Web store Dukalako joins Kenya’s growing e-Commerce space

NAIROBI, KENYA: Living abroad can be lonely, but it can also create an avenue that exposes you to different technologies that can be adapted to suit the realities in one’s home country.

Mr Clement Langat left Kenya for Australia 14 years ago in pursuit of further studies, and his experience abroad followed this script.

After completing his secondary education at Alliance High School, he was admitted to the Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology (JKUAT) to study agricultural engineering.

“I was not comfortable with the course, however, so I quit in my second year and since parallel degrees had not flourished like they have these days, my options within the country became very limited,” he said.

At 22, Langat joined Edith Cowan University in Perth, Australia, to study a BSc in communication and IT and then a masters in professional accounting.

Like many students in a foreign land, the young man from Kericho took up odd jobs to supplement the cash he was receiving from his parents.

“My first job was as a cleaner at a shopping mall. Like many students, I quit this job during winter when getting up to work in 3oC weather became too difficult.

“From that job, I moved to working part time in a chicken factory, and then to the security industry, where I worked until I completed my degree,” he said.

MEET STRANGERS

After graduating, Langat took up an accounting job in Perth for two years before getting into IT.

“I did IT work for four years and then I left employment to start an IT business with my friend, Dennis Langat. We did this business for a while and eventually decided to come home and build Dukalako.”

The two first came up with the Dukalako idea in 2010.

“It was during one of our weekend catchups when we questioned why a business like eBay [a consumer-to-consumer multinational] was not working in Kenya. We talked about it at length and decided we would one day try a similar concept in Kenya if no one else did it.”

This year, they finally put the plan into action.

“The main question we kept trying to answer was why no one had set up a platform in Kenya where a person in Kisumu could sell an item to another person in Mombasa without the two of them ever having to leave their respective towns,” the 36-year-old said.

Dukalako is a platform that aims to make it convenient and safe to buy or sell items online.

“Dukalako is safe because sellers only get paid once buyers confirm they have received the item they wanted. It also eliminates the need to meet strangers in your home or at a public place.

“It is convenient as a buyer and seller can conduct all transactions without having to step outside their homes or offices since the pick up and delivery of items is done by Wells Fargo or G4S couriers,” Langat said.

“It also eliminates the need to post your private phone number.”

Music store

A business can set up shop within Dukalako, while individuals can sell any items they no longer use. While this is something several other platforms, such as OLX, offer, the difference with Dukalako is that all cash transactions are handled by the web store.

“Listing an item is free so there really is nothing to lose on the side of the seller.”

Dukalako also has a section where musicians can market and sell their songs.

“This part was set up with the legal guidance of our lawyers, who helped us navigate the legal minefield of dealing with music.”

Its main selling points are that artistes get to set their own prices for songs, track their sales and receive the proceeds daily.

“The singer is able to sell their music to Kenyans at home and abroad. For now, he or she gets to keep 80 per cent of the proceeds,” Langat said.

“The musicians who have tried it so far have been very excited about the transparency of the whole system and we can only expand from this point.”

lkiarie@standardmedia.co.ke