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Kenya’s Tech Scene 2010 (KTS 2010)

Posted by John Karanja on Dec 20th, 2009 and filed under News, Ventures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Capitol Hill

Nairobis Technology Hill

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.

Websites

Blogs

And hundreds of other great sites…

If i have left out any Kenyan project out there please add it in the comments section below and explain what it does.

God Bless Kenya.

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8 Responses for “Kenya’s Tech Scene 2010 (KTS 2010)”

  1. Munashe says:
    December 21, 2009 at 1:53 am

    I wrote a post about this very article at TechMasai, thanks for the list, and including us.

  2. Tweets that mention Kenya’s Tech Scene 2010 (KTS 2010) | johnkaranja.com -- Topsy.com says:
    December 21, 2009 at 1:10 pm

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Afrineurs.com, Afrineurs.com. Afrineurs.com said: Kenya’s Tech Scene 2010 (KTS 2010) – http://bit.ly/5qfCoS #KenyansOnTwitter See the movers and shakers of 2009 [...]

  3. Matthew Dawes says:
    December 22, 2009 at 2:35 pm

    Hello John

    Really good stuff, i wanted to add that looking forward into 2010 i hope that a lot of the Kenyan and East African tech scene will be able to come along to an event i’m organising called Mobile Web East Africa, (3rd & 4th Feb 2010, Nairobi) its designed to show the potential that exists in the mobile web and mobile applications. I’ve managed to convicne a few of the leading figures from south africa (the Grid, Admob, Vodacom, Yonder) to present and will be mixing them up with the best from East Africa – quite a few who you listed above.

    Would be excellent to have as many innovators and entrepremeurs at the event as possible – visit the website at http://www.mobileeastafrica.com or send a mail to info@allamber.co.uk.

    So congrats for a great 2009 and lets hope 2010 is as good if not better.

    Matthew

  4. John Karanja says:
    December 23, 2009 at 8:29 pm

    Great one Matthew, I hope I will be in Kenya at that time so that I can attend your event. I will register my project http://Whive.com and http://whive.mobi (First Nokia Open Screen Project Fund Winner ) just in case I can make it.

  5. Akinyi Adongo says:
    December 25, 2009 at 4:29 pm

    Dear John,

    Congratulations! Your website is authoritative and innovative, it is what Kenya needs to progress in the Technology sector.

    I am working on an online directory for Africa, http://www.infoafricanow.com. It would be an honor if you gave me your opinion on it. We have about 8,000 entries so far. We are aiming at 1 million listings by the end of 2010.

    Happy Holidays,

    Akinyi Adongo
    akinyiadongo@infoafricanow.com
    http://www.infoafricanow.com

  6. John Karanja says:
    December 25, 2009 at 4:35 pm

    Thanks Akinyi for your comments. Your website is very impressive and i have put it on the blog post. Keep up the good work.

  7. Akinyi Adongo says:
    January 5, 2010 at 5:19 am

    Thank you for your support and enthusiasm John! All the best for 2010!

  8. » Mr. John Karanja Summarizes What Was Happened In Kenyan 2.0 In 2009 says:
    January 5, 2010 at 6:17 am

    [...] as such is a good person to quote concerning what can be said to be the top stuff which happened in Kenyan 2.0 over the past year. I [...]

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