Gone are the days you had to jump on a two-day bus from Kampala to Nairobi (Kenya’s capital) to go and negotiate a business deal -come back and organise to move the products or move over there for a few days to offer a service. Now, negotiation can be carried out through, Skype thanks to the power of tele-conferencing.
Nairobi is 45 minutes away on plane if one must go there in person. That’s how technology has changed the way we do business.
Like I love to say, it’s never been any easier to start a business like it is today. All you need is a laptop, internet and an active online presence. Back then, you had to find a lawyer to explain to you the difference between a sole proprietor and limited liability company, that’s if you made it past their receptionist. Now all you do is hit Google and you have all the most of the answers.
My chat with Samuel Otim, the founder and chief operations officer of Trail Analytics, gave us an insight into how technology has affected business in the 21st century. His IT Company, Trail Analytic,s builds systems and applications some of which being used by the top banks in the country.
E-Commerce is one of the ways technology has changed how we do business.
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Beyond the Low-Hanging Fruit: The Grit, Capital, and Vision Required to Industrialise Rural Uganda“In the past you had to have a large warehouse or store but now you can have just a website where people can order for your products,” Otim says. “Some of the world’s biggest businesses are actually websites like Amazon, Alibaba and Facebook.”
Technology has made it so simple and affordable for entrepreneurs today to start and build multi-billion dollar businesses with little or no money. A good website that allows online payments could be all you need to be able to sell your products to the rest of the world.
“Imagine the ability to be able to do work for someone in America and get paid in Uganda without having to necessarily having a meeting with the client?
