[kictanet] KENYA'S TECH START UPS AND FLUFF

Mon Jan 12 21:06:06 EAT 2015

Hi Listers,

I would insist that in as much as criticism is good, the Reuter's article
should have done just a little more research for a less controversial
conclusion - as observed in my earlier response. For those really
interested in following the diverse investor perspectives on the Kenyan
startup scene, kindly watch this video we took of a fireside chat PIVOT
East in 2014. It is a about the size and quality of the deal pipeline for
tech start-ups in Kenya - Sadly we could not have participation from 88mph
as had been envisaged.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQy-9JHqBrU
In the video, you hear perspectives from Savannah Fund, TLCom Capital and
Growth Hub.

Wanjiku's response is worth a read for as many seeking to enrich their
understanding of the ecosystem. Erik Hersman's article on who got funded in
2014 is also worth a read - there are indeed investors betting on Kenyan
start-ups as recently as 2014.

I am still convinced that for new interventions to be relevant in the
ecosystem, we all must try and distinguish between the various classes of
ICT enterprises we are discussing - hence device very appropriate
interventions. Since am unable to convince everyone hear, I shall go ahead
and just blog more about this.

Best regards

On Mon, Jan 12, 2015 at 7:16 PM, Grace Githaiga via kictanet <
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

> http://www.wanjiku.co.ke/2015/01/kenyas-tech-start-ups-and-fluff/
>
> ------------------------------
> Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 18:05:55 +0300
> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Kenya's Tech Startup scene leaves investors
> underwhelmed
> From: kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
> To: ggithaiga at hotmail.com
>
> According to Robert Yawe: https://t.co/pJfVm9ffxi
>
> ______________________
> Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya
>
> "There are some men who lift the age they inhabit, till all men walk on
> higher ground in that lifetime." - Maxwell Anderson
>
>
> On 12 January 2015 at 16:21, Phares Kariuki via kictanet <
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>
> http://www.wanjiku.co.ke/2015/01/kenyas-tech-start-ups-and-fluff/
>
> Wanjiku's take
>
> On Sun, Jan 11, 2015 at 1:44 PM, S.M. Muraya via kictanet <
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>
> @walu @makali
>
> Automation varies e.g. systems (infrastructure) automation vs Business
> Process Automation.
> Business Process automation is big in societies which favor
> efficiency/hospitality over fraud.
>
>
> http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240237777/Forrester-IT-maintenance-saps-budget-as-tech-spending-increases
>
> For business automation, locals get along better with locals, and do much
> better than expatriates.
> Smart expatriate entrepreneurs/investors focus more on infrastructure
> automation/management.
> Business automation involves understanding how an organization or society
> needs/wants to work.
>
> As the Reuters article noted (GSMA research), local investors (which must
> include public officials) are not well informed.
>
> Regards
>
> Murigi / Stanley Muraya
>
> *"Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one
> who takes a city." Prov 16:32*
>
> On Wed, Jan 7, 2015 at 8:38 PM, Walubengo J via kictanet <
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>
> @David,
>
> sounds like a good topic.  Investment in the ICT arena.  I would imagine
> that high-capital investments are done and dusted i.e. setting up mobile
> networks, setting up media and broadcasting houses, laying fiber, etc.
>
> The remaining area of ICT investment is in the low-capital investment area
> a.k.a innovations. Software based Innovations along the spirit of FB,
> Twitter, MPESA, Google, etc.  Essentially Kenya lacks investors in this
> space.  Local banks only fund the traditional, tried and tested business
> models like opening up a bakery, building flats for sale/rent, land
> transactions, etc but have not time to invest in "ideas".
>
> So you would probably need to schedule 2 talks/sessions around.
>
> 1. Why and how to fund/investment  in ICT ideas/research (get  someone
> from Govt, Commission for Sci, Tech & Innovation (??) , get someone from
> Academia, (Dr. Ndemo?) , from Industry ((Joe/Veronica of Safcom
> Innovation Directorate))
>
> 2. Why Kenyan investors dont fund ideas/innovations (get one fellow from
> Industry(Joe/Veronica of Safcom Innovation Directorate), Govt (Victor,
> ICTA) , Investment banker/Venture Capitalist (e.g. ????)
>
> You can pay me 2Chickens for the advise...IEBC type Chicken not your local
> luhyia rooster :-)
>
> walu.
>
>   ------------------------------
>  *From:* David Makali via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> *To:* jwalu at yahoo.com
> *Sent:* Wednesday, January 7, 2015 4:32 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Kenya's Tech Startup scene leaves investors
> underwhelmed
>
> Folks:
>  I would like to frame a discussion on citizen tv breakfast show around
> this issue: IT or ICT as an area of investment and econ growth and her
> competitiveness of our investment environment. What should the topic be and
> who are the 2 critical people that should form part of that panel. And why.
>
> Last year, I tried in vain to get my friend and member of this network,
> Catherine Adeya, then CEO of Konza city, to come on air for an exploration
> of the subject but...  Doesn't mirror much the robust discussions I see
> here (behind the curtains?).
>
> David
>
>
> This is official mail. If you doubt the content, call back on
> +254722517540.
>
>
>
> On Jan 6, 2015, at 9:38 AM, Ngigi Waithaka via kictanet <
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>
> Listers,
>
> My 2 cents on this issue.
>
> Kenya Technology scene, is actually quite old; I know a few firms that
> were founded in the 90s, some even earlier, and that are still going
> strong. If anything, firms founded around the late 90s and early 200s have
> had a lot more success than in later years, IMO. If you doubt me, check
> firms like Virtual City, Craft Silicon, AT, SevenSeas, 3Mice, Cellulant,
> Verve, ReelForge, Turnkey Africa, Lantech, AfricaOnline, Wananchi etc
>
> Having being involved in this sector over the last 20 years, I think that
> the article is quite fair in that in recent times, there has been a lot of
> hulabaloo of a new IT Startup which in no time bites the dust, leaving
> investors obviously, licking their wounds.
>
> But this didn't just happen overnight.
>
> Sometime around 2007, there was a general drift towards mobile technology.
> There were very nice sound bites, that, if you built a mobile application,
> and got 1% of the world to buy it, you would be best pals with the likes of
> Facebook, Twitter, Google Founders who would probably be calling you up to
> borrow your yacht.
>
> This excitement was quickly followed by the "...build it they will come
> mantra...", and besides, a new city technology city, Konza!
>
> This had the quick effect of churning a lot of money into these startups
> to the point where what traditionally we would call "functions" in an
> application, was being touted as a full application. These were quickly
> showcased in the next mobile competition, and the winners of these parlayed
> across the media as the true technology champions of Kenya.
>
> And with the success of Mpesa (that Kenyan application that is not built
> in Kenya), Kenya had arrived in the technology scene. But this could not
> have been further from the truth!
>
> I have argued before, that if we are to build a local technology scene, it
> has to first cater for the current needs in the market. The Kenyan
> Technology scene is heavily dominated by procurement of enterprise
> applications & technologies. Put together, GoK, Safaricom, Airtel
> , KPLC, KenGen, KRA, KCB, Equity etc spend not less than Ksh 200B every
> year in IT purchases.
>
> If we ought to make a serious push for technology, then we need to first
> address the market where local firms are already buying into, instead of
> concentrating on developing functions wrapped as mobile applications for a
> market that at most cannot even hit Ksh 100M.
>
> This is what every one of those firms that I have listed before did and
> its no wonder 20 years later, they are still here.
>
> And this is the fundamental difference between the Kenya & Nigerian
> startup scene. There are countless Nigerian firms that are already in Kenya
> pushing their Nigerian built core Banking, Insurance, Manufacturing and
> Public Sector solutions. Solid firms that are making applications that the
> market is already paying for.
>
> So, lets not shoot the messenger. Lets reserve our vitriol and energy for
> the ICT policy makers and ask them to build a policy that leads to
> self-sustaining ICT growth.
>
> Regards
> Ngigi Waithaka
> A1.iO <http://a1.io/>
>
> On Tue, Jan 6, 2015 at 2:46 AM, Eric Osiakwan via kictanet <
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>
> .....you are very far from wrong, actually too close to right.
>
> HNY.
>
> Eric here
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Jan 5, 2015, at 17:40, John Kieti via kictanet <
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>
> Dear Ali, and other listers,
>
> Once in a while, we read articles in media, especially international media
> carrying very misleading headings on the Kenyan startup scene. The piece
> you share Ali is one such misleading story
>
> I would easily dismiss such an article, not only for it simply
> "re-tweeting" old unfounded stereotypes but for two other reasons as
> follows :-
>
> 1. The story is built solely on the investment philosophy of one
> investor - not that its a wrong investment philosophy but that its not the
> only investment philosophy relevant for a young ecosystem like ours. Even
> in other advanced ecosystems there's many competing investors with diverse
> investment strategies.
>
> 2. The story fails to capture sentiments of local founders seeking capital
> and the challenges they face - from a startups perspective. Considering
> that local startups have perceptions such as existence of "vulture capital"
> and  "racial capital preferences", it is fair to expect that closing even
> the simplest of deals, or even attracting the requisite pipeline is not for
> faint hearted or non-committed investors. The writer could have gone under
> the hood to explore these at the very least.
>
> At the very least I would ask myself this when faced with such an article;
> Can anyone really fairly compare our five year old ecosystem with mature
> (decades old) ecosystems such as Silicon Valley or Tel Aviv? What
> yardsticks would be fair across the board?
>
> That said, our startup ecosystem still experiences the usual challenges
> expected at these formative stages. For instance (a) There's still too many
> parallel entrepreneurs (for justified reasons) running startups
> sub-optimally (b) we continue to experience a gap in local angel funding
> (or traction proof funding) which cannot be replaced by foreign capital.
> (c) Players and commentators in the ecosystem continue to assess startup
> growth and performance with the same yardsticks applied to consultancies
> and lifestyle businesses (d) The local market has sustained this uncanny
> tendency to favor the presence of a non-local when a sales pitch party is
> granted - if at all such is granted to a startup. (e) In the legal,
> PR/marketing, accounting and other supporting professions, available skills
> sets and professional approach are for the most part inflexibly corporate
> minded  - neither customized nor conducive for working with startups. These
> to me are new issues below the surface that a writer should be exploring
> rather than repeating the usual rhetoric damning the fledgling ecosystem -
> which I find unfounded.
>
> I may be entirely wrong, but I could be right in my observations.
>
> Best regards
>
> On Sun, Jan 4, 2015 at 9:44 PM, Sean Moro
>
> On Sun, Jan 4, 2015 at 10:52 AM, Ali Hussein via kictanet <
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>
> Listers
>
> A lot of discussions in this area over the last few years. Are the
> chickens coming home to roost?
>
> Have we focused too much on competitions, donor funded money and shared
> spaces and a lot less on commercially viable ideas/nurturing what is there
> towards commercial exploitation?
>
> My sense is that we now need to move to 3.0 to enable realize the
> potential of our startups.
>
> Read on:-
>
>
> http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Corporate-News/Kenya-s-technology-push-leaves-investors-cold/-/539550/2574220/-/13qkohy/-/index.html
>
>
> http://www.gsmaentrepreneurshipkenya.com/GSMA_KENYA-AR2014-060214-WEB-SINGLE-PGS.pdf
>
>
> *Ali Hussein*
>
> +254 770 906375 / 0713 601113
>
> Twitter: @AliHKassim
> Skype: abu-jomo
> LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim
> <http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim>
> Blog: www.alyhussein.com
>
> "I fear the day technology will surpass human interaction. The world will
> have a generation of idiots".  ~ Albert Einstein
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
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> --
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> '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
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> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
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> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>
> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
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> 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.
>
> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
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>
>
> --
> *Regards,*
>
> *Wait**haka 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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> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
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> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>
> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
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> 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.
>
> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
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> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
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> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>
> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
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> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
>
>
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> 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.
>
> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
>
>
>
>
> --
> Warm Regards,
>
> Phares Kariuki
>
> *E*: pkariuki at gmail.com | *Twitter*: kaboro | *B*: http://www.angani.co
> <http://t.signaletre.com/e1t/c/5/f18dQhb0S7lC8dDMPbW2n0x6l2B9nMJW7t5XX45wvF6bW1q0NWF5vMtkRW2zWM_W56dMYnf6-jr-d02?t=http://www.angani.co/&si=4935941909643264&pi=8f9156d5-1f3e-4775-e689-bcd797842132> |
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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.
>
> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
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>
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> 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. KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable
> behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and
> bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect
> privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
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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.
>
> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
>

-- 
My Blog - www.gmeltdown.com
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
The ordinary just won't do
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