Kano ICT Park: An Ideal Outsourcing Destination

Salisu AbdullahiSenior Special Assistant to the Kano State Governor on ICT

September 24, 2010 1

Why ICT Park for Kano? History of the ICT Park project. Objectives of the ICT Park. Business Opportunities in the Park. Unique Selling Points of Kano. The Incentives. The Management Model. Current Status and Next Steps. Contact Information.



The building is occupying a land area of

2330m2 it is a 10 storey building with a lot of open space planning concept that can suit to accommodate various function / activities through conversion of available space with the use of demountable partition walls.

The building is a star shaped or Y form having a Right, Left, and rear wing.

Some areas of the building have been partitioned with sandcrete block demarcating some specific functions. The areas demarcated for identified activities include the Ground Floor as a shopping arcade where it is proposed to concentrate on the sales of IT related products. The 14 No shops occupies the right and left wing of the building while the rear wing of the floor is dedicated for prospectus banks to run banking services.

FIRST FLOOR

First floor occupying 1880m2 is designed as an extension to the ground floor shopping arcade. It comprises of various sizes of space ideal for shop, cash centers, Bereau de change, Bookshops, Pharmacy, Restaurants as well as Clinic.

A large open space is located at rear wing of the two floors with few columns spread at convenient location within the structure. This space is ideal for IT training institutes and for large corporate organizations.

SECOND FLOOR The second floor is the niche of

the administration of the park. It is the place where the ICT Management officials are cited and with other key or auxiliary facilities like conference /meeting rooms are located.

The floor occupies an area of 1920m2 which, the left wing of the building houses the following

ICT Management Company,

Board Room, Facility Management

The Right wing of the floor consist of lettable spaces for prospectus tenants which will be used as

Restaurant /Kitchen Bank Food Courts.

The Rear wing within this floor has a large open space of 600m2 of which it is demarcated into various sizes designed to host large conference of 200 people, 2 medium size seminar/ meeting rooms for 25 – 50 people as well as a small meeting room for 10 – 20 persons at a sitting.

The conference / exhibition area is furnished with complete state of the art facilities like conference table and chairs, package units Air- conditioners, Audio visual equipments to meet the needs of the discerning people.

This section of the building has been designed to provide the aesthetic outlook appearance of the building tapering from 3rd – 10th floor with a roof terrace.

As with other previous floors, it has 3 wings, left, right, and wing with corresponding areas of occupation of 960m2 respectively for both left and right wings while the rear wing occupies 600m2

The floors constituting this section of the building generally has the open planning concept as earlier stated. The advantage of the open planning concept allows for maximum utilization of the available space for any medium or large organization. The spaces can be design and partition with suitable material to cater for the organizational need / requirement of the space. Other advantage is the use of the space as a work station where the head of the organization can be able to view all persons / activity going on at any time.

Generally, the spaces obtained in each level of the floor are ideal for medium and large size organizations as well as IT training institutes.

At the park is constantly and simultaneously an environment that provides IT training, research centre, market and an economy driven structure, such a place require a number of supporting facilities to enhance the working condition of the place as well as to meet up to the standard of the ICT Parks.

The common facilities to be enjoyed by the tenants include:- 2 No Boreholes to provide constant water supply to the building Conference / meeting rooms 3 No standby generating sets consisting of 2 No – 1000 KVA & 500 KVA

Generator. 4 No Schlinder passenger lifts Prayer Place (Mosque) Security: The building has a good security wall fence which allows for visual

interaction between the inside and outside space of the park. Road networks and parking space adequate for vehicular movement and

parking of several cars at a time. The general Landscape of the area has contributed to the micro and

macroclimatic condition of the park. Public conveniences: These are provided at various levels of the building for

both private as well as public utilization. Electrical supply: The building is connected from 33 KVA line with a sub

power station to avoid low voltage supply to the building.

With the beautiful edifice in place, and the supporting facilities provided, the structure and the environment must be protected and preserved to continue to provide the enabling environment need for the continued growth and development of the park.

In this respect the evolving modern concept of maintaining a building called facility management is put in place by the engaging various professionals / disciplines for such task. Various managers from different disciplines / professionalism will soon be engaged to provide the services needed to keep the building in place. They include:-

Main Facility Manager: - The role of the main facility manager is for administration of the spaces, general maintenance of the building as well as supervising other sub facility managers.

Sanitation Manager: - A sub facility manager in charge of keeping the environment clean and healthy for the occupations.

The Kano ICT Park deemed it necessary to initiate a general condition for any alteration, modification or construction work within the park with a view to set minimum standard for modification work to ensuring quality, safety, harmony and proficiency in the park.The standard specified in this general specification shall constitute the minimum requirement from which other regulation may be derived from time to time.


Kano has been an economic nerve centre not only for Nigeria but for the entire West African sub-continent.

Recently, Kano has been experiencing a downturn in commercial and industrial activities.

The new business opportunities in the ICT sector can be used to restore Kano’s economic prosperity.

The Economic Development Roadmap has identified ICT as one of its core areas.

The development of ICT parks is the fastest way of promoting ICT as an economic sector.


August 2003: Establishment of the Office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education and ICT.

July 2005: State Government approves ICT Policy. July 2006: Visit of Kano State Delegation to Malaysia led

by His Excellency, the Executive Governor, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, and the signing of a LOI with Mdec.

October 2006: Visit of MDec Delegation to Kano State to assist Kano State Government in ICT Park project.

June 2007: Kano State Government incorporates ICT Park project in its Economic Development Road Map.

July 2007: Visit of Kano State Government to MSC, Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahr to study ICT parks in Malaysia.

Oct 2007: Government re-engages contractors to complete Ado Bayero Building.

January 2009: Establishment of Ministry of Science & Technology.


November 2007: Government makes provision in the 2008 budget for both the completion of the outstanding work at the Gidan Ado Bayero, the site of the ICT Park and for the execution of the ICT Project itself.

Jan 2008: Adverts appear in newspapers inviting EOIs from companies that want set up ICT businesses and ICT training institutes in the park.

Feb 2008: A consortium of firms is contracted to design the IT infrastructure for the Park.

May 2008: 2-Day International workshop/Interactive meeting with prospective ICT Park tenants.

June 2008: Adverts appear in newspapers inviting EOIs from facility management companies interested in the different aspects of FM of the Park.

Aug 2008: 1st Train-the-trainers workshop on Outsourcing.

To promote the use of ICT as an economic development sector in the State.

To create employment opportunities thereby reducing employment.

To create conditions for the adequate supply of IT manpower for the State.

To promote the penetration and use of ICTs in the State. To provide opportunities for technology transfer and

acquisition. To attract foreign investment.



Manpower training and development: the production of various categories of ICT professionals

Outsourcing services: data entry, call centers, transcription of medical records, financial and HR services.

Software development: the design, development and testing of software packages for industries and general purposes.

Content creation and development: the development of local websites, databases, archival services, translation services, etc.

ICT system assembly: the manufacturing and assembly of computers and other related equipment.

Telecommunications Solutions: Sale of telecommunications equipment, network planning, design and implementation.

R and D in ICT: research and development of new applications systems and software.

Availability of an international airport. Good road network to many states in the country. Large enough population for a major local market. Major centre of commerce in the country. A robust financial sector.


Attractive tax regime including EPZ status. World class environment with state-of-the-art

facilities. Subsidies for rent and other services. Patronage from Government in ICT contracts. Business development assistance. Joint marketing of products and services.


As the sole investor in the building for the ICT park Kano State can provide rent subsidy to park tenants as an incentive.

In line with this, it has propose a three types of rent subsidy that tenants may enjoy.

These rent subsidies are applied on the basis of clear and transparent parameters.

General subsidy which is application to all tenants. Special subsidy which is given on the basis of the

priority rating of each class of business. the ranking is based on the basis of the potential of a tenant to:

◦ Generate employment opportunities◦ Income generation

Support to start up companies by indigenes of the State .

Tenant Class

General Special

start-ups Total

Outsourcing

10% 30% 10% 50%

software 10% 25% 10% 45%

Training 10% 20% 5% 35%

NGOs 10% 20% 0 30%

shops 10% 15% 0 30%

Auxiliary 10% 20% 0 25%

vendors 10% 10% 0 20%

Banks 10% 5% 0 15%

The Park is being modeled on a PPP model where Government’s main role is to provide a conducive and enabling environment.

An ICT Park Board consisting of eminent personalities drawn from the public and private sectors will be in charge of dictating policy and taking major decisions.

The ICT Park management will be small relying on several facility management companies responsible for the different services to be provided with a leading FM company to supervise the others.


Smart building concept: The essence of "smart building" solution is an IP-standards-based platform which

actively monitors and communicates with various devices in single homes or multi-dwelling residences, via an internet connection and intra-building network. This "smart building" concept enables customers and service partners to monitor and control various sensors, appliances and devices in the home or business, through an easy-to-use web services portal.

It is operated via an intuitive user interface, from any device that has a web browser and an internet connection. Therefore, you can use and manage your services from wherever you are: at home, at the office, or on the road.

What goes into developing a smart building?

27iiPartners Limited July, 2010

28iPartners Limited, July 2010

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30

OCS Server

PSTNGateway

Cisco IPPhone

OCS configured for IM and Presence

Cisco IPPhone

MOCClient

RTPMedia

Phone Presence

Avoid Dual ForkingUse soft phone or control desk phone

Make Voice CallsBetween soft phonesBetween desk phonesSoft desk phones

PresenceProvided directly toOCS via MOC

Unified Communications Manager

iPartners Limited, July 2010


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ICT Building are Smart saving for clients

Meet Potential in Person without travelling

No Facility management or maintenance

Minimize real estate and Energy Cost

Consolidate communication & IT expensive

Conference room and Trade shows

iPartners Limited, July 2010

Building Complex including external grounds virtually complete.

Implementation of ICT infrastructure on-going. Marketing of the ICT Park on-going. Process to allocate space to prospective tenants

currently underway. Process to select FM companies has reached an

advanced stage. ICT Park to be officially commissioned on Dec

15, 2010. Phase II - ICT Park Extension and 5-star hotel

are on drawing board.




ICT is one of the most critical factors in the rapidly evolving knowledge economy.

Kano has been an economic nerve centre not only for Nigeria but for the entire West African sub-continent but has been experiencing a downturn in commercial and industrial activities.

The new business opportunities in the ICT sector can be used to restore Kano’s economic prosperity.

The establishment of the Kano ICT Park will go a long way in achieving this vision.


Ministry of Science & Technology, Kano State 12 Ahmadu Bello Way, Kano Phone: 0803-458-1997 Email : [email protected] Website: www.kanoictpark.net

Documents

Kano ICT Park: An Ideal Outsourcing Destination