[kictanet] The Government Whitebox is out...

Sun Oct 21 20:50:11 EAT 2018

 Hi all,
Wow! This is great and very welcome news! One major caveat though: Indigenous Innovations can rapidly accelerate a country's growth and be a major source of foreign exchange if - and only if - well protected from the onset. 
We need to be vividly aware that Industrial and Economic *Espionage* is a 21st Century reality. Savvy countries/blocs (China / Singapore US / EU / Russia / Brazil etc) already classify their indigenous innovations as both an economic and national security priorities. Just read the news and you will see evidence of a massive global scramble for technology and innovations leadership - which has gained intensity in the past 5 years - with each region modernizing and contextualizing their IP laws to protect their indigenous technology and aggressively enforcing IP laws (for example).  
I can bet my best hat that multinational big-tech (e.g. GIMFOs Google, IBM, Microsoft, Facebook and Oracle - among others, including India's Big Tech) and their powerful *lobbyists* will want to hijack this initiatives (if they have not done so already - e.g. by dangling the "funding" carrot) so they can mine our ideas, develop them faster than us, and then sell them back to us (and similar markets worldwide) through other channels e.g. in the form of "technical assistance" aid/loans. 
I truly hope the Government has observed that when such things happen, we lose the chance to create indigenous role models (people and companies that grew without an injection of mzungu magic), the strategic impact is drastically minimized and our country is denied *billions* in foreign exchange (e.g. when the ideas are adapted and exported to other "third world" or even "first world" countries as grand solutions). 

Please lets urge Gov to help us keep the IP ownership *100% Local* to start with. Partnerships, though good in theory, cannot work in our current state of maturity. We don't have sufficient *leverage* to form *strategically meaningful* international partnerships, where we benefit in both the long and short run as a country - and such leverage can only be formed in a closed environment where we develop *trade secrets* and other valuable IP. 

In case the process / portal is already hijacked I urge all innovators to *exercise caution* when sharing their ideas - lest you get burned. Our Government may have the best intentions but in its haste to close "big deals" and book "quick wins" (for political PR) it becomes an easy target GIMFO (et, al.) lobbying and manipulation. But I think (hope) the lessons have been learned by now.

It is a total myth that international investors won't be interested at a later date (once concepts are proven localy / regionally and high-value has been created). 
If innovators (with GoK help) can be *strategically patient* and focus on growing high-value indigenous corporations, our country will, within less than a decade, attract a flood of investors (due to high variety of good deals to choose from) and exponentially higher valuations for its innovations (i.e. billions of dollars in FDI). 
We read about the Asian Tigers, can we now write the African Lions story?
Good day all. Excited by these developments!
Patrick.

    On Sunday, October 21, 2018, 2:11:44 PM GMT+3, S.M. Muraya via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:  

 Wangari,
This is a step in the right direction. Have stated this before (maybe elsewhere:) we need to focus on competitions. Highly competent introverts may not be as "good" in bluffing (talking) as future tenderprenuers will be. We begin to identify talent in schools and keep track of them all through college (especially the ones who chose to study/work locally). There is no need to waste time or money on those who do not value (invest in) their own localities.
Factoring we (all humans) tend to hang out with their own kind (behaviorally), teams which tend to be more honest/accurate in their specifications and prescriptions (solutions) will be safer bets for investment funds.
Often when a project fails it is because some of us did not want to hear the truth (actual costs of a project excluding kickbacks) or did not allow for data/analytics to guide our decisions. 
Question is how (i) government (ii) academia and (iii) market players will work together to provide relevant solutions.
On Sun, Oct 21, 2018 at 1:17 PM WANGARI KABIRU via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

http://whitebox.go.ke/

Changamka with Sunday gifts for innovators.....

WhiteBox is an initiative of the Government of Kenya through the Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology and the ICT Authority, geared towards catalyzing the successful growth of local ventures to global, world-class status. The main objective of this initiative is to create a channel for anyone who wants to sell/suggest a product/idea to Government, priority will be given to products that focus on the Big 4 Agenda and address Government priorities and challenges. ....
The WhiteBox initiative offers a window into Government wide initiatives; staffed with subject matter Government officers who will offer guidance on the program activities, selection criteria as well as insights into Government programs that the public can leverage on to grow their businesses.
We welcome entrepreneurs and businesses at all stages of growth, from ideation to scale and aim to build a collaborative community of entrepreneurs and innovators who will mutually benefit from sharing knowledge and establishing necessary partnerships for success.

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".
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"Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city." Prov 16:32
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