[kictanet] Dreams of a cosy career that turned into a nightmare

Tue Nov 20 16:43:31 EAT 2012

Hi Ali/Grace,

We should not forget that KRA provided platform and the time for Samson to
develop the innovation. Here is the case of shared IPR and Samson needs to
be rewarded by KRA in light of the exceptional work he undertook and also
given the right recognition. This sort of issue should have been managed by
the Human Resources department properly, it is really a shame that it has
gone to the courts, it is a serious loss of momentum for both the parties
involved.

Best Regards,

Baiju Shah

Managing Partner

Telemedia Africa.

From: kictanet
[mailto:kictanet-bounces+baiju=tele2media.com at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On
Behalf Of Ali Hussein
Sent: 20 November 2012 14:26
To: Baiju Shah
Cc: kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Dreams of a cosy career that turned into a nightmare

Grace

I guess that's the question the courts will answer as I believe this has
already been taken up by lawyers for Samson. 

http://www.nation.co.ke/Features/smartcompany/Dreams-of-a-cosy-career/-/1226
/1623712/-/qdkj18z/-/index.html

I think though the bigger question is how are we preparing our young
brilliant minds for the rough and tumble of starting and building
sustainable businesses? 

Ali Hussein

Twitter: @AliHKassim

Skype: abu-jomo

On Tue, Nov 20, 2012 at 12:37 PM, Grace Githaiga <ggithaiga at hotmail.com>
wrote:

Ali

Does the innovation belong to the employer considering it may have been
developed to suit the needs of the employer? This might be open to various
interpretations by different lawyers. 

This caught my attention:

"According to the letter, KRA has used the technovation and communicated it
to a third party, although the law states that this entitles the technovator
to "a remuneration which shall be fixed by mutual agreement between the
technovator and the enterprise.

This is because KRA went ahead to submit the system to an international
innovation fair, where it won an award. It has since publicised the award,
even on its website".

http://www.nation.co.ke/Features/smartcompany/KRA-caught-up-in-Sh1-billion-t
ender-row/-/1226/1623708/-/item/2/-/rpgfcm/-/index.html

  _____  

From: ali at hussein.me.ke
Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2012 09:58:01 +0300
Subject: [kictanet] Dreams of a cosy career that turned into a nightmare
CC: kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
To: ggithaiga at hotmail.com

Listers

This is an interesting case study of the link between employer/employee
relations on Intellectual Property. Who owns the IP when you invent/innovate
while working at a company and the invention/innovation is directly linked
to the work you have been hired to do?

IN SUMMARY

*	When Mr Samson Ngengi beat thousands of applicants to land the
coveted position at the tax agency in December 2009, the graduate of Jomo
Kenyatta University of Science and Technology (JKUAT) had one thing on his
mind; to ensure that he gets absorbed into the job
*	Mr Ngengi came up with an innovation that links plot boundaries and
location, ownership, and building details as well as tax status of a
taxpayer as a single view in a computer application, in an effort to give
KRA an insight into how to get its pound of flesh from the lucrative real
estate sector
*	His innovation was named the Geo-spatial Revenue Collection
Information System (GEOCRIS). But little did he know that he would, early in
his career, find himself fighting his employer

Is there a strong case here to also focus our Techpreneurs on the 'softer'
stuff of turning their ideas/products etc into viable businesses? You know
the boring stuff...the nuts and bolts of building an enduring business?
Protecting your business idea, building a business system to deliver on the
values opposition, sales, legal standing (company registration) etc..

What would have happened if Samson had decided to quite his job at KRA and
develop his idea independently?

There has been lots of news of late about the hype that has become known as
'Silicon Savannah'. It would be sad if the hype is not concurrently followed
by serious efforts to build an ecosystem to support all these brilliant (and
not so brilliant) ideas and turn them into strong enduring businesses. 

For every Cellulant there are maybe tens of others that will never see the
light of day. 

There is a case here for a new type of Multi-stakeholder intervention -
between government, private sector (VC, Companies etc) and Not For Profits.
I suspect this is already happening in some form or other. More focus is
required.

Ali Hussein

CEO | 3mice interactive media Ltd

Principal | Telemedia Africa Ltd

+254 773/713 601113

Sent from my iPad

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