History of Wananchi Online Limited

Wananchi Online Limited (WOL) was conceived and started by two enterprising young people who had a desire and vision to change the way things were being done in the ISP industry. After working for three years with Inter-Connect, a local ISP, Njeri Rionge and Joseph Mucheru decided that the time had come to fulfill their ambitions which they had nurtured for a long period and were unable to exploit at Inter-Connect. They had a dream of availing Internet services to most Kenyans in both urban and rural areas at an affordable rate. The conception of WOL started in February 1999 when Njeri, then the Marketing Manager of Inter-Connect and Mucheru, the Technical Manager, undertook a field study in both the rural and urban areas of Kenya. Wananchi Online Limited (WOL) was incorporated in Kenya in December 1999. It began operations in March 2000 the following year. They launched their first products in the market the following month (April). They had three key guiding objectives: The first was to offer fast affordable connectivity to the Internet to all Kenyans. The second was to create a powerful brand, which would meet the demands of both corporate and individual users. The final objective was to build a company in which every ‘mwananchi’ (common man) could own and share in the future growth of the telecommunications sector both in Kenya and across Africa” explained Njeri.

After the launch in April 2000, WOL sought to recruit as many customers as possible, both individuals and corporate. In 2002, WOL became the first Internet Service Provider in Kenya and East Africa to receive ISO 9000:2000 Business Quality Systems Certification. With this, WOL assured its customers of consistent quality and professional services. In the same year, WOL created Kenya’s most affordable and radical pricing policy for Internet connectivity, making Internet affordable and accessible to the Kenyan market. The radical pricing policy involved a reduction in internet connectivity prices by between 85 – 90% compared to the competition. This provoked a paradigm shift for WOL’s competitors and the market at large. WOL targeted large businesses, small and medium sized companies as well as individual Internet users. In order to be competitive, Njeri had asserted “in this era any businesses that aspired to grow and succeed had to be involved in partnerships that added value to those businesses. It was December 2005, five years after WOL had been set up to take advantage of the ISP services market in Kenya and to offer affordable quality ISP services. Since that time, the company had successfully developed into the leading ISP services provider in the Kenyan market.

Structure and Governance of Wananchi Online Limited (Africa)

The Wananchi Online Limited company consists of two key founders: Njeri, who is the main key founder and the Chief Executive Officer of the company; and Joseph Mucheru, who was the Chief Technology Officer when the company was started but later became the Director of Strategy and Business Development (Kiriri and Macharia, 2001). The company consisted of six members in the board of directors:

• James Mungai Gachui-who headed the board of directors. He was the Chairman and the Majority shareholder of the company.
• Njeri- CEO of the company
• Joseph Mucheru- Director of Strategy and Business Development
• Fred Gakomongi- Finance Director and the Company Secretary
• The two non-executive board members: Subash Handa and Joseph Muturi Kamau Ownership of the company is shared between two executive directors and two non-executive directors. The shareholding structure is a s follows: The shareholding structure Shareholder Number of Shares Percentage Njeri Rionge 14,000 20.0% Joseph Mucheru 14,000 20.0% Joseph Kamau 6,300 9.0% James Gachui (Jimana Ltd) 35,700 51.0% TOTAL 70,000 100.0% The management team was composed of 7 key managers. They include:
• Njeri-Chief Executive Officer
• Joseph Mucheru- Director of Strategy and Business Development
• Fred Gakomongi- Finance Director and the Company Secretary
• Jackline Bitutu Wanyande- Manager for general Client Services
• Susan Karambu Kaaria- Sales Manager
• Cecila N. Akenga- Manager for People Development and Capacity Building
• Francis Muiruri Kamau- Financial Accountant
• Liz Wachuka- Regional Sales Manager
• James Mwangi- Customer Service Manager
• Stephen Njenga Muchai- Technical Manager
• Valentine Mafunga- Personal Assistant to the directorate

Product and Market It Operates In

Wananchi Online Limited (A) is a Kenyan internet service provider (ISP). It aims to avail internet services to most Kenyans in both urban and rural areas at an affordable rate. The internet first became available in Kenya to a small group in 1993. Thus, the only means of accessing the internet then was through a service known as Gopher. Increasingly, users of ISP services were demanding high quality, high speed internet services. There were increasing pressures to fulfill these requirements in a cost effective manner. Wananchi Online provides domain registration, e-commerce, email, web hosting and collocation solution for individuals, businesses, developers and resellers. They segmented on the basis of usage. There are three product categories that Wananchi Online offers.

a. X-Plore

b. NetLife

c. Tunda

X-Plore

This product was tailored for corporate business entities including commercial and non-commercial institutions to provide a fast, reliable and high capacity communications medium. It was designed to support business growth by enhancing an organization’s responsiveness and facilitating higher productivity. Some of the features of X-Plore were that it was fast and reliable, it could be used anytime anywhere and it offered data and voice services. Its main benefits are:

a. Improved communication

b. Efficiency

c. Advanced productivity

d. Enhanced responsiveness

e. Enhanced security

f. Availability

NetLife

This was a product that targets individuals, small and medium firms, and small Office Home Offices to provide fast and reliable communication and information exchange. It enhanced information exchange and lifestyle. Some of the features of this product include, Internet Access, Internet Service, Web Service, Consultancy services and customized service level agreement. The main benefits of this product include:

a. Enhancing the quality of life

b. Increased global exposure

c. Increased Efficiency

d. Cheaper communication

e. Improved customer service response time.

Tunda

This product was targeted at the common man, home users and students. The main aim of this product is to provide access to reliable and affordable communication that is easily available. It also enables research and injected fun into everyday life. The main features of this product included: reliable and inexpensive, providing mail and Internet services. The main benefits include:

a. Convenience

b. Improved responsiveness

c. Cost efficient communication

d. Less expensive

Technology Used

Technology touches every aspect of our lives,it affects how we do business, the way we keep in touch with those we love and way we build collective human experiences. Wananchi online limited used technology driven service which as stated was cost effective and increased the efficiency of process within the organization thus customer satisfaction.

Ways in which wananchi online limited, used technology invocation to improve its productivity: Wananchi online limited embraced automation of all its business process effectively to capture all transaction charges. Automation of resources would save on time and also provision of quality customer care.

i) Introduction of wireless internet service which could lead to a vertical integration of PDNO’s, ISPs and VOIP.

ii) WOL provides Synchronous optical networking (SONET) and synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) which are standardized multiplexing protocols that transfer multiple digital bit streams over optical fiber using lasers or light-emitting diodes (LEDs). SDH is a set of international fiber-optic transmission standards. SDH was based on the North American SONET standards, which now are considered to be a subset of SDH. WOL uses these technologies to provision carrier grade services to global and Regional operators as well as for carrying its backhaul capacities to its main.

iii) Wananchi online limited ensured that they use high capacity fibre optic network which gave them competitive advantage over the other company offering the same service.

iv) Through technology, making the world a global village, Wananchi online limited partnered with other IPS from different parts of the world such as ;

• Service Quality Institute of USA who had more experience in customer service.
• Business Edge of UK for Internet Service Operation 9001;2001.
• Internet Solution and Didata of South Africa for IT infrastructure.
• Artemis Training of Kenya for ABC -EVA.

Environment Which Wol Operates In

Environment basically means the forces that affect the running of the organization. Wananchi Operations limited is influenced by various forces and these forces can be divided into two main parts and these parts are: internal environment and external environment.

a) Internal environment

These represents the internal factors that affect the organisation. Some of these internal environment are as follows according to Wananchi Online Limited Company: Employees: The organization has control over the number of employees that it should have. One of the challenges Wananchi Online Limited Company is facing is few employees in the various regions where it operates. This therefore means that the organization can act upon this. They can decide to increase the number of employees in the organization.

b) External Environment.

This represents the various outside factors that affect the running of the organization. External Environment is divide into two main groups, which are: micro environment (factors outside the organization but one can control e.g. supplier, customers etc) and macro environment which is, ( an outside environment in which the organization has no control over. e.g. political, economic and social factors etc.) Macro environment: In 2006, custom duty stood at 25% in the telecommunication sector. This therefore means the organization cannot do anything about it , as custom duty is charged by the government. Wananchi Online limited company cannot change the custom duty, this can only be changed by the government only. Micro environment: Wananchi Online limited organization becomes the leading IST organization as it has been able to influence its customers by the inexpensive prices they charge and their reliability. The customers can therefore termed as a micro environment factor, as the organization can influence them.

Challenges That Wol Has Faced and Approaches Undertaken

Wananchi Online Limited an Internet Service Provider in its daily operations in a competitively changing technological world has been faced with numerous challenges which requires the intervention of the management of the company to respond by formulating a strategy to mitigate the challenges. The Five Forces or challenges are as follows; Threat of new entrants, bargaining power of buyers, Threat of substitutes, Bargaining power of suppliers and Rivalry among the existing companies.

Threat of substitute products Challenge: Substitute products or services limit the potential of an industry. They not only limit profits in normal times, they also reduce the revenue an industry can reap in boom times. In the ISPs it faced a challenge of substitute products for example the use of mobile phones. There are various reasons why customers substitute their usage of a particular product. Some of the reasons are as follows: due to expensive products or low quality products. WOL has dealt with this in the following manner.

Approach: Due to this threat, the organization ensured it produced, high quality products e.g. X-plore. This therefore prevented the customers from substituting their products for other companies products. The organization has also ensured it produces inexpensive products to avoid their customers from running to other substitute products from other organizations. Eg ( X-plore, Netlife, Tunda).

Threat of new entrants Challenge: New entrants to an industry bring new capacity, the desire to gain market share, and often substantial resources. The seriousness of the threat of entry depends on the barriers present and on the reaction from existing competitors that the entrant can expect. Wananchi Online Limited was presented with a challenge from the introduction of data subscriptions/ internet subscription by a mobile operator to render internet services. As a result of the stiff competition especially on the use of mobile operators, many ISPs have been phased out of the market.

Approach: WOL has dealt with this challenge by reducing their costs therefore selling their products at low prices. This therefore made them the leading IST operator in Kenya. This therefore means they are able to be on top of the game. Bargaining Power of Buyer. Challenge: The buyer or customer is known to be the boss and therefore wants is what one should offer. These can actually be a challenge but WOL has dealt with this by:

Approach: The customers demand for high quality products and they offer just that. This is seen in the three products produced: X-plore, Netlife and Tnda.

Wananchi Online Limited (WOL) was conceived and started by two enterprising young people who had a desire and vision to change the way things were being done in the ISP industry. After working for three years with Inter-Connect, a local ISP, Njeri Rionge and Joseph Mucheru decided that the time had come to fulfill their ambitions which they had nurtured for a long period and were unable to exploit at Inter-Connect. Njeri became the key founder and the Chief Executive Officer of the company; and Joseph Mucheru, who was the Chief Technology Officer when the company was started later became the Director of Strategy and Business Development Some of the things they wanted to achieve are as follows: The first was to offer fast affordable connectivity to the Internet to all Kenyans. The second was to create a powerful brand, which would meet the demands of both corporate and individual users. The final objective was to build a company in which every ‘mwananchi’ (common man) could own and share in the future growth of the telecommunications sector both in Kenya and across Africa” explained Njeri. Some of the products it produces are as follows: X- plore ( a product that offers efficiency for large organizations), Netlife( a product for individuals, small and medium enterprises and Small Office Home Offices which is relatively inexpensive) and Tunda( for common man, the product is convenient). The organization has two main environments. The internal and the external. The internal are those factors which are found in the organization and affect the running of the organization e.g. employees. The external is divided into: macro and micro environment. Macro- environment are those external factors that the organization cannot control, e.g. political factors. Micro environment are those external factors that the organization can control e.g. customers, suppliers. WOL provides Synchronous optical networking (SONET) and synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) which are standardized multiplexing protocols that transfer multiple digital bit streams over optical fiber using lasers or light-emitting diodes (LEDs). SDH is a set of international fiber-optic transmission standards. SDH was based on the North American SONET standards, which now are considered to be a subset of SDH.WOL uses these technologies to provision carrier grade services to global and Regional operators as well as for carrying its backhaul capacities to its main. Key issues and challenges they had to grapple with included: Threat of new entrants, bargaining power of buyers, Threat of substitutes, Bargaining power of suppliers and Rivalry among the existing companies.