[kictanet] Ksh 300, Million grant to promote the development of local digital content and, software applications.

[alice]

The Kenya ICT Board is pleased to announce the launch of a Ksh 300
Million grant to promote the development of local digital content and
software applications. The process kicked off with a ‘call for
proposals’ in today’s Daily Nation newspaper.

The main purpose of this grant is to propel the emergent lucrative but
yet underexploited local content industry to growth. The grant which
targets the local content developers including software developers,
film, animation, advertising, publishing, gaming and education
professionals and all content creators, will provide the funding
required for the development of quality applications relevant to the
Kenya government and private sector.

Digital content, a major contributor and driver of economic growth in
developed countries, can be broadly categorized as content accessed
from electronic devices like personal computers, game consoles, mobile
phones and digital TV. The internet offers the most common form of
distribution of digital content. Digital content can include anything
from internet based marketing, gaming, online education content and
services.

Worldwide, digital content activities are transforming traditional
industry structures and business models. Local examples include mobile
payment systems like M-Pesa and Pesa Pal and government e-services
like online PIN registration. Thus the digital content industry has
vast potential as a major contributor to our economy and society
through employment creation, capital investment and export earnings,
provision of skills and capabilities to traditional as well as new and
emerging industry sectors. At the same time it is also significant as
a means of expressing Kenya’s unique cultural identity.

With over 3.4 million users of the internet in Kenya, research
indicates that the importance of the internet outstrips those of
several key developed countries. Even so, the latent demand for local
content is underlined by the fact that surveys show that lack of local
content is the main reason many Kenyans shy away from accessing the
internet. On the launch of the grant facility, the CEO, Kenya ICT
Board Paul Kukubo, commented,

“We are pleased that we are launching this grant at a time that the
ICT industry is growing and access to the internet all over the
country has vastly improved. The future for content industry is
bright. Talent, creativity and skills are key drivers of
competitiveness in the content sector and we expect that this grant
will enable Kenyans everywhere to develop world class locally relevant
content and get this industry to rapidly match the lucrative
opportunities for talented content developers in developed nations.”

Kenyan content developers have already demonstrated their ability to
be innovative, creative and entrepreneurial in their creation of
content that is relevant to our people.

The increase in locally developed software applications, websites,
films and animation has been extraordinary over the past few years.
However, despite evidence of commercial potential, it is not currently
competitive in attracting funds and investment capital. This content
grant will give content creators in the country a chance to
demonstrate their talent, in both the artistic, social and business
environment and propel investor confidence in the sector in the long
term.

Speaking at the press conference, the Deputy CEO, Victor Kyalo
commented, “It is important that with the landing of the fiber optic
cables that we as a country produce local digital content, not just
‘access’ other peoples content. It is very positive that Kenyans
embrace and appreciate ICTs, but more important is that there are more
Kenyan made e-Products available in the market.

We want this grant to motivate the local content creators and software
developers to originate, create, and adapt quality content that the
country needs .We intend this content grant to be a driver for the
long term development of content and recognize that private and public
sector need to pool resources to meet the capacity challenges this
lucrative sector faces.”

The Government attaches high priority to addressing skills shortages
because of the threat they pose to productivity and economic growth.
To address this, the Kenya ICT Board has a number of initiatives
purposed to build skills in the ICT sector. Among these are a Centre
of Excellence for the BPO sector, an incubation program for software
developers and a software certification standard that will give
international accreditation and competitiveness to our local
developers. Additionally, the board is creating organic growth within
the ICT sector by training entrepreneurs (over 1000 already trained)
to run digital villages all over the country. All these coupled with
the improved infrastructure, has put Kenya in the forefront of
potentially explosive growth in the content and software development
sub-sector.
About the grant

The content grant is divided into two major sections: US$1.5Million
for private sector applications and US$2.5M for government
applications. The latter will be used to propel the utilization of
ICTs to improve government service delivery . The government has in
the past few years firmly embraced ICT to become more efficient and
responsive in the delivery of its public service - from processing ID
cards, driving licenses, registration of companies, revenue collection
and currently, the digitization of records at the Ministry of Lands
and the judiciary, with more government departments to follow. This is
all in line with Kenya’s vision of becoming a globally competitive and
prosperous nation with a high quality of life by 2030.


The private sector grant of US$1.5M is open to firms and individuals
to develop applications that would be of benefit to the general public
or improve the delivery of existing private sector services.


The first round of grant allocation will award a maximum of US$ 50,000
per firms and US$ 10,000 for individuals. The Kenya ICT Board expects
to make at least one call for application per year over the next three
years.

The content funded by this grant will build capacity within the ICT
sector create efficiencies, build social capital, increase utilization
of ICTs by local communities and demonstrate to the world, Kenya’s
talent for creation of digital content.

Key dates


Call for proposals: June 2, 2010

Deadline for proposals: July 19, 2010

Successfully grantees announced: 15 August, 2010

Disbursement of grant money: October 2010

http://wanjiku.co.ke/
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