[kictanet] Kenya's "Silicon Savannah" to challenge India on IT

[Agosta Liko]

Joseph,

Private sector players have found a way to grow their businesses and
there are success stories anywhere where the founders were focused and
executed.

3 years ago, we said internet is a problem, at that time, people had
setup 50+ seat call centers ...

2 years ago, the talk was capacity building, certification and how to
prepare the natives.

Now, everyone is talking about lack of access to capital... And I am
seeing everyone become or want to become an incubator.

Can we have a sitting as private sector players and chart the course

Also.. I don't see Bretton Woods, worldbank etc coming to help...

Thanks

On 6/11/11, Joseph McDonald <mcdonaldoj at gmail.com> wrote:
> The local IT community need to work more closely and with collaboration,
> look at problems and lobby the government, because technology is not about
> programming and coding only or having web this and that or mobile this and
> that. It is addressing a national or global problem by enriching life to
> make it more efficient. Having said that IT people cannot work in isolation
> they need to work with Business Planners, Business Model Specialist, Product
> Managers and Marketers specialist,Investors,Value Chain Specialist, Lawyers
> etc.so ihub should also allow other non-IT people into the hub.
>
> I know there has been lots of debate on Investors and funding, if the
> funding from Bretton Woods and the government is not forthcoming how about
> people who have made their careers and riches through IT, if people who have
> made all their careers and riches in IT can not support others then who
> will? I know of many IT companies owned by people in this list who make
> between 24-75 million USD a year.e.g Craft Silicon has made 10 billion in
> the last 10 years, MJ, Seven Seas, East Africa Capital Partners etc have the
> resource and clout to start venture capital or act as angel investors. As
> insiders if they made a deliberate effort to support other young and
> upcoming innovators we can head somewhere. Silicon Valley was largely built
> by networks of people and companies whose interlocking relationships help to
> spawn new start-ups e.g. After selling Paypal for 1.5 billion USD  to eBay,
> its founders and alumni have helped both financially and intellectually to
> start up numerous internet start-ups e.g. Yelp, Youtube, LinkedIn, Slide,
> Room9Entertainment, Spacex among others. So much that in October 17 2006 NY
> times run a story called It Pays to have Pals at Paypal.
>
>
>
> The government also has a very important role; they can create an enabling
> environment especially to protect the ideas through effective and efficient
> copy right laws and patenting system, creating subsidies for research etc
> the government can also give more business to local IT companies, and
> fundamentally the government need to streamline our educational systems so
> that we can have 16-25 year olds who are ready to go into innovation and
> venture into business. India is reaping from the decisions their government
> made in 1948 by setting up Business and Technology institutions in every
> major city. The government is making efforts through building the
> techno-parks etc techno-park is good but is it a real estate investment or
> an investment to spur ICT growth? As a-country we need to assess our place
> in the global IT value chain, we need to find out what we are good at and
> can do better than everyone else. China, Malaysia and Taiwan used their
> population to offer cheap labour, India used excess bandwidth to set-up call
> centers, America is good at marketing etc
>
>
>
> Having said that I think that the debates are healthy because it shows
> people are genuinely worried and are ready to take action.
>
>
> On Fri, Jun 10, 2011 at 10:22 PM, Agosta Liko <agostal at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Mark
>>
>> I can't agree more on an easy api to enable Kenyans to pay on the
>> phone....
>>
>> This would be a killer app
>>
>> On 6/10/11, Mark Mwangi <mwangy at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > These wonderful stories are just that. Stories. I know Dr. Ndemo will
>> start
>> > calling me unpatriotic and negative but I stand my ground. We are not
>> > America and we are not India and so attempting to replicate the same
>> model
>> > is rather unimaginative. I believe we should focus our efforts with
>> models
>> > that work here.
>> > Instead of introducing a Visa card that can be loaded via mpesa, push
>> local
>> > developers to develop a secure API that allows for easy payment online
>> via
>> > phone. Make the phone number the unique identifier e.t.c
>> >
>> > We don't want to be Bangalore. We want a Kenyan Identity cultivated here
>> not
>> > by a western journalist.
>> >
>> > Making grand announcements and mentions in articles allover does not
>> develop
>> > the tech scene. I am smelling a tech bubble. Lots of talk, very little
>> > on
>> > the ground.
>> >
>>
>> --
>> Sent from my mobile device
>>
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>

-- 
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