Author: Caroline Vutagwa

Cooling technology company Sure Chill has secured £4m Series A investment from Africa-focused VC Novastar Ventures and London-based VC The Garage Soho to enable the firm to develop wider cooling technologies for the mass market on a global scale, starting in Africa. In a statement, Andrew Carruthers, Co-founder of Novastar Ventures, said: “We were initially attracted to Sure Chill after seeing the application of its cooling technology to the safe storage of life-saving vaccines in some of the most remote places in Africa. Together with Sure Chill management, we see enormous potential to deploy the technology to serve the refrigeration…

According to the KPMG-audited annual report; Huawei’s revenue and net profit for 2014 has shown a great improvement. Huawei’s overall Group revenue has reached CNY288.2 billion ($46.5 billion), an increase of 20.6 percent from 2013, and Group net profit reached CNY27.9 billion ($4.5 billion), up 32.7 percent year on year. “Our strong revenue growth in 2014 can be attributed to a continuous focus on our pipe strategy, while profit increase stems from streamlined management and improvements in overall efficiency,” said Ken Hu, Deputy Chairman of the Board and Rotating CEO. “With heavy investment in innovations in areas such as cloud…

AFP news agency has just launched an app that will see all football funs in the country have the best out the English premeire league. This called the AFP#TweetFoot. This app leverages the best of Twitter to follow top national football leagues in Europe, extracting only the most pertinent and influential timelines and tweets. Working closely with Twitter, this suite of interactive, entertaining apps ranges from full-fledged sites to customizable widgets designed to work on all platforms. The news agency has selected 1 000 to 1 500 of the most influential and pertinent accounts for each football league, breaking them…

The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE)has unveiled its 2015 NSE Investment Challenge at the Exchange building on 55 Westlands Road. The NSE Investment Challenge is the Exchange’s flagship financial literacy initiative which was launched in April 2008 targeting to teach an investment culture among the youth in universities and other tertiary institutions of higher learning. At the launch, Geoffrey Odundo, CEO NSE, said: “The Exchange is committed to educating and informing the public on the Capital Markets as this in turn contributes to sustainable economic growth. The investment challenge gives the youth a safe, entertaining and affordable means of learning…

Davis and Shirtliff, Kenya’s water and energy solutions provider, has commissioned two 250kVA Dayliff Yanan synchronised standby generators for Safari Business Arcade, a Ksh.20m project that will allow tenants of the premises receive the exact energy needed, eliminating power wastage and hence lowering energy costs during power black outs. Inefficiencies in the system design accounts for up to 20 percent of energy waste, resulting in organizations incurring unnecessarily high energy costs, according to recent findings by the Kenya Association of Manufacturers. The Dayliff Yanan synchronised standby generators installed at Safari Business Arcade, currently being pioneered in the Kenyan market, are…

NIC Bank, Junior Achievement (JA) and Craft Silicon Foundation have come together to unveil an innovation award category in the annual secondary schools, Students Entrepreneurship Competitions. This competition will be worth Ksh.3.4 million. Dubbed the High School Innovation Challenge, is set to begin in May this year and will encourage students who are members of JA clubs in over 300 high schools in the country to develop transformational innovative solutions that will affect positive change in the financial sector to benefit individuals and communities across the nation. “As an innovative Bank we are constantly working with various partners to…

LG electronics has launched the Music Flow Speakers in the Kenyan market; it is a small rectangular portable Bluetooth speaker. This speakers, equipped with the Auto Music Play function and the Multo-Point function, allows the devices to connect with up to three Bluetooth devices at the same time and switch between them without having to stop the follow of the music. The Auto Music Play can also be connected to a compatible LG TV for enriched sound via TV Sound sync or get powerful stereo sound by connecting two speakers to a TV or smartphone by Dual play function. The…

Econet and the government of Zimbabwe are in the battle raging war for mobile infrastructure, according to Reuters. Econet says that Zimbabwe’s requirement to have mobile phone operators share telecommunications infrastructure was a disguise to seize the assets. The telco company had earlier said that the government’s requirement to have mobile phone operators share telecommunications infrastructure was a disguised move by authorities to seize the assets. Econet, which owns 80 percent of telecoms infrastructure, said in a statement that although it agrees to share infrastructure such as base stations – metal towers with antennas and other electronics – the…

Kenya Private School Association (KPSA) in collaboration with Intel Corporation today unveiled an e-learning classroom solution for private schools at Syokimau Blessed School in Machakos County. This is as a result of working closely with Mitsumi Distribution, Text Book Cente and Virtual Essence Limited, to bring together an end-to-end e-learning solution that can be replicated with ease in many private schools across the country. Speaking at the launch event, CEO of the Kenya Private School Association (KPSA), Mr. Peter Ndoro said, “A major challenge in the adoption of ICT in schools is how to use it as a tool that…

  Fatuma Madi, 25, thought of surprising her mum with a gift. And with her mother’s TV set being off for a while, she figured out that the best surprise was a set top box. “I personally use GOtv and so I decided to buy another for my mum. I went into an electronic shop in Likoni, paid and registered with my mum’s name and mobile phone number. I sent someone to deliver and activate it,” explains Madi. On Monday evening her mum called to relay her gratitude terming it ‘zawadi ya mwaka’ (the year’s gift). No sooner had Madi’s…

TI Sparkle is announcing a new partnership with DE-CIX  who will establish an Internet exchange (IX) in “Sicily Hub,” TI Sparkle’s latest Next Generation Data Center in Palermo. DE-CIX provides premium IX services to all kinds of networks and operates numerous carrier-neutral and data center-neutral Internet exchanges around the world, including its flagship exchange, DE-CIX Frankfurt. The new exchange will be based on DE-CIX’s leading APOLLON platform, which provides unmatched scalability and performance. DE-CIX’s new exchange at Sicily Hub was designed to allow carriers that land their IP backbones in Sicily to directly interconnect with each other and to other providers…

 The fact that digital migration has been the talk of the continient means that it must have a humble beginning; and this humble beginning started in the early 2000 when a number of countries from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Regions 1 & 3 including Europe, Africa, Middle East expressed interest to introduce digital broadcasting. Consequently, the ITU held the Regional Radiocommunications Conference in Geneva in June 2006 for planning of Digital Terrestrial Broadcasting Service in the frequency bands 174-230 MHz and 470-862 MHz, and drew up the Agreement and associated plans. The Agreement, known as the Geneva 06 (GE06),…

Econet Zimbabwe has taken shopping to the next level; the telco company has enabled all its customers using EcoCash to buy and send groceries to their friends and relatives under a partnership with grocery manufacturer and wholeseller, National Foods. The partnership dubbed EcoShopper will help people overcome hurdles in buying groceries for their relatives, especially those in rural areas. According to Natalie Jabangwe, an EcoCash executive, this service is the very first of its kind in Africa. The service is backed by an Ecoshopper application that is already available on Google Play and which will also go live on…

Airtel Kenya has been honored with the go to market excellence award during the 2015  Airtel global leadership conclave that took place from 19-21 March 2015 at Atlantis Palm in Dubai.  The theme for this year’s conclave was “Winning Customers for Life”. The award contested amongst all 17 Airtel operations in Africa recognized Airtel Kenya’s strategic business approach that encompasses its customer driven market insights, product development strategies and acquisition plans. The company achieved a 200 per cent growth in the acquisition of new high value customers with a 25 per cent improvement in month 2 decay and 50 percent reduction in Gross…

Kenya Airways will resume it normal flight schedule to Dares-Salaam on Thursday 26th March 2015. This follows the amicable resolution of the Bilateral Air Services Agreements (BASA) between Kenya and Tanzania. The airline had reduced its flights to the Tanzanian city from 42 to 14 last week following a communication by the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority to its Kenyan counterpart regarding the BASA. Kenya Airways Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Mbuvi Ngunze expressed the airlines appreciation to the two Governments for the expeditious resolution of all the pending issues. Mbuvi added that Kenya Airways remains committed to continue…

Liquid Telecom is investing $400,000 (Ksh36.4m) in Internet infrastructure that will see Kilifi County in Kenya opened up for interconnectivity for businesses and the county government premises. This is part of the firm’s $50m investment in partnerships with counties that has so far seen 39 of Kenya’s 47 counties benefit from data connectivity. The move will see 11 ministries in Kilifi connected on a 10-kilometre Wide Area Network (WAN) via fibre optics, two other ministries connected via microwave and four remote sites connected on very small aperture terminal (VSAT). Kilifi will thus enjoy first-in-class Internet connection as well as reliable…

Zambia’s Revenue Authority has called for mobile money services in order to help it accelerate the development of electronic payment system. The system facilitates electronic submission of tax returns, which the Authority says will alleviate the problem of long queues of people rushing to meet tax payment deadlines. However, the country’s revenue collection agency said its online payment system will only be effective and meaningful if stakeholders, including banks, mobile phone operators and mobile payment vendors, up the pace of delivery of services. Zambia Revenue Authority Commissioner General Berlin Msiska said, “The Zambia Revenue Authority online payment system will promote…

Ghana’s ESICH Life Assurance has successfully implemented AGILIS Life Insurance System form AQgile Financial Technologies. the solution was selected with the view of providing customers, brokers, agents and channels exceptional service capabilites and superior experience. “Our main goal is to create value for our customers and make a positive difference. As a life insurance company, we have to deal with large volumes of data that we need to process really quickly. The solution would need to have proper integration capabilities with our backend accounting system. We reviewed several solutions available in the market and found AGILIS Life Insurance System to…

Technology has made things a bit bearable especially for the job searching area where people are now ‘tarmacking’ on the internet as opposed to the traditional way of dropping resumes in all the companies reception area which end up in the trash can. Bridging the gap between the employer and employee, Kenyans are now logging in to BrighterMonday’s portal in search of a job opportunity. The number of searchers has greatly grown especially as higher university intakes lead to more graduates. To keep up with the growing numbers of job seekers, the firm has revamped its portal adding more…

Strathmore University and iLabAfrica is organizing a nine day holiday boot camp for primary and secondary students beginning 7th to 17th April. This boot camp will be looking at provoking the creativity bone in the children in giving them the opportunity to create their own games, animated stories, project and publish their applications to the web. “We cover a range of multimedia subjects including web design, video game programming, 3-D animation, Designed for children of all abilities, we start with the basics and then progress students in a systematic way that is both fun & educational. Students will create their own…

Twitter marked its 9th birthday since its inception in 2006. This comes at a time when Twitter has been engaging its users through massive use of product features like the hashtags, and best practices like live tweeting that has made Twitter usage more interactive and enjoyable. To mark the nine years of Twitter’s existence, Twitter looks back at some of the landmark moments they have created around the world and moments that have defined history among its users. In 2006, Co-founder Jack Dorsey Tweeted first, when the service was called “Twttr.”https://twitter.com/jack/status/20 In 2007, Early user Chris Messina proposed the use of a…

The president of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama has unveiled the implementataion of E- Cabinet platform to effectively eliminate the manual distribution of cabinet documents and embrace the use of technology in the conduct of cabinet business. According to the president this platform will allow real time dissemination of information on developing agenda and documents as well as enhance efficiency. The E-Cabinet platform for an electronic archiving of cabinet papers with ease of searchand retrieval functionalities and will provide for alert systems on outstanding tasks and new announcement. The presedent urged the ministers to  get acquainted to the  new platform as…

Airtel and Amazon Web Service Partner Network (AWS) have come together to ensure the delivery of private network solutions for enterprise customers using the web platform all over the world is done. In a statement, the CEO-Global Business, Airtel Ajay Chitkara said: “We are seeing more and more organizations embrace the benefits of hybrid network architectures and on-premise environments across the globe. In line with this market adoption, we are excited to strengthen Airtel’s cloud services portfolio by adding AWS to our growing list of cloud services providers.” Airtel further added that the engagement will help the company’s enterprise…

Ethiopia’s state-run telecoms monopoly has launched a fourth generation (4G) mobile service in the capital Addis Ababa, aiming to catch up with the high-speed communications available in some east African neighbours such as Kenya and Uganda. Reuters says that the telecoms industry is springing as it has subscribers across the continent totaling almost 650 million in 2013, up from just 25 million in 2001, according to the World Bank. But analysts say high-speed connections are vital to maintaining growth and supporting the wider economy. Ethiopia is one of the last African countries to have a state monopoly in telecoms…

Tanzania’s Azam TV has bought rights to broadcast Football KenyaFederation (FKF) Premier League. MP&Silva, who bought the rights to broadcast the league signed a two year deal with the TV station to kickstart the live broadcast. The matches will be live in the next two weeks on Azam TV and,  according to sources, will sell the matches to a local television channel who will turn broadcast the same live every week.  “We have been assured that in the next two weeks, live broadcast of league matches will start. The positive aspect of it all is that the matches will be…

With barely six months after it launched its mobile phone devices into Nigeria’s mobile phone market, Wiko has launched another set of premium smartphones, called the ‘Getaway’, which is the latest addition to the Wiko’s extensive Android smartphone line-up in the market. The company has also collaborated with Jumia, an online shopping platform, to further build the Wiko brand and deepen its penetration. The partnership, which began this week, is strategically set to complement the launch of the new device which will be a key feature on the online store’s website alongside earlier models. Country Sales Manager for Wiko, John…

a JUMIA  is really working on it expansion plans as it has opened six new hubs in Cote d’Ivoire; in the cities of Yamoussoukro, Bouaké, San Pedro, Daloa, Gagnoa, and Korogho. Jumia intends to achieve its goal to revolutionize the shopping habits of all Ivorians. The new JUMIA hubs will enable the e-commerce leader to satisfy an exponentially growing customer base throughout the country. They mark the beginning of an expansion strategy, which aims to continuously improve the online shopping experience by enhancing proximity. Activated this month, the hubs of Yamoussoukro, Bouaké and San Pedro already allow to serve more…

With more than 2.3 million calls made by music enthusiasts who wanted to become stars, Airtel TRACE Music Star is by far the biggest music competition to ever take place on the African continent. During a 6-month-selection process in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Madagascar, Malawi, Nigeria, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Gabon, tens of thousands candidates had to demonstrate their skills and talent in their native land. To enter the competition, the contestants called an Interactive Voice Respond system with their phone and recorded their songs. Then, in each country, TRACE selected…

CR2, an Ireland-based company, is set on improving the omnichannel banking in Nigeria; this, according to the company, will help to decrease cost and increase revenues through integrated self-service channels. Mike Brady, the Chief Operating Office, CR2, said that the company’s intention is to bring innovative omnichannel banking solutions to financial institutions in the country in order to raise their incomes; given that the Dublin-based firm and that the team would visit customers and prospects in the country. According to him, recent trends and consumer demands in the Nigerian market are fuelling the need for banking innovation. Brady added…

I&M bank and Mobikash are looking into making it big in the business of agency banking; this partnership will see the lenders customers deposit and withdraw money from the 500 mobile money transfer service agent’s network. In all this, MobiKash will be in charge of all its agents while I&M Bank will be the overseer of the whole business. This means that the bank will support the agents in all the regions through its branch network where they will maintain their floats in the Bank’s MobiKash trust account. The bank said on Wednesday that the partnership signifies its foray into…