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Introduction
Companies in developed countries (such as the
Netherlands) see business opportunities for trading their
goods and services with consumers and companies in
developing countries (such as Kenya). Goods can be
technologies, and services are often innovation services.
This brief mainly focuses on the transfer of Dutch
technologies. However, it also describes some services in
order to provide relevant recommendations for the
Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (EKN). The
collected evidence comes from scientific and empirical
literature and from activities that have been carried out in
the 3R project.
The main question in this brief is: What are the experiences
of Dutch companies in introducing Dutch technologies in the
Kenyan market and what are support needs for both
Kenyan and Dutch companies?
The more specific questions answered in this brief are:
What is the role of technology transfer in local sector
development?
What success factors determine a good fit in the
Kenyan context?
What supporting mechanisms are useful for
technology transfer?
What can we learn from current experiences in the
dairy and horticulture sectors?
1. Dutch technologies may support sector development
Dutch companies that transfer technologies and enter the
market of the dairy, horticulture and aquaculture sectors in
Kenya may contribute to local sector development. More
specifically, it is assumed that this type of international
technology transfer contributes to:
modernization of sectors in terms of production and
processing methods
a more business-like orientation of the sectors,
increased participation in logistics and marketing of
formalized value chains, and new business models
increased capacity of sector actors in terms of new
knowledge and skills to successfully operate new
technologies
new benefits for internationally operating companies
in terms of creating markets and tapping into new
sources of knowledge.
(Foster and Heeks, 2013; Hassan et al., 2015; Brem,
2017)
2. Success factors for technology fit
Following the idea that international technology transfer is
a kind of inclusive business and innovation ecosystem
(Gupta et al., 2015), the key for successful transfer and fit
of Dutch technologies to the Kenyan context is that they
are sufficiently translated and adapted to the local context
in which they are employed. For successful fit:
the technology needs to take into account local
technology and service preferences
the technology should be developed in close
interaction with the prospective users to make it fit
their demands
the technology needs to be easily modifiable to the
local circumstances during use
the technology should make use of materials and
resources, as well as support services, that are locally
available
the technology should be supported by a dedicated
business and service model that fits in the local
context.
(Foster and Heeks, 2013; Business to Action, 2017)
Inclusive innovation and business refers to innovation and
business that supports social and economic development in
Kenya by generating business in both Kenya and the
Netherlands, while minimizing negative trade-offs and
unintended social and environmental consequences (see
section 4).
3. Supporting mechanisms for Dutch technology transfer
To enable transfer and embedding of Dutch technologies in
Kenyan businesses, and hence to enable inclusive business
and innovation, two main components need to be in place:
1. The right public–private partnerships are formed.
These should include a host of partners from both the
foreign companies (from the Netherlands, in this case)
3R Kenya Issue Brief 003
How to fit Dutch technologies to the Kenyan situation:
From technology transfer to inclusive business and innovation
Laurens Klerkx1 and Ingrid Coninx2
1Wageningen University 2Wageningen Environmental Research
.
3R Kenya project| Wageningen University & Research | 2
and the country for which technologies, innovation and
business are developed (Kenya, in this case).
2. An ‘inclusive business ecosystem’ should form (see
Figure 1) that contributes essential resources to the
public–private partnerships to make them work
(Business to Action, 2017). This business ecosystem
should contain four support functions:
o knowledge and information services
o financial services
o capacity-building services
o services to support advocacy, negotiation and
rules for collaboration.
An inclusive business ecosystem should be capable of
supporting public–private partnerships to overcome
‘institutional voids’ (i.e. market imperfections or absent or
deficient regulatory and policy frameworks), as well as
financing new technologies and the support services
needed to get them set up and maintained; examples are
a network of maintenance service providers for the new
technologies, or a range of financial services to support
investment.
Figure 1. Inclusive business ecosystem
Source: G20 Inclusive Business Framework, in Business Call to Action,
2017.
4. Examples of Dutch technology transfer
In the dairy and horticulture sectors,1 several EKN
programmes have supported Dutch technology transfer and
have aimed to build inclusive business ecosystems, as have
other Dutch programmes such as the NWO-WOTRO Global
Challenges Programme and the 2Scale programme. Some
examples are described to share relevant lessons to
consider in the Multi-Annual Country Strategy. This brief
does not suggest that Dutch technology is the only or most
appropriate source of technology for the Kenyan dairy and
horticulture sectors, or that Kenya could not develop its
dairy and horticulture sectors without Dutch technology.
However, it is a fact that Dutch companies are active in
Kenya to market their established technologies or to
develop new ones locally, and this has been supported
through various programmes in recent years.
1 Though aquaculture is also an emerging sector in which Dutch
companies are involved, not enough information about it is available for this brief to cover this sector.
Dairy sector
Many Dutch companies and organizations are involved in
technology transfer to Kenya in the dairy sector, for
example CRV, Van de Heuvel Dairy Equipment, Mueller
Tanks, Kanters/EuroDairy Ltd, ProDairy EA Ltd, FIT Ltd,
Dejirene Ltd, Nundoroto Ltd, Roodbont, Vetvice, Bles
Dairies, Uniform Agri, Bio Foods Ltd, Happy Cow Ltd and
PUM Netherlands Senior Experts Programme. These
companies and organizations have been linked to Kenyan
partners and clients to improve technologies and practices
in, for example, forage production and preservation, cow
barn design and dairy management, dairy processing, and
training and extension:
Dutch dairy experts from PUM, an organization of
Dutch senior experts, provided technical support that
has resulted in an emerging Kenyan cadre of local
capacity builders and consultants, such as Perfometer
and PMO. PUM experts provide innovation support in
dairy advisory and training in forage production and
preservation, feeding, record keeping and total farm
management.
Vetvice, a Dutch dairy training and advisory firm,
launched the CowSignals® training concept in the
Kenyan market and, with Roodbont Publishers,
developed two contextualized CowSignals® books for
the East African market. Vetvice and ProDairy EA Ltd
also compiled two handbooks about modular cow barn
design, one for smallholders and one for medium-scale
farmers in East Africa.
(Rademaker et al., 2016; Leenstra, 2017).
Bottlenecks experienced: Lack of technology fit and
Kenyans’ (perceived) low willingness to pay for Dutch
technology
In 3R studies (Rademaker et al., 2016), we have observed
that the Kenya Market-led Dairy Programme (KMDP) has
played an important role in successfully promoting
international linkages between Kenyan farmers and
companies and Dutch companies, in particular among
medium- and large-scale farmers in Kenya. Despite having
a great need for knowledge, skills and technology, initially
the Kenyan market was perceived by Dutch service
providers and input suppliers to not yet be ready to invest
in good practice and high quality equipment and
technology. This was due to issues such as lack of
awareness of technology benefits, non-availability or non-
affordability of technologies. Some technologies are too
advanced for the Kenyan market and there is therefore a
lack of fit with the existing technological infrastructure
(Jansen, 2015). Examples are farm recording or dairy
management software, milking machines and cow barn
interiors.
Consequently, companies like Mueller Tanks Van de Heuvel
Dairy Equipment, Uniform Agri, Delta Instruments, and
CRV are hesitant to set up local offices or hubs with
qualified Dutch staff; instead, they use an intermediate
business model to operate in Kenya. Some of these
companies have local agents, but the service model and
3R Kenya project| Wageningen University & Research | 3
quality of services of these local agents is usually below the
standards applied in the Netherlands. As a result, those
Dutch companies without strong local presence resort to a
‘pushing’ of existing products (Jansen, 2015), instead of
innovating jointly with Kenyan partners and specifically for
the Kenyan context.
Current solutions for these bottlenecks
Become more cost-efficient: The Dutch company
should include technology delivery mechanisms that
are cost-efficient.
Show the benefits of the technology: KMDP has been
instrumental in familiarizing Kenyans with Dutch
technology, through demonstrations, pilots, training,
and trade and exchange visits. This formula is simply
called ‘seeing is believing’, and it has worked well.
Bridge Dutch and Kenyan business realities and
work together to adapt technologies for the context
and adapt the context to the technologies KMDP
has acted as a broker between the Dutch and
Kenyan sides to create awareness about and
support the building of an inclusive business
ecosystem by making sure different elements such
as knowledge, finance and capacity building are
matched and adaptation of the technology to the
Kenyan institutional setting is taken care of.
Support innovation development in Kenya: KMDP’s
Innovation Fund has helped fast track business
concepts, investment and innovations in Kenya by
Dutch companies. Activities supported through the
Fund include feasibility studies, demonstration
projects, proofs of concept and full business cases. The
Fund helps leverage and lower the risks of an
investment from an applicant. The investments
through the Fund cover a wide range of activities such
as cow barn design, farm record keeping software,
(commercial) forage production and preservation,
agricultural contracting services, milk processing and
quality-based payment systems, feed rationing
software, breeding strategy, and training and
extension. In addition, the private sector would also
like to have support with regard to market access and
covering the main financial risks.
Horticulture sector
For the horticulture sector, we describe two examples:
Green Farming and the EKN-funded HortIMPACT project.
Example 1: Green Farming
Green Farming is a programme comprising more than 25
Dutch companies. It aims to connect the horticultural
networks of the Netherlands, Kenya and Ethiopia by
setting up joint activities, projects or collaborations in the
areas of research, development and production. The
programme is coordinated by AVAG, a representative of
Dutch horticultural suppliers, and Delphy, a Dutch
company that provides advice in international
agribusiness. The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs
supports the program, in close cooperation with EKN
Nairobi. Green Farming combines Dutch technology and
experience with the specific production needs of Kenya, so
that custom-made product and service packages can be
offered, including on-farm training programmes,
maintenance and service cycles. Green Farming focuses
on providing solutions for profitable and sustainable
business results (http://www.greenfarming.nl/).
Bottlenecks experienced: lack of technology fit for small-
and medium-scale farms
Green Farming initially targeted a more mature high-tech
segment of the Kenyan horticultural sector, including:
Dutch water management solutions on a large Dutch-
owned flower farm in Naivasha
greenhouse climate management systems using
shade screens and ventilation
solar energy in a Dutch-owned flower breeding
company which was independent of the national grid.
(Leenstra, 2017)
These demonstrations were a technical success for only a
limited group of farmers, as they mainly transplanted Dutch
technology without major adaptations. Not all Kenyan
farmers could accommodate or afford this technology, but
it has assisted some of the consortium members in
establishing a position in the Kenyan market.
Current solutions for these bottlenecks
The subsequent Green Solutions project by Green Farming
did, however, take principles of successful cross-border
technology transfer into account, such as local adaptability
and embedding. In this project, three greenhouse modules
were developed: a basic, a plus and an advanced module
(Figure 2). The advanced module had hydroponics and a
fertigation unit).
Technology transfer remained difficult, however; while the
Dutch companies felt they were stripping down their
technology below low-tech to nearly ‘no-tech’, the cost of
the greenhouse design remained relatively high, which
made it hard to access for small-scale farmers.
Example 2: HortIMPACT
HortIMPACT is a programme led by SNV that works with
Kenyan and Dutch agribusinesses to develop business
cases that support small and medium-scale farmers to
overcome the challenges they face to access markets,
increase production, improve food safety and reduce post-
harvest losses. The business cases are developed jointly
with the agribusinesses and farmers and are selected
because they are economically viable, innovative and
scalable. HortIMPACT leverages private sector investments
by co-investing up to 50% of the necessary costs in these
business cases through its own innovation fund.
HortIMPACT also cooperates with national and county
government agencies to formulate and implement policies
to create an enabling and inclusive environment. In
addition, HortIMPACT supports innovation projects that in
time could result in new business cases that support
inclusive horticulture sector development in Kenya.
HortIMPACT shares the good practices and lessons learned
from the business cases with farmers, Kenyan and Dutch
agribusinesses and policymakers to enable upscaling of
successful methods and approaches
(http://www.snv.org/project/hortimpact).
Some examples of Dutch–Kenyan technology transfer
through HortIMPACT business cases include:
technology transfer of greenhouses, connected to
business cases in which lower tech greenhouses and
3R Kenya project| Wageningen University & Research | 4
nethouses were tested on farms and where farmers
were trained to operate the greenhouses.
the Ketchup Project, an initiative of a few Dutch
entrepreneurs to reduce tomato losses, which in the
main harvesting season can be over 40%. The project
has started to source tomatoes from Kenya and
process them into ketchup that is sold in the
Netherlands
development and validation of integrated crop
management packages to control bacterial wilt, with
Dutch pest control company Koppert
a collaboration between Rijk Zwaan, a Dutch seed
company, and Kenya Highland Seed, a distributor that
sells seeds on behalf of Rijk Zwaan
Dutch company SoilCares, which offers soil analysis to
smallholder farmers in Kenya by using innovative
scanning technology.
Bottlenecks experienced: Lack of technology fit and
incomplete business ecosystem
Bottlenecks in HortIMPACT related to technology fit and
creating a business ecosystem include:
Uptake of technologies such as greenhouses was slow
because it requires a huge investment for smallholder
farmers. Lack of greenhouses meant some
greenhouse hybrid seeds could not be adopted. A
hybrid seed alone will not result in increased yields if
the soil has diseases or if control of pests and diseases
is not done early by adopting biocontrol methods. So
if one technology is not fit to the situation, other
technologies cannot work either.
Non-coherent business ecosystems can prevent
sustainable uptake. If farmers have increased yield
after adopting new technologies but cannot sell the
produce, they might be less likely to buy in to new
technologies a second time. Ability to adapt the
technology goes hand in hand with the ability to
market the gains it delivers.
Where large multinationals (e.g. Koppert, Rijk Zwaan)
generally have the skills, experience and resources to
build a local network of good partners and have
intercultural competence in doing business in other
contexts (with different rules, pace of business, etc.),
smaller companies have difficulties in doing this.
(Elizabeth Kyengo and Klaas De Vries, SNV, March
2018, pers. comm.)
Current solutions for these bottlenecks
HortIMPACT fulfilled a broker role by bringing together
different partners in the Netherlands and Kenya, making
sure that all ‘ingredients’ of a locally appropriate technology
were available and that all elements of the business
ecosystem were put in place. HortIMPACT helped Dutch
companies work with the realities of small and medium
farmers, by testing a range of technologies, as well as
understand the Kenyan business and market realities.
Some of these technologies may still be out of reach for
some farmers, while others may be realistic investment
options. HortIMPACT helped match farmers with the
appropriate level of technology, noting that each case
requires a tailor-made approach and partnership (De Vries,
2018). Inclusive business and collaboration between
companies has been enabled by HortIMPACT. It provides
the means to support partnership formation (e.g.
supporting trade missions; supporting inclusive business
ideas through an innovation fund). However, changing the
sector environment, and thus creating a conducive business
ecosystem, is not easy and requires long-term effort.
Figure 2. The modular greenhouse designs catering to
different types of farmers (http://www.greenfarming.nl/nl/system/files/private/GreenFarming_Gr
owingSolutions_0.pdf)
3R Kenya project| Wageningen University & Research | 5
Conclusions
Success factors for technology fit, in terms of inclusive
business and innovation (see section 2), are (partly)
fostered and adhered to in the context of Dutch–Kenyan
technology transfer. It appears that the assumption can be
affirmed that Dutch–Kenyan technology transfer helps build
sector capacity and development. However, a fully inclusive
business and innovation approach would require continuing
attention and support.
The analysis leads to the following conclusions:
1. Many Dutch companies struggle when transferring technology to the Kenya context, unless due attention is paid to enhancing the fit to local circumstances.
2. Success factors in this process of fitting to local conditions are known: connecting to demand of market segments, adapting the product to their needs and circumstances, and working in public–private partnerships to organize the different resources needed and to tackle different types of constraints. Nonetheless, it seems that more effort can be made to start working from local Kenyan initiatives and connect
to their ideas and demand, as well as making the technologies compatible with locally available resources.
3. Most technologies observed so far seem to be centred on primary production, and less on processing, logistics and marketing, though these issues are often touched upon as they are essential for making primary production investments worthwhile.
4. Rarely, a Dutch company transfers a technology successfully without any external help, though larger multinational companies (e.g. Koppert, Rijk Zwaan) come better prepared and have more capacity for cross-border collaboration than small and medium-sized enterprises, which could benefit from EKN-supported programmes.
5. Although some support is provided more is needed in terms of brokering partnerships and activities for ‘translation’ between Kenyan and Dutch business realities, supporting the right mix of partners to
strengthen an inclusive business and innovation ecosystem.
6. Currently, support mechanisms provided through EKN programmes include innovation finance; brokering support; and technology transfer support measures such as technology adaptation, demos, supportive capacity building and training to use technologies.
7. Many technologies will still fail to be transferred without support mechanisms such as cross-border and cross-cultural brokering, support in technology adaptation and business ecosystem building, that is, help to create a conducive mix of services and a
reliable institutional environment. This may be a missed trade and investment opportunity.
8. Instead of seeing these collaborations as technology transfer, it would be more appropriate to see them as inclusive Dutch–Kenyan partnerships in business and innovation.
3R Kenya Project
The 3R Kenya (Resilient, Robust, Reliable: From Aid to Trade) project is a learning initiative supported under the
Agriculture and Food and Nutrition Security (FNS) program of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. 3R
Kenya seeks to assess evidence and lessons from FNS and other related programs that support competitive,
market-led models in spurring agricultural development. It focuses on the aquaculture, dairy and horticulture
sectors. 3R Kenya is running at a time when the Dutch government’s bilateral relations in Kenya are transitioning
from a focus on aid to trade to enhance the development of agrifood sectors. Through evidence generation and
stakeholder dialogue, 3R seeks to contribute to an understanding of effective conditions for sustainable inclusive
trade for transforming resilient, robust and reliable agrifood sectors.
3R Kenya project| Wageningen University & Research | 6
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De Vries, K. 2018. Inclusive agri-business examples from the HortImpact project. Presentation held on 18-1-2018 at knowledge sharing meeting on inclusive agri-business strategies, Nairobi.
Foster, C., Heeks, R. 2013. Conceptualising inclusive innovation: Modifying systems of innovation frameworks to
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Hassan, A., Jamaluddin, M.Y., Menshawi, K.M. 2015. International technology transfer models: A comparison study.
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Jansen, A. 2015. Status report SNV/KMDP. International linkages and partnerships. SNV, Nairobi.
Leenstra, M. 2017. Easing down the pyramid: a cross case analysis of Dutch funded interventions for agri-business led inclusive innovation in Kenya. Paper presented at Frugal Innovation for Sustainable Global Development Conference, Leiden, 7–8 November 2017.
Rademaker, C., Bebe, B.O., van der Lee, J., Kilelu, C., Tonui, C. 2016. Sustainable growth of the Kenyan Dairy Sector. A quick scan of robustness, reliability and resilience. Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation, Wageningen University & Research. Report 3R Kenya/WLR 979. Wageningen.
Acknowledgements
The 3R Kenya project is funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Nairobi, Kenya, within the framework of the
Agriculture and Food & Nutrition Security program.
This brief is based on desk review and synthesis of selected literature and expert views related to the topic. The review was undertaken to
feed into EKN’s Multi-Annual Country Strategy (MACS) development process.
Please cite this brief as: Klerkx, L. and Coninx, I. (2018). How to fit Dutch technologies to the Kenyan situation: From technology transfer to inclusive business and innovation. 3R Kenya Project Issue Brief 003. Wageningen University and Research.
The brief is available at http://www.3r-kenya.org/
Contact
Ingrid Coninx
Wageningen University and Research
3R Kenya Project manager
E: ingrid.coninx@wur-nl
Catherine Kilelu
African Centre for Technology Studies
3R Kenya Project coordinator
