The internet has created new and exciting opportunities for the communities in the region.

1. There has been a gap when it comes to supportive legislation which should regulate and protect the consumers. Like there is a license at CA for anyone engaging in E-Transaction business but somehow they have failed in enforcement on the same. All you need is a domain name, hosting account and an open source CMS to start an online business. You can even transact without a valid business name on the same

2. On the issue on taxing its abit sensitive as many would argue that their domain of operation is border-less as well as the target audience / market. How would government track such businesses without a well legislated framework. Also issues of internet freedom may come up as many would view the government as trying to control their anonymity. Are E-Bay and other players taxed. Perhaps we can borrow from such players.

3. For cloud unless where the physical facility / data center exist(where they concentrate on the main provider rather than consumers) it might also be hard to follow up anonymous users who are distributed all over.

4. There are so many untapped opportunities in the internet currently, with the cost of internet going down and the bandwidth increasing each day. As technology providers we need to generate more local contents for our local and international consumption. On average at least 60% of Kenyans have access to a smartphone / internet. Local solutions are needed to tap into this market. End user awareness should also be encouraged to educate our people on how to utilize the technology in their daily hustles like farmers connecting to potential markets...student doing their research...doctors on telemedicine..plus many more. Great that we have local innovation / incubation centers but this can also be replicated to Counties to enable the mashinani youth tap into this.

Also our academic institutions should do more by setting up innovation clubs and encourage students to join. This would provide a platform for them to interact with industry players and get the needed skills to run their own technology startups.

Thanks

On Wed, Jul 22, 2015 at 7:42 AM, Barrack Otieno via Security <security@lists.my.co.ke> wrote:
Listers,

The rise of the Internet economy in Kenya has been defined by
different strokes. On  one hand there are small entrepreneurs doing
their side hustles from offices, small shops and car boots. They
advertise their merchandise and services on social media and in a
rudimentary form, some deliver merchandise in backpacks from door to
door.
Enter the bigger players who have large websites from where goods and
services are purchased. Their business models differ. We have
companies like  OLX, Cheki  that provide a platform for users to
interact. They make their money from advertising. Others such as Rupu
and Jumia offer services and merchandise at  reduced prices.

Questions

1. Does  an adequate legal framework exist to protect consumers from
fraud, deficient goods and services and to assure consumer rights in
the budding Internet economy?
2. Since the bigger players in the sector are doing well, is time ripe
for the local Internet economy to be taxed to raise money for
government services?
3. Should other services in the Internet economy such as cloud
services, international online purchases etc be taxed?
4. As a stakeholder , what are your recommendations on how the
Internet economy can be improved?

The floor is open, feel free to continue contributing to the
discussions of the previous days.

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