Bitcoins.co.ke - Kenya/Africa Bitcoin portal

[weex]

Hello,

I'm interested to create the first (well technically not the first but the first to still be existing at this moment) portal for Bitcoin in Africa. I've registered bitcoins.co.ke, a Kenya domain and secured hosting. For now it's just a simple page with a nice template but I'm looking for ideas on what to put there as well as help from someone local to the continent.

I'm willing to pay someone in Kenya or Africa a little bit to help develop it. Please PM me with examples of your work if you're interested.

Thanks,

weex

[1713869370]

1713869370

[1713869370]

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[1713869370]

1713869370

[1713869370]

1713869370

[1713869370]

1713869370

[matthewh3]

It'd be useful for the site to be mirrored or at least some content in Swahili/Kiswahili.  Arabic and French would also be useful for an African audience.  Plus making the site work well on a 2G mobile phone would be a good idea.  As that's how most Africans access the internet.

[weex]

It'd be useful for the site to be mirrored or at least some content in Swahili/Kiswahili.  Arabic and French would also be useful for an African audience.  Plus making the site work well on a 2G mobile phone would be a good idea.  As that's how most Africans access the internet.

Any suggestions on design and test for 2g mobile phones when you don't have one? Guess I'd better figure out what text to post and get translated in the first place.

[Stephen Gornick]

It'd be useful for the site to be mirrored or at least some content in Swahili/Kiswahili.

I'm curious if M-PESA (in Kenya) started out with any language other than English.  (Or if they even support it today).

[matthewh3]

It'd be useful for the site to be mirrored or at least some content in Swahili/Kiswahili.

I'm curious if M-PESA (in Kenya) started out with any language other than English.  (Or if they even support it today).

Pesa is Swahili for money.

[Stephen Gornick]

Pesa is Swahili for money.

And Bel Cibo Italiano is Italian for "good italian food" but it was anything but that.   Their menu was only in English, the staff spoke only Spanish and if you wanted more authentic Italian than what they served your options include opening yourself a can of Chef Boyardee.

My point was, I didn't think they offered a version of M-PESA in Swahili.  Apparently they do:

Language: Choose to display your M-PESA menu in either English or Swahili.

- http://www.vodacom.co.tz/vodacom-m-pesa/vodacom-m-pesa-customers/m-pesa-customer

[matthewh3]

Pesa is Swahili for money.

And Bel Cibo Italiano is Italian for "good italian food" but it wasn't.   The menu was only in English, the staff spoke only Spanish and if you wanted more authentic Italian than what they served you could open yourself a can of Chef Boyardee.

My point was, I didn't think they offered a version of M-PESA in Swahili.  Apparently they do:

Language: Choose to display your M-PESA menu in either English or Swahili.

- http://www.vodacom.co.tz/vodacom-m-pesa/vodacom-m-pesa-customers/m-pesa-customer

It does make sense for M-PESA to offer Swahili as even if English is widely understood the majority of people speak Swahili.  So for east Africans and some central Africans learning to read Swahili would be easier than learning to read English as it is their mother-tongue.

[weex]

So after further research, I think it'll be good to go with a WAP and responsive CSS. I'm hearing anecdotes that Android uptake is really fast but that WAP is still quite important. I'm also trying to get a developer in Kenya or Africa interested in helping.

[weex]

So after further research, I think it'll be good to go with a WAP and responsive CSS. I'm hearing anecdotes that Android uptake is really fast but that WAP is still quite important. I'm also trying to get a developer in Kenya or Africa interested in helping.

Here's the reponsive CSS version of the site in English. http://www.bitcoins.co.ke/

[weex]

Looking for a human English to Swahili translation of http://bitcoins.co.ke and will pay up to 3btc. Bid here or by PM.

[weex]

Looking for a human English to Swahili translation of http://bitcoins.co.ke and will pay up to 3btc. Bid here or by PM.

Guess there's not much interest at 3btc. Anyone care to add to the fund?

Bitcoin.co.ke Swahili translation bounty address: 1oTTJisx8cpdAuX4tg29hBmVuovr3KACY

[niko]

Great initiative. It would be nice to have a short video demonstration of typical usecases. A friend from a western country sends bitcoins to an address; only an hour later, the recipient in Kenya spends some of it from her mobile phone, the merchant may be using a phone, too. To set the expectations right and avoid disappointements, it should be mentioned that this is still a young technology, but growing every day.

[weex]

The translation to Swahili is done. If you find a typo, let me know! http://bitcoins.co.ke/index.sw.html

[weex]

And now there is a forum. Trying to get a list of other kenyan and african forums so put a bounty there as well.

http://bitcoins.co.ke/forum

In general it seems like Kenya doesn't have enough forums so there are more OT categories there to start.

[weex]

Found someone who was interested to write about payments and the possibliities for Bitcoin in Kenya so here's the first article.

The State of The M-Pesa http://www.bitcoins.co.ke/forum/showthread.php?tid=10

Please join, comment, share on Twitter or Facebook or donate to 1Hekr2AZDFonVzZ9nGwSzR6T3cby35jRYY if you'd like to encourage this type of writing.

[weex]

We also have a new logo which Beefsock helped with.

[weex]

Thread for The High Cost of PayPal: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=144495.0

[Stephen Gornick]

Is the registration e-mail being sent out automatically?  I registered but haven't seen the message.   I checked my spam folder as well.

[Edit: And I clicked the re-send activation and didn't get anything after that as well.]

[weex]

I'm noticing some weirdness with the email as well. I'll submit a ticket.

[weex]

sgornick, your account is now activated and email should be fixed.