HABA – Horn of Africa Business Association

Summer 2009 was a significant year for internet users throughout East Africa, as finally the region was connected by fibre optic cables. Internet speeds have improved and slowly the cost of accessing the internet has begun to fall. Countries such as Kenya have seen a flurry of competition from telecommunications companies all eager to gain a foothold in the HABA region. Computer and mobiles sales are buoyant and consequently the IT revolution is resulting a generation of East African techies each eager to indulge their passion. One particular Kenyan success story is the *iHub_ http://ihub.co.ke which describes itself as follows: “Nairobi’s Innovation Hub for the technology community is an open space for the technologists, investors, tech companies and hackers in the area. This space is a tech community facility with a focus on young entrepreneurs, web and mobile phone programmers, designers and researchers. It is part open community workspace (co-working), part vector for investors and VCs and part incubator.” For many young people in Kenya the *iHub_ is not only a revelation and a liberation, it is a place of knowledge sharing, learning and immense creativity. Such has been its success it could well become the model for much of Africa and beyond.