Software Industry Association established in Kenya

This past week, the Kenya Information Federation, which is the ICT arm of the Kenya Private Sector Association - KEPSA launched the Kenya Software industry Association (KeSIA). The stated objective of the new Association is to promote locally developed and branded software products and market these both nationally and internationally.

The event which took place on the 19th of June also yielded an ambitious 18 month workplan with the following highlights:

• Through partnerships with universities establish marketable projects initiated by students but with express stakeholder interest from within the local and international private sector.
  
• Establish an Awards system to incentivise the creation of local software products
  
• Attract venture capital providers through a proactive promotion campaign both locally and internationally
  
• Establish access to research labs thereby creating a conducive operating environment for software entrepreneurs - sort of a Dev Incubator
  
• Market segment development through the development of partnerships with other sector industry associations
  
• Develop and enhance the trust of local consumers through adpotion of international standards
  

The Association appointed a coordinator, Bernard Nganga and a deputy coordinator Isayah Okoth - both actors in the local ICT space.

Will this be the watershed for Kenya's developer community?