Some few years back Innovation was unimaginable. Kenya was just that - a country consuming innovation not producing it. Myself and other software engineers were in a grid lock - the belief was that nothing concrete can come out of Kenya. We genuinely believed that yes, we had talent, but we did not have the reach.
Around the same time companies in Kenya were doing basic websites for local and regional corporates (and that was the climax at the time - with digital innovation being centered around how well digital context marketing was being executed) a small community of techies started coming together under the banner known as Skunkworks in Kenya - with fellows like Phares Kariuki and Riyaz Bachani taking that extreme step that no one had faith in - in building that community. Because they believed in it.
Building Community in the Unlikeliest of Places
The first role we need to fill is to grow belief. We may be small and insignificant in the mix of things. But great innovation begins when we believe. Through the great times innovation has taken shape with great community initiatives in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, and other smaller pockets of Kenya, Phares and Riyaz have gone on to develop revolutionary products that defy the odds and shape the future of tech. Now they have co-founded Angani. Because the cloud can be owned by us too. Believe and make it happen.
Then the second most important role is to inspire: so that great things happen because you put your belief onto other people also; so that they can also carry on doing more than yourself. Through the success of Skunkworks came the rise of bigger initiatives. By inspiration, initiatives like the iHub, SwahiliBox and LakeHub later took shape to digitize the country. To inspire others to innovate and to make them believe that they can also play a part in making the country a true silicon savannah.
Great things happen when the grass roots fellows take charge of their destiny. And in Kenya, I think not much would have happened if we did not allow Skunkworks to take its shape.
And the road is much, much longer.