of the first of five incubation centres
around the world that aim to promote
a knowledge-based economy.
The new hub named m:Lab was
launched on Thursday with the aim of
creating a new space for Kenyan
developers to collaborate on
developing applications for mobile
phones.
Kenya was selected due to the
country’s rising profile as a software
development hub.
The development means that Kenyan
SMEs in the sector will now be have
access to a 13 million Euro kitty over
the next two years to fund their
growth.
The joint partnership between
infoDev, a donor-funded ICT for
development agency hosted by the
World Bank, the Finnish Foreign
Ministry and Nokia, will provide the
funding for the initiative.
“We are helping businesses improve
value in the sectors that have the
most potential to contribute jobs and
exports – for Kenya, this means ICT,
agri-business and tourism,” said
Johannes Zutt, country manager for
the World Bank.
The programme brings together three
tracks – mobile application
development, business incubation
and technology entrepreneurship –
together with a supporting track of
analytical work in the field of ICTs and
Innovation Systems in Agriculture.
Information PS Bitange Ndemo said
the country was hoping to push the
contribution of the ICT sector past
agriculture to being the country’s most
significant GDP producer.
“We aim to raise the contribution of
ICTs to the economy from the current
Sh5 billion to over Sh25 billion in the
next five years, and to do this, we
must put in place sustainable
solutions to enable the growth of
SMEs in the sector,” said Mr Ndemo.
Analysts say the technology sector has
increasingly been driven by an
emerging middle-class population
with potential to buy smart phones as
well as rising industry investments by
players.
Demand for mobile apps presents a
huge potential for developers, brands
and end-users but players will need
to invest time and resources if they are
to fully gain from the fast-growing
mobile marketing global industry,
expected to be worth Sh1 trillion (US
$17.5 billion) by 2012.
“Mobile application marketing is a
rapidly growing engagement and
advertising channel for local and
international brands today. Increase
in use of apps by young population
and emerging middle-class is spurning
an unprecedented growth which may
help companies focus on more eye-
balls of their target markets in a totally
new dimension,” said Mr Oyolla.
Locally, the growth of mobile internet
subscription coupled with a significant
adoption of smart phones are key
factors driving the mobile application
segment in Kenya. In its January 2011
report, Communications Commission
of Kenya (CCK) noted between July
and September 2010 that 98 per cent
of the Internet market share being
through mobile devices.
“In the end, we expect to have win-
win situation. Developers will have full
local support to develop and sell in a
global marketplace to millions of
consumers while brands will be able
to engage their customers via
immersive mobile apps for continuous
relevance and loyalty,” said Mr Oyolla.
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