Let us not kid ourselves please. IBM and co. are not here to 'help' Africa in general or Kenya in particular. They are here for the money to be made. The massive investment they claim they are making is a drop in the ocean for their annual budgets at the mother companies. All this talk of potential and next big thing uncannily reminds me of naive girls being tuned by older, mischevious more experienced boys. You should know who is left smiling in the end. I am not anti-american or anti business but romantisizing a business transaction is getting ahead of ourselves. Why should they hire locals other than using cheap labour? What is the value local graduates afford them? N/B I am yet to graduate and I fully expect such an interrogation if I am to walk up to a firm wanting a job. On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 12:57 PM, John Matogo <jmatogo@strathmore.edu>wrote:
Hi Billy. Good point. And I agree it will only benefit them if we sit by the sidelines and just watch. However there is a lot of opportunity for technology transfer if we work together with the team from IBM. Technology transfer is one of the aims of hosting the lab here too.
One quick thing we can pick from this discussion already is why are they not hiring local graduates? Is there something in the American Comp Sci/EE Syllabus that is lacking in our local training institutions' curricula? If there are missing items then we need to incorporate them ASAP.
It is easier to learn from the team when they are based in CUEA than if there were based in the US.
Cheers!
JM
On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 12:26 PM, Billy <billyx5@gmail.com> wrote:
@Matogo
In all honesty the potential that you are talking about, I only see as opportunity (for them) - there's a big untapped market for their technologies. That's why the big guys are coming in en masse.
I believe that the aim of allowing the big guys to setup shop should also be to build local capacity not just to bring in great tech, otherwise they (IBM et al) will be the only ones scoring big. I agree they might be making massive investments but you know what, the IP, the technologies will still belong to IBM even though they are applied here.
So then what happens when say IBM decides to close shop 5-10 years down the line? (Or even if they dont really). No local capacity to replicate the efforts. So technically, we still endup where we were before they came because guess what, the staff that they brought in from the US will most likely decide to go back as well.
-Billy
2013/2/15 John Matogo <jmatogo@strathmore.edu>
Hi Philip. I listened to the director of the research lab and the IBM VP talk about why the company took the decision to set up in Kenya, their decision was based on the potential of Kenya. While your sentiments may be correct to some extent, they are based on the here and now. IBM is looking at the longer term. The investment they are making is massive but I believe the returns will be even bigger.
In addition, we are in a developing economy there are numerous problems that can be solved by technology. This presents lots of opportunity to develop new technologies, ideas, IP etc..
I hope this adds to the discussion. We are doing a great job but there is more to be done.
Best -- Regards,
John Matogo Manager Incubation Centre, @iBizAfrica Strathmore University P.O. Box 59857-00200 Nairobi, KENYA Tel: +254 070 303 4280 (direct line) Personal Mobile:+254 722 813 533 Twitter: @jmatogo LinkedIn: http://tinyurl.com/avcn7qu Web: www.strathmore.edu and http://www.ibizafrica.co.ke/
On Fri, Feb 15, 2013 at 12:30 PM, Philip Musyoki <pmusyoki@gmail.com>wrote:
And so I wonder, apart from public relations, why did they locate their research lab in Nairobi? They could have well had this lab in their Armonk, NY HQ and research will go on since it is not a material intensive venture that has to rely on a specific location.
I believe Kenya has really good technical brains, but they lack the kind of exposure that their western counterparts have.
Also, Kenyan universities aren't exactly doing a great job either.
_______________________________________________ skunkworks mailing list skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke ------------ List info, subscribe/unsubscribe http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks ------------
Skunkworks Rules http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 ------------ Other services @ http://my.co.ke
Note: All emails sent from Strathmore University are subject to Strathmore’s Email Terms & Conditions. Please click here<http://www.strathmore.edu/aboutus.php?id=184>to read the policy.
_______________________________________________ skunkworks mailing list skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke ------------ List info, subscribe/unsubscribe http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks ------------
Skunkworks Rules http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 ------------ Other services @ http://my.co.ke
_______________________________________________ skunkworks mailing list skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke ------------ List info, subscribe/unsubscribe http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks ------------
Skunkworks Rules http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 ------------ Other services @ http://my.co.ke
-- Regards,
John Matogo Manager Incubation Centre, @iBizAfrica Strathmore University P.O. Box 59857-00200 Nairobi, KENYA Tel: +254 070 303 4280 (direct line) Personal Mobile:+254 722 813 533 Twitter: @jmatogo LinkedIn: http://tinyurl.com/avcn7qu Web: www.strathmore.edu and http://www.ibizafrica.co.ke/
Note: All emails sent from Strathmore University are subject to Strathmore’s Email Terms & Conditions. Please click here<http://www.strathmore.edu/aboutus.php?id=184>to read the policy.
_______________________________________________ skunkworks mailing list skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke ------------ List info, subscribe/unsubscribe http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks ------------
Skunkworks Rules http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 ------------ Other services @ http://my.co.ke
-- Regards, Mark Mwangi markmwangi.me.ke