'setSha Zimbabwean Search Engine & Telephone Directory Interview'

Name of your website?

setSha Zimbabwean Search Engine & Telephone Directory

Your name?

Percy Lawrence

Your Location (city, etc)

Johanessburg

Please give us a short summary of your website?

It is the beginnings of a Google-like search engine which will include image, blog, rss, people, bible and other searches

What inspired you to launch your own website?

Google

When did you launch your first website, and what was it?

2004, Catalog Zimbabwe

How did you decide on a name for your website?

setsha means "to look for" in Venda

What makes it different from other, similar offerings?

There is only one similar site for Zimbabwe, telone.co.zw...but setSha is sleeker, faster...better and soon to be available in Shona, English AND Ndebele and on mobiles (Mid December 2007)

What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)

Advertising

How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?

Startup stages...its all uphill so far!

If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?

add extra cpu/ram intensive features which are "shelved" for now..

If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?

yup!

What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?

Dial-up to continue developing...there is alsono power in Zimbabwe most of the time.

What has been your biggest challenge?

Maintaining progress in the face on the ongoing power cuts, food shortages etc

What method has been most successful for promoting your website?

Word of mouth

How has running your website differed from your expectations?

Not as easy to monetize as dreamed...but getting there!

How long have you run the site already, and how long will you continue to keep it up if you don't enjoy big gains in traffic, income or popularity?

1yr...perpetual

What 1 thing would you most like to make sure of regarding this article and its publication?

Keep my name secret...the future of setSha may lead to trouble with certain parties in Zimbabwe who view free expression as anassualt on the state. :)

What is your website address?

setSha Zimbabwean Search Engine & Telephone Directory

Hi Percy,

I am an investigator from the United States. I reside in Pennsylvania. I am trying to locate a missing person last known address, 3 Firstgrove Road, Harare, Zimbabwe. The female's name is Fatima Adam, 27 years old.

If you have any info. I would be greatly appreciative.

well you have done it bro well i mean its just great to know that your hard work and labour is paying off but hey better come up with some serious back ups for the electricity problems looming in both Zim and Joza well i know you r smart and will be able to come up with a solution. try adding a facility to search for shona to ndebele and english translation i mean type in a word and the meaning is looked up more like a dictionary till then tootles!!!

I am looking for my father fred makwalo last time I heard he was in Harare Zimbabwe if you have info or phone # let me know. e-mail kamangj@eskom.co.za

hi percy,

i am writing to you from washington state, usa. i am also looking for an old friend. her last know address was in harare zimbabwe. is there a way for me to find her? please contact soon, as it has been 18 years since our last contact. any help would be appreciated.

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