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Over several days, I visited three incubators in Nairobi devoted to startups in the social space. Given the emphasis in Kenya on mobile - as many as 60% of Kenyans pack mobile phones but as few as 5% have Internet connectivity via laptop or desktop computers - the development also focused on mobile, though not exclusively.

If in the United States and other more conspicuously developed countries nerds are considered rather ridiculous - right up until they're worth $10 billion - they are possibly even less well regarded in Kenya, where both government officials and the representatives of large companies largely downplayed their importance in the country's, and Africa's, future.

"The government has a big role to play in Kenya," said Paul Kukubo, CEO of the country's Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Board. "We need to protect the private sector until it can compete."

We spoke in Kukubo's office in the Telposta Towers in downtown Nairobi. Out the window, the feathery acacias disguise the frenetic activity on the streets of the capitol, a place and people famous for its determination and energy.

When people discuss "company culture," they usually do so in terms of employment or sales. How will the way this company has developed to solve problems affect my chances of successfully working for them? How will the timbre of their daily work influence the approach I take to sell to them? But in Africa, the company culture of three big tech firms continues to influence how they treat both an emerging market and the growing human resource they have to draw from in the continent.

I spent a day talking with leaders from IBM, Microsoft and Google about their operations and goals in Africa. We spoke in their offices in Kenya, increasingly important as a gateway to East and Central Africa, as well as to the content as a whole. It turns out that each company's culture has significantly tinted how each sees Africa, and how they operate.

It never occured to Simon Mwaura that, just because he wasn't Bill Gates, he shouldn't have a house like Bill Gates. So, using scrap metal, cannibalized parts and found wire, he built himself a Xanadu of his own in Nairobi.

The self-taught indie security consultant, who specialized in shop security for small businesses in the Kenyan capital, made his house fully mobile-phone controlled. If someone broke in while he was out, for instance, his house would send an SMS message to the local police. But most important of all his innovations was the tea machine.

In sixth grade, our class was given an assignment. Pick a country, learn about it, give a short talk and be able to answer questions. Also, fashion a placard for your desk featuring the flag of the country you've chosen. I chose Kenya. Why? It has lions and its flag is cool! (I'd remind you I was in sixth grade, but it has lions and its flag is cool!)

In the years since, I've realized that Kenya, and the other 45+ countries of Sub-Saharan African, have something else. Technology. Kenya's capital Nairobi is the capital of tech in East Africa. Unfortunately, the sheer weight of media imagery featuring charismatic megafauna and famine overwhelm any clear and nuanced picture of the exciting present and possible future of Africa. So I'm going to Kenya to see if I can't capture some small part of that bigger picture.