Hosting Events in Italy, Imported superior technology from Europe..yeah a country with no self esteem!

So it has been a week full of tech events. I have attended most of them and the lessons learned are priceless. But some things are still not right. The presentations on these events are superb but again something is still not right.

Start with Mobile Monday.

There were many great presentations starting with Hilda Moraa of Strathmore University talking about M-order..

M-orderIs a social mobile ordering application that has been developed to provide an efficient and faster way of ordering products of a company via the wireless mobile phone without clients having to go physically to the providers centers to order for products or wait for salesmen and retailers to document their daily orders

Then Michael Pedersen gave live demo of Ā  Flix..

FlixMovies and Cinema Guide in Kenya. Ā For the movie lovers Flix goal is to give you the most updated cinema database in Kenya.

Finally Moses Kemibaro the regional manager for Dealfish, the main guest of the meetup, capped itĀ  up with catching presentation

Dealfish is a free online market place that has been established to provide safe and transparent transactions between buyers and sellers of goods and services throughout Kenya.

I know you are still wondering what is a miss there. Nothing was wrong with the presentation, nothing was wrong with what they said, nothing was wrong with the presenters. But as always the devils are in the details.Ā Ā  Deafish in this case was the main attraction for the meeting, so before it started, we got brochures detailing what Dealfish is about. You know all about brochures, don’t you?

And yes the devil was and is in brochures. One of the main selling point for Dealfish in Kenya is that the www.dealfish.co.ke has been designed by superior technology from Europe!Ā  Whaaat???? That is right, you can go back and read the above definition of what Dealfish is about. And by the way, Kachwanya is typing this post with superior hands from Europe…OMG.

What exactly are they trying to say here. I mean do they mean the Kenyan technology can never match that from Europe? Yes, IĀ  get it , most of the things we use are imported and i say shame on us. But why on earth would something from Europe be called superiorĀ  and that makes it a selling point in Kenya!Ā  May i asked a simple question, does that mean dealfish is a clone and coz only in that i would understand this superior technology from Europe bla bla blah?

Kenyan Government Hosting event in Italy

Kenya ICT Board host Global Conference on, ā€œDeveloping Strategies for the implementation of the Kenya ICT Value Prepositionā€

Hahaha this one just made me laugh. The message to the world “we Kenyans can’t host anything in our country and please never asked us why! ” The first thing which caught my attention on ICT board website on the Italy event is the description of the location

The convention will be hosted at the prestigious Bellagio Centre in Italy from 14th to 18th March 2011

What was wrong with hosting this event in Kenya. I hear the sponsor insisted that Kenya is filthy and some of the so called experts might not make it to Kenya. For heaven sake how do you consult someone who has no idea where Kenya is and will never step in the country. What on earth does such a person know about Kenya?Ā  How much was spent on the hosting event in the prestigious Bellagio Centre and could that money been used to buy condoms currently badly needed in the country?

I know we need investment and investors in Kenya but the mentally of begging all the time and playing up to the galleries is taking the country nowhere. Instead of concentrating in begging we should concentrate in supporting the growth of local innovations and contents.Ā  If we are bale to build good brands in Kenya then it will be very easy to get the investors. They will come naturally but first we must believe in our ability to build the brands.Ā  Bure kabisa

Virtual City At iHub

I like attending the events where John Waibochi is the speaker. The guy is very good in what he is doing. A great role model to the young entrepreneurs and the kids who would one day like to become Entrepreneurs. Hey kids stop dreaming all the time of being a doctor, lawyer, engineer…the Entrepreneurship is the deal. YouĀ  know you can employ all those people you dream to be like, right?

The fireside chat at iHub was great.Ā  Virtual city has won many awards including the one million dollars from Nokia last year. I listed it as among the success stories of last year here.Ā  But again as i have said the devil is in the details. After winning the Nokia award, it seems Virtual City started doubtingĀ  its ability or capacity to manage 1 million dollars. So they went and started importing all sorts of consultants, project managersĀ  from i don’t know where. Really, there are no good consultants or project managersĀ  in Kenya?Ā  No Kenyans can help John Waibochi to manage one million dollars? I know you might take this in the wrong way, i have no problem with a company hiring someone from Europe or America or Japan but does it mean thatĀ  all the consultants or project managers have to be imported? As they say, i am #justasking

Finally i read the following this morning on twitter:

GidiOgidi: Experts from Vodafone will head #Safaricomā€™s powerful portfolios of IT and marketing. We blame KPLC for not producing powerful Kenyans

Hehehe i can afford to laugh again…Ā  no comments

……… a country with no self esteem………

I fortunately i am writing this on a day when i discoveredĀ  a blog post “Can AFRICANS tell their own story through Social Media?” by@maureenagena. I felt like entirely copy pasting it here but i decided to take just a little bit and let you read the rest on her blog

Not one, not two and not even three but many people have asked me that question(Where do you come from/ Are you from Africa?) for the 3 months I have so far spent in Nova Scotia, Canada.Ā  Itā€™s amazing that they ask with lots of enthusiasm and when you mention that you come from Africa, they are quick to ask which part/Country. Ā I used to take this so lightly but after I noticed a similar response from all those I interacted with and talked to about Africa, I began noticing something funny.Thirty two (32) years after Idi Amin stopped ruling Uganda, and about seven (7) years after his death, he is remembered and known more than all the presidents who ruled after him. The funniest thing is that he is known for the Tyranny and bloodshed. Second to Idi Amin is the Lordā€™s Resistance Army (a.k.a LRA) known for abduction, rape as well as cutting off lips and Noses of their victims? When I ask a question like; Is there anything good and positive that you know of, or have ever heard about Uganda? They innocently say no. Some are even quick to add that another bad thing they have heard that is so recent, is that Uganda is a homophobic country.

Kennedy Kachwanya1087 Posts

--- Kennedy Kachwanya is a technology blogger interested in mobile phones both smart and dumb, mobile apps, mobile money, social media, startups ecosystem and digital Savannah. New media must not forget the strength of old tech.

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