Kenya is on the journey of becoming an ICT Hub in Africa. The rapid growth of innovation spaces in Kenya gives us confidence that the journey is hopeful, earlier in April the Economist looked at how Kenya had grown as a world leader with the highest proportion of for adults who use mobile money in 2011 at almost 70%, followed by Sudan and Tanzania.
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It was a very interesting article, and I recommend you steal quick read here, the article talks about the three key factors that have helped Nairobi to become an African tech hub.
The first is a supportive government…In 2009 Mr Ndemo brought the first of four undersea internet cables to the Kenyan coast. Prices plummeted and bandwidth exploded. Just under 12m of the country’s roughly 40m people now use the internet, a number that has trebled since 2009.
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Second, Kenya has undergone a revolution since 2007, when M-PESA, a mobile-payments system operated by Safaricom, a phone company, was launched (see chart). Many start-ups at Pivot East use it as a base for their business.
Third, since 2010 Nairobi has had a place, called the iHub, for local techies to get together and exchange ideas. The iHub has expanded to include a consulting arm, a research department and an incubation space called m:lab, which supports start-ups developing mobile applications. Erik Hersman, who founded the iHub, is also a partner in Savannah Fund.
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“Third, since 2010 Nairobi has had a place, called the iHub, for local techies to get together and exchange ideas.”
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The ICT sector in Kenya contributes 5% to the GDP towards the growth and development of the country (fiscal year 2011-2012). This represents a marked improvement since the same sector contributed an average of 3.7% to GDP, according to reports released by the World Bank in 2010. This growth can be attributed to the robust telecommunications infrastructure, rise of ICT Hubs, and high capacity international gateways. (ihub.co.ke)
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Kenyan tech firms are coming up with solutions to local problems. A team at Pivot East has built a service to help poultry farmers, who waste hours sitting around watching their chickens, keep track of their brood with text-message alerts. “We need to solve the nitty-gritty first and then we can invent new things,” says Mr Mucheru.
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Click here to an enlarge this infographic on the growing innovation spaces in Kenya courtesy of the iHub blog.
