Early this month, Samsung Electronics Africa unveilled a new brand campaign ‘What If I Can’. The initiative is an attempt at shifting the mindsets of normal people to believing they can contribute towards the greater good because they have the power in their everyday routine to change people’s lives and circumstances. So to make the initiative stronger, the electronic company is working along side with a UK-based company called Pavegen by laying a 68-tile walkway, situated in Sandton City Johannesburg. These tiles have the ability to collect kinetic motion and store this as energy. In addition, the walkway consists of…
Author: Caroline Vutagwa
Caroline Vutagwa
Minding my own business is not enough for me that's why you will always find me minding Africa's Businesses as well as Technology and of course letting you know about it. Talk to me on vutagwaodera@gmail.com
Strathmore Business School has launched the very first Cyber Security programme, making it the most advanced training available for information security experts in the region. Dr Fred Matiangi, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Information and Communication during the launch, he said: “The threat landscape just became complex and more sophisticated due to the migration of government data and essential services to digital platforms. We have to take action to impart our information security professionals with more advanced skills to counter threats and vulnerabilities. The country, meanwhile, is losing more than Ksh 2 billion annually due to increased hacker activities.” The CS…
Airtel Nigeria has launched the ‘Smart Connect, in Lagos Nigeria. This product has a unique 4 in 1 Sim pack, with special benefits that offers subscriber 200 percent of every recharge of N200 and above, which also include free data of 15mb; free families and friends call and a 4 in 1 family pack for the price of one sim. At the launch, Maurice Newa, Chief Commercial Officer, Airtel Nigeria, stated that the firm had made the commitment to always be the best and provide the best for its customers. “Today we set another milestone as we introduce the…
Now that the former Njuguna Ndungu stepped down as governor of Central Bank of Kenya after eight years of service, it has been concluded that a new governor for the bank will be elected and in office by the end of May 2015. Seven out of 10 economists polled by Reuters this month expect the top job to go to Haron Sirima, the deputy governor who is currently acting governor. According to Reuters, Margaret Kobia, chair of the Public Service Commission and of the selection committee for the appointment, said the committee would submit a shortlist of three candidates to…
Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC)launched the first edition of its ‘Into Africa – the continent’s cities of opportunity’ report, which details the potential of 20 African cities that we believe to be among the most dynamic and future focused on the continent. The report is part of PwC’s global Cities of Opportunity series and its analysis structured around the critical issues of the business community as well as those of the office holders and other public authorities who are responsible for improving the collective life of each city examined here. The report argues that Africa has five trends, which are demographic change,…
Emirates has launched its very own Apple Watch app, this means that all Emirates customers with Apple devices will be able to enjoy the smart features and sleek interface of the Emirates app for Apple Watch. This app designed to complement the Emirates iPhone app. Emirates will be the first airline in the Middle East and African region to offer an Apple Watch app. “In today’s connected world, mobile technology plays an increasingly important role in the overall travel experience of our passengers. The Apple Watch platform allows us to connect with travellers on a more personal level by providing…
Lovers of Channel ‘O’ come the end of this month will not be able to watch their favorite music program as MultiChoice will be shutting it down just before its twenty-third birthday. It seems like MultiChoice Africa has completed its plans to shut it down, well it has been rumored that the decision to shut down the music channel is to further entrench the company’s commitment to content localization. This is what the statement says: “To further entrench our commitment to content localisation, on 31 March 2015, Channel O Africa will stop airing on DStv channel 320 and GOtv channel…
According to Rwanda’s Finance Minister, Claver Gatete, the country has made a notable process in economic growth in the last financial year, Rwanda increase from a 4.6 percent to 7 percent. This, the minister said, is attributed to the robust expansion in farming, services and industrial sectors. The east African nation’s 2013 growth suffered from cuts in budgetary support by donors, after United Nations monitors accused it of backing rebels in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. The Central Bank of Rwanda had reported that last year in March (2013 financial year) expected a 6 percent groth in 2014…
Having internet access in the whole country is what South Africa is looking at; with this inmind the country launched a Wi-Fi Forum of South Africa (Wi-Fi Forum SA) in Joburg. The association aims to represent the views of all stakeholders in the industry and serve as a platform for knowledge sharing and networking. The Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services, Dr Siyabonga Cwele, in the forum welcomed the formation of the Forum, requesting that it facilitates greater access to the Internet for all citizens and that it supports the growth and development of small businesses within the sector. The…
As part of efforts geared towards addressing unemployment and unlocking youth potential in Nigeria and other parts of West, East and Central Africa, Microsoft Nigeria has signed an MoU with Jobberman to create platforms to promote employment opportunities among the youth. The two will do career guidance, employability skills, and enterprise development for young people in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Ethiopia, through collaborative efforts and contributions to bridge the opportunity divide for local youths through the use of technology. Kabelo Makwane, Managing Director, Microsoft Nigeria said the MoU signing represents one of the commitments of Microsoft Nigeria…
Allan Ojango, a 2nd year Diploma student pursuing Mechanical Engineering becomes the first winner to be revealed in the ongoing #MakeitHappenEA online consumer campaign as Lumia plans to make his dream of being a photographer come true. Launched in January 2015, the #MakeItHappenEA aims to empower customers to share their life long desires, and 4 lucky winners will be selected and get a rare opportunity of bring their dream to life. Allan who learnt about the campaign from the Microsoft Lumia East Africa Facebook page and went ahead to buy the Lumia 535 couldn’t be more excited at the prospects…
OMG Ghana is taking Ghana’s gossip and trending stories to the next level; this start-up looking to useing videos and images to tell a story contrary to what we need to read to understand, we can call it the power of ‘eye-candy’ “We are building the buzzfeed of Africa, starting from Ghana. For time, content in Africa has been archaic, usually long, one way and around the subject politics. OMGGhana.Com believe that visuals speak a 1000 words, so we use videos and images (visuals) to tell our story. Our website focuses on content by building content people can relate to…
Huawei Marine Networks will now be providing internet to the Republic of Equitorail Guinnea thanks to the contact between the tech company and the government of Equatorial Guinea. Huawei will build the Ciba-2 Submarine Cable System that is expected to be ready for service by the end of the year. The submarine cable project will be utilizing Huawei Marine’s Wavelength Division Multiplex (WDM) and Optical Transport Network (OTN) technologies. The 290 km system will feature a design capacity of 8 Tbps and link the capital of Malabo to Bata. The submarine system will enable Equatorial Guinea to connect to larger…
It is now possible to operate one’s alarm system remotely using a Safeguard smartphone application. It is even possible, to open and close the gate to one’s property and switch lights on and off when one is away from home. The Safeguard app makes it possible to use the smartphone to arm or disarm the alarm, switch the siren on and off, operate the electric gate, switch outside or inside lights on and off and switch off the water geyser. It is also possible to use the cellphone to bypass an alarmed section of the building and to reactivate the…
The Kenya Copyright Board conducted a major raid in the Nairobi County. The raid targeted some identified pirates in Nairobi CBD at the Generations Plaza Building along Racecourse Road. Four people were arrested with 50 bags of infringing copies of musical works, seven duplicators, two computers and four printers. The persons will be arraigned at the Milimani Court tomorrow Friday 13th March 2015 from 9:00am. Piracy continues to be a major challenge and a big setback to creative industry. About 98% of music sold in Kenya is pirated. And according to the findings of the Business Software Alliance (BSA) 2010…
Feedbackplus is a brain child of Consumers Delight Business Service Ltd. that launched at the dusk of 2014 . The Start-Up is looking at helping consumers get access to any product or service provide, or report and resolve issues that are part of their day-to-day life. With feedbackplus customers can record, call or type their issues to the company and get response in 30 seconds. The company will also monitor the status all the way from submission to resolution and receive an alert once the issue is resolved. Feedbackplus was founded by Niyi Falodunand, who had his first degree in…
Nairobi County has today hosted a County Consumer ICT forum dubbed ‘Kikao Kikuu’ at Kenyatta International Convention Centre. Organized by ICT industry regulator, Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), the open forum provided an opportunity for consumers of ICT services to interact with service providers, consumer organizations, other government agencies and the Authority. The Authority used the platform to focus on digital migration and more so to empower consumers with factual information on what is expected of them in the migration process. CA, Director General, Francis Wangusi, “This is among the many public sensitization platforms that we are using as…
Nigerian children, as well as gamers, will have a swell time as Smileandtalk.com, a Nigerian Mobile media company (through smileandgame.com) has immortalized the popular children’s game, Oga, on the mobile phone. The way the game works is very simple, two people face each other, one player is the “server” and the other is the “guesser”. Both players have to reveal a foot position. They usually clap and dance before revealing the position. If the opposite player guesses the correct position then they take over “serve”. If they don’t guess right, then the server gets a point. The game is over…
3G Direct Pay Limited (3GDP), the leading online payment service provider for East and Southern Africa, is pleased to announce the appointment of Offer Gat, as Chairman of 3G Direct Pay, with effect from March 2015. Eran Feinstein, Managing Director, 3G Direct Pay said, “I am extremely pleased to have Offer on board. He is someone who I highly respect and has outstanding experience, and I have learnt to know and appreciate him over the years. His foresight and competent leadership will guide 3G Direct Pay during this very exciting time in our company’s growth. I look forward to…
Airtel wants to make the learning a little more relieving in Kenya’s Muranga County a breath of fresh air as it has commissioned new toilet facilities at Murang’a School for the deaf in the region, the move is aimed at improving learning environment for students. The new ablution block for boys and girls is expected to improve the environmental and hygienic conditions in the school that would promote the pursuit of academic excellence among students. The school headmistress Charity Ngugi noted that before the construction of the new toilet facilities, students would share the only 2 toilets that were available…
The Botswana Innovation Hub has partnered with Microsoft, the Botswana-UPennPartnership (BUP), Global Broadband Solutions, Vista Life Sciences, BoFiNet, Adaptrum and USAID-NetHope to start a new TV white space (TVWS) pilot project. The project, dubbed Kgolagano, is set to provide internet connectivity and telemedicine services to local hospitals and clinics, which will enable access to specialised medicine in Gaborone and other locations around the world. TV white spaces is a technology that enables the delivery of broadband using dynamic spectrum access. Unused spectrum on the frequency range (they mostly deliver TV channels) is used and known as TV white space or…
Kenyan IT firm Salsy Innovate in conjunction with Visa prepaid student card developed at Kenyatta University’s (KU) Manu Chandaria Business Innovation and Incubation Centre in Nairobi Kenya. The card will be issued jointly with the United Bank of Africa (UBA). Dubbed Y-Card, it has several integrated functions that enable learners to load and withdraw cash from Visa branded ATMs, make payments within the university and Visa branded retail outlets. The students can also use the Y-Card as a library card and student identity card. It has a secure chip which stores the student’s bank information. Bernard Chomba, Salsy Innovate CEO said that the card also…
Nigerians will now have to pay a little more for their entertainment channel, DStv nad Mulichoice blames it on the rate of inflation. A statement by the company says that the price hike has taken into account factors for the hike, some of which include the impact on the subscriber, current inflation, and efficiencies effected within the company that may offset the necessity for a price increase. The company further said that the price hike will not only happen in Nigeria but also in all African companies where MultiChoice holds a presence. The price will take effect from 1 April…
With the launch of the Web site as well as the digital literacy training, women in South Africa’s Tlhabane Community will be oozing of knowledge. Launched by the country’s Deputy Minister for the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services Professor Hlengiwe Mlkhize, the site was born out of a partnership between the Department, Deloitte SA, Intel SA, Huawei, Landbank and Telkom SA with a common goal of bettering and improving the lives of women in this community. This is not all as the women will have their business profile uploaded and shared in various networking sites giving them the opportunity to…
Google, the Raspberry Pi Foundation and Nigeria’s CcHUB have come together and selected 150 students from 5 public secondary schools across Lagos state will have the opportunity to join CcHUB’s Geeks Club. Geeks Club is an after-school computing club for secondary school students in Nigeria. Providing a co-curricular outlet, Geeks Club engages students in secondary school and provides them with new tools, resources and skills to creatively express themselves. Through the Geeks Club students are introduced to software and hardware programming, thereby creating a new generation of technology users and makers. The curriculum is built around the Raspberry Pi, notable…
Data centres have for years been known to be excessive consumers of power, consuming up to 3% of all global electricity production, and roughly ten times more per square metre than the average office. Previously, energy efficiency wouldn’t necessarily be at the top of an information technology (IT) organisation’s priority list, but rising power costs, and an ongoing need for more hardware and equipment as well as booming data consumption is changing the way data centre operators are planning and running their facilities. According to Peter Greaves – Aurecon’s Expertise Leader, Data & ICT Facilities, Data centres are complex environments…
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on February 5, 2015 launched a multi-donor trust fund to deliver capacity development in Somalia. The Somalia Trust Fund aims at improving macroeconomic institutions, policies, and data systems and will provide over nine million dollars worth of technical assistance and training to Somalia over the next three years. So far, commitments have been received from the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development ($3 million), the Canadian Department for Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development ($2.5 million), and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development ($1.1 million). The IMF is continuing its efforts to secure…
International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, together with The World bank will be providing lighting in Nigeria through the launched programme called the Lighting Africa program. The program is looking into increasing access to affordable, clean and safer lighting for more than 30 percent of Nigeria’s population who live in rural areas, and have low incomes and no access to grid electricity. Lighting Africa mobilizes the private sector to build and develop markets that enable access to clean, affordable, quality lighting products by fostering partnerships among local and global manufacturers and creating new channels through…
YahClick, the satellite broadband service of UAE and Vox Telecom have won the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) project tender in South Africa. This will see YahClick delivering voice and data services in the country’s Northern Cape at an affordable and with a high level of reliability. The SKA is an international initiative to build the world’s largest radio telescope, which will enable astronomers to monitor the sky in unprecedented detail, thousands of times faster than any system currently in existence. The Northern Cape’s remoteness and lack of radio signals in the area made it one of the best locations in…
Kenya’s Communications and IT Solutions provider AccessKenya Group has today announced its commitment to support the use of technology in the delivery of education in the country; the firm will be giving technology resources and financial support to aid in the growth and adoption of information communication technologies in classrooms for secondary and primary schools. To mark this committement, AccessKenya, inABLE Kenya and Computers for Schools Kenya (CFSK) signed two agreements which states that CFSK will spend Ksh. 6 million to support the ‘Assistive Technology Labs” project by inABLE Kenya and another Kes 1.2 million for the ‘Enhancing ICT use in Schools’…