Picture this: You walk into a hotel and you are welcomed by iPad carrying concierges in the lobby who check you in immediately, make any reservations you might need, while on your vacation, plus are willing to do all that’s possible to secure those last minute tickets to a show you might be interested to watch. In addition to this, they hand you a card with their cell phone number and encourage you to use it at any time, 24/7, meaning they are at your disposal any time, any day. That’s personalized service.

I attended the launch of Bata Home, a shoes delivery service by Bata that lets you shop for the shoes you want and they will be delivered to your home or office. During the launch Communications P.S Bitange Ndemo predicted that Kenyans will soon experience personalized service here in Kenya. One would walk into a shoe shop, have his foot measured and shoe designed to the customer’s specification will be produced within minutes.

Such a prediction may seem far-fetched to some, but Kenya is actually headed there. There’s a sandal maker in Mombasa who makes sandals designed to the customer’s specifications. All the customer has to do is go the shop, have his or her foot measured, choose from the designs available and can make a few Twix’s here and there to give the design a personal touch and the sandal will be made.

Do you remember the days you had to go down to the shop to buy airtime for your phone, or had to queue for long to get your M-Pesa statement? With Kenya gradually embracing personalized service, you can buy airtime directly from your bank account using mobile banking, or buy using M-Pesa, Airtel Money, Orange Money or Yu Cash. Or if you urgently need airtime but you are short of cash you can buy airtime on credit, from your phone. You can avoid queuing for hours for your M-Pesa statement since you can access your M-pesa statement dating back to 3 months, anywhere and at any time using Safaricom's Self-care service.

If you want take out tonight but feel lazy to dash out and buy the pizza or fries, you can call the fast food place and get the food delivered or go online to the several food delivery sites, pick a food take out shop of your choice, go through their menu, pick out what you want, pay online and have the food delivered to where you are.

There’s no need to break down the convenience brought about by Bata Home. Buying shoes for yourself or for your loved ones has never been this simpler. Plus Kenyans in the diaspora can buy shoes for their family members here in Kenya; the shoes will be delivered to them within 3 days. Hopefully it might soon take a shorter time to deliver the shoes across Kenya.

Lastly, Kenyans in the diaspora can send money directly to your mobile phone, saving you the trouble of having to queue at the bank to get money sent to you. Those in the diaspora send do the transaction online and the money will be sent to your phone within minutes. You can then withdraw the money at your convenience.

As the Kenyan song ‘Tumetoka Mbali’ (We have come from far) goes, “…we have come from far and are destined to go far…” Kenya has indeed large strides towards embracing personalized service. From Having to queue to paying our utility bills to being able to conveniently settle our bills from out phones. We have indeed come from far and are destined to go farther. If anything is to go by, we are the first to have a mobile money transfer service.