I am writing this post with my country Kenya in mind, but I believe it applies to the entire African ICT industry. Ideally, this should have been a post about my predictions for the year 2011, but coming 21 days late, I opt for this slightly different approach.

Here is what I hope to see happening this year in the Information technology sector in Kenya.

1. More venture capital funding for innovative ideas
Just the other day, some silicon valley executives were in town shopping for technological innovations they can invest in (see this report). According to what I’ve read in the press, the recent successes of Ushahidi and MPESA, among others, has aroused quite some interest in investors in the technology world. They believe that there could be many more innovative ideas in Kenya worth funding.

I strongly believe in our potential for innovation, this post notwithstanding. If you ever attend any of the technology exhibitions organized by university/college students for example, you will see some very bright ideas and projects, which, with proper nurturing and adequate funding, are commercially viable. Sadly, most of these projects die off soon after the students graduate and get “proper” jobs.

We don’t really have to wait for investors from the silicon valley to come and fund some of these innovative ideas. I think it is now time local investors started providing venture capital to young IT entrepreneurs. If does pay off.

2. More Progressive Government ICT Policies
African ICT ministers last year pledged to give ICT more emphasis in their countries’ national development policy. My hope is to see this actually happening, our governments should now walk the talk.

One particular area I desire to see flourishing is e-commerce. Currently, most local banks do not provide online merchant account services for online payment processing. They cite the lack of enabling legislation as the reason why. Our legislative environment is not yet good enough to inspire confidence for international payment gateways, like paypal, to fully operate in Kenya. With paypal for example, we can receive payments, but can only withdraw the money to a US bank account. I hope this will change this year.

3. More relevant Integration of ICT Curriculum at all levels of study
If ICT is key to economic development, it is only sensible to introduce at the earliest possible level in the education system, i.e. primary schools. My desire is to see Information and communications technology being made compulsory in all primary and secondary schools this year. How else do we expect to replicate the success stories of Bill Gates, Michael Dell, and others?

Universities and colleges training IT professionals should review their curriculum to move us from being mere consumers of technology, to also becoming producers. Many of us acknowledge that the days of going to college so as to “get a good job” are quickly getting behind us. Entrepreneurship is the way to go, and ICT is one of the most promising fields for entrepreneurs.

4. A Kenyan ICT start-up causing ripples across Africa, and beyond
When a Kenyan firm (virtual city) won the Nokia Global Growth Economy Venture Challenge and the World Summit Award for mobile content in 2010, it was big news here. This year, I look forward to an even bigger impact from a Kenyan start-up. .

The kind of impact I am talking about is like what Google, Facebook, Twitter, Groupon, etc have had in the IT world. Yes we can. Ushahidi was very successful, yet its concept wasn’t really rocket science. We can produce more.

5. A real political change
The less I say about Kenyan politics, the better for this information technology blog, because I have some not-so-kind words for our current political leaders. But politics affects our every aspect of life, including technogical growth. If we get truly progressive leaders, the business environment and, by extention, technological innovation, will definitely flourish. I am still optimistic, Kenya (and Africa at large) is changing for the better.