[kictanet] Digital migration and local manufacturing

Tue Dec 25 16:58:19 EAT 2012

Dr. Ndemo,

Amen!!!  Amen!!!

I wish this can be an Op Ed in our daily papers.

Education of the mind, and I mean the mindset is what we in Kenya are starving of.

Kenyans need to be educated on how to think bigger, appreciate the small gains but not be obscured by them.  We must be able to think in abstract terms.  That's how inventions are made, apps are written, content is generated etc.  This is one the most precious assets the developed world has passed on from generation over and over.

Happy and Safe Holidays everyone!

Mwaniki Njoroge, PMP
CEO, EDF
Mwaniki at edf.co.ke

Sent from my iPhone

On Dec 25, 2012, at 3:27 AM, bitange at jambo.co.ke wrote:

> Kivuva,
> This time let us not stop here.  Somehow let us make this a campaign
> issue.  We need someone to start talking about educational reforms.  I do
> not mean changing the system but trying inclusiveness and find a solution
> to the majority who do not get admission to college.
> 
> For a start, we must have a polytechnic in every county to offer hands on
> training in many thematic areas.  It is absurd that we have unemployed
> Kenyans when we hire technicians to repair an X-ray machine.  We have only
> four trained per-fusionists in a country of 40 million.  Even in nursing
> we only focus in very few areas.  In Engineering the situation is pathetic
> forty nine years after independence.  Numerical Machining Complex lies
> virtually idle as we keep on importing every item the machine can make.
> 
> Our greatest dilemma is in dealing with the supply-side of labour, without
> thinking about the the demand-side of it.  This is the only thing we want
> our politicians to remember to avoid past mistakes.  Let me elaborate. 
> After Independence Kenya had the best educational system which absorbed
> many high school graduates into middle level colleges such as the Kenya
> Science Teachers College, Egerton and all other agricultural institutes,
> Medical training institutions, water engineering in South C, Utalii
> College etc.  We never had issues to do with food security as agricultural
> extension officers dotted the country.  The surplus of our labour went to
> neighbouring countries.
> 
> Botswana's beef industry was built by Kenyans.  The road networks in
> Swaziland was done by Kenyans.  Our Utalii college graduates are in every
> hotel in Dubai today.  All these countries have done well.  Take for
> example, Dubai.  By comparison, Dubai receives seven million visitors a
> month.  Why? because they have balanced demand and supply for labour by
> building a world class transport hub, building world class hotels and
> ensured security.  To do this they had to free their mind from a
> minimalist approach to broad thinking.  In Kenya we build a four lane
> Highway we call it a super highway and almost want to take a break to
> admire it.  There is no drive replicate the same throughout the country.
> 
> In Tourism we failed and that is why our labour is glob trotting in search
> of greener pastures and maintain a competitive advantage for their adopted
> countries.  Kenya needs more than 200 new hotels and superior airports in
> order to scale up our tourism to levels where we can become a major
> player.  I mean like receiving 2 million visitors a month.  We cannot
> attain this with our selfish approach to development.  Where individuals
> build hopeless structures they call hotels instead of aggregating
> resources with others to build proper and aesthetically built hotels that
> can attract better returns (in other words we have the resources but
> because we have not been schooled to embrace aesthetics, we keep on
> wasting our resources and getting poorer even those who should not be). 
> If you want to know more visit our peri urban centers like (Ngong,
> Kiserian, Kiambu, Kitengela, Ruiru, Thika) and see the amount waste that
> has gone into these structures.  We have done the same since independence
> building shops in market center that are never put into any economic use. 
> In my earlier studies, we have put in excess of $15 billion into such
> waste and people ask why Africans get poorer as they get older.
> 
> In the proposed education reforms we must cover such courses such as
> investments formats, resource mobilization, entrepreneurship, patriotism
> etc.  This is what Kivuva referred to in Mahatma Gandhi.  Indians did not
> revere Gandhi for his non violence call but because he successfully
> managed to decolonize the minds of Indians by asking them to burn any
> imported clothes and embracing their own; in leaning his people to salt
> mines to make their own salt.  In Kenya only Ngugi wa Thiongo tried but
> failed because he was too academic in approach.  We needed simpler methods
> of decolonizing the mind.  To date we continue to create a rift among our
> people by allowing two educational systems, that is, the Kenyan and the
> British.  When shall we begin to build a harmonious Nation?  Tell your
> preferred candidate to make this a priority.
> 
> 
> Ndemo.
> 
> 
> 
>> Thank you Dr. Ndemo for spotting the elephant in the room.
>> 
>> Mahatma Gandhi did his country good for preaching self sustainability.
>> With proper implementation of brand Kenya initiative, we might use
>> more local products and follow India's footsteps. Just remember, "the
>> cowards never started, the weak died in the way, only the strong
>> arrived. They were the pioneers."
>> 
>> Francois-Marie Arouet de Voltaire Said, "No problem can withstand the
>> assault of sustained thinking." I think Daktari you are thinking in
>> the right direction.
>> 
>> On 24/12/2012, bitange at jambo.co.ke <bitange at jambo.co.ke> wrote:
>>> Kivuva,
>>> I am really having a terrible time with internet connectivity here in
>>> India.  It cost more than Ksh. 2,000 per an hour for a 512K link.  By
>>> the
>>> time I read a two page attachment, the time is over with no warning.
>>> 
>>> I want to thank you for reviving the local manufacturing issue.  As
>>> Mwale
>>> states, this where I started anticipating migration by 2012.  We could
>>> not
>>> get support in spite of Dr. Gachigi's effort to develop a prototype.  I
>>> personally went round talking to our industrialists.  They wanted
>>> numbers.
>>> I could not provide attractive numbers since this is a stop gap
>>> measure.
>>> Instead I went round talking how we can leverage 3D printing to start
>>> elevating Jua Kali Industries into local manufacturing without
>>> necessarily
>>> getting into the economies of scale trap.
>>> 
>>> The good news is that Dr. Gachigi is still determined.  Just recently I
>>> wrote that he needed Ksh. 15 million to start local manufacturing of
>>> hand
>>> sets.  I went further and talked to two chip makers who have gracefully
>>> accepted to give us their mobile handset platform.  We have no investors
>>> (risk takers) yet but it is going to work and we propel our country into
>>> light electronic manufacturing.  It needs the commitment of Kenyans to
>>> buy
>>> local.  Every 10 vehicles I count here in India, seven are local.
>>> Actually even the foreign brands are manufactured locally.  This not a
>>> government problem but a serious cultural dilemma.
>>> 
>>> Ndemo.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> Dear Dr. Ndemo, wishing you a safe flight back home, and a quick
>>>> recovery to your loved one.
>>>> 
>>>> Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you too
>>>> 
>>>> On 21/12/2012, bitange at jambo.co.ke <bitange at jambo.co.ke> wrote:
>>>>> Stephen,
>>>>> I wanted to stay out of this till the ruling in court but I cannot
>>>>> keep
>>>>> quiet when you tell the whole world lies on mobile penetration in
>>>>> Kenya.
>>>>> Virtually every adult Kenyan has access to mobile in 2G.  The fastest
>>>>> growing market is broadband because of the growing needs by the poor
>>>>> to
>>>>> get their produce to market or get the best pricing.  This is what the
>>>>> many applications that are being developed in Kenya will do.  Rural
>>>>> schools need the broadband most since education too is going e. While
>>>>> mobile coverage in Kenya is at 90% (mostly 2G coverage), land mass
>>>>> coverage stands at 40% with 80% mobile penetration.  Mpesa is not for
>>>>> the
>>>>> rich like Mutoro but the poor and is accessible to 90% of the poor.
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> The need to migrate to 4G is critical in planning our broadband needs
>>>>> in
>>>>> the next one year.  For us to meet the projected demand we must get to
>>>>> the
>>>>> last mile.  This means that getting to the poor since mot of the rich
>>>>> have
>>>>> fibre connevtivity to their homes.
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> I take great exception with your statements.  My Key Performance Index
>>>>> (KPI)is how many people in Kenya rich and poor have access to
>>>>> internet.
>>>>> This is significantly different from your KPI of counting how many
>>>>> cases
>>>>> you have taken to court over the perceived infringement of consumer
>>>>> rights. While you can criticise me as a public servant, I am not able
>>>>> to
>>>>> even know your funding sources and the motives for funding.  I do not
>>>>> question but this is what Kenyans are talking in low tones.
>>>>> 
>>>>> What we can do for now is to rephrase John F. Kennedy's quote to read
>>>>> "ask
>>>>> not what the poor may be wanting; ask what you have done to remove
>>>>> poverty".  Going to court purpoting to represent the poor is a
>>>>> bouguasie
>>>>> cover up.  Let us stand up for the poor and help eliminate poverty by
>>>>> teaching them to navigate the high seas of technology and fish for
>>>>> their
>>>>> sustainable living.
>>>>> 
>>>>> I am in India for some family medical case but I must report that
>>>>> Delhi
>>>>> whose per capita income is lower than Nairobi, has fully migrated to
>>>>> Digital.  The poor are now enjoying watching TV in the languages they
>>>>> understand (this is a requirement in our constitution).  Three hundred
>>>>> new
>>>>> channels have come up including one helping consumers understand what
>>>>> is
>>>>> in the market and how it compares with other competitors.  Perhaps you
>>>>> need to upgrade your approach to consumerism.  Only technology will
>>>>> help
>>>>> be more effective.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year my brother.
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> Ndemo.
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> --
>>>> ______________________
>>>> Mwendwa Kivuva
>>>> For
>>>> Business Development
>>>> Transworld Computer Channels
>>>> Cel: 0722402248
>>>> twitter.com/lordmwesh
>>>> transworldAfrica.com | Fluent in computing
>>>> kenya.or.ke | The Kenya we know
>> 
>> 
>> --
>> ______________________
>> Mwendwa Kivuva
>> For
>> Business Development
>> Transworld Computer Channels
>> Cel: 0722402248
>> twitter.com/lordmwesh
>> transworldAfrica.com | Fluent in computing
>> kenya.or.ke | The Kenya we know
> 
> 
> 
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> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
> 
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