Inverse Foreign Investment !

Kai .A.Wulff the C.E.O of Kenya Data Networks(KDN) is certainly a great mind to reckon with and his recent TV interview on KTN Business weekly program helped me appreciate the kind of mindset and determination that Africans should adopt in order to propel the continent to greater prosperity!Mr Kai Wulff was being interviewed by Aly Satchu Khan(proprietor of www.rich.co.ke) the host of the weekly TV program.

I especially appreciate his captivating and inspiring encouragement to local entrepreneurs that its time Africans thought of being innovative enough to develop their own services,products and businesses that end up not only competing with the the leading firms in the world but also buying them out!It is this thought that i dub "inverse foreign investment".Rather than wait for a business to grow big and be acquired by American or foreign firms, the thought should be to come up with an entity that can make in roads in foreign markets or match up with the best!

The case of Bill Gates ,Larry Page and Sergey Brin is basically an encouraging point and illustrates to many of the young African Intellectuals pursuing advanced higher education in the different universities that anything is achievable with proper strategy.All it takes is a little creativity,diligence,innovativeness and persistence in order to be successful. It is hardly believable that Google Inc was formed in a Stanford dorm room in 1998 by two bright young lads who were hardly 30 years old and now command's one of the fastest growing multi national I.T. firm.

The German born Mr Kai Wulff means what he says and has an impressive background to back up his claims having owned and been, the CEO of an I.T firm at the age of 16years.Mr Wulff encouraged young entrepreneurs to embrace the concept of "creativity by default".Meaning that one can come up with a product or service that initially flops but that shouldn't be the be it and be all but rather a learning point of reference.Persistence pays.

KDN is Kenya's leading broadband solutions I.T.C firm and was licensed by the Communications Commission of Kenya in 2003 as a Public Data Network Provider .The firm has set a remarkable presence in the region as a data communications provider and is set for further heights.
The firm is set to invest a massive Kshs 12.5 billion in laying out a national fibre optics cable system.This will immensely improve internet and intranet connectivity within the region.The company has already laid over 500 kilometers of fibre optic cable in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu and Thika and is set to cover more grounds in readiness for the international East African submarine cable system backbone(EASSy) set to reach Mombasa in 2009.The KDN network serves as the ideal broadband access system for servicing business customers of all sizes, including banks, universities and corporations, offering them one point of access for all their business communication services, including Internet access, virtual private networks (VPNs), commercial leased lines, ethernet, and frame relay, all with enhanced capacity and wide coverage.

KDN believes that wireless broadband is the most efficient and cost effective way to ensure affordable communication services for the greatest number of Kenya's population, both residential and commercial users and has set measures to tap this market.Infact they recently ordered their first 300 Xnet Viper multi-radio systems from Hopling Technologies. The Xnet Viper mesh node is specially designed for citywide deployments and offers superior features that make it the best choice for large-scale integrated municipality mobility solutions.It further enables the network to provide wireless internet connectivity to anyone,anywhere at any time. This move confered upon them the prestigious capacity and title of being a Value Added Reseller (VAR) by Connection N&C Corporation (CN&C). KDN activities set the future stage and capacity for Kenya to become the premier destination for I.T outsourcing in Africa in the coming few years.

With that kind of mentality we certainly need more Kai Wulff's in Kenya and other emerging economies!