70 Comments Add your own

• 1. UglyKidJoe  |  June 12th, 2007 at 10:13 am

  Just look at out telecoms history and then it all makes sense. Telkom and the govt has sufficiently strangled our technology sector, and that may well have been a big part of Googles decision.

  Now that there is much hype about the industry liberalisation, when competition finally arrives in SA it should put us in better favour of winning such international business.

  Well done Telkom, you’ve helped screw South Africa over once again

• 2. Fred Garraf  |  June 14th, 2007 at 4:09 am

  Its about time people started realizing Kenya is the future of Africa.

• 3. cj  |  June 15th, 2007 at 8:19 pm

  The main problem that South Africa faces is its inability to entertain competition. For some apparent reason it seems that Monopoly in the telecommunications and a few other sectors is ‘The Way ‘. If only South Africa realsies the impact that this has on the economy,let alone international trade, its about time they wake up. Hello South Africa, this is the 21st century.

• 4. Peter  |  June 20th, 2007 at 3:11 pm

  I think that its not about Kenya being ahead, its about building capacity throughout africa. If Kenya wins a deal with google, SA should work towards the next big project. No country can have it. But Kenya is working hard to improve its infrastructure so its no surprise!

• 5. Mark  |  June 24th, 2007 at 7:18 pm

  The point is any investment in Africa should be welcome, as the spill over effect will be of benefit to the whole continent. Certainly Kenya has also improved its investment climate and its a country to watch in terms of the emerging ICT technologies

• 6. Eunice  |  June 26th, 2007 at 8:59 am

  Kenya is a great country and we are happy to see many big coutries choose us over bigger economies. Most Kenyans have invested in quality higher education as compared to the rest of Africa and we will all soon realise the Kenya is the Brain of Africa. Our people, a beutiful countryfor tourism and argriculture is all we have, and with these we can drive Africa.

• 7. Archeious  |  June 27th, 2007 at 12:22 am

  I think it is great that Google is going to help build the infrastructure in Africa. I hope they expand this to many other counties in the area. I am sure there is a treasure trove on talented people in Kenya just waiting for the opportunity to shine.

• 8. cafuego  |  June 27th, 2007 at 1:19 am

  Kenya has coffee plantations, SA does not.
  If there’s one thing an IT business needs even more than infrastructure, it’s caffeine.

• 9. Micheas Herman  |  June 27th, 2007 at 1:44 am

  If you are looking at continued expansion, Kenya seems like a better place to branch out to the entire contentent from.

  S.A. seems a lot more removed from the north African coast. (and you can be sure that google wants to dominate in at least 52 contries in Africa. )

• 10. CVOS Netpaths  |  June 27th, 2007 at 2:02 am

  Regardless of their motivations, a Google office in Kenya would be an unbelievable morale booster. Google has one of the top 5 worldwide brand names and their African presence would increase awareness of this overlooked continent.

  Google is famous for happy employees and a positive work environment.

• 11. Darren  |  June 27th, 2007 at 2:47 am

  Look at this as both a positive for Kenya and South Africa in brining infrastructure to Africa including good data centre jobs. Local telecom infrastructure isnt required, if google wants a data centre they build their own fibre network, whether that be South Africa to Kenya or South Africa to Kenya to Alexandria in Egypt (or closest fibre highway landing station at most competitive cost).

  Anything which can bring technical and investment both in infrastructure ans especially people can only be positive.

  Main need though is local power, although if price of land is cheap, a solar power assisted power station will be needed.

  Just my thoughts

  Darren Stephens
  Adelaide, South Australia

• 12. jenkem lover  |  June 27th, 2007 at 2:53 am

  clearly google has chosen a site with a fertile jenkem economy in hopes they will be able to enable new jenkem-centric social networking technologies for kenya’s youth

• 13. Jonadab the Unsightly One  |  June 27th, 2007 at 3:54 am

  Three words: location, location, location.

  When you’re building a communications-oriented business of any kind, you want a centralized hub. If you examine a map of Africa carefully, you will observe that South Africa is located way down at the southern tip of the continent. Vladivostok is a fine city, but you wouldn’t start building the Siberian branch of your communications business there. Omsk would be a more likely candidate.

  The same basic principle applies here. If you look at South Africa versus Kenya as individual countries, then sure, South Africa has some attractive things about it, but Google isn’t looking at individual countries here: they’re looking at Africa as a continent. If you’re looking to establish a base of operations for building your business across the whole continent then South Africa is, quite simply, in the wrong place. Kenya is not in exactly the ideal location, but it’s much closer to it and is more practical for other reasons than e.g. the C.A.R. (which is far too politically unstable to even be considered: there’s a military coup there practically every decade, and that’s a dicey proposition for an international business). Hence, Kenya.

  Another possible choice would have been Cameroon (the government is corrupt by Western standards but very stable by African standards), but the physical infrastructure there (e.g., phone lines) leaves something to be desired, and that would be important for Google. Hence, Kenya.

  Disclaimer: I don’t have any inside information about why Google chose as they did. I’m just reasoning based on my limited knowledge of the relevant issues they presumably would have considered.

• 14. Al  |  June 27th, 2007 at 4:11 am

  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 as well as other international organizations.
  Kenya is also strategically located on the map of Africa unlike SA. Most of the current innovations are trully African driven unlike SA where most of the economy is still dominated by whites. Also 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. 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.
  There’s no reason why not to choose Kenya.

  .

• 15. Tswana  |  June 27th, 2007 at 5:22 am

  Maybe google wanted to stay away from XDR-TB

• 16. Duncan  |  June 27th, 2007 at 7:48 am

  The arrogance of this article is amazing – there are many other countries in Africa that have a lot to offer. The way the article is written it’s as though SA is the only choice. Wake up SA – you aint perfect

• 17. John Maina  |  June 27th, 2007 at 8:59 am

  The strength of Kenya is not really its geographical strength as some of you are claiming.The real strength is its human capital.Kenya arguably has the best human resource in the continnent.Kenyan proffesionals have played a key role in developing countries such as Botswana,Rwanda and many others,its no wonder companies are creating a mad rush to have their hq’s in the most intellectually viable piece of real estate in the continent.

• 18. McTim  |  June 27th, 2007 at 9:12 am

  Google already has a presence in SA, they are moving in to RW and KE and other African countries with Apps as a CSR and biz twofer.

  They just hired a Kenyan guy, it’s not like they will only have an office in KE, He has a regional job IIRC.

• 19. Eric  |  June 27th, 2007 at 10:10 am

  Google could single-handedly connect Africa to the Internet. They can come in and lay down all of the infrastructure they need. They have more money than the Kenyan government, they can start to wire the schools and establish wi-fi in the cities to uplift the people of Kenya and bring prosperity through access to information.

  I hope this is the plan.

• 20. Tim Lewis  |  June 27th, 2007 at 11:09 am

  Where can you see google? Only in Kenya, come to Kenya we’ve got google. (sing along folks)
  Seriously though, one the biggest factors google has to worry about with it’s data centres is cheap, reliable energy. Apart from any other benefits of Kenya, the equator runs through the country and therefore, it has a lot of direct sunshine all year round. Photovoltaic and other means of generating electricity from the sun are becoming more economic so this could have been a factor in their decision.
  Kenya is also enjoys far more political stability than some of its less fortunate neighbours.

• 21. bigric  |  June 27th, 2007 at 11:21 am

  if I threw a dart at a map of Africa I’d also probably hit Kenya. it’s like hitting the bulls eye.

  don’t read to much into the location.
  they’ll branch out from there and put a foot print in all the bigger countries.
  we’ve got so much advertising potential in all our developing countries that they’d be stupid not to.

  look at SA’s cell giants. they’ve all branched upwards trying to get the other markets.

  Africa is ready for another colonisation. except this time it’s the digital one!

• 22. Paul Robinson  |  June 27th, 2007 at 11:40 am

  Being from the United States I partially agree with the poster who mentioned “location, location, location.” Although like too many from the U.S. due to my own ignorance of its exact location I had to look it up before I knew exactly where Kenya was; from prior exposure I knew that South Africa was the ‘bottom end’ of the continent.

  Point taken that Kenya is much farther north and to the extent that Google wanted to provide services to all of Africa, it makes more sense to build a facility somewhere closer to the rest of the continent. It could also be – as another poster pointed out – that they are using Kenya in addition to facilities in South Africa, having multiple sites for the same reason when you run DNS for translating domain names into IP addresses you’re supposed to use two different machines, presumably both not at the same place in case one fails.

  It might not be as easy as what Venezuela has done with the oil companies but there is always the possibility of sequestration or nationalization when you operate a lucrative facility in a country which has spotty interest in protecting property rights, and most countries (not just in Africa) have spotty records on respecting other’s rights (ask several hundred thousand dead in Rwanda). Face it, a number of countries in Africa have been not much more than kleptocracies.

  However, if the possibility of seizure is an issue, it’s conceivable they could set up their systems so that if they can’t talk to the ‘mother ship’ (i.e. the Googleplex in the U.S.) they can be programmed to erase themselves and thus all the government seizing the property has is a bunch of computers with no data and no operating system. Or, for that matter, that they can be remote erased from home simply by sending a query to them with the proper password.

  Also, let’s consider cost of land. South Africa, being a much more developed country than Kenya, is likely to be more expensive as far as the cost of land, and thus if Google wants to expand or possibly use large chunks of land for develiopment, my guess is that it’s lots cheaper in Kenya than in S.A.

  Let’s also consider under what terms they can operate private telecommunications; there may be fewer restrictions in Kenya than in Sourth Africa. Or, as my previous comments implied, it might also be cheaper in Kenya to make the appropriate, ahem, “campaign contributions” to get the laws changed to allow them to build their own interconnect. Presumably Gpogle can afford to install its own Internet connectivity and thus might not want to pay what the local monopoly telco would overcharge. For that matter, Google can probably afford to have its own fiber-optic cable run either all the way back across the ocean to North America or overland through the Middle East to Europe!

  Let’s also look at electricity cost factors, if Google is planning to put in a data center. What is the cost per KWH in SA vs Kenya? It is also possible, given that in any part of Africa except maybe large cities the electricity grid is spotty and thus Google may want to do its own generation, say by outting up solar panels and using sea water for cooling the machines. Most of the cost of electricity for data centers is the air conditioning needed to cool the machines; use filtered sea water in water-cooled machines and you reduce the amount of electricity by a significant amount, and with Africa being as hot as it is, cooling is a significant issue.

  If you’re going to build facilities that need lots of space for power cells and also need easy access to water, ocean-front land is probably going to be cheaper in a less-developed country such as Kenya over a higher-developed one such as South Africa.

  Paul Robinson – My Blog
  Arlngton, Virginia, USA
  “The lessons of history teach us – if they teach us anything – that nobody learns the lessons that history teaches us.”

• 23. Jason  |  June 27th, 2007 at 1:17 pm

  I think a key one here is the UN’s presence in Nairobi. I was stationed in Kenya in the late 80s with UNDP, and even though Kenya has changed over the last 20 odd years, you can’t help bu think that being near the UN will help Google.

  Could the UN already have a nice fat link coming in, or do Google look at that as another opportunity. Hey UN, we’re going to set up a data centre, plow a heap of traffic through it, and we’re going to want a really fast link elsewhere in the world, want to use some of our network?

  About a year ago Google was looking for people to investigate the establishment of a fibre network in the continental USA using dark fibre, bandwidth is commodity these days. This could be an extension of this plan somewhat by spreading into Africa and setting up a reliable base in Africa.

  Let’s not forget that the SA government is still a bit Saddam friendly, all these little points can add to the decisions of large corporates going into new market.

  Finally, Google keep on reinventing themselves with more applications and features, I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility that they will want to setup a global network to run all this on.

  My $0.02

• 24. Juddy Muringa  |  June 27th, 2007 at 3:10 pm

  Kenya has developed greatly in the recent past. It has a great business capacity and there are many small scale entrepreneurs coming up and other established.
  Kenya has the best skilled man power in the region, South Africa should view Kenya as a great competitor.
  So why not Kenya!!!!

• 25. Chris  |  June 27th, 2007 at 3:46 pm

  “Google IS”

  Not “Google ARE.”

• 26. Smart_Toma  |  June 27th, 2007 at 4:04 pm

  Kudos to Kenya..definately the positive investment climate in the past 5 years has been as a result of the good politics that the new regime brought with it. This in turn has served as a great incentive for multinationals to spread their wings to the african arena, more specifically Kenya. Good politics say a lot about a country’s potential in its economical sector-and the good politics currently being played in the Kenyan arena has induced more global in investing here, as the belief is that a stable country has a stable economy. Currently Kenyan is enjoying a massive 6% economic growth which am sure will interest a whole lot more of this fortune 500 companies…Watch this space

• 27. Rocky  |  June 27th, 2007 at 4:42 pm

  Why, exactly, is it “a sad day when SA starts to loose out to rival African players”? SA is a “country out of place” in Africa. As time goes on, one would expect to see it cede (voluntarily or involuntarily) some of its influence to the more developed societies in Africa…This is a Good Thing. Distributed infrastructure is a plus. A better developed CONTINENT is a plus. Emergent technological contenders are a plus, from a regional and global perspective. Google as CREATED opportunity here…when people begin realize that opporunity is NOT a scare resource and that we as a civilization can create enough to go around – we will ALL realize a brighter future, ripe with opportunity and innovation. Hats off to Google. Good luck to Kenya.

• 28. Leonard Njeru  |  June 27th, 2007 at 6:20 pm

  Strength in Kenya!!
  Kenyan has well trainded manpower and despite limitation in capital huge strides are being made towards creative technologies. The legislation is also being harmonised to facilitate set up and effective running of business especially in the ICT sector. The more the reason more companies should cast a prudent eye on Kenya. Google made the right choice!!

• 29. Paul Jones  |  June 27th, 2007 at 7:08 pm

  Knowing the typical geek culture, it might have been easy access to vast quantities of Kenyan AA coffee that tipped the scales

• 30. Peter Stokes  |  June 27th, 2007 at 11:35 pm

  Kenya is actually a decent country. I mean if you go to Africa every country has it’s own issues with poverty and this is not restricted to Africa at alone. I mean i have seen worse cases in places like India and the numbers there are worse because of the huge population. Even US has it’s own problems with poverty there are several hundred thousand homeless people in LA alone.

  I was in Nairobi and Mombasa and Malindi recently the cities were fairly clean. Nairobi infact amazed me. It’s developed so much since the lasttime i was here and it’s more organized. Nairobi has most of the stuff you will find in any major city the west only thing they don’t have is a subway.

  There are slums in Kibera & Mathare but they have started to build new houses to replace them. There’s a plan to actually do away with them so i’m sure the nexttime i visit Kenya they might be gone. I met a few of the current leaders and they seem determined to change a lot of things.

  There also seems to be lots of new investments especially in Telecommunications, agriculture and construction. Tthe economy is also doing good.

  I was there when Sir Richard Branson launched his Virgin Airlines. If you look at the statistics Kenya looks like the place to be in Africa. The Kenyan Airline Kenya Airways is the best in Africa. Kenyas cellphone sector is crazy. Companies are making crazy profits. They even have great Cell Apps you can now transfer money on your cellphones even read newspapers i know his is not new in the west but i was impressed.

  Kenya is the biggest exporter of horticultural products like fruits and flowers to the European Union. It’s also the biggest exporter of tea in Africa 2nd in the world. Its Also one of the biggest coffee producers in the world. Infact Kenyan coffee has one of the best blend in the world. You can confirm this at starbucks. Many countries use Kenyan coffee and tea to blend theirs.
  Losts of big world corporations Africa headquaters seem to be in Nairobi. Even UNEP is based in Nairobi. Even GE is shifting to Nairobi from SA.

  They have probably the best educated pool of professionals in Africa. English is also spoken widely in Kenya. Kenya sends the most number of students to study in US and UK than any other African country. You can check the statistics at the state dept.
  Kenya also has the best Athletes in Africa.
  Theres just great drive among Kenyans and they are smart and suave. There’s also a good mix of locals and foreigners in Kenya.

  Kenyans are enthusiastic and seemed more knowledgeable than the people i met in other parts of Africa. Kenyans know more about other countries and are more aggressive and friendly. There’s also a good mix of both modern and traditional plus its a beautiful country with good nature.
  .

  On the otherside if you go really deep into Kenya theres still alot to be done. Hopefully the new leaders will work hard and build their country. I will definately visit Kenya again I love Safaris and Mombasa.

  I would urge most people who view Africa as a wasteland or hot place or por place to visit first hand and not just stay in their hotels but go deep and talk to the regular folks thats how you will learn about Africa. By the way my Kenyan colleague tells me that Nairobi is near the Equator so it’s not hot at all the weather is always nice. Like now it’s cold in Nairobi because when its summer in Europe it’s really cold in Kenya.

  S Africa by the way is great too.

  Google should be fine in Kenya.

• 31. Peter Stokes  |  June 27th, 2007 at 11:54 pm

  Also i did some online research and talked to my Kenyan friends.
  Whoever thinks land is cheaper in Nairobi than S Africa is wrong. Infact you will be amazed Kenyans pay more for telephone calls than S.Africans. Also land in most African cities isn’t as cheap as you might imagine. Guys things have changed alot in Africa. Stop watching too much discovery channel.

• 32. Boomtrek Travel Maps  |  June 28th, 2007 at 4:23 am

  I want to dream that one of the “college kid” developers of Google Maps was able to raise some interest to the big-shots along side their cartography data transformation in Africa. I notice there are only major highway outlines and cities, but maybe they saw some potential in Kenya on the satellite maps that Microsoft hasn’t seen yet… lol

• 33. egm  |  June 28th, 2007 at 8:25 pm

  As Peter Stokes points out, GE is moving their corporate headquarters in Africa from South Africa to Kenya.

• 34. Olebo  |  June 28th, 2007 at 9:57 pm

  This is part of the free market economy, the competition is great for business and definitly kenya is moving towards the right direction. Google as a corporation will only go to places where they can make the most out of the situation, so basically it’s a win win situation.

• 35. etc  |  June 28th, 2007 at 10:39 pm

  who the fuck cares?

• 36. et cetera  |  June 28th, 2007 at 11:07 pm

  I care

• 37. Articlealley  |  June 30th, 2007 at 11:11 pm

  As others have said Google plans to be the strongest player on the continent it just makes sense to have a presence at either end.

  I am sure that SA will be developed next.

• 38. Peter Stokes  |  July 3rd, 2007 at 12:41 am

  Even coke is building a regional Headquaters to handle 27 African countries in Kenya.
  Kenya is the place to be.

• 39. Peter Stokes  |  July 3rd, 2007 at 12:42 am

  Even coke is building a regional Headquaters to handle 27 African countries in Kenya.
  Kenya is the place to be.

  http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/current/Business/biz0207075.htm

• 40. Omae .V.  |  July 3rd, 2007 at 2:38 pm

  Irregardless of the location,it’s a plus for the continent’s ICT growth and diversity….

• 41. Abade  |  July 9th, 2007 at 10:38 am

  I trust it is a nice Idea to see Google come home, Nairobi but I also look forward to when we shall be seeing Africa as our continent such that what happens in Ghana is seen as likely to have a spill over effect in Kenya interms of business and all.

  This will help us understand ourselves better. Another challenge to us as Africans is that we’d better learn from the pas movemnets like Agrarian revolution that Africa just witnessed as it passed but never became part of it. For how long shall we keep depending on innovations from the west and the likes and we remain consumers? As google comes to Nairobi, I call upon all my fellow computer Scientists in Kenya and Africa at large to take the opportunity with good heart and ensure that the Google-Africa is not used only for marketting google products but MUST run a mordern day R&D division where the African brain will also be part of the brains influencing the important field of ICT, not as consumers but as contributors to the process of engineering and acquisition of knew knowlege. The real sons of Kenya will definitely go back home and make good of this and certainly for the better future of Kenya, Africa and the world at large.

• 42. Otenga  |  July 13th, 2007 at 7:53 am

  It is good to see more multinationals coming to Kenya. Definitely Kenya has a lot of human labour and drive to work. I can only hope that they will employ more and more Kenyans. This is the best way that they can help.

• 43. Juddy Muringa  |  July 13th, 2007 at 2:35 pm

  We all need to support development projects in Africa especially in ICT industry. The current trend of the market is geared towards digitalizing almost everything. Kenya being an African nation, this will be a big boost not only to the ICT industry but to the economy at large.

• 44. Roy P.  |  July 23rd, 2007 at 7:11 am

  I think SA should wake up to the rude reality that they are not the kingpin of Africa. Kenya is the next biggest hotspot in this continent Africa. I think Google and many other International brands will be soon marching to Kenya as their destination in Africa. Kenya has a cool climate, secure environment, good infrasturcture, educated population and aggressive youths. The labour is cheap and ontop stable government. I think more suprises are yet to come, you better watch Kenya in the 21st century.

• 45. Daniel  |  August 10th, 2007 at 3:11 pm

  well even Celtel will shift its HQ from Amsterdam to Nairobi to beter handle the 14 operations. looks like things are really looking up for kenya not to mention it brings it closer to the owners: MTC who are based in Kuwait. we all know JKIA is the stop over to the Middle East
  No wondr Branson has his eyes on Kenya too

  ICT and Location Perfect : Aint we glad JKIA is getting a make over to handle more traffic

• 46. Peter Ndiang'ui  |  August 11th, 2007 at 5:26 pm

  Well to me it makes perfect sense in several ways. Some of which have been pointed out;
  On Kenya as a choice to SA
  1. Kenya’s vast human Capital
  2. The current government drive into ICT and education expansion

  On Google’s presecene in Africa
  I see Google Apps , as the real killer app. The mis-pricing of software by multinationals like Microsoft, Oracle ,IBM when selling to African SME’s and even individual desk-top users might just be what will Google’s major driver. For example a web-based Goolge Financial management app , priced as service for say 2 dollars a month would see tremendous usage of Google’s accounting application by many SME’s as for example these governments try to formalize taxation of SME’s. Infact with convergence of cell-phones , powerful computing and broadband connections would see African SME’s by-pass the Era of expensive ‘boxed’ software as they did with expensive ‘land-line’ telephony connenctions. Diversify these applications into sales management & marketing , Schools management , Health apps like e-health and what you get is a domination of software delivered as a service (SAAS) leading to unlimited adoptions of software usage in a market that the Microsofts and Oracles of this world failed to capture due to their business models of the past.
  We have covered this analysis further at http://www.kenyaimagine.com

• 47. kevin  |  September 5th, 2007 at 2:58 pm

  its not such a big issue everybodyelse is in kenya
  hilton
  united nations
  general electric
  general motors
  microsoft
  reinasance capital
  vodafone
  celtel
  regional offices for
  cnbc africa
  cnn
  bbc
  aljazeera
  and many more
  welcome google

• 48. kevin  |  September 5th, 2007 at 3:13 pm

  oh i forgot sir richard branson was recently here to set up virgin

• 49. dan  |  September 6th, 2007 at 3:28 pm

  I don’t understand what the fuss is all about? South Africa beats Kenya in many things, and that’s the fact! Google may choose to go north, but South is the best in Africa, period!

  Google may have done this as their strategic move, not because Kenya this, South Africa that. Use of your common sense. Why all these pompous comments from Kenyans who claim to be more friendly and humble than South Africans? We have been there and done that. At least we can start our own things here, not waiting for some big dude to come and feed us, like someone said here, about being digitally colonized.

• 50. Bk  |  September 9th, 2007 at 2:50 pm

  Just because SA is the most developed country in Africa it does not make it automatic that everyone will set up there. RSA is a victim of its own success of late.

  The airports are obviously over stretched. Electricity is now a problem. Skills shortages rampant in the labour market. Crime. Dodgy politics. People do get jittery when people are forever toyi toying in the streets.

  The most adavanced location is not always the one that fits your strategy. Even in South Africa it is not a given that everyone sets up in Joburg. You can set up in durban, Cape Town or Bloemfontein for that matter.

  Modern telecommunications and logistics are really shring the world. You can now set up literally anywhere on the planet and get hookedup to communications, power etc. Look at the US WalMart which is literally the world’s biggest company is based in some hick town in Arkansas !!!!

• 51. Brian Achilla  |  September 26th, 2007 at 1:37 pm

  The news comes like a breath of fresh air. The question is what kind of Kenyan content will they be sourcing for or adding? I just read the Business daily for today 26th September 2007 and judging by the interview given, my expectations will be very high.

• 52. Marie  |  October 3rd, 2007 at 8:21 am

  I believe Kenya is a great country, with all the potential of becoming an even greater country in terms of technology. I also believe its location is much better than SA i mean its more central.

  Its a great opportunity for us here in Kenya!!!

  Welcome home google!!!!

• 53. TRAVELLER  |  October 7th, 2007 at 6:59 am

  UM! Correction…maybe you ought to look up http://www.airlinequality.com. This Skytrax auditing company, which is the largest, actually places SAA as the best airline in Africa, so um…. nope Kenya airlines not the leading one SORRY!

• 54. Nwabu  |  October 16th, 2007 at 11:13 pm

  Google has an office in SA and with most of Africa’s IT infrastructure in SA it would be foolhardy to just base out of Kenya. Kenya is PART of the google presence in Africa not the sum all and end all of it all.

  Kenya for what its worth does not have fibre and not at the level of SA so even when you are talking data centres its not ideal either if you were comparing both countries.

  Kenya is important when you are looking at the google regional African strategy. It would serve as a useful hub for the East African part of Africa. It happens to account for upwards of 60% of the East African economy.

  But East Africa is a tiny portion of the African economy talk less of IT users. Google cannot ignore SA which on any measure stands out as 5 or 6 times more modern than any other part of Africa. It cannot ignore Egypt and Morocco which are huge economies in North Africa and which have pretty decent connectivity to the mediterranean. It cannot ignore Nigeria which has 20% of the African population and has the fastest growing telecommunications industry in the world. Google needs presence in all these places if it wants to serve Africa fully.

  That said about Nairobi it is a nice international city to live in and with decent government will attract multinationals to locate there because it is on the shortlist of places one would want to live in in Africa. Tthe infrastructure is not great (was there in 2006) and is not close to what you see in SA, crime in Nairobi is not that much different than it is in Johannesburg because they both share the same characteristics of huge income disparities and huge slums which serve as breeding grounds for crime, both both places have a lot to offer in terms of diversity, relatively decent climate and relatively modern facilities.

• 55. Ogangah  |  October 31st, 2007 at 1:35 pm

  I think the main focus should be on infrastructure development in the whole continent and the benfits to accrue to google. Its not about Kenya being better or SA….Google must have had their own strategic reasons for picking Kenya ofcourse knowing that SA has a bigger better economy and infrastructure than Kenya.
  However remember the money in ICT will come from what is yet to be done rather than whats already been done, ask Euro mobile operators who are making less than what mobile operators in the emerging markets, Africa, M East, India and China are making. A seconf factor to consider is one of the most important factors in ICT investment, location with Kenya ideally located for tapping other markets not only in Africa but M East also. 3rd and equally important is the hman capital factor, Yes SA has its share of well educated professionals, but Kenya too has a highly educated workforce which is probably cheaper due to the unemployement rates as compared to SA.

  Consider all these in your arguments and again its not about Kenya being better than SA..

  Ogangah

• 56. Makori Breens  |  November 5th, 2007 at 2:21 pm

  Time is up for south Africa–Kenya has what it takes to outdo Sa in Ten Years time,They have the best the brain in the continent,marvelous natural resources,best international favour,exellent democratic space and of we are heavenly positioned.Watch out Sa,Johannesburg will nolonger compete
  with Nairobi–We are almost there—–Guys from Silicon Valley
  have already seen this.Kudos Google

• 57. Alexander mona  |  November 16th, 2007 at 4:12 am

  I think kenya and south africa are both good places but i the past five years that kibaki has ruled kenya many thinks have changed in kenya than in south africa. South africa is known as the best contry in africa but when you see south africa and kenya in T.V. you see the some thing: poverty and crime. i think google was right to go to kenya, they know in the next ten years kenya will be a greet contry.In airlines Kenya airways is the best airline in africa and they will keep on growing

• 58. Branded  |  November 19th, 2007 at 12:12 pm

  Its great that Google wants to entrech itself firmly into the continent through Kenya. We all know what kinds of benefits this presents to the entire continent. Choosing Kenya does not necessarily mean that its a much better country than any other in Africa. Its just strategy that the company has in mind. All the speculation about SA being this and Kenya being that are just that, SPECULATIONS.
  Like someone said in the above thread, IT is about what is yet to be done and not what has already been done.
  PS: Watch Kenya in the next 5 to 10 years. SA is not far at all.

• 59. Davies  |  December 22nd, 2007 at 2:03 pm

  I am from Kenya. I believe we have a great country like all other countries in Africa. My opinion on this is that Kenya has a strategic location compared to the more developped SA. With ease of reach to the major world centres (Europe, Middle East, Africa itself) …. and this must have played a major part in the decision to work from Kenya outwards to the continent.

  We also have had a monopolising Telkom Kenya that had a stranglehold on the internet and communications in general. it is now easing up with the monopoly being phased out and new entrants brought in.

  A second factor is the rapid (if not exponential) rate at which Kenya has embraced technology as part of the way of life. Upto about 7 years ago, we didnt even have a mobile network! Within this short spell, it is believed that 3/4 of kenyans are now connected. The internet (and technology) has become a core business initiative other than an advantage as was some years back.

  With nearly 1/3 of the country being computer literate, it makes for a lucrative startup market to expand the services outwards to the greater Africa and I guess probably Google banked on that perspective.

  Could it also be that more users from Kenya employ the use of Google online services? I wouldnt know that …. maybe off their system stats, they can check on the same.

  Good Day Africa …

• 60. Alimiya  |  January 24th, 2008 at 11:57 am

  hey check dis out

• 61. Murithi  |  February 1st, 2008 at 12:07 pm

  Reading this today, I’m sad to say that Kenya may no longer be a prime destination for investors unless the political class gets its house in order and saves the country. One month of chaos has passed and corporations are shutting down in droves

• 62. klemoh  |  March 7th, 2008 at 2:40 pm

  Kenya may well be on the rise again this time on a scale never witnessed before on the continent thus the google decesion to pitch camp.Knowing the kenyan people well a people who nothing can put down not even an oppressive regime,only the sky is the limit for kenyans what with everything looking their way now

• 63. GOOGLE IN FAVOUR OF KENYA  |  April 20th, 2008 at 1:50 pm

  Yes Welcome to Kenya Google. But also focus on all the other african countries. Its not all about Kenya or SA, its about Africa. If Google chooses Kenya for all its happenings then its all because it favours their capability. So lets all look at it in a friendly way. We are all Africans, if Kenya benefits, Africans benefit, If SA benefits Africans benefit. There is no special country if we all don’t contribute towards building all the others. That is why we will always lug behind the other continets. That is why we are third world countries. That is why we will be called pompous (a.k.a comment 50 by dan) “Why all these pompous comments from Kenyans who claim to be more friendly and humble than South Africans? ”
  Did i see that name here???!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! stop it, If an english man reads this he will not differentiate between a wise man and a fool here. We all look like fools if we make such comments. But Africa is moving away from there and Africans and companies like google are gonna contribute. Hey, lets be friends and build our countries.

• 64. GOOGLE IN FAVOUR OF KENYA  |  April 20th, 2008 at 1:57 pm

  I forgot to say that now Other African countries should look at Kenya as an example of Political victimization and rise up from there. Zimbabwe’s decision to seek advice from Kenya is a good decision. Others should follow suit. We should all stop power hungly people from sitting on our backs. Whether the Kenya has been hit so hard by the political instability, it does not make Kenya any small. The aggressiveness of Kenyans is what will always make it a favorable country for most investors. So Google too should make a move and take further the plan they have for Kenya and Africa in general

• 65. john  |  May 24th, 2008 at 1:15 am

  Just wondering how come there are no google gadgets yet for Kenyan content. Several already for South African content.

  Am Kenyan though

• 66. eddyg  |  June 11th, 2008 at 11:46 am

  kenya is the future of IT in africa our ICT infrastructure is in a masive boom n with the way investors are attracted to Kenya just proves it.Goverment support in its vision 2030 shows our commitment to improve IT.welcome Google and other investors and discover magical Kenya.

• 67. for loans  |  September 3rd, 2008 at 12:20 am

  hey
  its very interesting article.
  Nice post.
  realy good post

  thank you

• 68. Albert Mwangi Kihiko  |  October 26th, 2008 at 6:17 pm

  I think this is the best thing that has happened to ICT in Africa so far. I know that Google will change everything

• 69. Marvin Tumbo  |  December 23rd, 2008 at 3:10 pm

  Kenya is the launchpad to the rest of Africa. We have several things working for us, but most importantly our human resource. We are the only major non-resource based economy in Africa. Whatever we have, it has been through our own making.

  Our house is however still far away from being in order. are still grappling with systemic corruption. The multinational attention will hopefully bring about greater scrutiny of our affairs.

  We are a strong contender for the number one spot in Africa.

• 70. Juddy  |  October 2nd, 2009 at 9:14 am

  This is one of the best things that has happened in kenya. I am hoping that the online payment bill will be passed soon…we need to catch up and start doing online transactions at the comfort of our homes using credit cards ….hope sooner…kenya is going to be one of the biggest economies in Africa!!

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