In 2009, the fibre optic cable arrived at the port of Mombasa. For Santos Okottah, this event would mark a new direction in his career.
At the time, the programmer was working at the Nation Media Group’s (NMG) digital division building micro sites, online ads and updating websites.
To Mr Okottah, the arrival of fibre meant that the capacity supplied would facilitate video streaming.“I knew that the fibre optic cable meant that most Kenyans would get access to Internet and that cost of data would go down, making it affordable,” says Mr Okottah.
Less than a year later, he went on to found Eziki Limited, a company that offers video on demand and live streaming services.
DigitalBusiness meet him at the company’s office in Parklands, Nairobi. Mr Okottah talks slow and in bits; it seems he is processing his own words before he carries on with what he is saying.
The Maseno University graduate previously worked as a web designer at Insyder magazine before he joined NMG. Mr Okottah quit his programming job in 2010 to get into business fulltime. “It was a good job with several perks” he says chuckling. “My parents thought I was crazy when I quit! But I had seen a business opportunity I wanted to pursue,” Mr Okottah adds.
“When I was at Nation, I would see artistes coming to the building to try to get someone to promote their albums. My business idea was to make these artiste’s music available online for download. I got into a contract with some recording houses, like Calif Records, and put up some content.”
Photo www.wallpapersafari.com