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Kenya's finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta read the budget last week and there are two big investments that will benefit the ICT industry. Esmond Shahonya says that:

Minister Kenyatta & his budget

1. The rural electrification programme has in its kitty Sh5.6 billion to facilitate supply of power to 460 trading centres and 110 secondary schools among other public facilities.

   Electricity in trading centres will ignite the dreams of Pasha Centers whose purpose is to be public utilities for empowering people in ICT and providing access to government services riding on the adoption of e-government.

2. In order to bring to reality the digital villages, the Treasury has allocated Sh210 million for setting up Pasha Centers in constituencies.

   In a bid to set the pace for young people's initiation into the digital world, the government has allocated Sh680 million in the 2011 budget for the purchase of computers for schools.

Together, these investments represent over 1 billion Kenyan shillings for ICT and its supporting electrical systems and add to previous multi-billion shilling investments by the Kenyan government in ICT4D.

The Kenya ICT Board and the Kenya Vision 2030 Delivery Secretariat invite companies
that have developed solutions that drive economic growth and social development
as outlined in Kenya's Vision 2030 to participate in the inaugural Vision 2030 ICT
Innovation Awards. The Award is proudly co-sponsored by Accenture Development Partnerships
(ADP).

The winners of the Vision 2030 ICT Innovation Award will be announced at the Connected
Kenya Summit on April 20.

Submit your ICT solution to be considered for the awards

Eligibility: Companies /organizations that have:
1. Officially registered in Kenya
2. Product or service that is complete and in full use for at least 6 months
3. Product or service that has Kenyan citizens as end user (can be delivered through
a third party company or organization)
4. Product or service that addresses at least one of the Vision 2030 social economic pillars

Criteria:
1. ICT Innovation: products or services must use ICT in a way that is new and unique. The innovation should be original in Kenya.
2. Market Impact: products or services must have a demonstrated positive impact on target community and have innovative strategy for market share growth
3. Functionality: product or service must be creative and user-friendly in its delivery and demonstrate compatibility and interoperability to third party products.

Deadline for submission: April 10, 2011

Do you fancy yourself an ICT entrepreneur? Would you like some of the Kenya ICT Board's Ksh 320 million revolving loan funds? Then you better hurry up and apply to start your very own Pasha Center.

About Pasha Center Loans

The Pasha Loan is made possible through a revolving fund set up by the Kenya ICT Board (through World bank funding) and administered by Family Bank. The funds allocated to each entrepreneur will be repayable over a three year period with an interest rate of 11.5% p.a on the reducing balance. Entrepreneurs can use the funds to finance set-up costs and or upgrading of an existing facility.

To apply for this loan, the Kenya ICT Board is inviting entrepreneurial Kenyans from around the country to submit business plan proposals that demonstrate how to build and run a successful Pasha Center. The best proposals will be offered a low cost loan from Family Bank allowing the entrepreneurs to realize their dream of owning a Pasha Center.

Applicants will be required to submit a compelling business plan as part of their loan application. Together with our financial partners, Family Bank , Kenya ICT Board will award loans to entrepreneurs that will see one Pasha Centre set up in each constituency countrywide within a year.

Kenya ICT Board and Family Bank have launched a Ksh 320 million loan facility to support the establishment of Pasha Centres across the country. This facility will finance Kenyan entrepreneurs willing to set up the Pasha Centres.

About Pasha Centers

Pasha Centres are internet access centres that will offer a rich bouquet of services to the public. Pasha Centers are modeled under three categories: Basic, Standard, and Advanced. Each category is defined by the number of computers and services to be offered and the scale of the Pasha Centre proposed by each applicant, but should include a blend of the following:

Internet access, computer training, vocational training, ICT retail, access to government services, entertainment and gaming, typing and data entry, printing services, copying and scanning, CD/DVD burning, faxing, IP telephony, cell phones and SIM card sales, mobile-based financial services, IT support and services, office supplies and stationary sales, printer supplies, laminating and photography and other IT enabled services.

The centres, most of which will be in the rural areas will help deliver the government’s objective of ensuring that Kenyans everywhere have access to the internet, use it to access Government E-Services and improve their lives. There will be one Pasha Centre in each constituency – making 210 Centres in total to be set up within the next year.

The Kenya ICT Board will hire a consulting firm to provide online and on-call support to Pasha Centers. The support will include troubleshooting, repair and maintenance of equipment, support with software installation, support for LAN and WAN installation, among other services.

About Pasha Loans

The Pasha Loan is made possible through a revolving fund set up by the Kenya ICT Board (through World bank funding) and administered by Family Bank. The funds allocated to each entrepreneur will be repayable over a three year period with an interest rate of 11.5% p.a on the reducing balance. Entrepreneurs can use the funds to finance set-up costs and or upgrading of an existing facility.

To apply for this loan, the Kenya ICT Board is inviting entrepreneurial Kenyans from around the country to submit business plan proposals that demonstrate how to build and run a successful Pasha Center. The best proposals will be offered a low cost loan from Family Bank allowing the entrepreneurs to realize their dream of owning a Pasha Center.

Applicants will be required to submit a compelling business plan as part of their loan application. Together with our financial partners, Family Bank , Kenya ICT Board will award loans to entrepreneurs that will see one Pasha Centre set up in each constituency countrywide within a year.

Deadline for Application: 25th February 2011

Download the Application Forum

Download Pasha Business Plan

More info about Pasha financing

The Kenya ICT Board and Kenya's Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) are about to launch a bold experiment in getting the tools of ICT into the hands of tomorrow's leaders in Kenya. They're going to subsidize laptops for 15,667 university students through the Wezesha program.

Wezesha will provide 9,000 Kenya Shillings (KES) equivalent to USD 120 towards purchasing a laptop for university students.

There are two models of laptops sold by five pre-qualified retailers. The $120 subsidy will reduce the laptop price by 15% and 33%, depending on the laptop model. This is a fixed incentive - it will pay for only a portion of the laptop, regardless of the specifications and price.

The Wezesha project is open to all Kenyan university students in accredited University in Kenya (public and private) that expressed interest in Wezesha.

Here's the process by which students can get their subsidized laptops:

1. Wezesha portal - University student browses
2. University student registers on the Wezesha portal
3. University Coordinator verifies and approves University students registration online
4. Student receives voucher via email
5. Student logs on to the Wezesha portal and selects preferred laptop
6. Information is displayed on preferred laptop. Price of laptop less voucher amount is displayed
7. Students selects preferred laptop and inputs voucher information
8. Retailer gets notification of intent of purchase of laptop.
9. Student goes to buy preferred laptop from retailer
10. Voucher and student information verified at point of sale by the retailer in the presence of the student
11. Student provides voucher and balance to redeem laptop
12. The student becomes the owner of a brand new laptop

Wezesha's Impact on Kenya

What do you think 15 thousand laptop-enabled college students will do for Kenya's higher education system? Or for the African Internet culture? No doubt it will have a big impact on future ICT usage in Kenya.

Immediately, I can see a huge boost in Facebook's impact on Kenyan society in the midst of an intensified mobile data price war. I can also see these connected college students creating an explosion in Kenyan conversations online.

Last but not least, Wezesha is the 4th reason why Kenya has better Internet business opportunities than Nigeria.