Project Brandify will build you a website for, wait for it… free

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February 16th, 2012
       29 comments

Just a few days ago a colleague here at Techzim wrote an article in which he discussed the changing web development landscape in Zimbabwe and the region. In the article he said how it’s not surprising these days to see developers advertising the development of a ‘complete’ website for as little as US $50. A new local web design company says $50 is too much, especially if you’re going to be paying for domain registration, hosting and other little things that come with having a website. They’re proposing a figure way lower than that.

Free.

Yes, the company will build websites for free. To say a company is actually a bit misleading; it’s a consortium of 3 companies; a web development company (Kreative Republic), a design company (Aftershock Interactive) and a hosting company (Cloudceed). The consortium is called Project Brandify.

In a press release which the consortium representative Tirivashe Mundondo sent us, Project Brandify says their main objective is to put Zimbabwean businesses online. Sounds familiar? It’s somewhat similar to what Google is trying to do in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and other African countries. Brandify is not waiting for Google to come and eat their lunch.

But nothing under the sun is completely free. The free Brandify websites come with one condition; that you host the website with them. The hosting, which Mundodo says offers unlimited space, bandwidth, emails, databases and other bells, costs $9.95, which is somewhere around standard outside Zimbabwe. So yes, this means the websites will be hosted outside Zim. Customers will also be required to pay $15 once for domain registration.

Mundondo explained that the websites are not just free Joomla themes ganked off the web but real custom designs for each client. Brandify will use popular content management systems, WordPress, Drupal and Joomla. Mundondo said they are promising customers a turnaround time of 3 days after the customer has submitted the website content to the Brandify team.

A huge tasks but it’s all worth it, explained Mundondo: “Most businesses are not online especially SME’s and such lack of local content will only deprive us the opportunity to offer online services and products that will revolutionarise the way Zimbabwe conducts business.”

How they will achieve this, we have no idea. We too are curious to see the first 10 or so websites they do. Is it possible to deliver a high quality custom design in 3 days?

The determination to do just this seems there; At least Mundodo is confident they will deliver, and he says they are not taking the task before them lightly; “Until June, we will be working 18hrs/day, 7 days a week” he says.

He goes on to share that they are also looking at the long term. There are other benefits to doing this for all entrepreneurs and consultants working to earn a living off the internet in Zimbabwe. One of the chief benefits here is that “if every Zimbabwean business was online, there would be more jobs for the tech industry” explained Mundondo.

What do you think? Will Project Brandify be able to sustain this?

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  • Anonymous

    Ok Ok Ok. Let me wait for other to start the show.  Their site has some CSI graphics and is scary :-)

  • Joe Black

    Aheeeeeede … this I have to see. Go forth and brandify, folks!

  • Anonymous

    Developing a site in 3 days! Yes its possible with Microsoft Word and Microsoft Works Dont argue with them I guess they are right.

  • ngoni

    i strongly doubt this, i feel they will go the nhava, broadacom way. make promises and fail to backup them up.bt let us wait and see.

  • http://www.3-mob.com Three Men On A Boat

    $9.95  year or a month or… 

  • http://www.techzim.co.zw L.S.M. Kabweza

    a month. check the image.

  • http://www.3-mob.com Three Men On A Boat

    Zimbabweans have become skeptical. But then again the track record is not that good for companies that offer the world and give a lot less.

    Cause what happens if I want to get a huge site made and i want all that hosting. Is it still 3 days? what if there a couple of things I am not happy with and it goes back and forth? Is there a breach of contract and all that? Are they saying I can’t complain because it is free?

  • http://twitter.com/mukwenhac Chiko Mukwenha

    Free website or not, a website has to be a SOLUTION.

    Offering free doesn’t mean it’s any better than getting a paid one. It’s all about which one works better. It’s not about a particular CMS, its not about fonts & typeface, its not “getting” businesses online, its about finding ways to solve real problems businesses face, online.

    I hope brandify is clear on the value it offers clients. That 9.95 a month has to make sense, it’s only as good or CHEAP if it brings very close or equal returns premium hosting & design brings.

  • Anonymous

    I personally think lets not keep using the word free here. Free in this case is just Marketing jargon.

    Im yet to read your blog. I loved the article3s last I read it.

  • http://www.3-mob.com Three Men On A Boat

    Lol ok… ah wel I am not sure I am allowed to plug myself here. but if you click on the Three  Men On A Boat on the comments here it will take you to my site.

    About the web design, I am curious about the terms and conditions.

  • tinm@n

     well said

  • David

    i think this article it just waste of time and valuable space on the techzim website.
    You can host internationally for $15/yr and get 4500 web templates with the package and with all bells and whistles.
    Currently i charge my customers $120/yr for webhosting and domain name.
    And 3days for a site these guys are not serious if they get 50 companies do they have army of designers and developers to deliver?
    and as far as saying “not using joomla themes ganked of the net” is utter rubbish just look at the code source of their websites they all using ready made templates

  • Aaa

    This we have to see, how does one sustain free web development 18hrs/day 7days it seems to rubbish what most web development companies are doing (i.e. charging for their services), has this model been implemented successfully elsewhere, by smaller companies, not the big googles, with extra cash to spare?? Can someone give them a job and report back   . . .lol ?

  • Theophalus

    This so called webdesign company dint even design their own website. They are using a joomla template.

  • Madziva

    This is the international hosting that people here are always talking about. To have a reseller package like this “innovation” you need to pay 100us per year and they give you a website with a fitting template. I know someone with the following http://www.atptechnology.net through reseller.com and godaddy, hostgator also provides similar packages and YES we are hearing thats innovation. SEE, the package could be 8us/month for unlimited domains, websites(any number of cmss), payment gateways. Then well, it will make sense to claim its free website design when in actual fact the user paying 9us/month hosting plus 15us/year domain for a service costing way less than that per year means that DESIGN FEES ARE EMBEDDED I HOSTING. Compared to local hosting 9us/month is actually expensive (wordpress hosting is 60/year with YoAfrica). ANOTHER NHAVA STORY HERE

  • ngoni

    have been goin over the projects they have dun, nthn too special there. any web-designer worth their salt can do what they do in 3 days tops because these are themes ganked off the net!! went through cnlaw.co.zw, the social media buttons will display “We are social on linkedIn” that includes the ones with the Twitter, Facebook and YouTube icons. Click on them and they will take you to a linkedIn page, they didn’t even bother to have these links point to the relevant social net-working platforms. If i was looking to engage them this would just be a deal-breaker. then on the other pages the social media buttons don’t link you to anywhere, they images!! i guess that’s what you get if you try design a site in three days.
    On the ICTA Zim site the “Find a Certified Tax Accountant” button here http://ictazim.org/index.php?option=com_smartformer&Itemid=94# doesn’t work. they ask people to rate that http://ictazim.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=78&Itemid=138, i honestly dont see what’s to rate. the photo gallery is missing too http://ictazim.org/index.php?option=com_fwgallery&view=galleries&Itemid=147.
    these guys need to go back to the drawing board and come up with something, that’s crappy work they doing there. I failed to open some of the other sites completely. 
    This surely is another Nhava disaster waiting to happen.

  • Holliwood

    I dont think their business model will work.I dont see anyone in their right minds building a custom website in only 3 days for free.A custom website takes a lot of planning between the design company and the customer.They need to have huge resources to achieve this.The only logical thing is that they are providing FREE templates.I suspect its another Nhava story.We will see,the truth shall come out.Pls keep us posted Techzim guys

  • Countach

    These Kreative Republic peoples have their own website designed using
    a joomla template which I’m sure they downloaded for free. The template
    is called Life Journey and was originally designed for churches and
    ministries..  Take a look http://tinyurl.com/74oeta4

    And designing a site in 3days means bring your site content and we
    will search for a suitable joomla or wordpress template and pretend its
    been custom made for you. Instead of doing it in 3days they can even
    do it in 3hours.

  • Evocolize

    The same story all over again, I don’t when the companies will be honest and say IT’S NOT FREE. If they do that means NO BUSINESS lol
    I would recommend WordPress for them who agree?
    http://www.evocolize.com

  • http://www.karigon.net Raymond Swart

     Haha I just looked it up and saw that to. No they will definitely design custom design, they said it so it must be true.

    Anyone that has to “Advertise” they doing something for “Free” is definitely trying their luck. If it’s good and for free people will hear of it soon enough, no need to spend the hard earned “$9.95″ on advertising…

    Too funny, can’t wait to see their impressive client list…

  • http://www.karigon.net Raymond Swart

    I agree with you Evocolize, if it’s for free sooner or later there will be compromises. It may be security or design but it can’t last.

  • Prosper Chikomo

    What they are doing is a derivative of what i said here a few days ago in the comments section: http://www.techzim.co.zw/2012/02/the-changing-face-of-the-web-development-industry/

    I wish them all the best.

  • Holliwood

    You are right Countach,these guys are joking,lets see what hapens 

  • tinm@n

    Rest assured, some customers will flock at the thought of the free service. But in good time, they will be left with sour tastes in their mouths. Its one thing to slap on a ready made template, but its another to bend it to the customer’s exact desires. It is near-impossible that what they have in their vault of templates would suit any well-meaning marketing dept that needs a unique brand.

    They will eventually go back to those that develop custom solutions, and will have suffered a loss of funds, time and paying again the new service provider.

    For a get rich quick scheme, it may work. But wait till they get the client from hell…

  • Prosper Chikomo

    I posted my first comment above after just browsing through, but now after thorough reading, I must say they have a good idea, but it needs polishing up otherwise it is going to fail, and fail it will, but it would be a nice experience for them. Next time they do their projects they will know what works and what doesn’t.

    Here are a few problems I see, and why their project is WILL FAIL, unless they do something about the following issues:

    1. They take 3 days to build the website. This is like forever in internet-speak. With WordPress.com, you get the website instantly, with your own domain name. These guys therefore must create a website building system that is instant and not a 3 day affair.

    2. If they get a swarm of clients, they will be swamped with work and will not be able to deliver. Now, someone who wants a website and right now, will not stand at number 568 in the queue just to get a free website with $10 hosting at the end of 6 months. Instead, he would rather find someone who charges even $250 per website and delivers within 5 days. If they had automated the system, they would have done all Zimbabweans proud.

    3. Their charges need to be lower, and higher. (lol). It’s paradoxical. WordPress.com offers free indefinite free hosting and just$17 per year for the domain name. These guys’ charges translate into $120 per year (not indicated if tax inclusive) whereas for the same period you would be charged just $17 by WordPress.

    4. There are 3 companies involved in Project Brandify ( which in my view could have been done by an individual) and the management of these relationships will cost time, resources, and money, and just what money are we talking about? Well …

    5. Split $9,95 among 3 companies and you get $3.31 each per website, and can you imagine, with the amount of work involved. If they get 1 website in one month, they will make $3,31 each. Uchifirei?

    6.

    The determination to do just this seems there; At least Mundodo is confident they will deliver, and he says they are not taking the task before them lightly; “Until June, we will be working 18hrs/day, 7 days a week” he says.

    They work 18 hours a day. With their price for one website at $9,95, if they get 1 website in a month it means … the three companies, that are not even venture capital funded like YouTube which offers free video hosting was, would have earned 11 cents per day (less than a minutes call) over 30 days which translates into a sixtieth of a cent ($0.006) per hour of the 18 hours over 30 days.

    7. Their project is not scalable. Don’t expect any Facebook any time soon. For Project Brandify to make $1 million a year, they would have to build, BY HAND, 100 503 websites. You bet this is no new Econet in the making.

    8. In order for them to make just $1 000 each a month, they would have to build 303 websites for free, and have them hosted for one month.

    9. They are serving Harare only. Harare has a population of 2 million and not all of them want websites. These guys cannot sell their service to folks in Uzumba, and because folks from Uzumba cannot buy from them, their project is doomed (lol). Until such time that people in Uzumba can buy their services, they are not going to go anywhere.

    10. And now ladies and gentlemen, heres HOW TO HAVE YOUR WEBSITE BUILT FOR JUST $9,95 BY PROJECT BRANDIFY. -> have the website created and get it live, back it up, then leave after just one month of hosting.

    11. Their fixed costs increase in direct proportion to their growth, which is not good for business, any business at all, even a brick and mortar business.

    The project will not last. It is only a matter of time before it collapses because of their, pricing model, hosting model, and manual website delivery system. It would have worked if it was a sales promotion by the ISPs, but not as an ongoing concern. If they raise those prices later, people will leave. There are some customers that can only afford $9,95 websites. If they keep it going, yeas they can do that, it will just be to keep face but not profitable.

    They would be better off offering even $100 websites with no hosting.

    (A lot deleted here – let me not say more)

    If you think my comment is too long, sorry. Next time I will send long comments/opinions as an article to Techzim. Hopefully they will be published. Maybe that would be better.

  • Anonymous

    This is exactly my point if the Developer community doesnt seek to educate the clients it will never go anywere. The very clients being Marketted to are the clients needing professional services and there is a Developer spending sleepless nights doing the right thing and because the clients are not educated they go for these fly by dubious service providers who further lower the standard.

    Its time Zim developers stop accepting peanuts coz as it seems all clients think they are rats.

    Someone should stop all this frivoly. We need a professional community that seeks to set standards not to mass market and mass produce sub standard products only seeking to further harm the market.

    The market was bad when people were charging $50 for a website its even getting worse. These guys are offering website at the rate Herald prints NewsPapers!!

  • Hollywood,UK

    Iwe Prosper Chikomo,apa wagona manje,im still thinking how these guys are going to have any success with their business model.Thanks for your comment

  • Evocolize

    Wow looks like there are a lot of WordPress fans here;-) Cool, you guys know that WP is powerfull.
    Cheers from http://www.evocolize.com

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_YZHKYMQMKLYHA33JDP455I2CYY Kruxial

    I am the owner  of http://atptechnology.net and sell domains and hosting space.

    Web development has evolved to a much easier task than before the only issue worth talking about in this modern way of doing business on the internet is to specifically customize and bring new functionality modules on your website that will not be done by newbies but by programmers who will have an understanding of different programming languages e.g php, asp and not just the ordinary html people. One can create a mini website in another website just by mere understanding of the computer. The sense of free is just a way of marketing hosting services. It is good as a way of building hosting clients.

    Websites are now a very easy to make if its just the ordinary one.

    At http://atptechnology.net we provide 24hr support and development customized to suite your requirements.