We can add a few summaries [pls pardon any misquotation, there was alot of info passed and im drawing this frm memory] : -There was a promise by Alex Gakuru/ICT board for support of IT community through a 3 stage funding by the World Bank 1) training for a 1000 software managers - to be determined by a criteria 2) provision for 1,000,000 laptops to kenyans - to be determined by criteria 3) i cannot remember the third point - but it has to do with support of IT/ICT/Development projects [which I would assume includes the support for content generation for local use] *DR. Ndemo* -The digital villages did not take off as expected. The youth despite the urgency to create jobs did not respond to calls for training and taking up ownership/running of the digital villages [the northern part of kenya (that claims to be marginalised) - only 8 participants showed up --- 8 participants !!] -One of the reasons for digital villages was to make available "content" for kenyans through gathering of grassroots statistics like population, facts, economic dynamics - etc - In turn, due to support for electric self sufficiency of these digital villages [solar, wind, etc] - the owners can garner income thru: mobile charging, photocopying, printing government documents [like P3s, job applications for government], hosting workshops, folks can call thru Voip to distant relatives, cyber cafe services - and etc etc (thru such services, the digital village provides justice, reduces corruption, collects information, makes business, creates youth employment) -The current events for building infrastructure like the fibre is inline with the vision 2030 for Kenya. The government cannot help you set up an enterprise - it can only enable you to do so thru such projects as fibre, and creation of friendly policies that protect your intellectual property, enables your work [eg software] to have value, etc etc -The vision 2030 covers 3 main pillars - aside from the popular 'economic' renaissance ->economic pillar ->social pillar - equity [not the 'members' bank] but equal opportunity for all ->political pillar-politics to be issue based, politicians to take risks and not fear lack of re-elections -example - politics based on popularisms e.g passing the "maternity leave for men" bill make politicians popular but affect our economy... *CONTENT* -Dr Ndemo talked about preachers appearing on our own version of 'youtube' so that those of us in diaspora can catch up with home sermons. This also includes those who pretend to work in the office and love the gospel - they can catch up with more constructive episodes online. -The provision of local and accurate videos online for example traditional dances that can be sold to those studying culture. This can be sold ! I know of a Kenyan studying in Japan a few months ago who was hired by a kindergarten school to show the kids an 'african dance'. [pics on facebook] He found a kikoi in a crafts shop that had maasai patterns. Then he and a friend performed an 'isikuti' dance in maasai attire. But how could they ever know the difference ? The kids were quite happy to see an 'African dance'. -We can also throw Kamaru and Mike Rua, Sukuma Bin Ongwaro etc on our own version of youtube and charge subscription for those in 'diaspora' - think USD. 5 dollars for 1000 kenyans for a period = USD 5000 dollars. -In summary the world needs our content - and we need our content -Digitising of government information and putting it online for easy availability. This alone can create numerous jobs and revenue. Dr. Ndemo talked of trying to do a research one day to find out the number of Internet users. He was directed to a mountain of files [am sure you have a picture,,, the dust, the makonge strings, the musky odour] and he was told to look through those. Now imagine if this was searchable through a computer database after categorising and serialising the documents [jobs]. -Registration of phone numbers - to identify a user to a number -Product information online and pricing, aside from availability - eg for pharmacies, electronics etc.. this can save one alot of driving around. -Exams, pass papers, research papers provision online, online assignments - you can charge per download [or per click :) ] thru deals with institutions like the university. Students globally are always repeating the same things we did 15 years ago... why not charge for content provision. -However, Dr Ndemo warned on pricing - charge cheaply and the masses can afford. ksh 2 X 1 million = 2 million. -The problem with some content/services pricing is someone trying to pay their rent/car loan with a few big sales - this discourages buyers, and encourages piracy -Digital TVs - provision of over 1000 channels . This provides a huge market for advertising. I was also thinking - what about building the database ? -The AGOA issue is well covered by Josiah on his blog http://blog.josiahmugambi.com/2009/08/dr-ndemo-skunkworks.html -And yes its true - there is no native word for 'enterpreneur' or 'breaking even' or 'positive productivity' in our languages -Example of some of our decisions : Policies such as land division are flawed. The farmers have subdivided their land so-o much that they are no longer viable to support food for the normal 1 year of crop production -It took some of us 40 years to realize that coffee and tea are no longer profitable [think small scale farming] - we stick to various businesses that barely break - when in reality, their time has passed. [google "the 5 stages of small business" - the last stage is not very good news for those of use with small businesses, but changes do happen and will happen - we need to change too] * **Bret Bullington* Bret is from silicon valley and is on kenya for a while. Joe Mucheru called him a capital venturelist [who could actually fund/promote your ideas]. Bret's short speech advised us not to re-invent the wheel because most of the opportunities we are looking at now have been tried and tested in the USA since the advent of computers in the 70s, the internet bubble in the 80s and now the age of the portability. We should look at what is working else where and try it here. [This reminds me that Japan began as copiers, now they are the leaders.] He advised to borrow ideas and sell them in our own country. For example, he quoted two German brothers whose keeness [is there such a word?] is to 'borrow' new ideas and adapt them in Germany. They took 'facebook' and tried to introduce it in Germany. A television company bought 'their' idea - and they moved on to fetch and adapt another,, and another,,,