It begins!
John Karanja opened the session. He spoke about how far Kenya has gone since the landing of the Fibre Optic Cable.
John pointed out that a lack of experience, specifically in business management, is a key challenge for young entrepreneurs.
The demand side is throttled by high data prices and low penetration of internet access. Data prices are going down and internet penetration is going up, so the future is bright.
Paul Kukubo
Paul Kukubo from the Kenya ICT Board was the next speaker, he spoke without the aid of a presentation, which I like.
His key points were as follows
1. Open Data
He talked about the Open Data portal www.opendata.co.ke . The opportunities available range from choosing a school for your child to planning future business decisions.
The open data platform has put an unprecedented amout of information in the public domain.
The challenge has been discoverability. The information is there, but a suitable discovery mechanism, a way for the proverbial Wanjiku to gain access to the information in a format that suits “her” is not there.
Therein lies a challenge to application developers.
2. Chipuka Certification
The Kenya ICT Board in conjunction with Carnegie Mellon University is working to create to create a Software Developer Certification to help set standards for Software Development in Kenya
For more info visit the Kenya ICT Board Website
3. Tandaa
Paul spoke about the Tandaa program, John Karanja also mentioned that he was a recipient of Tandaa Training. For more info on Tandaa, visit Tandaa.co.ke
4. National Incubator
The Kenya ICT Board plans to launch a program that aims to identify and support 25 high performing startups.
The Incubator will be guided by a business plan, agreed upon with the Kenya ICT Board and with the leadership of an Incubation manager selected competitively by the Kenya ICT Board.
For more information, visit the Incubators page on the Kenya ICT Board Website
5. Julisha
The Kenya ICT Board carried out a research study covering a range of businesses, individuals, vendors and other stakeholders across Kenya to understand among other things:
- The evolution of the Kenyan ICT Market;
- Understand the role of Local Kenyan IT companies in the growth of ICT in the country;
- The current demand for IT skills in the country and skills gaps;
- Expected needs towards IT professionals;
- How Kenya compares on various ICT Indicators with other countries;
- Market drivers and inhibitors;
- Awareness and satisfaction with e-government services;
The Julisha Survey results are available here ~ http://j.mp/xb3x1p
To cap it all off, Kukubo urged businessmen to enter into reasonable partnerships with young entrepreneurs. Taking too much from the entrepreneur in terms of equity or control will stifle the very creativity the entrepreneur brings to the table.
We will be providing coverage from the first day of the conference on this page.
Keep checking back throughout the day
