MIT gurus bring home collective bargain-buying

By Morris Aron

As roommates at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Samuel Gikandi and Eston Kimani used to talk a lot about what they would do for Kenya when they return to the country from the "land of opportunities."

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Eston Kimani at his offices in Kilimani, Nairobi

At that time, it was just talking big plans and big ideas, but when they visited Kenya during one of those summer breaks, they decided to register a company- Africa Stalking Ltd-that will serve as a holding company to various types of business.

The realities were however, different upon graduation. Mr Maina, an old boy of Starehe Boys Centre, armed with a Degree in Management Science, Finance Option, had a short stint working at the World Bank.

Sensing that work was not his thing at the time, he formed yet another company-Kaizen Strategy Consulting-which outsourced data entry work from organisations such as UNICEF-Somalia. On the sides, he kept busy writing articles on management science, especially on stocks.

"I was involved in an international trading business during which period I realised the big challenge that small companies face in marketing their products and services that was later to give birth of what we are up to now," said Mr Kimani

Mr Gikandi on the other hand, an old boy of Alliance High School and a holder of a Bachelor and Master’s Degree in Computer Science went for a full time job as an IT Associate at Morgan Stanley in New York.

Fate was, however, to bring them together in 2009 when during Mr Gikandi’s holiday trip home that a commitment to revive Africa

Stalking was arrived at and with that as the parent company, sokopal.com was formed.

Sokopal.com, an online collective shopping concept and platform that is slowly becoming one of the biggest bargain hunters on the Kenyan scene.

The concept is simple, by buying as a group, buyers have more negotiating power than an individual would have and they are able to get a better price because they buy a larger volume.

This concept is closely associated with that of the "chama" or co-operative movement in Kenya where people with a similar interest are able to achieve more by working as a group instead of going it alone.

Bargain hunters

"Here’s one way to stop feeling guilty about shopping during the hard economic times, get on the computer and buy with friends - or even strangers-and receive deep discounts on local products and services," said Kimani at his offices in Kilimani area of Nairobi, adding: "We aim to build the largest base of bargain hunters in Nairobi so that we can get the most attractive deals for our subscribers."

Subscribers on our site need to only sign up their email address to receive deal notifications everyday on our website on the best bargains they can get on almost anything if they come , preferably as a group.

Additionally, there is a community page on the site where users can provide feedback on their experience at different businesses where they visited or ask questions about a deal. This provides important feedback to a business owner on the quality of their services while it educates the subscriber community on what they can expect at different businesses

Sokopal.com is a newly launched website in Kenya, which has introduced the concept of collective buying in the country.

On Sokopal.com, shoppers of a particular product or service buy together as a group thus enabling them to receive a volume discount from the merchant, a concept started in the United States by Groupon. The company uses humour and whimsy to enliven the offer, like that for the deal at hand. Since then other websites like buywithme.com and Yipit have come to the fore.

However, none of the subsequent websites has managed to muscle the financial strength of Groupon.

In May, the company announced a $135 million round, led by Digital Sky Technologies, the Russian Internet investment group that bought a $300 million stake in Facebook last year.

Networking media

And so Mr Maina and Mr Gikandi are well on their way to replicate the same success of the likes of Groupon, buywithme.com and yippit. Within a week of its of its official launch, sokopal.com has already received 100,000 hits.

In addition, the company has already secured interesting deals and promotions including a deal for good discounts at popular restaurants and the current wave, buying tickets to watch the most celebrated local football game between Gor Mahia versus AFC Leopards.

"We want to make it easier for companies to market their products and services through the use of social networking media provided by the internet and mobile networks," said Mr Maina.

Everyday, Sokopal.com features a deal on the website provided by a local business.

The deal features a product or service that has a steep discount on it but the discount is only activated when a minimum number of buyers purchase the deal. For example, a salon may offer to give a discount of 50 per cent on their charges for a hairdo if 30 clients buy the deal.

On the day of the deal, Sokopal.com emails its subscribers with information about the deal as well as uses social networking sites such as Facebook to make sure as many people as possible see the deal.

Buyers also send the deal to their family and friends in order to make sure that the minimum number of buyers is reached to activate the deal.

Buyers purchase a coupon for the deal on Sokopal.com using M-pesa and after the deal has been activated they can present this coupon at the business premises in exchange for the product or service on the deal.