PERMANENT SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF INFORMATION & COMMUNICATIONS
The strategic focus of Kenya’s ICT Strategy for Economic Growth is to simultaneously target the development of the ICT sector and to use ICTs for employment creation, poverty reduction, as well as a broad-based enabler for economic recovery and the achievement of national developmental goals. Trends in a number of transition economies such as India, Costa Rica and Mauritius indicate that one of the major forces moving the ICT industry is the power of the services sector, and more particularly the spread of international business process outsourcing. The Kenyan services sector remains under-exploited. The import of this is that there are numerous opportunities for the development of a services sector business hub that produces and serves the local market and exports to the region and beyond. In this connection, the Kenyan services sector can be expanded through the Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) approach given the number of advantages the country has for providing such services. It is difficult to ignore Kenya’s uninterrupted political stability since independence, its strategic location with easy access to regional and world markets, and a substantial and varied private sector

In addition, the country has a highly educated, English-speaking workforce with the potential for turning Kenya into a world-class player as a service provider. Besides, the country has a relatively good telecommunications infrastructure which is being progressively improved, low labor costs, and a very convenient time zone to Western and Eastern countries. When these factors are combined with the country’s extensive natural assets for tourism, they open major opportunities that can be exploited through the deployment of ICTs.

We recognize that for ICTs to spur economic recovery Kenya needs to have depth of relevant skills, a good work ethos, managerial capabilities, entrepreneurial drive, intellectual property protection and establishment of linkages between companies in the first world and those in Kenya. Further, the modernization of our ICT infrastructure is essential in achieving higher rates of investment and competitiveness in our economy. The Government is currently working on putting in place an enabling telecommunications infrastructural and regulatory framework. We are conscious of the great potential for job creation for our youth in setting up ICT-enabled business services such as customer, back-office and professional services to offshore, near-shore and in-shore companies that are keen on concentrating on their core competencies and cutting operational costs.

In order to take advantage of this emerging trend, we shall put some initiatives in place. These include among other things: adjusting our education and training programs to enable our youth cash in on new employment opportunities; taking advantage of existing and new marketing networks and promoting local and international partnerships; and recruiting highly qualified staff, motivating and retaining them as part of the process of building a critical mass for emerging business opportunities. In addition, collaborating with our universities and the private sector, we shall establish ICT business incubators to support existing and start-up businesses; set operating standards in accordance with international principles to ensure quality assurance; and provide for decisive response based on market intelligence and research. In order to ensure a more broad-based diffusion of ICTs and benefits from synergy, the Government will link the ICT Strategy for Economic Growth with other national development policies.

The ICT Strategy for Economic Growth will be implemented through rolling plans initiated by inter-sectoral Task Groups (drawn from public, private and civil society sectors) working under the oversight of an ICTs National Steering Committee. With the right sets of action plans it will be possible for Kenya to embark on an alternative socio-economic development path that is guided by the development, deployment and exploitation of ICTs within the different sectors of the economy without first going through an extensive and tedious industrialization process.

Bitange Ndemo, PhD, CBS.
Permanent Secretary