[kictanet] Update on Pasha Centres

Wed Dec 8 13:56:53 EAT 2010

Edith and listers

Thanks for your comments.

The debate on Pasha has been a very interesting one. It is not about whether
or not to provide access to grassroots communities. That is a clearly stated
government policy, and something we all agree on. Indeed the new
constitution mandates this.

The Pasha debate within the Kenya ICT Board has been about HOW to create a
financially and socially sustainable operating model.

The Kenya ICT Board has been around the country and provided training to
would be Pasha managers, some of who are already in business. We have
reviewed their business plans. Some make sense and some don't. That is just
the way it is. One would expect varying degrees of maturity as the Pasha
Centres get deployed over the next few years.

Our studies have indicate that for many rural areas, people cant make money
providing just connectivity. And providing internet access without other
services would not meet community needs anyway. They have to have a business
that meets community information and service needs- in a sense a bouquet of
services.

However, our modelling has proven that even in the most remote areas, there
is a business case for content services trade and connectivity and we are
therefore confident that if entrepreneurs in those areas were provided with
assistance.  We felt that this modelling reduced the risk of failure in the
implementation of the same. Indeed, the cases of failure of these types of
projects elsewhere enriched our experiences.

As an illustration, If you charge Kshs 1 per minute (which is the current
rate countrywide in cybers) for even ten straight hours a day that would
earn you Kshs 600. per day. If you had borrowed to purchase that computer
and printer and fax machine plus paid for the software etc  the
business cash flows must pay for that. What businesses can charge for
connectivity is reducing as wholesale prices fall further in line with
government policy of increasing access.

The issue for the ICT Board has been to ensure that this project creates
entrepreneurs in rural communities who can leverage internet access as part
of their business offering. In an earlier email I detail areas we have
looked at.

The reality on the ground is that there are many cyber cafes in towns across
Kenya where one can decent internet access. The
improved connectivity situation has made it easier for many to guarantee
better services. Indeed most Kenyans across connect to the internet will get
access via a mobile modem and mostly one bought from Safaricom. Many cybers
run on mobile modems.

We had substantial delays internally in crafting this strategy and getting
the requisite approvals from the World Bank on various aspects of this
project. While this happened we were lucky to partner with CISCO, IBM global
teams to learn from their experiences around the world on this. We have
received many proposals from various bodies to partner on this project which
we welcome.  As an example in the early days we even explored turning each
PASHA center into an IT training center. This decision would have to be made
by the entrepreneur being guided by what can sustain his business.

Initially many thought that the government was going to build physical Pasha
Centres from ground up. Now many are clearer that the model is about
empowering communities through their own entrepreneurs. The Kenya ICT Board
will facilitate as much government content and providing training, technical
support and and other capacity support within the defined scope as the Pasha
Manager needs. Indeed some may end providing digitization and other services
to their local counties.

I hope this sheds some more light.

regards

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
local content project: www.tandaa.co.ke, www.facebook.com/tandaakenya
twitter:@tandaaKENYA
BPO Project: www. doitinkenya.co.ke
Digital Villages Project: www.pasha.co.ke

personal contacts
_______________

Cell: + 254 717 180001

skype: kukubopaul
googletalk: pkukubo
personal blog: 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

On Tue, Dec 7, 2010 at 6:47 PM, Edith Adera <eadera at idrc.or.ke> wrote:

>  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 | www.idrc.ca | 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
>
>
>  Ø  Kenya ICT Board will facilitate the establishment of digital access
> centers, to be known as Pasha Centres across the country.
>
> Ø  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.
>
>
>
> Ø  *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*
>
> Ø  Monday 24th January 2011, public launch of Pasha Project.
>
> Ø  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.
>
> Ø  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.
>
> Ø  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.
>
> Ø  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 and www.pasha .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
> local content project: www.tandaa.co.ke, www.facebook.com/tandaakenya
> twitter:@tandaaKENYA
> BPO Project: www. doitinkenya.co.ke
> Digital Villages Project: www.pasha.co.ke
>
>
> personal contacts
> _______________
>
> Cell: + 254 717 180001
>
>
> skype: kukubopaul
> googletalk: pkukubo
> personal blog: 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/20101208/58952092/attachment.htm>