[kictanet] Marketing ICT in Kenya

[robert yawe]

It is unfortunate that Kenya only had 2 apps in its entire arsenal Mpesa and Ushahidi just like our tourism remains about the Big 5.

On the positive side that is 1 app more than Mark Zuckerberg who said in an interview that he only has one app in him and if he gives it away is will have nothing to live for just like many of our developers.

I was at DEMO Africa and of all the Kenyan solutions only 1 (www.sleepout.com) could have a global impact all the rest were the usual run of the mill systems.

When compared to those from South Africa (www.zehoo.me), Nigeria (www.otgplaya.com) and Egypt (www.eventtus.com) it was clear that we have not started developing serious applications yet.

It is time to stop lying to each other that we are a leading ICT destination and be critical of ourselves.

Trips have been made to Silicon Valley, MIT, Cyber City and many others but the only reason they happened was for a few fat cuts to earn air miles and per-DE-eem.

Fortunately all is not lost, at the Safaricom AppWiz Challenge I saw the seeds of hope that had found good soil in which to germinate, unfortunately since I was on the judging panel I cannot reveal what I saw until the final results are announced.

So Ngigi before we go off to foreign lands let us make sure we are not wearing the kings new cloths.

Regards

 
Robert Yawe
KAY System Technologies Ltd
Phoenix House, 6th Floor
P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200
Kenya


Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696



On Monday, 4 November 2013, 18:59, Ngigi Waithaka <ngigi at at.co.ke> wrote:
 
Listers,

I came across this ( http://www.nation.co.ke/business/marketing-Kenya-at-London-expo/-/996/2058864/-/hjcm4e/-/index.html ) where Kenya tourism Board takes 50 firms in the Tourism & Hospitality industry to an international expo in London to showcase Kenya's Tourism opportunities.

During some discussions we had at #140Friday sometime back, there was a good suggestion that the then Kenya ICT Board should sue at least 50% of their marketing budgets to actually marketing Kenya's firms, services & products in the ICT Sector.

We know this currently doesn't happen as most of their (KICT Board) marketing budgets gets spent up in travelling per-diems to every other forum being held globally somewhere.

I wonder, is there any way we could, as Listers, have our say into how the funds allocated to Marketing Kenya as an ICT destination could then be used directly to promote local firms, services and products?
-- 

Regards,

Waithaka Ngigi
Chief Executive Officer | Alliance Technologies | MCK Nairobi Synod Building
T + 254 (0) 20 2333 471 |Office Mobile: +254 786 28 28 28 | M + 254 737 811 000

www.at.co.ke


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