[kictanet] The role of the "open" in innovation in Africa

Wed May 18 13:10:09 EAT 2016

Warm Greetings,

With all the concurrence that there is something here, then why do we have low visibility on whatever is happening locally.

I recall mention of Microsoft BaaS as being popular; since others may work "on-top of it".
Does this help the local Tech to dip their fingers into this work or there is much more?

Be blessed.

Regards/Wangari

---
Pray God Bless. 2013Wangari circa - "Being of the Light, We are Restored Through Faith in Mind, Body and Spirit; We Manifest The Kingdom of God on Earth".

--------------------------------------------
On Wed, 18/5/16, Ahmed Mohamed Maawy via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [kictanet] The role of the "open" in innovation in Africa
 To: wangarikabiru at yahoo.co.uk
 Cc: "Ahmed Mohamed Maawy" <ultimateprogramer at gmail.com>, "Evans Ikua" <ikua at lpakenya.org>, "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
 Date: Wednesday, 18 May, 2016, 10:16

 Totally...
 Evans any word? :)

 On Wed, May 18, 2016 at
 10:12 AM, Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack at gmail.com>
 wrote:
 Hi
 Ahmed,

 We actually have an open source advocacy forum though it has
 not been

 very active of late. The Linux Professional Association of
 Kenya. The

 Chair is Evans Ikua. Maybe its time  to reinvigorate it.

 Best Regards

 On 5/18/16, Ahmed Mohamed Maawy via kictanet

 <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
 wrote:

 > If we follow closely the topic of BlockChain we may
 stumble upon a blog

 > post

 > <http://bithub.co.ke/2016/05/15/the-blockchain-opportunity-in-africa-ideas-concepts-implementation/>

 > by BitHub Africa with the
 following excerpt:

 >

 > *Make no mistake Bitcoin and its underlying
 Blockchain technology will

 > disrupt the current
 financial order that currently has Banking institutions

 > sitting at the top of the food chain. Incumbents who
 fail to understand and

 > implement strategies risk being rendered irrelevant
 akin to the manner in

 > which Kodak was rendered irrelevant by the advent of
 Digital Cameras.

 > Indeed Kenyan Banks have already had a taste of this
 with the arrival in

 > 2004 of M-Pesa the Mobile Money platform that
 revolutionized the way

 > Kenyans transfer money and pay for services within the
 country. Already it

 > is estimated that 40% of Kenya’s Gross Domestic
 Platform is transacted on

 > this platform. Banks and other financial institutions
 will need to evolve

 > once again to keep up with this global
 trend.*

 >

 > A good discussion to have is how can Open Technologies
 boost the adoption

 > of technology and even enhance innovation in the
 eco-system? I think

 > Microsoft also adopting Openness (Open Source
 Technology Development) is a

 > huge statement on the potential open technology has to
 the future of

 > innovation.

 >

 > This topic is broad. And BlockChain is just one small
 player in the

 > eco-system of open services and open source
 products.

 >

 > The question we may ask is how do we as an African
 demographic and the

 > leaders of the Technology eco-system educate and
 promote the potential open

 > technologies (be they open source applications, or open
 services, etc) to

 > boost the next generation of technology innovators?

 >

 > I would love to see this lead to the setup of an Open
 Source Advocacy Forum

 > / Group or something. :)

 >

 > --

 > *Ahmed Maawy*

 > Executive Director -
 SwahiliBox / M-Power (CBO)

 > Ambassador - Open Knowledge

 > Director - Startup Grind Mombasa

 > Software Developer - AJ+ / EveryLayer

 > (KE) +254 714 960 627

 > Skype: ultimateprogramer

 >

 > swahilibox.co.ke

 > www.okfn.org <http://okfn.org/>

 > startupgrind.com

 > ajplus.net

 > www.everylayer.com

 >

 --

 Barrack O. Otieno

 +254721325277

 +254733206359

 Skype: barrack.otieno

 PGP ID: 0x2611D86A

 -- 
 Ahmed
 Maawy
 Executive Director - SwahiliBox /
 M-Power (CBO)
 Ambassador - Open Knowledge
 Director - Startup Grind Mombasa
 Software Developer - AJ+ / EveryLayer
 (KE) +254 714 960 627
 Skype:
 ultimateprogramer

 swahilibox.co.ke
 www.okfn.org
 startupgrind.com
 ajplus.net
 www.everylayer.com

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