With big companies to its belt such as Tencent, Flipkart, OLX, Konga, Buscape, Media24, Multichoice, Allegro, Kalahari and thousands others Naspers is without doubt the biggest company builder this side of the world, beating Rocket Internet by far-in revenues not websites.
However, it’s linked clone WhosWho.co.ke, which it calls a reputation and professional networking site is as good as dead in Kenya. Who’sWho, like the name is a LinkedIn for professionals in the country, carrying their biographies and news mentions just LinkedIn does. Though the intention of the site is great, the local team seems to have got so busy doing other things than pushing it to every would-be profesional in the country. TechMoran bookmarked the site two years ago but is since to see any significant progress. New gossip sites like E! News Kenya and Mpasho have been launched and taken over Who’sWho’s ranking magically. Those two years, Naspers who have better launched a property portal than waste time and money on a professional network or even do an online travel site or even news. That was the time Naspers who have fueled its Careers24 and Property24 or probabaly invested more into its other struggling News24. Everyone thinks there’s masses of opportunity in Kenya, so true but not in just any online property. On the contrary, the free for all site is doing faily in Southern Africa, maybe because it was launched earlier before the popularity of LinkedIn or maybe users have a sense of ownership. We are not sure what happened to the planned launch in Ghana and Nigeria but we think it was a huge mistake for the media giant to pour money on it but here’s what you can do to help salvage it.
Sign up for an account now. Tweet and share it to your followers. Tell them why it’s better for them as it’s only shows Kenyan professionals you might have met in person. It also has jobs from local firms and news about your networks. And it makes much more sense for you to meet your high school friends than LinkedIn contacts you’ve never met.