[kictanet] My reflections on #140Friday and the (failed) Policy Paper

[Brian Munyao Longwe]

Every once in a while you find a cause or initiative that resonates with
your values, passions and interests. That is what happened when, last year
a heated debate on twitter  between techies, IT entrepreneurs and the
public sector led to a call for a physical face-to-face meeting to thrash
out the issues. The main focus of the debate was the question of why most
of the juicy IT deals tend to go to multinationals or overseas IT
companies. Over the course of the online debate a number of issues came to
the fore, these included shortcomings or weakness that hindered local IT
companies from obtaining large projects; other issues also included public
procurement policy and practice which effectively locked out local
companies. Once there was consensus to have a face-to-face meeting I was
nominated to pull it together, make it happen and effectively facilitate
the whole engagement.

The Nailab, a leading incubator, offered their offices as a venue for the
meeting. In preparing, I not only reached out to key players in industry,
government and civil society but also involved the media. We were able to
get the attention of Nation Media's CEO Linus Gitahi and he approved our
use of one of their business anchors, Larry Madowo, as a moderator for the
face to face debate. The first debate was very well attended, the issues
well articulated, the dialogue fresh and frank. A number of actions points
came out of the first debate and these included:

   - ICT businesses (both large, small and startup) needed to organize
   themselves into a single industry body that could act as an interface
   between government and industry
   - Develop a policy paper for presentation to Government which captured a
   vision for the growth and development of the ICT industry in Kenya as well
   as a roadmap of actions that could get us there.

Strangely and somewhat unexpectedly, the responsibility for coordinating
the above two action points fell to me. I did not shrink from the task but
made it clear that since I did not have an IT business of my own, and was
not at the time part of any local company that I would simply try to act as
a facilitator but that actions would have to come from the stakeholders
themselves. We then brainstormed and figured out that it would be best for
the industry association to be prioritized, as the drafting of the policy
paper proceeded in order that the industry body would be the one that
presented the completed paper. A target was set of presenting the paper at
the Connected Kenya Summit which was to take place in the first week of
April.

In the process of thinking about how best to handle the industry body
action point, an organization called KITOS (Kenya IT and Outsourcing
Services) offered itself as the vehicle which could be used to bring
industry together. This was received fairly well by most, albeit with some
concern that the organization had been primarily known as being
representative of those active in the BPO and ITES sector. These concerns
were waived by the incumbent officials at KITOS who said that a simple name
change could totally transform the perception and make the organization's
name sound more representative. This then led to a few meetings where KITOS
introduced itself to industry stakeholders in the #140Friday process. In
these meetings discussions on membership criteria, membership fees etc were
discussed. After it was clear that dialogue had been established between
KITOS and it's potential members I exited from the scene as it was now up
to them to thrash things out and make it happen. A parting shot that I left
was that I felt that the membership categories and accompanying fees did
not provide an entry point for poor startups or freelancers to join, and
that they were an equally important part of the value chain and industry.

I then carried on with focus meetings with various individuals to
crystallize the policy paper draft which would be presented at the
Connected summit. This process went well and eventually time for the event
arrived. But KITOS asked me to present on their behalf as they had not yet
finalized their stuff. With a lot of support from Mike Macharia of Seven
Seas and advice from Paul Kukubo of the ICT Board I presented the draft. It
was my expectation that KITOS would thereafter continue with the role and
actions that were agreed on in the first #140Friday meeting. Including
finalizing/polishing the policy paper for formal submission to Government

It therefore came as a big surprise to me when I heard very recently that I
had failed to deliver a policy paper from industry to Government. I HAD
FAILED! This is what has lead me to write this account, not to vindicate
myself but to put the facts out there for scrutiny for anyone who might
have given ear to those who for whatever reason are seeking to cast
aspersion upon me. I may have many failings but I will not sit down and
take responsibility for the failings of others.

This year, the Nailab and I have decided to pick up, dist off and relaunch
the lively #140Friday ICT debates as they proved a very effective tool to
galvanize debate, discussion and action on current affairs in the ICT
sector.
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