Business Daily
Date: 09.02.2017
Page 10
Article size: 333 cm2
ColumnCM: 74.0
AVE: 140600.0
How Kenya gave rise to Africa ICT revolution
ital revolution was the result of a number of
i
overlappingfactors. The first one was India's
experience and policyframeworkwhichserved
as a benchmark and source of inspiration for
growth in the face of real challenges.
As in India, innovators in Kenya learned
BITANGE NDEMO
TECHNOLOGY
that information andcommunications technol­
places. In 2016, they raised funding in
excess of $129 million (Shl3 billion), ac­
cordingto the just released Disrupt Africa Re­
port. Kenya, South Africa andNigeria were the
top three beneficiaries of thisinvestoriunding.
Al though thefintech sector received the high­
est funding, fortunes are changing to agri­tech,
whichattractedthebiggest percentage growth
compared to previous years.
It is perhaps the start of the diversification
of Africa's tech portfolio. I have been asked
many times to share my experience on what
we did rightto see Kenya leap from obscurity
in technology and give rise to an Information
and Communications Technology (ICT) revo­
ogy (ICT) has great potential to help propel the
country out of unemployment andpoverty.
In February 2006, barely two months in
office, myself and my then minister, Mutahi
Kagwe, drafted our agenda This agenda was
to effectively deal with infrastructural problem
andlowerthe cost ofbroadband, encourage de­
velopmentofcontent andapplications,leverage
publicprivate partnerships to achieveour goals,
develop capacity and create employment
As weplannedto launch our simplepolicy
objectives, Mr Kagwe decided to invite then
President Mwai Kibaki. The venue of our
launch at Safari Park was filled to capacily. It
was our firsteventand, as usual, weexpected
the president to leave after the official opening.
lution in Africa
He didn't. "I want also want to listen to what
There are many reasons why we succeeded
but key among them were political will, a dy­
namic approach to policy making andimple­
mentation and couragg to effectively deal with
the ICT infrastructure in the country.
In "Digital Kenya: An Entrepreneurial
you are plamiingto say^'he said.
We were paralysed, but nevertheless
Revolution in the Making", a book that I co­
we proceeded. In the afternoon break, the
president asked. "What do you need?""Your
support, Sir*' I replied. "Basi nyinyi endelea
(proceed then)", hesaid. Itwasthebeginning
of change. The president fully supported the
edited with my friend Tim Weiss, we capture
rapid change thatbroughtthe TEAMS cable,
some of these factors and the stories around
the foundational step in Kenya's emergent ICT
entrepreneurial revolution. This was quickly
followed up by the opening up of public data
thatstirred widespread apps development
We also subsidisedbroadbandto Kenya Ed­
Kenya's rise inlCfi.
We also investigate the power of technol­
ogy in Kenya to help strengthen every sector
and of entrepreneurship as the key driver in
innovation creativity and disruption.
Wehave recorded theso­far­imdocumented
story oftechnology start­ups,entrepreneurship,
and the dynamic policy making that ushered
ill anewerafor Kenya.
In my recent article in Newsweek, "How
Kenya Became the Cradle of Africa's Techno­
logical Innovation," I elaborated in detail that
the paradigm shiftthatfacilitated Kenyans dig­
ucafionalNetworkandactualizedstudent sub­
sidy (Wezeshaor'to enable") to acquirelaptops.
This improved access to learning resources at
every university including private ones.
Civil society, through the online discus­
sion portal KICTANet, kept us in check Pain­
ful as their interactions were, we leamtto live
together.
They were instrumental in pushingforad­
ditional data sets into the Kenya Open Data
Initiativeandraised manyadditional policy is­
sues beyond amere call for data. Otherfactors,
such as the founding of iHub, investments in
research and seed capital for social enterprises
provided by institutions, including the Rock­
efeller Foundation,propelledKenya'smany ICT
programmes andprojects in ways that involved
and empowered the less fortunate.
Digital Kenyaseeks to bring into perspective
the ongoing debate about adoption of disrup­
tive ICS not just in Kenyabut also throughout
the world Kenya is not newto disruption, con­
sidering the fact that our own innovations—
such as M­Pesa and Ushahidi—are causing
disruptions in other parts of the world, and
that many more Kenyan­led innovations are
underway.
To ensure that Kenya and Africa continue
to contribute to this important growth, we
must open up the conversation about entre­
preneurialism and risk and be supportive of
disruptions comingfrom elsewhere.
The ICT revolution is a global and com­
petitive phenomenon that is heralding a new
paradigm of creativity and innovation in vir­
tually every part oftheworfd. I hi ipethebook
will help Kenyans and others to understand
the difficulties in public office.
Looking at policy from various perspec­
tives—such as the entrepreneurial approaches
explored in chapter 12, "Inside aPolicymaker's
Mind: An Entrepreneurial Approach to Pol­
icy Development and Implementation,"—as
a strategy for dealing with some of the more
pressing challenges could revolutionisehow
we tackle development challenges in general
andhelpthewoiidmakereal progress toward
the United Nations' Sustainable Development
Goals. The aim ofthebookalso is to help policy­
makers approach policy differently than they
have done inthepast
Thezwiteris cm associate professor at Uni­
versity of Nairobi's School of Business and
former permanent secretary in the Ministry
of Information and Communication
Ipsos Kenya ­ Acorn House,97 James Gichuru Road ­ Lavington ­ Nairobi ­ Kenya