Kenya as Silicon Savannah – The need to do more!

The National ICT Innovation Forum, convened by the Ministry of Information Communications and Technology and ICT Authority, is slated for March 2nd and 3rd, at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC). Its theme is Silicon Savannah! Mind the Gap! Close the Gap!

Participants are expected to tackle challenges pertaining to ICT innovation in the country and the way forward to ensure ICT innovation thrives in Kenya. Industry stakeholders are agreed: our ICT sector has reached a tipping point: no longer just a sexy idea, but an industry that is creating lasting change and impact.

One may ask why the theme: Silicon Savannah! Mind the Gap! Close the Gap!?

The media coinage, Silicon Savannah, has become near-synonymous with Kenya’s technology sector. The words carry a subliminal play with America’s Silicon Valley, home of many global technology giants such as Apple, Google, Oracle and many others.

As a country, we offer a series of advantages to claim the Silicon Savannah brand. These include boasting a large number of academic institutions offering ICT programmes; taught in English, the global business language, steering our next generation of leaders; our laws and regulations, favouring free market economics and more. This is in addition to Kenya being the region’s economic powerhouse despite lacking in resources (oil, minerals, etc.) that have been the curse of many African nations.

The Silicon Savannah label didn’t come by accident. A lot of time and effort has been invested in promoting the country as a technology destination. Under a triumvirate of the Ministry of Information of Communications and Technology, the ICT Authority and Brand Kenya, the nation’s image as a leader in the technology sector has continued to rise.

And the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Kenya’s image, as a leader in innovations, is well-known.One case in point is M-Pesa that stands out to become a global brand in electronic money transfer. The Konza Technology City plans, if well-executed, would further buttress the Silicon Savannah brand. In addition, there is a lot more in the works with the vibrant activities happening in incubation hubs, university ICT departments, government, and the private sector. The future is bright; the future is IT.

With Government and the private sector working in tandem, the Silicon Savannah brand value can only grow.Others would claim that we have a huge gap between that brand promise and where we are.In spite of the achievements to date, serious work needs to be done to fully realize the benefits of that gilded metaphor.

There is a need to accelerate the pace of the sector’s growth via deliberate efforts, plans, actions and performance monitoring. These efforts must tap into the amount of energy devoted to innovation in order to harness its full potential. The approach should result in a well-oiled innovation ecosystem that would deliver the promise.

A thriving innovation ecosystem needs key componentssynergistically working towards a common goal: exponential ICT growth that has wide-ranging, knock-on benefits. Key among these are the laws, regulationsand policies; access to knowledge and expertise; access to capital; ongoing research and development; deliberate promotion of the sector’s products and services; and a vibrant network of incubation hubs with clear tentacles to the market, academia and financiers.

Laws, Regulations and Policies & Promotion of Kenya ICT Products & Services
The public sector, including national and county governments, public agencies and state corporations, are major consumers of ICT products and services. The national ICT spending across the public sector could be in the range of hundreds of billions of Shillings.Now, suppose Government regulations and policies required that we give priority to the local ICT sector, driving innovation at home. This would assure a ready market for Kenyan ICT products and services; the resultant process would create jobs, build local ICT capacity and provide a springboard towards regional and international growth for the sector.

There is more.

With the recognition of the significance of the ICT sector, Government could make deliberate effort to promote the sector abroad.It is key to include ICT sector representation in international trade fairs and promotions the country participates in. In part, it would help the sector’s targeted contribution of 8 per cent GDP and 180,000 jobs by 2017.

Knowledge and Expertise
In recent years, Kenya has seen a substantial growth of institutions: universities are expanding both in student population and in programmes offered. This is the good news.

The bad news is that higher learning in Kenya appears to be more of the business of education than the quality of the programmes and relevance to the market. There is a disconnect between what we are teaching and the needs of local industry, such thatuniversities stand accused of a failure to proactively tune their programmes to market needs. The term “yellow notes” has been mentioned in relation to use of the same material from year to year by some lecturers and professors, caring less for the dynamic nature of knowledge.

ICT education and knowledge is a fast-paced affair. Knowledge and its packaging evolves rapidly,as do the delivery modes. Academic institutions must keep up with these changes if their graduates, especially in ICT – a key pillar to the President’s Digital Promise -have to find relevance in the market.

There is more. There are few institutions with focus on bridging gaps between what is learnt in universities and what the market needs. Further, as a relatively young (e.g. compared with engineering) discipline the sector does not have a clearly defined professional path for growth.

Nonetheless, the need for programmes that bridge gaps between academic qualifications and practical industry needs has never been greater. There are yawning gaps in this space. Indeed, it is this realization that resulted in the establishment the recently launched Presidential Digital Talent Programme to address government ICT needs.

Sadly, there is still more bad news.

As we celebrate the mushrooming of universities, we appear to have forgotten the key role played by tertiary and vocational training institution. Our universities appear to have grown at the expense of polytechnics and, in the process, left a gap in human capital development.
Finally, considering that ICT is expected to play a key role in economic growth, there is a need to ensure that ICT graduates come out of university equipped with even basic business knowledge, such as knowledge of intellectual property and how to secure it; and how to turn the intellectual property into a business venture, how to raise money and how to run an enterprise.

Access to Capital
According to recent private equity surveys, Kenya is missing out to its African neighbours, Nigeria, and South Africa. The challenges in Kenya include lack of innovator awareness of the varied range of sources of capital and the required preparedness to obtain risk capital. This has also been blamed on lack of viable business plans for early-stage businesses.

On the other hand, most investors stake their money in tried and tested ventures such as in real estate; and they have poor understanding of the technology sector. Clearly, there is a need to address the gap via (say) a venture capital fund that would help start-ups go through the early stages of development while raising awareness on the potential for growth that the sector presents.

Research and Development
Innovation pertains to improvements (product, service, process) that addresses a key need. Often innovation takes ideas from different disciplines, combines these to realize something new. A good example is M-Pesa that significantly improved the movement of money using mobile phone and messaging. It was an innovation that has transformed lives.

In order to experiment with and test ideas, there is a need to have ongoing research and development. The need for collaboration and cooperation between the ICT sector and academic institutions, has never been greater. In addition, companies – public and private – need to set up research and development departments that would be charged with continual innovation.

Often significant value can be realized through incremental changes via co-innovation, e.g. through customization and incremental change to an existing product, service or process.
Research and development activity can be substantially enhanced through government incentive programmes.

The Innovation Hubs
A number of these exist in the country. They are run as independent businesses, components of businesses or academic institutions. There is no doubt that a lot takes place in these hubs, with respect to testing and incubating ideas with a view to commercialization.
The need for stakeholder collaboration has never been greater. There is a need for greater awareness of their role and structure and value they add to the innovation value chain.
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The need for focus in ICT innovation has never been greater. Deliberate action is needed in order to create a well-oiled innovation ecosystem with a friendly policy and regulatory environment, aided by a supportive incubation ecosystem, supplied with relevant skills, fed by ongoing research and development, served with risk capital, and actively promoted nationally and globally by all.

(Dr. Matunda Nyanchama is a Director and Managing Consultant at Agano Consulting Inc., and a Technical Advisor in the Ministry of Communications and Technology and can be reached at mnyacnhama@aganoconsulting.com)