Eyeing iHub

I am the first to admit that I am quite tech-unsavvy. Totally under the rock. Feel nothing for gadgets. I am not on Instagram, whatsapp, etc. Do not use a smartphone. Tune out when folk spew tech-speech.

So this post is venturing into unknown territory. Possibly into a minefield.

Oh well…here goes…

Many people, even tech-unsavvy me know of iHub but ask folk what it is exactly and not many can give sentence long answer.

In my 2015 quest to at least move a step out of from being under the rock I paid a visit to iHub which is located on Bishop Magua building on Ngong Road.

Practically Kenya’s Silicon Valley.

Through my conversations with folk who work at the iHub and members, I sought to get the essence, the spirit of the space.

My walking “tour” began on the second floor, through to third floor and finally fourth floor. There are many tech companies in the different floors.

Sat at Pete’s Coffee. Rose is real and cool. Drank the House Coffee, freshly brewed, just as good as kahawa tungu ya Mombasa. Drank it sugarless. Got buzzed.

Many working tables and chairs. There is a seven-sitter sofa with a coffee table. A ping pong machine. A bookshelf with books that look like no one has ever opened. 4 rocking chairs which seem out of place prpos. Signage on the walls declares the piper payers: Hivos, Omidyar, etc. A wall with everyday Nairobi street signs which feels like an attempt at Watu-nizing the space.

The crowd on the fourth floor is young, nerdy-looking, no suits, no ties, every pair of eyes glued to a laptop with earphones in ears. The atmosphere is sterile, deathly quiet. Very male-centric. Too few women.

Apparently iHub was born out of Ushahidi money.

So let’s define Ushahidi. Long story short it is traditional 9-1-1 call in text form. SMS-based platform for missing persons, emergencies, elections. Helps with crowd-mapping, helping engineer response. Started in Kenya, has gone global.

So from Ushahidi, techies felt there was need for a community for and by techies. That was five years ago.

That idea has birthed:

iHub research – which researches on tech ecosystem in the East African region. Focus is on Education, Hatespeech. Funded by foundations. Great in theory but lacking in dissemination of information deduced.

UXLab – which works on quantifying user experience, testing apps on users. So it is a great space for techies.

IHub consulting – this is where community meets opportunity. iHub using its clout can pitch for big jobs then subcontract to community members. So it is a great space for techies.

BRICK – Long explanation. What I got – UPS for the bundus.

mLab – mobile apps creation space, mobile apps testing space. Home of M-vitus. So it is a great space for techies.

Having gotten this for dummies break-down my immediate thoughts were:

– Kenyan techies are quite well sorted by iHub.

– Funding this, funding that, funding, funding and more funding. There is clearly a lot of money in tech in Kenya.

But:

– What are the actionable tangible useable in real life things out of iHub?

– How does MKenya wa kawaida relate to, benefit from iHub?

– It appears to me that five years into the iHub experiment at first glance there is not much to show for it.

Word on the street has it that iHub started as a community but with time it became individualistic and cutthroat. That obviously has diluted the original ethos. Coupled with techies getting poached by corporates thus killing the ‘open-concept’ of the space

(Techies, before shooting, please free to enlighten me further…)

Flipping script…

Chatted an entrepreneur who has had company up and running for two years. It specializes in men’s fashion, making accessories and shipping them to USA.

Entrepreneur joined iHub three months ago and a chance conversation there has lead to getting kick-start funds of over a million bob. With that Entrepreneur plans to set up own plant to make the fashion accessories.

Entrepreneur reckons what iHub offers is the networking opportunity available and the sense of shared experience which gives hope and aids smooth-en common challenges.

Entrepreneur raised a valid point upon my asking why he only joined 3 months ago – how can you be part of something you do not know?

Entrepreneur also pointed out that not everyone can be a techie and even as tech is embraced there is need to make tangible things, need to grow real industries, need to get off the tech bubble and into the real world.

Food for thought, no?

GOD BLESS KENYA!

(P.S – all images courtesy of iHub or Google.)

Instagram

techie (adjective) : a person who is very knowledgeable or enthusiastic about technology and especially high technology.

I am not a techie person. This is a techie related post. Yes, even me I am surprised. However, the world has shifted. I am just not sure if its in a good way or not.

Yesterday, Instagram was bought by Facebook for one billion dollars. Instagram has only been in existence for 551 days. That is amazing any way you choose to dice it.

I admit that I had not heard of Instagram before the news of its acquisition exploded. I am not used to been clueless but this was one time that I was. Uncle Google came to my rescue and I got to read what Instagram is.  Further to my education, one of my friends who lives in America explained to me that it is basically “a twitter without words only photos”. She went on to explain that Instagram had been an application for iPhones only until last week when it was opened up to the Android market.

This got me thinking. What will be the impact of iPhones and Android in Africa? I am currently reading Mocky Makura’s Africa’s Greatest Entrepreneurs and it is clear to me that the entry of mobile telephony into Africa in the early 90s brought with it several billionaires and changed the lives of millions in Africa.

Projecting forward I reckon that use of mobile phones to access social media and applications (apps) will be the game changer in this decade. iPhones are still pretty pricey in this part of the world but Android phones are pretty affordable. Methinks, folk who will be able to make apps for Android that make a difference to the lives of many will be the next super rich.

However I am still unsure of the impact of apps in the lives of the common man in Kenya but then again I am not a techie. I watched the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Communication Dr. Ndemo on The Bench last week and his enthusiasm was infectious. He talked of iLab, mLab, NaiLab, iHub and of an army of young people who are behind the digital revolution in Kenya and who are behind the mega creation of apps.

Thoughts that run through my mind as I watched him were, how are they helping, who are they helping and what is the tangible impact? Still have no answers to these questions. Kenyan techies, feel free to school me!

Back to the Instagram deal, it got me thinking on the impact of apps and on a broader scope the impact of digital mobile on my career. Just recently Kodak went bankrupt, I certainly have no desire to be caught out. How to ensure that technology does not make me redundant is what I am racking my brains on. I suggest you also do the same as it is certainly a brand new world!

GOD BLESS KENYA!