Kenya’s Tech Scene 2010 (KTS 2010)

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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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About John Karanja

John Karanja is the Founder of Whive.com which is a Mobile and Web social media platform where people interact using different forms of media. Whive.com has over 120,000 members across East Africa and was a Winner at the Pivot 25 Mobile Technology Competition in 2011. John is also a Co-Founder of Crowdpesa.com a Location Based mobile application which provides a market place for African Merchants and Businesses. Crowdpesa has been listed as one of the 40 startups to watch in Africa and appeared at the first DEMO Africa in 2012. John has a Masters degree in Political Sociology from the University of Oxford, England and a Bachelor of Business and Information Technology from Strathmore University, Kenya. John has been awarded the Vision2030 ICT Award 2011 for Innovation in Youth and Gender Sector by the Kenyan Government. He is also the First African Winner of the Nokia Open Screen Fund in 2009 as well as a nominee for the Tech4Africa Innovation Award 2011.
  • http://techmasai.com Munashe

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

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  • http://www.mobileeastafrica.com Matthew Dawes

    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

  • John Karanja

    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.

  • http://www.infoafricanow.com Akinyi Adongo

    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

  • John Karanja

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

  • http://www.infoafricanow.com Akinyi Adongo

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

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