Safaricom Business is the telco’s Business Unit providing a suite of digital business services comprising of Fibre to the Business, cloud computing, cyber security, and the internet of things (IoT) solutions.
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John Kimani runs Imani Photo Studio, a professional photo studio in Wangige, a town in the outskirts of Nairobi City. The small, family-owned studio started as a cyber café with four old computers nearly a decade ago and has grown to become a go-to digital photo studio and business hub in the area serving clientele from all walks of life.
The father of three says he would never have thought of starting his digital photo studio and business hub had it not been for fibre technology in his area.
“I was on the verge of shutting down my cyber-cafe business because internet had become so expensive for me. Worse, it was so slow and unreliable,” he told TechMoran. “I was frustrated. I was using a satellite provider that time and the company had boardroom wrangles affecting their business. My internet connection was slow, unreliable, and frequently suffered from outages. Having four old computers and a borrowed printer made it worse for my business.”
Kimani said the business wrangles at the internet service provider (ISP) made it difficult for the satellite provider to serve them. It became difficult for his customers to surf the internet or print anything. The customers could walk in and out lamenting and cursing asking him to pay for internet or close his shop. They could log onto Facebook and Skype apps and their music videos with lots of difficulty. Internet was either unavailable or buffering. It was frustrating and he was job hunting as his business was on the brink of collapse.
The turning point came when a sales assistant walked into his shop and asked him about Safaricom Business Fibre. He had heard about the service on TV and seen their posters in the area but did not believe the packages. So when the sales assistant came calling he decided to upgrade to a fibre internet connection. He was frustrated already and unlike others in the area who were skeptical, he was ready to try anything to save his business. He had also read about fibre and knew it was the future. He just never knew how he could connect to it even if it was available in his area.
“Everyone knows Safaricom due to M-PESA. I just don’t know why it took me that long to sign up on Safaricom Business. Apart from the fiber package, I was also given a free domain name and free mobile data for my smartphone. I have never looked back,” he said.
“The transition to fibre internet was seamless. The installation process was quick and efficient, and we were up and running in no time. From the moment we connected, we noticed a dramatic improvement in our internet speed and reliability. Our customers were happy and we quickly couldn’t meet the demand as our space was small and our computers were few. There was also demand for digital printing. That’s how Imani Studio was born,” Kimani told TechMoran
Kelvin Mwaura of House of Cars in Nairobi’s Hurligham Estate also attests to these. Setting up Safaricom Business Fibre at his second hand car yard led to a notable increase in car sales. His team could easily upload car videos and photos on the company website hence reaching more customers and growing the company’s sales while providing a much better online shopping experience.
“This has led to increased conversions and a boost in our overall revenue,” Mwaura told TechMoran. “In addition to enhancing our online presence, Safaricom Business has also improved our internal operations. We can now access internal emails and communications with ease, allowing us to streamline our workflows. We have three offices and our sales team work from either of them and this has greatly improved our collaboration.”
Unlike satellite internet, Safaricom Business fibre internet is reliable and very invaluable to his business. Mwaura says he no longer worries about unexpected outages or downtime that could disrupt their operations especially due to bad weather. The peace of mind, he says, has allowed him to focus on growing his online business and provide exceptional customer service through social media throughout the day.
Safaricom Business does not require any initial investment on the SME part. Safaricom has invested heavily in fibre infrastructure across the country. To Safaricom, this is a long-term investment to give its users improved speeds, reliable internet, and great customer service. Safaricom Business aims to help SMEs transform their small businesses and position them for growth. The telco has also revamped its business fibre plans, introducing new speeds of up to 1 Gbps for medium and large enterprises in addition to increased speeds.
The 15mbps is ideal for micro business of up to five users plus an extra 5GB of mobile backup data and 400 mins voice plan monthly. The second package, the 50mbps offer, is good for up to 15 concurrent users and comes with 15GB of mobile backup data and up to 3 users unlimited voice communications every month. The 100Mbps shared plan supports up to 50 users/devices and comes with 15GB of mobile backup data and up to 3 users unlimited voice communications every month.
Safaricom Business customers on these three packages will also receive a generous one time offer of 30GB mobile data bundle and a free email and website domain for the first year. Both Kimani and Mwaura are beneficiaries of Safaricom Business’s free email and domain and are among the 32,000 businesses connected to fast and reliable internet through Safaricom.
