American tech companies set up shop in Kenya

Pupils of Barack Obama Kogelo Primary School in Siaya County study from their E-Reader devices donated by the US-based WorldReader. The devices are loaded with access to over 200 books. These are some of the technological advancements witnessed in the country in the past few years. [FILE/STANDARD]

 

In 2009, Kenya landed the first undersea cable in the East African region connecting five countries to a lifeline of high speed internet.

Three years later and three more cables went round and weaved through the East African economic giant. Few Kenyans at the time knew that the production, transmission and sharing of communication would never be the same again.

This was the beginning of Kenya’s ICT revolution.

The cost of getting plugged into the internet shrunk by about a fifth year after a year, as the country cut reliance from the expensive and flagging satellite communication channels and embracing the cheaper, lighter, versatile and much more faster fibre optic cable.

With this virtual superhighway thus opened, it was not long before the right people started noticing.

“IBM opened its full-fledged office in Kenya in 2009 as part of its overall strategy to support the growth and transformation of businesses across Africa,” says IBM’s Country Head Nik Nesbit.

ALLURING FACTORS

“Kenya presented a number of attractive factors including its strategic geographic location at the heart of Africa with great airline connectivity to the rest of the continent.

The country also has a well developed road infrastructure with easy access to the rest of the world via the Port of Mombasa and enjoys great internet connectivity,” he said.

IBM, one of the world’s oldest technology behemoths, unhitched the small tent it had planted in the country in the 1960s and built a regional headquarters together with Africa’s first ever, specialised research labs of any discipline.

Kenya was suddenly as innovative as Tel Aviv, only much cheaper, with still undiscovered potential and as such eager to bloom.

As Internet connectivity became cheaper, the country’s politicians became preoccupied with fixing the democratic system they broke in the first place and almost out of nowhere a crop of curious, bold and informed young people emerged.

They wanted to know how they can benefit from the open faucet of technology. They wanted to challenge the influx of devices and solutions into the region from device makers and service providers from all over the world eager to share in the growing pie. They believed they could also do it. Do it better.

According to Intel Kenya General Manager Danny Steyn, Kenya is a mid-income country with a growing middle class and a growing consumer segment.

“According to recent reports from GFK (a global consumer research firm), the Kenyan market for tech devices is projected to have the ninth fastest growth worldwide in 2015.

Nairobi is ranked as the 2nd fastest growing city in Africa and all these are evidence of the strong projected growth in the consumer market and a growing middle class with an appetite and ability to adopt technology,” he said.

According to Mr Nesbit, the Government has since stepped in to up the ante providing a firm foundation of policies and a regulatory environment that supports the growth of a vibrant private sector.

“The Government is supportive and with a strong private sector that has evolved under relatively market-friendly policies for most of the post-independence era,” he says.

Two years ago, IBM had President Uhuru Kenyatta open it’s state-of-the-art research lab hosted at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa’s main campus in Karen.

Administrators of this highly specialised lab soon found they had an impressive pool of strong and eager to learn developers within the academic community.

“The strong presence of a skilled work force and very progressive technology start up community has seen us sign a strategic outsourcing deal with Bharti Airtel to support its back end Africa operations out of Nairobi.

PACK LEADER

Today, Kenya hosts our East African office supporting 10 countries in Eastern Africa, the IBM Research-Africa and the IBM Client and Innovation Center which supports the vibrant community of technology developers, start-ups and Business Partners,” he said.

Both tech leaders, however, share one common sentiment about Africa’s ninth largest economy “the best is still on the way and Kenya’s future as a technology hub for the region and the entire continent is laser burnt on the wall”.

According to Nesbit, “once direct flights to the US are implemented, Kenya will become even more attractive as a regional hub.

He continues: “Already, it is our key hub in East Africa and the launching pad for all of our operations into the East African region covering 10 countries. The country also holds the key to our Research and Development engagements throughout Africa.

Our partnership with the Government and the private sector has enabled us to showcase to the region how technology can be used to transform and scale the growth of African businesses and to solve some developmental challenges that Africa faces,” he said.

Intel’s Danny Steyn says: “The East African countries are currently working on harmonising policies, taxes, and some of the regulations and Kenya is always the one setting the pace for other countries.”