sarah Nakame
:P
Harnessing local e-inventions to promote livelihoods- the case for Huduma.socio/ Audacious creators.
This short articles showcases, the utility the internet is, how mainstream, global north online based platforms have invaded the global south. It is agreeable that this has stimulated economic growth to an extent but there are pit falls. The concluding paragraph highlights how indigenous innovations are rising to the challenge, and have created alternative platforms to tackle the challenges. These platforms have been built with awareness of the dynamics and contexts of the people which they have been built for.
The internet is a grapevine for innovation and technology and global north has taken initiative at thunder speeds in creating platforms that have revolutionized work, ideas, connectivity and technology. Facebook is one to reckon with and according to their statistics (https://newsroom.fb.com/company-info/ the site attracts 1.56 billion daily active users according to the March 2019 report and as of March 31, 2019, there were 2.38 billion monthly active users on Facebook globally.
Uganda’s current population is estimated at 45 million people and the average Ugandan age at 16 years. This statistic places Uganda as one of the fastest and young populations globally. It is said that young people are versatile and easily take on new inventions including social networking sites. What first started as mere social networking sites have now progressed into commercialized spaces for marketing, buying and selling of good and services. According to this site https://www.internetworldstats.com/stats1.htm Estimates Uganda.s Uganda based Facebook subscribers are estimated at 2.6 million and more generally internet penetration at 47. 4% of the Country’s population. With a reduction in mobile phone costs and hopes of getting more jobs and work from the internet, this trajectory is expected to increase tremendously. Currently many online businesses have sprung up, applications developed to solve all sorts of challenges, from road usage, saving human lives, foods, soft skills, social networks amongst others. With these, the internet poses great opportunities for more innovations and revolutionizing work and problem solving across the country.
However given the background of these Northern based platforms- with their highly motivated capitalistic tendencies, with automated online payment systems, increasingly, local online platforms are facing challenges with keeping up with high structured fees. There is a steady increase on fees as informed by the increasing subscribers to the platforms. Unfortunately, without clear guidance on their usage many upcoming business for young people in Uganda are losing a lot of money to these establishments. Double trouble is that since all systems are automated there is no room for arbitration and later on refunds. Nakimuli’s case exemplifies this. Nakimuli set up her online clothing shop in January 2017. In order to attract more clients, she started paying for Facebook Adds. For this payment system to be efficient, her bank account has to have a certain figure on a monthly that is paid to Facebook. This is an addition to the ground rent she pays for her physical shop in down town Kampala. This fateful Wednesday in March, Nakimuli made her deposit as usual to a tune of 600,000 thousand for Posts adverts. However this time, the automated feedback was not aptly updated and the deposit slip was in negative. She ran up and down, sent emails on Facebook Help to no help. If she needed the service, she had to pay again. This is one of many stories of business operators operated on Facebook face in Uganda and ultimately, the charge is higher than the dividends achieved.
These and other circumstances have pushed indigenous innovators to the drawing board, to offer solutions to the frustrations of young and startup businesses in Uganda. The Huduma.socio network was formed to enable Ugandans and Africans to grow their business online within convenient means. It is estimated that if at least 10,000 Ugandans subscribe to the system, they will be able to reach their intended markets at lesser costs. The system was designed with knowledge of challenges of young starters, unique challenges of women internet users and thus inbuilt prices take these into account.
Written by Sarah Nakame
:P
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