Mbugua Njihia

Discover more with every click
The entire map is now interactive. Clicking anywhere will focus the map on that location and show you helpful things, like related places and the best ways to get there.

From outer space down to the streets, the new Google Maps gathers all the imagery of a location into one spot, making it easy to explore your world from every angle.

Find the best way there
You can now compare multiple modes of transportation right on the map to find the best way there and the best way home.

A map that gets better with use
As you search the map, star places you like and leave reviews, the map starts to adapt and can suggest things like restaurants you might enjoy or the quickest way home. In other words, the more you use the new Google Maps, the more helpful it becomes.

Most if not all companies aspire for greatness. A yardstick often times associated with growing ones staff base, opening more branches, reaching more consumers and to crown it off an IPO that thrusts one into the big leagues. Listing in the NSE, JSE or LSE would be the dream of any company but with it comes additional baggage that is hidden, only to become apparent when some lean startup takes a swipe at ones market share moving with speed and pivoting at will, akin to an attack on a castle from all four cardinal points.

Not only in the West are startups taking on the behemoths across major industry verticals but we are starting to see the trend in Africa, where hitherto protected cash cows are being milked by the underdog thanks to lowered barriers of entry courtesy of technology. Having consulted for a number of listed companies on deployable value adding technology, it has become apparent that a certain rigor mortis hits the organizations on the innovation front as soon as they list. Continue Reading…

One of the greatest challenges when running a software inclined technology company is that many times client requests are preceded by the words “We are looking to build a simple system that…” quickly followed by a sketch or bullet points on an A4 of the perceived system, complete in its glorious simplicity. This is often a primer to the bombshell on the budgetary constraint present and a pressurized request to drop a number; how much will it cost…I want to know now!

The journey to educating a client on what is takes to deploy a system, is wrought with humor and in equal measure misunderstanding. Misunderstanding because the exchange of value begins at the moment of engagement and not at the point of deployment which is where most client minds are docked. It is imperative that any software development company have a well thought out engagement pipeline that will deliver value to them – usually monetary and their clients – by way of a deployed system or knowledge transfer.
Continue Reading…

Nairobi, has become the tech hub of Africa, a niche that could be worth more than one billion dollars to the country in the next three years despite its 40% unemployment rate. Kenya is throwing all their eggs in the tech basket as they build a multi-billion dollar infrastructure in the form of a “Techno City” that will support 200,000. (Source: Bloomberg)

Dr. Ndemo posted the note below to the Kictanet list to mixed, reactions ranging from “All the best Daktari” to “Lobby lobby lobby to the end so you can go out knowing you did all that was possible”. What’s your take on daktaris tenure?

Listers,
It is an open secret that my departure from the Ministry of Information and Communications is imminent.  As seconds, minutes and days tick by; I take this opportunity to bid you all farewell.

During the last seven years that I have worked here, I have learned a lot from you all. I could not have benefited from the learning experience without your constant support, criticism and encouragement.  If I have to do it all over again, I would not change anything to perform my duties well. In my position as Permanent Secretary, I have gained considerable
knowledge and thus I shall always cherish this, as one of the most satisfying phases in my career.

Further, I have shared a special bond with all of you both virtually and in reality.  I shall take away with me special memories of our time together. I remain committed to ideals of Kictanet and would remain active in its deliberations.  I must admit that I may have underestimated the amount of pressure there is to aspire for a job.  There are politicians
from my county trying to create a wedge between myself, Dr. Matian’gi and Hon. Nyachae.  Others from other parts of the country can be summed as extortionists and possible toll collectors at every level.  I shall however, take the interview on Thursday and if fate has it that I shall once more serve my country then I shall proudly do so.

It is now my singular honour to introduce Dr. Fred Matian’gi, our Cabinet Secretary nominee whom I have had the privilege of knowing for the past many years.  While I was in Standard 7, Dr. Matian’gi had just started standard 1 at Manga Primary School.  His sister Margaret was my classmate. I have known him as an honest person and devout Seventh Day Adventist. He has an impeccable record of integrity having served in several governance programs.

Dr. Matian’gi is a fast learner and has extensively published.  We taught at University of Nairobi together and his record as a lecturer was faultless.  We simply have a great mind to steer our sector. I want to take the earliest opportunity to wish him the best. Although Dr. Matian’gi is a good friend, it will not be practical for us to work together.  The constitution demands diversity.  We shall create fodder for politicians to drive further wedge between us.  I have chosen friendship and will look for alternative areas to serve my country.

Let me therefore wish each one of you the very best in all of our future endeavors.
Bitange Ndemo.

I was made a tad bit angry early last week, when I got wind of PCK’s closure of fifty six outlets to stand at 634 down from 690 citing business failure and increased competition. Competition in any vertical is expected, especially when the opportunity to offer better services to a discerning consumer arises. The reason why PCK’s actions of curling up and awaiting entry into the dead pool is annoying, is that a simple pivot is all that it would take to restore its glory and make them relevant once more. So, it is true that we are sending less letters and have better options of moving our parcels, but what are we doing more of?

In the past I made mention of a project dubbed “Drop a Lab”, that was essentially a precursor to Pasha Centers that carried tremendous private sector backing in ‘05, that proposed the use of Posta’s real estate to jumpstart the initiative. Posta with its VSat connected hubs was present even in every nook that mattered when thinking about widest possible reach for a service line that was to scale rapidly to become commercially viable. The buy in from PCK was not forthcoming, at least not in the intensity that was expected, and with the departure of the government champion for the project, by way of head hunt to Rwanda, the big picture quickly fizzled and private sector went back to minding their own business. Continue Reading…

Today, I would like to take a minute and pause. To celebrate the many steps that we have taken as an industry, slowly edging toward maturity and developing our own tech identity. It has been said that the Silicon Savannah is more hype and hope than hard fast action, but I  disagree. We are in our teenage phase at the Silicon Savannah, noticing new and interesting things about ourselves and our capabilities; experimenting, challenging the status quo, pushing the limits. It is in this youthful fever that innovation thrives and while pundits will continue to push it in our faces that we should not ape Silicon Valley, my take is that they are drinking from a different cup and should watch us as we mature. Continue Reading…