Last updated April 2020
With so many people forced to #stayhome there’s not better time than now to learn how to make money online.
The introduction of 5G and ubiquity of the internet and mobile data presents even greater opportunities for starting a business, creating passive income, work from home online jobs, and freedom to live our best lives.
Take advantage of platforms such as Flexjobs Fiverr, Upwork, etc to find remote jobs and freelance work jobs instantly.
And once the air is clear and we can return back to our normal lives, you can also use AirBnB to rent out extra space in your apartment or stay in one during your travels.
How to Make Money Online in Kenya.
The challenge with most how to make money online articles is that they talk about ideas that are not relevant to people from all countries unless of course you’re from the US, UK, Australia or Europe.
This post provides 20+ future ways to make money online that work even if you live outside of the the US, UK, Australia or Europe. This includes Kenya 🙂
Read this post to the very end if you want to make money online in Kenya.
You will discover ways to make money online every month into your M-PESA account or bank account in Kenya.
The best way to make money online is to learn from those who’ve walked that journey.
That’s what the EvaMtalii blog is all about.
I show you how to make money online so you can sustain your lifestyle of travel.
Here I share the latest online money making opportunities and other online businesses in Kenya that either us or people I know have tried and tested.
In this post specifically, I show you How to Make Money Online.
You will learn various ways to generate income from the internet through legitimate methods such as blogging, affiliate marketing, selling digital information products (e.g. e-Books, apps, etc), online Freelancing, Google AdSense, ads, online courses, one-on-one coaching, consulting, sponsored posts, selling physical products, etc.
There are indeed many ways to make money online in Kenya.
As a matter of fact, there are well 100+ ways you can make money online in Kenya as is evident in this post.
If you have the will to learn and put into practice the tips I give in this post, you can make money online in Kenya fast. These are the strategies that most of the legitimate internet millionaires discovered to unlock internet wealth from time immemorial and free of charge.
In this post I will also include online business ideas that are currently working in Kenya today. This blog is the ultimate guide for anyone who wants to make money online in Kenya.
But remember inspiration without action is futile.
For these ideas to make a difference in your M-PESA wallet, bank account or PayPal account, you must implement at least of these online business ideas to reap the most from your income online.
Before I embark on the various ways to make money online in Kenya, lets take a look at the latest confirmed and finalized Internet usage statistics in Kenya and how it functions.
How is the Internet Usage in Kenya?
According to Internet Live Stat, Kenya is currently the 29th largest user of the internet globally.
The Kenyan population is about 47 million plus people and counting. As at the end of 2016, about 21 million go online to find information. This is about 45% internet penetration rate.
The ubiquity of mobile phones and data have made increased internet access.
With just KES 100 and a SIM card, just about any Kenyan can access 1GB of data anywhere in this country.
These statistics spells out the potential of the internet in the Kenyan economy. That’s the reason why the Jumias, AirBnBs and Ubers of this world are entering this market.
This implies that with a little effort and careful planning, anything can be sold on the internet and money can be made online.
I have actually written an entire post with over 101 internet business ideas you can choose from and make money in Kenya right now. You can develop virtually anything on the internet; bet it online store, tools, software, apps, blogs and more.
In this blog, I list the various ways you can make money online including Kenya such as starting a podcast on Buzzsprout.
Without much further ado…
How to Make Money Online
Actually, the only way to make money online is by offering a service or selling a product that either solves a problem, or improves a situation for someone else, through the internet.
Just like all other businesses, to make money online, you will either need to invest your time, money or both.
But there instances where you can make money online without paying any money to start.
And the interwebs are awash with how to make money online articles but most only target people best in the US, UK, Europe or Australia.
This article provides 30+ ways to make money online irrespective of where you live in this planet, including Kenya. The article includes only provides 21+ future ways to make money online includes only legit ways to make money online that U have personally tried or I know someone who has tried has made money. and includes products and software that I recommend.
Disclaimer: You can read my affiliate disclosure in my privacy policy.
What's Covered in This Article
Start a successful podcast
With a big chunk of our lives moving to the online world and millions turning to podcasts for entertainment, there has never been a better time to make money online by starting a successful podcast.
This method of making money online is particularly one of the best ways to make money online if you’re a great story-teller.
It is also a great way for those who have valuable content to share with their audiences but may not be comfortable behind a camera.
Furthermore, the podcasts culture is currently growing beyond Europe and America and even into Africa.
You will have to determine your podcast’s niche and target audience.
Millennials mostly have taken up podcasts as a safe space to discuss topics of interest to them such as money, love and dating, relationships, work, current affairs etc. as well as others that have largely been swept under the carpet.
To start off, you will need to select a good podcast hosting company to store your files and also upload and distribute them on podcast directories such as iTunes, TuneIn, Stitcher, Spotify, etc where your audience will be listening to you from.
An easy, intuitive platform to get started with podcasting is Buzzsprout which offers high quality audio.
To start off and gauge yourself, you can also register on SoundCloud which offers free three-hour podcast hosting.
Buzzsprout will even give you a $20 Amazon gift card just for signing up 🙂 (sent after 2nd paid invoice).
My top picks for the best podcast hosting in 2020:
- Buzzsprout
- PodBean
- Transistor
- Simplecast
- Captivate
- Spreaker
- Fusebox
- Podcast Websites
- Audioboom
Once you start getting a sizeable audience tuning in on you podcast frequently, you can monetize your podcast through advertisements and brand sponsorships.
Start a blog
If you’d like to make money online by starting a blog, then the next set of information you will need is how to start a blog.
While starting a blog is a great way to make money online, if you don’t do it strategically, it’s gonna take you a while – sometimes even years before you see the first coin.
Hence why I propose Pareto’s principle aka the 80/20 rule.
The 80 20 Rule is an essential concept to master if you want to make money online as a blogger.
The key here will be to select and focus on the 20% of your blogging input (effort, time, funds) that bring in 80% of the output (profits) and not get to weighed down with the other 80% that bring in 20% of the output.
A great way to do this is by focusing your greater efforts on selling to businesses (they have larger budgets) and less on individuals.
For instance, if you choose to monetize your blog using affiliate marketing, 80% of your content should be geared to B2B customers to enable you market higher ticket products and services which are usually geared towards this kind of audiences.
This tactic also applies to your blog’s niche. If you want to use your blog as a money making tool, then your audience must be large enough and have potential to spend money.
Obviously, to start making money online through blogging the first step will be to get web hosting for your blog and build your site.
To get started, visit Bluehost.com and get started for as little as $2.95/month – that’s 63% off using this link.
Sell digital information products online
Digital information products include things like e-books, videos, etc.
If you’re an expert at any one subject, with expertise gained either through a formal training program e.g. how to build apps; or one of those things that life has taught you e.g. how to hack international travel on a Kenya passport; you can document the process in an e-book and sell it for some cash.
In this post for instance, I have listed 100+ e-book topics that are currently on high demand in Kenya.
Affiliate marketing
This is where you sell other people’s products or services in exchange for a commission.
Websites such as Booking.com, AirBnB, Payoneer, CJ Affiliate, (formerly Commission Junction), Share a Sale, AWIN, Jumia Affiliate, etc. all offer affiliate products that you can sign up for and start earning money marketing.
By creating and sharing knowledge that you have through an online course, you will be able to reach many more potential learners and earn more money online.
You could do a single course, a series of related courses, or just multiple different online courses.
Online platforms and membership sites through which you can create and sell your online course include: SkillShare, Thinkific, Teachable, Subhub, etc.
You can also offer your online course via platforms such as Zoom, a private Facebook group, Facebook Live, etc.
The main challenge with making money by offering courses online is the upfront work that it takes to create the course.
But once your course is ready, up and running online, it is available 24/7/365 and can be accessed from anywhere and by anyone in the world at any time.
This is a decent way for those with your skills to make money as they sleep.
Some of the courses you can teach online include: creative writing, video editing, piloting drones, starting a successful blog that makes money, running a profitable AirBnB business, business plan writing, digital marketing, influencer marketing, monetizing a YouTube channel, etc.
Sell African traditional crafts online
There are several websites wherein you can sell your African crafts and earn money.
Personally, I source the items from Maasai Market at the Globe Roundabout and also at Kariakor Market.
I then take pictures of the wares, and list them on the Etsy platform where I sell them for a premium. But there are many other platforms like Etsy. Just make Google your friend. You can even choose to create your own website and list your wares on it.
Once a customer decides buys an item from my shop, they pay for it via the Etsy website, and the money is instantly transferred to my PayPal Kenya Business Account.
Once the money is in my PayPal account, I can shop online directly and pay via PayPal, or transfer it directly to my M-PESA account within minutes. I explain the step by step process of withdrawing money from your PayPal account into you M-PESA here.
Make money online as a highly paid freelancer
Before you dismiss this way of making money online in Kenya with a high paying freelance career online, hang on for a bit.
Remote jobs are currently in high demand with most people forced to work from home or school online.
Is there anything that you do considerably well compared to the average person? Are you good in Math, or writing, or developing business plans? Are you a life coach, or a career coach? Is it photography?
Whatever that could be, there are very many platforms through which you can sell your time.
Some of these include Fiverr, UpWork, People per Hour, Freelancer, etc.
All of these platforms pay via Payoneer. and you can withdraw your money on any of the ATM machines.
With UpWork, you can even link your M-PESA account directly to the UpWork platform.
On these platforms you will find various ways of making money online in Kenya such as transcription, tutoring, freelance writing, etc.
Therefore, step one obviously would be to sign up at Flexjobs Fiverr, Upwork, etc to instantly find remote jobs across all kinds of industries that you can do from home in 2020.
Once you’ve gotten the hang of these freelancing platforms, dream bigger and make a lot more money online by taking advantage of your remote freelance work to start your own remote business in Kenya.
Simply use the same online platforms to build an agency of remote workers and use job boards to recruit potential clients.
My other favorite freelancing platform Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk), whereby you’re paid to do manual mini jobs for business owners worldwide.
Since the pay is pretty low per task, making money with MTurk is more of a volumes game so you prepare to put in the work.
Ultimately, if you are looking to start off making money online immediately, remote freelancing with Flexjobs Fiverr, Upwork, etc would probably be your best bet.
FlexJobs charges a tiny, fixed monthly fee in exchange for vetting all job postings eliminate any jokers who may want to take advantage of you.
Sell advertising space on your blog or website
Another popular method for making money online in Kenya involves selling ad space.
However, to use this method, you must first have a domain name (e.g. www.evamtalii.com), a hosting platform (EvaMtalii is hosted by BlueHost) and sufficient traffic visiting your website (like you, my dear reader).
Web hosting companies such as BlueHost offer very affordable web hosting packages with free unlimited domain names.
Start an online forum
An online forum is like a social media network where people sign , and then are granted permission to interact with other peoples of like mind, they share their knowledge and meet new people.
Example of top forums in Kenya include Wazua which belongs in the personal finance niche.
As long as the forum has clear rules and operation guidelines, and the conversations are interesting and useful, you can make a lot of money online in Kenya through through advertising, Google AdSense and email marketing on your online forum.
Starting an online forum is not as complicated as it sounds.
For starters, you will need to identify a niche that is likely to be profitable in Kenya e.g. making money. Then you look for a cheap WordPress Hosting provider such as BlueHost.
Like any other blog or website, to make money, you will need to have as many actively engaged users as possible. Once you have this, you can make money from selling ad space directly on your forum, by signing up for Google AdSense, or through affiliate marketing, sponsored job listings, personalized services such as CV redesing, headhunting, career coaching, etc.
Sell physical products online
Through online platforms such as OLX, Jumia, Facebook, etc, you can list and sell physical products.
Once a customer purchases, they pay you, and you deliver the item.
Start a directory website
Basically, this is a listicle of a group of related businesses’ locations, websites and contacts information for easy access.
For example, you could create a directory of pole dancing classes in Nairobi, a directory of violin teachers in Nairobi, a directory of piano teachers in Nairobi, a directory of sign language instructors in Nairobi, etc. To spice it up a little, you can put a section for students to review the instructors.
Best way to make money through a business directory would include premium listings, affiliate marketing, sale of Ads spaces, Google AdSense, commission for referrals, etc.
Some businesses in this space include: Travelstart, Jovago, etc.
However, to make money online through a business directory, you must first have a domain name (e.g. www.evamtalii.com is a domanin name), a hosting platform (EvaMtalii is hosted by BlueHost) and sufficient traffic visiting your website (like you, my dear reader).
Web hosting companies such as BlueHost offer very affordable web hosting packages with free unlimited domain names.
Then you will also need a business directory script such as Listify which you will then install on your server and you you will be on your way to making money online in Kenya.
Thereafter, you will need to compile list of whatever business you choose to go by, their websites and contact information.
Make money from YouTube
One of the easiest ways of making money online is by starting a YouTube channel.
And you don’t need to have the most expensive DSLR camera to shoot videos.
A simple smartphone can do the job well. Simply shoot entertaining or informative videos, and make a whole lot of by uploading videos and monetizing them on YouTube.
The key to success of making money on YouTube is by directing subscribers to your channel so you can make money when Google pays you for them viewing your videos.
Other ways to make money from YouTube include directly through Google AdSense, through affiliate links on the descriptions of your videos, doing product reviews, etc.
Buying and re-selling domain names online
This basically involves registering and buying domain names with catchy names, and then re-selling them at a later time for a premium.
Make money from online surveys
Responding to surveys online is one of the ways to make money online in Kenya.
My favorite is Respondent which accepts respondents from Kenya and also has surveys that pay very well. Sometimes up to KES 20,000 per survey.
How To Legitimately Make Money from the Internet in Kenya.
I already outline the basic principles at the beginning of this article, but I beg to reiterate one more time.
You will need the following 2 key items to make money online anywhere:
- Something to either sell or recommend for others to buy online – whether it is entertainment, or information, a product, or a service..
- An audience to buy whatever it is you’re selling or promoting/recommending
Implicitly therefore, you have to invest time, and/or money before you start to make money online legitimately.
Following is what You Will Need to Start an Online Business in Kenya
(1) Internet Access
There are very many internet providers in Kenya. Personally, I have subscribed to Airtel’s Unliminet monthly bundle as well as Zuku 10 Mbps internet bundle.
As I do nearly 100% of my work online, I make sure to have a backup plan incase one of the providers is down.
Plus I don’t like to be imprisoned to my laptop when I am going about my business up and about the busy streets or Nairobi. So with internet on my phone, I don’t have to worry about missing out on anything important.
(2) A Business Plan
Write down on paper or laptop, details of the online business you’d like to start, what is required to start it, how you will get the requirements, what success will look like, the milestones you will need to get there, your operational plan, how you will market your business, who your target customers as, your unique value proposition, your competitor analysis, etc.
Check this sample AirBnB business plan for starting an AirBnB business in Kenya for ideas.
(4) A PayPal Kenya Account
You need a PayPal account that you will use to receive money for your online business especially from customers you acquire directly e.g. through freelance writing.
(5) A Payoneer Prepaid Card Account
This is necessary especially if you plan to engage in affiliate marketing with providers that don’t pay either directly into your bank account here in Kenya, don’t pay via PayPal, of if you don’t want to suffer foreign exchange loss when the money is paid into your KES bank account.
Most affiliate and freelance websites in Kenya that accept Kenyans living in Kenya pay via Payoneer.
(6) Patience:
If you landed on this blog post with a get rich quick mindset, then I’m sorry you’re in the wrong place.
Making money legitimately from the internet takes a lot of work and patience. The beauty though is that with online businesses, once the foundation is set, it get easier to get money.
For example, if you’re selling an item on Etsy, or you’ve listed your space on AirBnB, once you get your first five-star review, getting the next customer will be much easier.
Same thing with blog traffic or YouTube views, it usually takes one or two viral blogs/video to get your website the visibility it needs. From there henceforth, you just maintain and improve the momentum with new quality content.
One negative review is enough to plummet your business.
(7) Identify an idea and stick to it
I always tell people that to succeed with making money online, you need to have a ” tunnel vision”.
Do not hope from one online business idea to the next.
Pick on one that you have passion for and the expertise to deliver on (or you are willing to learn about), then put all the required work and give it sufficient time to mature.
You have to stick to it long enough to be in a position to rightly judge if it is worth pursuing much longer to the point when you can make money; or to let it go because you know you gave it your best.
8) Have a unique value proposition
Basically, this means that having looked around at what is already available in the online marketplace, you find a simpler or better way to address a pain point or to address a need.
Moving on…
The Only Way to Make Money Online in Kenya
Here are three key principles to make money online in Kenya. These are explained below.
(1) Find out what people are struggling with
The only way to legitimately make money online by solving a problem.
So find out the issues people are struggling with, things that are at the forefront of their lives — and then offer resources that they need!
(2)Offer the resources people need
There are many ways you can make money online by offering the resources that people need.
This will depend on the issues you identified in #1 above and the inventory of skills you bring to the table.
But it’s not just a matter of giving solutions.
Many other people are probably also offering solutions. You must find a way to stand out from the pack.
You can choose to either go for an existing tribe (like freelancing websites, AirBnB, etc), or create your own tribe from scratch (like what I’m trying to do with this blog).
And you don’t have to have a lot of people in you tribe. You only need 100 raving fans. If each of them brought you KES 100 per week, you’ll walk away with a clean KES 4,000,000 in a month.
This is not so bad for making a living online in Kenya.
A word of caution though.
Once the money starts rolling in, there’s a temptation to start being complacent.
Don’t you dare yield to that temptation. Keep on keeping on. If it gets too busy, consider hiring help of a virtual assistant or a freelancer to help you with the non-core aspects of your online business.
To maintain your tribe, you have to consistently keep offering them fresh doses of whatever brought them to you in the first place.
Well, that’s the ultimate guide to make money online in Kenya.
Your Turn:
I have shown you the best 10 ways on how to make money online in Kenya.
I have also shown you what it takes to start an online business in Kenya, plus what you need to succeed.
But for these ideas and hacks to translate to cash for you, you have to act on them.
Pick any one of these ways of making money online in Kenya and hit the road running.
Should you get stuck somewhere, feel free to contact me and I will be happy to help where I can.
