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

[Wangari Kabiru]

Blessed Saturday!

Yes corporations are global and we may even have firms founded by Kenyans that operate in other countries. Please encourage them. So let us not mix up on this in this discussion.

When saying that a firm or initiative is a Kenyan innovation, I would use an "innovation meter" measuring what is from the Kenyan human capital, Kenyan investors...such metrics.

At Kenya's developmental aspiration stage, I see this more in context of the ideation (teams), ownership.

Majority of the big, top of mind names that keep being bounced about as Kenyan innovations, yes are innovations, innovations operating in Kenya, Kenya is a good consumer of them, we have more outflow of the profit that retention of returns. If this is how we define Kenyan, then this is the doubtful part.

Why this distinction is important is to ensure we do not camouflage the human potential & risk appetite, investment capacities and capabilities.
There is a big distinction when Kenyans ideate, startup, own and grow. 

Be blessed.

Regards/WangariOn Aug 27, 2016 1:36 PM, 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 increa
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