Sam Wakoba has worked for ITWeb Africa, PC Tech Magazine, Business Daily, Human IPO, The Standard Extra, The Next Web, TechZulu, Smart Life Magazine, Mom and Dad Magazine and Business Monthly
He founded TechMoran in 2012 when he realized no one was exclusively covering startups in Africa. TechMoran is an exclusively innovations site and it won the best Technology award at the 2013 BAKE awards.
We had a few questions for him and this is what he had to say:
1. What do you do aside from blogging?
I’m a contributor for Standard Newspapers in Kenya. I write for TechZulu in Los Angeles and a researcher for The AIM Group.
2.What made you decide to start blogging?
Reading and writing has been my passion since my childhood. I believe I express my feelings better in writing than speaking. I decided to blog because I realized it was easier for me to communicate in written form than via speaking.
I loved poetry and literature in high school and composed nearly a thousand poems and a number of short stories with plans to publish it immediately after high school. My works never came to see the light of the day as I lost the manuscript days after clearing my high school.
My love for writing did not die just like that. In campus I chose to do literature and political science because of the love of it.
3. Every one has something or someone that inspires them. What/ who is your inspiration
Good things inspire me. I always want to make my continent better than I found it. By doing good ‘violently’, expecting good for others and doing good more than what mere words can say. I like the energy and humility of John the Baptist, the dude who cleared the way for Christ according to my Bible.
4. What blogging trend(s) do you hate and why?
I hate bloggers who only listen to one side of the story. I hate bloggers who use their platforms for political propaganda. I believe bloggers ought to be objective and respectful to others.
5. What are the challenges you face as a blogger?
The main challenge is most firms use PR firms to approach us to churn out quick content for them, others do not want honest reviews of their products and do not want buyers to know about them but we write for readers, our readers are our clients
6. What’s the weirdest thing anyone has ever said about your blog? How did you react to it?
Once when I was still doing a full-time job, my supervisor wanted me to pull it down arguing it was competing with his. I just laughed and that was the end of my job and my blog has massively grown.
7. What are your top 3 blogs and what makes them special?
Though i run a tech blog, I follow Techweez closely for his love of gadgets and Kachwanya for his fearless pieces on govt policy and social media in Kenya and African Women Network for women rights.
8. What should people expect from your blog in future?
We are soon launching a live TV section with videos on startups in Africa. We are really going big, we want to be Africa’s best technology innovations blog. We are grateful for our readers in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria and South Africa. We want everyone in the innovations scene to grow that’s why we feature them.
9. What tips would you give new bloggers to help them start out on a path to success?
Success is simple, remain yourself. Do not do something because so and so is doing it and listen to your readers keenly, you don’t write for yourself.
Carve out a niche for yourself and be the reference point in that sector, don’t be a jack of all trades but remember nothing comes on a silver platter-always go an extra mile as even Jesus said the violent take it by force!