Kenyan Pundit

Today’s Business Daily (which is actually quite a good read, unlike it’s cousin the Nation which has become just as mediocre as the Standard) featured two well-written stories on local techies.

First story is on Mama Mikes (Seg, loving the shirt si you hook me up), a business that’s a great example of what we need more of in Africa.

Second story is on Skunkworks Kenya, another example of can-doism that warms my heart. You can vote for it on Muti here and Digg it here.

Still on local tech, Sasanet has launched a Coders Challenge - over kshs 300,000 in cash prizes. Entry closes on August 16. (Joe Mucheru, si you get Google to leta Summer of Code to East Africa)?

Finally, don’t say you didn’t get told - Digital Indaba 2007 is coming up in September, you can apply for scholarships here (meanwhile [cough cough] the “real African” blogging conference has yet to materialize). I’d like to see some women getting scholarships this year!

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Hash at White African is a huge advocate for developing mobile phone apps to overcome the access challenge, looks like more and more companies are taking that route. Two new apps I’ve just read about, Mobimii - social networking site that operates via mobile and phone Jump’s mobile search which allows you to check on online prices for items using your phone. Now if we could just get that universal payment system that works basicalltlike a Paypal for mobile phones.

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Ethan Zuckerman has an interesting post on, among other things, a project called EPROM that is trying to encourage people in developing nations to learn how to build applications for mobile phones. The project currently has a program running in Kenya (Kilifi and University of Nairobi).

Some slides from classes they run , including Python for mobile apps, are available here. (An aside this could be a great topic for the next Bar Camp…).

This is great stuff not just from a skills building perspective, but also because the program will provide seed funding to assist with the commercialization of programs. It’s one thing to develop a cool app, but that doesn’t put food on the table (progress will be getting to a stage where young Kenyans are motivated by more than just the hope that they’ll make money). Skunkworks guys - are you familiar with this program? What’s your take on it?

Apparently Safaricom is holding competitions with a similar kind of motivation - the development of local mobile apps.

And in somewhat related good news, I can report Fab Lab is finally coming to Kenya. I’ve been excited about the Fab Lab concept ever since I heard Neil Gershenfeld speak at Poptech. The first lab will be launched either late this year or early next year in ARC-Kenya just outside of Kisumu. It is anticipated that the second lab will be based in the University of Nairobi.

AOB: Mama news - baby doing well, growing fast and going through a phase where she can only sleep if I’m holding her at night…right now I’m blogging with her on deep asleep on my lap…now that’s skills development

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My good friend Seg has had an “interesting” time navigating the challenges of being a young entrepreneur in Kenya. It makes me very proud to see that he’s managed to avoid getting beat down (no easy task) and continues to stay innovative. Please check out the Mama Mike’s ad on YouTube and give them your support.

An aside: Had an interesting conversation this weekend about the sky-rocketing property prices in Nairobi and the booming stock market. Clearly, there’s a shortage of investment options in Kenya, but we couldn’t for the life of us figure out how to channel the excess capital to start-ups for instance (I’m thinking of the beyond micro-finance but smaller than big private equity investments) - beyond the risk factor, any ideas on other obstacles and how to work around these obstacles?

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I’m on the road so posting will be light until the end of next week…

- The KNCHR report on the referendum (which I worked on) is out, you can download it here.

- Interesting community wireless mesh model.

- Pioneering, microloans online - the Kiva story on PBS. (Hat tip Ethan!)

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