Author: Susan Mwenesi

Lagos-based Green Energy startup will this grace the Seedstars World (SSW), the most exclusive startup competition for emerging markets and fast growing startup scenes on February 4, 2015 after winning Seedstars Lagos last June. The  startup will join  35 other startups that will  be in the running to win for $500,000 equity investment while the startup finalists will take part in a three-day bootcamp organized in partnership with EPFL, the leading European engineering school The more than 1500 that had initially applied for the competition were drawn from Eastern and Central Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America…

Isiolo, Othaya, Keruguya, Kenol, Mwingi, Loitokitok, Namanga, Mai Mahiu, Gilgil, Bomet, Eldama Ravine, Siaya, Webuye and Kilgoris are the latest towns to get high-speed 3G service from Orange. This comes at a time when the company is moving to consolidate its data services business in the new financial year, with mobile Internet being viewed as the next growth area in the country’s telecommunication industry. At the moment, the company is recording unit growth of 50 per cent in the last quarter of 2014 a  performance propelled by the provision of the Orange high-speed broadband to 35 county governments and through…

SoZimbabwe’s Social Entrepreneurship bootcamp is on and now all social entrepreneurs are clled upon to  submit their entries for the six-month structured bootcamp where they will gain the skills, tools and on completion may receive initial capital needed to launch a successful social enterprise. Additionally, they will get access to local and international experts to help entrepreneurs across Zimbabwe develop a solid business model. The bootcamp is a collaboration between a Mandela Washington Fellow with a desire to support young people working to address social issues in their communities and the U.S. Department of State. “We seek to build sustainable…

Late last year, Safaricom launched 4G-LTE Advanced in Nairobi Safaricom has announced it will expand the service countrywide in partnership with Nokia Networks, in a deal that will see users get access to Internet with peak speeds of up to 100 Mbps. Nokia will also modernize and expand Safaricom’s 2G and 3G network infrastructures countrywide. The firm announced last year that its  LTE Advanced network will offer peak speeds of up to 100Mbps, which is more than twice the speed offered on 3G technology making it possible for customers to download and upload files faster, as well as enjoy buffer-free…

A Nigerian Engineering student has launched Voissapp, a Facebook-like platform for university students in Nigeria, aimed at helping students to communicate amongst themselves and share knowledge and skills on campuses. Currently being piloted at Obafemi Awolowo University , Voissap aims to be the biggest social netowrk for universities in the country. Speaking to TechMoran, Kelvin Umechukwu, Voissapp co-founder said, “You connect with your class mates, course reps, lecturers and also get to see campus news. You can sign up on the platform but you have to register as an OAU student. We just released the web and will release the…

Are you a -potential, Africa-focused technology company? Rwanda’s first tech incubator announced today its call for applications for the 2nd cohort and you can submit your entry at www.think.rw by 21 February.  In this second round, think seeks to support exceptional tech startups to develop innovative digital solutions for Africa with its 6-month accelerator program in Rwanda. Backed by Tigo Rwanda and Millicom think launched in October 2014 with companies selected from more than 150 applications from 20 nations.  Building on the success of the inaugural program, think will select up to five new companies through a competitive selection process. Selected companies will have access to all of think’s…

The Communications Authority of Kenya has recorded a marginal increase of 1.6 per cent in mobile subscriptions in the Financial Year 2014/15 albeit against a cloud of a 0.9  per cent decline in comparison with the 2.5 per cent growth recorded in the same period of the previous year. According to the quarterly sector statistics report first quarter of the financial year 2014/15 (Jul-Sep 2014), mobile subscriptions stand at 32.8 million from 32.2 million during the last quarter. Additionally, mobile penetration now stands at 80.5 per cent up from 79.2 per cent recorded during the previous quarter, representing a 1.3…

Nomanini, a Cape Town-based mobile point of sale service specialising in facilitating cash payments in emerging market  is now operating in six countries Africa in just four years with  help of Google’s Cloud Platform. Currently, Nomanini processes over a million transactions per month and attributes part of its success to its hard to miss hardware and getting the software right has enabled it scale into emerging markets across the continent in just four years. Google App Engine, which is part of the Google Cloud Platform suite of products, is a fully-managed Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) that enables developers to build, test and deploy…

The government through the Communications Authority of Kenya has withdrawn the temporary authorization granted to the Africa Digital Network consortium by the three media houses after they aired misleading and illegal informercials that purports Startimes and GOtv are illegally carrying their content thereby infringing on copyright and neighbouring rights. Speaking at a press conference, Mr. Francis Wangusi, Director General CA said the Authority shall reposess the frequency spectrum resources allocated with immediate effect; Additionally, the authority will decline to continue with the process of issuance of a Network Facilities Provider Tier 2 License for self-provisioning to the three media houses,…

Farmers in Africa should partner and work together in order to get returns from their labour as as opposed to operating individually which alienates them from financial services. This is according to Equity Bank’s James Mwangi who added that exclusion from financial services also meant that were excluded from other services such as health, education, utilities and source of livelihood. Mwangi who was speaking at the launch of the MasterCard US$50 million challenge fund in Nairobi said that financial institutions also shy away from working with farmers directly as there was fear of production risk that puts into accounts issues…

Kenya’s switch from analogue to digital transmission has suffered many setbacks the main one being court cases but as they drama unfolds among broadcasters, some households are still using analogue transmission citing the high cost of set top boxes. In a survey done by Geopoll’s media service it was revealed that the average price of set top boxes was Ksh.5,000 Kenya shillings, or about $55. “We asked respondents who had not yet made the switch what factors were impacting their switch, finding that the high expense was the most popular response (43%), followed by “don’t know how” (15%),” read part…

Peasant farmers in Africa will no longer operate using  the silo model or remain in financial exclusion as the  MasterCard Foundation has launched  a US$50 million challenge fund that will enable them start businesses or expand financial services in rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa. The MasterCard Foundation Fund for Rural Prosperity will support innovative ideas that have the potential to grow to scale and also have a deep social impact on the lives of rural people living in poverty throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. In this regard $15 million will go towards innovation and will support the development of ideas for new products, services or…

The Village Capital, The MasterCard Foundation, Duncan Goldie-Scot have announced the Village Capital FinTech for Agriculture: East Africa 2015 program for Financial Technology Start-ups in Agriculture for Accelerator that is expected to  increase income for smallholder famers in East Africa. The program will involve 12 start-up firms that will undergo  business development training with the aim being to unlock innovations that increase access to financial services for smallholder farmers. At the end of the program, the two start-ups ranked highest by other entrepreneurs in the program will each receive $50,000 USD to help scale their businesses and impact. The initial 12…

VimpelCom Ltd which owns several telecoms in Africa has had a change of guard that will see Group CEO, Jo Lunder assume the duties of the outgoing Group Chief Operating OfficerRene Schuster who will be leaving the Company to pursue other business interests. Jeremy Roffe-Vidal will also be replacing Anja Uitdehaag as Human Resources Officer on February 1 2015 the latter having also left the company. Jeremy will build on Anja Uitdehaag’s successes in creating a highly effective Group HR function and formation of a Group Leadership Team and company culture. At the same time Andrey Patoka has been promoted to Head of…

Students in Siha Secondary schools will soon each have a laptop , their member of parliament Mr. Aggrey Mwanri  has vowed. The Dailyu News Tanzania reports that while dismissing pessimists, Mwanri  urged the residents to help him with the projecting adding that there were special laptop computers for students. Mr Mwanri, who is also Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Government) said:”We are on the right track as far as development is concerned. We are doing well in education and by 2025 every household will have a graduate or more, and every secondary school student will be owning…

Against the backdrop of increased Automated Teller Machine-related fraud cases both in and outside Nigeria, the Sterling Bank is now warning individuals and financial institutions to protect their financial information so as not to fall prey to fraudsters. According to Shina Atilola, the bank’s group head, Strategy and Communications, said the bank regretted that fraudsters had taken advantage of the cashlite policy introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other countries to hack into electronic payment systems all over the world. Atilola explained that while Nigeria had cushioned its customers against the vice through the introduction of “Chip…

Farmers in Rwanda now have an opportunity to grow their milk productiosn thanks to a new app, Gumaho milk app that will make use of data that will be used to support and grow their milk productions. According to the New Times Rwanda, the app is both mobile and web –based and used for milk collection and distribution. With the app, farmers can use their feature phones to order and get feeds through SMS, book a vet check their balance and soon they will be able to get advance on their payments. Also embedded in the app is accounting software…

Pay TV services provider StarTimes has come out denying allegations of airing free to air broadcasters (NTV, Citizen, KTN and QTV) content without the latter’s consent arguing that StarTimes makes local channels available in compliance with a “must-carry” rule as provided for by the industry regulator, Communicatiosn Authority of Kenya. “Our attention is drawn by the recent caution alerts by sections of local broadcast stations where the said media houses are advising their viewers against acquiring StarTimes set top boxes to continue accessing local content in digital quality as reality on analogue switch off continues to manifest in Nairobi and…

Pay TV provider GOtv is set to sue four key broadcasters in Kenya for airing an informercial that warns their viewers not to buy its set top boxes as the company was airing content without their consent. Gotv denies these allegations saying that the company operates within the confines of the laws of Kenya .  “It has come to our attention that four (4) Free-To-Air stations namely Citizen, KTN, QTV and NTV are currently running an infomercial on their platforms specifically advising consumers against purchasing GOtv set top boxes for carrying their content without consent, “said Felix Kyengo General Manager –…

Orange has yet again sponsored the Africa Cup of Nations set to be held in Equatorial Guinea this year after hosting last years tournament in Gabon in 2012. This event is Orange biggest branding opportunity and is aimed at helping the firm to acquire more susbscribers as well as expand across the region and continent. Dubbed the Orange Africa Cup of Nations, the touranament will see the participation of teams from Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea-Conakry, Mali, Senegal and Tunisia. As a title sponsor, Orange wilbrand will be visible in the stadiums of Equatorial Guinea…

mobile solutions provider SLA Mobile has partnered with Rubikomm, a VAS provider in the Middle East and Africa, to allow Zain subscribers in Sudan, South Sudan and Morocco to adopt  Rubikomm’s offering via Direct Operator Billing. Wissam Sabha, CCO at Rubikomm said, “Partnering with SLA Mobile is a natural move for Rubikomm and fits into our vision of serving our communities and leading our customers into the future by enabling Zain subscribers to purchase products and services from Rubikomm using Direct Operator Billing.” Global mobile solutions provider SLA Mobile has partnered with Rubikomm, a VAS provider in the Middle East…

Dell has rolled out its new enterprise class Dell Storage all-flash array (AFA) configurations starting at only $25,000 (US), a move seen as delivering on its commitment to transform the storage industry with industry-leading customer value and economics. The cost offers customers the lowest entry price for an all-flash mid-range solution by any major vendor. “For years, price has been the number one barrier to enterprise flash adoption, and we’re knocking down these walls to make the high performance, reliability and smaller footprint of flash practical for almost any workload,” said Robin Kuepers, storage marketing director, Dell EMEA. “As Dell…

Gatundu South Member of Parliament Moses Kuria will now have to face the full force of the law over remarks made on social media after the National Cohesion and integration Commission pulled out of reconciliatory talks that involved the MP and the Law Society of Kenya. The development comes only days after the legislator offered to have the matters settled out of court through a conciliatory process that involved him apologizing to the whole country verbally and via national newspapers. After a sitting held yesterday the commission concluded, “While the commission believes that the accused is innocent until proven guilty…

Essar Global Fund Limited (EGFL) has exited the telecom business, monetizing the telecom business for USD 6 billion after a successful closure of the transaction in Kenya. Essar Telecom Kenya Limited (ETKL), which operates the popular yuMobile telecom service in Kenya, has sold its network, IT and office infrastructure to Safaricom, while Airtel has taken over the 2.55 million subscriber base of yuMobile. The total deal value of the transactions is approximately USD 120 million. The transaction has concluded with successful migration of subscribers to Airtel, post receiving all the regulatory approvals. As part of the transaction, close to 90%…

The number of mobile subscribers in Rwanda increased by 2 per cent over the festive season given the sheer number of  new SIM cards by diaspora members who had come to celebrate with their families. The New Times Rwanda reports that the number of subscribers rose from 7.5 million in September to 7.7 million at the end of November last year. Beata Mukangabo, the head of corporate, legal and industry affairs at the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (Rura) said, “These are subscribers who were active for 90 days before the end November. “During the period, the trend is normally seen…

Against the background of a struggling mobile division, the companies executives are now considering options like selling or a joint venture. Reuters reports that Sony has not gangrened any profits from its TV and mobile hardware businesses and Japanese tech giant is facing a $1.9 billion loss for the fiscal year that ends in March So far there are no pending deals for Sony Mobile. “Sony can exit businesses,” sources tell Reuters. Sony’s CEO Kazuo Hirai acknowledged that “mobile and TV businesses both require a drastic overhaul.” Sony will release its  flagship smartphone during the upcoming MWC in Barcelona. Sony…

Kenya’s leading property portal buyrentkenya.com has integrated it’s international listing option through it’s partnership with ListGlobally, making it possible for  visitors using buyrentkenya’s ‘International’ tab to buy or rent properties from every continent in the world. Nicolas Adamjee the Co-Founder of buyrentkenya explains ‘This is a massive step forward for us in providing more services to the Kenyan Property seeker. Kenyans who use buyrentkenya are now able to search for property in the USA, UK, Dubai etc. In addition the agents here will now have the opportunity to advertise their properties on an International network meaning people looking to buy property in Kenya…

Google has rolled out  translate app to be used on Android and iOS tht promises to transform mobile devices into more powerful translation tools. According to Barak Turovsky, Product Lead, Google Translate, the app already lets you use camera mode to snap a photo of text and get a translation for it in 36 languages. “Now, we’re taking it to the next level and letting you instantly translate text using your camera—so it’s way easier to navigate street signs in the Italian countryside or decide what to order off a Barcelona menu. While using the Translate app, just point your…

Microsoft has unveiled its new Lumia 535 Dual SIM smartphone giving Nigerians yet another option when seeking to own a smartphone. Among the features of this are , a wide-angle 5 megapixel front facing camera, and a spacious 5 inch display protected with Gorilla Glass 3. Also available for the consumer is Skype video calls likewise seamlessly switch between voice and video with built-in Skype integration; access, edit and share Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents and OneNote notebooks wherever one is, with the pre-installed Office suite. The 15 GB One Drive cloud storage in turn offers users the ability to…

The acceleration of localized content production, the significant increase in the number of over-the-top (OTT) providers, and the defensive stances being employed by telcos and broadcasters against freemium services will all shape the coming 12 months in the Middle East and Africa’s rapidly evolving media and broadcasting industry. That’s according to International Data Corporation’s newly released predictions for the year ahead, with the global advisory services firm also expecting the region’s media players to increasingly focus on improving the customer experience as they extend their offerings. “As all broadcasters now know, simply pushing content to a giant screen in a…