When you think about convenience just know Nigerians will be having all; for them there is no more carrying dozens of cards for their numerous bank accounts, all they need is their ID card and they can withdraw their money anywhere there is MasterCard logo in the world. Well at least that is what the country’s National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) said.

Emmanuel Ogungbe, NIMC’s director of Technical Services said that the commission had already signed an agreement with MasterCard.

“As opposed to just being an ID card, the card is also a cash card. What that means is you can also use it the way you currently use your ATM card,” he said. “So if you put money on the card, you can withdraw this money anywhere in the world that MasterCard right now is accepted.  Two, it’s also a travel card. What that means is that very soon, especially within the West African sub-region, you can travel passport-free as long as you have this card with you; all one needs to do is to present it at the point of entry of any country where it will be swiped.”

Ogungbe said that the new card was error-proof as they have a system called the automated biometrics identification system that checks information of newly registered people coming into the database.

The director believed that in a crime setting the police will be get finger prints from the crime scene and send to NIMC, the commission will be able to give the full details of the criminals.

“Talk about even fraud in the banks, where someone will obtain a loan in a particular bank, move on to the next bank without servicing the previous loan to obtain another loan; that will become a thing of the past,” said Ogungbe.

International IT solutions for banks provider, SOFGEN Holdings Limited (SOFGEN), has partnered with Swiss-based NetGuardians South Africa to bring their cross-platform operational risk mitigation software to Kenya’s banks.

The NetGuardians NG|Screener product is a full -scale fraud detection and prevention tool that incorporates effortlessly into all major core banking platforms, with turnkey rollout in Temenos T24, Avaloq and ERI Olympic systems.

It performs real-time behavioral analysis to identify possible sources of fraud instantly, which are communicated via comprehensive alerting and reporting mechanisms. It is highly customizable, and provides in-depth visibility to both compliance and audit functions.

“The importance of operational risk management and fraud detection is increasing in line with pressures on banks and financial institutions to leverage their IT investments and SOFGEN’s global reach will help us promote our solution on a worldwide basis. We are extremely pleased to have concluded our partnership with SOFGEN,” said Joël Winteregg, CEO of NetGuardians.

The partnership comes at a time when both local and regional banks are reporting increased incidences related to fraud. The recent Economic Crimes Survey conducted by PriceWaterHouse Coopers (PwC) with a focus on 74 firms found that 34 percent experienced fraud, with 56 percent of the cases being caused by those from internal the organizations.

Benjamin Mkwizu, PwC’s head of risk assurance services said that automated transaction monitoring is the most effective method of fraud detection.

He added that, from the survey, cybercrime is the leading economic crime among the top four, which including misappropriation, accounting fraud and money laundering.

“We also found that 41 percent of the 74 firms in the survey don’t conduct risk assessment and also don’t know what to do,” said Mkwizu.

“Our strategy is to deliver IT solutions to banks on a worldwide basis both in and around their core systems. NetGuardians’ NG Screener complements our solutions portfolio in the area of compliance and risk,” Andre Israel, SOFGEN CEO

Nairobi is bound to have the digital migration in less than two weeks, meaning all of the people with analogue TV boxes will have to upgrade or live without the TV. Now Samsung East Africa has taken this opportunity to help out Kenyans bridge the digital equation by launching the Samsung F Series range.

Samsung Electronics was the first electronics company to have its digital televisions, Samsung ES 5600K approved by the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK),

Following the footsteps of Samsung ES 5600K TV  model that was launched late last year, the Samsung F Series does not require a Set top box to receive digital Free to Air (FTA) TV programs and is available in 28”, 32”, 40”, 46”, 55”, 60”, 65”, 75” and 85”screen sizes. The F series is available at all leading Samsung authorized dealers and retail outlets including Nakumatt, Tusky & Naivas stores.

“Our unique technology in the Samsung F Series range presents –a set-top box in-built solution. Our consumers will save on additional expense as they will not have to invest in a convertor,” said Samsung Electronics East Africa Chief Operating Officer Robert Ngeru.

According to CCK, residents of Nairobi and its environs are expected to be fully prepared to migrate to the Digital TV platform in the next two weeks when the analogue TV signal will be switched off.

The Samsung f series TV range could be your peace of mind while the rest of the people are still running up n down, well, if they don’t get this news.

Samsung consistently seeks a deep insight into the changing needs, preferences, lifestyles and traditions of its customers in all parts of the world. This helps Samsung in creating products that are built to enhance the consumer’s standard of living and ensure their satisfaction.

Huawei Technologies, Ethio-Telcom and ZTE have made a $1.6 billion deal to run an eight month project to prop local internet connectivity in Ethiopia.

To start this project off the partnership is looking to give Addis Ababa the 4G internet  connection which will be implemented by Huawei. This will form a crucial part of the joint venture to expand mobile phone infrastructure nationally.

Ethio Telecom’s Head of Communications, Abdurahim Ahmed had this to say: “In terms of allocation, Huawei will be responsible for the expansion of 4G in Addis Ababa, including other mobile services the 2G, 3G, IP and the like.”

If this program succeeds, the country will have an increase in the number of mobile subscribers as well as an enhancement of the existing 3G service.

Earlier in the month of August, the acting CEO of Ethio Telecom, Andualem Admassive told the country’s local media that the project was important in contributing in efforts to increase telecommunications service access and coverage nationally.

Kenya’s communications regulator, Communications Commissions of Kenya (CCK) is looking to increase the contribution of the country’s ICT sector to 100 percent GDP.

The regulator has plans to make this happen in just five years, that is by 2018,  with the intention of moving the current GDP of 2.2 percent to 5 percent, mobile penetration of 75.8 percent to 90 percent and wireless broadband of 2.4 percent to 10 percent.

That’s not all, CCK is also targeting an increase in internet penetration in Kenya from the current 41.6 percent to 70 percent, and TV broadcast coverage from 55 percent to 80 percent, while local content to total content ratio is expected to grow to 60 percent from 40 percent currently.

The penetration of mobile money services is projected to grow from 58.9 percent now to 70 percent in 2018.

Launching CCK’s 3rd Strategic Plan, ICT Cabinet Secretary Dr. Fred Matiang’i lauded CCK for making strategic planning part of its corporate culture and encouraged other organizations under his ministry to follow suit.

The Cabinet Secretary, lauded CCK for developing the plan in consultation with stakeholders adding that its implementation would support the realization of the Government’s ICT policy agenda. He called on the private sector to support the implementation of the five-year plan through making contributions to the Universal Service Fund to help CCK to avail ICT services to all in Kenya by 2018.

He pledged his ministry’s support to the attainment of the goals set out in Plan by facilitating regular review of the ICT policy and legal framework.

Over the weekend, Kenya Commercial Bank switched its system from the magnetic stripe card to the EMV system which is much safer for ATM customers.

The bank sent a message to its clients: “KCB is migrating its card system to new EMV system from Saturday 30 November midnight to Sunday 1 noon.”

This will see customer transact their ATM business without worried of fraudsters trying to crack their PIN as it has been witnessed before.

In September this year, the Standard newspaper reported that Kenyan banks are losing over 1.4 billion to ATM fraud from April 2012 to April 2013.

The Central bank puts debit and credit card circulation in the market at 10 million cards which are susceptible to ATM fraud.

The Kenyan bankers Association has put March 2014 as the deadline for all banks to move from the magnetic stripe technology to the EMV chip technology.

The ministry of lands has ordered that the coast counties do away with the manual registry and introduce a modern digital registry.

“The use of the digital record is provided for under section 9 and 10 of the Land registration Act number 3 of 2012.It is also in line with the ministry’s policy of digitization of all land records,” the notice said.

“My ministry’s target in the next four years is to ensure that 3 million Kenyans who may own a piece of land will have it surveyed, registered and a title deed issued. This is just the beginning of this process,” said the Cabinet Secretary for Lands, Charity Ngilu.

Kenyans have been having it rough trying to get information of ownership or availability of land in Kenya with the process being taken over by corrupt officials.

Digitizing land records can only bring efficiency and transparency for those aiming to acquire land in the near future.

With digitization, potential land owners can send a text message to a short code to confirm the state of a certain land. They could also be easily accessible through the internet.

Nigeria will soon have an internet upgrade, this is why; Internet service provider company in Nigeria, Spectranet Limited, will soon be providing  LTE/4G internet services in Abuja. The company has launched a long term evolution (LTE) or 4G services which it promises to go beyond Abuja, in an aim of covering the whole country.

Ezekiel Fatoye, the company’s Director said: “LTE wireless broadband has been making global strides, registering the highest growth across all technologies and delivering a cutting edge experience to users, adding that the firm has decided to take the technology to Abuja”.

The Director  believed that the firm’s commitment to customer-centricity reliability, flexibility, responsiveness, innovative products and services will herald a new and exciting experience for customers in the country. He said the company offers high bandwidth of up to 4 mega bytes per second (Mbps) and above with data downloads as high as 30 gigabytes (Gb) and above.

“Today, reliable and fast access to the internet is no more a luxury but a necessity. Broadband has a direct impact on country’s growth, proved time and again in many countries and across continents. We at Spectranet are committed to bringing best in class internet services to our country and help customers to experience and enjoy what the world is experiencing and enjoying. We have plans suiting every customer, ranging from corporates to individuals, and we are committed to bringing great value to every user in the country,” added Fatoye.

A study “Cloud in Africa: Reality Check 2013” done by Cisco and World Wide Worx indicated that by 2014 organizations in Africa will have made  considerable investments in cloud services.

The study cases were south Africa, Kenya  and Nigeria, where 57 percent of the respondents expressed high confidence in the reliability and security of the cloud and only 10 percent  think contrary to this.

As of now, 50 percent of medium and large business already use cloud services in South Africa, 48 percent in Kenya and 36 percent in Nigeria. Cisco projects that Nigeria will dramatically overtake South Africa with 80 percent of the country’s businesses adopting cloud services by 2014.

What is notable in the report is:-

• Storage remains the most popular cloud solution at 28 percent among the surveyed companies
• Currently the Private Cloud is the solution of choice in organizations at 25 percent and is expected to grow to 32 percent of the deployments in 2014
• The study projects that other cloud deployments in the continent are set to grow with Hybrid Cloud at 18 percent and Public Cloud at 16 percent in 2014.

The study further says that approximately 17 percent of data centre traffic will be run by end users accessing clouds for web surfing, video streaming, collaboration and connected devices, all of which contribute to the Internet of Everything, which is the networked connection of people, data, process and things.

Set to be held on 4th of February at CICG, Geneva, the Seedstars World is an exclusive worldwide competition for seed stage startups seeking to reward the world’s best international start-up, which will take home $500k in funding.

Targeting emerging markets and fast growing startups scenes, the competition has been across 20 countries in ten months since it was launched. The 20 local winners will compete for the grand prize in front of a large crowd of investors and entrepreneurs from all around the world.

Emerging startup scenes focus

Seedstars World focuses on fast-growing markets and emerging startup scenes because there are tremendous amounts of untapped opportunities and passionate entrepreneurs waiting to be discovered. We believe that entrepreneurs in emerging startup scenes deserve to be helped to reach their potential but unfortunately they don’t (yet) get much exposure and interest from the rest of the world.

Because Silicon Valley is not the only place in the world where talented entrepreneurs hide, we have created Seedstars World. Simply so all entrepreneurs no matter where they come from get the chance to thrive. Thus, many of the projects we’ve seen are fantastic, they have a viable business model that not only works in their local market but also may serve as a global product. Those, we believe, are the leading companies of tomorrow.

A rigorous selection process

In each 20 countries around the world, an exclusive and one-day event was organized to allow the best-in-class startups per country to pitch their ideas. Thanks to the expertise and support of local advisors and regional partners (e.g. accelerators, incubators, startup organisations, VCs, etc.) we ensured only startups with the highest potential were called to register in these invitation-only events. Based on the applications received, up to 20 startups were selected to participate in our pitching event. The startups pitched their ideas in front of a regional jury (composed of local investors, successful entrepreneurs and partners) and at the end of the day, a regional winner was selected in each country in order to compete in the final event.

Prizes

The regional winners are receiving different prizes including a 3-day bootcamp in Lausanne supported by the State Department of Canton de Vaud and hosted by EPFL and IMD. Winning entrepreneurs will also benefit of: mentorship from the best entrepreneurs and investors, coaching from experts in their field and entry into accelerator programs all around Europe.

Buenos Aires – Wideo

A “Do It Yourself” on-line tool to create animated videos and share feelings, ideas, products or knowledge with the world.

MTN Uganda customers will now be able to withdraw their cash via ATM after the firm partnred with Interswitch Uganda to further increase their ATM Cash out footprint across the country.

The service available across the country via all Interswitch Uganda ATM’s and users have to dial a four digit PIN *165# from their mobile phone which can then be used at any Interswitch ATM across Uganda on a 24/7 basis to access their money.

Speaking at the launch at Serena Hotel, MTN Uganda’s Chief Marketing Officer, Ernst Fonternel, underscored MTN’s mission of making the lives of its customers a whole lot brighter through convenient and cost effective solutions such as access to MTN Mobile Money through ATM platforms.

“MTN Uganda’s market leadership continues to be driven by our investment in extensive coverage coupled by superior quality on Voice and Data, while offering innovative Value Added Services and putting customers first”.

Fonternel welcomed the partnership with Interswitch:  “We are very pleased to be entering into this partnership with Interswitch which will give our customers significantly improved access to their money on a fast growing network of ATMs across Uganda.”

Interswitch Chief Executive Officer Muyiwa Asagba said, “We are delighted to be working with MTN Uganda to provide their customers with even greater access to their money via the MTN Mobile Money platform. At Interswitch we are firmly committed to rolling out our electronic payment and transactions services across Uganda. This agreement is the latest step in our mission to improve convenience, financial inclusion and encourage even faster economic growth across the continent.”

He added that the agreement forms part of Interswitch’s African expansion plans. Interswitch is committed to providing solutions that address local challenges by providing convenient and cutting-edge electronic payment and transaction services.

According to the Central Bank, Mobile Money transactions totaled Ushs 11.7 trillion in 2012, which was a 211% increase since 2011. MTN continues to lead Mobile Money in Uganda with almost 5 million registered users since their launch in 2009.

MTN Uganda has enjoyed unprecedented success since it was launched 4 years ago, now recording in excess of 25 million transactions each month.

As per the GSMA 2012 Global Mobile Money adoption survey, MTN Uganda ranks 2nd in terms of number of active Mobile Money customer accounts in the world.