Some if not most of those 'mzungu' things are quite good and kenyan businesses should want the best. They may have been there before us, but our collective challenge is to innovate ahead of them. Take for example Banker's Realm by Craft Silicone, a Kenyan firm (owned by a gentleman of Indian origin). It is only considered as an entry level system, and as a bank grows they go for more sophisticated systems. Does Seven Sea Technologies own IP for any robust, field standard application or solution?

Not sure but i think they(SST) are largely infra-com less appdev..and likely do major conveyance for products and services of Major international firms. They are hardly R&D which mean less likehood of IP or copyrights

Research methodologies 101..motivation,lack of engagement with stakeholders(academia, end -users) most R&D in kenya is academic ..papers are published and gather dust in colleges hardly any applied R&D to real life local situations...*my 2 cents

I like where this arguement is going. In truth in IT you need to be a jack of all trades and a master of some core elements if your performance is going to be superior. You can't compare high-level programming languages with the likes of php in terms of the skills required to create such languages. I agree with eboomerang,expertise requires years of exposure and not only to the job you are good at.

The future of IT in Kenya is bright, bleak and unpredictable.
Not for lack of educated people but for lack of innovative people.

We have truck loads of CCNA, DBA, Developers etc, but we are not a silicon valley because we approach IT with a wrong attitude and those people or companies who make any inroads do so mainly by providing very basic services.

IT in Kenya is still in an infant stage where a small % of the population having appreciated the value of ICT are yet to fully adopt this technologies as their everyday tools of trade.
The biggest barriers are cost, reach ability, literacy and innovation.

Those that can in any way surpass those barriers have gone ahead to make some good money.
Eg: MPESA solves the reachability problem; people send money electronically without the need to use computers or access expensive networks. (Not sure if it's cheap though)

Schools: Make a killing solving the literacy problem (not sure how beneficial some are) but the number of youth and adults lining up in colleges to learn how to use computers is very encouraging

Computer shops selling refurbished and low cost clones also make a killing solving the cost problem for those who wish to own their own PC.

Mobile apps do fix the cost barrier as more people have access to phones than they do to computers, but even there we have practically zero innovation.

What we lack is innovative people who can take those ICT skills learnt to build profitable businesses. Right now practically most developers I know are either plain lazy Joomla clones or people who would rather go greenhouse farming in their free time than risk their time developing a prototype for a decent idea they have.
Instead of hawking software they have developed, the unemployed ones make a living off installing pirated software or selling flash disks.

None of this universities or colleges has produced a market worthy app in the several years they have been churning out graduates who spent hours working on a project, because, we are a me too country. Developing the same old school timetables, cafeteria systems, video library apps or some other crap VBA application.

Go there ask to throw money at a risk worthy app and you will be terribly disappointed at the low entrepreneurial spirit this places have.

We Just do not innovate!
We do not appreciate that Science is meant to make our lives either more interesting or easier and that people pay for that.

Can you take a risk ?
Can you solve one of those barriers or innovate ?
then the future of IT for you will be very bright for you.

I'm sorry for ranting.

Spot ON..now what do we need to spur innovation?

like this individual's effort http://3phasepower.blogs.../my-arduino-uno-r3.html

True that ..but it is a long term solution ..so what happens in the mean time ..to those of us who went through the "darn education system"?

This was a good rant. Wazua is such a nice place to get a pulse on Kenya and your "rant" was well needed to bring this discussion back in line.

The question you asked is what every Kenya ask "Where is the money in IT?" but the answer they get is often the wrong answer and it usually
"you will get a nice job. Look even Nokia, IBM and Google have set up shop in Kenya"

That all fine and dandy but there is a lot of money to be made and you gave the best examples of the smarter Kenyans making the money.

Mobile phone advertising a lot of people are willing to pay big money to get this huge market if some just gets it right.

There are so many ways our lives can be improved by technology and MPESA has just shown we are willing to pay for the convenience.

Process (re)engineering is where I honestly think there is a lot of growth and this should not be limited to MPESA. What works in Kenya can possibly work in other African countries and that is the market we should be targeting not trying to recreate photoshop or competing with facebook.

PS: I am not an IT anything I don't speak, read or understand code.

Learning to learn is the one thing everyone should get from school.

Wanyee - there is always wazua for those of us who have gone through the education system.What do you mean we need to innovate IT?

Tony Stark - For someone not in IT you've got it right.Mobile phone advertising and process re-engineering are a gold mines yet to be tapped and we so need solutions in those areas. Its also true,once you start flourishing as an IT specialist you get lucrative jobs offers too good to let them pass by to pursue your own personal interests.