Kenya’s economy in the past decade has made great strides despite numerous challenges most notably the 2007-2008 Post Election Violence as well as endemic corruption, cronyism, and elitism that make up some of the systemic challanges and failures of Kenya’s political and social setup.
Kenya Business 2009 Round Up
Despite this challenges Kenya remains a country with great potential, remarkable innovation and hard working citizens. These attributes have led the Kenyan Gross Domestic Product(G.D.P) tripling in size within a space of nine years. Analysts have attributed this success fundamentally to the lazier faire or hands off approach of the current Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki who is credited with implementing reforms that have seen widespread investment in education, infrastructure as well as opening up credit and the financial sector to local players.
While the Kibaki Administration can be credited with the above. It is important that we deliberately set out in the new constitution to enforce the principle of subsidiarity which protects smaller institutions like small business from unfair competition from larger corporates whether local or foreign. We should also create an environment that allows larger enterprise to set up cheaply and pull as much human resource from Kenya and the East African region to make Kenya a hub for technology and innovation in the region.
Kenya should also take advantage of the world food shortage and curve a niche for itself in exporting more food to the rest of the world. This is dependent on Land Reform as well as developing food processing capabilities in the medium and long term.
Below are some of the early indications that this is indeed happening.
2009 has been a great year for Kenya’s technology scene, first with the worldwide buzz about the world first fully deployed mobile payment system Mpesa[Read: Article 1 | Article 2] to the success of homegrown crowd sourcing software Ushahidi which in recent days has been received a grant to further develop its Open Source software.
Focus should now shift to structuring the industry along similar lines to that of Silicon Valley and other technological hubs around the World. Kenya has thousands of semi and fully trained software developers and analysts who would be better served by a community oriented approach to managing the IT industry.
This has thankfully began through ICT based social movements such as Skunkworks, Ushahidi, TEDxNairobi and other initiatives which have become more prevalent in 2009. One hopes that these movements will push the Government to fast track the structural framework and finance needed to kick start true innovation in this country.
Business Licensing, Patenting and other key industry protections need to be enforced by an efficient Judicial system to attract idea generating individuals from neighboring countries to our HUB.
The next step is to solidify this gains by building technology parks such as the planned Athi River Park that should get a budgetary allocation in 2010.
The arrival has of fiber optics in Kenya has been hailed as a great first step (VOA Interview about cable MP3) towards reaching our technological goals. But how much of this capacity will be used for production rather than consumption remains to be seen. This calls for shifting education goals towards making young students techies rather than mind controlled zombies on the internet(@pambazuka).
Below are some(not all) of the impressive projects we have seen in 2009 in Kenya.
Introducing the technologies i believe will change the world in 2010.
SixthSense
Developed by Pranav Mistry who is currently a Research Assistant and PhD candidate at the MIT Media Lab, ‘SixthSense’ is a wearable gestural interface that augments the physical world around us with digital information and lets us use natural hand gestures to interact with that information.
This device promises to revolutionize the way humans interact with computing devices and could mean the beginning of the end of our couch potato existence. [See Video Below]
JooJoo
Named after African term for wizardry and magic is a tablet device that has been developed by Chandrasekar Rathakrishnan. Chandra is the the Founder & CEO of Fusion Garage. Chandra was born and educated in Singapore and has an Advanced Diploma in Computer Science (Oxford University).
The devices allows you to view web based content on a full screen 12 inch iphone like device. Have a look at the Demo and decide whether you would be willing to spend $500 on this device.
Innocent drinks UK is one of the most succesful drinks companies in the world with a presence all over Europe.
Founded by 26 year old friends almost 10 years ago the company has grown in leaps and bounds. Innocent secrets is its unique and innovative brand and company ethic. The company only produces fresh fruit drinks.
Co Founder Richard was in Oxford University’s Said Business School giving tips to Idea Idol participants on keys to his success.
Thinking of a brand Key questions.
What is it? Define your brand.
Who is it for? Determine your target Market.
How will you make it? Design and Production Processes.
Is it profitable? Revenue Models.
How will you finance it? Capital from savings,VC’s or Loans.
