The digital villages project (Pasha) is still on track.

The Board sends out regular communication to those who underwent the first lot of entrepreneurship training in October 2009, as well as other trainees applicants due to be trained in the next phases over the next two years.. The portal www.pasha.co.ke is also active and is updated to keep all informed on the progress. This portal is being enhanced continuously.

A 2nd lot of 1500 people from all over the country are due to be trained in this first quarter of this year. The eventual target for training is 7500 in the next 2 years.

The board has now finalized the Grants Manual, a document that provides the basis of how the funding for this grant to entrepreneurs will be administered. Each entrepreneur will have an opportunity to competitively apply for a grant to fund his start-up costs (or expansion costs for those who have some level of establishment). The board will also provide a technical support arrangement for the centers across the country for a fixed period.

These Pasha centers will be self sustaining and entrepreneurs themselves will determine what specific services they provide based on their local circumstances. They will also act as one of the main gateways for government online services.

There are 5 Pasha Pilot centres. in Kangundo, Gairrisa, Malindi, Mukuru (industrial Area), Meru, We continue learning about specific issues on the ground from these sites. Issues such as business model, infrastructure requirement, public uptake and demand for services. One key learning so far is that this project is in great demand for varying reasons across the country and that even if there is no ‘one size fits all’, citizens will adopt the centers to suit their needs.

For details about the actual Pasha process visit this link on ours site http://www.ict.go.ke/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=68&Itemid=133

We welcome further questions and comments and encourage you to help us maintain public interest in this important project, which even we at the board are the first to admit, has taken longer than originally envisioned. Indeed projects such as this do take a long time and stakeholder anxiety is to be expected.

We shall keep you informed more regularly.

Reading todays editorial in the business daily,

http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Opinion%20%20Analysis/-/539548/619464/-/u1li80z/-/index.html

It basically makes the point that aside from focussing on getting international investors, we must focus on developing local ICT entrepreuners as part of the wider agenda for ICT sector growth. I could not agree more. These are some of the thoughts I am laying kdown as part of what I will be taking forward for stakeholder discussion on this issue. The eventual aim is to agree a framework for the development of the local ICT economy.
ol
liDevelopment of Incubation centres. I will propose we adopt the model of the digital hub in Ireland. We need to find low cost high traffic physical space (im thinking the Railway Godowns, or somewhere in the city centre) and kit up the place with high bandwidth and desks and invite entrepreuners to set up there on a time limited basis./li
liBranding the sector. The Board has launched the www.doitinkenya.com portal which will eventually showcase all things ICT in Kenya. This is aimed at creating an ICT brand for Kenya. This portal enables interested investors to review a companys profile prior to contacting them. doitinkenya will also be the brand line for a cmapign to create awareness locally about ICT in everyday life/li
liThere have been many suggestions to us from the industry to assist with lobbying for a change in public procurement in ICT to support value added partnerships between local and international firms. Currently, the way it works is that local firms need not be ICT technical firms. The practice currently means that many of the local firms that partner with international firms to provide high value solutions, do so without a clear capacity and technology transfer agenda. So the country develops solutions without getting the knowledge. This problem is not limited to the public sector./li
liWe have incorporated BPO and entrepreunership into the Pasha Centre curriculum. More BPO and ICT entrepreunership training needs to find its way into the curriculum of all public and private education institutions. Skills development is the cornerstone of upgrading the ICT businesses/li
liTraining and skills upgrading of current managers of ICT businesses as well as encouraging entrepreunership among more experienced corprate sector managers. Skills in contracting, financial management, project management, brand management, negotiations etc are critical in getting ICT entrepreuners to step up. This is the only way that many of the companies can develope the scale./li
liGreater government automation will always be a double treat for the sector. Greater automation, means greater efficiency and service delivery for citizens whilst at the same time more ICT work for the local ICT economy./li
liSupport for local initiatives. The ICT board has not always had the funding it requires here to support all the various industry organizations that are developing in the sector. Open Source Society, Linux users association, the Kenya ICT Federation, the Computer Society, The BPO Society etc. The Association of domain registraters, Kictanet, the CIO forum, etc. These organizations fulfil a useful role as stimulants of ICT activity. My initial impression is that te associations require greater support at this early stage of our ICT development./li
liSeed grants, venture capital, angel investors, private equity. All very important in providing businesses with much needed capital. ICT sector investments, especially in service businesses, are normally dependant on much intellectual capital formation with very little going towards capital items. Because of this, IT firms find great difficulty securing capital from banks./li
liMany industry players have spoken to us about the need for a shift in the taxation approach for ICT firms. Specifically on payroll taxes and VAT. These taxes require to be paid very month on invoice, even when there is no cashflow to support the outflows of cash. The nature of amany IT services contracts is such that most companies will pay project fees on completion and delivery of the project. Some innovative ideas are required in tax adminstration to stimulate small firms./li
liIntellectual property (IP) protection is another factor. The ICT board has been asked to step up market awareness of intellectual property. Incidences of disregard or abuse of IP have been noted. The bigger issue her is that many of the individuals who develop IP are not in a position to actually negotiate its protection especially in contracts with large firms. So they get into a contract in a weak position because they need the money from the project for basic survival. because of this, we have seen little growth in IP based entrepreuners in Kenya. IP based entrepreuners are improtant in developing a countrys overall global competitiveness. This is an issue that will be on the agenda/li
/ol
There will be other thoughts and stakeholders will be invited to conclude a specific implementation plan. On the matters which require policy revision, the Board will escalate this to the Ministry for consideration and input. On matters in which it is within our mandate to solve, we shall apply ourselves accordingly.