KONZA TECHNO CITY VS SILICON VALLEY
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a)
***Kenyan innovation spirit***
Kenya has been dubbed as the ‘silicon savanna’ in Africa due to its success in terms of
innovations and technology. Companies have
been born in this line; SST (Seven Seas
Technology), Craft Silicon, Onfon Media, Weza Tele, Symbiotic Kenya, M-Farm,
Ushahidi… among many others. We all know and many times have used M-PESA to send money back home in the
village to our parents and relatives. Initially we had to either go home
ourselves, send someone who belonged to our vicinity who was going home that
weekend or even send a driver/ conductor with an envelope of which we were
50-50 whether the prestigious cargo would reach the hands of the intended
destination. We call all this- M-PESA revolution- the 2007 deliverance.
I remember when potus
offered an official and friendly visit to Kenya 0n 24th-26th
July (of which others proclaimed it as a warm homecoming) he said that M-Farm was helping and advising
thousands of farmers on when to plant, cultivate, fertilize, harvest and even
where to sell their produce. Ushahidi
is helping citizens send confidential information from Zimbabwe to Baghladesh
yet it was born here in Kenya. Wow!
When M-Shwari –a
partnership between Safaricom and Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA) – was
launched in 2013, it took about a month
to have over a billion in savings and 23
billion in short loans. The designers seem to have known the real
disease and definitely resulted to deliver the best medicine ever.
Equitel, Equity Bank Group mobile-services arm, had at
first launched in the midst of controversy; we all watched the battle of
titans. At last the consumers might say they got what they would term as
envious in their life: choice.
The government has not been left behind in this. Huduma centers have seen a couple of
things get done. They have merged the state services on one doorstep; renewal
of driving licenses, application of national IDs, registration of new
businesses… among others. Also, systems that were once criticized over the
years due to failures on being disorganized and scattered all over different
buildings were seen brought together for the sake of the common mwananchi to the
point of some other African countries revealing that, they too, would replicate
the same to their countries. A nice move!
These and more have sent a clear signal in the outside
world. Global corporations which like terming themselves as (Inc.) have seen a
silver lining in our country. In 2013, International Business Machines -mostly
referred to as IBM- set a research
lab in Catholic University of East Africa, Langata campus. They have done some
progress. GSMA also set in here – along Ngong road to increase some warmth
next to I-hub and Nailab. Microsoft E.A.
…aaaaaaah! ...the list is endless.
Well, we may not be able to name all the success stories and
THE-NEXT-BIG-THINGS we have witnessed in the previous years because they are
beyond our expectations and thoughts.
Now my fellows let me not lose focus on my point here. I may
glorify all of us and most notably these initiators and fail to get my
…eeh…thesis. Back in 2012, Konza city
was launched to foresee more innovation prospect as Silicon Valley did back in 1940s-50s. l know that we may not
replicate SV as it has been hard to do so by even other countries like Israel,
London- UK, Dubai among others. Konza is somehow different from SV in a couple
of things.
b)
***SV Foundation and history ***
(courtesy of Wikipedia)
An air-view of Silicon valley
Before I analyze the differences, and even the similarities,
let’s see more of Silicon Valley (SV). It is
the southern region of San Francisco Bay Area in northern California –San Jose
in Santa Clara valley. It is next to SRI (Stanford Research International).
It has been the leading tech-hub with 1/3 of all venture capital in USA. The
name comes from semi-conductor companies that were set in 70s-80s which used
silicon to make chips and transistors, now used in electronics.
In 1940s-50s, Fredric
Terman, Dean of Engineering in Stanford
University started to encourage his students to become self-employed (as
has been a Kenya’s cry off late). Two students, William Hewlett and David
Packard joined to form Hewlett-Packard Company –HP, the giant
PC, servers and printer maker till date. So, when students came with ideas,
they could be vetted and developed in the research lab arm of Stanford
University- SRI and once valid and sustainable, they could be “thrown” outside
the school for further development and business set up. Many ideas came up and
followed the same route and expanded in the Santa Clara valley. Later, other companies followed the bee to
eat the honey- Microsoft, Adobe, Macintosh
(Apple), Cisco and others. More research heated to develop more
sophisticated products like GUI interfaces, the computer mouse, Ethernet, laser
printers, O-O-programming. There was more than a mere drive that saw SV trail
the journey towards computer development and technology at large - THE DRIVE THAT COULD NOT BE EXPLAINED.
Let me end with this –I-don’t
know how to describe kind of- information from Wikipedia.
In most inventive towns in US, California carries 12 and 10
out of them comes from SV (meaning, half of US inventions come from SV). San
Jose/ SV filed 3867 patents in2005, followed by Sunnyvale with 1881 utility
patents. By the way, how many innovation patents were filed in Kenya in
2014? Between 5 and 10, I surely don’t
know.
c)
***Will Techno city be the SV of Africa?
***
***Konza Techno city was launched in 2012 by the government
of Kenya under the ICT Board and marketed by Kenya Vision 2030. It is located in Makueni County in a 5000 acres
piece of land, 64 km south of city of Nairobi. It is said to cost 1.2 trillion
(approximately US$ 14.5 ). (Source: Wikipedia)
It will host BPO (Business Process Outsourcing), ventures, a
science park, a convention center, a shopping mall, hotels, international
schools, a health facility all allowed by Parliamentary Account Committee. It’s a sustainable, world-class tech-hub also
dubbed as ‘where African silicon savanna
begins’.
How Konza is/ will be
d)
***the difference between Konza and SV***
1.
SV was developed out of scarcity in resources but abundance in ideas. When the
students developed their ideas, they were released outside to the market and
the ‘outside’ was Santa Clara valley. They created their own offices with
anything they had, thanks the little help the university offered. The venture
capitalists arrived later when they realized there could be something to bite
after all. The market defined the success or even failure of someone’s project.
It was where author Ellen Goodman said ‘act and the world will judge the result
of your actions’.
Konza is the opposite, developed out of scarcity in ideas but abundance in resources. A master-plan has
been drawn, cost of 1.2 trillion presented, 5000-acre land surveyed, water,
electricity and roads developed. I have seen the master-pan, wow! It is indeed overwhelming.
That’s pretty good.
We might see almost
all of the prestigious space being taken by incomers. Yes, they have the ideas,
research labs and of course the best human intelligence. Well, the government
may decide to reserve at least 30% for Kenyan companies. It’s better. But even if it does so, we might miss a point
because of Konza’s foundation: developed
out of scarcity in ideas but abundance
in resources. We may suffer from lack of well developed ideas worth the
investment carried in the area. When that happens, Konza may not fulfill
its mission: a sustainable, world-class
tech-hub, ‘where African silicon
savanna begins’.
2.
SV was highly
linked with the power-source: the university research lab and Stanford
University at large. Taking both to be located opposite to each other and a
road dividing them (a thought, I’ve never been in US leave alone SV) I can
spiritually see ideas criss-crossing the path from SRI to SV. I can also see
Terman visit SV occasionally to see the progress of his children in this new
land – A REAL PROGRESS. I can also see him try to get feedback from the market
on how the products are fairing and where to advise his students to improve – A
NICE ECOSYSTEM.
Konza on the other side stands
stand-still. It’s alone like a lone survivor. I will not say it’s not
linked with anything but not with the power-source. “Any
country that will invest in human intelligence will emerge to be the best
economy in history”. Prof. Kachieng’a
noted in one of his articles. Kachieng’a is a lecturer in the school of
Engineering in Technical University of Kenya
(TU-K). I don’t know Prof. Kachieng’a personally, but his articles (which he
pins in the admin block) amaze me. US has done it; invest in human
intelligence. They have grown to be the wealthiest economy in history and
hence, the global super-power. They have
done it by joining networks- the power-sources. You will bear with me that
almost all tech-giants in US were founded by drop-outs (like me). They had
nothing materialistic, just a brain/ idea, a computer and a garage (Google in
Wojcicki’s home and Apple in Steve’s garage) or even a dormitory for
Zuckerberg’s case. IDEAS rule the world.
It is because
university collaborations and networks with industry are like combining a data
center with the power-source. There will be no down-times, no slumps and no
down-trodding.
Well, that’s fine and well spoken for now but don’t forget
to check to my site www.dcskenya.com and
see full digital migration in the payment industry.
