[kictanet] Draft National ICT Policy Discussions Day 5 of 10: How to Develop the local ICT Industry

Mon Jun 27 19:32:30 EAT 2016

*National addressing system:* Let us talk about building standards, and
better city planning going forward, especially for the new counties. There
is a point where we will have to get organised. It cost the same amount of
money to have better planned cities and unplanned neighborhoods like
Rongai. It's actually more expensive to be disorganised. We will one day
bring down all those structures as we did in Mlolongo and Thika highway.
There was a regulation that was being discussed asking household owners to
pay an annual fee for the national addressing system. Is that still on? Is
it viable?

*BPOs and ITE:* There are local successful players in this industry
including daproim.com, adept-techno.com, samasource.org, and Techno Brain.
The University of Nairobi offers a BPO-ITES short course to kickstart the
industry. These guys with collaboration with Kenya IT and Outsourcing
Services (KITOS) can give us very valuable input on the ITES industry.

There are many services that the ITES industry can do like Impact Sourcing,
Transcription, Data entry, Creative writing, Proof reading, Online research
and content management, Social media management (online presence), Email
copy, Uploading online posts, Re-purposing, Email copy, Image creation,
Book keeping, Website maintenance, Call centres, Sentiment analysis, and
content moderation. The Industry in worth several billions dollars, with
virtually insatiable market. This is an industry that can bring the
unemployment levels for our youth to zero. I am happy that Konza Silicon
Savannah has put ITES in the front of the Queue

Kenya, let us wake up and smell the coffee. In 2008, India had revenues of
US$10.9 billion from offshore BPO and $30 billion from IT and total BPO.
Other locations like Philippines, and South Africa have emerged to take a
share of the market. The BPO Industry in the Philippines is employing 1.2
million workers with $25 billion in revenues, while the South African call
centre industry has grown by approximately 8% per year since 2003 and it
directly employs about 100,000 people, contributing 0.92% to South
Africa's (GDP). Is Kenya on track?

______________________
Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya
twitter.com/lordmwesh

On 27 June 2016 at 09:59, Ahmed Mohamed Maawy via kictanet <
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

> ** National Addressing System*
>
> My 2 cents is that this can start virtually then move to physically.
> Leveraging on existing data from Google and other not for profit entities
> (who have even gone as far as venturing into places like Kibera). Having it
> electronic first can even be done within a year, we then have electronic
> navigation made much easier.
>
> ** Local eBusiness and eCommerce*
>
> Should there be special kinds of business that have virtual presence? In
> which case they can be given room an facility to bootstap much easier and
> much more affordable. The whole reason behind breeding an eco-system of
> eBuisness ventures is to, for example, make it much, much easier for the
> stay home house wife to venture into business.
>
> Most times we treat eBusinesses and normal ventures as similar things
> (especially policy-wise), which kills a lot of business potential.
>
> ** BPOs*
>
> India seems to have done well here. We can learn.
>
> ** ICTs in SME, (Small Medium Size Enterprises)*
>
> Going back to the point of eBusiness and eCommerce. Same points can be
> raised here. It is also worth noting that there are very many facilities
> available to established businesses and very limited facilities available
> to support mushrooming startups. The strength of the SME sector = the
> strength of the economy and jobs creation. Developed countries do not
> necessarily credit the strength of the corporate sector, rather the
> strength of the middle class SME sector.
>
> ** ICT regional export incentives*
>
> Export incentives are a good way to go. We also need to find out what
> strategic products and services can also attract incentives that boost the
> growth of technology adoption and the SME sector.
>
> ** Local Device Manufacturing*
>
> This is tied strongly to the discussion of capacity building. In which I
> think centres of innovation can play a major role in collaboratively
> defining a road map for this together with key stake holders.
>
>
> On Mon, Jun 27, 2016 at 8:58 AM, Timothy- Coach- Oriedo via kictanet <
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>
>> Good morning all.
>>
>> Thank you for your contributions. Sorry last week was a tight week for me
>> could not contribute but I have been following closely.
>>
>> My input on the topic in discussion.
>>
>> * eCommerce, National Addressing System - Fastrack the process by
>> leveraging on the existing governance instruments e.g
>> provincial administration, Census reports and  Nyumba Kumi initiatives.
>> This foundation will be critical to open up e-commerce and to me it appears
>> that only a small linkage is needed if the different government organs can
>> communicate to each other.
>>
>> * Local eBusiness Develop contemporary regulatory space for the
>> e-business by synergising global trends to local legal environment.
>>
>>
>> *  BPOs Encourage Universities to set up hubs for BPOs as product
>> extensions of their academic offerings. This centres will also serve to
>> provide Internships to students reducing the load on seeking
>> internship opportunities outwards.
>>
>>
>> * Investment incentives (Equity Shares) Create a culture of encouraging
>> Local investors to adopt a mentorship attitude rather
>> than competitive attitude by coming out to support start ups acceleration
>>  with a view of benefiting from equity.
>>
>>
>> * ICTs in SME, (Small Medium Size Enterprises) Partner with Ministry
>> of industrialisation and entrench a continous training program for the SME
>> sector that will create a digital posture of the sector. Rebates and
>> concessions granted to spur interest as a sizeable proportion of the
>> operators in this category are laggards.
>>
>> * ICT regional export incentives Cross border trade agreements and pacts
>> to leverage on our leadership position.
>>
>>
>> * Local Device Manufacturing: Partnerships of
>> Device manufactures with  research oriented institutions to create labs for
>> R&D of devices. Especially for products targeting the low end of the
>> pyramid.
>>
>>
>> Timothy Oriedo
>> ICF Certified Coach, Chartered Marketer, Technology, Media & Telco
>> Enthusiast
>> FB, Linkedln- Timothy Oriedo
>> Skype, Twitter @timoriedo
>> 0722 816171
>>
>> On Mon, Jun 27, 2016 at 7:42 AM, Barrack Otieno via kictanet <
>> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>>
>>> Listers,
>>>
>>> As was the case last week, feel  free to contribute on previous
>>> threads as long as you pick the corresponding title.  Also remember,
>>> if you wish to  directly edit the Draft ICT policy, visit Jadili
>>> platform  (http://jadili.ictpolicy.org/docs/kenya-ict-policy),
>>> register and post.
>>>
>>> So onto todays theme:
>>>
>>> * eCommerce, National Addressing System
>>> * Local eBusiness,
>>> *  BPOs
>>> * Investment incentives (Equity Shares)
>>> * ICTs in SME, (Small Medium Size Enterprises)
>>> * ICT regional export incentives
>>> * Local Device Manufacturing
>>>
>>> The Background:
>>>
>>> Building new ICT enterprises while integrating ICTs in existing
>>> enterprises, particularly the SMEs will accelerate the overall
>>> productivity of our  economy while increasing  the percentage
>>> Contribution of ICT to the national GDP.
>>>
>>> Previous attempts to play in the BPO sector have been made but this
>>> has not yet played out successfully. Additionally very few indigenous
>>> ICT firms exist, let alone venture out to the regional markets.
>>> Attempts to have a vibrant local assembly/manufacturing of consumer
>>> goods or devices (phones, tablets, laptops) seem also seems stunted.
>>>
>>> What policies, strategies should we propose? We would like to  hear
>>> your views over the next 12hrs.
>>>
>>> Thank you
>>>
>>> --
>>> Barrack O. Otieno
>>> +254721325277
>>> +254733206359
>>> Skype: barrack.otieno
>>> PGP ID: 0x2611D86A
>>>
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>>
>>
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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.
>>
>
>
>
> --
> *Ahmed Maawy*
> Executive Director - SwahiliBox / M-Power (CBO)
> Curator - Global Shapers Mombasa Hub
> Ambassador - Open Knowledge
> Director - Startup Grind Mombasa
> Software Developer - AJ+ / EveryLayer
> (KE) +254 714 960 627
> Skype: ultimateprogramer
>
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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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