Kenya’s Who is Who directory could dominate the region beyond contemporary social sites, according to Stephen Ananda, the Country Manager, Who’s Who Kenya.
The listing promises better networking prospects for the country’s top professionals and companies. It also offers newer avenues for managing reputations and brand names, says Ananda. The new online listing offers special features such as reputation management and a ranking system in addition to other standard features such as messaging and friend requests applications offered by other professional networking sites.
“During the development of the Who’s Who platform, Naspers Labs identified personal branding, reputation management and professional networking as key trends fuelling the adoption of social media,” said Ananda.
A feature that continues to excite Kenyan politicians and business professionals is the news section. The directory also has an automatic profile update feature of entries.
The tool has become an inventive source of information on aspects of interest regarding influential Kenyans including business heavyweight Chris Kirubi, Politician Eugene Wamalwa, MP Najib Balala, Minister for Education Mutula Kilonzo as well as Kenyan international footballer Dennis Oliech among others.
Top firms like Chase Bank, Mocality and Strathmore Business School have also started using the platform.
Initially, Kenyan politicians and professionals have had to rely on social sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Google plus and Twitter to manage their online reputation. Media analysts say with fears that LinkedIn profiles are a goldmine for scammers, the ‘Who is Who’ directory can dominate the region. Though the company is reluctant to release the total number of profiles to date, this week alone, the site attained 608 active profiles and 2625 profile views.
The new online listing offers free membership to users 18 years and older.
Who’s Who in Kenya, just like the Southern Africa’s Who’s Who, is owned by Media24 group, a division of Naspers, a 100-year old South Africa-based an African premier online news resource that offers round-the-clock coverage of both local and international news.
