[kictanet] Random Online (internet) query to the question "Who Owns...........?: " Taifa Laptop

Sat Aug 27 15:24:57 EAT 2016

Interesting though that this just showed up a while ago... what do you guys
think?

http://www.geekwire.com/2016/obama-creating-startup-visas-encourage-foreign-entrepreneurs-start-companies-u-s/

On 27 Aug 2016 1:36 p.m., "Ahmed Mohamed Maawy" <ultimateprogramer at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Its a global arena and long gone are days of these questions.
>
> Football teams in England are being owned by Russians and Arabs and
> Americans. Still being called English football teams.
>
> Richard Branson owns businesses that are even in the US and are being
> called names like Virgin America.
>
> PwC and KPMG and the likes have local offices in every imaginable country.
>
> Samsung (Korea) is buying techology companies in the US. Recently: Joyent.
>
> Speaking of which. Kenyan companies in Tax Heaven countries like
> Mauritius? Comments on this?
>
> Its not a suitable question in local context.
>
> On 27 Aug 2016 1:18 p.m., "Wangari Kabiru via kictanet" <
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>
>> Blessed day!
>>
>> This is the response on a random Online (internet) query to the question
>> "Who Owns...........?". To the below cited as Kenyan innovations on
>> KICTANET. Note there may be many more responses as you do a random query
>>
>> In innovation speak, tafadhali jaza pengo, so Kenya is a..........,
>> Kenyan's are innovative? Kenyans are not innovative? Kenyans are good
>> consumers of innovations?
>>
>> 1.M-Pesa
>> “The people working on M-Pesa service are Vodafone staff in Germany, the
>> UK. Safaricom does not have people working on M-Pesa.” Vodafone owns the
>> M-Pesa concept and has introduced it in eight countries including Kenya,
>> India, Tanzania, and South Africa.May 14, 2013
>>
>> Type Public. Owned by Vodafone 40% & Permanent Secretary (The Treasury)
>> 35%
>>
>> 2. M-Kopa Solar
>> M-Kopa (M = mobile, 'kopa' is Swahili for 'borrowed') is a Kenyan solar
>> energy company that was founded in 2011 by Nick Hughes, Chad Larson, and
>> Jesse Moore.[1] Moore and Hughes were previously colleagues at Vodafone,[2]
>> and Larson and Moore were fellow MBA students at Oxford University [3][4]
>> The company sells home solar systems in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.[5]
>> Customers pay a deposit of 3,500 KES (approx $35), take the system home
>> then pay 50 KES (approx $0.50) a day for a period of one year, to own the
>> solar system. Daily payments are made through M-PESA, a mobile phone based
>> money system, and in addition to getting solar power, customers also slowly
>> off-set the cost of the device.[6] The system is meant for an off-grid
>> household who is using kerosene (paraffin) lamps to light their home, and
>> paying for batteries and phone charging.
>>
>> 3. Mobius
>> Q & A with Joel Jackson, founder of Mobius Motors
>> By John Peabody May 23, 2013
>> Tags: AFRICA | CARS | MOBIUS | SMALL BUSINESS
>> In February, Global Post profiled an interesting startup in Africa called
>> Mobius Motors that is working to manufacture affordable ($6,000) cars
>> designed specifically for Africans.
>>
>> By simplifying the designs through the elimination of non-essential parts
>> like power steering and air conditioning, the team at Mobius is able to
>> drastically reduce the cost of the vehicle, which they hope will help small
>> business owners in need of affordable transportation. Reuters reached
>> Mobius founder and CEO Joel Jackson over email to ask him about his plans
>> for the car company and some of the challenges he foresees.
>>
>> Reuters: First can you tell me briefly how Mobius came about? I
>> understand you were working in Africa when you had the idea?
>>
>> J.J.: Mobius was inspired by my experience working in rural Kenya in 2009
>> with a startup forestry venture. In this role I spent time with local
>> farming communities and learned about some of their day-to-day challenges.
>> One of the biggest issues these communities faced was immobility. Without
>> access to appropriate forms of transport many people would walk tens of
>> kilometers to get around – to get access to schools, or doctors, or clean
>> drinking water or farming inputs.
>>
>> The vision of Mobius is to build a more appropriate and affordable
>> vehicle for transport businesses and in turn create a platform for mobility
>> across Africa.
>>
>> Reuters: Can you give us some info about the company? Number of
>> employees, how many cars you currently build/hope to build? Any info on
>> financials?
>>
>> J.J.: Mobius has 24 employees. We’ve built two prototype vehicles and one
>> production alpha vehicle; and we’re launching initial proof-of-concept
>> production of 50 vehicles in Q3 2013. To date, Mobius has raised several
>> million dollars of investment and we plan to increase production to 300
>> units in mid 2014.
>>
>> 4. Ushahidi
>>
>> Ushahidi, Inc.
>> Founded 2008
>> Founder Erik Hersman, Ory Okolloh, Juliana Rotich, David Kobia
>> Type 501(c)(3)
>> Tax ID no.
>> 2652079
>> Focus activism, mapping
>> Location
>> Nairobi, Kenya
>> Origins Crowdsourcing
>> Area served
>> World
>> Method mapping and geospatial
>> Owner Ushahidi, Inc.
>> Key people
>> Erik Hersman, Juliana Rotich, David Kobia,
>> Revenue
>> US$300,000
>> Endowment US$1,800,000[1]
>> Employees
>> 29
>> Volunteers
>> 50
>> Slogan Crowdsourcing Crisis Information
>> Website ushahidi.com
>>
>> 5. BRCK
>>
>> Background
>>
>> Company: BRCK
>> Started: 2013
>> Total VC Funding: $4.2 million
>> HQ: Nairobi, Kenya
>> Linkedin Employee Count: 23
>> Co-founders: Reg Orton (CTO), Jon Shuler , Philip Walton (COO), Erik
>> Hersman (CEO)
>> Product: Mobile Wi-Fi Device
>>
>> 6. BitPesa
>>
>> One bitcoin start-up is building what it hopes will become a template for
>> using digital currencies in the developing world, a much-talked-about
>> market for cryptocurrencies. It’s called BitPesa, it’s based in Nairobi,
>> and it’s beginning a beta test this week of its first product, a remittance
>> service for Kenyans living abroad.
>>
>> On Friday, the start-up launched a pilot remittance program involving
>> about 15 Kenyans in London, who can begin using BitPesa to send money back
>> home. If it works, and spreads, it promises to lower the billions currently
>> spent on transfer fees, and, its founders hope, maybe even spark a tech
>> boom in Kenya.
>>
>> BitPesa is the brainchild of Duncan Goldie-Scot, a well-known name in
>> microfinance, and Elizabeth Rossiello, a Queens-born former Credit Suisse
>> banker with a background in microfinance who’s been living in Nairobi the
>> past five years. With Ms. Rossiello acting as CEO, the company has raised
>> $700,000 so far
>>
>> 7. KopoKopo
>>
>> Kopo Kopo is a United States company, with offices in Kenya and Tanzania.
>> We are supported by reputed investors ...
>>
>> 8. PesaPal
>>
>> Africa /
>> Interview: PesaPal’s Agosta Liko on African mobile payment solutionsBy
>> Mark Kaigwa on 9 August, 2010
>> email article
>> Agosta Liko, CEO of PesaPal, relocated to Kenya from the US to start
>> Verviant, a software development company in Nairobi. Three years later, the
>> team at Verviant launched PesaPal with a vision of enabling Kenyans to make
>> online payments.
>>
>> PesaPal is making great strides in bridging the mobile and electronic
>> payment divide in Kenya, and is set to expand to more African countries
>> next year. Mark Kaigwa sat down with the CEO to discuss his perspective on
>> doing business in Kenya, the African condition, and on how PesaPal was able
>> to gain traction with ordinary people.
>>
>> MK: How would you describe PesaPal at present, and where do you see the
>> company heading in the future?
>> AL: In short, PesaPal is electronic payments; payments for the African
>> condition. Doing things and answering problems that wouldn’t make sense if
>> my co-founders weren’t African. It may make no sense to others but it
>> applies for Africa.
>>
>> “Social Cash” is a part of the African condition and culture. Social cash
>> is how you raise money for weddings, funeral committees or harambee (a type
>> of Kenyan fundraising meeting between family, friends and well-wishers.)
>> When these people get together, they bring with them cash, cheques, mobile
>> payments, bank transfers, etc. If you can have all that maintained and
>> tracked from one account you’ve solved a problem. And it’s good for
>> bookkeeping and for their affairs.
>>
>> To the rest of the world Africa is a place of “micropayments” but to us
>> it’s a lot of money. They talk about $2 a day and conclude “that’s not a
>> lot of money”.
>>
>> And the list goes on...
>> On Aug 27, 2016 10:13, Timothy- Coach- Oriedo via kictanet <
>> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>>
>> Well said Ahmed, the crux of it is looking at the entire Value Chain from
>> Ideation to Market penetration and customer support.
>>
>> We often marvel at novelty and seldom subject it to an entire trajectory
>> path.
>>
>> One of the skills that often need to be embedded alongside  the
>> repertoire of skills needed for innovative ventures to thrive is Business
>> Development. That skill delivered in a coaching intervention format i.e
>> constant questioning,  goal setting and action will ensure the list given
>> by Ahmed grows significantly....
>>
>> Restful weekend to all...unless you are at TICAD of course. ..
>>
>>
>> Timothy Oriedo
>>
>> about.me/Timoriedo
>>
>>
>>
>> On 27 Aug 2016 10:01 am, "Ahmed Mohamed Maawy via kictanet" <
>> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>>
>> Personal comments:
>>
>> A business model that forces success is not a successful business. Its a
>> dictatorial business.
>>
>> Examples of famous products from Kenya that Kenyans use:
>>
>>    - M-Pesa
>>    - M-Kopa Solar
>>    - Mobius
>>    - Ushahidi
>>    - BRCK
>>    - BitPesa
>>    - KopoKopo
>>    - PesaPal
>>    - And the list goes on...
>>
>> Some businesses just need to sort out their business models.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Aug 27, 2016 at 9:51 AM, Walubengo J via kictanet <
>> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>>
>> @ Prof Ndemo,
>>
>> As you well know and remember, we experimented with our famous e-Maddo
>> machines that were assembled at a local university and we tried to sell
>> them to government ministries - without much success.
>>
>> Each ministry had and perhaps still has its 'owners' who will NOT want to
>> buy local when they can buy foreign - with some good 'personal returns' :-)
>>
>> We have great ideas, but zero execution.
>>
>> #What_Would_Magufuli_Do :-)?
>>
>> walu.
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> *From:* Bitange Ndemo via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
>> *To:* jwalu at yahoo.com
>> *Cc:* Bitange Ndemo <bndemo at bitangendemo.me>
>> *Sent:* Friday, August 26, 2016 11:20 PM
>> *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Taifa Laptop
>>
>> David,
>> You are a great man.  Keep on sharing your experiences. Policy is a
>> democrat's tool for benevolent dictatorship.  The Government should just
>> have a policy to buy lab tops and desk tops from JKUAT.  Our taxes should
>> be spent on our products.
>>
>> Ndemo.
>>
>> On Fri, Aug 26, 2016 at 4:24 PM, David Otwoma via kictanet <
>> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>>
>> Michael,
>>
>> I first met Taifa laptops w
>>
>>
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>
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