Hi Jane,

Thank you for the challenge for me to put forth my vision when I become post master general (PMG) of postal corporation of Kenya (PCK).

PCK like any other postal service in the world is the hub of any town or village, it is the reference point for the area unfortunately we have relegated our postal service to the edge we need to bring it back to the centre. There is no organisation be it private or public that has more counter space than PCK, there are over 900 outlets equitably distributed across the country.

I will improve the level and range of services that will be available at the post offices country wide. With the passing of the law allowing banks to implement an agency model Posta's opportunities have just sky rocketed, your post office will now be your bank.

The post office is where we mere mortals have our issues sorted out from paying bills (utility, insurance, rent etc) it where you make your copies, bind documents, fill applications, replace lost documents, place advertisements for print and electronic media, collect mail, do research and collect information.

The banking hall space can be rented to insurance companies, banks, colleges and anyone else who currently sets up camp on the street. The same institutions can make their marketing material available at the various post offices.

Partner with Kenswitch and Pesa Point to allow them to install ATM's in all the post offices and with time Posta can purchase their own ATMs and add them to the existing networks. Due the remote locations of some of this post offices Posta can load the ATMs and earn revenue.

My proposal to the data infrastructure providers would be to terminate their fibre optic cable at the various post office locations countrywide and use them as points of presence, to the best of my knowledge the former telex infrastructure belongs to postal thus way-leave issues would be resolved at district level.

PCK is the hub not the spoke in the successful implementation of an e-commerce environment, less than 10% of items that one needs to buy online can be delivered electronically all the rest must be delivered physically. The only person with the reach and acceptance to do this without widening the divide is PCK, however much you urban dwellers think otherwise you only make up 10% of the countries population which is why many of us think PCK is irrelevant.

I belief there might be some policy and legislative issues that will need to be resolved immediately which stop Posta from taking advantage of the new opportunities that have become available. There must be a very stupid reason why Posta do not sell airtime or become distributors for all the mobile providers, this huddle must be removed immediately.

We have kept discussing the issue of digital villages, why is it that KICT Board cannot walk across to PCK offices, no need to even cross a road, and implement them within the post office? Posta can act as the demonstration digital village and also as the training location for those interested in replicating the model. The removal of whichever huddles exist that prevent this from being implemented immediately will be my deliverables for my first 100 days in office.

Please note that none of the issues I intend to implement within the first year in office requires any cash outlay from PCK which is a clear indication that someone is refusing to play politics to unbind PCK to be able to deliver service to the public. You as tax payers need to realise that sedating of PCK is being done with your hard earned money.

After this is in place PCK will be in a position to grow in leaps and bounds to look at "bling" issues like doing door to door delivery for 50,000 of Nairobi's elite residents which will be a nightmare as most of us change email addresses without notifying others or setting autoforwards. Rebranding, repainting and segmenting the delivery channels to segment the haves, wannabes and general public.

This is my approach to accelerate PCK when I am appointed PMG, I will not use the term restart as PCK is neither comatose or dead its is only sluggish due to the excessive sedation by those who should know better.

Robert Yawe
KAY System Technologies Ltd
Phoenix House, 6th Floor
P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200
Kenya

Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696

From: Jane Kagiri <kagirijane@yahoo.com>
To: robertyawe@yahoo.co.uk
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Sent: Tue, 9 November, 2010 20:02:38
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Yawe for Post Master General

Listers,

I totally agree with Robert that academic qualifications do not necessarily translate into the required experience.

However from his list of personalities who have excelled in propelling their organizations to great heights despite their not so high academic qualifications, the one thing they all have in common is that they each had a vision to make their respective organizations what they are today.

Robert,please share with us your vision on how you would revive the ailing PCK.

Jane Kagiri.

From: "kictanet-request@lists.kictanet.or.ke" <kictanet-request@lists.kictanet.or.ke>
To: Jane Kagiri <kagirijane@yahoo.com>
Sent: Mon, November 8, 2010 3:21:28 PM
Subject: kictanet Digest, Vol 42, Issue 22

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Today's Topics:

1. Re: Yawe for Post Master General (Rad!)
2. Re: Yawe for Post Master General (Eugene Lidede (Synergy))
3. Outsourcing, a perspective following Obama's India visit
(Paul Kukubo ICT Board)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Mon, 8 Nov 2010 14:44:56 +0300
From: "Rad!" <conradakunga@gmail.com>
To: robert yawe <robertyawe@yahoo.co.uk>
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Yawe for Post Master General
Message-ID:
    <AANLkTinTYzGq3+mt-Gx5R_jsmvLjEYLyO2bfbe3D0gPS@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Add to that list

- Richard Branson
- Larry Page
- Ralph Lauren
- Steve Jobs

Which is not to say a university education is useless, but it should not be
the only consideration.

We could also look at what have the candidates achieved prior to coming to
PCK. What businesses & institutions have they nurtured/grown?

On Mon, Nov 8, 2010 at 2:38 PM, robert yawe <robertyawe@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Please read the profile of Micheal Joseph & his successor, in addition
> would you have hired any of the following fellows;
>
> 1. Bill Gates - University drop out
> 2. Micheal Dell - University drop out
> 3. James Mwangi - CPAK
> 4. Alexander Graham Bell - Grade 5 dropout
> 5. Njenga Karume - Unknown
> 6. Sir Richard Branson - O'Level
>
>
> I do not want to belittle paper qualifications but they work when you are
> looking for a fellow to maintain the status quo which is something we
> definitely do not want to do with PCK. No college in the world can prepare
> you on how to turn around an organisation in the state that PCK is in right
> now.
>
> If you are looking for relevant experience then you will need to get an
> expatriate as the only national postal corporation in Kenya is PCK. What is
> Major Ali's qualification that makes him an ideal candidate as the PMG?
>
> If you where sleeping & was then awaken by a hissing sound on turning on
> the light you see a snake what would you do?
>
> 1. Call KWS to send a team of experts to take capture the snake
> 2. Call the Police
> 3. Call KSPCA and ask for instruction on how to safely deal with the snake
> 4. Pick the nearest available to through at it
>
> Regards
>
> Robert Yawe
> KAY System Technologies Ltd
> Phoenix House, 6th Floor
> P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200
> Kenya
>
> Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696
>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Sam Aguyo <saguyo@yahoo.com>
> *To:* robert yawe <robertyawe@yahoo.co.uk>
>
> *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> *Sent:* Mon, 8 November, 2010 13:31:59
>
> *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Yawe for Post Master General
>
> Robert,
>
> It is good to offer yourself to be elected the new post master general. If
> i was the appointing authority, i would demand to know what your
> qualifications are and what measures you would use to turn around the
> supposed limping organisation. I would ask you your qualifications because
> it would inform me whether you have the fundamental background and skills
> required to deliver the service. I would look at both academic and
> professional experience to take the organisation forward. This also forms a
> criteria for selection acceptable to all, then we will not have "ya wenyewe"
> etc.
>
> Regards,
>
> Sam
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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> kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke
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>
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>
>
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Message: 2
Date: Mon, 8 Nov 2010 15:19:53 +0300
From: "Eugene Lidede $Synergy$" <eugene@synergy.co.ke>
To: <agostal@gmail.com>
Cc: 'KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions' <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Yawe for Post Master General
Message-ID: <01a501cb7f3f$3f96dd70$bec49850$@co.ke>
Content-Type: text/plain;    charset="iso-8859-1"

Robert,

With the sheer number of posts on this list and the diverse areas of
coverage, I should think you are already a "Post Master General".

Agosta,

If Upesi are doing something right, that?s is a good thing, but it does not
mean others shouldn?t get into the fold of "doing something right".

I would be interested to know if upesi folk can deliver my "goro goro" of
maize meal and rose cocoa beans from upcountry on a monthly basis. PCK does
it for me at less than 200/= for 5kg parcel (3-7 day delivery) or (KES 350/=
for EMS following day delivery). My "ushago" is located at these
coordinates: 0.746041,35.127089 - there are no tarmac roads (so to speak)
for over 70 km and electricity just "arrived" 2 weeks ago, but there is a
functional post office (postal code 50235) that has been operational longer
than I have been alive.

At these low rates from PCK, and with a currently functional national
footprint, all that?s needed are new efficiencies and it will be possible
for Upesi and others to build *country wide* ecommerce offerings PAP, hence
the need for an ICT visionary at the helm of PCK. In my understanding postal
services are a subset of ICT. What is lacking at PCK is a repositioning to
take advantage of the T in ICT.

Regards

Eugene

-----Original Message-----
From: kictanet-bounces+eugene=synergy.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke
[mailto:kictanet-bounces+eugene=synergy.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On
Behalf Of Agosta Liko
Sent: Monday, November 08, 2010 1:12 PM
To: Eugene Lidede
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Yawe for Post Master General

Robert

right now, local ecommerce deliveries are being done by piki piki guys
and similar courier services pretty well and they have shown a
willingness to integrate software systems

companies like http://www.upesi.com/ look positioned to champion the
ecommerce delivery space Kenya wide, all merchants have to do is give
them packages and they take care of the rest

so maybe ecommerce will be off the table

just saying :)

On Mon, Nov 8, 2010 at 12:39 PM, robert yawe <robertyawe@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> Hi,
> Will know what needs to be done to get PCK back on track, what we need is
to
> get on the inside and implement this issues.
> The sooner I can get myself appointed as PMG of PCK then sooner we can
truly
> implement e-commerce.
> Regards
>
> Robert Yawe
> KAY System Technologies Ltd
> Phoenix House, 6th Floor
> P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200
> Kenya
>
> Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696
>
> ________________________________
> From: Rad! <conradakunga@gmail.com>
> To: robertyawe@yahoo.co.uk
> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> Sent: Mon, 8 November, 2010 11:20:56
> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Yawe for Post Master General
>
> This is where Posta needs to think outside the box.
> Trying to compete with email (official correspondence e.g. bills,
> statements), facebook (personal correspondence e.g. letters, penpals etc)
> and MPesa (no more mailing of cheques) is folly.
> To re-invent itself Posta needs to realize that the one thing you cannot
> send via email is physical goods.
> How many businesses are based on a model of physical goods?
> Enter Posta. There is a significant opportunity in delivering goods from A
> to B. This is very difficult because finding A and B is problematic. We
> cannot depend on a system of landmarks to describe locations of businesses
> and houses.?The problem is thanks to lethargic officials in charge of
> planning urbanization across Kenya is by and large unplanned. This bell
> cannot be un-rung.?Some of these landmarks have deeply historical
knowledge.
> For example the NOCK stage on Haile Selassie is still called Agip. Others
> depend on other locations.
> Given that Posta has a good physical presence across Nairobi why shouldn't
> they undertake their own initiative to map the physical location of their
> customers? It would be folly to depend on City Councils more preoccupied
in
> throwing chairs. In any case, Posta should be doing KYC anyway.
> This would yield valuable information that would not only aid in their
> operations but can also be exposed to end users and consumers either
> directly or via some sort of API for courier companies to build solutions
> around receipt and dispatch.
> Given also that Posta has a large fleet of vehicles and physical presence
> across Kenya a model of physical delivery of goods is one they should be
> able to easily step into and compete favourably with the likes of DHL.
> In a nutshell this will yield the following opportunities
> - Fostering of an e-commerce industry in kenya with a closed buyer-seller
> loop (that is currently very open,hindering the same)
> - Partnering with e-comerce businesses, a new revenue stream
> - Increased business in the parcel delivery & courier sector, increased
> revenue stream
> - Enhanced productivity, since with mapped customers routes and deliveries
> can be optimized, saving costs
> - Sale of data - other couriers and businesses can pay for access to this
> data, a new revenue stream
> - Fostering development of B2B systems - with an API anyone can access
this
> data programatically (for a fee) and use this platform to build additional
> solutions, a new revenue stream
> Everyone is a winner!
> On Mon, Nov 8, 2010 at 10:56 AM, Odhiambo Washington <odhiambo@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Nov 8, 2010 at 10:30 AM, Rad! <conradakunga@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> If Posta was serious about remaining relevant they would grasp the
>>> opportunity to develop and run a physical addressing system for Kenya.
>>
>>
>> @Rad!,
>> The physical addressing system: Isn't this the same thing that Kanjo
>> already started, albeit so badly? If Kanjo's was the pilot project for
>> Kenya, then I must say it's awful. It may not be surprising that some
>> officials from Kanjo went for overseas trips to learn how the physical
>> addressing+Post Codes is supposed to be done, only to come and do an
awful
>> one for Nairobi!
>> I think that "physical addressing == Post Codes", right? Can this be done
>> by Posta without involving the Kanjo's of other towns in Kenya? With the
>> poor infrastructure that we have in this country, I still wonder how
Posta
>> would deliver mail to my rural home, when I cannot even drive there
myself,
>> because the govt expects me to build the roads I need to use!
>>
>>
>> --
>> Best regards,
>> Odhiambo WASHINGTON,
>> Nairobi,KE
>> +254733744121/+254722743223
>> _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
>> Damn!!
>>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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> kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke
> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
>
> This message was sent to: agostal@gmail.com
> Unsubscribe or change your options at
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>

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------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Mon, 8 Nov 2010 15:21:47 +0300
From: Paul Kukubo ICT Board <pkukubo@ict.go.ke>
To: "kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke" <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Subject: [kictanet] Outsourcing, a perspective following Obama's India
    visit
Message-ID: <3A3A946B-3959-4960-9643-61DFBA74EF67@ict.go.ke>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Listers

The following article appears in the Wall Street Journal. Two points of note for our reflection upon as Kenya.

1. Labour supply shifting to small and medium sized businesses globally. Kenyan talent providers can enhance their participation in talent websites like freelancer.com to promote and sell their services directly.
2. On some services, India can deliver the project at a 10th of US prices for the same quality. The India US dependency is very high even among small businesses in the US which depend on Indian labour to provide basic IT services. This is an opportunity for Kenya.

Enjoy the read...

The Obama Visit: An Outsourcer?s Perspective

Article
Comments
INDIA REAL TIME HOME PAGE ?
EmailPrintPermalink

+ More
Text
By Arlene Chang

Outsourcing has been a major political whipping boy between the U.S. and India in recent months but U.S. President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh both tried to quell the controversy in remarks before the press Monday. Mr. Obama said outsourcing was the subject of stereotyping in the U.S. which has to be updated and Mr. Singh said India was not in the business of stealing American jobs.

Matt Barrie is chief executive of Freelancer.com, an online marketplace that connects businesses looking to outsource work with service providers, many of them in India. The site has 1.9 million members. He talked to India Real Time?s Arlene Chang about his view of the U.S., India and outsourcing. Here are edited excerpts.

Freelancer.com
Matt Barrie, chief executive Freelancer.com
IRT: As head of one of the largest outsourcing websites, you must have a view on outsourcing of jobs?

Mr. Barrie: We were founded in 2004 and since then, our two primary markets have been the U.S. and India ? expectedly. Of the employers posting jobs, 90% of those jobs come from the U.S. and of the jobs being completed 90% are done by Indians.

I do not see this as Indians taking away jobs from the Americans or outsourcing as being a bad thing.

If anything, this has been a tremendously good exchange. You have about 25 million small businesses in the U.S. and each of them needs people to help run and sustain their businesses. But they may not necessarily have the money or budget to do it through normal channels. Here, the service providers, a majority of which in the case of freelancer.com are Indians, are providing those businesses with the services they want within their desired cost.

IRT: Is it a stereotype in the U.S. that India takes away American jobs?

Mr. Barrie: It is a stereotype but the stereotype is actually contradictory. Most of our members seeking services are small and medium-sized businesses and each one of them needs to, for example, get itself a website and maintain it. This need is not necessarily met by the supply available within the U.S.

Small businesses are always thinking of getting their things done for a lesser cost, they need to be constantly cost effective. The service providers on our website provide those services to them at a fraction of the cost. This enables small and medium-sized companies to cut costs, become more competitive, and thus helps them grow their business ? all of which in turn helps the U.S. economy. As we talk, there are a tremendous number of jobs being created in the U.S. just, say, in internet businesses, whose back-office operations are being supported by outsourced hires.

IRT: What are the statistics for the outsourcing exchange on your website?

Mr. Barrie: Since we started in 2004, we have completed around 850,000 projects and seen $67.41 million traded. Of the 1.9 million users we have, 400,000 of them are from India and are service providers. A similar number are service seekers from the U.S. The average cost of a job through our website is less than $200. So, as an example, if someone wants to build a website for their business they would normally have to pay about $2,000 in the U.S. to get that job done. On freelancer.com, we have people who do the job for $200. That?s one tenth of the actual cost. The U.S. is the largest poster of jobs for us and India has the largest pool of service providers, but India is also a significant employer. After the U.S., U.K., Australia and Canada, it is India that posts the highest number of jobs that need to be done.

IRT: What is the future of the outsourcing industry globally?

Mr. Barrie: I think the next five years are going to be extremely interesting. Labor markets are always in flux and while the big businesses are doing the bulk of trade, there is already a fundamental shift in the amount and direction of labor supply. A huge amount of that labor supply is shifting to small and medium-sized businesses globally and as that happens there is going to be a revolution in places like India.

If a person wants to start their own small business, all they have to do is go online and get someone who can get up a website for them and manage it ? all this done on a shoestring budget.

With more such businesses coming into being, there will be more work and the jobs not available previously will be out there. I think the off-shoring of the work of small and medium-sized businesses is going to provide an unparalleled opportunity for the U.S. and India, helping U.S. businesses in being more competitive and helping Indians get jobs that were not previously available.

IRT: What do you make of President Obama?s statement in Mumbai Saturday on there being a stereotype in the U.S. about outsourcing to India?

Mr. Barrie: I think a lot of what he said is rhetoric. He is in a politically different situation now after having lost the mid-term elections back home. I think he is pandering to the Indian-American vote bank back home when he said that, when he goes back to the U.S., he wants to be able to tell his countrymen that India has in fact created 50,000 jobs for America.

Ends

Paul Kukubo

CEO, Kenya ICT Board

Sent from my iPad
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