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Google Setting Up a Presence In Kenya
Reader wana forwards the news that Google is establishing a base in Sub-Saharan Africa. What advanced infrastructure exists on the African continent is mostly in South Africa, and a blogger from there speculates on what Google might have been thinking in choosing Kenya over SA.
Food or water? I'm racing to get my ads up.
I believe the lyric is "forget norway"
http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/kenya/
liqbase
You beat me to it. That video was the first thing that I thought of when I saw the headline =]
Everything I need to know I learned by killing smart people and eating their brains.
Because it's better than Norway!
where can you see Google?
only in kenya
come to kenya we've got Google!
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
I know Google is going to build the space elevator to go to the orbit. Kenya is better than SA for that purpose.
..Nigeria, but the Nigerian Prez rejected Google's offer via email which said "Eric Schimdt would like to invest millions of dollars in Nigeria, but first, send $500 to our Western Union"
Kenya is in the middle of the continent -- does that make any difference?
Google is simply moving into a country that is on the technology curve, but behind enough that they can have MAJOR influence over new policy. Imagine having your own government to run. Who wouldn't do it?
... Seriously though, what other search / advertising players have taken the 2nd and 3rd world economies seriously at all? If this "test" goes well for them, they could have a major head start at monetizing the internet in the rest of the world (Where most of the population is). Remember for a lot of people, AOL *was* the internet. Now imagine in 10 years that 4/5ths of the worlds population thinks that Google is the internet. Everything else will cease to be relevant.
One of the biggest exports of Kenya is (decent) coffee. Google is staffed by geeks. Do I really need to connect the dots here?
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Dumbass attempt at social engineering with that fake informative tag. It's useless on Slashdot, nothing social works on nerds.
Kenya is currently in negotiation with UAE to build (FINALLY) the first Fibre optic line ($110 million)(which will connect Kenya to Oman and the rest of the world ushering in a new era of cheap high speed internet...as opposed to relying on expensive vsat technology. Only then will data centres, voip ect... become universal. Perhaps Google is anticipating the next stage of the ICT revolution in E.Africa that will happen when the government finally (hopefully) builds the line in a year or so (negotiations are still being held up for the time being). More info here http://allafrica.com/stories/200706251543.html [p] I'm in Dar es Salaam ATM using the so called 'free' wireless' in my hotel room and its dreadfully slow (atleast it works). The fibre optic line will be heaven!
When I think of Africa, I think of VERY large areas that, to put it mildly, are miles away from an electrical grid. How does Google plan on powering this? Unless this thing is in Nairobi (which I'm guessing it would have to be,) would they have to use solar power?
On a related topic, maybe Google will actually pay attention to Google Maps for Kenya, and especially Nairobi?
and?
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Possibly but I'd say you are less likley to be murdered in Kenya than South Africa. (...)
I went to a hotel there and we were advised not to walk on the street at any time, night or day.
Well, I've been to Nairobi, and it's quite similar - all homes in Karen and Langata (the rich suburbs of Nairobi) are small fortresses, with alarms, barbed wire, fences and dogs. You see askaris (armed policemen) everywhere in downtown Nairobi, and, when arriving at a hotel, they inspect the underside of your car for bombs. And from what I read, Nairobi and Jo'burg take turns being the crime capital of Africa. Especially lately, because of the war in neighboring Somalia, armed robbery and other attacks have grown a lot.
But except for the crime problem (which is worst in Nairobi), and for the widespread corruption (which you'll find almost everywhere in Africa) Kenya is a great place to visit, and one of the more advanced countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The education levels are fairly high, you see lots of schools everywhere, even in the impoverished countryside areas. So Google's decision to go to Kenya isn't totally unreasonable.
it wasn't until about 10-12 years ago coffee became and indicator of nerd/geek.
until I was 35, almost nobody I knew or worked with drank coffee. I wonder if it is a fallout from the dot com era of everyone working late nighters for start ups.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
of how long you'll live. Why? The skew caused by child mortality. According to UNICEF child mortality statistics, a child born in Kenya is over 3 times more likely to die before five years old than one born in China, over 4 times more likely to die than one in Mexico. Plus, AIDS infection rates are much higher in Kenya, resulting in more deaths of people in their 20s and 30s.
Are food and water a problem? Sometimes, sure. But, the bigger problems are child mortality and AIDS. That's what's making the life expectancy a paltry 55.
Support a few technologists in Washington.
Will this Kenyan network be on the same corporate network as the rest of the Google offices? If I were a corporate spy and wanted to infiltrate Google this would probably be my point of choice. It's far away from the main headquarters, the society isn't as developed or rich, so if you bribe employees with $10-20k, they would probably let you do whatever you wanted and give you whatever access you wanted.
It's almost a self-fulfilling prophecy though, because if you don't treat the Kenyan employees like full-fledged employees with full privileges, it will probably cause resentment and make them even more likely to take bribes, etc.
I wonder if this is a consideration for them.
1 kenya is probably one of the only "green field" areas left NOT on the south pole
2 Google could buy the IT/Infrastructure
3 Built in security (lions and other savan predators)
4 OLPC start node
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Where can you see google, only in Kenya. Come to kenya we got google. Forget Norway. Kenya...
http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/kenya/
I know what they are doing!
buy it completely. Google cant afford South Africa...it can probably afford Kenya.
The GDP of south africa is 201 billion, The GDP of Kenya is 17 billion, the Net worth of Google 150 billion.
The fact that Google is setting up in country other than ZA is a very big vote of confidence for the continent. I am not in a position to understand the business aspects of the deal with respect to communications infrastructure or regulatory frameworks but I think that if you want to win the hearts and minds of Africans you have to look into the future and see beyond just South Africa which has been the "safe" choice for western-based international businesses.
There is currently one fiber cable in Africa. It's called SAT3. It goes down the west coast to South Africa and then over to India.
It's run by Telkom in South Africa. Telkom has close ties with the government to kill all IT development and competition in the country. As a result, SAT3 is only 5% utilities and costs more than satelite broadband. South Africa is where broad band goes to die.
Kenya is opening up their markets and allowing competition. This year and next, they are going to be building 3 or 4 cables through Kenya. Right now the plan is for three down the coast and one through Sudan.
Tanzania has a fiber network. Zambia is building a fiber network. Botswana has a fiber network. Uganda and Burundi are building networks. It's an exciting time for Africa.
Every year African businesses spend $4 billion on Satelite. That money leaves the economy forever instead of paying for univesities and hospitals.
It's about time. Many big foreign corporations Africa headquarters are based in Nairobi. GE recently moved it's Africa office to Kenya from SA as an example. Nairobi is also the host city of several United Nations agencies like UNEP and HABITAT as well as other international organizations. Kenya is also strategically located on the map of Africa unlike SA. Most of the current innovations are truly African driven unlike SA where most of the economy is still dominated by whites. Also SA Blacks have alot of catching up to do education wise. Kenya's Telecomunications sector is exploding. Kenya Airways has been voted consistently the best airline in Africa. Nairobi also has the most airline connections to other cities from Africa than any airline in Africa. It's therefore the ideal hub. Even Richard Branson was in Nairobi last month to launch Virgin airlines from Nairobi to London. Hes also eyeing investments in other areas like telecomunications. Kenya has a huge educated pool of workers. Kenya even sends the most number of students to study in America than any African country. And also Kenya has been a haven of peace in Africa no civil wars and the kind. Kenyans are always in a hurry, friendly and are agressive as this SA website says: http://www.africaalmanac.com/top20townscitys.html Lastly Kenyans love nature Kenya is beautiful and famous for its Safaris and world beating Athletes Even the word "Safari" is Kenyan Swahili for travel. Lastly theres enuff coffee for google geeks so expect some great code. There's no reason why not to choose Kenya.
that's not true... The SAT-3 Cable does not go 'all the way around Africa' It's on the west coast of Africa, thus Kenya does not connect to it There ought to at least 1 Fiber Optic cable within 1-2 years connected though. There's a race to see who'll deploy this cable: TEAMS EASSY is being deployed by Alcatel-Lucent - http://allafrica.com/stories/200706050685.html FLAG - being pushed by KDN which is a party to the other two cables :)
In Kenya, the incumbent telco - Telkom Kenya (http://www.telkom.co.ke) and KDN (http://www.kdn.co.ke) are racing to put up Fiber all over the place, and connect to Uganda.
Soon enough communication infrastructure won't be a bottleneck to development
Corruption is not just rife, its a way of life. Police are the worst. However, one can avoid most corruption by learning how to work the system. Particularly it is possible to get things done by getting to know the right people.
Nairobi has a growth rate of 5% a year, perhaps more. It will be a mega city in 20 years. The fact is that you can either look at IT competence, lack of safety, or rampant corruption as a negative, or you can look at it as an emerging market that has tremendous possibilities. The risk is great, but the potential payoff is equally so.
And yes the fast food does suck, why would any sane person eat fast food in kenya? They have the freshes vegetables (many are exported to europe), some of the best coffee, and excellent locally raised beef/chicken.
Google has to be very risk averse so I can't see them settling in SA. There is an issue around recruitment in that there are quotas that have to be filled by black candidates (not too sure of the details) and there just aren't the candidates to fill the jobs. Many companies work around this by being based in the Maldives or somewhere and hiring in 'contractors' but this isn't a solution for long term operations. In addition, while the general political situation is nowhere near as bad as Zimbabwe, SA's cities are viewed as being increasingly lawless and unstable, something which is also not in Google's (or any big company's) interest. A technologically savvy, cheap, flexible employment base must be a number of ticks on Google's shopping list as well as good infrastructure or potential for good infrastructure, stability and those emolients that bring business in. This could make Nairobi a key location on the communications map.