We must rid ‘Silicon Savannah’ of intellectual property piracy storm

There is folklore in Kenya’s tech scene that has become legend. The story goes that Somali matatu drivers running hard cash between Nairobi and northern Kenya began using mobile airtime as a cash alternative. An innovative Kenyan IT student then coded this process into what is now the ubiquitous mobile money that has made Kenya world-renowned as a fintech hub while minting multinationals billions of shillings.

The money runners and the kid who engineered their idea into reality have never seen a dime of the billions; neither have their intellectual property (IP) rights been recognised. And in a fascinating reversal of stereotypes, it was the multinational corporations and global startups that ‘pirated’ the indigenous innovations from the drivers!

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg visited Kenya’s ‘Silicon Savannah’ in 2016 only to roll out mobile money on his platform. Another non-starter recently convinced venture capitalists to give him a million dollars to sell us ugali managu on demand to the swift ire of Kenya’s temperamental Twittersphere.

Multinationals have become alarmingly efficient at spreading their tentacles to suck up local IP and valuable indigenous knowledge. Tech companies mine data unhinged due to deregulation and lax data protection laws locally. This is impossible in their home countries, owing to stringent laws such as General Data Protection Regulation Law (GDPR). If data is the new oil, then IP is the new gold.

The intriguing part of this piracy enterprise is how foreign companies and startups access, then poach, the country’s IP from right under its nose. It succeeds if everyone involved stays quiet by hook (if they are complicit) or crook (if they are muzzled by menacing non-disclosures after they exit a firm).

It works something like this: A multinational or copiously funded startup lands on the shores of our yet-to-be-tapped technology colony in Kenya and establishes local subsidiaries, research labs, software centres, innovation hubs or similar outfits. On the surface, it is a win-win venture as it’s good for the economy, brings high-level public relations, builds local technology capacity and firms Kenya as the Silicon Savannah in line with Vision 2030. 

Milking local knowledge

Once the cameras are off, the magendo follows. Kenyan tech workers are, indeed, hired but as menials — for milking their local knowledge and networks. Contracted through local strategic outsourcing middlemen who pay them peanuts, they are woefully under-remunerated.

Meanwhile, expatriates earning globally competitive salaries and benefits much more than their Kenyan counterparts are shipped in. On this 21st Century neo-colonial expedition, the captains and quartermasters are expatriates and the swains doing all the rowing local.

But the real looting is in the ideas our tech innovators generate. The potentially lucrative innovations are hurriedly filed as patents or disclosures in North American and European capitals. Billions that neither Kenya’s economy nor innovators will ever get value for. And if it is a business concept in the startup scene that makes the next rounds of funding or there are profits, the transactions are executed in offshore banks in tax havens.

The Kenya Industrial Property Act is supposed to protect Kenyan innovation by requiring that any patents or disclosures developed locally be first filed with them before any other jurisdiction. Multinationals have repeatedly flouted this regulation with abandon.

The government ought to act swiftly to contain this menace by reviewing intellectual property and data held by multinational tech firms and startups, auditing work permits given to expatriates and investigating the working conditions of the Kenyan tech worker, who is exploited and mistreated.

These are protections the Startup Bill could have but falls short of entrenching. Transactions by venture capitalists, angel investors and private equity firms must be taxed accordingly and retrospectively for Kenya-based operations. Lastly, data protection and progressive tax laws must be enacted.

It is government’s responsibility to ensure that the world invests in, not exploits, Kenya’s world-class talent and intellectual property.

Dr Wangusi is an author, engineer and scientist. [email protected]