[kictanet] [Skunkworks] SAP and Kenya ICT Board Partner on Skills Develeopment

Fri Sep 21 13:03:12 EAT 2012

Evans

That's below the belt. 

I think there's room for open and proprietary software. And besides these services fees that will go to integration etc will be shared by both Germans & Kenyans....

Can we agree that there's room for both schools of thought in this space? 

One thing for sure though. Whether you provide open or proprietary software if you suck at providing services then it won't matter... 

So can we focus on service excellence since we know that both open and proprietary software will have a role to play in our lives?

Ali Hussein

+254 773/713 601113

Sent from my iPhone®

On Sep 21, 2012, at 12:58 PM, Evans Ikua <ikua.evans at gmail.com> wrote:

> Well, if I was German and SAP was German and the money would end up in Germany, I would think the same way.
> 
> On Fri, Sep 21, 2012 at 12:43 PM, Andrea Bohnstedt <andrea.bohnstedt at ratio-magazine.com> wrote:
> Honestly, guys - maybe it's because it's Friday and I'm a bit undersugared, but what's the issue here? SAP will train 100 underprivileged students in what I can see are marketable technical skills that will give them a good foundation for a career. Boo! 
> 
> 100 out of, what - tens of thousands of kids? Hundreds of thousands of kids? *Of course* this will not fix either youth employment or the state of Kenya's ICT industry over night. It also won't fix the fact that Rhapta Road seems to be crumbling, but then again, it doesn't have to. Doesn't stop anyone from pursuing any other initiatives in the areas everyone put forward. Well done, SAP, I think! 
> 
> On 21 September 2012 12:37, Evans Ikua <ikua.evans at gmail.com> wrote:
> Mwendwa, this is where we have a disconnect. To build onto what you have pointed out, the Government would do good to actively support the development of the capacity of local developers who can be able to extend and develop local or open source ERPs, and any other systems. My big question here to Paul is, how much money do we lose in forex buying SAP and all the other software licenses annually, as a country? Can we get figures of how much a standard SAP implementation costs? How many are there in the country? How much of that money stays in the country and how much goes to Germany? Aren't we better off investing in our own developer skills so that we can keep some of this money within the country (and maybe pay teachers better)?
> 
> The reason why rich countries stay rich is because they have positive balances of payments. A poor country like Kenya has a negative balance of payments. This basically tells us that we need to import as little as possible, and export as much as possible. Then vision 2030 becomes easier to achieve.
> 
> Countries like Malaysia, Brazil, UK and Germany have come to this realization. They know what is in their best business interest and so they actively support local developer capacities, as opposed to having software engineers whose work is just to install packaged software from shiny discs.
> 
> Brain drain? When we have a situation like I have just mentioned above, the really good developers will never have an incentive to stay in a country where all they do is install software. They will soon emigrate to Germany (or Silicon Valley) where they can be employed by SAP to get involved in the exciting world where they can actually do the development. With open source, they would stay in Kenya and still get to develop exciting applications
> 
> On Fri, Sep 21, 2012 at 11:50 AM, lordmwesh <lordmwesh at gmail.com> wrote:
> This is a great debate, but we should not trivialize what the ICT
> board is trying to do in helping build local SAP developers. Any
> movement forward is welcomed.
> 
> Although Great developers don't need any baby sitting, they will move
> and work with any platform may it be proprietary closed or Free open
> source.
> 
> The debate of what software an enterprise should use should be decided
> by the investors, after analysing all risks involved.
> 
> SAP has seen an opportunity to develop local talent, great.
> 
> Anybody who feels like me that local developers should also be taught
> to integrate Open source ERPs should sponsor them too. A lot of talk
> and no walk will not help anybody.
> 
> Kudos KICTB, Any movement forward is welcomed.
> ______________________
> 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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> Kind Regards,
> Evans Ikua,
> lanetconsulting.com,
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> ict-innovation.fossfa.net,
> Skype: @ikuae
> Cell: +254-722-955831
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