ICT forum to hone competitive edge

In Dale Carnegie’s book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, there is a story about a farmer, his son, his young daughter and a calf.

In the story, the farmer learns of an approaching storm. He and his son were trying very hard to get the calf into a shelter but the calf, oblivious of the storm, wanted to stay out in the pasture.

The farmer pushed, the son pulled but the playful calf would not cooperate.

The farmer’s daughter came out and told them that they were doing it all wrong. She asked her father to allow her to take the calf to the shelter.

Surprised as he was by his daughter’s spirit, the farmer allowed her to give it a go as he took a break from pushing the obstinate calf.

FOLLOW HER

The young girl simply stuck her thumb in the calf’s mouth and it gladly followed her to the shelter that her father was all along trying to take it into.

She managed to get the result that her father and brother had been trying to achieve by making the calf want to follow her.

It was this kind of thinking that informed the inception of the Connected Summit in 2009 with the theme of “Great Minds Come Together”.

From the beginning it was meant to be a forum through which the public and the private sector meet to discuss topical issues.

CONNECTED SUMMIT

It is a forum to help to put in sync the thoughts and plans of the government and private sector players. The speakers and the panel discussions help in shaping up the following issues:

1. Where the ICT industry is

2. Where we want to go

3. Where we are on that journey

One key aspect of the ‘Connected Summit’ is networking. It is a good opportunity for the government and private sector officials to interact in a relaxed atmosphere.

This is because the thought leadership discussions are invaluable to both the public and private sector participants.

INNOVATIVE IDEAS

Those that find it hard to get appointments with the key industry players, have an excellent opportunity to do so over the three days of the conference.

What’s more, new and innovative ideas receive better credence. At the Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology, we are always on the lookout for them.

The Ministry of ICT is a support ministry to the other government ministries and a facilitator of the provision of services to all the citizens of Kenya.

For us to fulfil our mandate, we need to get feedback from the industry players and also get to know the opportunities that exist.

The ‘Connected Summit’ is also an important forum for our ministry to share its undertakings and this, in turn, informs the areas of possible cooperation with the industry players.

HUDUMA CENTRES

Some of the ideas that have been discussed at previous ‘Connected Summits’ have taken root within government.

The idea of Huduma Centres was born out discussions around innovating for the citizens in one of the past ‘Connected Summits’. Huduma Centres are now a very important avenue of serving Kenyans.
Other great ideas born from these meetings are government-shared services and the Constituency Innovation Hubs that are currently being rolled out across the country.

This forum is also an important soundboard for government programmes. The devices currently being used in the Digital Literacy Project were first unveiled at the ‘Connected Summit’.

The invaluable feedback that we received helped to shape the rollout of the devices.

PROVIDE SUPPORT

It is also the aim of the government to help develop local ICT businesses that are comparable to the best elsewhere in the world. To this end, Safaricom’s decision to use Kenyan companies to provide support services is very welcome.

We would like to see other large players in the industry following suit. The growth of the ICT sector has to go side by side with that of the sector and the country as a whole.

The ‘Connected Summit’ is providing leadership in the development of the ICT agenda in Kenya. In the past, leadership was all about strength.

Muscles and sheer physical strength were the hallmarks of great leaders. Today, however, leadership is about getting along with the people.

At this year’s ‘Connected Summit’, we continue the cooperation between the government and the private sector to ensure that Kenya becomes globally competitive by improving the provision of public services to its citizens.

We are looking at shaping the future of our beloved country by increasing this crucial cooperation between the public and the private sectors.

Mr Mucheru is the Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of ICT