What comes to your mind when you hear the term “Technology”?
It doesn’t have to be so complex, beyond your comprehension.
Technology is simply the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, whether in a given industry or our daily lives. So when we use our scientific knowledge to accomplish a specific purpose, we’re using technology.
With that said, in the past 11 years, technology has greatly revolutionized how Kenyans interact, transact, and even think. It has gradually made its way into almost every field. And led to the creation of amazing tools as well as resources that put vital information at our fingertips.
“If there is anything that has had an enormous impact on the lives of Kenyans, then it is the smartphone. It has revolutionized everything.
“Education, health, banking, media, agriculture, transport, communication, and e-commerce all depend on the ubiquities of the smartphone to impact lives,” says Lilian Wanzare, a computer science lecturer at Maseno University.
In 2010, only a few Kenyans owned Android-powered smartphones, despite their launch two years earlier. This warranted, majority of the middle-class citizens, bragging to own ‘high-end’ 3G mobile phones that ran on the Symbian Operating System.
Most Kenyans used 2G phones which hardly accessed the Internet and struggled to connect to the 2G telco networks existing those days. However, currently, all telcos in Kenya are linked to the 4G network.
“Approximately 85 percent of the population is now covered by a 3G or higher signal. Both government and private sector have rolled out fiber backbone networks connecting submarine landing stations, population centres, and neighboring countries,” states the latest World Bank report on Kenya’s digital economy.
“Kenya has grown to own a robust and competitive international connectivity infrastructure.”
The country is currently connected to the international internet infrastructure by four submarine cables, with total bandwidth capacity growing by almost 200℅ between 2015 and 2018 alone.
Internet Coverage
In 2010, mobile cellular subscriptions were estimated at 22 million. Which had steadily grown to more than 46.6 million as of September 2018, according to the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA).
Internet coverage was 9.7℅ with 3.2 million users, which had grown to 89.7% with 46.8 million Kenyans enjoying the power of the Internet as of June 2019, according to the regulator.
Kenya is only second to Madagascar’s (24.9 Mbps) in terms of Internet speed at 10.1 Mbps, which is higher than Rwanda, Uganda, Ghana, and Namibia combined. This has led to the birth of new job titles.
“We’ve witnessed so many changes in the past years. The cost of the Internet has been coming down each year, and this has inspired the rise of online jobs, helping people cut transport costs to workplaces from their daily budgets,” Said Bitange Ndemo, a lecturer at the University of Nairobi’s Business School.
The years have seen the rise of fintech, agritech, e-commerce, transport solutions while a severe upheaval has rendered most business models irrelevant as technology and innovation have become the epicenter of every successful business.
Mobile money has revolutionized payments. In 2011, there were 16 million users of mobile money in Kenya. Recording more than two million transactions daily, according to USAID’s Kenya Money Market Assessment report of 2011.
In 2019, mobile money accounts shot to 54.8 million, with the number of transactions shooting to 151.8 million, anchored on the rise of agents from 222,479 in 2019 to 44,500 in 2011, according to the report. The value of mobile money payments per annum increased from billions to trillions.
This has transformed how banking future banking will look like, with local lenders activating mobile platforms in partnership with telcos.
“Even without an ATM (automated teller machine) card, you can now withdraw cash from an ATM. Banks have adapted to the disruption. You can send and receive money overseas from your phone. There is more access to bank and mobile loans now than 11 years ago, ” Said Dr. Sanzare.
Mobile Phone Apps
The upsurge of mobile loan apps during the years spurred the growth of access to credit to even low-income earners. Which has improved the dynamics of the micro-economy. But has left many Kenyans bound by the inability to pay back in an economic slowdown.
In 2013, the e-commerce sector emerged and has resulted in the access of goods from the comfort of people’s homes, cutting down on transport costs, boosting trust, and saving time for other tasks.
“E-commerce has changed the brains of start-up owners. They must now incorporate online payments and goods delivery in their business plans. Most business people now have abandoned paying for stalls. They sell their items on Facebook and use their houses to stock goods,” Observed Dr. Wanzare.
With the advent of e-commerce that only targets customers in major towns, another mode of online purchase is moving into villages. Through, providing buyers with an option to buy goods online and getting them delivered to their homesteads.
Copia Kenya chief executive Tim Steel said he felt that e-commerce platforms had ignored many people in remote areas serving Nairobi, Mombasa, and Kisumu, so he decided to bridge the gap.
“Because mobile money has well penetrated to Kenya’s rural homes, I found it relevant to give people in those areas an opportunity to benefit from e-commerce in the most affordable means possible,” he said.
The launch of taxi-hailing and carpooling services in Nairobi has transformed the transport sector. These services have now been extended to Mombasa and Kisumu and other major towns, downplaying the idea of owning a car in the future.
Carpooling though dates back decades ago when passengers used to stand on the road and flag down vehicles to hitch a ride.
“Social integration enabled by technology, however, assisted to overcome these challenges, and the uptake of online carpooling increased. Social evolution has seen people move from flagging vehicles randomly on the road for lifts to posting on their Facebook timelines and WhatsApp groups requesting trips.
And now carpooling apps have added the technology layer of a marketplace to organize the requests and offers,” said carpooling start-up Twende chief executive Rama Madiba.
Content Use
Not only have the mobile apps enhanced security, but have also streamlined payments.
“Without organized public transportation, online carpooling, which did not exist 10 years ago, is a good bet in offering alternative transport and enhancing social integration and cohesion,” he said, adding that electric cars will soon be the norm on Kenyan roads.
The agricultural sector has also profited from technology over the years. Kenyan farmers now access markets online, eradicating brokers who for a long time, have been benefiting from their toiling.
“Online apps such as DigiFarm, m-Farm, i-Cow, Sokopepe, and Twiga have given farmers the freedom to choose who to sell to and at what price. This has been a robust solution towards ending food insecurity,” said Dr. Ndemo.
Regarding the health sector, mobile apps such as MyDawa, M-Tiba, MeDAFRICA, Sema Doc, Sinway, Baby Centre, Sophiebot, Peek Acuity and IMCI have been developed to offer Medicare solutions to millions of Kenyans who cannot afford doctor consultation fees.
They can access information ranging from diagnosis, treatment to drug prescription for various diseases.
Technology has also transformed how Kenyans consume media content.
“You no longer have to purchase a TV, radio, or newspaper. You only need Internet access and read or watch the news from your phone on media sites or social media. For breaking news, online media has been the fastest to inform masses and that is why the field has become a sustainable venture,” Said, Dr. Wanzare.
Social media has seen the rise of online bloggers, who now sound more relevant to millennials than TV anchors, radio newscasters, and newspaper writers. Using new media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube, media vloggers stream live content, which when monetized makes good money.
According to the CA, over 1.3 million Kenyan households stayed in television blackout after June 17, 2015, as the International analog switch-off deadline passed at midnight. This gave rise to the upsurge of free-to-air TV channels that competed with the mainstream media.
Over the years, there has been a rise in the number of women contributing to the growth and adoption of emerging technologies. As a result, boosting exclusivity.
“In 2010, my computer science class had only three ladies but now this number has grown by 30 percent. They are still fewer, but it is a great improvement as we keep pushing them to be front-end developers,” said, Dr. Wanzare.
The development of technology hubs, parks, and accelerators in the past years cannot be underestimated. Because they contribute to the growth of the digital economy.
Start-Ups Benefits
The best encouraging growth factors for tech hubs are high-speed Internet and automation.
“Start-ups have capitalized on this reality because you no longer need to have a big space to do an efficient job. Instead of renting a big office to do marketing, sales, and finance, companies opt to go the tech hub way where they can pay less and get all the resources they might need under the same roof,” said Savio Wambugu, founder of Mount Kenya Hub.
“Many youths have resorted to offering goods and services through the Internet, especially online writing. The tech hubs enable these young people to thrive by not only using the resources in the hubs but also as their physical address for their freelancing businesses,” he added.
According to the World Bank, there were over 35 tech hubs and accelerators across the country as of 2019.
Computer programming languages have also developed. From the extensive use of C++ in 2010 to the popularity of modern languages such as Python, the development of a good website is easier than ever before.
It is during this period that the country began to transform from the Third Industrial Revolution to Industry 4.0, where emerging technologies such as blockchain, data science, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and the Internet of things (IoT) started to attract adoption.
“The Fourth Industrial Revolution is already being felt in Kenya. For example, Twiga Foods in partnership with IBM is using blockchain and AI to enhance agriculture produce. Currently, the Meteorological Department uses AI and predictive analytics to tell the country to prepare for heavy rains. And it happens,” said Dr. Ndemo.
He added that government services have been made more accessible to the citizens.
“Through e-Citizen, Kenyans can apply for passports in a quick, seamless platform that allows secure payment and even tracks progress till issuance,” he said.
The Kenyan government has implemented digital platforms such as Integrated Financial Management Information System to enhance service delivery on e-procurement, and controversial digital identity project Huduma Namba. This might be the right path forward in the eradication of Know Your Customer (KYC) snags, especially if it runs on a public blockchain network.
The Big Data Issue
The country is still at the first stages of emerging technologies, which came into play in 2016, so few players exist in these fields.
“Regarding Big Data, we are at the descriptive and visualization stage. We are very far from digital transformation and reinvention. However, the training going on is changing mindsets on how data will be a key economic driver in the next decade,” said Mr. Timothy Oriedo, founder of data science training firm, Predictive Analytics Lab.
The field has slightly gone past the diagnostics phase, where local banks are using data analytics to determine the creditworthiness of borrowers. “We are yet to reach predictive and prescriptive phases”.he added.
However, currently, Kenya has a data law that came into force in November 2019, which provided hope that data sovereignty frameworks will be implemented and corporates will treat data privacy with respect.
While the government received a report from the Distributed Ledger Technologies and Artificial Intelligence task force recommending the use of blockchain and AI to deliver solutions for the digital economy in July 2019, implementation can only happen in the coming years.
However, the journey has not been without hurdles. Illegal data mining, expensive cloud storage, cryptocurrency fraud, cyber insecurity as well as bullying weigh down Kenya’s digital economic progress.
For example, in 2017, Kenya’s digital economy lost Sh21.1 billion to cybercrime, increasing by 39.8 percent in 2018 to Sh29.5 billion, according to pan-African-based cybersecurity and business consultancy, Syrian Government websites have also been hacked.
“Companies and government agencies need to adopt real-time cybersecurity intelligence to stay a step ahead of cyber attackers by scouting for malicious leads and analyzing them to better secure data and thwart attacks before they happen,” said Mr. Niall MacLeod, director of solutions architecture in Europe, Middle East, and Africa at global threat intelligence leader Anomali.
So those have been the impacts of technology on Kenyans over the years.
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