Re: [kictanet] Have we failed the nation yet again? - the inzi issue
Military does invest in R&D through Universities. Great ideas are incubated, supported financially and intellectually. Academics mill around good ideas and help advance them. That is why Zukerberg moved from Harvard to Silicon Valley where he was supported by the Universities around there, the Government through Small Business Administration financed the incubation. Now the Government is reaping the benefits of taxes from thousands of employees working there. Why do then debate so much on the merits and demerits of Konza. India is building a Konza in every state. Ushahidi was a great idea that we lost a chance to incubate and support its R&D plus financing its growth. Unfortunately, not many Kenyans know this great idea. Universities that teach computer science hardly know new research areas to support the vibrant ICT activities in the country. How do we build an effective triple helix? How do we get the universities to do research that have a meaning to its people? Ndemo.
Daktari,
Problem is, technology generally moves along for both military and civilian use. Modern day terrorists and organised criminals are more than a match for full sovereign states electronic firepower. The only way military/law enforcement can ensure 'monopoly' of technology is by investing lots in R&D, which I don't think we as a country do!
Waithaka Ngigi
On Wed, Oct 2, 2013 at 4:00 PM, Bitange Ndemo <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
Robert, Nano technologies are here already. Just like the Japanese miniaturized everything, we should nononize some products. I will work with one that is a bit smaller. Just imagine if we had one like that with night vision. We could not have destroyed the entire parking.
Ndemo.
Daktari,
Is this what you where referring to when you mentioned an inzi?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5TdbMu8xc4
Regards
PS. Encouraging gaming could be what saves us next time there is a terrorist hostage situation
Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya
Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696
________________________________ From: Bitange Ndemo <bitange@jambo.co.ke> To: robert yawe <robertyawe@yahoo.co.uk> Cc: bitange@jambo.co.ke; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Monday, 23 September 2013, 16:07 Subject: Re: [kictanet] Have we failed the nation yet again?
Robert, There is absolutely nothing anybody will have done with ICTs after the terrorists stormed the Mall. All IT gadgets worked properly. CCTV footage is there and was aired on TV yesterday. The screening askaris had no chance since the assailants forced their way in.
Perhaps what we need is more research to mount a camera on a fly (inzi) with night vision to fly carefully within the terrorist hideout and establish strategically on how to respond. Some flies could be loaded with sleeping gas to put assailants to sleep. Drones do scan the horizon giving military advance knowledge of the terrain.
Right now we should spend a few minutes to praise our uniformed forces. They did a commendable job. In bitterness I am still proud to be Kenyan.
Ndemo.
Hi,
As we console all those who where affected by the happenings at the Westgate Mall over the weekend do we remain blameless as an industry?
Regards
Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya
Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696_______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
Unsubscribe or change your options at
https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/bitange%40jambo.co.ke
The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder
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
platform privacy,
do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
University of Nairobi Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
University of Nairobi Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
_______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ngigiwaithaka%40gmail....
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.
-- *Regards,*
*Wait**haka Ngigi* Chief Executive Officer | Alliance Technologies | MCK Nairobi Synod Building T + 254 (0) 20 2333 471 |Office Mobile: +254 786 28 28 28 | M + 254 737 811 000 www.at.co.ke
University of Nairobi Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
Daktari, On the military, I was referring more to the local scenario than globally. Without military research we probably wouldn't have the Internet and GPS just to take two examples. As regards Konza, IMO, its the right thing for us to do 20 years from now. Yes India is building a Konza in every state, but its building Konza when they already have a high technology industry which will take advantage of their Konzas. They have Tata, Mahindra Satyam, Infosys and similar $1b firms that can take advantage of these Konzas. But, for us, we do not even have a technology industry to speak of (please lets not call all these incubation centers pushing mobile apps that no one is buying an industry) So, the difference btn us and them is that they are building their Konzas because they need them and we are building ours to be like India. The classic Build, ????, Profit scenario... Before we invest such amounts of money in a real estate project, would it not have been more prudent and wise to invest that amount of money in research in our universities as an example? Yes, and it is true our universities are not doing enough research, yet, how much as a country are we investing in research in our own universities? If we are not investing anything much, then lets not sit and complain that they are not doing much. Research costs real money as real mistakes will need to be made as we learn! We do not need Konza for Vision 2030, but we do need to invest in research, we do need to invest in local technology firms (suppose 50% of that money was pushed to local firms to enhance their research and expand their business???), we do need to invest in teaching technology in our schools. Waithaka Ngigi A1.iO On Wed, Oct 2, 2013 at 11:04 PM, Bitange Ndemo <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
Military does invest in R&D through Universities. Great ideas are incubated, supported financially and intellectually. Academics mill around good ideas and help advance them. That is why Zukerberg moved from Harvard to Silicon Valley where he was supported by the Universities around there, the Government through Small Business Administration financed the incubation. Now the Government is reaping the benefits of taxes from thousands of employees working there.
Why do then debate so much on the merits and demerits of Konza. India is building a Konza in every state. Ushahidi was a great idea that we lost a chance to incubate and support its R&D plus financing its growth. Unfortunately, not many Kenyans know this great idea. Universities that teach computer science hardly know new research areas to support the vibrant ICT activities in the country. How do we build an effective triple helix? How do we get the universities to do research that have a meaning to its people?
Ndemo.
Daktari,
Problem is, technology generally moves along for both military and civilian use. Modern day terrorists and organised criminals are more than a match for full sovereign states electronic firepower. The only way military/law enforcement can ensure 'monopoly' of technology is by investing lots in R&D, which I don't think we as a country do!
Waithaka Ngigi
On Wed, Oct 2, 2013 at 4:00 PM, Bitange Ndemo <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
Robert, Nano technologies are here already. Just like the Japanese miniaturized everything, we should nononize some products. I will work with one that is a bit smaller. Just imagine if we had one like that with night vision. We could not have destroyed the entire parking.
Ndemo.
Daktari,
Is this what you where referring to when you mentioned an inzi?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5TdbMu8xc4
Regards
PS. Encouraging gaming could be what saves us next time there is a terrorist hostage situation
Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya
Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696
________________________________ From: Bitange Ndemo <bitange@jambo.co.ke> To: robert yawe <robertyawe@yahoo.co.uk> Cc: bitange@jambo.co.ke; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Monday, 23 September 2013, 16:07 Subject: Re: [kictanet] Have we failed the nation yet again?
Robert, There is absolutely nothing anybody will have done with ICTs after the terrorists stormed the Mall. All IT gadgets worked properly. CCTV footage is there and was aired on TV yesterday. The screening askaris had no chance since the assailants forced their way in.
Perhaps what we need is more research to mount a camera on a fly (inzi) with night vision to fly carefully within the terrorist hideout and establish strategically on how to respond. Some flies could be loaded with sleeping gas to put assailants to sleep. Drones do scan the horizon giving military advance knowledge of the terrain.
Right now we should spend a few minutes to praise our uniformed forces. They did a commendable job. In bitterness I am still proud to be Kenyan.
Ndemo.
Hi,
As we console all those who where affected by the happenings at the Westgate Mall over the weekend do we remain blameless as an industry?
Regards
Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya
Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696_______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
Unsubscribe or change your options at
https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/bitange%40jambo.co.ke
The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder
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
platform privacy,
do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
University of Nairobi Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
University of Nairobi Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
_______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
Unsubscribe or change your options at
https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ngigiwaithaka%40gmail....
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.
-- *Regards,*
*Wait**haka Ngigi* Chief Executive Officer | Alliance Technologies | MCK Nairobi Synod Building T + 254 (0) 20 2333 471 |Office Mobile: +254 786 28 28 28 | M + 254 737 811 000 www.at.co.ke
University of Nairobi Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
-- *Regards,* *Wait**haka Ngigi* Chief Executive Officer | Alliance Technologies | MCK Nairobi Synod Building T + 254 (0) 20 2333 471 |Office Mobile: +254 786 28 28 28 | M + 254 737 811 000 www.at.co.ke
This is a chicken and egg argument that we cannot finish here. What do you think about the innovations coming out of the emerging laboratories such as I-hub, I-lab and the like? Do they not need to be incubated? what about Ushahidi? Ndemo.
Daktari,
On the military, I was referring more to the local scenario than globally. Without military research we probably wouldn't have the Internet and GPS just to take two examples.
As regards Konza, IMO, its the right thing for us to do 20 years from now. Yes India is building a Konza in every state, but its building Konza when they already have a high technology industry which will take advantage of their Konzas. They have Tata, Mahindra Satyam, Infosys and similar $1b firms that can take advantage of these Konzas.
But, for us, we do not even have a technology industry to speak of (please lets not call all these incubation centers pushing mobile apps that no one is buying an industry)
So, the difference btn us and them is that they are building their Konzas because they need them and we are building ours to be like India. The classic Build, ????, Profit scenario...
Before we invest such amounts of money in a real estate project, would it not have been more prudent and wise to invest that amount of money in research in our universities as an example? Yes, and it is true our universities are not doing enough research, yet, how much as a country are we investing in research in our own universities? If we are not investing anything much, then lets not sit and complain that they are not doing much.
Research costs real money as real mistakes will need to be made as we learn!
We do not need Konza for Vision 2030, but we do need to invest in research, we do need to invest in local technology firms (suppose 50% of that money was pushed to local firms to enhance their research and expand their business???), we do need to invest in teaching technology in our schools.
Waithaka Ngigi A1.iO
On Wed, Oct 2, 2013 at 11:04 PM, Bitange Ndemo <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
Military does invest in R&D through Universities. Great ideas are incubated, supported financially and intellectually. Academics mill around good ideas and help advance them. That is why Zukerberg moved from Harvard to Silicon Valley where he was supported by the Universities around there, the Government through Small Business Administration financed the incubation. Now the Government is reaping the benefits of taxes from thousands of employees working there.
Why do then debate so much on the merits and demerits of Konza. India is building a Konza in every state. Ushahidi was a great idea that we lost a chance to incubate and support its R&D plus financing its growth. Unfortunately, not many Kenyans know this great idea. Universities that teach computer science hardly know new research areas to support the vibrant ICT activities in the country. How do we build an effective triple helix? How do we get the universities to do research that have a meaning to its people?
Ndemo.
Daktari,
Problem is, technology generally moves along for both military and civilian use. Modern day terrorists and organised criminals are more than a match for full sovereign states electronic firepower. The only way military/law enforcement can ensure 'monopoly' of technology is by investing lots in R&D, which I don't think we as a country do!
Waithaka Ngigi
On Wed, Oct 2, 2013 at 4:00 PM, Bitange Ndemo <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
Robert, Nano technologies are here already. Just like the Japanese miniaturized everything, we should nononize some products. I will work with one that is a bit smaller. Just imagine if we had one like that with night vision. We could not have destroyed the entire parking.
Ndemo.
Daktari,
Is this what you where referring to when you mentioned an inzi?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5TdbMu8xc4
Regards
PS. Encouraging gaming could be what saves us next time there is a terrorist hostage situation
Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya
Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696
________________________________ From: Bitange Ndemo <bitange@jambo.co.ke> To: robert yawe <robertyawe@yahoo.co.uk> Cc: bitange@jambo.co.ke; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Monday, 23 September 2013, 16:07 Subject: Re: [kictanet] Have we failed the nation yet again?
Robert, There is absolutely nothing anybody will have done with ICTs after the terrorists stormed the Mall. All IT gadgets worked properly. CCTV footage is there and was aired on TV yesterday. The screening askaris had no chance since the assailants forced their way in.
Perhaps what we need is more research to mount a camera on a fly (inzi) with night vision to fly carefully within the terrorist hideout and establish strategically on how to respond. Some flies could be loaded with sleeping gas to put assailants to sleep. Drones do scan the horizon giving military advance knowledge of the terrain.
Right now we should spend a few minutes to praise our uniformed forces. They did a commendable job. In bitterness I am still proud to be Kenyan.
Ndemo.
Hi,
As we console all those who where affected by the happenings at the Westgate Mall over the weekend do we remain blameless as an industry?
Regards
Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya
Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696_______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
Unsubscribe or change your options at
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
https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/bitange%40jambo.co.ke the
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
ICT privacy,
do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
University of Nairobi Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
University of Nairobi Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
_______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
Unsubscribe or change your options at
https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ngigiwaithaka%40gmail....
The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder
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
platform privacy,
do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
-- *Regards,*
*Wait**haka Ngigi* Chief Executive Officer | Alliance Technologies | MCK Nairobi Synod Building T + 254 (0) 20 2333 471 |Office Mobile: +254 786 28 28 28 | M + 254 737 811 000 www.at.co.ke
University of Nairobi Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
-- *Regards,*
*Wait**haka Ngigi* Chief Executive Officer | Alliance Technologies | MCK Nairobi Synod Building T + 254 (0) 20 2333 471 |Office Mobile: +254 786 28 28 28 | M + 254 737 811 000 www.at.co.ke
University of Nairobi Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
.....the last time I checked this is how it started in Silicon Valley in the 80s then moved to Europe in the 90s and then Asia as the 21st century beckon but as it happens after a decade into the 21st century in Africa, suddenly there is a school of thought gaining grounds that "despises small beginnings" gaining notoriety for their lack of or their inability to just pay attention to history to realize that there is nothing new under the Tuscan sun -- this is just history repeating itself as it is meant to be.... To the crazy ones, "the method is persistence" - Camus. Have a good weekend. Eric here Sent from my iPhone On Oct 3, 2013, at 21:38, Bitange Ndemo <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
This is a chicken and egg argument that we cannot finish here. What do you think about the innovations coming out of the emerging laboratories such as I-hub, I-lab and the like? Do they not need to be incubated? what about Ushahidi?
Ndemo.
Daktari,
On the military, I was referring more to the local scenario than globally. Without military research we probably wouldn't have the Internet and GPS just to take two examples.
As regards Konza, IMO, its the right thing for us to do 20 years from now. Yes India is building a Konza in every state, but its building Konza when they already have a high technology industry which will take advantage of their Konzas. They have Tata, Mahindra Satyam, Infosys and similar $1b firms that can take advantage of these Konzas.
But, for us, we do not even have a technology industry to speak of (please lets not call all these incubation centers pushing mobile apps that no one is buying an industry)
So, the difference btn us and them is that they are building their Konzas because they need them and we are building ours to be like India. The classic Build, ????, Profit scenario...
Before we invest such amounts of money in a real estate project, would it not have been more prudent and wise to invest that amount of money in research in our universities as an example? Yes, and it is true our universities are not doing enough research, yet, how much as a country are we investing in research in our own universities? If we are not investing anything much, then lets not sit and complain that they are not doing much.
Research costs real money as real mistakes will need to be made as we learn!
We do not need Konza for Vision 2030, but we do need to invest in research, we do need to invest in local technology firms (suppose 50% of that money was pushed to local firms to enhance their research and expand their business???), we do need to invest in teaching technology in our schools.
Waithaka Ngigi A1.iO
On Wed, Oct 2, 2013 at 11:04 PM, Bitange Ndemo <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
Military does invest in R&D through Universities. Great ideas are incubated, supported financially and intellectually. Academics mill around good ideas and help advance them. That is why Zukerberg moved from Harvard to Silicon Valley where he was supported by the Universities around there, the Government through Small Business Administration financed the incubation. Now the Government is reaping the benefits of taxes from thousands of employees working there.
Why do then debate so much on the merits and demerits of Konza. India is building a Konza in every state. Ushahidi was a great idea that we lost a chance to incubate and support its R&D plus financing its growth. Unfortunately, not many Kenyans know this great idea. Universities that teach computer science hardly know new research areas to support the vibrant ICT activities in the country. How do we build an effective triple helix? How do we get the universities to do research that have a meaning to its people?
Ndemo.
Daktari,
Problem is, technology generally moves along for both military and civilian use. Modern day terrorists and organised criminals are more than a match for full sovereign states electronic firepower. The only way military/law enforcement can ensure 'monopoly' of technology is by investing lots in R&D, which I don't think we as a country do!
Waithaka Ngigi
On Wed, Oct 2, 2013 at 4:00 PM, Bitange Ndemo <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
Robert, Nano technologies are here already. Just like the Japanese miniaturized everything, we should nononize some products. I will work with one that is a bit smaller. Just imagine if we had one like that with night vision. We could not have destroyed the entire parking.
Ndemo.
Daktari,
Is this what you where referring to when you mentioned an inzi?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5TdbMu8xc4
Regards
PS. Encouraging gaming could be what saves us next time there is a terrorist hostage situation
Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya
Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696
________________________________ From: Bitange Ndemo <bitange@jambo.co.ke> To: robert yawe <robertyawe@yahoo.co.uk> Cc: bitange@jambo.co.ke; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Monday, 23 September 2013, 16:07 Subject: Re: [kictanet] Have we failed the nation yet again?
Robert, There is absolutely nothing anybody will have done with ICTs after the terrorists stormed the Mall. All IT gadgets worked properly. CCTV footage is there and was aired on TV yesterday. The screening askaris had no chance since the assailants forced their way in.
Perhaps what we need is more research to mount a camera on a fly (inzi) with night vision to fly carefully within the terrorist hideout and establish strategically on how to respond. Some flies could be loaded with sleeping gas to put assailants to sleep. Drones do scan the horizon giving military advance knowledge of the terrain.
Right now we should spend a few minutes to praise our uniformed forces. They did a commendable job. In bitterness I am still proud to be Kenyan.
Ndemo.
> Hi, > > As we console all those who where affected by the happenings at the > Westgate Mall over the weekend do we remain blameless as an industry? > > Regards > > > > Robert Yawe > KAY System Technologies Ltd > Phoenix House, 6th Floor > P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 > Kenya > > > Tel: +254722511225, > +254202010696_______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke > https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/bitange%40jambo.co.ke > > 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.
University of Nairobi Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
University of Nairobi Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
_______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ngigiwaithaka%40gmail....
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.
-- *Regards,*
*Wait**haka Ngigi* Chief Executive Officer | Alliance Technologies | MCK Nairobi Synod Building T + 254 (0) 20 2333 471 |Office Mobile: +254 786 28 28 28 | M + 254 737 811 000 www.at.co.ke
University of Nairobi Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
-- *Regards,*
*Wait**haka Ngigi* Chief Executive Officer | Alliance Technologies | MCK Nairobi Synod Building T + 254 (0) 20 2333 471 |Office Mobile: +254 786 28 28 28 | M + 254 737 811 000 www.at.co.ke
University of Nairobi Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
_______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ericosiakwan%40me.com
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.
Daktari, A problem we have is the notion that Kenya's nascent technology industry is built around iHub, iLab and the many labs that are propping up everywhere. If you ask the average Kenya ICT Govt technocrat, they will probably tell you that's where Kenya's technology industry is, which cannot be further from the truth. Talking of innovations and from someone who has been writing professional software and running a software firm for 10+ years, I don't see much innovation coming from these labs. What I see are little apps that are built to address certain functionality and are built to please the gallery to win the next competition, which really, is a pity! But, that's what the technocrats want to see and talk about What they don't see and they don't know is that there are Kenyan software firms that have been around for the last 10 years + that are writing solid software solutions, with clients in Kenya and globally and year in year out are selling in excess of Ksh 100m-500m in software each. I do have my theory as to why non-mobile solutions are not taken seriously in this country by the technocrats. And IMO I think it all boils down to corruption! Here is my take, if you were to slice up the local market in terms of total market share and size in $, I would suppose that within the three areas Enterpise (ERPs, CRMS, Core Banking), Consumer Applications(Office, Photoshop) & Mobile( every 'innovation' center here) you would get around 49%, 49%, 1% respectively in terms of real $ used to purchase these applications. The Kenyan software market is around Ksh 5B / year and hence the majority of that money is spent purchasing ERPs, CRMs and the MS Office & Photoshops etc Now, as fate would have it, when the technocrats decided to pursue ICT seriously and 'grow' the nascent Kenyan software industry, guess what industry sector they decided to push for? Yes, the 'obvious' one where hardly anyone spends money on, Mobile! That meager 1% is what all these innovation labs are pushing for and no wonder firms are in incubation for years as there is simply no market there and no one buys those products locally. Why did they leave out the Enterprise & Consumer applications from this push? Ignorance? No, my hunch tells me something else; they don't want to interrupt the current cash cow that is ERPs, CRMs and the cosy relationships they have with the foreign vendors. That's why to this date, The Kenya ICT Authority advertises tenders that are clearly 'marked' for foreign firms and so much so without batting an eyelid. That is the tragic story of the local software industry, but to keep us amused, how about we setup yet another lab and come up with a competition on who has come up with the best mobile app that counts how many carrots a farmer has grown since last week, with a 'free' office at Konza, while a firm from India wins a Ksh 500M Tender on filing tax returns online! That ladies and gentlemen is progress Made in Kenya! Waithaka Ngigi A1.iO On Thu, Oct 3, 2013 at 10:38 PM, Bitange Ndemo <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
This is a chicken and egg argument that we cannot finish here. What do you think about the innovations coming out of the emerging laboratories such as I-hub, I-lab and the like? Do they not need to be incubated? what about Ushahidi?
Ndemo.
Daktari,
On the military, I was referring more to the local scenario than globally. Without military research we probably wouldn't have the Internet and GPS just to take two examples.
As regards Konza, IMO, its the right thing for us to do 20 years from now. Yes India is building a Konza in every state, but its building Konza when they already have a high technology industry which will take advantage of their Konzas. They have Tata, Mahindra Satyam, Infosys and similar $1b firms that can take advantage of these Konzas.
But, for us, we do not even have a technology industry to speak of (please lets not call all these incubation centers pushing mobile apps that no one is buying an industry)
So, the difference btn us and them is that they are building their Konzas because they need them and we are building ours to be like India. The classic Build, ????, Profit scenario...
Before we invest such amounts of money in a real estate project, would it not have been more prudent and wise to invest that amount of money in research in our universities as an example? Yes, and it is true our universities are not doing enough research, yet, how much as a country are we investing in research in our own universities? If we are not investing anything much, then lets not sit and complain that they are not doing much.
Research costs real money as real mistakes will need to be made as we learn!
We do not need Konza for Vision 2030, but we do need to invest in research, we do need to invest in local technology firms (suppose 50% of that money was pushed to local firms to enhance their research and expand their business???), we do need to invest in teaching technology in our schools.
Waithaka Ngigi A1.iO
On Wed, Oct 2, 2013 at 11:04 PM, Bitange Ndemo <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
Military does invest in R&D through Universities. Great ideas are incubated, supported financially and intellectually. Academics mill around good ideas and help advance them. That is why Zukerberg moved from Harvard to Silicon Valley where he was supported by the Universities around there, the Government through Small Business Administration financed the incubation. Now the Government is reaping the benefits of taxes from thousands of employees working there.
Why do then debate so much on the merits and demerits of Konza. India is building a Konza in every state. Ushahidi was a great idea that we lost a chance to incubate and support its R&D plus financing its growth. Unfortunately, not many Kenyans know this great idea. Universities that teach computer science hardly know new research areas to support the vibrant ICT activities in the country. How do we build an effective triple helix? How do we get the universities to do research that have a meaning to its people?
Ndemo.
Daktari,
Problem is, technology generally moves along for both military and civilian use. Modern day terrorists and organised criminals are more than a match for full sovereign states electronic firepower. The only way military/law enforcement can ensure 'monopoly' of technology is by investing lots in R&D, which I don't think we as a country do!
Waithaka Ngigi
On Wed, Oct 2, 2013 at 4:00 PM, Bitange Ndemo <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
Robert, Nano technologies are here already. Just like the Japanese miniaturized everything, we should nononize some products. I will work with one that is a bit smaller. Just imagine if we had one like that with night vision. We could not have destroyed the entire parking.
Ndemo.
Daktari,
Is this what you where referring to when you mentioned an inzi?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5TdbMu8xc4
Regards
PS. Encouraging gaming could be what saves us next time there is a terrorist hostage situation
Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya
Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696
________________________________ From: Bitange Ndemo <bitange@jambo.co.ke> To: robert yawe <robertyawe@yahoo.co.uk> Cc: bitange@jambo.co.ke; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Monday, 23 September 2013, 16:07 Subject: Re: [kictanet] Have we failed the nation yet again?
Robert, There is absolutely nothing anybody will have done with ICTs after the terrorists stormed the Mall. All IT gadgets worked properly. CCTV footage is there and was aired on TV yesterday. The screening askaris had no chance since the assailants forced their way in.
Perhaps what we need is more research to mount a camera on a fly (inzi) with night vision to fly carefully within the terrorist hideout and establish strategically on how to respond. Some flies could be loaded with sleeping gas to put assailants to sleep. Drones do scan the horizon giving military advance knowledge of the terrain.
Right now we should spend a few minutes to praise our uniformed forces. They did a commendable job. In bitterness I am still proud to be Kenyan.
Ndemo.
> Hi, > > As we console all those who where affected by the happenings at the > Westgate Mall over the weekend do we remain blameless as an industry? > > Regards > > > > Robert Yawe > KAY System Technologies Ltd > Phoenix House, 6th Floor > P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 > Kenya > > > Tel: +254722511225, > +254202010696_______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke > https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Unsubscribe or change your options at >
https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/bitange%40jambo.co.ke
> > 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.
University of Nairobi Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
University of Nairobi Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
_______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
Unsubscribe or change your options at
https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ngigiwaithaka%40gmail....
The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder
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
platform privacy,
do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
-- *Regards,*
*Wait**haka Ngigi* Chief Executive Officer | Alliance Technologies | MCK Nairobi Synod Building T + 254 (0) 20 2333 471 |Office Mobile: +254 786 28 28 28 | M + 254 737 811 000 www.at.co.ke
University of Nairobi Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
-- *Regards,*
*Wait**haka Ngigi* Chief Executive Officer | Alliance Technologies | MCK Nairobi Synod Building T + 254 (0) 20 2333 471 |Office Mobile: +254 786 28 28 28 | M + 254 737 811 000 www.at.co.ke
University of Nairobi Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
-- *Regards,* *Wait**haka Ngigi* Chief Executive Officer | Alliance Technologies | MCK Nairobi Synod Building T + 254 (0) 20 2333 471 |Office Mobile: +254 786 28 28 28 | M + 254 737 811 000 www.at.co.ke
@Ngigi, Joining this thread late but I do hear you...and I do hope the new Technocrats at the Ministry of ICT will also hear you. The President keeps saying we give 30% of the tenders to local companies. We do not get to see these 30% with regard to ICT projects. And it is because the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak; assume you were the CEO ICT Authority and have to make a decision between buying local (say from http://www.alliancetechnologies.net/) vs buying from the Big Vendors. Big Vendor takes you to a world tour to see how their software works in Europe, US and Asia - for free. The local guy @http://www.alliancetechnologies.net/ takes you to Eldy, Bungoma and Masaku to see how his software works. You are the CEO of ICT Authority - what will you buy? This is where the rubber meets the road. You will need heroic discipline to make a call for the local software company. Presidential directives are never sufficient in bread and butter issues. walu. ________________________________ From: Ngigi Waithaka <ngigi@at.co.ke> To: jwalu@yahoo.com Cc: Ngigi Waithaka <ngigiwaithaka@gmail.com>; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Friday, October 4, 2013 10:13 AM Subject: Re: [kictanet] Have we failed the nation yet again? - the inzi issue Daktari, A problem we have is the notion that Kenya's nascent technology industry is built around iHub, iLab and the many labs that are propping up everywhere. If you ask the average Kenya ICT Govt technocrat, they will probably tell you that's where Kenya's technology industry is, which cannot be further from the truth. Talking of innovations and from someone who has been writing professional software and running a software firm for 10+ years, I don't see much innovation coming from these labs. What I see are little apps that are built to address certain functionality and are built to please the gallery to win the next competition, which really, is a pity! But, that's what the technocrats want to see and talk about What they don't see and they don't know is that there are Kenyan software firms that have been around for the last 10 years + that are writing solid software solutions, with clients in Kenya and globally and year in year out are selling in excess of Ksh 100m-500m in software each. I do have my theory as to why non-mobile solutions are not taken seriously in this country by the technocrats. And IMO I think it all boils down to corruption! Here is my take, if you were to slice up the local market in terms of total market share and size in $, I would suppose that within the three areas Enterpise (ERPs, CRMS, Core Banking), Consumer Applications(Office, Photoshop) & Mobile( every 'innovation' center here) you would get around 49%, 49%, 1% respectively in terms of real $ used to purchase these applications. The Kenyan software market is around Ksh 5B / year and hence the majority of that money is spent purchasing ERPs, CRMs and the MS Office & Photoshops etc Now, as fate would have it, when the technocrats decided to pursue ICT seriously and 'grow' the nascent Kenyan software industry, guess what industry sector they decided to push for? Yes, the 'obvious' one where hardly anyone spends money on, Mobile! That meager 1% is what all these innovation labs are pushing for and no wonder firms are in incubation for years as there is simply no market there and no one buys those products locally. Why did they leave out the Enterprise & Consumer applications from this push? Ignorance? No, my hunch tells me something else; they don't want to interrupt the current cash cow that is ERPs, CRMs and the cosy relationships they have with the foreign vendors. That's why to this date, The Kenya ICT Authority advertises tenders that are clearly 'marked' for foreign firms and so much so without batting an eyelid. That is the tragic story of the local software industry, but to keep us amused, how about we setup yet another lab and come up with a competition on who has come up with the best mobile app that counts how many carrots a farmer has grown since last week, with a 'free' office at Konza, while a firm from India wins a Ksh 500M Tender on filing tax returns online! That ladies and gentlemen is progress Made in Kenya! Waithaka Ngigi A1.iO On Thu, Oct 3, 2013 at 10:38 PM, Bitange Ndemo <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote: This is a chicken and egg argument that we cannot finish here. What do
you think about the innovations coming out of the emerging laboratories such as I-hub, I-lab and the like? Do they not need to be incubated? what about Ushahidi?
Ndemo.
Daktari,
On the military, I was referring more to the local scenario than globally. Without military research we probably wouldn't have the Internet and GPS just to take two examples.
As regards Konza, IMO, its the right thing for us to do 20 years from now. Yes India is building a Konza in every state, but its building Konza when they already have a high technology industry which will take advantage of their Konzas. They have Tata, Mahindra Satyam, Infosys and similar $1b firms that can take advantage of these Konzas.
But, for us, we do not even have a technology industry to speak of (please lets not call all these incubation centers pushing mobile apps that no one is buying an industry)
So, the difference btn us and them is that they are building their Konzas because they need them and we are building ours to be like India. The classic Build, ????, Profit scenario...
Before we invest such amounts of money in a real estate project, would it not have been more prudent and wise to invest that amount of money in research in our universities as an example? Yes, and it is true our universities are not doing enough research, yet, how much as a country are we investing in research in our own universities? If we are not investing anything much, then lets not sit and complain that they are not doing much.
Research costs real money as real mistakes will need to be made as we learn!
We do not need Konza for Vision 2030, but we do need to invest in research, we do need to invest in local technology firms (suppose 50% of that money was pushed to local firms to enhance their research and expand their business???), we do need to invest in teaching technology in our schools.
Waithaka Ngigi A1.iO
On Wed, Oct 2, 2013 at 11:04 PM, Bitange Ndemo <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
Military does invest in R&D through Universities. Great ideas are incubated, supported financially and intellectually. Academics mill around good ideas and help advance them. That is why Zukerberg moved from Harvard to Silicon Valley where he was supported by the Universities around there, the Government through Small Business Administration financed the incubation. Now the Government is reaping the benefits of taxes from thousands of employees working there.
Why do then debate so much on the merits and demerits of Konza. India is building a Konza in every state. Ushahidi was a great idea that we lost a chance to incubate and support its R&D plus financing its growth. Unfortunately, not many Kenyans know this great idea. Universities that teach computer science hardly know new research areas to support the vibrant ICT activities in the country. How do we build an effective triple helix? How do we get the universities to do research that have a meaning to its people?
Ndemo.
Daktari,
Problem is, technology generally moves along for both military and civilian use. Modern day terrorists and organised criminals are more than a match for full sovereign states electronic firepower. The only way military/law enforcement can ensure 'monopoly' of technology is by investing lots in R&D, which I don't think we as a country do!
Waithaka Ngigi
On Wed, Oct 2, 2013 at 4:00 PM, Bitange Ndemo <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
Robert, Nano technologies are here already. Just like the Japanese miniaturized everything, we should nononize some products. I will work with one that is a bit smaller. Just imagine if we had one like that with night vision. We could not have destroyed the entire parking.
Ndemo.
Daktari,
Is this what you where referring to when you mentioned an inzi?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5TdbMu8xc4
Regards
PS. Encouraging gaming could be what saves us next time there is a terrorist hostage situation
Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya
Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696
________________________________ From: Bitange Ndemo <bitange@jambo.co.ke> To: robert yawe <robertyawe@yahoo.co.uk> Cc: bitange@jambo.co.ke; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Monday, 23 September 2013, 16:07 Subject: Re: [kictanet] Have we failed the nation yet again?
Robert, There is absolutely nothing anybody will have done with ICTs after the terrorists stormed the Mall. All IT gadgets worked properly. CCTV footage is there and was aired on TV yesterday. The screening askaris had no chance since the assailants forced their way in.
Perhaps what we need is more research to mount a camera on a fly (inzi) with night vision to fly carefully within the terrorist hideout and establish strategically on how to respond. Some flies could be loaded with sleeping gas to put assailants to sleep. Drones do scan the horizon giving military advance knowledge of the terrain.
Right now we should spend a few minutes to praise our uniformed forces. They did a commendable job. In bitterness I am still proud to be Kenyan.
Ndemo.
> Hi, > > As we console all those who where affected by the happenings at the > Westgate Mall over the weekend do we remain blameless as an industry? > > Regards > > > > Robert Yawe > KAY System Technologies Ltd > Phoenix House, 6th Floor > P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 > Kenya > > > Tel: +254722511225, > +254202010696_______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke > https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Unsubscribe or change your options at >
> > 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
https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/bitange%40jambo.co.ke the
> 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
ICT privacy,
> do > not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
University of Nairobi Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
University of Nairobi Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
_______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
Unsubscribe or change your options at
https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ngigiwaithaka%40gmail....
The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder
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
platform privacy,
do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
-- *Regards,*
*Wait**haka Ngigi* Chief Executive Officer | Alliance Technologies | MCK Nairobi Synod Building T + 254 (0) 20 2333 471 |Office Mobile: +254 786 28 28 28 | M + 254 737 811 000 www.at.co.ke
University of Nairobi Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
-- *Regards,*
*Wait**haka Ngigi* Chief Executive Officer | Alliance Technologies | MCK Nairobi Synod Building T + 254 (0) 20 2333 471 |Office Mobile: +254 786 28 28 28 | M + 254 737 811 000 www.at.co.ke
University of Nairobi Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
-- Regards, Waithaka Ngigi Chief Executive Officer | Alliance Technologies | MCK Nairobi Synod Building T + 254 (0) 20 2333 471 |Office Mobile: +254 786 28 28 28 | M + 254 737 811 000 www.at.co.ke _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/jwalu%40yahoo.com 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.
Walu, I am not too worried about ourselves, we have had to fight this fight the last 10yrs and one way or another, we have managed to get our fair share of local clientele, but we have also battle scars to show for it. The ones I am really worried about are the new generation developers; the ones coming out of our campuses and being told to start working on their mobile apps. Before any of them manages to sell an item to this government its going to be a really really long walk, yet we have presidential directives that are simply never followed. Last year or so, we made a strategic decision to only deal with a select few local clientele and push our solutions globally. You would be surprised that while your Kenyan CEO is afraid of buying Kenyan, an American , Aussie, Indian etc CEO wants to see a solution first, other things they can deal with later. What matters to them is whether you have local support, not where the solution comes from. We live in a world where the laptop you are using has parts from the four corners of the globe. To me, and again to underline this, the real reason you want that foreign vendor is be able to increase the budget handsomely and to setup a few offshore accounts to take care of the kickbacks. Corruption, Corruption, Corruption. Regards On Fri, Oct 4, 2013 at 1:12 PM, Walubengo J <jwalu@yahoo.com> wrote:
@Ngigi,
Joining this thread late but I do hear you...and I do hope the new Technocrats at the Ministry of ICT will also hear you. The President keeps saying we give 30% of the tenders to local companies. We do not get to see these 30% with regard to ICT projects.
And it is because the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak; assume you were the CEO ICT Authority and have to make a decision between buying local (say from http://www.alliancetechnologies.net/) vs buying from the Big Vendors. Big Vendor takes you to a world tour to see how their software works in Europe, US and Asia - for free.
The local guy @http://www.alliancetechnologies.net/ takes you to Eldy, Bungoma and Masaku to see how his software works. You are the CEO of ICT Authority - what will you buy?
This is where the rubber meets the road. You will need heroic discipline to make a call for the local software company. Presidential directives are never sufficient in bread and butter issues.
walu.
------------------------------ *From:* Ngigi Waithaka <ngigi@at.co.ke> *To:* jwalu@yahoo.com *Cc:* Ngigi Waithaka <ngigiwaithaka@gmail.com>; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> *Sent:* Friday, October 4, 2013 10:13 AM *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Have we failed the nation yet again? - the inzi issue
Daktari,
A problem we have is the notion that Kenya's nascent technology industry is built around iHub, iLab and the many labs that are propping up everywhere. If you ask the average Kenya ICT Govt technocrat, they will probably tell you that's where Kenya's technology industry is, which cannot be further from the truth.
Talking of innovations and from someone who has been writing professional software and running a software firm for 10+ years, I don't see much innovation coming from these labs. What I see are little apps that are built to address certain functionality and are built to please the gallery to win the next competition, which really, is a pity!
But, that's what the technocrats want to see and talk about
What they don't see and they don't know is that there are Kenyan software firms that have been around for the last 10 years + that are writing solid software solutions, with clients in Kenya and globally and year in year out are selling in excess of Ksh 100m-500m in software each.
I do have my theory as to why non-mobile solutions are not taken seriously in this country by the technocrats. And IMO I think it all boils down to corruption!
Here is my take, if you were to slice up the local market in terms of total market share and size in $, I would suppose that within the three areas Enterpise (ERPs, CRMS, Core Banking), Consumer Applications(Office, Photoshop) & Mobile( every 'innovation' center here) you would get around 49%, 49%, 1% respectively in terms of real $ used to purchase these applications.
The Kenyan software market is around Ksh 5B / year and hence the majority of that money is spent purchasing ERPs, CRMs and the MS Office & Photoshops etc
Now, as fate would have it, when the technocrats decided to pursue ICT seriously and 'grow' the nascent Kenyan software industry, guess what industry sector they decided to push for? Yes, the 'obvious' one where hardly anyone spends money on, Mobile! That meager 1% is what all these innovation labs are pushing for and no wonder firms are in incubation for years as there is simply no market there and no one buys those products locally.
Why did they leave out the Enterprise & Consumer applications from this push? Ignorance? No, my hunch tells me something else; they don't want to interrupt the current cash cow that is ERPs, CRMs and the cosy relationships they have with the foreign vendors. That's why to this date, The Kenya ICT Authority advertises tenders that are clearly 'marked' for foreign firms and so much so without batting an eyelid.
That is the tragic story of the local software industry, but to keep us amused, how about we setup yet another lab and come up with a competition on who has come up with the best mobile app that counts how many carrots a farmer has grown since last week, with a 'free' office at Konza, while a firm from India wins a Ksh 500M Tender on filing tax returns online!
That ladies and gentlemen is progress Made in Kenya!
Waithaka Ngigi A1.iO
On Thu, Oct 3, 2013 at 10:38 PM, Bitange Ndemo <bitange@jambo.co.ke>wrote:
This is a chicken and egg argument that we cannot finish here. What do you think about the innovations coming out of the emerging laboratories such as I-hub, I-lab and the like? Do they not need to be incubated? what about Ushahidi?
Ndemo.
Daktari,
On the military, I was referring more to the local scenario than globally. Without military research we probably wouldn't have the Internet and GPS just to take two examples.
As regards Konza, IMO, its the right thing for us to do 20 years from now. Yes India is building a Konza in every state, but its building Konza when they already have a high technology industry which will take advantage of their Konzas. They have Tata, Mahindra Satyam, Infosys and similar $1b firms that can take advantage of these Konzas.
But, for us, we do not even have a technology industry to speak of (please lets not call all these incubation centers pushing mobile apps that no one is buying an industry)
So, the difference btn us and them is that they are building their Konzas because they need them and we are building ours to be like India. The classic Build, ????, Profit scenario...
Before we invest such amounts of money in a real estate project, would it not have been more prudent and wise to invest that amount of money in research in our universities as an example? Yes, and it is true our universities are not doing enough research, yet, how much as a country are we investing in research in our own universities? If we are not investing anything much, then lets not sit and complain that they are not doing much.
Research costs real money as real mistakes will need to be made as we learn!
We do not need Konza for Vision 2030, but we do need to invest in research, we do need to invest in local technology firms (suppose 50% of that money was pushed to local firms to enhance their research and expand their business???), we do need to invest in teaching technology in our schools.
Waithaka Ngigi A1.iO
On Wed, Oct 2, 2013 at 11:04 PM, Bitange Ndemo <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
Military does invest in R&D through Universities. Great ideas are incubated, supported financially and intellectually. Academics mill around good ideas and help advance them. That is why Zukerberg moved from Harvard to Silicon Valley where he was supported by the Universities around there, the Government through Small Business Administration financed the incubation. Now the Government is reaping the benefits of taxes from thousands of employees working there.
Why do then debate so much on the merits and demerits of Konza. India is building a Konza in every state. Ushahidi was a great idea that we lost a chance to incubate and support its R&D plus financing its growth. Unfortunately, not many Kenyans know this great idea. Universities that teach computer science hardly know new research areas to support the vibrant ICT activities in the country. How do we build an effective triple helix? How do we get the universities to do research that have a meaning to its people?
Ndemo.
Daktari,
Problem is, technology generally moves along for both military and civilian use. Modern day terrorists and organised criminals are more than a match for full sovereign states electronic firepower. The only way military/law enforcement can ensure 'monopoly' of technology is by investing lots in R&D, which I don't think we as a country do!
Waithaka Ngigi
On Wed, Oct 2, 2013 at 4:00 PM, Bitange Ndemo <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
Robert, Nano technologies are here already. Just like the Japanese miniaturized everything, we should nononize some products. I will work with one that is a bit smaller. Just imagine if we had one like that with night vision. We could not have destroyed the entire parking.
Ndemo.
Daktari,
Is this what you where referring to when you mentioned an inzi?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5TdbMu8xc4
Regards
PS. Encouraging gaming could be what saves us next time there is a terrorist hostage situation
Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya
Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696
________________________________ From: Bitange Ndemo <bitange@jambo.co.ke> To: robert yawe <robertyawe@yahoo.co.uk> Cc: bitange@jambo.co.ke; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Monday, 23 September 2013, 16:07 Subject: Re: [kictanet] Have we failed the nation yet again?
Robert, There is absolutely nothing anybody will have done with ICTs after the terrorists stormed the Mall. All IT gadgets worked properly. CCTV footage is there and was aired on TV yesterday. The screening askaris had no chance since the assailants forced their way in.
Perhaps what we need is more research to mount a camera on a fly (inzi) with night vision to fly carefully within the terrorist hideout and establish strategically on how to respond. Some flies could be loaded with sleeping gas to put assailants to sleep. Drones do scan the horizon giving military advance knowledge of the terrain.
Right now we should spend a few minutes to praise our uniformed forces. They did a commendable job. In bitterness I am still proud to be Kenyan.
Ndemo.
> Hi, > > As we console all those who where affected by the happenings at the > Westgate Mall over the weekend do we remain blameless as an industry? > > Regards > > > > Robert Yawe > KAY System Technologies Ltd > Phoenix House, 6th Floor > P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 > Kenya > > > Tel: +254722511225, > +254202010696_______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke > https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Unsubscribe or change your options at >
https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/bitange%40jambo.co.ke
> > 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.
University of Nairobi Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
University of Nairobi Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
_______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
Unsubscribe or change your options at
https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ngigiwaithaka%40gmail....
The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder
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
platform privacy,
do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
-- *Regards,*
*Wait**haka Ngigi* Chief Executive Officer | Alliance Technologies | MCK Nairobi Synod Building T + 254 (0) 20 2333 471 |Office Mobile: +254 786 28 28 28 | M + 254 737 811 000 www.at.co.ke
University of Nairobi Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
-- *Regards,*
*Wait**haka Ngigi* Chief Executive Officer | Alliance Technologies | MCK Nairobi Synod Building T + 254 (0) 20 2333 471 |Office Mobile: +254 786 28 28 28 | M + 254 737 811 000 www.at.co.ke
University of Nairobi Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
-- *Regards,*
*Wait**haka Ngigi* Chief Executive Officer | Alliance Technologies | MCK Nairobi Synod Building T + 254 (0) 20 2333 471 |Office Mobile: +254 786 28 28 28 | M + 254 737 811 000 www.at.co.ke
_______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/jwalu%40yahoo.com
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.
-- *Regards,* *Wait**haka Ngigi* Chief Executive Officer | Alliance Technologies | MCK Nairobi Synod Building T + 254 (0) 20 2333 471 |Office Mobile: +254 786 28 28 28 | M + 254 737 811 000 www.at.co.ke
Waithaka, I was and I am still frustrated with the procurement law. We should have dealt with ages back. If you recall we pushed for a policy change to have 50% of the software demand purchased locally. This could not happen till the law was changed. We need to make more noise for our legislatures to understand. Ndemo.
Daktari,
A problem we have is the notion that Kenya's nascent technology industry is built around iHub, iLab and the many labs that are propping up everywhere. If you ask the average Kenya ICT Govt technocrat, they will probably tell you that's where Kenya's technology industry is, which cannot be further from the truth.
Talking of innovations and from someone who has been writing professional software and running a software firm for 10+ years, I don't see much innovation coming from these labs. What I see are little apps that are built to address certain functionality and are built to please the gallery to win the next competition, which really, is a pity!
But, that's what the technocrats want to see and talk about
What they don't see and they don't know is that there are Kenyan software firms that have been around for the last 10 years + that are writing solid software solutions, with clients in Kenya and globally and year in year out are selling in excess of Ksh 100m-500m in software each.
I do have my theory as to why non-mobile solutions are not taken seriously in this country by the technocrats. And IMO I think it all boils down to corruption!
Here is my take, if you were to slice up the local market in terms of total market share and size in $, I would suppose that within the three areas Enterpise (ERPs, CRMS, Core Banking), Consumer Applications(Office, Photoshop) & Mobile( every 'innovation' center here) you would get around 49%, 49%, 1% respectively in terms of real $ used to purchase these applications.
The Kenyan software market is around Ksh 5B / year and hence the majority of that money is spent purchasing ERPs, CRMs and the MS Office & Photoshops etc
Now, as fate would have it, when the technocrats decided to pursue ICT seriously and 'grow' the nascent Kenyan software industry, guess what industry sector they decided to push for? Yes, the 'obvious' one where hardly anyone spends money on, Mobile! That meager 1% is what all these innovation labs are pushing for and no wonder firms are in incubation for years as there is simply no market there and no one buys those products locally.
Why did they leave out the Enterprise & Consumer applications from this push? Ignorance? No, my hunch tells me something else; they don't want to interrupt the current cash cow that is ERPs, CRMs and the cosy relationships they have with the foreign vendors. That's why to this date, The Kenya ICT Authority advertises tenders that are clearly 'marked' for foreign firms and so much so without batting an eyelid.
That is the tragic story of the local software industry, but to keep us amused, how about we setup yet another lab and come up with a competition on who has come up with the best mobile app that counts how many carrots a farmer has grown since last week, with a 'free' office at Konza, while a firm from India wins a Ksh 500M Tender on filing tax returns online!
That ladies and gentlemen is progress Made in Kenya!
Waithaka Ngigi A1.iO
On Thu, Oct 3, 2013 at 10:38 PM, Bitange Ndemo <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
This is a chicken and egg argument that we cannot finish here. What do you think about the innovations coming out of the emerging laboratories such as I-hub, I-lab and the like? Do they not need to be incubated? what about Ushahidi?
Ndemo.
Daktari,
On the military, I was referring more to the local scenario than globally. Without military research we probably wouldn't have the Internet and GPS just to take two examples.
As regards Konza, IMO, its the right thing for us to do 20 years from now. Yes India is building a Konza in every state, but its building Konza when they already have a high technology industry which will take advantage of their Konzas. They have Tata, Mahindra Satyam, Infosys and similar $1b firms that can take advantage of these Konzas.
But, for us, we do not even have a technology industry to speak of (please lets not call all these incubation centers pushing mobile apps that no one is buying an industry)
So, the difference btn us and them is that they are building their Konzas because they need them and we are building ours to be like India. The classic Build, ????, Profit scenario...
Before we invest such amounts of money in a real estate project, would it not have been more prudent and wise to invest that amount of money in research in our universities as an example? Yes, and it is true our universities are not doing enough research, yet, how much as a country are we investing in research in our own universities? If we are not investing anything much, then lets not sit and complain that they are not doing much.
Research costs real money as real mistakes will need to be made as we learn!
We do not need Konza for Vision 2030, but we do need to invest in research, we do need to invest in local technology firms (suppose 50% of that money was pushed to local firms to enhance their research and expand their business???), we do need to invest in teaching technology in our schools.
Waithaka Ngigi A1.iO
On Wed, Oct 2, 2013 at 11:04 PM, Bitange Ndemo <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
Military does invest in R&D through Universities. Great ideas are incubated, supported financially and intellectually. Academics mill around good ideas and help advance them. That is why Zukerberg moved from Harvard to Silicon Valley where he was supported by the Universities around there, the Government through Small Business Administration financed the incubation. Now the Government is reaping the benefits of taxes from thousands of employees working there.
Why do then debate so much on the merits and demerits of Konza. India is building a Konza in every state. Ushahidi was a great idea that we lost a chance to incubate and support its R&D plus financing its growth. Unfortunately, not many Kenyans know this great idea. Universities that teach computer science hardly know new research areas to support the vibrant ICT activities in the country. How do we build an effective triple helix? How do we get the universities to do research that have a meaning to its people?
Ndemo.
Daktari,
Problem is, technology generally moves along for both military and civilian use. Modern day terrorists and organised criminals are more than a match for full sovereign states electronic firepower. The only way military/law enforcement can ensure 'monopoly' of technology is by investing lots in R&D, which I don't think we as a country do!
Waithaka Ngigi
On Wed, Oct 2, 2013 at 4:00 PM, Bitange Ndemo <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
Robert, Nano technologies are here already. Just like the Japanese miniaturized everything, we should nononize some products. I will work with one that is a bit smaller. Just imagine if we had one like that with night vision. We could not have destroyed the entire parking.
Ndemo.
> Daktari, > > Is this what you where referring to when you mentioned an inzi? > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5TdbMu8xc4 > > Regards > > PS. Encouraging gaming could be what saves us next time there is a > terrorist hostage situation > > > > Robert Yawe > KAY System Technologies Ltd > Phoenix House, 6th Floor > P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 > Kenya > > > Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696 > > > ________________________________ > From: Bitange Ndemo <bitange@jambo.co.ke> > To: robert yawe <robertyawe@yahoo.co.uk> > Cc: bitange@jambo.co.ke; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions > <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> > Sent: Monday, 23 September 2013, 16:07 > Subject: Re: [kictanet] Have we failed the nation yet again? > > > Robert, > There is absolutely nothing anybody will have done with ICTs after the > terrorists stormed the Mall. All IT gadgets worked properly. CCTV > footage is there and was aired on TV yesterday. The screening askaris had > no chance since the assailants forced their way in. > > Perhaps what we need is more research to mount a camera on a fly (inzi) > with night vision to fly carefully within the terrorist hideout and > establish strategically on how to respond. Some flies could be loaded > with sleeping gas to put assailants to sleep. Drones do scan the horizon > giving military advance knowledge of the terrain. > > Right now we should spend a few minutes to praise our uniformed forces. > They did a commendable job. In bitterness I am still proud to be Kenyan. > > > Ndemo. > > > >> Hi, >> >> As we console all those who where affected by the happenings at the >> Westgate Mall over the weekend do we remain blameless as an industry? >> >> Regards >> >> >> >> Robert Yawe >> KAY System Technologies Ltd >> Phoenix House, 6th Floor >> P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 >> Kenya >> >> >> Tel: +254722511225, >> +254202010696_______________________________________________ >> kictanet mailing list >> kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke >> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet >> >> Unsubscribe or change your options at >>
>> >> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform >> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT
https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/bitange%40jambo.co.ke policy
>> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in
and 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. > > > University of Nairobi > Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
University of Nairobi Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
_______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
Unsubscribe or change your options at
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
https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ngigiwaithaka%40gmail.... the
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
ICT privacy,
do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
-- *Regards,*
*Wait**haka Ngigi* Chief Executive Officer | Alliance Technologies | MCK Nairobi Synod Building T + 254 (0) 20 2333 471 |Office Mobile: +254 786 28 28 28 | M + 254 737 811 000 www.at.co.ke
University of Nairobi Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
-- *Regards,*
*Wait**haka Ngigi* Chief Executive Officer | Alliance Technologies | MCK Nairobi Synod Building T + 254 (0) 20 2333 471 |Office Mobile: +254 786 28 28 28 | M + 254 737 811 000 www.at.co.ke
University of Nairobi Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
-- *Regards,*
*Wait**haka Ngigi* Chief Executive Officer | Alliance Technologies | MCK Nairobi Synod Building T + 254 (0) 20 2333 471 |Office Mobile: +254 786 28 28 28 | M + 254 737 811 000 www.at.co.ke
University of Nairobi Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
participants (4)
-
Bitange Ndemo -
Eric Osiakwan -
Ngigi Waithaka -
Walubengo J