Why You Need To Get A .Ke Website Today

Kenic is one of those businesses that are so utilitarian we forget that we need them. A conversation with the Kenic CEO, Joel Karubiu quickly puts things into perspective.

Why did KeNIC decide to sponsor MarTech?

I’m a marketer by profession. Even within this role I face today, I am not a techie. I am struggling with that intersection. I feel that the tech does not respect marketing. It is more a case of ‘as tech, we are the guys who make things move, and you as marting, go and make noise about it.’ We have a product, but we don’t really have a product. As the administrators of .co.ke., it is assumed that everyone in the country should have a website. Which is not the case. Because this is a democratic country. In other countries, this is mandatory, such as Tanzania. If you don’t have a www.tz, you can’t do business with the government. But here with our liberal laws, and if I try to change that, the Okiya Omtatas of this world would then shut us down.

My product is a choice. And when it becomes a choice, marketing checks in. So how do we sell/communicate? MarTech is where I believe the IT community will be having conversations in the foreseeable future. How then do I get them to understand that the Kenyan domain name is part and parcel of what they are doing? And that it is part of their branding and their business? Our mandate speaks to .co.ke. But there are aspects of SEO and cybersecurity that we handle. The folly of Kenic today is that people believe we are only restricted to domain names. But there is more. That is what interested me in becoming a sponsor and just being able to have that conversation with the industry players.

When they brought you in as the CEO of KeNIC, what did they tell you your mandate is?

When I came in it was because they wanted growth. That was my agenda. To create awareness in the market. They wanted someone specifically with marketing, not tech, experience. In terms of our tech and infrastructure, we are stable. That was the challenge before. Now, that we are stable, there is growth that shows more Kenyans and businesses have .co.ke. But also, what more can we do to grow the tech ecosystem in this country?

In the two years, you have been at KeNIC what has been your leadership style?

Kenic has had the folly of looking like government because of our colours and branding. And because we take care of critical infrastructure. Internally, there was a government mindset. With stakeholders holding us at an arm’s length. Kenic is a PPP (Private Public Partnership). My leadership has had to be all-inclusive while understanding all parts of the government but on the other hand, we are a private professional entity that should do deliver like a private entity. I am on both sides. I have tried to make ours a family-oriented business. We are 15 in number. Very young, hotblooded workforce. It is about telling them there is a future here. While at the same time, I am about making sure it is understood that it is a professional business.

What would you say is the future of MarTech?

We need two days … I need my own workshop on this! The future of marketing is based on engagement. We are in a profession where a billboard or a TVC was an ad. We don’t care for that anymore. It is one-on-one engagement that is customer-centric. It is you being able to understand your customer at their point of need and giving them a solution there. When you look at it even from a tech perspective, marketing is on demand. I want to see the ad now. I want to make the decision now, and I want it delivered to me now. If brands are not talking to customers at their point… If you are not in my space, you are not talking to me as a consumer. We need to identify channels our consumers use. We need tech and the digital space to reach people.

What MarTech technologies are you using right now to keep your business running?

We are looking at all our social media platforms and engaging in one-on-one interactions. Are we able to give information that is usable? We have moved from traditional methods such as banners, to where the conversation is at. Secondly, we go where people are, such as the just-concluded Africa MarTech Summit, and meet them there. We have to ask ourselves, are we part of that conversation? We have to invest in forums, events and be part of conversations. Also, we have looked at our social media platforms. Are we giving relevant or information that makes sense? We are not selling, We want to just communicate and add value and talk about benefits. What are those things that a domain name mainly does for you. We are not bombarding you with messages about buying.

How did your previous roles prepare you for this role?

I’ve been around the block. In that way, for this role, due to my experience, it was about, how to talk to, unpack, create a relationship with the customer? And ensuring that the customer understands you before you sell. What is your relationship with that customer? Are you having a conversation? Are you able to understand the customer better? In my roles, especially when I moved to PwC, I first have to unpack them, and create the customer journey and think about where to infuse yourself in that journey? Sometimes you find that you have nothing to sell. But you make a connection. My previous roles have enabled me to sit back, ask harder questions, interrogate more. It has made me value network marketing. You need to be out there. You can’t sit in your ivory tower and expect people to understand you.

So, who is your customer?

My customer is you. Anyone is my customer. Unfortunately, it sounds as wide as that. Anyone who in the present day wants to get onto the internet is my customer. They can choose an online presence through social media but they are still my customer.

How would you describe your job to a 10-year-old?

Basically, a domain name is a set of numbers that you have chosen to give a name to. The internet has a set of numbers that describe you on the internet. But since you can’t remember the set of numbers, we give you a name. Your phone book has 250 numbers that you won’t remember, so you use names. It is the same thing with a domain name on the internet. The same way Safaricom gives you a number is the same way I give you your domain name.

Do you think the challenges faced by Africa when it comes to MarTech are unique to us or are they universal?

Both. I think some are unique to us. We chose what we consume. If I look at our newspapers, the first thing you are given is politics. That is unique to us as a country because that is our culture and the way newspapers will sell. In other markets, the newspapers are issue-based. I say it is unique because when it comes to marketing in our space, there is communication that only we can understand. But, generally, marketing is universal. It is how we decide to deal with our challenges. From a marketing perspective, you are out to communicate to come to a solution.

Which CEOs do you look up to?

In the later part of my career, people like Elon Musk get me thinking. People who dare to dream. People who ask why. CEOs who are disruptors. There may be pitfalls at the end of the day. Probably James Mwangi because he threw the banking rule at us and said we could do things differently. I think Bob Collymore was also a CEO who looked at things differently. If you look at their tagline, it is no longer a telecommunications company. You are looking at something you need in your life.

How disruptive are you as a CEO?

In the beginning, we were looked at as an entity quietly seated in the corner to one that has stepped out of the shadows and continues to do that. Ours is not a product people need every day like bread. In the past, we were not able to shout out about ourselves. And that is something I am bringing to the fore. Saying, we are part of this conversation and want a seat at the table. There are things I do that are unorthodox like insisting on going for ministry meetings, sponsoring events such as this which we would not have traditionally done because we are happy to glide along, making enough money to survive. I am trying to disrupt the conversation by saying ‘as KeNIC, we are here.’

What have been some of the accomplishments that you have been proud of as CEO?

We have Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAG) we are trying to achieve. One of the ceilings of a business such as ours is to hit the 100,000 mark. Which we did last year. It was a ceiling that had been there since 2002. We hit that mark amidst a COVID year. Only two other countries in Africa have broken that barrier and that is Nigeria and South Africa.

Congratulations!

Thank you. That was a proud moment for us, that we can now dream. We want to be a million-plus. We have three million registered businesses, but we only have 100,000 domain names. We have 30 million mobile subscribers. We should be having the same when it comes to names.

Why are people hesitant to get websites?

They are not hesitant to get a website. A lot of people have websites. It is the platform they choose to have them on. Two things happen that are not complementary to our business. In the early 2000s, there was the dot.com domain name. We agree a dot.com domain gives you an international outlook. Which is fine. But, how do people want to know you? Is it through .com or .ke? I sell patriotism. Buy Kenya, Build Kenya..com has certain advantages and disadvantages. If someone says, clones your domain, you have no recourse. But on .ke, you can walk into this office and say there is someone mirroring your domain name, and I would deal with it. There is an opportunity for you to mirror your .com account into .ke. Register as .ke and redirect your site, bringing them to Kenya. If you believe you are a Kenyan business and this is your strength and you are selling that as a business, then take .ke as your preferred domain name.

What do you think will be the relevance of KeNIC in another five years?

As long as the internet is existing, we will always be in the space. People say my competition is .com. It is not. My competition is social media. Because today I can sell something without needing a website. In some ways, having a domain name is seen to be losing relevance. But what we have discovered is people start off on social media, then migrate to an e-commerce site where you will need a domain name to run it. On social media, the best you can do is send someone your mobile or paybill number. There is a slight migration from these free platforms to ours where we charge you a fee. But you will still see that ours is relevant for the foreseeable future.

So this is how you got the numbers to 100,000 during a COVID-19 year. Because people wanted to do business online so a lot of people migrated?

In the past, if you wanted to do business you would use your Gmail address. But people started noticing that if you wanted to be taken seriously, then you need a business address. A lot of people migrated because they wanted an online presence on the internet. We found that SMEs started pushing their online presence. And because Kenya has grown so rapidly in fintech and e-commerce, people are trading. I can order anything now, and I’ll get it. That whole linkage is what maximised the numbers. I think the government should do more in this space to encourage SMSes to partake of domain names. The slack is being picked up by the private sector. The challenge now is can policy and regulation allow us to move more numbers? We’ve seen growth. It may not be as high as we had hoped. In other markets, we are talking about a 300 per cent growth. But I suppose in this business it says a lot that we did not close up, we did not take pay cuts, and we actually made profits in a very tough year. We are moving away from domain names to making sure that your content is safe.

How do you work against or with social media or compete with it?

If you are on social media, I see how I can bring you to another platform. When I see someone doing something amazing on say, Instagram, I call them up and ask them if we could create a website for them. I am creating partnerships. A website is anything from Kshs5,000 to a million. If we need to do something, I subsidise the cost. If they have money, I give them a platform. I cannot fight social media. There, it is so easy to post your content on a regular basis with a smartphone. We do a few value additions. A domain in itself is just a name. If you are not going to use it, it is nothing. That is why we moved the numbers.

How do you make money?
Primarily, selling domains. It really is that simple.