As a startup founder, here are my two cents:
Konza is not a startup hub, it is a BPO hub. Take a quick look at the architecture plans and you will find that BPO has been given a disproportionate amount of land. Also, if you hear Ndemo public speaking, you will quickly realise that BPO is the government's topmost priority in ICT. Startups are further down the pecking order.
I believe this is the wrong path to take. BPO is a market that has long been cornered by South East Asia. This makes the BPO sector a slow growth area , which will turn many institutional investors off.
Despite all this, I don't hold anything against the government, because you don't need government assistance to become a startup hub.

I'm sorry, but investors don't look at employment opportunities when deciding what to put money in. In fact, the more bloated your workforce needs to be, the less scalable a business is, and the less lucrative the opportunity for investors.

Kenya should learn from China.

See the example below for Youtube.

FYI youtube can not be accessed from China.

They have created their own called youku

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzU1NzgzMzEy.html

To enable such ideas, it will require sober political leadership who understand the importance of consuming local goods and services and the dangers of consuming imported goods as explained here

http://en.wikipedia.org/..._of_an_Economic_Hit_Man

For starters, Konza should look for Kenyan Financial Advisors to replace Worldbank IFC and the London based architects/master planners.

Actually when you are attracting foreign investors/FDI you should focus on what is best for the investor.For instance.

-Ease of doing business-Its a pity that the reforms that were being put in place to reduce the time of registering a company has stalled..its tedious and expensive to set up a business here in Kenya.Why cant we have a one stop station where an investor can get everything he needs to set up shop.

-Electricity -we have a very unreliable power supply that relies mostly on hydro during the dry seasons the power tariffs are very high and sometime we have to deal with rationing...That alone makes Kenya uncompetitive.

-Inflation -The government is unable to control this the erratic movement of the rate of inflation makes it difficult for companies to control costs.

Supply chain- our ports and other transport system need an overhaul,the congestion in our ports and roads and delays
at our airports need to be addressed urgently.

Finally last week we had a cable cut and the internet speed was slow in almost all major players...Contegency plans need to be put in place to protect BPO operators from such outages

Dont you think EA Portland has use of that land? Besides EAP has a loan with the govt of Japan and am sure the land is some form of security and the other day as i was watching news i noticed that people had settled on the land and were demonstrating saying that they are not going to leave. Would you lure investors to venture in such land...?

As for the local architect....i dont know why the ministry involved an architect from london but i know Ndemo can answer that.

I am not saying that Kenyan architects are not good enough, but none has accomplished a huge modern project like Konza.

Dont you think EA Portland has use of that land? Besides EAP has a loan with the govt of Japan and am sure the land is some form of security and the other day as i was watching news i noticed that people had settled on the land and were demonstrating saying that they are not going to leave. Would you lure investors to venture in such land...?

As for the local architect....i dont know why the ministry involved an architect from london but i know Ndemo can answer that.

I am not saying that Kenyan architects are not good enough, but none has accomplished a huge modern project like Konza.

"According to the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information, Dr Bitange Ndemo, local BPOs are heavily challenged, mainly due to lack of developed facilities and space.....

Mr Kukubo admits that Kenyan companies have had challenges on capacity, which has meant that some of the projects that require high level technical capability have gone elsewhere.

“The Kenyan market did not have the talent that is needed to spur such a fast growth. That is why we moved to launch a Centre of Excellence to bridge the gap,” says Mr Kukubo. The achievements of the said centre are yet to be made public.


Last year, the board partnered with IBM to conduct a study aimed at reviewing the status and availability of high-end ICT talent and to propose a framework to address the talent gap in both the short and the long term on a sustainable basis.


With the challenge of capacity, the board shifted its focus to attracting more international companies, hoping that they would transfer skills to local counterparts, in the process of executing their projects.


Late last year, the board awarded a $32 million contract to Dimension Data, an international firm, for Internet Protocol telephony project interconnecting all government ministries.


Some projects have gone to local companies but not in the magnitude of contracts given to international firms....


Research on the status of the BPO sector and its contribution to the GDP in India, South Africa, Ghana and Mauritius convinced several people in Kenya to set up companies.

But the expected growth of these companies took a different turn on the backdrop of stringent competition from international firms, which have accumulated experience and know-how.


For instance, after establishing its regional office in Nairobi, IBM has bagged contracts with local banks to set up and maintain their data centre infrastructure.

For IBM, its focus on the finance sector has led to more than $200 million in contracts from banks and governments in Kenya, Cameroon, Ethiopia and Senegal, among others. Their focus on solutions and ability to handle rising consumer demand has endeared them to high spending IT sectors
"