Skunkworks speaking, but are CEOs and the government paying attention?

There are few meetings where there are more than 300 people in the morning and by evening the number has risen to 400. Forget that the lunch vouchers were not enough for all techies or that some of them had to stand because the seats were taken.

The level of interest and the innovations were inspiring. It is hard to imagine why Kenya lags behind in implementation of tech projects. From education, agriculture to finance, the techies are trying their best to offer solutions.

The meeting demonstrated the hunger to get recognition, to learn what others are doing and to acknowledge exceptional work by fellow techies. It underlined the need for reinstatement of the monthly meeting where all these ideas can be shared.

But a forum for techies to talk to each other is not enough; the CEOs need to listen, and the government needs to listen. The conversation needs to go beyond the techies for the projects to get the recognition they need.

Bitange Ndemo, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communication, emphasized the need for techies to be involved in policy making processes. The importance may lie not so much in getting technical issues in, but educating the technocrats on the trends and on why they should be informed about technological advancement when making policy decisions.

The involvement of company CEOs can not be over emphasized. For instance, if companies knew about the capabilities of local techies, they may not have to spend huge amounts of money on imported software that may not suit their needs.

For instance, if the CEOs know that they can improve efficiency at a fraction of the costs, they may not buy the expensive software. However, some of the CEOs may buy expensive software just for prestige.

There has also been a lot of urban legend about Kenyan techies and software development, that they do not give support, that they are not experienced and that they do a shoddy job.

One thing -- those international companies seek partnerships with local techies in supporting the expensive software.

Why not just develop the local industry? Give the techies a chance.