Pivot East, Developer Competition and Conference 2012

This event will be held on the 5th and 6th of June 2012 in Nairobi and entries will be accepted from companies located in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi and South Sudan.

The pitching conference will have a rich audience of investors, development partners, telecoms operators and other industry players from East Africa and across the globe. 

Pivot 25, a first of its kind mobile apps developer competition and conference helped string the success that Pivot East is building on, with over 100 entries from across East Africa in 5 categories which were Payments and commerce; Entertainment, gaming and utilities; Business and the enterprise; Government, education and agriculture; and Health.

The region takes on to the world with leading innovations like M-pesa and hence is well placed to bring out other world changing mobile innovation. The effort is clear with the launch of m:lab East Africa which is a facility for mobile entrepreneurship training, incubation and applications testing in Nairobi. Other tech hubs and incubation centers have also been established recently in East Africa as part of a growing ecosystem to develop and nurture innovation alongside entrepreneurship.

Read more http://www.yipekenya.org/Pivot.html

September 2011 Events

September 24th 2011: The Botswana Amateur Arts Festival (BAAF)
Venue: Maitisong Gaborone starting at 08:00

The Botswana Amateur Arts Festival (BAAF) is a unique festival dedicated to providing a strong platform for young performers and generate increased exposure for the arts.
The BAAF aims to be a world class performing arts festival that is noticeable in Botswana and internationally.

This is a unique festival that awards amateur artists an opportunity to write, direct, and manage there own production and present it to fellow participants and a panel of judges. The festival also awards the participants a chance to learn from established artists and scholars of the arts in Botswana including Artists and University lectures in small group workshops. Winners in the different categories are awarded at the end, these awards include best actor, best actress, best director, best script etc.

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September 26th – 30th 2011: Tunza International Children & Youth Conference on the Environment
Venue: Bandung, Indonesia
Theme: Reshaping Our future through a Green Economy and Sustainable Lifestyle

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in collaboration with the Government of Indonesia will be organizing its Tunza International Children & Youth Conference on the Environment , from 26th to 30th September 2011. Read more »»

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September 26th – October 1st 2011: 4th IMC World Forum on Music
Venue: Tallinn

The IMC World Forum on Music is a global knowledge-building platform on music and society in the 21st century. During the forum a variety of topics will be explored from diverse perspectives: cultural, political and economical. The IMC World Forum on Music is considered one of IMC’s main contributions to setting the stage for the free celebration of music in the world. For more information, visit www.imc-cim.org

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September 26th – October 7th 2011: Creative Enterprise Business Skills Training
Venue: Mombasa
Time: 8.30AM – 4.30PM, Monday to Friday
Fees: Kshs. 10, 000 per person

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September 26th to October 7th 2011: Entrepreneurship Training Workshops for Dynamic Entrepreneurs (ETWs)
Venue: Eldoret, Kenya

The ETWs equip business leaders with the tools, perspectives and frameworks needed to strengthen their enterprises while engaging multiple competencies for success. Read more »»

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September 28th – 30th 2011: ICT Women Empowerment Africa Summit
Venue: Gallagher Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa

The theme of the second annual ICT summit will be “Recognising and Empowering Women in the ICT Sector” Key Discussion Topics will include: An overview of women, gender & ICTs in a globalised economy; Initiatives & practices aimed at attracting more women into the ICT sector; keeping talented women on the road to success within the ICT industry; Empowering women in Africa to use ICT’s for personal advancement; Empowering rural women in Africa through ICT; Male control over women’s use of ICT’s; Career progression of women in the ICT industry; The role played by support systems for women in ICT; and Positioning women as key role players in the ICT market.

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September 29th – 30th 2011: Tanzania Youth Entrepreneurship Summit
Venue: Ubungo Plaza, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania

The objective of the Tanzania Youth Entrepreneurship Summit will be to create and initiate discussions about the promotion and facilitation of small and medium enterprises growth as a solution to the escalating problem of youth unemployment in the country.

Doing Business in the East African Community 2011 Report

The East African Community is deepening and widening cooperation among its 5 member states. Spurred by the need to expand markets, boost competitiveness and attract investment, East African countries have continued to take steps to make it easier for local firms to start up and operate.

The main findings of the report are:

• Doing business has become easier in East Africa since 2005.
• Sharing good practices could bring East Africa closer to global top performers.
• If each East African country were to adopt the region’s best practice in each of the Doing Business indicators, the region’s average ranking on the ease of doing business would be 18 rather than 117.
• If the best of East African regulations and procedures were implemented across the board, the business regulatory environment in East Africa, as measured by Doing Business, would be comparable to that in Japan.
• EAC members are already seeking to learn from one another’s good reform practices through the World Bank Group-sponsored Network of Reformers initiative.

Read the  Doing Business in the East African Community 2011 Report here

Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award

Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential and recognises the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement.

The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award is open to applicants from Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda.

For more information visit http://www.yipekenya.org/Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.htm

Youth entrepreneurs - Doing Small Business in Big Ways!

This publication provides an update on the Youth Interactive Portal for Enterprise’s  progress towards levelling the playing field for youth-led enterprises in East Africa. 

These diverse stories of young entrepreneurs from Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda provide compelling reading and advice on how to do business as a youth in East Africa.

It matters not whether the entrepreneurs are engaged in manufacturing, software development or stationery retailing, their primary motivations are not just financial security but to make a long lasting positive impact not only in their communities but throughout their countries as well as globally.

The common thread running through these profiles is that these young people found a gap in the market and are exploiting it.

Indeed all of them are Doing Small Business in Big Ways!

Download Get Inspired! Vol. I - Doing small business in Big Ways!

The Cost of Red Tape for East Africa Business

A study on businesses in Rwanda titled “Cutting The Cost Of Red Tape for business growth in Rwanda” based on a country-wide sample of more than 400 businesses found that regulatory compliance imposes significant costs on local businesses and on the economy as a whole. Overall, the study reported that red tape cost businesses in the formal sector at least RwF 55 billion, equating to approximately three per cent of GDP.

Tax compliance was found by 53% of the surveyed businesses to be the most problematic regulatory area in terms of the time consumed in navigating troublesome regulations. These included preparation of paperwork for tax audits.

Just this week the Kenya Revenue Authority announced that tax returns would now be online, reducing the need to visit the tax offices in person – which, for many businesses, means that someone has to stand in frustrating long queues to file returns and make VAT payments. For most micro-entrepreneurs, such visits mean closure during business hours. translating into further loss of revenue. As the Rwanda red-tape survey states, “standing in one of those queues, with our business on hold, it is hard not to think that regulations are a waste of time – simply ‘red tape’ and nothing more”.

Other hindrances to tax and business regulation compliance include poor customer service from unhelpful public officers, as well as the slow pace of processing forms. Other indirect obstacles include the high costs of public transport, making visits to these offices higher in opportunity costs.

When applying for public utilities such as water and electricity, the need to visit various departments in order to complete company requirements also act as a disincentive, when weighed against profits if the business owner remains at work in their business premises. It thus becomes more attractive to pay for illegal connections than waste time and money moving from one office to another checking the status of one’s status of their connection applications.

For businesses involved in exports, the paperwork requirements are both numerous and complicated. This again turns out to be costly in terms of time. Furthermore, the requirement that each consignment has to be verified by standards bureau’s in turn act as a disincentive to comply with existing rules.

And although Kenya’s President Kibaki ordered that the Kenya Ports Authority operates 24 hours, there still remain substantial delays at Customs for clearing and forwarding agents. These delays are felt not only in terms of time spent, but also involve direct expenses having to be paid to transport companies for the waiting time of their trucks and drivers awaiting clearance. According to the Rwanda survey, some businesses said that delays from Customs in some cases resulted in them losing clients.

There is also lack of clarity about products that fall under tax exemption status. Unfortunately tax regulations offer various interpretations within their exempt goods brackets. Licensing of goods is also mired in misunderstanding as well as long delays in obtaining the necessary approvals. A recent example regards the introduction of bans on certain plastic bags where even larger retail enterprises queried the exact plastic weight of bags that were banned.

The cost of red-tape

Compliance costs are of two types: one-off costs, such as the costs associated with initial business registration and recurring costs, which arise on a regular basis.

In the Rwanda survey, the overall total regulatory costs for the Rwandan economy amounted to at least RwF 55 billion per annum. The majority of these costs were spent on complying with tax regulations (33.8%) followed by costs of complying with export requirements including delays (33.6%).

Tax compliance was found to affect micro-entrepreneurs as much as large companies. For instance in the Rwanda red-tape survey, there was a difference of 15% in the responses of enterprises with over 100 employees and those employing less than 5.

Business registration procedures were most felt by businesses employing less than 10 employees, with temporary interruptions by having to close the businesses in order to comply with regulations being cited most. According to the 2005 Human Development Index Report titled “Aid, Trade and Security in an unequal world” on average the cost of starting a business in sub-Saharan Africa is 224% of the average national income, compared with 45% in South Asia. This factor keeps many entrepreneurs in the informal sector in order to survive.

To comply with red-tape costs, firms are often forced to pass on these costs onto their customers, which in turn have economy-wide knock on effects. For business startups this makes marketing their products and services doubly onerous. Ultimately the government loses revenue and taxpayers may face higher rates as a result of the government seeking to recoup lost revenue from registered businesses.

Higher taxation results in businesses not disclosing full information with regard to income and/or number of employees in order to avoid higher penalties. This in turn sometimes results in employee layoffs as a way to mitigate reduced earnings.

High tariffs on imports also lead to smuggling by unscrupulous entrepreneurs, who often have set up rings where they receive tip-offs of impending raids and offer bribes to evade prosecution. This leads to law-abiding entrepreneurs to exit the market as they are unable to compete on an equal basis with such enterprises.

Even VAT, the most common tax acts as a disincentive to registered enterprises. Businesses are required to pay VAT when they order supplies of inputs, but they often experience a considerable delay between paying the VAT and receiving payment from their customers for the goods or services provided. When combined with the costs of actually buying raw inputs in the first instance, this forces small business to operate with very little working capital.

Reducing the costs of red-tape frees up resources for more productive activities as well as spurring wider economic growth. Thus it is imperative for economic reforms to focus on regulatory and administrative environments that act as the foundation of business-friendly policies thereby stimulating trade and attracting more people to venture into entrepreneurship.

For starters as regards micro-entrepreneurs simplifying procedures that reduce the need for in-person interactions are a first step in the right direction. As seen from the increase in mobile phone cash transfers and banking, revenue and regulatory authorities can also harness these tools. This move should also encourage more entrepreneurs to comply, as well as reduce unnecessary delays in business.

Refugee communities in Kenya have changed the look, taste, speed and style of business.

Today thousands of bloggers are writing about the various challenges faced by the 11 million refugees who have no country to call home and the 40 million more who have been displaced because of war and natural disasters.

At Yipe, we thought as part of our contribution to the initiative, we would pay homage to the refugees that have had a positive impact on the way we do business.

Since Kenya's independence, the country has been home to refugees from the Horn, East and Central Africa.

All these communities have had an effect on the way we do business here in Kenya:

Uganda

Kenya has played host to Ugandans fleeing Obote, Amin, Obote II and other Presidents during the country's tumultuous years. Coming from a country where the academic system was developed, many refugees were quickly employed in Kenyan schools. Their impact on students who would later in life become entrepreneurs was that these teachers not only taught excellent English and Maths (both essential for running an enterprise) but they also gave budding student entrepreneurs a world view.

Once Museveni was installed, the number of refugees seeking asylum diminished and many of the ones living in Kenya returned to Uganda. Some of the Ugandan exiles even went home to leadership positions.

However evidence of this relationship persists as Kenya remains a leading trade partner to Uganda, and if one looks at the trucks plying our highways, you tend to find a bunch of matoke banana's tied to the chasis!... yes, they even made an impact on our diets.

Rwanda and Burundi

Many exiles running away from the genocide and civil war taught french in Kenyan schools, opening up francophone countries for local entrepreneurs to venture into.

Apart from french tuition, Rwandese exiles were also influential in the "mitumba" second hand clothes market.

With stability many returned to their countries, however similarities in work ethic between Kenyan entrepreneurs and these neighbours persist, leading many Kenyan entrepreneurs to set up enterprises in these countries.

Ethiopia

Fleeing first from Haile Selassie then Mengistu, many Ethiopians came to Kenya. Their impact has been on the introduction of delicacies such as their definitive dish injeera, and the number of Ethiopian restaurants in Nairobi seems to be on the increase.

Interest in Ethiopian crafts has also led to the establishment of Ethiopian art galleries.

Somalia

After Barre's fall, Somali refugees sought refuge in Kenya. Whilst the more fortunate ones found asylum in western countries, in true entrepreneurial fashion, the community managed to set up an informal but efficient money transfer system. These money courier outfits became so popular that even Kenyans in the diaspora started using them because they were cheaper than Western Union and also the money would get to the doorstep of the person receiving the money.

Congo

Refugees running away from the late Mobutu introduced a sense of style, lingala music and of course dance (ala Kofi Olomide!). This "haute" culture remains with certain radio stations and nightclubs devoted to lingala music. Their artistes have also enriched Kenyan entrepreneurs who have promoted their concerts in the country.

Even though they arrived in Kenya penniless, afraid and without hope, these communities have left their footprints indelibly marked for Kenyan entrepreneurs, opening more doors to business opportunity.

Thus, we pay homage to these communities... Let's unite to re-unite refugees.

Business Planning: Looking forward to 2012

As much as politicians may try to deny it, campaigns for the 2012 Kenyan elections are on. Leaders are being anointed as flag bearers, this not even long after the bloody chaos that marked the beginning of 2008.

At Yipe, we just put up a new advice section for start-ups, but whist doing that I thought, is it worth the bother? After all, apart from the lives lost and people displaced living in camps, many entrepreneurs lost their livelihoods. It must take a lot of faith on their part to take the bull by the horns (so to speak) and begin a new venture.

As political parties race to comply with the requirements of the new Political Parties Act, news reports frequently tell us this or that leader has been appointed torchbearer to vie in the next elections.

Now, every start-up has (or we hope has) a plan, but seriously have we planned for 2012 and indeed 2013 after the results are declared? Unless your business plan is to re-locate out of Kenya, this is a critical consideration. If we don’t it will be as someone (it may have been Judge Johann Kriegler recently formerly of IREC) said, what happened at the beginning of 2008 will look like a Christmas party in 2012 if nothing is done to prevent it.

It seems like the debate for an official “grand” opposition to our “grand” coalition has taken over the national agenda as opposed to pertinent issues such as constitutional review and the agenda 4 items.

So if politicians have forgotten to ensure that 2012 and 2013 are safe for doing business in Kenya, what can the micro and small entrepreneur do? Should we just have a four year plan and spend the beginning of 2012 closing or looking for (gullible) buyers for our businesses?

Will there be any repercussions of what happened this year on consumer demand come 2012? Maybe people will be scared to spend, remembering how prices skyrocketed because normal product distribution channels were closed. This effect could trickle westwards and affect markets in Uganda and Rwanda who bore the brunt of delayed shipments (particularly of fuel) when the Mombasa-Kisumu highway was blocked.

On the other hand, the post election violence may mean booming business in 2012 as consumers stock up in case of the re-emergence of violence. However, this will be felt in a slow market come 2013. What about the kiosk owner in Kibera, Mathare or any other flash-point for that matter? Have they thought if they will stay open past the elections? And if so, how will they manage to get their products past the protestors and the policemen, that is assuming that their property is not looted.

Location, Location, Location: the mantra for business

It matters not where you are in Kenya or indeed Uganda or Rwanda (if you depend on supplies from or through Kenya) for that matter, your business will be affected in some way if due to the early campaigns and jostling for prime positions in political parties means that nothing is done regarding constitutional reform, poverty and inequity, unemployment, cohesion, land reform and transparency, accountability and impunity (Agenda 4 Kenyan National Dialogue and Reconciliation).

On an individual level what can we do?

Recently I did a test that asked me to describe myself in 10 words. My answers in order were my gender, occupation, physical attributes, nationality, belief system and my roles in family and the wider society. It’s a test you should try. Simply imagine you have 10 words to describe who you are to someone who has never met you. But know there are no correct answers for this test. In a nutshell you are who you believe yourself to be.

What does our social identity have to do with our role in 2012 and 2013? The post election violence was mainly driven by ethnicity, with members of one community attacking the other, and the victims responding in revenge attacks.

That means that my ethnicity either marked or saved me from being a victim of the violence. Yet from my top 10 social identities, my ethnic group is not a priority in how I perceive myself as a person and member of Kenyan society. In fact in terms of grouping I feel more affiliation with my fellow entrepreneurs, women and Kenyans long before my tribesmates. Yet, and I can't help this, there are other people who have made assumptions about me based on what community I happen to be born in (note: I said "born in" and not belong to). They have already foretold that come 2012 I will vote for a certain leader. If say that leader happens to win or lose, I will bear the brunt of their animosity if I happen to be in the wrong business location at the wrong time. That I cannot help.

But I can help in how I conduct myself and business to show that we are above ethnicity. I can be Kenyan. By treating every person I know and customer fairly and equitably (barring the one’s who don’t pay on time!).

I can ensure that amongst my small social group there is understanding that we are all Kenyan, East Africa or African for that matter. The Ubuntu spirit sums it up: if you hurt, then I hurt.

Leave the politicians to the campaigns (however early they have begun), but when they approach us in 2012 to take up arms or fists against (their) perceived enemies, know that it may be YOU in that IDP camp come 2013 figuring out what business to start-up with the Kshs. 10,000 from “Operation Rudi Nyumbani”.

Ok… I just realized there is hope for the start-up section!