To me the most interesting thing I have done as a Local Guide is being able to extend help to local businesses, bridging them, removing them from the unknown realm to the known.
Coming from a third world country where companies such as Uber are venturing in for the first time, and also where most local businesses are struggling to gain online presence, I understand how strong their business model relies on my activities as a local guide. This thought has therefore given me the strength to traverse my community and country at large everyday knowing that as much as I am doing something that I am passionate about, I am in the process impacting such a business positively. With my continued activity I have now seen a rise in businesses that rely on google maps in my country apart from Uber, Bolt, we now have a locally owned business called Safe Boda that strongly relies on google maps.
What actually fascinates me the more is using one of these services then pointing out a place I have added, this gives me an even more sense on how much impact I am making to the community with my unending additions on google maps.
What also gives strength is the frequent updates I receive from google highlighting how much impact / difference a specific addition has had on the community, one of my most recent alert is of Betin Shop Kyaliwajjala that has had more than half a million views
As a google local guide helping business get online and seeing how many people eventually try to reach these businesses means a lot to me. It makes me appreciate how my passion is helping business owners meet their prospective customers. Below are a few local businesses I have picked out just to highlight the impact it has had.
Hotel Eliana this is a recently constructed Hotel and it’s located along my way home, when it was being constructed I did not know what it was really going to be and inspite of the fact that I wanted to map it first i had to wait for a sign post at least that would describe it luckily enough towards completion a sign post was erected and boom I mapped it. Currently Eliana Hotel has 69,457 views on google
Betin Uganda Shop Kyaliwajjala to me this is my greatest contribution in terms of people served (most viewed) location so far, with the figure standing at 587,018 I am happy and over ridden by joy because of how much impact this has had to the community and the business at large. Betin is a popular company in East Africa though it has a branch in Nigeria, it performs and has a strong presence in East Africa too, I remember passing by this location when it has just occupied the building in the picture and I immediately checked on google just to see if it was added or not so I dashed and added it before another local guide would, with the performance this has exhibited, a great sense of encouragement flows through me every day knowing that so many are actually impacted by our activities as local guides.
Katic Foods Najjera this place is owned by a friend of mine, I remember when I visited his restaurant I asked him if the place was added on google maps, he told me it wasn’t and I offered to do it for him for free just like it is with all my additions, he was happy. He shared a couple of photos with me and I also took some by myself. Currently his restaurant has had 10,489 views and surprisingly he also said that he has registered an improvement in customer numbers and online orders
Liquidation Uganda this is another place that is also owned by a friend, he deals in used and new items. Liquidation Uganda is a business that has been into existence for so long and has even featured on some of the most popular newspapers here in Uganda. To me adding such a business to google maps has helped increase its awareness even the more and ever since I added it in 2016 as of the time of writing this article it has attracted 100,000 views, to me this is a great service to my friend and above all community
I will therefore reiterate that adding places to google maps has enabled me impact my local community in a very dynamic way – helping my friends through adding their businesses to google enabling their customers find what they need and also the businesses in my community that solely rely on local maps to survive thrive. I am extremely grateful for this activity knowing that I am not just impacting my community but the world generally since people rely on maps to travel most especially those that visit news places for the first time and navigate or carry out crucial decisions using the maps like which restaurant to visit or local bar to hung out in. Therefore adding places and later seeing what impact they have had to me is the greatest thing I’ve done as a Local Guide