@Tito, thanks for the comment. I can really elaborate more on this thread but am going to reserve my comments and ask you to first differentiate between a goods market and a skills market. You will arrive to the same conclusion as I have and even more that while I enjoy writing the small level of coding I do and saw a vision for what KE can really achieve, it's all bollocks!. And the buck falls right at the govt doorstep for lack of , where primarily it's main focus is private sector performances brokerage services to peg growth and investments while itself has no freakin clue of even to vet for the development of high tech companies that will form the baseline for any visions. Its quite close to a marketing scam, just look at the awards given to kenyan companies that have Vision 2030 from the the KICTB site. To give you a basic idea, just take the example of e-Govt. Just as the World Bank/Google relationship made the digitization process possible with almost 200 kenyan data operators ( yeah, data entry and scanning of documents is considered a high tech affair in KE, as therefore provided employment ), the core system that needed kenyan innovation was out of reach because of one primary reason. The e-Govt sector is broke financially but full of bogus words like "innovation, skills and visions", and World Bank would only pick an international vendor to fulfill the project commitments. I'm sure the same mentality has been done with other ICT programs run by the govt, but worhtwhile looking into. Who designed the core software system for the KRA, Importers etc? So no kenyan software developer/company will ever design and implement a high level system. This is etched in stone. Try changing that, and we can then talk about how global the kenyan software deveopers can really go. As far as local capital goes, it is very important that we are able to do something about this if the industry will ever grow. Else, the only successful ones will be those who can self finance and have the ability to pull through some initial rough times. Asante. :-) On Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 2:07 PM, Njoroge Tito <titonjoroge@gmail.com> wrote:
@Aki,
Recommended reading - The world is flat - Thomas Friedman.
Google also employs Kenyans.
And please explain why "local" capital is better than any other form of capital.
Kenyan companies need to rise up and become competitive in a global world, especially in delivery. I have my reservations about giving jobs to a local company,simply because its Kenyan. The company first has to prove its ability to deliver successfully, and not do a substandard job like many of the Kenyan construction companies. Being local should give it an advantage, but not the job.
Regards, Tito.