In July 2014, a couple of months after starting Tech-ish.com, I met one Brian Nyagol with a project he called VibeCampo. He was so serious about it. Back then the biggest thing I had done was write exams and make it to university. Seeing someone sort of do something this big – who builds a social media site? – made me re-think my life.
I decided to sort of interview him. Interview makes it sound good. I asked him random questions. I needed good content for my site, he needed any publicity he could get for the social media site he was just starting – a site for discovering, exploring, and growing talents, interests, and skills.
In that 2014 interview, the founder told me in 3 years there would be a bigger team, more users, and stronger presence. I had wished him well, signed up, and kind of forgotten I had an account. But over the years, I have sometimes signed in to check out what’s going on. For someone claiming to support the site, I am doing a bad job in actually using the site. But Brian’s dream is still alive, and he’s still pushing.
It is 2017, and as you would expect, things have changed from 2014. Talking to Brian, I’ve seen there’s a clearer path for growth, and the new strategy which he calls “a re-brand of sorts” is what has inspired this post. Things look good, organised, and hopefully this rekindled energy is just the needed spark.
Maybe VibeCampo.com is inspired by Mark Zuckerberg’s story about Facebook. But that’s where the similarities end. VibeCampo is different. I would call it professional social media. If that’s a thing.
There are 3 types of accounts on the site.
- College/Campus students Account
- Alumni Account
- High School leavers Account
I cannot write of the different features on the different types of accounts. I signed up for an Alumni Account (because I am awaiting graduation yaay!) and that’s what I can talk about.
The VibeCampo Alumni account is meant to help one
- find internships, jobs,
- develop career through events, questions to mentors etc and
- meet your former school mates or leaders in your industry
Remember when you sign up you’ll link to your former University/College/Polytechnic and state the course you undertook. And before completing sign up you’ll need to join at least 5 Communities (groups) where you may have interests from Photography, Fashion, Entrepreneurship etc.
From there you have a chance to search for friends, meet people, find jobs, chat, send photos etc. It is all dependent on your field, talent and what you want. All tools and functionality of the site are built around the theme of Discovering, Exploring and Growing.
For students in campus, there’s the Ambassador’s Program. You can become a student ambassador for the site with some considerable benefits.
Oh and one additional thing, apparently you can make money if you invite friends.
It is amazing that three years later, this is still one man’s push, one man’s effort. How the new energy will work out, we wait to see.
The last paragraph of my 2014 piece was as follows:
Personally, I’m very much in agreement with the idea of a social site exclusively for Kenyan students. Popular social sites have been overwhelmed with irrelevant promotions and advertisements to a level nothing is useful to students. VibeCampo, I see, will be a serious place, without the intrusion of irrelevant ads or even family. Organisations looking to employ will easily find students. Information will also easily spread and knowledge be shared among students.
Would love to know your thoughts. Have you used VibeCampo.com? Do you believe in this idea?
