[kictanet] Update on Pasha Centres

Tue Dec 7 18:47:23 EAT 2010

Paul,

I'm glad that we are moving towards realizing this dream. We need to move from "will do" mode to "have done" mode!

We look forward to the launch and the 90 days after to see this realized (I trust we will get frequent updates).

Just some quick observations:-

*You mention that KICTB will "provide a technical consultant to support the technical set up and management" and "provide support for Management of the Pasha Community portal to allow collaboration and knowledge sharing among Pasha managers" - here's is where I would suggest strong bottom-up empowerment of communities to technically manage their own networks and also to develop and manage local content that can feed into the larger portal following agreed standards. Uganda's RCDF got consultants to develop district portals - which looked very beautiful, but alas they were soon "stale sites" as they were not updated frequently...there was no community buy-in...a bottom-up approach to empowering people to develop and own their content! This was a big lesson we learnt with the RCDF.

*other services could include interactive community-radio hooked to the network and local VOIP services.

Finally, why not consider a range of banks? and MFIs? why Family Bank?

Edith

________________
Edith Ofwona Adera
Senior Program Specialist
ICT4D Program and Climate Change & Water Program
International Development Research Centre | Centre de recherches pour le développement international
Regional Office for Eastern and Southern Africa
Tel: +254202713160 | Fax/Téléc: +254202711063 | Skype: edithadera
eadera at idrc.or.ke<mailto:eadera at idrc.or.ke> | www.idrc.ca<http://www.idrc.ca/> | www.crdi.ca<http://www.crdi.ca/>
________________________________
From: kictanet-bounces+eadera=idrc.or.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke [kictanet-bounces+eadera=idrc.or.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Paul Kukubo [pkukubo at ict.go.ke]
Sent: 07 December 2010 10:25
To: Edith Adera
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: [kictanet] Update on Pasha Centres

Listers

>  Kenya ICT Board will facilitate the establishment of digital access centers, to be known as Pasha Centres across the country.

>  Facilitation will take the following form

o   An Entrepreneurs will obtain a loan from Family Bank for up to a maximum of Kshs 3M to set-up or expand and existing digital access centre.

o   Kenya ICT Board will provide a technical consultant to support the technical set up and management.

o   Branding and communication support in order to manage the Pasha Brand and drive consumer interest and usage.

o   Management of the Pasha Community portal to allow collaboration and knowledge sharing among Pasha managers.

o   Continuous Training and skills development for Pasha Owners.

o   Liaison with public sector and local and international content providers who may want to access the public through the Pasha network.

>  Pasha Centres will provide a variety of services that could include the following:

o   Internet access, including serving as wifi hotspot providers for the area.

o   Training and educational material provision

o   Mobile and agency banking

o   Other retail services

o   Money transfer services

o   Government services

o   Jobs bureau

o   Supply chain facilitation including assisting retailers and wholesalers with IT needs

o   Technology support centres for the region

o   Tourism support

o   NGO Liaison support

o   Data collection for government, NGOs and private sector

o   Business Process outsourcing and data entry services

The Plan

>  Monday 24th January 2011, public launch of Pasha Project.

>  Target date for first disbursement of loan is 90 days from launch date. The disbursing bank will require 90 days to review applicants and conclude initial loan disbursements.

>  Disbursements will be made to entrepreneurs who fulfill agreed conditions and don’t necessarily have to be among those that had received Pasha training prior. Kenya ICT Board in 2009 and 2010 had conducted nationwide 3 week training of 1000 people in business management, entrepreneurship, marketing, basic accounting and technical management (a starter-kit) to prepare potential pasha managers to run Pasha centre.

>  The agreement with the bank is to ensure we disburse at least one loan per county within the year. Our eventual target is to have 210 pasha centers, one in each constituency by 2012. We shall asses the appetite and would not be surprised if the demand for loans exceeds our target.

>  We shall encourage entrepreneurs to partner with the networks and any other organizations to beef up their business plans in preparation for loan application and to make their businesses more commercially viable.

Mechanics of disbursement
All applications will be forwarded to family bank for commercial assessment. Family bank and an committee appointed by the Kenya ICT Board will assess the best loan candidates on a set of agreed criteria and award the loan against this and a sound and verified business plan. We shall be keen to ensure that people don’t push through paper plans for the sake of cash.
More details will be available on www.ict.go.ke<http://www.ict.go.ke> and www.pasha<http://www.pasha> .co.ke<http://co.ke>

Paul Kukubo
Chief Executive Officer, Kenya ICT Board
PO Box 27150 - 00100
Nairobi, Kenya

12th Floor, Teleposta Towers Koinange Street

Tel +254 20 2089061, +254 20 2211960
Fax: +254 20 2211962
website: www.ict.go.ke<http://www.ict.go.ke>
local content project: www.tandaa.co.ke<http://www.tandaa.co.ke>, www.facebook.com/tandaakenya<http://www.facebook.com/tandaakenya>
twitter:@tandaaKENYA
BPO Project: www. doitinkenya.co.ke<http://doitinkenya.co.ke>
Digital Villages Project: www.pasha.co.ke<http://www.pasha.co.ke>

personal contacts
_______________

Cell: + 254 717 180001

skype: kukubopaul
googletalk: pkukubo
personal blog: www.paulkukubo.co.ke<http://www.paulkukubo.co.ke>
personal twitter: @pkukubo

____________________
Vision: Kenya becomes a top ten global ICT hub

Mission: To champion and actively enable Kenya to adopt and exploit ICT, through promotion of partnerships, investments and infrastructure growth for socio economic enrichment
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/pipermail/kictanet/attachments/20101207/c6a14b6b/attachment.htm>