The Emancipation Proclamation…
Someone on Twitter posted this link from the BBC about a couple of young Kenyan entrepreneurs who’ve developed a charger that people can place on their bicycles so that they can continue to use their mobile phones while riding long distances conducting various tasks or businesses.
I’ve talked about “swimming towards the tide” before and if you are paying attention to the trends, it’s becoming obvious where the tide is going and not just in Kenya, but around the world — It’s technology and in Kenya, it’s mobile phone applications.
Additionally, in terms of these new applications, an important public policy directive will have to include an honest discussion about intellectual property laws so that people’s inventions are protected. You don’t want situations where young people will be creating these applications then someone at a ministry just steals it and passes it on to someone else or engages in some other kind of chicanery.
Is anyone familiar with intellectual property laws in Kenya or with patent and trademark laws and what those entail? I know everyone is talking about constitutional law and constitutional reviews, but in terms of wealth creation for the country, the key is going to have to include a serious emphasis on protecting the intellectual property of these individual creations.
Conclusion:
Kenya doesn’t have oil or diamonds. The answer for the country is now clearly emerging. I mean, this device can be sold in places like Amsterdam, a richer European city with lots of bike riders. It can be sold in China another country with millions of bike riders.
This is why I don’t like to get hung up talking about stocks & AGM meetings & strange quarterly reports and all that. Those discussions do not tell you anything about what people are making or about what is being produced. If all you pay attention to is what’s in an AGM shareholder report, your going to miss this emerging trend.
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Kenya’s version of Paypal set to launch soon. Check out the Tulipe site and tell me what you think about this entire topic of web-based and mobile phone applications. What is happening is actually stunning. If Kenya had a younger president who actually knew what the internet was about, I can’t imagine how far some of these people would have gotten.
The second point here is also to see that the wheeling & dealing culture that brings about politically connected companies like Transcentury & Equity is not the future. I’ve been saying all along that at some point, people are going to have to start making things and when you do that, you pull yourself out of that wheeling & dealing culture because your ability to make money will now be based on knowledge acquisition, not on who you know or whether your uncle works at statehouse.
Then, once your creation is based on knowledge, you’re no longer restricted to the Kenyan market. Like I said earlier, these devices can be used by any one in the world and this is good capitalism, not crony capitalism– meaning, if someone in Amsterdam wants to buy that device, you can sell it to them. Screw Kibaki & screw Raila. Do you see how this knowledge based production is eventually going to push these young Kenyans into the wider global economy?
This is very different for a group like Transcentury, which needs Kibaki at statehouse for it’s business survival. I haven’t seen any other Kenyan based business newspaper or blog make this connection about where the trend is heading. It’s not about big companies like Safaricom anymore. The real story here will be about young Kenyans freeing themselves from the corrupt wheeling & dealing culture where your ability to make it was tied to who you know. Now, it will be tied to what you know and the playing field is going to be leveled.
Didier’s comments sound ignorant and uninformed. What Mzeiya says is true, with regards to America’s diversity in majors. Majority of American universities employ a liberal arts curriculum, for which the putpose is to ensurethe student is well rounded. In addition, your post-graduate opportunities vary. The idea that engineering, math and science courses are the basis of innovation and wealth creation is an attitude that has seen Kenyans emphasize on getting degrees rather than technical skills that whether from formal or informal training, are needed to produce commodities that are valuable. With regards to the Indian contractor, the specialization in his fieled means that he will require an accountant to do his auditing, a grocer to provide foodstuffs to buy since he has opted not to farm, a location/tailor to provide him with clothes to purchase……one area of specialization allows for others to crop up. Trade is the key, we cannot all do sciences, it is illogical and impractical. Just as countries specialize in producing goods in which they possess the comparative advantage, these economic principles trickle down to the microeconomy….its what rational people do: I am good at finance….I’ll venture into the realm of finance, etc… It is unilateral opinions such as didier’s that many politicians carry and land us into so many avoidable problems.
DIDIER,
I’m not upset at all, just troubled by your assertions.
It’s all fine and dandy that the kenyan indian studied abroad, worked abroad and returned home to start a construction business, that’s really good, howevr as for the son, the son already had it made, there’s more respect given to his father than the son.
Also one thing kenyans don’t understand that in the west, speaking about america what you did for undergrad is not as relevant as it is in kenya. Even the major investment banks on wall stret hire recruits from a diverse source of college majors from chemistry, biology, history. You’d be surprised to larn that those chieftains on wall street took bachelors in things like history of wstern european art…no kiddin.
By the way we can’t all be scientists or such, one thing kenyans have is a scarcity mentality in kenya only certain courses will guarantee your future, thus there’s no room for pple taking sociology and the like, plus not everyone has an affinity for the sciences.
Kenya needs more socilogists as it does telecom engineers, and mental health professionals, coz mental illness is seriuos in kenya but no one acknowledges it coz of taboo.
KEUnbeleivable, caught with your pants down again.N again…Why are you attacking didier for something u were pushing for just a few months ago.. Step up the stds n take care with kind of disciples u r making…COZ…we r watching U . Lets see.. entrepreneur..I doubt…DELETE!
KE
Unbeleivable, caught with your pants down again.
N again…Why are you attacking didier for something u were pushing for just a few months ago.. Step up the stds n care with kind of disciples u make…we r watching U
Lets see.. entrepreneur..I doubt…DELETE!
mzeiya et al,
ALL y’all upset because i say the Truth. I’m not against anyone doing sociology, my point is that by my estimation most kenyans who go abroad have scored more than c+ in math and sciences. Instead of taking a sociology course abroad please take Math and Science… hata kama ni biology… Something at least that has some technology and innovation involved.
The issue of remuneration matters only to a point MZEIYA. Look, do you know the company that gets the most international contracts to build the five star tourist hotels in Kenya is owned by a Kenyan Indian who studied and worked in the U.S.A for a long time but decided to move back to Kenya.
Now the dude is old, his son went to the U.S.A prestigious school to study Architecture and Construction and is back in Kenya continuing and taking over his dads business. I know the odds are there but once you break the glass ceiling and work for a bit and have the real skills you can actually become a pioneer for a whole industry with the skills.
The problem with many Kenyans is they all want to join politics. But again that’s a story for another day, i don’t want to get y’all more upset.
Check out this website and learn… The other problem with Kenyans is that they won’t want to move from their comfort zones…
http://www.parikh-sondhi.com/index.html
Hey KE.
This is my kind of discussion. I die to see Kenyans and Africans in general ignore politics. The future is bright if we harness what we got. I have been checking your page. I am happy with the discussions. I am a technologist.
We need to pinpoint the gifted citizens of all ages and help them so they can spearhead innovations. I was very gifted in my younger years but nobody cared. I wish somebody figured my aptitudes. That is how we are letting talents go to waste each day. We need a department or national commission that spots talents and develop them.
“The truth is if we had more Kenyans taking engineering courses abroad it would give Kenya a wider technological knowledge
DIDIER My friend, You could not be more wrong! and let me tell u why ?
If Kenyans abroad studied engineering, the reality is that most would remain in their host countries to gain employment there, a sthere would be more opportunities and better opportunities for them there.
I mean if you go to a good 4 year engineering college in the U.S., You’re going to spend quite some money on tuition alone, thus when you finish, you’ll have to get a job that will have a reasonable rate of return on the education investment.
There is no way a kenyan would get an engineering degree and come back to kenya immediately to look for an engineering job, no way. You’ll have to gain some experience first and i believe that the western countries are at the forefront of engineering dicsoveries and new concepts based on the fact that they have more engioneering related amenities in their society like super highways, trams, tarins, subways etc.
Also, th reason india is a magnet for foreign capital in terms of engineering related jobs is that it has indian bred engineers who will do the same exact work as a wstern engineer but for considerably less pay. A western educated engineer whether indian or kenyan will not relocate to his home country to work for less when he knows he can make 4 times the amount if he stays out west.
As for you looking down on socilogy, it is a pity for you. Yes, Sociologists do indeed play important roles in modern society. I think you should open up your mind a lil bit
Didier:
My point is that a country like Kenya should provide financial support to those students who have shown a natural aptitude for math and science. They should not be forced to quit school because of lack of school fee’s.
However, not everyone has this natural aptitude and it’s unrealistic to expect everyone to become a scientist or engineer.
So, yes, every country should encourage the study of science, but you also need to balance that out with an appreciation for art and other non-scientific things.
Science makes the world work, but art makes the world livable.
yo,
The truth is if we had more Kenyans taking engineering courses abroad it would give Kenya a wider technological knowledge base.
All because of having more Kenyans working for these engineering companies and being on same level with the leading countries. That was my first reaction because honestly I’m not discriminative about other courses and I agree with what you say that entrepreneurship is not restricted to any course.
My point we’d be better off if we had more engineers from abroad to inject the much needed sanity in these fields. Look at India which has the Infosys and has one of the biggest and diverse manufacturing base in Bangalore.
Atimes you need to move away from thinking that Entreprenership stands on its own without support. Some courses are really relevant to be able to know which technological direction the world is going.
I mean, how do you think Kenya will build its own knowledge base….? You keep talking about knowledge base all the time and that the country lacks knowledge base in various fields. My view is that our knowledge base has to come from our own people being trained and skilled in these fields.
Yes KE you are very right about thinking outside the box. Entreprenuers can be nurtured from almost any field.
Sociology is one subject that needs to to studied profusely in developing nations because it provides reasons as to why certain social problems arise. If it were not for sociology we would not be able to explain the nurturing conditions that form gangs and other social problems such as poverty and disease.
Sociology is also a Social Science and is clustered with economics and more recently IT through Social Networks i.e facebook and now the more lucrative social media marketing e.g twitter and blogs.
Social research is what countries use to form policy and any country that ignores this field is doomed just ask Somalia.
Forget about politicians, forget about politics, come up with earth shaking ideas and plans, work it out to completion and make Kenya a better place to live in. I agree knowledge based economy or trend is the way to go for Kenya and Kenyans. The ironic thing about Africa is that even the countries with oil can’t pull their people out of poverty due to endemic corruption and senseless endless wars. So it is not only for Kenyans but Africa as a whole, we have to be creative and give the world something to buy, something positive to talk about.
The good thing is, most young people growing up now will not have big lands to grab even if that is what they want to do. It is simply wouldn’t be possible, the the alternative is what we are talking about now.
Another thing is the role of government, there is that sort of misplaced expectations from Kenyans that the government is meant to pull them out of poverty, i don’t think that will happen even in the next 50 years.
Didier:
I’m getting tired of your strange comments. How can you tell someone what to study? Maybe he likes Sociology and if he does, it’s really none of your business.
Besides, entrepreneurial ventures are often not restricted to what you study in college. I think life experiences outside of school have a greater impact on where you eventually end up or what you discover.
yo JK,
Why the heck are you taking SOCIOLOGY??
Common dude you need to man up and change your major to engineering. Throw away the skirt and get some pants boy.
I mean what made you go study sociology abroad ?
KE,
Just to go off topic here. I’ve just watched the ross kemp series on mungiki in kenya, and I’m glad I watched it. It gives u another view of the situation in kenya and the motivations behind mungiki.
I’ll recommend this piece to my frinds to get a deeper understanding of the issues in kenya.For some reason, the mungiki leaders looked very articulate, organized and dressed the part too.
I know one thing for sure, kenya has a very unstable future if the current income gap is not addressed
Read and listen to my interview about Seacom and Fibre in Africa with Voice of America Africa Correspondent Douglas Mpusa http://tinyurl.com/seacomVOA
Great guys
Read and listen to my interview about Seacom and Fibre in Africa with Voice of America Africa Correspondent Douglas Mpusa http://tinyurl.com/seacomVO
Actually, Jelly fish makes some sense today..look at how hyundai,sumsang &korean goods have penetrated the US market…just compare that to Hyundai 10 yrs ago.. dont reinvent it..improve it…that should be the trend for 3rd world. A “YES WE ” ALSO CAN , mentality.
But again , come back to reality..with the, ever-corrupt civil service , Non-tax paying M.Pigs and other politicians how can that be done? Oh my,Reality used to be a friend of mine.
I totally agree with you. We as Kenyan youths should stop complaining about our Government & free ourselves from the corrupt wheeling & dealing culture where our ability to make it will be tied to who we know. We are spending too much time complaining day in day out & before we know it 2012 itakuwa imefika.
Kenyan drivers are crazy could be thats the main reason why we dont have many cyclists but its true that mobile bicycle charger can be exported. I think that the Kenya Industrial Property Institute is responsible for trade marks & patent protection.
Jellyfish (I”m going to start calling you “jollyfish” because you are always looking for “jolly” stories)
Population growth is only a problem if your levels of productivity are low, which has been the case, not just in Kenya, but in the whole of Africa.
Anyway, these innovations are a start and are showing that young people are moving away from this concept that wealth can only be created from the physical ownership of land.
KE.
Finally we are moving somewhere positive which is really commendable. Let me address Ahem’s point that this innovations are not new concepts though this is beside the larger point you make in your article.
When Isaac Newton articulated gravity it wasn’t new. Millions of people before him had seen apples falling from trees and other things falling. He was the first to articulate this obvious reality into a scientific concept. Much of today’s innovation is not strictly speaking very ground breaking or new, rather it is mainly improvements and modifications on pre-existing knowledge. Tulipe & the bicycle charger therefore remain important innovations. When Archimedes discovered displacement many before him had already experienced the concept.
Now to the larger point. Switzerland, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Luxembourg have all discovered and demonstrated that for a country to prosper it doesn’t need diamonds, oil or huge natural resources to develope. Actually the greatest asset of any nation in the world is human capital. This is why I object to people who say that population & especially a young population is a timebomb.
Anything in this world can become a curse or a blessing depending on it’s usage. Technology like nuclear, biotechnical and chemical can become weapons to exterminate people but they can also be used to enhance peoples lives and generate massive wealth. So our population can become the best asset for our future development but we have to start seeing it as that and I am glad that this article is educating people to head in that direction. The sooner Kenyans stop their obsession with useless politics and start making debate in wealth creation the central issue the sooner they shall free themselves from poverty.
So, I guess the issue will be how good their charger is as compared to the rest and whether price wise, it will be affordable in Africa, which is presumably where they want to start.
Although the overall point of the article is still this movement towards knowledge based production. These guys are thinking and learning and eventually, if you keep doing that, you will get better at it and you will figure out how to come up with something unique.
They’re not getting hung up on land and waiting for the government to give them plots.
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there is nothing new about the bicycle mobile charger. I have used one myself :
http://www.pedalpower.com.au/i.....ge7524.htm
if you have never ridden a bicycle, it will seem like a new idea
ke,
It worked the second time i tried.
I’ll have to see how it works first before i comment.
Tulipe is a brilliant idea modelled on the US based PAYPAL.com which currently transacts billions of dollars every year in this way. I Hope will help reduce the cost of getting paid in kenya This cost has been a major obstacle to doing business in Kenya.
I am sure many kenyans will develop more E-commerce sites if this project launches successfuly. i also think TULIPE solves the basic problem which is that in East Africa, (and Africa in general); E-Commerce Payments on the web are not well developed because of a low penetration of banking services (which means credit cards are not sufficient)
are there any kenyan e-commerce sites that are interested in this so far? anyone knows?
Didier:
I’m not quite sure I get what you are trying to say.
ke,
That Tulipe website is still non active.
About comparing PAYPAL and Tulipe is almost a farce. People all over the world use paypal. I sell thing on ebay to HongKong and they use Paypal to pay me. Which reminds me those vendors in Masaai market need to get on ebay ASAP.
I think now Kibaki and Raila have no excuse over lost title deeds and lost documents in the justice department. Everything needs to be electronic in the goverment and that includes the Kenya National Archives. They need to get rid of that old building on Moi Avenue and put up some nice lookin hard drive there.
Anyway you get the point. I think the country has a serious time lag in such things. Which ends up hurting everybody.
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