Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Is Kenya ready for e-commerce?

Assuming the fibre-optic projects are delivered in time next year (Seacom which is due to be delivered first will land in June'09) Kenya's economy may well see the same revolution as has occurred due to mobile technology (why are guys so ready to put down Safcom which has driven this?).
  1. Is our business community ready? Are they utilising IT to modernise the way they do their business? Where is the increased Kenyan-based business content? Why haven't the number of listed firms with a commercial website increased since 2006?
  2. Is govt ready? I keep hearing about computerisation project, but why is it still difficult to locate land maps and the like? Will Kibz be able to work the videolink in his office? How about data protection especially as it pertains to publicly-held records?
  3. And mwananchi? I know sales of computers, laptops and associated paraphernalia going up massively, but are guys learning e-commerce as a subject? Or html and related languages? Are entrepreneurs queuing up to push aside none ecommerce business models?

5 comments:

Andrew said...

Hi Maina,

I'm emailing you in regards to an email I sent to you last month about a partnership, have you had a chance to think about it?

If you have any questions or would more information, please advise me and we can go from there.

Kind Regards,
Andrew Knight

KW said...

I don't think that we are quite prepared.

The Ministry and ICT Board have been talking about some of the impact the arrival of Fibre will have but alot of what they've said has focused on impact on BPO industry and data industry.

I am not sure it has sunk into the collective consciousness that this could be a lifestyle changer on the scale of mobile phone revolution.

MainaT said...

Andrew-please re-send the email.

Mystery shopper- we are good at talking. All the way from the top.

Unknown said...

@ Mystery Shopper.

Ignorance of many = opportunities for a few. This is what Strategy is all about.

@ MainaT
Is Corporate Kenya Ready? I don't think so.

Is the government ready? Nope.

Are ordinary Kenyans ready? I believe so!

Change is coming. Major change.

MainaT said...

Maishinski-at some pt we need gova involvement as a an enabler esp in the education sector.