How varsity students created a social-business portal

A screen shot of Jinspace

NAIROBI, KENYA: Few students can implement what they are learning while in still in school, but two youthful students Kepha Okello and Godfrey Makori have turned around their fortunes. The two, having realised that students in their campus had trouble getting contacts for people who offered services they wanted, created an online portal that enables users to socialise and also engage in business.

“We described this portal as a business social network. We called it Jinspace,” says Okello. “Jin” is a Japanese term which translates to “human” or “person,” explains 24-year-old Okello. So, this portal is like a human space.

Apart from being a one-stop shop, the platform also offers users an opportunity to update status, share photos, highlight an event and send messages just like social media sites as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. This was supposed to be a platform for business people. “If you do not have money to open a website, you can just open a business site on Jinspace and sell your stuff.”

Okello does not think they have re-invented the wheel. “This thing (Jinspace) is unique. There is no portal in the world that integrates the social aspects of life with business,” he explains. People do business on Facebook, but Facebook was not created with that in mind, it was purely a social platform. “And we used the latest technology such as object PHP, CSS, jQuery, mySQL, and Javascript,” says Okello.

COMPUTER REPAIRS

When Okello was still in campus, at the United States International University-Africa pursuing a Bachelor of Science Degree in Information Systems & Technology, a course that helped them a lot to integrate ICT with business, he helped other students with their computer repairs and connected them to people who offered such services.

That got him thinking: “What if we had a way in which a student could get in touch with a person who offered services he or she was in need?” Most of the things he was helping the students get could be found in the small shops in Nairobi’s central business district (CBD).

He said: “But all the shops in the CBD cannot have a website. It would be strenuous on a customer’s mind. So I wanted a platform where these business people could kind of have all their websites; a platform that would allow a business person to interact directly with the client by posting their product on it.”

By then, remembers Okello, he had gained some knowledge in PHP, a programming language commonly used by software developers to create website applications. It was quite a challenge juggling between school-work and working on this portal.

“Actually, the reason why the product dragged on for long was because I was developing it as I learnt,” said Okello.

ONLINE HOSTING

Along the way, in 2012, he was joined by Makori, 22, who besides having a passion in programming, was also good in project management. They had worked together on a similar project before. By the time Okello was graduating in late 2013, they had registered the business and in early 2014, the system went live.

The registration and hosting of the project was supported by the proceeds they received from other independent projects. With the income from these, and some savings, they were able to host, register and market the portal. But they encountered some challenges along the way, including being overcharged by a online hosting company.

Also, investors and users have been slow to warm up to the idea.

“Majority of people do not readily accept an idea that is not foreign. We have a solid business idea, but people are not willing to jump on it. So, apart from a few friends, friends of friends and family members, not many people have jumped on the idea,” notes Okello.

Despite the challenges, Okello is optimistic that in two years the idea will have grown its base.

“Although its growth has been gradual, people have started appreciating it and even putting their business ideas on the platform,” he notes.

SATISFACTION

“We also expect that in two years’, we will get local or international investors who can take the idea to the next level,” he says.

Okello is happy for the lessons gained from this experience.

“My expectations have not been met one hundred per cent, but I am grateful for the learning experience. I have been able to perfect my skills in programming, and so I can daresay there is very little I cannot do with PHP language,” says Okello.

“I have always wanted to do something like this, and I have this sense of satisfaction that I have achieved something that was very dear to me.”