Meet the New Boss: Connectivity

Kenya, and East Africa as a whole, has been cabled; this means more people have access to the Internet than before. Just like food, water and shelter, accessible (mobile) data can be added to the list of Kenyans’ basic needs. 

This may seem the ultimate hyperbole in a country facing constant crop and water shortages among its most vulnerable populations but, ultimately, the demand for data is comparable to that of other basic needs, as more people in different regions hunger for connectivity to access different services.  Services that, when all is said and done, will have helped connect people to these basic needs. Affordable devices are key to this connectivity.

A recent study done by Mfarm on the use of mobile phones by Kenyan farmers to access information on crop prices demonstrates the potential for rural farmers to carry out research on better farming practices from basic mobile devices.  According to the study, farmers are able to use data accessed via mobile devices to find out market prices for their crops. Thanks to the different vendors and mobile operators that have embedded these devices with 2G capabilities, and the increase of affordable devices, Kenyan farmers are in a position to better penetrate the agricultural market by understanding the market as it pertains to their crops.

WordCamp Kenya 2012, Maanzoni Lodge, "Responsible blogging and positive social media influence"

Previously, the main obstacle to access was infrastructure. But, in the past 5 years, the Government of Kenya and various other stakeholders have helped to connect the country by establishing extensive cabling systems.  Additionally, the Ministry of Information and Communication has mandated different projects to ensure more people benefit from this capacity as much as possible.

The “Pasha Centers” are one such project, where different entrepreneurs from various Kenyan constituencies were funded to start ICT Kiosks at their village levels. These Kiosks provide technology services at the grass roots to foster the growth of a knowledge economy in rural areas. Urban centers are no longer the sole focus of Kenya’s ICT industry. Pasha Centers are equipped with affordable laptops for browsing, which are easier for entrepreneurs to purchase and maintain.

Students have also played a major role in ensuring that Internet capacity is utilized.  Affordable devices and increased connectivity have launched an assault on Kenya’s class boundaries, as more students are able to take advantage of virtual platforms.  The ICT board and device manufacturers have contributed significantly by subsidizing the price of laptops to ensure each student has access to the digital world.    

Why is any of this important to Kenya? The answer is multidimensional, and we could spend countless hours debating it but, ultimately, what matters most is that the playing field has been leveled. Small business owners have more access to cheaper equipment that connects people of all socio-economic classes to information formerly only accessibly by the elite. 

The gap between the elite urban and the poorer rural communities is being bridged both in terms of information awareness/access and business opportunities. It is easier to access data that can be used to penetrate markets. It is easier to learn virtually. The ease of access provided by affordable devices will definitely help Kenyans wade through the muck of classism, elitism, and wealth disparity that has got us stuck.

Dr. Mark Dean, he invented IBM's 1st PC

As IBMers induce there trainings in Africa, mainly to invest on the skills set and high education, one specific gentleman is honored to be part of this education initiative whom I think deserves international acclaim and recognition like the Olympic folks. 

Meet Dr. Mark Dean, he is part of the IBM team that flames the African market with a new company specific education outfit to nurture skill set.

Before you end up being optimistic, whining and trolling about what your PC can’t do think about how life would be with the type writer and the manual ledger book entries. Right, I guessed so, I had a chance to catch up with Dr. Dean during one of his business trips in Kenya; he says together with other IBMers, they developed predecessors to the IBM PC.

In those days, Dr. Dean terms the feeling of building systems to be as passionate as ever.

Not only is he the ambassador of spearheading IBM’s skill set development in Africa but he built a work station for his master’s thesis during his studies in Florida. This became one of his systems, that jump started the development of the bus which currently is known as ISO bus.

The ISO bus is the interface that allows one to connect types of devices together for the PC, for instance the modems, printers, keyboards and mice, all the stuff that are plugged in and attached to the PC.

This all happened because the development team just didn’t know any better, they thought they were building this for some fun. At that time IBM aimed at selling 200,000 machines in total but the company ended up selling a billion PCs in a year. Dr. Dean says little did they know that they invented a tool that will help people change the way they work.

The PC become a famous tool, it helped people get things done, it replaced the type writer, people don’t need to do ledgers anymore, basically it solved a lot of little problems and changed the way we do business.

Funny thing about it, Dr. Dean never thought he will live long enough to see something he invented being replaced by something else: the cellphone, technology is moving things rapidly.