AppDate Yourself

I have in the past one year written 3 articles (Article 1, Article 2 & Article 3) arguing why Mobile Operators should have entered the App space a long time ago. This is essentially because Kenya has proved itself to be uniquely innovative in developing mobile applications/solutions that actually work and generate revenue.

So when Zain lowered its call rates to all Kenyan networks it opened the pandora box placing mobile applications and data at the center of competition in the Kenyan Mobile Space.

Join Andrea Bohnstedt and Nyagaka Ongeri in this very insightful dicussion about Mobile Application, Data and Revenue Generation.

I would only add that individuals and companies need to find a way to mesh Mobile Service (like SMS) and Web Applications to allow Content Creation that would ultimately create advertising space on the Kenyan Internet.

That is what we at Whive.com have done.

Have a look at our live applications which all are all partly SMS Based.

• Whive.com for Social Media and Content
• Whive.mobi for Micro Media and Mobilized Content
• facebook.whive.com our Facebook Integration
• iKatiba.com our Mobile App store.

Consensus has been that Safaricom has largely behaved like a big bully “stealing” ideas from Kenyan developers or behaving in a manner that is detrimental to the Kenyan Mobile ecosystem.

Whether the above claim is true or false momentum is clearly on Zain’s  side with almost everyones attention including Developers shifting towards  it.

It may be true that middle aged voice consumers may have in the past been the main revenue source but the shift towards data consumption by Kenya’s youth with drive profits in the future.

The Mobile Operator which convinces us to share revenue by giving them our Mobile Apps and sharing advertising revenues will win the war.

This is a HUGE opportunity for everyone especially if we let market forces run their own course…

Keys to Business Success

Over the past 2 years SpaceKenya.com has gone from a business started in an Old Pentium 2 machine in a Cyber Cafe in the heart of Nairobi to a Medium sized outfit with an Office and a Data Center to serve our customers better.

3. ADVERTISE YOUR PRESENCE: Ok you now have the best Kenyan website but no Business is coming through

Kenya's growing infrastructure

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.

• What next after the Mobile revolution in Kenya? - http://bit.ly/cOX4l
• Kenya’s Tech Scene 2010 (KTS 2010) - http://bit.ly/5qfCoS
• Ali Khan’s 2 cents on how to be RICH! - http://bit.ly/pb3VY
• Nairobi’s Toilet Malls. - http://bit.ly/3vZznr

If you have a business start up in Kenya tell us about it in the section below and lets get Kenya moving forward.

For Business Funding and Venture Capital visit http://www.afrineurs.com

Ted.com

Have you ever wondered how we can find opportunities during the recession. Economist Alex Tabarrok argues free trade and globalization are shaping our once-divided world into a community of idea-sharing more healthy, happy and prosperous than anyone’s predictions

This is a refreshing talk  by Alex Tabarrok on how we can all use our own ideas to ride the economic storm and come out the better for it. Really inspirational stuff here. Watch  the Video below

Dambisa Moyo

Dambisa Moyo gave a talk about Exit Strategies for Aid for Africa at the Africa Business Network where she urged governments to pursue development. Aid according to her is an inhibitor because it creates DYSFUNCTIONAL governments and creates STIGMA amongst the African people. i.e. People will always ask for relief from donors and will not seek ways to actively improve themselves. In addition corruption, bureaucracy, ethnic strife and poor political representation are problems associated with constant reliance on AID.

She urged trade with China, increased foreign direct investment and use of the capital markets as direct alternatives to the AID MODEL. Strengthening of micro finance institutions and remittances will also form a huge component of the EXIT strategy from AID.

Please see more at http://stopaid.org

Obama and Raila

Dear friends this week i continue with my posts on African development with some ideas from Euvin Naidoo a Harvard Graduate who has worked with McKenzie consultanty agency as well as various development and investment agencies.

Watch the video below and share some of his insights into development in Africa.

Euvin Naidoo: Africa as an invesment

In my view Africa will really begin to take of when many of the economies become more integrated and goods and services can move indiscriminately across the different regions of Africa. It is also good to note that economies such as Angola are growing at 18% which is the highest economic growth rate in the sub saharan Africa.  Watch the Kenyan Prime Minister discuss about these developments in Africa.

Mpesa Banking

Watch Mark Shuttleworth, President of the Ubuntu Foundation,and June Arunga, Open Quest Media, speak about opportunities and challenges business and individuals face in developing parts of the world.This a lovely talk of African Prospects with historical occurences being put into context. June Arunga has travelled Africa from Cairo to Capetown and is an expert in the Mobile Phone revolution in Kenya. Kenyans are using mobile phones to expand their economic space and conduct business. She argues that the country needs to develop address systems to allow people to conduct business in a transparent manner. I also remember reading that issuing of title deeds to squatters would be an efficient way of distributing capital and wealth. Anyway here are the videos.

DLD Internet and Mobile Entreprenuership Conference

Watch Video [Click Here]

Dambisa Moyo - Author Dead AID

I disagree heartily with the notion that Africa needs more economic AID to help spur its own economic growth. Indeed as evidence has clearly shown the last 50 years of economic AID have hardly helped any single country in Africa reach even middle income status. Furthermore the countries which have ignored economic AID like Malaysia and India have seen rapid growth and are now emerging as the dominant economies of the 21st Century. Indeed the AID dependency model that is employed by the World Bank and IMF has fueled corruption as well as laid back attitudes in governance.

Dead Aid

Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo has spent the better part of this year canvassing around the worlds huge media networkings promoting her book “Dead Aid” which among other things compares and contrasts different economic models that have worked for the Tiger Economies and the failed policies in Africa.

I have posted some videos here for you to watch and please feel free to make your comments there in.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Kenya’s Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta also echoed this sentiments and urged African countries to reduce their dependence on Foreign Aid. Uhuru encouraged the Private sector especially social entreprenuers to work hand in hand with goverments to reduce this dependence. It is interesting African leaders are begining to read from the same page, which shows that dambisa’s book is timely. Watch these Videos below.

Please read this feature on Rwanda’s model of economic development by Jeff Chu. [Read Here]

ALJAAZERA INTERVIEW – RIZ KHAN

PAUL KAGAME & UHURU KENYATTA

BOOK REVIEW

The question of international aid to developing countries is one of the most controversial subjects in modern development literature. One simply needs to look at any local bookshop under the “current affairs” section and you are hit with many large and often time consuming volumes on the subject. So when I stumbled on DambisaMoyo’s book at my favourite bookshop (Waterstones Charing Cross Station), I felt a mixture of delight and nervousness. Delight because here we have a Zambian academic weighing in on a subject that has been the preserve of self-appointed “development experts”. This should fill every Zambian with pride and admiration. God knows we have so few Zambian economists ready to engage such serious issues, let alone publish a book on it. That feeling quickly gave way to nervousness because with so much written on this topic by leading experts such as Easterly, Collier,Riddell and others, could Dead Aid really offer any fresh thinking on the subject? [Read More]