Nairobi is one of the hottest and fastest growing tech hubs in the world right now. We look at the internet, mobile and social trends that help boost the local economy and have boosted the number of local tech startups.

1. WHY NAIROBI IS THE NEXT WORLD TECH CAPITAL
SILICON SAVANNAH
www.ondeviceresearch.com

2. DID YOU KNOW…
THAT AFRICA HAS THE
MOBILE MARKET
FASTEST GROWING
IN THE WORLD?

3. KEY AFRICA MOBILE TRENDS
82% annual mobile growth rate
Between 2010-­‐2013 Africa was the fastest growing region
in terms of mobile broadband.
Mobile = 4.4% of African GDP
Mobile has contributed $32 billion to the Sub-­‐Saharan African
economy, which has been growing at 5% during the last decade.
500 million mobile connecQons in 2013
Mobile connecKons in Sub-­‐Saharan Africa are projected to increase
by an addiKonal 50% by 2018.
O
#
7

4. PREDICTED POPULATION, IN MILLIONS
Source: United NaQons PopulaQon Division, July 2013

5. THE CONTINENT
IS GETTING
CONNECTED

6. Internet users in 2012 as the percentage of
the country’s populaQon
Kenya
]
Source: InternaQonal TelecommunicaQons Union, 2013

7. Source: World Bank, 2010
KENYA’S TELECOM REVOLUTION

8. POPULATION
INTERNET PENETRATION 2013
MOBILE PHONE PENETRATION
POPULATION UNDER 18
ANNUAL GROWTH
LANDLINE PHONES
41.6 Million
41%
78%
20.3 Million
75%
251,000
g
^
N
Source: Dahlberg, April 2013, cc.go.ke April 2013
KEY AFRICA MOBILE TRENDS

9. HIGH GROWTH
Source: CCK, Operator’s Returns
66
69
72
74
77
80
Dec ‘11 Mar ‘12 Jun ‘12 Sept ‘12 Dec ‘12
71.3
74
75.4
77.2
78
% of mobile penetraQon

10. % of internet users and penetraQon
HIGH GROWTH
0
10
20
30
40
50
Dec ‘11 Mar ‘12 Jun ‘12 Sept ‘12 Dec ‘12 Mar ‘13
22.7
28.7 30 30.9
36.8
41.1
8.9
11.3 11.8 12.2
14.6 16.2
Internet users
% of population with internet access
Source: CCK, Operator’s Returns

11. Mobile data conQnues to
dominate the internet
market, contribuQng 99%
of the total internet/data
subscripQons.
“
”Source: CCK, April 2013

12. MAIN NETWORKS & SUBSCRIBERS
9%
19%
72%
5.2 million
2.5 million
19.8 million
0.23 million

13. 47% of Kenyans have a Series 40
or Symbian OS phone
i.e. a feature phone by Nokia
Source: statcounter.com

14. Source: Buzzcity, 2013
NOKIA STILL RULES

15. Source: statcounter.com, July 2013
ANDROID IS GROWING

16. 7.5
1414
19
21
22.523
29
35
42
63
80
Source: On Device Research, 2013
ön><  6  ` $
Music
Games
Sports updates
TV / video
Operator services
Local news
Maps,navigaKon
Banking
Books, magazines
InternaKonal news
Weather
ProducKvity
WHAT KENYANS DO ON THEIR MOBILE

17. SOCIAL MEDIA IN KENYA
Kenya has the second most acKve Twier
users in Africa a]er South Africans.
2.4 million tweets were sent out in the final 3
months of 2011.
1.95 million Kenyans used Facebook in
October 2012.
Kenya is also the second largest Facebook
country in Sub Saharan Africa a]er Nigeria.
Source: socialbakers.com
G
U

18. AFRICAN FACEBOOK USERS, 2013
Source: Afrographique

19. Source: zerogeography.net

21. KENYA IS THE
GLOBAL LEADER
IN MOBILE MONEY
TRANSFER SERVICES

22. M-ticketing
HOW MOBILE MONEY IS USED
…and all without needing a bank account,
bank card, smartphone or contract!
Disburse
salaris and
pay bills
Send money to
relatives and
friends - even
from abroad
Mobile top-
ups (29% of
Safaricom
top-ups)
In-store
purchases
Loans and
savings
products

23. MOBILE MONEY PENETRATION
2/3
$2.63
billion
of Kenyans over 15 are subscribed
to mobile transfer services
In the final quarter of 2012
deposits totalled
N#
# # # #
N
Source: CCK, April 2013

24. 

 Launched in 2007 by Safaricom
19 million total users, 10.5
million monthly acQve users
25% of the country’s GDP flows
through M-­‐Pesa
Source: Economist, May 2013, Safaricom, 2013

25. 

 78% of mobile money
subscribers use M-­‐Pesa
M-­‐Pesa has over 60.000
agents, 26.000 of whom were
recuited in 2012.
M-­‐Pesa contributes to 18% of
Safaricom’s total revenue, more
than SMS and data put together
In 2012 M-­‐Pesa revenues grew
by 29%

M-­‐PESAS IMPACT
Source: Economist, May 2013, Safaricom, 2013

26. SILICON SAVANNAH

27. STRONG KENYAN GOVERMENT LEADERSHIP
“Launched in January 2013, Konza
technology city is expected to
cement Kenya’s role as a regional
technology leader in Africa.
The project is expected to cost $10
billion and create more than
200,000 jobs.”
Source: theafricareport.com, April 2013

28. STRONG KENYAN GOVERMENT LEADERSHIP
“Kenya’s growth has been
aoributed to strong na<onal
leadership, parQcularly the
establishment of a strong
regulator and the inclusion of ICT
as a pillar for naQonal growth in
the Vision 2030 plan.”
Source: Dalberg, April 2013

29. STRONG KENYAN GOVERMENT LEADERSHIP



Kenya was the first country in Sub-­‐Saharan
Africa to introduce a government open data
portal
Central drive to increase access to
bandwidth
More than 80% SMEs surveyed expected
that the internet will help them grow their
business, and 70% of those expect to hire
new employees as a result
ICT has led to innovaQon across departments
in Kenya, e.g. online training for nurses

Kenya has a strong business environment
and good educaQon system but weaker
physical infrastructure


30. THERE ARE 50 AFRICAN TECH HUBS
Source: africahubs.crowdmap.com

31. TOP KENYAN TECH ORGANISATIONS
Nairobi’s InnovaQon Hub for the technology
community is an open space for the technologists,
investors, tech companies and hackers in the area.
It has over 10,000 members, 150 incubated
companies and backing from companies including
Google, Intel and Samsung
IdenQfying, nurturing, and helping to build
sustainable East African enterprises with a mobile
technology focus.

32. VC4Africa is the largest online community of
venture capitalists, angels and enterpreneurs
dedicated to building businesses on the African
conQnent.
Provide access to seed funding (up to $100,000),
mentorship, collaboraQve working space in the
heart of Nairobi’s business district, intensive
series of workshops and access to investors.
Savannah Fund is a seed capital fund specializing
in $25,000-­‐$500,000 investments in early stage
high growth technology (web and mobile)
startups in sub-­‐Saharan Africa.
TOP KENYAN TECH ORGANISATIONS

33. Business incubator focused on providing the right
ingedients to turn business ideas into viable
startups.
Three-­‐month accelerator programme in Nairobi
and Cape Town, invesQng up to $100K in 10-­‐12
startups. Funding, enterpreneus-­‐in-­‐residence and
office space provided.
TOP KENYAN TECH ORGANISATIONS

34. KENYA
HAS LOTS
OF COOL
STARTUPS…

35. REAL-­‐TIME CROWDSOURCED
CRISIS MAPPING
Ushahidi is an open-­‐source tool to
crowd-­‐source informaQon using
mulQple channels, including SMS,
email, Twioer and the web.
Used in 128 countries to map and
respond to crises including HaiQ
earthquake, Texas oilspill and
Kenyan elecQon monitoring.

36. AFRICA’S ANSWER TO INTERNET
CONNECTIVITY
BRCK is a back-­‐up generator for the
internet. It’s a router for 20 people
with 8+ hours of baoery when the
power goes out. If broadband fails
it switches to 3G and becomes a
travelling mobile hotspot.

37. HELPING FARMERS THROUGH THE
MEDIUM OF SMS
M-­‐Farm provides farmers with
access to current market prices. It
aggregates their needs into
discount orders with suppliers and
gives them direct, collecQve access
to both regional and export
markets.

38. RENT-­‐TO-­‐OWN SOLAR FINANCING
M-­‐KOPA provides affordable solar-­‐
powered lighQng and mobile
charging to rural Kenyans on a pay-­‐
as-­‐you-­‐go basis, with payments via
M-­‐Pesa.

39. WANT TO REACH KENYAN CONSUMERS?
On Device Research uses the
mobile internet to gain access
to consumer opinion any Qme
or locaQon.
Mobile research brings fresh,
instant responses that
accurately capture the feelings,
thoughts and opinions of
people anywhere.

40. INTERESTED IN MOBILE RESEARCH?
www.ondeviceresearch.com
for more informaQon
or contact Siim Teller
siim@ondeviceresearch.com
+44 207 278 2267
Follow us:
   