This essay presents data artifacts that accompany the journal article "Becoming an African Techpreneur: geopolitics of investments in “local” Kenyan entrepreneurship" published by Engaging Science, Technology and Society (ESTS).
Cite this dataset:
Angela Okune and Lea Mutuku 2022. "Becoming an African Techpreneur: geopolitics of investments in “local” Kenyan entrepreneurship." Multi-part. Version 1. Distributed by Engaging Science, Technology, and Society. STS Infrastructures (Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography). https://n2t.net/ark:/81416/p4s88s.
Essay created by:
ESTS Open Data Editor Tim Schütz and ESTS Associate Editor Angela Okune
A broad movement in the scholarly community is pushing towards data sharing or “Open Data,” particularly in the natural sciences and medicine. Recognizing that there are compelling reasons why scholars in STS and related fields are wary of data sharing and careful to protect their work, the ESTS Editorial Collective (EC) has pursued experiments towards establishing a publishing infrastructure for open data with the goal of better understanding the possible benefits for the STS community from data sharing and the role that a scholarly-run journal like ESTS could play in realizing such opportunities. Our approach develops from a commitment to recognize and foster the data relations we most value as a heterogeneous community of scholars and interlocutors. We have partnered with STS Infrastructures, an instance of the Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography (PECE) designed and built by STS scholars, to understand what “Open Data” can mean in/ for STS, and develop norms, practices, and infrastructures that match the kinds of data that we work with. Read more about our understanding and approach to open data. Explore all ESTS published data.
For the development of this writing, we leveraged an autoethnographic approach, using our writing process as a primary means of inquiry. We (Angela Okune and Leonida Mutuku) have been close friends since 2010 when we began to work as colleagues at the iHub. When offered the opportunity to re-visit and develop a narrative piece around the STS Across Borders collection initially developed in 2018 about iHub Research, we decided to leverage an autoethnographic approach to center our embodied experiences. Between September 2020 to May 2021, we met over a dozen times by Zoom to discuss and develop the paper published by ESTS. These recorded discussions ran one to two hours each and helped surface our observations of how the tech ecosystem in Nairobi has changed and shifted over the last ten years. We probed each other for events we thought significant in the construction of Silicon Savannah, legislation that we believed shaped its formation, and for key influencers and actors to develop a timeline of key events in Nairobi’s tech scene. These published data artifacts are selected clips from some of these conversations.
In conducting this research, we also heavily relied on Kenyan government reports, policy documents, and local and international media reporting. Many of these artifacts can be found on the Research Data Share portal (https://www.researchdatashare.org) where we uploaded this material (see list below). However, in deciding which data to submit for publication via ESTS, we determined that according to Kenya's copyright law, government works can indeed be subject to copyright. Therefore, to avoid issues related to the copyright status of government works, we decided to instead publish these audio clips from four conversations (in Sept, Oct, Nov, and Dec 2020) which we generated in the process of conducting this research.
We consider this data to be an important contribution to public data about technology entrepreneurship both on the African continent where our own experiences are based as well as in other regions of the world. There is an increasing growth in datasets related to tracking capital investments in Africa (see for example Start-up Deals Database). However, there is still little data that provides insight on co-construction of the entrepreneurial self, national policy, and media representations. We hope this data supports what we believe is a fruitful area for future research.
Additional Relevant Kenya Government Works
Kenya Ministry of Information Communications and Technology. 2006. “Kenya National ICT Policy.” Distributed by STS Infrastructures (Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography). https://www.researchdatashare.org/content/2006-kenya-national-ict-policy.
Kenya Ministry of Information Communications and Technology. 2016. “Kenya National ICT Policy.” Distributed by STS Infrastructures (Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography). https://www.researchdatashare.org/content/2016-kenya-national-ict-policy.
Kenya Ministry of Information Communications and Technology. 2019. “Kenya National ICT Policy.” Distributed by STS Infrastructures (Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography). https://www.researchdatashare.org/content/2019-kenya-national-ict-policy.
Government of the Republic of Kenya. 2008. “Kenya Vision 2030.” Distributed by STS Infrastructures (Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography). https://www.researchdatashare.org/content/government-republic-kenya-2008-kenya-vision-2030-popular-version-government-republic-kenya.
Government of the Republic of Kenya. 2018. “Marking 10 years of Progress (2008-2018).” Distributed by STS Infrastructures (Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography). https://www.researchdatashare.org/content/government-republic-kenya-2018-marking-10-years-progress-2008%E2%80%942018-government-republic-kenya.
Perry, A. 2011. “Silicon Savanna: Mobile Phones Transform Africa.” TIME. Distributed by STS Infrastructures (Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography). https://www.researchdatashare.org/content/perry-2011-june-30-silicon-savanna-mobile-phones-transform-africa-time.
Zachary, G. P. 2008. “Inside Nairobi, The Next Palo Alto?” The New York Times. Distributed by STS Infrastructures (Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography). https://www.researchdatashare.org/content/zachary-g-p-2008-july-20-inside-nairobi-next-palo-alto-new-york-times.
