Hi, We are getting lost in rhetoric, I would advice all of us to watch the following documentaries 1. Triumph of the Nerds: The Birth of accidental entrepreneurs 2. Google: behind the screen 3. Social Media 4. Google Documentary (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1508211417393454786#) 5. The Evolution of Facebook (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp5y5ifxfvU) 6. Search the web for many other documentaries This will give you an insight into how we can go from being a talk shop and baby cries and get down to doing some serious productive work. Without fear I will repeat what I commented previously "money follows great ideas; period". I also like a comment from a Google employee, in one of the documentaries, "Google is an extension of college" Regards Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696 ________________________________ From: Agosta Liko <agostal@gmail.com> To: robertyawe@yahoo.co.uk Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Sat, 11 June, 2011 19:48:06 Subject: Re: [kictanet] Kenya's "Silicon Savannah" to challenge India on IT Joseph, Private sector players have found a way to grow their businesses and there are success stories anywhere where the founders were focused and executed. 3 years ago, we said internet is a problem, at that time, people had setup 50+ seat call centers ... 2 years ago, the talk was capacity building, certification and how to prepare the natives. Now, everyone is talking about lack of access to capital... And I am seeing everyone become or want to become an incubator. Can we have a sitting as private sector players and chart the course Also.. I don't see Bretton Woods, worldbank etc coming to help... Thanks On 6/11/11, Joseph McDonald <mcdonaldoj@gmail.com> wrote:
The local IT community need to work more closely and with collaboration, look at problems and lobby the government, because technology is not about programming and coding only or having web this and that or mobile this and that. It is addressing a national or global problem by enriching life to make it more efficient. Having said that IT people cannot work in isolation they need to work with Business Planners, Business Model Specialist, Product Managers and Marketers specialist,Investors,Value Chain Specialist, Lawyers etc.so ihub should also allow other non-IT people into the hub.
I know there has been lots of debate on Investors and funding, if the funding from Bretton Woods and the government is not forthcoming how about people who have made their careers and riches through IT, if people who have made all their careers and riches in IT can not support others then who will? I know of many IT companies owned by people in this list who make between 24-75 million USD a year.e.g Craft Silicon has made 10 billion in the last 10 years, MJ, Seven Seas, East Africa Capital Partners etc have the resource and clout to start venture capital or act as angel investors. As insiders if they made a deliberate effort to support other young and upcoming innovators we can head somewhere. Silicon Valley was largely built by networks of people and companies whose interlocking relationships help to spawn new start-ups e.g. After selling Paypal for 1.5 billion USD to eBay, its founders and alumni have helped both financially and intellectually to start up numerous internet start-ups e.g. Yelp, Youtube, LinkedIn, Slide, Room9Entertainment, Spacex among others. So much that in October 17 2006 NY times run a story called It Pays to have Pals at Paypal.
The government also has a very important role; they can create an enabling environment especially to protect the ideas through effective and efficient copy right laws and patenting system, creating subsidies for research etc the government can also give more business to local IT companies, and fundamentally the government need to streamline our educational systems so that we can have 16-25 year olds who are ready to go into innovation and venture into business. India is reaping from the decisions their government made in 1948 by setting up Business and Technology institutions in every major city. The government is making efforts through building the techno-parks etc techno-park is good but is it a real estate investment or an investment to spur ICT growth? As a-country we need to assess our place in the global IT value chain, we need to find out what we are good at and can do better than everyone else. China, Malaysia and Taiwan used their population to offer cheap labour, India used excess bandwidth to set-up call centers, America is good at marketing etc
Having said that I think that the debates are healthy because it shows people are genuinely worried and are ready to take action.
On Fri, Jun 10, 2011 at 10:22 PM, Agosta Liko <agostal@gmail.com> wrote:
Mark
I can't agree more on an easy api to enable Kenyans to pay on the phone....
This would be a killer app
On 6/10/11, Mark Mwangi <mwangy@gmail.com> wrote:
These wonderful stories are just that. Stories. I know Dr. Ndemo will start calling me unpatriotic and negative but I stand my ground. We are not America and we are not India and so attempting to replicate the same model is rather unimaginative. I believe we should focus our efforts with models that work here. Instead of introducing a Visa card that can be loaded via mpesa, push local developers to develop a secure API that allows for easy payment online via phone. Make the phone number the unique identifier e.t.c
We don't want to be Bangalore. We want a Kenyan Identity cultivated here not by a western journalist.
Making grand announcements and mentions in articles allover does not develop the tech scene. I am smelling a tech bubble. Lots of talk, very little on the ground.
-- Sent from my mobile device
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-- Sent from my mobile device _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/robertyawe%40yahoo.co.u... 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.