RIGHT OF REPLY

And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. (John 8:32)

The thoughts put here are my own thoughts. I’m not speaking/Responding on behalf of Pivot 25 but as a person who was involved in the process of planning.

After reading sub-tweeting for a while and being angry, one Iddsalim encouraged me to do a right of response - Not to be a pussy blogger - as he put it. So why am I ranting? Read this article:

Why Pivot25 is a Briefcase Conference of Con Men Using Developers’ Name

Honestly, the author of this article is really misinformed. Am not seeking to justify his misinformation but clear the air and put things straight. I was partially involved in the process. What do I mean? The site Pivot25 was done under my keen watch as a PM for the web-platform.For those who have worked with one Jay Bhalla and Erik Hersman, know this people are sharp, fast and are keen to detail. Am not ass-kissing as most of you will say, but talking from experience. This two people having been the driving force behind this event and have sacrificed enough time, money and energy to put together this event. Building the online portfolio for the event was not easy, with the site having constant updating et al. Trust me for the people who attend the event, will have a blast and a time of their lives as this is the first event of its kind and its targeting the mobile developers.

Now onto the thorny issue. The author took the liberty to talk about details he has no idea about. That is, finances of the event and many other  improperly stated facts .To begin with, I have a couple of questions I would like to ask:

a) Who said all the sponsors presented here, provided money? Does he have any hard facts to prove this?

b) The figures he gave of 20m, how did he arrive at that cost? Any person who has done events knows there are costs. These are prizes (This event was giving away a top prize of $25,000 and a fully paid trip to DEMO at a cost of $25,000 and then each winner per the 5 categories (And not 6 as said) takes home $5,000).Then the events costs in terms of PR and printing and publicity? The venue itself, Ole Sereni, had a quote that was higher than the quoted figure in the ticket funds claimed in the story. I wonder where these figures were coming from.

c) The 114 sponsors, I seem to have missed the bus or counting for me is a problem. Just going by the logos provided my count comes to 16.I know this cause I PM the process, again a fact that was stated incorrectly.

d) Jay is there to provide the logistics and ensure the event goes on smoothly. The event is an mLab Initiative backed by Nokia, InfoDev, World bank and World Wide Web Foundation. I wonder whether he knows that.

e) Again, I find the author very racist. Does he have a good platform to verify what Jay has done in the ICT space? We judge people not by the "tough" talk but what you have done. And really, does the skin color have to make you African or for that matter Kenyan? 

There are so many incorrect things stated in the post. I wonder whether the author contacted Jay to give more info before he started name calling. I believe in freedom of speech and I believe, we all have a right to express ourselves, but when talking about particular things that you have no clue about, then do a good research (you can even use insiders) and then blog about it. When you blog incorrect, racist and absurd information and expect to get credit for "whistle-blowing" then you give the people who blog hard facts a bad image. I have seen Jay put the event one after another, from getting the sponsors, to event logistical management, we need to give credit where it’s due.

Another thing am happy about is we are having this awards for local developers, the first event of its own kind, where we appreciate our own for doing a great job. When you get people who trash this initiatives, I wonder what initiative we will do that we will be proud of. Let us learn to see the positive side of things, having problems with everything and everyone, talking trash with no hard facts, makes you not only look pathetic but make you look like gutter-press.

And lastly, Jay hasn't paid me half the loot he is claimed to have pocketed nor am not kissing ass to write this, but the desire to tell the truth.

PATENTS

Disclaimer: The views expressed are not professional views, but views from a layman. Any corrections from experts are more than welcome.

Shark Tank - One of the few series, which I have come to enjoy. The basis: Pitch your great-idea to the team of multi-billion Venture Capitalists, who in turn put in money towards the business, depending on your idea, pitching skills and the vision that the VC and the "pitcher" have. One of the key things that kept on coming on the episodes is patents. And the great ideas pitched most, if not all, had patents.

Am pretty sure this has to be the thorniest of issues that we as Kenyan innovators suffer from. Why do I say so? A couple of reasons:

a) People have so many good ideas, but then we can't share with the "big boys" in the market, as they will both be snatched and implemented before you even blink your eyes. Why? Financial muscle and proper management structures, which many up-coming entrepreneurs lack.

b) We lack knowledge on how to deal with patents. We are a developing country with a blue-print to vision 2030, which is being implemented in bits and pieces. Doing a quick search on Google, I realize there is a government entity under the ministry of Industrialization, called KIPI (Kenya Industrial Property Institute) .

Its good we have an arm of the government, that deals with patents. A quick flip into their site, which is well done, I go through the patents section. This is where all the jargon begins. They have some basic guidelines ET all of how to get a patent. Problem being when I download the document that shows the patent fees, first, I looked through the figures and understood nothing. Now that doesn't mean that I don't understand how to read numbers or anything, but the way they were presented and structured, it would be hard to for a kawaida mwananchi to understand them. So I quickly went to Hahn and Hahn Inc, Intellectual Property(IP) Practitioners, based in SA, they outline the costs to be around $2100 - $2300. Now that’s one hell of a figure.

Picture this, based on a story the Standard, run on page three of the dailies on Saturday (May,14^th 2011),A young guy with a great invention of a gadget that can cook after getting instructions from a mobile phone (The story run under the title - Student Whose Meal is but a Phone Call away).This is a great thing and good invention to some of us who are busy in the hustle of paper-chasing or what they call the rat race. I doubt this guy knows there is something called patenting of such a great invention, which if produced well under a good watch of Fab Labs at the University of Nairobi, the guy could sell millions of shillings or probably sell the invention to a manufacturer, where in return he could get royalties which could be a good revenue stream for the inventor.

That’s but one of the many inventions that just goes under the bus and after we read it, we enjoy and then life moves on. We have lost Kiondo and Kikoy to other people who are not Kenyans (Am not saying this in prejudice) but it’s because we have been busy sleeping on the job or too ignorant or simple we have procedures that need to be streamlined at the government body, KIPI. Kenya should have registered an industrial design to the kiondo and kikoy and also trademarked the name "kiondo" and “Kikoy” that way we would still be having them around.

Ideally after a rant you could provide possible solutions:

a) Streamlining the process. It takes up-to 60 days to a patent search and filing. How can we reduce this time period? Use of Technology to reduce inefficiencies and hence reduce the turn-around time

b) The Costs - At a tentative cost of $2100 - $2300(Hopefully not inflated), we need to get this to a lower cost. This will encourage more inventions and more patents. Think of it as sales by volume.

c) Collaborate with other government arms. If we could have the vision 2030 team come up with a small office, where we are able to help to encourage the young investors to patent their inventions, then that could be the way to go forward. And this will be to understand all inventions across the board and in all sectors.

d) KIPI - they need to do civil education on IP. This in-turn opens up eyes of inventors to patent their products. Think of it as spreading of word out there and hence revenue streams are high. I think why we lost Kiondo and Kikoy was lack of information.

That’s my 2 cents

PROMOTING "ZOMBIENESS" IN OUR YOUTH

Today, as I went about my normal business - as a Project Manager and a local Kenyan Techie with varied interests,I come across a tweet.On a normal day,I will tweet about 20 + tweets ranging from Tech stuff,to personal stuff,to various things (As varied as my interests.) While at it I come across such a tweet:

" OrangeKenya: Enjoy more facebook on your phone with 50MB for Kshs. 50 a week. Send a blank SMS to "1234" to subscribe then dial... http://fb.me/tT4Uwdov"

Really,Kenya is busy lacking content despite the three fibre pipes in the country and a probable fourth one looming and all our famous Telkom Kenya/Orange can tout is our Youngsters to facebook more?You gotta be kidding me.If anything was to go by,facebook is destroying creative minds,and instead creating zombies and youngsters who can't think beyond facebook. I recall reading some statistics some time back to the effect that Kenya is one of the heaviest facebook users in Africa and our famous ISP is seeking to solidify that?Really? Again,this is thin line between what facebook can do and what are its effects on our youngsters.Am thinking more in line that when we promote use of facebook,what can we do with it?What else can we build from it to make something sensible?The kawaida banter of I saw you drunk e.t.c is what is being discussed heavily.We seem to cultivate a nature where "intellectualism" lacks and encouraging things that don't add any value to the GDP of our economy e.g. Socialization. Am not saying it bad to socialize and facebook,twitter and all the social networks provide an avenue to that, but bottom line how are the adding up to the Kenya's workforce?Is there a way we can promote that kshs. 50 to direct our energies to something else more profitable to the up-coming workforce,Say Research?Like if you ask me there is huge gap in mHealth.Any service provider willing to help on this?I doubt all we get is them promoting socialization networking sites.Wow...... Maybe we need to focus.