Nigerian tech blogger planning visit to Nairobi? Where should he go?

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I’m going to Nairobi next week. Considering that I’ve been planning this pilgrimage in my head for a couple years now, I’m at a total loss of what to do, where to go, what to eat, where to sleep, what sights to definitely see, which startups to check out, which overlords to pay homage to…I’m very confused right now. I need your help, Africa. What should I do?

Don’t say “iHub”, because it goes without saying. Thx.

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Erik Hersman (@whiteafrican) seems to be an overlord to meet. Holla at Wanjuhi - @wanjuhinjoroge, she was awesome with showing me around and is one of the brightest young people in Nairobi. Talk to Kenneth (@kenju254) too, he has some cool insights into the tech scene.

Stay at the Sarova Stanley or the Sarova Panafric. Fave hotel is Tribe but it’s a little out of the way.
Walk down Kenyatta Avenue, visit a Masai Market, check out the nightlife.

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Yes, by all means see @kenju254. He’s an awesome guy. He’s with iHub consulting - so you’ll be able to kill two birds with one stone. He’ll also be able to tell you if there’s something going down when you’re there. Last visit, he took me to a hackathon by first year students that was quite impressive.

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Wow, thanks. And you too @AhmedAdeyanju. This Kenju254 fella must be the real deal then.

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Planning a trip there too sometime soon for a private project so I did some research about who is cool to visit in the Kenya ecosystem. Here are the notes.

People to talk to :
Martha Chumo - Running a really interesting startup that teaches people how to program. (http://www.fastcoexist.com/1682324/this-19-year-old-self-taught-developer-will-not-be-stopped)
Kiruyi (John Kieti) (Used to run M-Lab at the iHub)
Sam Gishuru @ Nailab
Linda Kamau - Ushahidi/Akirachix
Jessica Colaco - ilab Africa

Startups that are interesting
Africa is Talking
Emobilis

Big technology companies to check out
Seven Seas technology.
Cellulant Technology.
One Africa Media
Craft Silicon

Places to work out of
Startup Garage (Colocation available there)
88Mph’s former location.

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Hi Lordbanks

It is quite awesome that you will be doing a pilgrimage to Nairobi which is amazing . Considering I will be doing one to Lagos next year.

First of all thanks to @dftaiwo and @AhmedAdeyanju who are some of my great friend who I have met while they were here in Nairobi and other parts of the world.

Nairobi is a great place to be and is not far from what you have in Lagos in terms of how its structured and all other aspects. To begin with what is the purpose of your pilgrimage? What are you looking to see while you are here ? Is it

  1. Startup Scene
  2. Tech Companies
  3. Other Entrepreneurs
  4. Other developers
  5. Other digital nomads
  6. Tourism
  7. Just plain business.

Getting here
So first things first will be getting here.

  1. Start with applying for an e-Visa (http://evisa.go.ke/evisa.html) so that you have an entry point at the Airport Immigration .
  2. Uber - Uber works here quite fine for moving around on the first days and getting to some destinations. But its not sustainable so you will need to blend in to the public transport system which is cheaper.
  3. AirBnB - Depending on how long you are staying here you can get a really nice deal around Kilimani area for about $20-30/day on AirBnB for a place to stay.
  4. Food - There are so many food outlets and you can have them deliver to your place. Just simple go to (hellofood.co.ke)
  5. Data and Phone - Get either and Airtel Line or a Safaricom Line. I would recommend getting the Airtel line and subscribing to their Unliminet offer for $10/mo it has a package(Minutes/Data/and SMS). You can get the Safaricom one as well for MPESA if you will have to use it while here which i presume you will need to. If you will be moving around Kenya then you will have to switch to Safaricom because of the broad data coverage(3G).
  6. Getting a couple of Swahili phrases as well will come in handy (Swahili is spoken widely here but English is totally fine.)
  7. Co- Working Space - iHub is the place to go . Good thing is that Bishop Magua Centre where the iHub is located is like the HQ or Hub of Tech you have everything in that building. iHub, Nailab, BRCK, Ushahidi, Mlab, iHub Research, iHub Consulting, iHub Ux Lab and Some of the reknown startups. Other places to visting are Nairobi Garage, iLab Africa(Strathmore University), C4Dlab(University of Nairobi)
  8. Companies/Startups - It depends on what you are looking for , Consulting Companies, AgriTech, Fintech, EdTech, E-Commerce , R&D based startups. We have plenty of them near the iHub, along Ngong Road.
  9. Tourism - there are a lot of place. Some of the best in Nairobi are KICC rooftop(Get a view of Nairobi on one of the tallest buildings), Nairobi National Park, Giraffe Centre, Bomas of Kenya.

This gives a broad perspective that will help you get to know where to start and what to look for. I will be in Nairobi from December 22 onwards we can have a chat if you will be coming any time after that since I will be around. I am based at iHub Consulting. Feel free to ping me on Twitter [at]kenju254 and we can have a chat on this .

Advice is try and set meetings when you are still in Lagos with specific people you would like to meet, because guys are normally very busy and just getting to ambush them you might not find them available, especially those who are not around the community space. So just plan everything in advance .

There are also a lot of events kindly monitor them at ihub.co.ke so that you can information on all meetups and startup events, good chance to meet all the tech leaders at once.

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