The Fairest Electorate

While I have to admit that I am not the most conscientious of voters, I am surprised that even with the widespread availability of technology today, the gimmickry of salt and soap politics are still very much at work in politics in East Africa- specifically Uganda. Whereas technology serves as a great tool for knowing exactly how and where one should expend their campaign coins, politicians and newbies alike are still depending on the trusted henchman and cursory observations to determine where and how to campaign.

Uganda's electoral commission posted details about every single registered voter (albeit a tentative list) along with their names, divisions, parishes and date of birth on the Internet. Interesting. After mining that data for Makindye division, we generated a summary picture of the number of voters- give or take 100 and about 5% margin for error, the age group with the biggest number of registered voters and somewhat not surprising- the percentage of voters who are female.

The parliamentary campaigns are doing 'Business as usual' and unfortunately the only people trying to use some numbers are the usual suspects with poll results skewed in favour of the loudest vendor.
That's why I love Ory Okolloh- she set a precedent; using technology to capture the political atmosphere. If technology cannot be used to mine readily available data to inform the political campaigns, then perhaps the election has already been called and we can all get back to business as usual.
To view Enterprise Technology's Makindye Electorate Fact file, click here and then give us your feedback. Hell, hit us with all you've got.

Why East Africa desperately needs Social Media

We know that the Fortune 500 of North America have prominently used Social Media to extend their brands, engage fans and encourage more brand loyalty but even without mounting the SM wagon I'm pretty sure they would still continue to mint out the millions and billions.

Some of East Africa best brands on the other hand are still swimming in mud ponds and at best shallow waters. Case in point, East Africa is still mostly known for Safaris and Idi Amin and in most cases it is notorious events like political violence and corruption that put the region on the global agenda. How many know of Def.ini.tion? East Africa's brands need to make money, not coins and that wont happen while they are tucked away in the modesty of a small office in downtown cities.

Social Media is a great tool not because it's the best new thing after websites (which i have to admit in East Africa's case have become online brochures thus losing the whole point) but because it relies heavily on social connections which is a key human need. The need to connect with people with whom you share common interests or with people you like and to spread that knowledge is what empowers Social media like Facebook, Blogs, Twitter and a host of other platforms like YouTube.

A well managed Social Media strategy has the following benefits for little known brands that want to get their word out there:
1. Get the company face out there. The more people see your logo and the faces behind the team, the more likely they are to choose you even when your services are wanting (Plenty of telecoms do this)
2. Get your voice heard. You're only as wise as the number of people consulting you for wisdom. Even if you have the best ideas and no one hears them, you're just as empty as the tin you're sitting next to.
3. Sell your services in multiple ways as many social media platforms are integrated and this helps to magnify your online 'ad' especially since information on the net tends to spread much like a virus.

The key to a successful online campaign however is that it must be planned and managed as well as customized to the needs of the specific company.

Here's what we've done with Enterprise Technology

Bursting out of the 'Dark Continent' glove

There are plenty of interesting developments happening in East Africa today that considered on their own are disparate unrelated events, however, observed together, paint a picture of a region bursting out of the 'Dark Continent' glove.

The East African Community Integration is taking off - with plenty of hitches as expected, but nevertheless taking off. A 5 state regional bloc has greater visibility than a single nation and therefore more recognition and so is able to garner more attention.

The growth of academic institutions in the region has created a solid base of multi-skilled labour whose best qualities are entrepreneurship, working around obstacles and being the best copycats (which is good because that is exactly what is driving China's growth).

In East Africa, poverty has been a mixed blessing-forcing citizens and foreigners to create their own opportunities and thus we see businesses long established in the developed world only beginning to flourish here. East Africa has become a landmass of opportunities.

Finally, we have super-fast technology adoption, where the Internet has become the lifeblood for most businesses and should a bomb affect the fibre optic cable that brings that sweet tech blood to the multitudes there will be a massive outcry.

And since they say that what a man discusses most is a reflection of what he values most, then in I-Network Uganda will reveal just how East Africa's population can no longer exist without mobile phones and the Internet whose alias is Facebook. In fact if you are delirious about stats you can find East Africa's internet usage, down to the number, on this site.

What does all of this mean?

It was a phone call I received from a company in an OECD country that startled me out of the 'business as usual' trance. He wanted to know how Enterprise Technology could help his OECD company which was interested in outsourcing various services. He then promptly sent in a preliminary due diligence form to begin the process.

Wait a minute-what happened to the obvious 'India as first choice' and the 'Philippines as a second best' for outsourcing? What about all the other emerging nations?

Even though East Africa's growth seems to be a rickety show fraught with unresolved issues, from the outside looking in, it has become a viable option. Outsiders are anxiously seeking better rates for services and East Africa has most of the right ingredients including skilled labour, technology savvy, quick learning and hunger for the opportunity.

What East Africa now needs is to blow its horn loudly and sharpen its edge because inadvertently the economic conundrum and ensuing search for lower operational costs has turned the spotlight on the 'dark continent'.

Follow us on twitter.com/technologyEA

Two fish and five loaves

We had some rather interesting observations from the young technology professionals symposium which you can read in more detail here from our research report http://bit.ly/bHEIr9 but what stood out was that young professionals are hungry for knowledge to get them established firmly in their careers. Although the symposium was slated to end at 3pm we carried on until 5pm as the questions and sessions involved practical job interviews and required role playing.

And so great was the demand that we plan to hold several industry specific symposia in 2011 to address the technology needs of different sectors- media, manufacturing, health, education, telecoms, the list is endless.

The turn up was overwhelming as we got twice the number of participants we had planned for and we had to be very 'creative' in ensuring the two fish and five loaves were sufficient for the crowd. Along the same vein, I think it was a great lesson in entrepreneurship, sometimes you don't really need a cartload of resources to create a sizzling hot event but you do need a lot of creativity and a team with plenty of faith.

Our two fish and five loaves initiative has given us great advantages- grown our fan base, sold our brand, and (unashamedly) positioned Enterprise Technology http://on.fb.me/9S6aRG as strategic partners in reaching tech-nified young professionals.

Until the next miracle- Cheers.

QBCD syndrome

Qualified But Cant Do (QBCD) is a syndrome that has become synonymous with entry level graduates in East Africa. Employers often complain that fresh graduates have all the required technology qualifications but cannot put into practice what they have learnt.

Consequently Enterprise Technology magazine has decided to host a technology symposium targeting University students where students will receive skills in making their technology qualifications workplace relevant.

The rationale is that by having experienced technology practitioners (both intrapreneurs and entrepreneurs) engage with the students and fresh graduates in interactive Q&A sessions, fresh eyed potential employees can write better resumes that can get them in the door for an interview where they can sell themselves since they are now acutely aware of what employers are looking for.

We've come up with a great topic list addressing issues like techpreneurship; how to transition from a great intern to a valued employee; technology adoption in government organizations; essential BPO skills; and of course selling 'free stuff' like Open source.

The symposium tone will be very tongue-in-cheek and unconventional- not the usual lecture type conference where we are spoken at and have only 5 minutes to ask questions. This time we want to hear from the students.

Now if only potential sponsors could loosen those purse strings...

Keep it Simple and Stupid

If we examine the technologies that actually garner millions of followers and that actually achieve a 'single-minded purpose' and that remain relevant for years to come without users hankering for this tweak and this fix and this feature, it becomes obvious that these are very few and far in between.

I am most impressed by craigslist.org and Google.com. These sites are 'simple and stupid'. A simple stupid technology is clutter-free in other words it does not try to pack all the James Bond movies feature into one product. It recognizes the fact that users are not the same and so it starts at the lowest level-the 'stupid' Vs the higher level- the 'sophisticated/seasoned/savvy' by simply being very very easy to use. No bells, no whistles, just the knocker.

Craig Newmark, Brin and Page have one thing in common- they are single-minded. What do we want to do? 'Offer a simple way to find information, nothing else.' And it works. The pages are very simple, plain white and everything is stupidly simple- you leave the sites with a great feeling that you actually brilliant because you managed to find what you were looking for.

This means you're not going to have to give 'fixes', tweak prototypes, troubleshoot features-which means you can simply concentrate on improving your core competence and doing it well.

Which brings me to Uganda's online voters display-managed by the electoral commission. http://41.210.167.106/nvr/. This is another simple stupid site which is successful because it achieves its aim of displaying registered voters (albeit the inaccuracies present) in a very simple step by step manner.

Cellphones, for example: In East Africa most people use cellphones only to call and send text messages. GPS, Bluetooth, web browsing, picture taking are all a second take for the savvy. Additionally, the most popular phone has been that one with a torch probably because of the chronic power shortages at night and the low electrification rates especially in rural areas.

My take is that if you want mass adoption of an innovation-don't try to straddle one hundred markets-be single minded in what you want it to do and make sure it does that one thing well. (I think partly this is the reason Google.com is so successful-search search search.)

Internet Governance and absentee telecoms

When regional technology and telecom related conferences are convened and the telecoms and ISPs are glaringly absent, the digital gap gets harder to bridge. Telecoms are notorious for fighting policies that lower prices and increase usage, deeming them unfair to their business practices. These telecoms are oblivious to the fact that many of these policies emanate from such conferences many of them regional, with attendees like government policy makers, influential business persons, who want win-win situations.

The telecoms (including those who are sponsors) however see no business value and therefore will not even send a representative to articulate their views, whereas these same telecoms will send entire contingents to social events where they can show how 'smart they are'. How about smarts at events that have long term value?