Why Dominance Will Soon Kill Our Economy Unless We Wake Up

According to Merriam-Webster, dominance is the fact or state of being dominant such as controlling, the prevailing or powerful position especially in a social hierarchy or in the business world.

In business, there is something known as Market Dominance which is a measure of the strength of a brand, service, or firm in relative to competitive offerings. In the Kenyan market setting, issues of some companies dominating over others are normal. Dominance is actually becoming a do or die game where companies are doing everything including using dubious means to dominate their competitors.

Dominance, however, is proving to be dangerous to the economy and if Kenyans are not going to wake up from the slumber soon, their economy will be left for the dogs. I have decided to write this piece in conjunction with the unfair dominance in the telecommunication sector in Kenya and which, if not well handled, will soon break our economy.

On the 24^th of April 2017, a major breakdown was witnessed in the Kenyan telecommunication history. Safaricom Limited, the dominator of the Kenyan telecommuting sector was down. All services offered by Safaricom were grounded on that day and beyond. People could not send money via M-PESA, people could not make calls, browse using data as well as sending short messages (SMSs). Anger, confusion, and frustration ruled the whole of that day.

Safaricom has 27.7 million customers and holds 71.2 percent of the market share making it the largest telecommunication company in Kenya. The company is also a key financial player through its MPESA services meaning that the breakdown almost brought to a standstill the economy given that most Kenyans rely on the service for their financial transactions. Hundreds of millions of shillings could not be transacted on that day and beyond as all systems at Safaricom refused to work.

The questions most Kenyans are asking themselves at the moment are: Is dominance good for the economy? This is a free market economy yes, but are we going to sit still and watch the economy collapse in minutes because it is a free market? Picture this, what if Safaricom fails in a week, just a week, what will happen to the economy? What will happen to the financial sector? Does it mean that Kenyans will not commutate, send SMSs and browse comfortably using data?

Apart from Safaricom, there are other mobile operators in the country. There are Airtel and Orange (Telkom Kenya) which have equally the same services being offered by Safaricom. Why are Kenyans not taking up the services from these other companies to supplement the main dominant on the market? The point here is not to abandon Safaricom but to supplement. If Kenyans had spread their consumption of services across mobile networks, on 24^th of April, the economy would not have come to a standstill after the technical hitch at Safaricom. People would have used other networks too to communicate and send money as well as browsing.

There are many advantages of trying to break dominance by embracing similar service providers on the market. Key among them is that there is a spread of risk across hence minimal interruptions like what happened on the 24^th of April. The economy will still remain stable in case one of the players faces a major challenge like a breakdown. The banking sector in Kenya, for instance, is very well balanced. When one bank goes down, customers still have options to choose from. Why can’t Kenyans do the same for the telecommunication industry? Why are we so inclined only to one operator forgetting that others also exist? Are Kenyans aware of the dangers of dominance to the economy? Should Kenyans be enlightened on such matters?

According to most Kenyans however, Safaricom is not to blame for the perceived dominance but the competitors and I agree with most of the concerns raised by Kenyans. According to most Kenyans I interviewed, Safaricom is above the competitors because of the following:

1. The network for Safaricom seems to be good and widespread across the country.
2. Safaricom seems to have a wide range of products than the competitors
3. Safaricom has MPESA joints all over the country as compared to the competitors
4. Safaricom is always in the media advertising.

What does this mean for the competitors of Safaricom? That:

1. They should spread their services closer to the people across the country
2. They should strengthen their networks
3. They should advertise their services in the media and across social media platforms for people to notice and identify with them.