We took to Alexa to list the most visited websites in Kenya. We elimanted international corporations such as Google, Facebook, Yahoo, LinkedIn among others and wanted to get the most visited websites run by guys in Kenya. Note that Alexa doesn’t mean this is true as it uses its own algorithms which are open to questioning. This list doesn’t give anything comprehensive but we can use it as a tentative list after our friends wanted to know top everything in Kenya.
This list will be the first in our move to familiarize the world with Kenya’s Internet scene, one by one from hubs to early stage startups, to top women and men in the local scene and some of the most bankable startups an investor can bank their money on.
Here is the list according to Alexa.com, Amazon’s web traffic data firm and Internet database.
This guys sell airtime, phones, voice services and data. We have provided their website so you get more details. They are significant in building Kenya’s tech ecosystem by hosting app competitions and recently launched a venture fund dubbed Spark, no relation to Jason Njoku’s.
This guys are also doing some healthcare and security projects for the govt which will rake in good money but a friend of mine recently wanted to know why we don’t have anything as M-PESA Ltd.
2. Nation.co.ke
This guys own news in Kenya-somehow. They are the biggest media house in East Africa under the Nation Media Group (NMG). They run several radio stations, newspapers, TV stations and websites which are also maong the most popularly visited. Their Businessdailyafrica.com wants to grow up to be the Financial Times of Kenya and it’s close. Nation Media Group also launched Nation Hela which is helping people buy stuff online. They are also playing in the classifieds market though things are not so rosy for them.
This guys are always in competition with NMG. Seems they swap positions all the time. They are the oldest media house in Kenya and run several newspapers, TV stations, radio stations and websites. Their recently launched gossip Nairobian newspaper is sells like hot cake and is the opposite of NMG’s Business Daily. Though owned by the then no-nonsense president, The Standard Newspaper was the country’s most political newspaper until other shareholders bought in and diluted its flavour.
KTN, Standard Group’s TV wing was once the best and most spread station in the country, things change though.
4. Jumia.co.ke
Love or hate them, Jumia is the only place you can turn to now for your most comprehensive online shopping. We have bought several things from the site and like pioneers shit happens. Logistics is still a challenge to everyone though our friends at Sendy are working on something awesome to fix it. Jumia.co.ke is a sister to all the Jumia’s you see in whichever country you are reading this from now. It was founded by Berlin-based Rocket Internet to be the Amazon of Africa. Rocket Internet went and got in Millicom and MTN as its partners so they share profits and losses.
Like the name goes, this guys are an online exchange and were founded in Argentina but backed by South Africa media and Internet giant Naspers. There local operations are run by friendly and awesome guys and if you have any issue with them you could be the problem.
OLX doesn’t own anything on the website but just connects buyers and sellers. Their app is one of the most downloaded in Kenya too but that’s a story for another day.
6. Ghafla.co.ke
Sam Majani began building a lyrics website probably because he wanted to ow off to girls that he knew all those 90’s songs. However, when he got some money from 88mph in Nairobi, he quickly embraced gossip and entertainment news and though we are sorry he never got to master all the lyrics he is now the proud owner of all the local gossip. He has tried to move away from socialites to real happenings in the entertainment circles like this story here. His bank account is also making him fatter and not as we first met him, thank God for Kidero’s eJijiPay.
Timothy Obare is Kenya’s number one mysterious guy. Probably the only guy who can refute that No Man is Island, No Man Stands alone song. Nobody seems to know him so well apart from this name but he has managed to get the most hidden political gossip in the country than anyone else. We think some of them are made up though. His propaganda website was sometime last year pulled down by Google after a case by some Kenyan Cabinet Secretary went bad. However, Obare Rioba managed to get his baby up and running. According to our estimates, this guy makes good money from this thing.
This is a boring government website. Sorry we had to mention it.
Kenyamoja takes all our news together and he has managed to earn from it without sweat. News aggregators are the next Google publishers should sue but anyway, minus him some of the most funny posts will go unnoticed to us.
Kenyamoja means one Kenya and he aggregates all Kenya news together, from locally-run news websites.
10. Kra.go.ke
Another boring government run website. Pay your taxes guys.This guys run the economy as they make it possible for us to pay taxes which is then used to pay teachers in Mandera, police on the roundabouts, the president and his deputy among others. We lose some of these money on shoddy projects though!
If it’s a dead link wait for revenue.go.ke.
We have been watching this guys closesly and we think they are becoming number one in what they do. This guys do recruitment and as well list job vacancies in the country. We think they are out to topple One Africa Media’s BrighterMonday but that’s a story for another day too!
12. The-star.co.ke
The Star does not deserve to be here. It belongs among the top three and needs to take over Ghafla’s position. Nevertheless, the Star belongs to Radio Africa Group, a media outfit running Classif FM, KissTV, Mpasho, Bambatv and several other similar things. The newspaper is well growing to be third most read though recent free newspapers are claiming that position. This guys have a small budget to buy or build things after they sold out some stake to South Africa’ Times Group.
13. Mpasho.co.ke
Run by the Star’s mother firm Radio Africa Group, Mpasho is a Ghafla-clone with Ghafla-poached writers running exclusive gossip from (God Forbid) gay orgies, masturbation and all things sexually unholy. No wonder it has had a hard time on social media as both Facebook and Twitter and Google banned their accounts for sharing exclusive graphical content. We don’t know if they were reinstated but we wonder if there are any religious folks or just family-loving guys working inside this group but business is business.
14. Sde.co.ke
Embrace yourselves for more gossip guys (and girls). This was supposed to be the home of Standard Group’s entertainment news and its digital gossip giant and we think it’s too slow but on the right track.
15. Kilimall.co.ke
After Jack Ma’s Alibaba IPO’ed, Kilimall launched in Kenya and is expanding across Africa as the continent’s Alibaba to help retailers get online store fronts and sell online without worrying about payments and delivery. This guys are just a few meters away from our office balcony and there strategy could be an exist to Alibaba or they just want to solve a problem. They are getting more popular than the moneyed Kaymu-a Rocket Internet company.
Here is where every wantpreneur in Kenya goes for inspiration. The Financial Times for Kenya has news on who is making money and who is losing it. Deals and more deals and some more scandals just like it’s the norm in politically-fueled businesses in Africa. We love what they are doing though.
They are a Nation Media Group company with both a print arm, an online version, an events and competition arm dubbed the Next Big Thing and Top40under40 which we wish to be listed in one time.
17. Sportpesa.com
For those guys who love soccer, it’s okay to earn from your knowldge of both local and international leagues. Your basic data and probability skills might help you predict who will win what match or just which games to put your money on. Nicely built and withstanding huge traffic, Sportpesa will make the owners billions of dollars in no time before someone’s three-storied apartment gets a buyer. The trade is not easy though, just revently, another sports betting outfit closed shop in our very eyes.
Run by DJ and businessman Chris Kirubi-Kenya’s Aliko Dangote, Capitalfm.co.ke is known for its fresh lifestyle and business news and recently added a campus and tech section. They have refused to bow down to dirty gossip and propaganda and instead maintained their status as a family-safe consumable entertainment, fashion and business news site. Capitalfm also runs classifieds listings in partnership with South Africa’s JunkMail Publishing.
From our good friends at One Africa Media, BrighterMonday is a premium job’s listing platform serving the entire East Africa. Jobberman’s sister site, BrighterMonday recently launched in Rwanda and pivotted from free to charging corporate users to list their job vacancies and get help in previewing candidates. Earlier this guys charged job seekers but realised most of them are what we all think they are-broke.
20.Knec.ac.ke
Another boring government website. Examinations guys who are making it harder for every kid at school to read things they will never apply at work. Someone said they should allow kids to have more interactive discussions, events, meetings and sympiosium than exams.
21. Kenyabuzz.com
Our friends at Kenyabuzz list all the good parties and events in town. They used to do a free print newspaper which we haven’t seen for a while but gladly replaced it with the UP Magazine. Kenyabuzz is one the oldest online platforms launched in Kenya before everyone began doing event listings. Today they also do classifieds and movie listings.
Like Kenyamoja, this guys are huge and curate all the day’s top news in the country to busy readers who don’t want to hop from site to another. We think the name Trending Newsroom gives them some virality too as most Kenyans want breaking news so they can tweet and tell their friends they knew about the event before it happened.
Is a platform providing info on schools and colleges and courses in Kenya and abroad. It also provides exam past papers for major exams in the country. They also have a jobs listing section for job seekers as well as sections for interview questions and aptitude tests. Someone who knows the future of exam preparation in Kenya should acquire them asap!
24. Tsc.go.ke
Jesus, another government website. All things teachers!
This guys wanted to be the Google for all things Kenya but even Google gave up digitizing every book in the land. SoftKenya gives users all info on whatever they want to know about Kenya; from leaders to establishments, legal procedures, to weather, tribes and names. If you are looking for a Kenyan name for your baby, don’t just pick Obama, get down to a little search at SoftKenya.com.
Allows you to search for jobs in the country for free. Listing is also free of charge for all users. They make their cash via Google Adsense.
Another database of jobs in Kenya and of all the firms hiring. Great idea we guess though everyone wants to list jobs on their websites including us.
28. Uonbi.ac.ke
Kenya’s oldest university. No comments from us yet because we haven’t been in any class here but we think it’s world-class!
The site gives you the latest education news, admission calenders and school fees structures. We are not yet sure if you can apply for a course here online yet!
Home for African jobs, volunteer and scholarship opportunities. We are signed up on their newsletter and they try to connect us to volunteer work in communities in Africa in places such as hospitals, clinics, maternities, schools and children’s homes.
30.Ghris.go.ke
Whoa, another boring government website. However, it’s great that the government is running a popular human resource management system for its workers. It has over 9000 workers signed up at the moment.
31. TechMoran.com
This is us bro! (sis!) Please go and vote for us here.
We don’t know much about this guys. There site doesn’t look so prefessional and we guess we can help them develop something better. However, being an SMS/USSD-based service it’s alright. Sports betting is getting popular in the country and this guys have a huge chance to earn from the love of sports. Passion is everything!
33. Nairobiwire.com
Like the name goes, this guys have all the 411 on and in Nairobi. They do entertainment news in the same line as Ghafla and Mpasho. They are good at tech than us and have lines such as how to hack Safaricom among others. The next post you see on TechMoran about hacking M-PESA will be influenced by them. They also run a classifieds listing website for cars dubebbed CarArea.
34. Kenyalaw.org
We love this guys. Having a database of all laws of Kenya including judgments, rulings, and opinions of the superior courts of record is not an easy thing. Kudos guys!
35.Ku.ac.ke
A top local university called Kenyatta University. My bro did his MBA here nearly four years ago but he has never graduated. Am not sure if he fleeced the old man and eloped with some girl or it’s a problem someone at the Senate or Congress should look into. We don’t have a Congress, I think someone from the Senate or Parliament or County Govt might help. If things don’t work out someone tell the Cabinet Secretary for Education to Tweet us. We are all looking forward to his graduation ceremony sometime!
If he never graduates, why should we do MBA’s anyway; we’re walking the talk from 40 Shades of Grey!
36.Rupu.co.ke
Kenya’s Groupon, run by Ringier. Rupu is a sister site to PigiaMe, an OLX competitor.
We had hopes in Rupu until Ben Maina was fired not that he could give us business but we think he was super passionate. Apart from his love for White Cap, we think Ben was a great salesman CEO and could go selling Rupu’s discount deals to event organizers like the now dead Blankets and Wine just like that. Ordinary guys like you and I have to fast for a week to pull this off!
This is a Nation Media Group run site. It’s running stories like Hotel bill defaulter lands a night show, good stories for our kids to grow knowing the best ways to get hired faster in Kenya hey!
NairobiNews was launched as both a print and online platform before NMG shut them both down. Later the site was revamped. If this was due to Aga Khan’s objection, only NMG knows but we think the print Nairobi News struggled to impress both the reader and the advertiser with its human interest stories while its fierce competitor the Nairobian ran nearly pornographic content.
Id you tried KRA.GO.KE and found a dead link, this guys will help you take the money where it belongs. Not so boring with all the money!
39.Orange.co.ke
Orange, like Safaricom sells airtime, phones, modems, data and voice services. Kenyans use most of this guys Internet dongles in their homes but Airtel and Safaricom are heavily reigining in on the mobile data bundle market with the recent price war by bothiour might be its unlimited packages. Orange’s latest move is a peasant phone dubbed Kaduda-someone tell us what that even means!
40. Niaje.com
David Mugo is the brains behind this site. When he tried to compete with Ghafla, he ran out of money and had to shut down. Now with new hope and a new investor ( something Mugo denies), Niaje is sure to get back to its leading position long before its shining competitors launched. Those days Niaje was the only entertainment news site before we discovered Grace Kerongo’s Hotsecrets.blogspot.com.
Niaje could have been the best site to be acquired by Cosmo which is set to launch in the country next month but with stories like this we won’t see them exit soon.
This guys were the first real estate listing site in the country and did so much work. However, as Jenga Web were making money building websites for clients and running their free print newspaper, the web 2.0 guys beat them. Good news is they are getting their mojo back and Ringier should just buy them out asap!
Another jobs ad website guys. Listing all the jobs from all the companies hiring and run by a Ghanian firm called JobwebGroup. JobWebGroup was founded by Dake Delali and has operations in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa and many others. With a mission to be the leading recruitment portal in Africa, this guys also list scholarships, provide top notch CV and cover letter writing tips for graduates and also serves as a powerful recruitment tool to help employers to get the right candidates for a job.
43. Mku.ac.ke
One of Kenya’s biggest private universities. This guys democratised degrees when every Kenyan employer was asking for one. Now there are hundreds of degrees in every mall in town but the jobs are scarce. We are yet to set foot on any MKU premise but we think it’s a pretty good place and their founder and Chairman Simon Gicharu, is a great entrepreneur.
44.Cheki.co.ke
Another venture from our great friends at One Africa Media. Cheki is an online makertplace for cars for every Kenyan car dealer. Their grasp for the market has scared Rocket Internet’s Carmudi to delay launch in the Kenyan market. Though Carmudi is finally coming it won’t be easy to take over Cheki. The market is huge enough for more players though.
We used to be photographers long before we met Cheki and we don’t remember the time we became their converts. Like Sight-seers all we do when we visit any new town is to look out for a Cheki branded car bazaar and remember the late Carey Eaton, a very humble soul.
45. Helb.co.ke
Student loans. Thank God for student loans. Most of this guys we work with are products of Helb and we want to lobby Helb to help fund founders projects on campus. If you haven’t paid your student loan, don’t read read beyond this line.
46.Futaa.com
With GOtv taking over Futaa.com’s homepage with ads, the Futaa.com team is energized to work even harder to beat Goal.com and MichezoAfrica.com which have been operational in Kenya for sometime. Futaa covers local Kenyan and Nigerian premier leagues. Vote for them here.
47. Kachwanya.com
If blogging had grandpa’s this guys will be the great grandpa’s. All things tech, startups and policy, Kachwanya.com has been there since we remember. We love them for their great opinion on just about anything happening in the tech scene. All bloggers need to be like them-without fear or favour.
Is a site run by Bloggers Association of Kenya (BAKE). Each year, BAKE rewards top blogs in Kenya especially those with locally relevant quality content and consistently doing it. Go now and vote for Futaa.com and TechMoran here.
Another government website. Allowing schools to register candidates online.
50. TechWeez.com
This guys were there way before we had the guts to quit our salaried jobs. As the name goes, TechWeez is a group of Tech Wizards led by Martin Gicheru, a mobile-first gadgets guy who would answer anything Android even in his sleep. He will tell you which f**king smart phone you need to buy and why. With his love for mobile he has built this thing to what it is now without taking outside funding and making it one of the biggest mobile-focused tech websites in the world. TechMeme named the site among the top 100 mobile reviews blogs in the world. We have been asking him to take up a consultancy at any mobile device vendor but it seems his cup is already full!
Update: Blame it on math classes we skived, out first list had 49 websites and not 50 as we had intended!
