Learning to innovate: Kenya gets back to basics

Lack of capital investments, expensive Internet connectivity, lengthy business establishment processes, high power costs and outages, exploitative venture capitalists and half-baked graduates are some of the reasons given for the lack of technology innovation in Kenya.

But the entry of the SEACOM, TEAMS and EASSy fiber-optic cables to the region seems to have shifted the debate from the pipes and wires to ways that technology can make a difference to ordinary people in rural and urban areas. How does technology make a difference to the farmer, who walks long distances to the market, how can the entrepreneur, who owns several public transport vans "Matatus" get an application that helps manage the business better without heavy investments?

Individuals have heaped expectations on the government, while the private sector expects proper responses from universities, and the whole equation does not seem to balance -- there is still a lack of innovation that ordinary people can identify with.

The question has always been, how come the tech sector does not come up with innovative solutions to common problems?

The Nairobi Innovation Hub (iHub) has attempted to answer the question by setting up an open space with high-speed Internet connectivity for techies to work with. The iHub Nairobi was unveiled on March 3.

"The iHub eliminates some of the excuses given -- there is high-speed Internet, office space and other components of an office and a network of techies who share similar ideas; all what is needed is for cool apps to come out of here," said Erik Hersman, a member of iHub board.

The space is expected to attract individuals willing to focus less on administrative issues and more on developing applications. Students, technology companies and government representatives are expected to participate, interacting to solve daily challenges faced by Kenyans.

"Innovation is a collaborative effort, it cannot be done by the government, private sector, institutions of higher learning or individuals alone. We all have to play our parts," said Andrew Lewela, project manager at the Kenya ICT board.

The iHub is expected to feed into the existing business incubation centers that have struggled because there have been no innovation centers to teach some of the basic ideas and to provide places for people to interact before ideas can be developed into businesses.

"We want to attract more doers and less talkers," said Hersman when asked how the iHub will nurture the culture of innovation.

While the iHub will be open to the public, it will be based on membership and each member will have to be introduced by another member of the community, who can verify the person's technology status, in case the tech has no existing applications to back them up.

Universities and IT companies will work closely with the iHub for students who want to be self-employed and for those who have good ideas but are still in school, linking them with tech companies depending on their needs.

"Research and development is an important component of technology development. What we need is our universities to teach entrepreneurship and the idea of self-employment," added ICT Board's Lewela.

Nokia and Google have already expressed interest in working with iHub to support developers although details are yet to be hashed out. Nokia has a strong network with African universities mainly dealing with development of mobile applications.

The link with venture capitalists is probably going to be one of the most beneficial to the tech community given the lack of information and misinformation on the powers of venture capitalists over businesses they fund, and how to negotiate the contracts.

"We are going to have basic information that techies seeking venture capital should know and in other cases we will work with venture capitalists that we provide future entrepreneurs to, provided we have an agreement of rules of engagement," Hersman said.

Given the amount of information on government processes, opportunities available and the link with the private sector, the iHub is expected to be the resource center for local and international entrepreneurs needing information, mentoring for upcoming entrepreneurs and a place to network.

"Kenya has world-class innovators. I was at Korogocho slums recently and saw very cool innovations that need very little capital to be helpful to a larger audience," said Joseph Kamau a telecommunications engineer who was helping with the set up at the iHub.

While innovation is expected to spur growth in the ICT sector, the government will play a role in incubation and growth of the businesses through efficient regulation, tearing down of part of the licensing requirements for small businesses, and continued investment in critical infrastructure such as a stable power supply.

Availability of fiber-optic cables has brought down the cost of connectivity for corporate buyers, which will also benefit those working from the iHub.