Kenya gains as global tech firms eye local talent

In early February, Nairobi hosted a key figure in the technology industry — Nokia’s President and chief executive Stephen Elop in a meet-up with software developers. Mr Elop met with over 50 developers at iHub — innovations centre that houses more than 3,000 software developers.

In the last five years, international firms such as Google, Facebook, Nokia and Blackberry have also combed Kenyan universities searching for developers able to create unique solutions for mobile phones or the Internet web.

The firms host annual conferences where they ask students to create solutions for world problems, offering them the opportunity to be absorbed into the companies or to interact with global thought leaders on future trends.

Kenya is carving a niche for itself in designing unique mobile applications and firms are looking to fuel their growth as the industry becomes more competitive. There is a relatively high uptake of mobile services in Kenya and the availability of a rising crop of university graduates specialising in technology-related fields makes it a fertile ground.

And probably, attracted by homegrown technology success stories, such as M-Pesa mobile money transfer service, and Ushahidi, the crisis mapping software, firms are banking to move into the future by tapping into the bustling web and mobile applications scene. This month, Samsung launched an engineering academy in Nairobi. This is the second, after the one in South Africa and plans to train over 10,000 engineers by 2015 to support various customers in the region.

As the multinationals move in, there is need to protect the interests of innovators. In the past there have been cases where some ideas have been converted into products by companies without the developers benefiting.

Background check

Two years ago, two University of Nairobi students accused a multinational firm for stealing their innovation — a mobile phone bicycle charger and branding it as its own.

The case is still in court.

The government should come up with schemes to help developers patent their work and make stringent regulations on intellectual property rights. There are also the venture capitalists — who provide funding to promising startups and angel investors — who fund ideas, who have been making a beeline for a slice of the country’s bustling web and mobile application segment.

However, not all these who claim to invest in startups or in innovations are genuine. Some of them have been found to be ‘briefcase’ outfits. The innovators must carry out a thorough background check before entering into agreements.