My First Visit to iHub Nairobi

I finally visited iHub Nairobi on Thursday 23, 2011 to listen to the Fireside Chat by John Waibochi of Virtual City.
Virtual City recently won the Global Growth Economy Venture Challenge from Nokia and recieved a venture capital award of USD $1m.
John is a great presenter and was very candid, he comes across as a man who has worked very hard. His presentation was inspiring.

What is it the iHub

iHub is an open space with a comfortable working area. It has a great 20MB Internet connection, is hard-wired, has Wi-Fi and many power outlets. It has a small library with IT books.
Any tech person in Nairobi become a member.
It is located on the 4th Floor of Bishop Magua Centre, George Padmore Lane, off Ngong Road (directly opposite the Uchumi Hyper).

Impressions

• Modern, simple, tasteful, neat meeting area, well though out, lots of power outlets, the designers paid great attention to detail to make the most of the space.
• Smaller than the image I had formed from the many pictures I had seen. 
• Innovative huge map (8’x10’) of Nairobi bus and matatu routes by Kenya Buzz.
• Great view of the western side of Nairobi from the vantage point of being on the 4th floor.
• Posters of Ushahidi, Nokia, Virtual City, Microsoft etc.
• A whiteboard small whiteboard with names of the iHub members.
• Wired in public address system but it had some glitches that night.
• Young people at the iHub, majority in their twenties.
• Great snacks served at the end of the presentation.
• Great there is parking in the basement.

The greatest thing about the iHub is the idea. An open space where people interested in technology can meet; encourage and inspire. The possibilities are infinite when like minded techies get together. If Nairobi is a centre of technology development in this corner of the world, the iHub is the epi-centre. I anticipate many good solutions to Kenya's problems will emerge from the iHub.

Pete’s Coffee

I had heard that the Pete’s Coffee is the best in Nairobi so I waited until the team completed serving the snacks and then requested their best a cappuccino. It was very good. Pete’s Coffee buy the beans and roast them. You can buy a bag of 250gm for KES500. I will do that next week when my current supply runs out.

Connections

• It was great to met John Kieti aka @gmeltdown in person. I had been in touch with him via twitter and our blogs. He has recently taken on a new role with MLab! 
• I said hi to John Waibochi and thanked him for the presentation.
• I saw @roomthinker and said hi to @whiteafrican who are members of the iHub advisory team. I also said hi to @JessicaColaco the iHub Manager. 

[Ps; It can be a little awkward the first time you meet people follow on twitter, because they do not know you but you know some things about them. It is a very thin line between appearing friendly and coming across as a stalker!]

I thank team behind the idea of iHub; Ushahidi and donors who fund Ushahidi.