A typical day of work in Nairobi for me starts with the commute to work using a matatu (usually a minivan/minbus). The roads are pretty bumpy and the traffic jam is quite heavy, no one can predict when the bus will reach its destination. By the time I make it to the office (a shared space kindly donated by one of Samasource’s service providers) most people are already at work.

While the official business language in Kenya is English, a good thing for foreigners like me, most Kenyans are trilingual (they fluently speak their tribal language, Swahili and English). The dress code is rather strict and most people doing business in Kenya wear a suit.

The aspect of time takes getting used to especially when scheduling an appointment in Kenya where it is common work on Swahili time. On needs to program this extra time to the initial appointment and be very patient for your contact to show up. Personally, I did not experience this problem during my work, because I am not a local. In fact, Samasource partners were kind enough to adapt to US culture and were always timely. But I had to deal with African customs when scheduling personal appointments and learned to be very flexible about time.

The mornings usually go by very quickly and tea is served frequently. A habit that I think was introduced by the British and carried on by the Indians and now a staple of work life for the Africans. Most of Kenyan workers that I met are welcoming and relaxed people, I feel very secure and comfortable when visiting Samasource Service partners. They usually have a positive opinion of Westerners and are mostly kind and respectful. The lunch break is around one o’clock and that’s when most of the team indulges in chicken curry with chapattis (large tortillas) at the local restaurant.

Visiting the Partner sites can sometimes be challenging in that there are no bus maps to indicate locations or times. Sometimes the partners are kind enough to pick me up. Others do their best to send me as much information as they can to help me locate their store or office.

The workforce at the Service Partners comprises roughly of equal amounts of men and women. I found the Kenyan women to be very hardworking and ambitious: They are usually multitasking, switching from their job to family matters and home activities with ease. They are astute entrepreneurs, and many are in highly regarded positions are handled by women. Adept Technologies is a good example of a Samasource partner founded by highly efficient women entrepreneurs. Indeed, both the CEO and the president of the company are women: Diana and Mercy. They have an excellent background and have “joined forces” to create Adept Technologies, a small but stable company employing 15 people.

Since my initial task to create the worker’s profiles for the Samasource website is now complete, I am now assisting with the greeting cards project. In this endeavor I am training Samasource workers to create greeting cards www.samasource.org/gifts The greeting cards include beautifulful pictures from Kenya as well as greetings in English and Swahili. This project will allow our partners to earn an income while giving them the ability to work in a new and creative way: Make sure you participate in their efforts and enjoy one of these cards yourself!

When arriving in Nairobi, one can quickly feel stifled by people, noise, pollution, so the charm of the city is not obvious at first. This city is like a whirlwind that can be stunning. But after the first shockwave, one gets used to this environment and appreciates the kind of life Nairobi has to offer.

I have been working as a Samasource (Samasource.org) fellow for one month now; it has been an experience which can be described as a journey of discovery, adaptation, meeting and sharing. Discovering the lifestyle here, adapting to the time and skills, meeting welcoming partners and talented workers, sharing of ideas and skills.

My initial task as a Fellow was to populate a new online database for Samasource for their website. This site now has the profiles of potential employees which allows new and existing clients to get a better feel of the knowledge, expertise and circumstance/aspirations of people they work with. My task was to compile a profile for every worker who participated in a Samasource project. Once the profiles were reviewed and the photos available I uploaded them onto the Samasource website. They are available on: www.samasource.org/impact.

This is great way to literally “put a face to a name” and to connect the workers with employers. It allows one to forget about the distance and understand Samasource’s goals by linking workers to jobs.

In visiting all the Service Partners and people, I learned how Samasource has given not only a “hand-up” but in fact provided life changing opportunity to workers. One of the workers I met was single mother who could not provide for her two children. Samasource, working with the service provider, has helped her to become independent and take care of her livelihood.

I met all kinds of people during this project, most of them are young and educated, went to or are actually at university in various sectors such as Hotel Management, Information and Technology, International Business, etc. All workers seem really motivated, talented and open minded. The service partners in Nairobi always provided a warm welcomed and I had really interesting discussions with some workers about various subjects as life, work, and the impact of Samasource projects.

Daproim (daproim.com) one of Samasource partners, provided me with office space during this project as well as Internet access. Steve, the president of the company, is an enthusiastic young entrepreneur who wants every employee to be treated with respect. He is interested in various training projects aimed at distressed people. Daproim, like some other Samasource partners, offers part-time work to local university students and facilities for disabled workers. Daproim started in 2006 with four employees, today it has already around 10. The plan is to grow to 20 or 30 people in the next years.

Steve is supporting a Cisco training center a few kilometers away from Nairobi. There, young women, often single mothers, are trained to do data entry and transcription tasks. This training is subsidized by an NGO. These women really want to succeed, and you can see in their eyes their thirst for knowledge. Steve feeds their motivation, while acknowledging that he needs to connect these women with jobs. There is no doubt that future difficulties lay ahead. The notion of hard work is on everyone’s lips, as there are no other means to succeed and the only way for them to benefit from a better life. Thus people are totally ready to offer their best.

So as I get used to the hustle and bustle of the city and plan my visits to the different service partners I feel good about lending a hand. I have to say that in my month of working as a Fellow for Samasource and helping create the Profiles database I too have learned the value of hard work! In my next blog I will write more about a typical work day for me in Nairobi.

See Leila speak about the challenges of using microwork to help people in Africa make their own livelihoods online. Dignified digital jobs for the next billion.

“The African Social Enterprise Forum–Saturday September 26,2009 at the Desmond Tutu Center, NYC –will have at least US$4 billion social investment capital represented as well as senior executives from leading social entrepreneurship organizations such as Acumen Fund, the Rockefeller Foundation, Endeavor, Ashoka and Social Private Equity South Africa.

The forum will respond to the question raised on Social Edge – Are the Only Innovations in Social Entrepreneurship Anglo-Saxon?, by highlighting Africa’s most innovative, world class social entrepreneurial solutions. Please visit www.asef2009.weebly.com to register.”

Come to the African Social Enterprise Forum in NYC September 26th, 2009

July 15, 2009 (San Francisco, CA) — My internship began in early June as I boarded a plane for Kenya with Leila Chirayath Janah, Samasource’s CEO and Founder.

What I experienced on this two-week trip was life changing. I have previously traveled to developing countries and witnessed phenomenal economic growth juxtaposed with abject poverty, but I was not prepared for Kenya.

Nairobi, a city of contradictions

Nairobi, the nation’s capital, is a bustling city with many apparent contradictions — wealth and poverty, Muslims and Christians, nature and pollution, advanced and antiquated. Yet those descriptors do little justice. After all, how can I adequately summarize a city that is home to high rise office buildings, a week day market filled with goods from Maasai tribeswomen, a sophisticated cultural museum with the world’s oldest human fossils, a rotting cattle carcass next to a main thorough fare, trustworthy cab drivers and questionable hoteliers? The city streets were filled with vehicle exhaust, a healthy fear of carjacking, entrepreneurs (e.g. individuals walking between vehicles to sell things such as posters and car fresheners) and speed bumps –- some by design, some not. While navigating these streets, Leila and I had a whirlwind of meetings.

First, we attended the AITEC Conference, sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation, focused on outsourcing and shared services for NGOs and development agencies. Information, Communication and Technology Services are a top priority for Kenya’s economic growth, especially with the recent arrival of the fiber optic cable in East Africa. Conference attendees included U.S.-based consulting firms Accenture and McKinsey, which made me realize just how big of a market opportunity this must be.

Subsequent meetings included site visits to our existing service partners. From Adept Technologies to Preciss International, I was able to meet bright, qualified youth who are working for Samasource’s partners to provide quality services to U.S. clients (note: English is an official language in Kenya). Many of the employees are current college students, who use their salaries to pay for school –- ranging from engineering to nursing studies. Leila and I conducted a training session with the service partners to review Samasource standard policies and procedures as well as to garner feedback on the existing partnership. A photo from the training session, held at Enablis offices, is below.

Pictured (L to R): Nicholas M. (Beeline), Lakshmi M. (Ken Tech), Lucky V. (Ken Tech), Amos K. (Styles), Benson K. (Preciss), Mwangi M. (Beeline), John S. (Ken Tech), Eunice M. (Styles), Andrew K. (Flytech), Mugure M. (Preciss), Stephen M. (Daproim), Diana G. (Adept) and Leila

Dadaab, the world’s largest refugee camps

After a week in Nairobi, we departed for Dadaab Refugee Camps. The camps are located in eastern Kenya, near the Somali border. We traveled by guarded convoy with CARE International. Various check points along the way reminded us that we were in dangerous territory. Our Kenyan hosts were incredibly generous and patient as I snapped endless photos and asked a plethora of arguably naïve questions.

Some 12 hours later, we arrived in Dadaab.

We spent the majority of our time at Dagahaley and Ifo Refugee Camps –- over 90% of the people there are from Somalia and include many women and young men. We trained them on the internet and gauged their interest in completing remote internet-based work, as a way to generate income. Many of the camps have very limited job opportunities and those that do exist (e.g. butchering and ice making) compete with limited resources. This leaves many of the youth susceptible to recruitment by militias. Similar to youth in Nairobi, many of the trainees indicated they would use the funds they earn to pay for schooling. As Leila blogged earlier, we met with one of the Lost Boys of South Sudan – Paul Parach.

After one of the training sessions, a young woman named Abdiyo insisted upon buying me a soda. This woman lives in a refugee camp where the average annual income is extremely low. It was the most generous and delicious soda I have ever received. To learn more about our innovative launch of the Refugee Worker Program, take a look at the following presentation:

Go fish

Two weeks and thousands of miles later, I found myself back in Palo Alto, California. As I commute to Samasource’s San Francisco offices, I reflect on the things this trip has taught me. Nairobi and the refugee camps are very different from my experiences in investment banking and private equity. While I am a novice when it comes to international development, I wonder if the some of the capitalism I practiced on Wall Street is applicable there.

And perhaps the only way to world peace and prosperity is through the creation of opportunities for sustainable, dignified employment.

Our slogan at Samasource, until about a week ago, was “Give Work, Not Aid”. The last portion is a bit controversial and we have wrestled with the unfortunate fact that it may be turning away potential supporters. Our new, simpler slogan, “Give Work”, is open to the idea that countries in Africa and other developing nations may require a two-fold approach. One of aid, to supplement “traditional” government services such as infrastructure and health care, and one of work – a way for individuals to financially support themselves and their families.

Samasource focuses on the latter part. Give Work.

As the proverb goes, “Give a man a fish and you have fed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”. By leveraging technology to create jobs for the next billion, Samasource is teaching individuals how to fish. Fishing … I can’t think of a better way to spend my summer.

Meet Paul Parach. He’s 24, and currently in his second year of high school, thanks to CARE International’s operations in Dadaab. His story will make you stop whatever you’re doing and think about the latent talent of people in refugee camps.

Paul left his small village in South Sudan at the age of 9, chased out by militia groups. He was forced to leave his mother and four sisters back home. After several weeks of walking across the country with a group of other young boys, he arrived at the Kenyan border and then at Kakuma refugee camp.

There, he was shot in the leg by a man from a rival tribe, and moved to the ICU in Nairobi. His leg was paralyzed.

Read the Rest of Paul Parach’s Story

Samasource wants your help and feedback as we work to refine our Samasource Facebook App Testing. Samasource is currently working on several Facebook application testing projects, but we want to continue to better understand what Facebook developers need for Quality Assurance of their apps.

Samasource was recently recognized by the fbFund for our entry into the application testing market. We are working directly with our providers to improve their knowledge of facebook applications. This past year, we sponsored developer garages across East Africa where we trained a number of our providing firms about the Facebook app industry. As we continue to expand and improve our testing services, we want to get the feedback of current Facebook application developers so we can better price out our services and make our process more transparent for developers.

We want to hear about the types of testing that you routinely need to carry out on your Facebook applications. Let us know about the quality assurance issues that you keep running up against. To put together the most comprehensive and useful list of testing actions, we need your help. Check out the gdoc below to start collaborating!

Samasource Facebook App Testing

While U.S. firms are laying-off employees, IT outsourcing is doing well on foreign streets. The debate over offshoring has been brewing since a 2002 study by the research group Forrester predicted that 3.3 million white-collar American jobs (including 500,000 IT positions) would move overseas to countries such as India by 2015.

More than 75 percent of major financial institutions send IT work offshore, according to the consulting firm Deloitte, which estimates that offshore technology spending by banks will reach 30 percent of the industry’s $44 billion total annual IT budget by 2010. By 2012, the industry is expected to reach approximately $230 billion globally. Most jobs on the move would be back office positions that can be digitized anywhere worldwide. Plus, routine telephone inquiries are increasingly being bundled together into call centers, making for more offshore telecommunications jobs.

Business process outsourcing (BPO) remains an important part of the IT industry’s sourcing strategies, but its offshore destinations are changing. Today, Wall Street firms are sourcing from around the globe with increasing interest in African countries such as South Africa, Ghana, Egypt, and Kenya.

Click here for the Full Article

Samasource is partnering with the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology and Appfrica, an NGO, to host two more Facebook Garages in Africa. These events help young software and web developers learn how to use their skills to create applications for Facebook, the fourth-most trafficked website in the US.

To learn more:

>> Visit the event pages on Facebook: Ghana Uganda

>>Download a flyer for each event: Ghana Uganda

Samasource has a spiffy new design!

The new site is parked at www.samasource.com. We’ll keep what’s currently at the .org up as our blog; if you want to stay up to date on Samasource news, please become a fan on Facebook.

Last week, Samasource’s brokerage service scored our biggest contract to date– a book validation pilot project with Bookshare.org, one of the many technology-driven projects initiated at Benetech, an award-winning nonprofit based in Palo Alto and led by veteran social entrepreneur Jim Fruchterman. Bookshare provides print disabled people in the US access to over 40,000 books and periodicals via large print, digital to audio, and braille formats.

The service provider that secured this project, Daproim, is a Nairobi-based firm headed by Steve Muthee, a dynamic Kenyan entrepreneur who strives to create opportunities for young people in his hometown through socially responsible outsourcing. We’re very proud to include Daproim in our portfolio of service providers, and look forward to building lasting partnerships with more organizations like Benetech.