INTERVIEW: Facebook Interview with Ghafla! Founder (Part 1)

Nailab co-founder, Sam Gichuru does a regular feature on his Facebook page dubbed the Ask Me Anything Session.

Last week he featured one of the most successful Nailab incubatees, Samuel Majani, who is the founder, Web developer and lawsuit fighter at Ghafla! Kenya. Sam Gichuru providing Ghafla! with workspace in 2011 was instrumental and he is one of the people you have to thank for Ghafla!’s sustenance in those early days.

He says, “When Majani and his co-founder met me–long before Ghafla! was born–I was not so sure if to incubate them or not. Eventually, Majani’s passion won me over and within a week of incubation, they had raised a round of seed funding from 88mph. I do consider Ghafla! a success story from the Nailab despite their very controversial articles and posts in the entertainment industry.”

Below are the questions and answers from the session:

Sam Gichuru:  “1st Mista Majani how big is Ghafla as a company today, how many guys do you have working for you?”

Mista Majani:  “Hi Sam. OK, so we have 520,000 engaged readers each month as of yesterday. We have six people working full time at Ghafla! with 1 guy(Uncle Chim) who is volunteering with us on attachment. Every one of us has taken on immense sacrifices to work for this startup, but it’s now looking like it might all pay off.

PS: yes, Sam is right. Crashing is allowed! Bring on the other questions.”

Le-Yo Cos K:  “Do you get threats on articles sometimes?”

Mista Majani:  “Only once where a prominent Nigerian CEO of a publicly traded company sent his lawyer over to our office. But I think when the lawyer saw our office, he saw there is no money to be got from suing us, because he hasn’t been back since.”

Talia Carol Makonnen:  “You’re talking about how the sacrifices ‘may’ pay off…so in the meantime, how do you pay your employees?”

Mista Majani:  Everyone at Ghafla! gets paid. It’s just that it’s not a lot. We all break our backs performing multiple roles at this company, and while it’s fun in the beginning, if that state of affairs carries on for too long, burnout and resentment start to set in. On the bright side, I’m positive we’ll be able to pay reasonable salaries by the end of this year.”

Linda Nyantika:  “Are your stories’s sources credible?”

Mista Majani:  “Most of our stories are from the celebs in the article themselves. Even the negative ones. People in this industry do a lot for the sake of publicity.”

Kosgei Kips Isaac:  “I just wanna congratulate you for pulling down the Kibaki video. It was not funny at all. I hope such cases never happen again. Secondly, what role is your company doing to promote peace in the lead up to general election?”

Mista Majani:  “That story was purely our mistake. To promote peace we are promoting the “Wasanii Wananchi” initiative, where top Kenyan artists are coming together for peace. You can read more about it here.

Pitah De Kaune:  “Have you seen the us responses 4 kenya after the debate?what do you have to say bout it?”

Mista Majani:  “I think it was a bit crowded with 6 candidates, which led to a lower level of discourse, but it was a good start nonetheless.

Ideally, in the future I would like the debates to grow into a key influencer of the direction of the vote, and judging by what I have seen on social media this week, it won’t be long till that happens.”

Mic Kimani:  “What’s the plan for Ghafla!? Future Kenyan E! Tv and radio? Or an acquisition in the million dollar range?”

Mista Majani:  “I am keen on dominating the online market first, because I believe that is where the biggest gaps are to be filled. The growth prospects on the internet are immense, and we’ve witnessed it already, with 3,000% growth in Ghafla!’s first year traffic.

In terms of acquisition, the Mergers and Acquisition scene in Africa is not yet mature, so it’s not prudent to eagerly anticipate a buyout. I’m focused on simply building a great company overall. If buyout offers come in, we’ll examine them. If not, well and good.

If you must know, we have so far fielded four requests by rich Kenyan individuals, and international companies all asking to buy us out, but we have turned them all down.

Ritchie Salim Warao:  “How incredible are your sources, have u ever paid to get some info?”

Mista Majani:  “Most of our stories are sourced from the celebs in the article themselves. Even the negative ones.”

Ritchie Salim Warao: “That is to say ur not original but follow up on storis that are already on air.”

Mista Majani: “We get a lot of stories first, but we can’t be first to every story, so sometimes we are forced to follow up on stories that are already out, as you have said. As long as we attribute our sources (which we do), then I see no problem. It’s the way media works.”

P J Mugo Wandetto:  “Do you know anything about “Sir Neo Branson Roggi” who says he is a top world cryptologist?”

Mista Majani:  “No, I don’t know him. But after Googling, his story seems interesting. I’ll follow up.”

Sam Wakoba:  “This is pure hard work and kudos to you and your team. Want to know if your seed guys own Ghafla or its yours entirely and possibly give us the percentages of how much they earn back in equity (if you are comfortable). And are you making money or not yet? And are you registered as an INC on your own or Ghafla is registered in Mauritius…”

Read part two of the interview here.