Ubunifu Institute

06/07/2024

One day in San Francisco, United States, three individuals had a brilliant idea that would transform the world economy. They were pioneers of international air express service, a new industry in the 1970s. It was the start of an unbelievable adventure, with what began as an air courier service evolving into the top provider of logistics solutions.

When Adrian Dalsey, Larry Hillblom, and Robert Lynn created DHL in 1969, they had no idea they would change the world of logistics. Today, DHL is the world's leading logistics provider. Every day, they collaborate with over 600,000 people in over 220 countries and territories to enable people, commodities, and services cross borders, enter new markets, and expand their businesses. Simply write a letter to your loved ones.

Cargo ships docking in foreign ports back then had to go through a lengthy and time-consuming document verification process. It caused significant delays and raised expenses for shipping businesses, making it very expensive to carry products from one country to another. Adrian Dalsey, Larry Hillblom, and Robert Lynn, three shipping executives, agreed that they needed to come up with a creative solution to the problem. They came up with the notion of flying shipping paperwork to port officials in advance, allowing them to be reviewed and processed before the ship arrived.

The three guys recognized that their method may improve turnaround times for ships in port, so they founded DHL, an air courier service that delivers crucial documents around the world. They chose the name DHL as an abbreviation of each of their surnames' first initials. The new delivery business had a bright start. Its first customer was Bank of America, which required a secure courier service to transport letters of credit and other papers. So DHL began flying along the California-Hawaii route and quickly expanded its operation to other places to better serve its clients.

DHL rapidly understood that the worldwide market held enormous untapped potential. So the company proceeded to expand into the worldwide market, becoming the first to fly to places in the Far East. At the same time, other companies were busily strengthening their position in the United States. As a result, DHL was well ahead of its competitors in terms of international consolidation. With this goal in mind, the founders of DHL hired Po Chung in 1972 to build the company's global network. Chung then established DHL International Ltd in Brussels as a sister company of DHL Airways.

The new company flourished quickly and handled a higher volume of courier services, nearly five times that of its domestic counterpart. For more, follow this link: https://www.waithakandegwa.com/blog/inspiration-3/the-world-of-dhl-8

24/02/2024

This is Laisamis, a semi-arid region in Marsabit County, Northern Kenya. This is a great Social Venture when everyone wins. The woman says they used to buy water at KES 30 after walking for a very long distance of course, but now it costs only KES 5 which is affordable and cheap. From the look, operational costs are minimal, as a result of the availability of sunshine all year round for solar energy to run the facility.

26/01/2024

Are you a social entrepreneur in the waste management sector? KCIC is looking for you! Apply today and join the SWIFT program, either for incubation or acceleration. Find out more and unlock a world of support, innovation, and growth for your business here: https://www.kenyacic.org/swift/

02/01/2024

In 2024, strive to maximize success by investing energy and time in all four quadrants of life.

1. Financial sufficiency: You don't have to have a lot of money; utilize what you have well.
2. Personal happiness: Live your life. Don't live for others.
3. Sound health: We only have one 'you'. Health is your wealth.
4. Respect on the job: Whether you are employed or self-employed, respect that job.

25/12/2023

Sometime back, I shared a post on my experience with sugar production in Europe, largely from sugar beet—something very similar to beetroot. And the magic tuber is already in Kenya, and a local investor has put up a processing plant to produce sugar and other products from sugar beet. What's important is that it only takes three months to mature, and with Kenya's great climatic conditions, one can do three seasons in a year.

In Kenya, we extract our sugar from sugar cane, where we are not self-sustaining. Most sugarcane in Kenya is produced in the Western Parts and Kwale County in the Coast Region. Sugar beets are the second-only major source of the world’s sugar production. Kenya produces 600,000 metric tons of sugar against an annual consumption of 800,000 metric tons, where the deficit is bridged using imports. It matures in six months, nearly a third of the best maturity period for sugarcane in western Kenya.

For more information, read the link.

Sugar beets are the second-only major source of the world’s sugar production. It matures in six months, nearly a third of the best maturity period for sugarcane in western Kenya. It's the magic of the sugar sector!

18/12/2023

From mangoes to leather. This innovative solution addresses environmental impact and resource utilization and contributes to sustainability in many ways, most importantly, processing mangoes to become leather.

12/12/2023

Today we celebrate the day when our ancestors fought for our freedom, the day when Kenya became a sovereign state. Let's remember the heroes who gave their lives for this country and celebrate the freedom they won for us. Happy Jamhuri Day!

11/12/2023

A team of engineers who designed, developed, and installed the braking system in the Leopard Tank in Germany stood confidently to test the efficiency of the tank's braking system, facing in the opposite direction.

Can you stand by what you say and do in developing that service or product you so much desire? Can you confidently defend your actions, views, beliefs, and positions in regard to what you are offering?

29/11/2023

90% of startups fail. Why? Entrepreneurship isn't for the faint-hearted. It's a world where only resilient players thrive.

Here are the 72 No-BS Questions for Entrepreneurs: This cheat sheet is your tool to beat the odds. It's not just questions; it's a roadmap to success.

27/11/2023

10 Types of Innovation: The Art of Discovering a Breakthrough Product

Innovations can be categorized within a range of 10 distinct dimensions—and anyone can use the resulting strategic framework to analyze the competition, to stress test for product weaknesses, or to find new opportunities for their products.

1. Profit Model: How you make money.
2. Network: Connections with others to create value.
3. Structure: Alignment of your talent and assets.
4. Process: Signature of superior methods for doing your work.
5. Product Performance: Distinguishing features and functionality
6. Product System: Complementary products and services.
7. Service: Support and enhancements that surround your offerings.
8. Channel: How your offerings are delivered to customers and users.
9. Brand: Representation of your offerings and business.
10. Customer Engagement: Distinctive interactions you foster.

21/11/2023

Another map of Africa? 🌍

A visual representation by 'Africa: The Big Deal' about the geographical spread of start-up funding in Africa is a map where countries have been distorted to reflect the relative amount of equity and debt funding raised in each market since 2019. What do we see here?

The domination of the Big Four and of Nigeria in particular has claimed more than a third of all funding since 2019 ($4.2b) and a staggering 300 $1 million+ deals. Kenya, South Africa and Egypt are neck and neck, with around 200 $1 million+ deals each, quite behind the Nigerian giant.

Seven markets have claimed more than $100 million during the period: Senegal, Ghana, Algeria, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, and the DRC, in this order. As often as not, there is more than meets the eye. Indeed, while Ghana has been home to 42 $1 million+ deals since 2019, some other markets’ performance relies heavily on a handful of deals, sometimes even a single venture. This is the case with Yassir in Algeria, which raised $180 million, i.e. 97% of all the funding raised in the country, and, to a lesser extent, Wave in Senegal (78%).

Another group of six countries did not quite reach the $100 million mark but claimed at least $500k of monthly funding on average over the period: Benin, Morocco, Cote d’Ivoire, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Cameroon, and Zambia. On this list, Morocco deserves a mention as it is not only one of the markets where a single deal or venture isn’t responsible for most of the fundraising, but also because the number of $1 million+ deals since 2019 (22 in total) is higher than for most countries in the $100 million+ club above.

11 markets make up the rest of the list, with less than $25 million raised since 2019, sometimes much less. Except for Zimbabwe (9), each of these markets only has one to three start-ups for whom we have tracked activities since 2019, though our thresholds might mean we have missed some $100k+ deals in 2019 and 2020.

A total of 20 countries are completely absent from this map, as we have recorded no funding activity since our tracking started in 2019.