ICTworks by Inveneo

The Kenya ICT Board is proud to announce the firms that have been awarded the Digital Content and Software Application Grant in the category 'Government Information Portal'.

The winning projects were selected from 166 proposals submitted in the Government Information Portal (Firms) category. An independent consultant ranked all the proposals in the category and the top ranked proposals were reviewed by an independent Grant Committee made up of professionals from academia, private sector and public sector. The Committee interviewed several finalists and seven projects were selected to receive the award.

We ask you to join us in congratulating the firms who were awarded the 'Government Information Portal' grant:

1. Octopus ICT Solutions Ltd for their 'HIV and AIDS in the workplace e-Learning Course' that will bring HIV and AIDS workplace policy to every civilian servant in the country. Starting with training for over 40,000 health workers in the first year, Octopus will develop an eLearning course that will work to sensitize civil servants on how to address HIV and AIDS at work and in their private lives. The course will help to reduce stigma and create a safe and supporting working environment for all civil servants including people living with HIV. 
2. Infotrack Strategic Solutions Ltd for their 'Teacher's Portal' that will link teachers to their employers, the Kenya Teacher's Service Commission. Teachers across the country often have to travel al the way to Nairobi to access service. The portal will allow the TSC to reach teachers country-wide with services and teachers to communicate easily and effectively with the TSC. The portal will also have public facing competent allowing citizens to review information on teachers in each county. 
3. iBid Labs for their 'Kenya Online Museum' project that will seek to document Kenya's history online. Through multi-media, ibid labs will capture 3 million years of Kenyan history to be distributed online and accessed from mobile phones. Inspired by over 25 museums in Kenya that host a rich history of the country, ibid started their project several years ago by extensively researching Kenya's history. The grant will give them the opportunity to realize their dream of making Kenyan history accessible to all Kenyans.
4. Foundation Support Services (FSS) Ltd for their 'IVR Tax Filing Solution', which will offer a voice prompted option for tax filing. The Interactive Voice Response system will allow any Kenyan with a mobile phone to fill taxes in variety of Kenyan languages. The system will help more Kenyans fallen their tax requirement. The team at FSS have a variety of experience in voice enabled technology and are passionate about making service available to all Kenyans country-wide. 
5. BTI Millman Company Ltd for their 'eMazingira Software Application' - an open source application that will run on Ushahidi's crowd-sourcing platform. eMazingira will concentrate on documenting and collecting information on environmental degradation and abuse. The environment is one of Kenya's most precious resource and eMazingira will help citizens ensure that our natural resources are preserved for future generations. Citizen will be able to report environmental degradation cases to a dedicated mobile short code number and the information relayed to the relevant authorities for action. People will then be able to view reported cases and the actions being taken on an online interactive map of Kenya.
6. RiverCross Technologies Ltd for their 'EDUWEB - An education institution listing and interactive mapping portal' that will provide a comprehensive list and interactive map of all education institutions in the country allowing users to locate institutions by proximity to relevant locations. The solution seeks to integrate data already available from the Ministry of Education, as well as additional information--all accessible from a computer or mobile phone. The portal will allow students and parents to research and identify the best schools and will also the allow the public to view and analyze vital data on educational institutions. 
7. JBA Advertising Co Ltd for their 'Lost and Found Project', which will collect information on the hundreds of IDs and official documents lost every day and provide an online and mobile based solution for search and retrial of lost documents. Loosing an ID can be quite a debilitating experience, and yet the document could be lying in a building or office nearby. With security and privacy in mind, JBA Advertising will build on a platform they have developed over the years to enable Kenyans to find their documents by accessing the internet or a query from their mobile phone.

Does your company demonstrate visionary leadership, innovation, and strong growth? Does it have revenues of between US$ 2-25 million? And does it impact the community through job creation or improved community living standards? Then consider applying for the 2010 Legatum Africa Awards for Entrepreneurship.

For small and medium-sized businesses from across 15 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the Legatum Africa Awards offer validation that you operate a truly sustainable and innovative business and are a role models to Africa’s aspiring entrepreneurs. And there is also prize money - a Grand Prize of US$100,000 and five runner-up prizes of US$50,000 each.

The 2010 Africa Awards programme builds upon similar competitions in 2007 and 2008, and is accepting submissions from Botswana, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

If you think you qualify, apply today! The application deadline is August 31 and 2,000 companies have already entered.

USAID has just announced a very compelling program for all those who want to see scale in international development. The Development Innovation Ventures Annual Program Statement (a type of RFP) is soliciting proposals in all development sectors - from economic growth to agriculture to anti-corruption activities - that have potential to reach this outcome:

DIV’s goal is to identify and support innovations with a proven, cost-effective impact that can match the scale of microfinance, which has been adopted by at least 75 million end users worldwide. This is an ambitious goal. As with all innovative processes, we expect failures along the way, in addition to success.

The DIV fund is approaching this goal relatively reasonably, by segmenting projects into three stages, each with their own type and level of funding:

1. $100,000 in seed funding to support initial research and design, small scale pilots to establish viability, and initial focus groups or stakeholder consultations
2. $1 million in start-up and impact assessment financing to launch and rigorously test product benefits for people in developing countries.
3. $6 million in transition funding for projects to scale countrywide and beyond

For those that apply before August 15, the DIV APS has a $350,000 budget for Stage 1 projects, which can be funded via grants, cooperative agreements, or collaboration agreements. This should be good enough to get your thoughts going on the next Big Idea, and fund a sabbatical from your day job to work on it.

Attending the Tandaa symposium in May 2010 organised by the Kenya ICT Board to enhance digital content, film and animation, I was impressed by the cue to creating local content simply described by Dr. Ndemo Bitange the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information Technology and Communication.

In plain words he said "unlike in other developed countries where their potential is realised, there is a lot of power for Kenyans to seize up, through enhancement of digital content."

A challenge to the permanent secretary was to address the question.. "what can the Kenyan government do to empower local talent to create local digital content and generate income?" As all 'political' replies, the PS reiterated the government commitment to motivating development of local digital content, but noted the bulk of the burden was on Kenyans to work on rather than the government. He reminded the audience of regulations of broadcast in Kenya that direct that 40% should be local content. He noted the 'ignorance' of opportunity represented by entry of digital television and broadband internet in Kenya.

Kenya ICT Board Content Grants

Therefore when a few weeks I was attending the Barcamp Nairobi events there was news of an ICT Board grant to Kenyans to work on digital content, I was moved by the effort made. The grant of 4 million dollars has 2 categories- one addressing government services and another for application development. The target group also falls within 2 categories, for firms registered ion Kenya that can apply for up to 50,000$ and for individuals qualifying for 10,000$.

The grant mainly targets startup companies, but existing projects qualify if the funds will be utilized for further development and not marketing. Despite the fact that the target is 46 grants this year, the ICT board had received 500 applications within 10 days of posting. A panel of 9 judges will have the daunting task of assessing the winning applications.

Mwananchi Impact

What does the grant mean to the ordinary 'mwananchi'? I like the approach that the ICT board utilized in recruiting applications. Allowing individual submission means that there will be stiff competition but at the same time allowing for a variety of submissions. Moreover there is opportunity that is presented away from the usual bureaucratic tendering process of the government.

The regional workshops that have been organised by the ICT board serve as a good platform of information dissemination. The fact that government employees (except those in the ministry of technology and communication) and even students will apply is a good case in point of creating opportunity for income generation.

I have not succeeded in writing a successful grant application despite many application to the international forums. In a wrong assumption probably but the grant writing skills and project management will be a big challenge to Kenyan youth applying for this grant. Language barrier (Kiswahili is not accepted as a language of submission) will be a factor. The very short word requirements are appropriate but are crucial in terms of a quality submission.

That not withstanding I am settling down to finish my application - the deadline for the Digital Content and Software Application Grant is this Monday, get your proposal in now!

I hopefully will write in future on writing a successful grant application to the ICT board in next years call for application....

Do you have an idea on how to change lives with mobile phones? Is it also a good business opportunity? And can it work with Nokia phones? Then submit it to Nokia's Growth Economy Venture Challenge

Nokia is offering a $1 million (USD) venture capital investment (not a gift or grant) and support from Nokia to help turn the idea into reality. Your idea can be hardware, software, applications or a new service. As Nokia's CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo says:

"We've seen what the tech community can do when it focuses on problems that are also opportunities. We want to channel that energy toward improving lives in the deveoping world."

Just make sure that your submission has a clear mission statement and viable business model on how it will enhance the lives of people living on less than $5 per day.

Interested? Then apply today!