Information Communication Technology (ICT) has been credited with the major breakthroughs in the industrialization efforts of most developed countries. With the landing of the marine fiber-optic cable; Kenya is set to enter the new information age where IT is expected to rejuvenate the way business is conducted in both the public and private sectors of the economy. This entry is however likely to be marred by the fact that most Kenyans lack in the basic, but necessary ICT skills. This condition of ICT illiteracy is likely to prevent many from fully exploiting the maximum benefits which come with this technological advancement.

A long journey starts but with a single step. Hence, in an effort to help mitigate against this possible malaise, Octopus ICT Solutions Ltd, a local ICT firm, with the support of several government agencies and private corporations has organized and is co-coordinating an eLearning campaign whose aim is to educate and enable Kenyans to come of age in this new sector.

This campaign is dubbed The Educate Kenya Campaign. The campaign is encapsulated in a countrywide tour that will span the eight (8) provinces and be held in Sixteen (16) towns over a period of 8 months. With this campaign, Octopus ICT Solutions hopes to make a difference in the lives of Kenyans and the world in general.

To finance this effort, Octopus is “selling” exhibition space to companies. You are hereby called upon to “book” your company a spot on the tour to display your solutions and popularize your products to a wide audience across the country while supporting a worthy cause. The Educate Kenya Campaign is a tour of free eLearning and ICT clinics that will span the 8 provinces of Kenya.  This tour will consist of clinics whose goal will be to familiarize the attendees with ICT related products and services. The clinics will enable the attendees to get involved by giving them a chance to interact with the computer through active eLearning technology.

Exhibition space
The countrywide eLearning clinics will help inform and expose thousands of Kenyans on available ICT, eLearning and internet related products, services and opportunities. There will be at least 30 tents with internet ready computer access points. Each of these tents is expected to hold the exhibiting company which will be provided with adequate space to display its wares, marketing materials and public relations personnel.

Supporting exhibition activities
It will be a “hands on approach” to the use of computers and the internet for self enrichment. The aim is to first and foremost demystify the “animal” called a Computer, and second, to offer a live demonstration of how one can use the computer for something more than email access or typing of documents.

Scheduling
Each event will be held for two days at various educational institutions across the country. (Friday and Saturday).

The organizers have set aside 30 stations in the form of tents, measuring 20 x 20 square feet as the display booths. In these tents there will be uniformly draped tables and chairs on which 10 computers with full access to the internet will be placed. The exhibiting company will also take the ownership of the booth by branding it with its banners and logos.  Each demo area at the booth will have an attendee from Octopus ICT Solutions to guide the visitors through the eLearning process as each computer will be internet enabled (wirelessly) to access the easyLearning platform which contains over 1500 courses in Information Technology, Desktop Skills and Professional Development, e-government, project management, sales and Marketing among many others.
 
Since the revolutionary technology of accessing courses online brought about by Octopus ICT Solutions EasyLearning involves the use of SCRATCH CARDS, each of the attendees will be provided with the opportunity to access a course on the platform using a scratch card. Attendees will be guided on how to engage in self study and eventual training without reliance on a teacher or an instructor. On their part, the Exhibitors will seize the opportunity to market their companies and products to the attendees who will of necessity come to their booths (tents). We guarantee that your booth will be visited due to the set up of the show.  Since each tent will house 10 computers, and these computers will be used by attendees to access the free courses through a demonstration, they of necessity will come to you and you will get a chance to inform them of your products and/or services.

As we are all aware, most Kenyans, even the well educated, are somehow averse to ICT and consider it to be a domain of those who are ICT informed or enabled. In isolation, this presents us with a challenge when it comes to drawing large crowds to the events. In that case, a deliberate and concerted effort to popularize the events has been put in place.

The Print Media
The popularization campaign will entail the use of the local print and electronic media such as the daily newspapers and magazines where carefully targeted adverts will be placed. Adverts will appear in popular newspapers such as The Daily Nation, EA Standard, The Business Daily and The Nairobi Star; for three weeks prior to the commencing the campaign.

Television, Radio advertising and coverage
Pre-event publicity will be conducted through strategic digital media adverts and talk shows in leading broadcasting TV and Radio stations such as KTN, KBC, NTV, Citizen, Capital FM, EASY FM, KISS100, CLASSIC FM. The aim will be to inform potential visitors to attend the countrywide Educate Kenya Campaign events. Strategic plans are underway to enable live event coverage to be aired through some of these broadcasting stations highlighting the events features and opportunities through the involvement of high ranking personalities who will attend some of these events.

Online Advertising: Websites
This being an ICT promotional event, it is only befitting that it be advertised on the web. Thus, the organizers have in place a plan to make sure that the free eLearning clinics Ads featuring the Exhibitors’ profiles will be published in several websites using Google Ads and also in specific websites both locally and abroad. Our own websites which are frequented by quite a number of visitors will also carry an acknowledgement of the Exhibitors with a brief description of the organization or the individual Exhibitor. Links to the exhibitor’s website will be included on our websites as well.

Information leaflets and Outdoor media
Two weeks prior to each of the events, street banners, posters and flyers will be distributed to encourage visitors to the Educate Kenya Campaign events. The names, logos and images of the Exhibitors will be included in the advertising media. A more aggressive campaign will be introduced through dedicated supplements and inserts weeks before each event to highlight the many attractions and opportunities.

On average, 4,000 information leaflets will be distributed prior to each event through a broad range of stakeholder for this campaign. This will serve to give the Exhibitors maximum exposure as philanthropic organizations committed to corporate social responsibility and accompanying this will be positive business returns from the advertising effort.

The estimated attendance is between 2,000 and 4,000 people daily per show. The shows are expected to draw widely from all walks of life due to the concerted popularization campaign to be implemented. Being that Kenyans are hungry to get information on how ICT products work and their associated benefits, accomplishing this feat will not be as daunting. Additionally, to facilitate attendance, and focus, there will be no gate fees charged, and attendees will receive free items such as easy-learning CDs, T-shirts, and various promotional merchandise. You are being encouraged to consider offering branded T-shirts, hats and pens etc as free items for self promoting your company products and services.  Our target cross section of attendees in addition to the general public includes the following:

Professionals and experts in Information Technology and Education
As we are committed to building networks, the target groups we seek to focus on are:

Leading Information Technology experts, vendors, providers and manufacturers,

ICT Policy makers, Development Partners and Local leaders with goodwill

Professionals who deal with the management of people skills such as Human Resource Managers, Team Development Managers, Project Leaders, and Government Departments related to social services, Performance Improvement and CSR Managers.

Information seeking visitors
With great emphasis on the live eLearning demonstration and testing, the eLearning clinics are designed to attract, stimulate and motivate information seeking visitors. 

Senior executives and middle-level managers in the civil service, public and private organizations, and NGOs.

Head teachers, Instructors, Lecturers and students from University, College and Secondary level Institutions.

Due to various management and organization considerations, the organizers have limited the number of Exhibition opportunities to 30 spots (tents). The fees being asked for are very reasonable and a full account of what the money is intended for is given. Our aim as the organizers is to have a successful campaign. We encourage you and your company to register for all the 16 shows as you may face a tough time getting in at a later date, also this will enable us to peg and in a way plan the events for maximum impact. We have provided you with the packages for the various entry levels, and as you will notice, for the comparative gain due to the pooling of advertising resources, your company stands to benefit immensely. 

Registration fee: Kshs. 60,000 (Two days) per event
This is to secure the display space (20x20 sq. ft tent). This will allow the organizers to allocate your organization one of the 30 tent spaces. The registrants will be free to brand their tent in their colours and logos. This registration money will go towards event management logistics and the deliberate and concerted marketing effort outlined earlier.

Sponsorship fee: Kshs. Kshs. 160,000 (Two days) per event
Your contributions as a sponsor will help in the media awareness, advertising and in acquisition of vital material (computers, tents and internet) including other event logistics. The core of this exercise is the enabling of the attendees to use eLearning under the guidance of experts. As such, during the event, attendees will have a chance to use and test eLearning courses on each computer at the event.

The free eLearning clinic road shows will be held in at least 2 key towns per province; 16 towns. This being an education effort, we have strategically selected the venues to be at the institutes of higher learning across the country.

A confirmation of your participation is finalized when you make payment. Upon registration confirmation, each exhibitor will automatically get exhibition space and tent will be specified. More exhibition details are as below:

Confirmation Deadline:
In support of the free eLearning clinics, please confirm your interest to exhibit by submitting the Exhibitor Application form herewith attached along with full payment of the commitment period within 2 weeks of the official starting date.

Registration Requirements
To lock in your space at the exhibition, a cheque for thefull amount drawn out to Octopus ICT Solutions Ltd must be received at least 2 weeks prior to the event date.

Octopus, the organizers and coordinators of the event have offered to provide access to the online courses through a sponsorship of the easyLearning scratch cards to the attendees free of charge. These cards will allow attendees to access the easyLearning platform and get the hands on feel of the courses and computer interaction.

We welcome the opportunity to have your company participate in the educate Kenya campaign. In order to secure your exhibition and sponsorship opportunity, kindly view and fill the attached Educate Kenya Campaign Exhibition Registration Form.