NALA co-founder Benjamin Fernandes tells us about the Africa-first thinking behind the company’s internet-free money transfer app.
Tanzania’s 28-year-old Benjamin Fernandes is the co-founder of NALA, Africa’s first mobile money application that allows you to make transactions without an internet connection.
Published in African Banker, 4th quarter 2021
While motorcycles are a growth market on the continent, a major gender revolution is taking place in Kenya – here women are not only passengers, they are riders and couriers. Aamera Jiwaji reports on how women’s new found love-affair with the motorcycle is changing the gender dynamics of transport.
Published in New African, July 2021
A properly functioning agri-insurance system is perhaps one of the most important factors in the sustainability and profitability of the agri sector. While agri-insurance is worth $29b annually worldwide, in Africa it forms only a very small proportion of the total. But change is on the way.
Published in New African, April/ May 2021
You don’t need to have met Asha to picture her sitting at her kitchen counter in Dubai first thing in the morning before her family awakens and her home becomes a hive of activity.
She has a cup of tea near her left elbow, and her right index finger is scrolling through stock updates from Saxo Bank, Yahoo! Finance and Ark Investment Management on her phone. Fifteen minutes later, she glances at the clock and rushes into the bedroom to get ready for work, sharing highlights of their stock portfolio with her husband.
This has been Asha’s routine since April 2020, a month after UAE went into the Covid-19 lockdown.
Published in AwaaZ, volume 17
For as long as he can remember, Ibrahim Chitayi had wanted to own a restaurant. It was a dream that began watching his mother prepare meals for her small delivery business from their home kitchen in Mombasa.
In January 2020, it seemed that the fates were about to align. Chitayi had collected enough savings to start a restaurant without taking an interest-heavy loan from a bank. He had identified the perfect space to rent, and he had found a chef to prepare the Swahili-fusion meals that he wanted to develop a reputation for among Mtwapa and Shanzu residents.
Published in Nairobi Business Monthly, April 2021
The recently concluded Climate Adaptation Summit (CAS) 2021 was the first time that world leaders have gathered at a global event focused solely on adaptation and resilience.
It was hosted virtually by the Netherlands Government, and the outcome was the creation of an Adaptation Action Agenda to help realize the transitions required for a climate-resilient world.
While the political profile of the event was secured through the participation of 22 Heads of State and more than 50 ministers and leaders of international organizations, thousands more watched the sessions that were live streamed from time zones across the globe.
Published in Nairobi Business Monthly, March 2021
With just 0.02% of the country’s search engine market share (StatCounter, January 2021), Ecosia – the social business that plants one tree for every 45 online searches – is an unknown entity in Kenya. But its relative anonymity among internet users in Kenya is not a concern for the company since Kenya was never intended to be a top source country for its users.
Nairobi Business Monthly, March 2021
International companies are eyeing the positive spin-offs from providing access to quality education for African youth.
The attention that Kenya’s lower middle class is attracting from international investors at a government level is being replicated by private sector interest in Kenya’s university-bound middle and upper middle class youth.
Published in New African, February 2021
The key to providing worthwhile employment to Africa’s burgeoning youth population is rolling out vocational skills linked to industry needs.
It is a muggy morning in Kenya’s coastal city of Mombasa and a queue of unskilled labourers has formed around the perimeter of a downtown construction site. The lucky few at the front of the line will be admitted by the foreman and given something to do for the day.
Published in New African, February 2021
While K-12 and post-secondary institutions in British Columbia roll out plans for a hybrid learning model in the fall, their colleagues in international marketing and recruitment are non-committal about virtual recruitment in an industry where trust is best built in-person.
The online activities that were thrown together in mid-March by educational institutions across British Columbia have been fine-tuned over the last two months as schools pivot towards a socially distanced marketing and student recruitment strategy that replaces international travel with virtual events.
But it hasn’t been an easy decision for an industry that relies on trust created predominantly through personal contact and face to face conversations, a concept described as the 7-38-55 rule where 7% of meaning is communicated through spoken word, 38% through tone of voice, and 55% through body language (Mehrabian, 1981).
“I don’t know how well virtual will replace in-person recruiting,” said Michael Frankowski, District Administrator of International Programs, West Vancouver School District at a recent BCCIE webinar. “Everything is about trust, and the best way for humans to trust one other is to be human, meet each other, and talk.”
Digital strategies
But in an era where social distancing protocol limits contact to small groups, institutions in British Columbia have been forced to embrace digital recruitment tools such as webinars, virtual open houses, virtual fairs, and 1 on 1 admissions appointments.
Multiple platforms are being used for webinars, each of which offers different features in terms of security, branding, video streaming, and audience engagement e.g. polls, and these include Zoom, GoToWebinar, Cisco WebEx, and new entrants like BigMarker, demio and Gumzo.
Pre-Covid, a typical webinar would be a panel of industry experts debating a topic. Post-Covid, webinars have become a ubiquitous tool that have contributed to the sensation of Zoom fatigue. Institutions arrange at least one session a week – either to connect with education agents or with students who are at different stages of the recruitment funnel – and the agenda typically includes an updated statement on Covid-19, a school profile, an immigration update, and a Q and A.
Webinars that are more recruitment, rather than admissions, focused have been branded virtual open houses and these include a virtual campus tour to connect with students that likely feel more distanced than ever from Canada. Acadia University and Seneca College have embraced the concept of v-brochures by combining photos and videos of key locations on campus, which are hosted on their website, while the University of British Columbia has gone a step further and incorporated audio from a virtual tour guide.
1 on 1 conversations
Another feature that is being tacked onto the standard webinar is the 1 on 1 appointment, which allows a recruiter to meet with an interested student/ parent on platforms such as Zoom, Google Hangouts, WhatsApp, and WeChat.
It is a technique that Sheri Wakefield, Managing Director, Gulf Islands International Program, has used often. “If I can’t meet with people in person, I find that the next best thing, the closest I can get to trust is to have a 1 on 1 Zoom type meeting or on Skype.”
But it isn’t for everyone.
“Engaging with parents in a recruitment posture virtually is not as easy as it is in person,” said Frankowski from the West Vancouver School District. “It’s easier in the virtual world to speak in a business to business voice,” he said, which is why he prefers to use Zoom for agent trainings rather than student/ parent meetings.
Virtual connections
Virtual fairs have also become more popular even though they are not a new concept for the international education industry.
FPP EDU Media, which has managed multiple in-person and virtual student fairs for the governments of Canada, Australia and New Zealand, is considered to be a front runner in the industry and, according to its founder and president Julio Ronchetti, their platform uses artificial intelligence to profile students and flag those that have a higher possibility of conversion.
The extra bells and whistles don’t carry much weight for Frankowski.
“I am agnostic about what platform it is on because they all seem to be reaching a point of commodification. They all have the same features and work rather well, but a poor internet connection can derail a perfectly planned virtual fair,” he said.
Technology aside, virtual fairs conform to the same concept as in-person events, and the features used to portray an institution’s brand are front-facing graphics (logo, testimonial, program list, infographics), and a resource library with print and audiovisual material in multiple languages. However, the key deliverable that most institutions look for at a virtual fair is the opportunity to connect with students in a meaningful way.
“I’ve done four virtual events so far in in West Africa, East Africa, North Africa, and Latin America, and for the most part, I’ve found them positive,” said Gregory Pokorny, International Marketing Manager at Langara College. “They were good for exposure and as a point of first communication with students,” although he noted that these events will require more extensive follow up.
Pokorny also pointed to cultural considerations that may need to be taken into account when selecting virtual fairs: “The number of quality conversations seemed to be better at the West and East Africa events. North Africa was the least attended or least busy of the three fairs.”
The return on investment for virtual events is another unknown that concerns international student recruiters. The average one-day virtual fair costs around US$2,300, the same as an in-person fair in 2019-20. Although more representatives from an institution can attend a virtual fair and connect with students, international departments are practising increased prudence around expenditure.
“We can’t go full on with virtual recruiting when its unproven because we are predicting big shortfalls next year,” said Frankowski.
References
Mehrabian, A. (1981). Silent messages: Implicit communication of emotions and attitudes. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
(This article was published on LinkedIn on May 27, 2020: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/virtual-student-recruitment-way-future-stop-gap-measure-aamera-jiwaji/)
e-portfolio: Aamera Jiwaji 