19 May 2012

KENYA / IT INNOVATION

There’s no shortage of ideas for new and innovative ICT ventures in Kenya, and a venue in the capital Nairobi called the ‘iHub’ provides them the space to incubate and become reality. UNDP Administrator, Helen Clark, heard from technology entrepreneurs at the center on her recent visit to Kenya. UNDP

Posted at: May 19, 2012 12:47 am

Duration: 04:40

Available in: SD, HD

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Full script

STORY: NAIROBI / IT INNOVATION
TRT: 4.40
SOURCE: UNDP
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 13 MAY 2012, NAIROBI, KENYA

SHOTLIST:

1. Wide shot, iHub open plan office filmed from balcony
2. Various shots, iHub member working on a laptop
3. Various, iHub members lounging and chatting 
4. Various shots, signs in iHub office space
5. Various shots, audience listening to a presentation at the iHub
6. Various shots, signs in iHub office space 
7. Various shots, Ushahidi Finance Director Limo Taboi giving a presentation 
8. Taboi leaving as people applaud
9. Various shots, Ushahidi and "Made in Africa" signs on wall 
10. Various shots, Taboi working on a laptop
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Limo Taboi, Finance Director of Ushahidi: 
"Ushahidi is about telling your story, whatever you're in, by mobile phone, so whether it's about elections that are happening in your place, there's been an earthquake in your area, it's you and your mobile phone communicating, and getting some assistance or getting the message out. We're a very small company, about 20 people, and election monitoring for example takes thousands of observers in a country, so what we do when we partner with an organisation like the UN or UNDP, is that we focus on the software part and then leave the 80 percent part to them."
12. Various shots, UNDP Administrator Helen Clark, UNDP Director for Africa Tegegnework Gettu and UN Resident Representative for Kenya Aeneas Chuma getting a tour of the iHub
13. Various shots, Helen Clark speaking to iHub members 
14. Various shots, iHub member and e-Limu founder Nivi Mukherjee listening to Helen Clark
15. Close up, Helen Clark speaking 
16. Various shots, Tegegnework Gettu speaking and people listening
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator:
"For lifting the productivity of business, ICT is critical, getting information out in real time to farmers, to small business, enabling people through the application of ICT to really improve on what they're doing. As well as that there's all the advantages for education, for healthcare systems, for linking marginalised groups into the society, so every way you look at ICT, it is important for Africa."
18. Various shots, iHub members working in the lounge area
19. Various shots, signs in the iHub office space
20. Various shots, e-Limu founder and CEO Nivi Mukherjee giving her presentation 
21. SOUNDUP (English) Nivi Mukherjee, E-Limu Founder and CEO: 
"The three things that we cannot ignore in our educational agenda are play, creativity and fun, ok? Those are the three things that we said they need to be embraced in our educational agenda."
22. Close up, stickers on pool table
23. Med shot, pool table in office space with iHub members in the background 
24. SOUNDBITE (English) Limo Taboi, Finance Director, Ushahidi:
"In the last two years the companies that have been born out of this space have really been blazing trails in other areas beyond the iHub."
25. Various shots, Helen Clark, Tegegnework Gettu and Aeneas Chuma being given a tour 
26. SOUNDBITE (English) Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator: 
"You can see that young people here are brimming with ideas on how to contribute to society, how to build social enterprises, how to build their own businesses, how to meet real needs in the society through ICT, so I'm really pleased we came."
27. Various shots, Helen Clark, Tegegnework Gettu and Aeneas Chuma on their tour of the iHub

STORYLINE:

Africa is buzzing with innovative ideas, and some of them might just need the right space to develop and become a reality.

That was the thinking behind the iHub, a kind of incubator of technological innovation in Kenya's capital Nairobi, that was dreamed up by the people behind Ushahidi, an election violence monitoring system that they developed out of their homes in the midst of Kenya's post-election violence in 2008.

"Ushahidi is about telling your story... by mobile phone," says the group's finance director Limo Taboi. "So whether it's about elections that are happening in your place [or] there's been an earthquake in your area, it's you and your mobile phone communicating."

Ushahidi has since gone global, partnering with the World Bank and UNDP to bring the technology to other countries.

"We're a very small company, about 20 people," Taboi explains, "and election monitoring for example takes thousands of observers in a country, so what we do when we partner with an organisation like the UN or UNDP, is that we focus on the software part and then leave the 80 percent part to them."

The iHub's founders now hope that other small start-ups could benefit from similar partnerships, after the UNDP's administrator Helen Clark came to visit, together with a high-level delegation of UNDP officials, including their Director for Africa, Tegegnework Gettu and the UN Resident Representative for Kenya, Aeneas Chuma.

Some of the iHub's biggest success stories were given a few minutes each to present their ventures, and Clark was visibly impressed.

"For lifting the productivity of business, ICT is critical," she said. "As well as that there's all the advantages for education, for healthcare systems, for linking marginalised groups into the society, so every way you look at ICT, it is important for Africa."

Brilliant minds that need space to think can use the iHub in a number of ways, from a basic membership which allows them access to information online and events, to a membership that gives them full access to the iHub office space and its facilities.

It's still much cheaper than renting your own office space, as 28-year-old Nivi Mukherjee found when she developed e-Limu, an application that gives students access to good quality learning materials, and that won this year's InMobi Prize for best App.

"The three things that we cannot ignore in our educational agenda are play, creativity and fun," Mukherjee said during her presentation, explaining that current educational strategies are often too institution-focused, rather than focusing more on students and their interests and ideas.

Since the iHub was set up in 2010, its founders have been pleased to see initiatives like Mukherjee's doing so well.

"In the last two years the companies that have been born out of this space have really been blazing trails in other areas beyond the iHub," says Taboi.

"You can see that young people here are brimming with ideas," Clark agrees, "on how to contribute to society, how to build social enterprises, how to build their own businesses, how to meet real needs in the society through ICT."