Smartgov platform, an  identity management and e-payment infrastructure for state governments first deployed in Cross River State Nigeria is set to be used to raise new revenues according to an announcement during the 2014 budget presentation to the state assembly.

First deployed in 2011, Smartgov was developed by Interswitch in partnership with the Cross River State Government (CRSG) in amove to improve governance, accountability and access to social services for citizens.

Speaking during the 2014 budget presentation, Senator Liyel Imoke, Governor of Cross River State, has said that his government will expand ways Smartgov was being used. Smartgov helps state governments automate ministries, departments and agencies, identify all citizens and residents, track and monitor usage of social services, enhance internally generated revenue and automate disbursements and payments by government. This grows revenue, eliminates wastage, simplifies governance and increases access to government services.

According to Mr. Jonah Adams, Managing Director, Smartgov.CRSG Limited, “We are extremely proud of our achievements to date in Cross River State and the renewed commitment from CRSG to extend the use of the Smartgov identity management and e-payment infrastructure to eliminate wastage and grow revenues. It is our mission to help state governments to offer their citizens a more efficient service and better value for money.”

The Smartgov project has enabled CRSG to create a state-wide Identity Management System for residents and corporate in the state (the first state in Sub-Saharan Africa) while biometric-based Identity Cards have also been issued, providing cardholders with access to healthcare, pension, transportation, educational bursaries, social amenities and social benefits. Smartgov has facilitated the automation of key Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) revenue sources and services and the reduction of government processing cost.

Mr. Mitchell Elegbe, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Interswitch Transnational, said the success of Smartgov in Cross River State has given them a greater determination to roll out the solution across all state governments in Nigeria.

“By doing so we can give Nigerians everywhere a more effective and efficient service from government that utilises the latest world-class e-payment and identity management technologies,” Elegbe concluded.

In the verge of trying to merge mobile and desktop user experience, the software king, Microsoft, will soon reveal its latest OS in April, of course this year.

Windows 9 platform will also have to trounce user resistance to a more mobile style layout for desktop devices. The company’s current OS suffered criticism from users when it removed the classic Start menu, and spurred 3rd party software that restored it.

The prominent Microsoft blogger, Paul Thurrott revealed that the Windows 9 OS will be shown off in April, and will also see a return of the old desktop screen.

The new design, which has earned the name “Threshold”, will be unveiled at Microsoft’s BUILD developer conference in April, and will be in the market next year.

The company is also expected to have named its replacement CEO by the time of the conference, enabling the new boss to show off the new software.

 The Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) wants the next election, which is next year, to use the electronic voting processes; this they say will ensure credibility.

NSE has recommended that the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) use the Nigerian Communication Satellite (NigComSat) e-Voting system; and is willing to offer technical support to INEC.

President of the Society, Eng. Mustapha Balarabe Shehu, said the country could save money by using an e-voting system.

“We have successfully used the NigComSat e-voting platform to elect our executive members twice and we believe that INEC could also use the platform in the coming election. Government is already tackling the issue of power and broadband penetration. Once that is settled, I believe the next thing is for INEC to key in into the e-voting platform. We have tested it twice and we believe that it is workable,” he said.

He explained how the society conducted its election using the NigComSat e-Voting platform.

“Prelude to the e-voting, an e-registration took place a day before where all eligible engineers had their data captured and saved on a database. Biometric details included photographs, fingerprints among others for Radio Frequency Identification (RFID).

“In all, 2,048 engineers were captured during the registration and 1,574 voted eventually. These figures surpassed those of previous year which recorded 1,313 on the register while 1,303 voted,” said Shehu.

He advised INEC to use the system on a small-scale for a pilot test and then eventually expand it to cover the entire country.

Namibia has unveiled Citizen Connect a pilot project created to bring broadband access to the  Namibians.

This project comes under MyDigitalBridge Foundation in conjunction with the Millennium Challenge Account Namibia, and with the support of Microsoft and the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia.

The pilot uses white spaces technology to deliver high-speed and affordable internet access through unused television frequency, providing critical access to technology in remote and disadvantaged areas.

MyDigitalBridge is a Namibian not-for-profit organization whose mission is to enrich the lives of marginalized communities through equitable access to technology. The Millennium Challenge Account Namibia (MCA-N) is a development program funded by the United States government to help reduce poverty through economic growth. This collaboration was created between MyDigitalBridge, MCA-N, and the Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative.

This TV white spaces network in Namibia should come online in the first half of 2014. It will connect 34 schools and school circuit offices across the Ohangwena, Omusati and Oshana regions.

MyDigitalBridge says the network will also help further the goals of the Government of Namibia to bring universal and affordable broadband access and improved educational opportunities to its people. Additionally, MyDigitalBridge will make this infrastructure available to third party social entrepreneurs working to extend the reach of existing and new government e -services to currently unconnected citizens.

East Africa’s largest Internet Exchange Point, the Kenya Internet Exchange Point (KIXP) has chosen the East Africa Data Centre has beat other seven other firms to host KIXP to support its future growth objective of being the regional Internet exchange point for East Africa – and could guarantee connectivity, security and power supply.

According to Fiona Asonga, TESPOK Chief Executive Officer in a statement “This is an important strategic decision for the Kenyan telecom market as we herald a new future for Interconnection in Kenya and the region as a whole.  We are extremely happy with our choice of The East Africa Data Centre.  It has an excellent reputation for quality, reliability and service”.

Said to be East Africa’s largest and most sophisticated, the East Africa Data Centre launched in September in Nairobi and offers carrier-neutral, secure and reliable space for dedicated hosting, interconnect services, co-location, disaster recovery, network-based services, applications and cloud services to carriers, network providers and enterprises from across the continent.  Customers present in the building include banks, mobile network operators, ISPs and cloud solutions providers.

KIXP enables Kenyan ISPs to easily exchange traffic within Kenya without having to use multiple international hops.  KIXP frees international links from congestion, speeds up data and reduces costs and delays. The East Africa Data Centre will help it achieve its objectives conveniently.

“KIXP’s confidence in us confirms the quality of our offering. By keeping African data within the continent we are all helping to build Africa’s digital future,” said Dan Kwach, General Manager at The East Africa Data Centre.

The migration of KIXP to East Africa Data Centre began on 1December 2013 and is expected to end on 14 February 2014.

The Kenyan-based Westlands Chess Club (WeCC) has just redesigned its website, adding more features, backed with the mission to turn Kenya into a “mad-chess country”, drawing more players.

Months after the WeCC came to existence, its old website with the same URL has been quietly up for two and a half years. However, the new site opened on Friday is expected to attract at least 600 followers from its Facebook page, set to fuel more chess-loving fans.

Marking this year’s latest development, in the drive to ease navigation of which would to cater for the growing number of chess players in and out of the country, WeCC is not just launching a school initiative that would encourage youth to play the game, but is set cater for players keen on receiving news updates and game reports posted on the new website.

Yet, as one of Kenya’s newest and most progressive chess clubs based in the Westlands suburbs, WeCC has come a long way years after chess was introduced in the country as early as the 1920s, say British journal reports.  The board game was officially registered as a club for in 1958 by the Nairobi Chess Club. Years later, as the game emerged in the country, Paras Gudka and his supporters, felt the need to open Westland’s very own club.

Thus, the Westlands Chess Club was opened in August 2011 having its base at the Westgate courts beginning with one chess board and handful of players. And today, it now accommodates at least 40 players at the Slush Coffee World, Parklands Nairobi, in tournaments and even on busy Saturday afternoons. Its membership packages cater for a wide range of players including chess veterans, complete novices and a few occasional spectators.

According to the WeCC website developers, the new site is expected to deliver better user experience for visitors to find information efficiently. It has a design that makes better use of screen space accessing it through a desktop computer, laptop or mobile phone.

“This site works really well on my smart phone too,” noted WeCC Director, Paras Gudka.

Visitors can now post comments under each news item and event pages making it more interactive.

While adding PNGs of games played in the WeCC tourneys would be the club’s next mission, participants of tournaments organised by the Club would be assigned a rating of 1300 at the start of their first Blitz, Rapid and Classical tournaments, all of which would be expected to be posted on the website for further details.

But for now, the names and URLs of its website’s pages will remain the same. To view the website, follow this link: http://westlandschess.com/

AWM360 Data Systems (Pty) Ltd., a business technology partner and solution provider within the Southern African Human Capital Management (HCM) and Workforce Management Solutions markets, has reinforced its ability to address the ICT and technical requirements of the African market through its partnership with Logitime International, a firm which offers integrated solutions for Time & Attendance, Access Control, Job Time (Shop Floor Data collection), Project Registration, Human Resources and Planning.

From its base in South Africa the two will rollout next-generation solutions that empower the modern organisation to capitalise on HR development in the workplace.

Logitime has recognised AWM360’s leadership position within the Africa market and believes the stature of this company can help it rollout high quality product within a growing channel.

“AWM360 is a new partner, but we know that it has a very structured way of working – one of the foundation principles behind any successful venture,” says Jan Karel Prinsen, MD and founder, Logitime International. “Partners who have a long term vision in terms of time and attendance are able to add the value that customers expect. In AWM360, we have a partner who has the knowledge, resources to ensure optimal client service.”

Logitime has already an established presence in Northern Africa, with several high profile clients utilising the Company’s systems – including the Central Bank of Egypt.

The Company sees the uptake of new systems to replace outdated infrastructure to cope with evolving legislation, the need to reduce cost of technology acquisition and implementation, and improve efficiency and productivity as key market drivers.

Guenter Nerlich, Managing Director, AWM360 Data Systems, says the Partnership is an exciting and formidable alliance that will continue to deliver value to Africa’s growing ICT landscape.

“We look forward to years of continues service and value to Africa’s developing ICT market… these are solutions that help decision makers to empower people and support growth strategies with effective HCM,” he adds.

By Akin Ande,  CEO at Chert System Solutions Nigeria

Even someone outside of the ICT market can see that Africa’s ICT market is growing at a phenomenal rate. This growth is predicted to continue for at least the next 5-10 years, as more multinationals invest and setup operations in Africa. However, the lack of enough visibly strong, credible and experienced VARs across Africa will mean that a large chunk of the IT spend will go to European and US multinational VARs, who will then export into Africa.

In the IT industry, a VAR (value-added reseller) is a company that has the skills and expertise to combine different IT components to build complete IT solution for their clients. So, when presented with a specific IT problem, a VAR might look at products from different vendors and combine them to create the best solution. For example, a computer chip, printer, hard drive, monitor and graphics software from different vendors, could be combined and packaged to create a computer-aided design system. Or another example could be to combine a barcode scanner, receipt printer and computer to build an ePOS (Electronic Point Of Sale) solution.
The more strong VARs that are created across Africa, the more sophisticated the IT channels will become. This is will result in the more significant and substantial IT expenditures staying in Africa as we create trustworthy and valuable service.

To achieve this I believe as VARs, we need to focus on the following:

Understanding our client’s needs, rather than just selling them a product. This will mean Asking our clients relevant questing like “what do you need that product for?” or “why do you want that particular product?”

Focus more on adding value to our client’s solution rather than focussing just on price.

Focus on developing our product knowledge by investing in staff training and attending vendor training.

The stronger African VARs are, the more we will create local skills, create jobs, improve our local economy and YES make more profits which can stay within Africa.

That is why as the CEO of Chert System Solutions Nigeria, I am striving to provide our clients with a service rivalling that provided by our competitors in the developed world. We started four years ago in Lagos with $ 3,000 and now we are one of the biggest VARs in Nigeria, with business clients in 8 African counties.

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Ande launched Chert Computers in Nigeria in 2010 with just $3,000 and and within 1 year the firm won a$500,000 deal with AirTel/tech Mehindra in 8 countries in Africa. The firm is now one of the leading IT store in Nigeria and is set to launch across sub-Saharan Africa.