Starting 2009, Kenya has been slowly emerging as a hotbed of innovation and differentiated thinking in matters technology. Numerous accolades and awards later, are we resting on our laurels?

I have in the past couple of months had the opportunity to interact on a day to day basis with many developers – from solo fliers to organized teams based in Nairobi. While it is a given that the town is awash with brilliant ideas, I think we need to increase the rate at which these ideas get into the market. The ideas and concepts need to be given the opportunity to stand on their own and scale, or fail and fail fast, to allow for the crucial pivot or a trip back to the drawing board.

While the current growth in co-shared spaces has been a shot in the arm for a hither to ailing developer ecosystem, it may also create a cocoon of comfort that sees what I call continuous development in the pursuit of perfection.It seems that we may be massaging and coercing many ideas to make business sense while in the real-world with brutal honesty some models are not viable for the current market and may best be shelved, hibernating as the market develops into one that will be conducive for their growth.

We need to find a way to deliver the honest truth for the many ideas that are out there. Maybe culturally we are a polite people or more appropriately we are afraid of expressing honest opinion to colleagues operating in the same space.

Beyond labs and hubs, it’s time for some real action - http://bit.ly/kK7anU