[kictanet] Update from Kenya ICT Board Bellagio,

Wed Mar 30 11:28:19 EAT 2011

Edwin, Robert, listers,

We plan a local forum to take this forward and will be working with all stockholders to take this forward. I will communicate when and how shortly.

Prior to going to Bellagio the Kenya ICT Board called a stakeholder forum attended by some of the BPO operators. We got a small but very engaged quorum. I have been posting this Bellagio plan on this forum and on our mailing lists, twitter and Facebook for many months and kept this forum informed. I have briefed various forums. And I am informing this forum that we are in talks for Bellagio 2012. 

The Kenya ICT Board spent a year prior raising funds to market Kenya and received gracious support from the Rockefeller Foundation to use their world famous facility in Bellagio Italy free of charge.  This allowed us to attract some high profile guests and to get Kenya's profile raised within those circles by speaking to our market on their home turf. Country marketing takes many forms and international consultative engagement is certainly one of them.  It is not an either or question, it complements whatever else we do. 

Seven Seas and Kencall are representative of what is possible from Kenyan ICT entrepreneurs. They are certainly not the only ones and next year we shall choose others. What was critical was the ability to sell our capability. Seven Seas did a sterling job making the case for a young mid-thirties entrepreneur who has grown his business from scratch and attracted funding. The company also came through as world class and mature. All of us agree that entrepreneurs are the core of ICT. 

We have commenced plans for a Silicon Valley visit co-ordinated by one of the silicon valley panelists we met at the Bellagio forum. We are looking for funding to showcase some of the local entrepreneurs in the mobile applications space. Our silicon valley contacts indicate that this is an area that would interest the valley and would help spotlight Kenyan potential. Certainly  the mobile boot camps organized by the local universities which the Kenya ICT Board has supported over the years will be an interesting pool. The Kenya ICT Board shall be coming back to you with details.

I want to thank you for raising the issues and the Kenya ICT Board is privileged to be able to continue to meet its obligation with regard to public information.

Regards

Paul Kukubo
CEO, Kenya ICT Board

Sent from my iPad

On 30 Mar 2011, at 09:32, eonchari at lynxbits.com wrote:

> Robert,
> 
> I have raised similar sentiments before (with the McKinsey (sp) study approach- I am yet to get clarifications) but this has been seen as unpatriotic and having a post-Kanu hangover. Not to take anything away from the accomplishments of Seven Seas and KenCall, but are these firms 100%  representative of the industry? Was it too difficult/expensive to collect the views of other players in the industry to capture the true feel of what is happening?
> 
> Edwin
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk
> To: eonchari at lynxbits.com
> Cc: kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke 
> Sent: 3/30/11 1:32 AM 
> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Update from Kenya ICT Board Bellagio,
> 
> Paul,
> 
> Sorry for having to pour cold water on this initiative but as a tourist destination and being that we are trying to sell the countries capabilities would it not have been more productive and cost effective to have had the session in country?
> 
> If this session was held here and we shipped in the 20 experts we would have been able to include 100 Kenyans in the discussion and therefore have a more balanced result from the activity.  In addition the experts would have been able to get an actual feel of the issues in the country for example by calling some of the local customers service departments and be able to give a more in-touch response.
> 
> Just being the devils advocate here but from the report synopsis there is nothing new in the results all this issues have been raised repeatedly over the past couple of years.
> 
> Regards
>  
> Robert Yawe
> KAY System Technologies Ltd
> Phoenix House, 6th Floor
> P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200
> Kenya
> 
> Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696
> 
> 
> From: Paul Kukubo 
> To: robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk
> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions 
> Sent: Tue, 29 March, 2011 19:17:22
> Subject: [kictanet] Update from Kenya ICT Board Bellagio, Italy Summit 2011
> 
> Listers
> 
> As my team finalizes the report from the 1st Kenya ICT Board Summit in Bellagio, Italy.  We had invited a team of 20 odd people from all over the world to revalidation of our value proposition. The team comprised BPO analysts and marketers, silicon valley venture capitalists, Europe based Venture capitalist invested here, representative from World Bank, country strategist from Malaysia, International blue chip firm executives representatives. from Kenya we had 3 firms (Seven Seas technologies, and Kencall) and a members of academia. The Permanent Secretary Dr Bitange Ndemo was in attendance.
> 
> I would like to highlight some of the key conclusions. We are already planning for Bellagio 2, next year same time.
> 
> The statement of our value proposition now reads as follows: Kenya is a globally competitive ICT partner gifted with entrepreneurial spirit and able to translate emerging market needs and connect them with demanding multinationals. Through much debate, the panel concluded that we need to balance our emphasis on export based BPO, and call centre with support for Kenyan based entrepreunerially based ICT growth.  Both are seen as complimentary in terms of job creation. Our value proposition is thus not just focussed on outsourcing but on overall ICT sector competitiveness.
> ICT is both a sector (firms that provide ICT) and an enabler of all sectors. We need to look at both in our strategy. Malaysia has done this quite nicely even quantifying the size and impact of both.
> Kenya has an opportunity to be perceived as a world leader in emerging market innovations: Safaricom MPESA and Mobile Money, USHAHIDI, Livestock Insurance (ILRI), Mastercard-Airtel Mobile Wallet product, to name a few. 
> There are companies in Kenya that are now attracting international venture capital financing. Both BPO and call centre companies and non BPO tech firms. Once capital starts trickling into a sector, this is most promising.
> The global BPO sector is quite big and cannot be ignored. many countries are chasing the sector. Kenya's English language talent and skilled professionals provide us with strong credentials that must be leveraged. The Indian IT outsourcing sector and the Philippines call centre sector took years to grow and was led by the private sector. Government support came in much later. Kenya can learn and fastrack, and government support is important.
> Government services can catalyse the sector. Government and public sector spending on ICT is substantial across infrastructure, applications and services, project management and capacity. Indeed many Kenyan and international firms have benefited and grown from this. what is needed is an improved framework for technology and capacity transfer for the very large projects which have international contractors. rule of thumb is 1/3 consultancy, 1/3 project management, 1/3 technical delivery. As our software and systems firms develop, they will find that the technical bits are only part of a total package, that includes project management, business analysis marketing etc. Indeed some have made the leap quite nicely.
> Kenya ICT Board needs to continue to implement on the basis of supporting both export based services and exciting and growing the local entrepreneurs.
> More from us once the final report is concluded.
> 
> 
> 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 
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