Brings flagship calibre imaging with ZEISS Optics, PureDisplay screen technology and accelerated performance to the value flagship segment
Nokia 8.1- elevating the value flagship expereince
HMD Global, the home of Nokia phones, announced the availability of Nokia 8.1, the newest addition to its value flagship range in Kenya.
The Nokia 8.1 punches above its weight with extraordinary imaging achieved by its highly sensitive, industry-leading camera sensor, ZEISS Optics and Optical Image Stabilization (OIS). Proprietary PureDisplay screen technology with HDR 10 support along with highly accurate colour reproduction delivers enhanced viewing experiences even in bright sunlight, while the chipset ensures smooth performance for up to two days per charge.
During the announcement, Mark Misumi, HMD Business Manager East Africa said “We’ve seen great success in the value flagship category with each of our smartphones in this class consistently introducing new premium experiences to our fans. With the Nokia 8.1, we are further pushing the boundaries in this segment. We offer accelerated performance with a first-class processor architecture, dual cameras with an industry-leading sensor, OIS and ZEISS Optics for great low light imaging, and our new PureDisplay HDR screen technology.
“As well as delivering the meticulous craftsmanship and build quality of the renowned Nokia smartphone design, we have also brought the Android 9 Pie experience to our fans, so they can enjoy the latest Android innovations including new Digital Wellbeing features. Our fans are at the heart of every design and engineering decision. We want to give them premium experiences – we hope they agree that the Nokia 8.1 embodies engineering excellence at great value.”
Imaging excellence with flagship calibre imaging technology
The Nokia 8.1’s great low light imaging performance comes from a perfect blend of software and hardware. Its 12MP main camera with ZEISS Optics has an industry-leading 1/2.55” super sensitive sensor with large 1.4 micron pixels for precise light capture, delivering exceptionally detailed images. With its combination of Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) technology and superfast autofocus, the Nokia 8.1 doesn’t let shaky hands stop you from capturing crisp images and videos. A wide aperture ensures you can capture sharp pictures even in low light conditions, allowing longer exposure times that can be manually controlled with the Pro Camera mode.
The 20MP adaptive front camera lets you capture the ultimate night-time selfie, as it enhances how much light it is able to capture by combining four pixels into one super pixel. You can also shoot movies like a pro with 4K video and relive your memories as if you were still there with high fidelity Nokia spatial audio stereo surround sound recording.
Create studio-style portrait shots with the popular “bokeh” effect, enhanced with the Nokia 8.1’s native shallow depth of field, coupled with its secondary 13MP depth sensor. Unleash your creativity with the Pro Camera UI for the ultimate control over your photos, or take your #Bothie game to the next level with AI-powered 3D personas, masks and fun filters in your photos and videos, all of which you can livestream directly without leaving your camera app.
Accelerated performance and PureDisplay
The Nokia 8.1 is the second Nokia smartphone to come with PureDisplay screen technology for an enhanced viewing experience. Visuals are taken to another level with HDR 10 delivering higher contrast, great clarity, and over a billion individual colours to ensure images remain accurate whether you’re in a dark room or bright sunlight. Playing games or watching videos, your display will deliver the best possible experience.
To watch all that vivid content on the go, you need exceptional battery life. The Nokia 8.1 lets you effortlessly enjoy up to two days with one charge. Long-lasting power combined with the Snapdragon 710 Mobile Platform means the Nokia 8.1 can get through any task without breaking a sweat, with 35% faster graphics and 20% higher performance than the previous generation, the Snapdragon 660. It also has twice the AI power, thanks to a multi-core AI Engine which combines a brand-new architecture for efficient performance. Qualcomm® aptX™ audio support also means music lovers can enjoy high quality sound wirelessly over Bluetooth.
Take the smartphone to a whole new dimension by combining the physical world and digital content with AR core support. Through apps like Human Anatomy, Magic Plan, and Jenga AR, you can visualise and learn about the nervous system in 3D, create a floor plan for your next remodel just by walking around the house, and stack blocks on your dining room table with no need to tidy up after your tower collapses.
Design that is made to the highest standards
Heralding a new era of precision craftsmanship and obsession with detail, the Nokia 8.1 has been designed with less than a hair’s width between materials, achieving the build quality and structural integrity expected from a Nokia smartphone, as well as making a true statement of clean, elegant European design.
The Nokia 8.1’s stunning 6.18” Full HD+ edge-to-edge display is housed within a beautifully refined and neat footprint, so you can enjoy your favourite movies and apps on a big screen comfortably on the go, giving you even more screen than the award-winning Nokia 7 plus which as a 6” display.
Pure, secure and up-to-date Android 9 Pie, reinforced with Android One™
The Nokia 8.1 is the first Nokia smartphone to launch with Android 9 Pie out of the box. It joins the comprehensive line-up of Nokia smartphones in the Android One family, which means it delivers the best version of Android innovations and software experiences. Nokia smartphones with Android One offer great storage and battery life right out of the box and come with three years of monthly security patches and two major OS updates.
The Nokia 8.1 comes with Android 9 Pie, which includes AI-powered features that make your device smarter and faster while also adapting to your behavior as you use it. The Adaptive Battery feature limits battery usage from apps you don’t use often, and App Actions predicts what you’re about to do so you can get to your next action quickly. These features further streamline your device’s functionality and your overall Android experience. The Nokia 8.1 also combines the capabilities of Google Assistant with Dual-Sight, so you can ask it to take #Bothie pictures and videos, and even command it to livestream to YouTube for a convenient and seamless experience.
The Nokia 8.1 will receive three years of monthly security patches and two major OS updates, as guaranteed in the Android One programme. In addition, Google Play™ protect scans over 50 billion apps per day to keep your phone safe from malware, making the Nokia 8.1 among the most secure phones on the market. It also comes with easy access to helpful innovative services including the Google Assistant, which helps you get things done throughout the day, as well as Google Photos with free unlimited high-quality photo storage. Nokia 8.1 is part of the Android Enterprise Recommended programme which means it is recommended by Google as best choice for professionals.
Pricing and Availability
The Nokia 8.1 is available in Blue/Silver and Iron/Steel color combinations, and retails for an estimated price of Ksh 45,000.
Nokia 8.1 is available in Dual-SIM, from the open retail channels and Single-SIM from Safaricom stores.
RxAll, the Nigerian startup tackling the global problem of counterfeit drugs, received the €100,000 Global Challenge prize from BNP Paribas, Global Partner of Hello Tomorrow.
RxAll’s digital platform enables anyone to test the quality of their drugs using a portable nanoscanner and mobile app. Their proprietary machine learning algorithm reads the scan from the nanoscanner, identifies the drug and assesses its level of quality, records the test result against a blockchain ledger and returns the quality report to the mobile app in 20 seconds.
“It’s been a long journey, from nearly dying from a fake drug 15 years ago, to being with you here today,” said RxAll CEO Adebayo Alonge. “The solution that we have today means that nobody has to go through what I did.”
Fake medication is a $30 billion industry that poses significant risk to patients throughout the world, especially in developing nations. In 2017, fake drugs were responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide, and centralized regulatory oversight is often unable to keep up with the speed at which counterfeiters produce new drugs.
RxAll’s platform solves this problem by providing real-time drug authentication in the palm of your hand.
The £100,000 prize recogizes the best early-stage startup from among a field of 80 finalists across 12 categories, including aeronautics; data and AI, digital health; energy; food, agriculture, and environment; global health; industrial biotech; industry 4.0; new materials; new mobility; new space; and wellbeing. The prize is funded by BNP Paribas.
Reportedly, the latest P series product is coming soon but we don’t know how soon it will be here in Kenya as the global launch was held in Paris earlier this week. Although, the Kenyan market will receive the light flagship HUAWEI P30 Lite, designed for the elegant and international, fashionable elites.
Enriching and supplementing the Huawei P series after the P20, what surprises will the P30 Lite bring to us?
Smartphones have become increasingly powerful as technology has developed. Not only it can the smartphone be used for communication, but they have more and more photography capabilities. In fact, smartphones have been a necessity in modern society. With increasing requirements from consumers, many smartphone manufacturers have begun to focus on camera capabilities, such as portrait mode, Bokeh effect, ultra-wide-angle lens, super night mode and other features. Additionally, the image quality requirement grows higher and higher. The overall progress of this technology is obvious to all.
Since the HUAWEI P20 Pro ranked at the top of the DxOMark list, becoming the world’s best camera smartphone, people have much higher expectations of the P series camera quality. In 2019, Huawei’s triple camera design has been copied by other manufactures. Not surprisingly, the HUAWEI P30 Lite’s dual camera and wide-angle lens is indispensable. For the main and second lens, it is unknown whether they will adopt portrait or colour mode, the well-received 48MP lens or other functionalities. However, it is certain that the camera optimization and progress of the Huawei P30 Lite won’t let the consumer down.
If camera capability is a key performance indicator (KPI) of smartphones, performance must be the top priority. Accordingly, for a long time, the whole industry has remained focused on the CPU performance and benchmarking, and consumers continue to follow this. But actual user experience is ignored. But not Huawei.
The HUAWEI P flagship series has a good reputation for user experience. Carrying on with this philosophy, Huawei again delivers to its target users of the P series with the light flagship P30 Lite. And, a good product will earn the loyalty of users, who are concerned about the phone’s capabilities.
Powered by quality hardware specifications and superb software optimization, the P30 Lite is definitely the masterpiece Huawei planned for young and fashionable elite.
Display: 6.15-Inch Screen
Processor: Octa-core Hisilicon Kirin 710 Processor with 4GB RAM
Huawei has just released its most advanced flagship phones yet
In 2018, the Huawei shipped more than two hundred million smartphone units, dominating the one-third of the global smartphone market. One can’t mention Huawei without taking the P series flagship smartphones into consideration. As the high-end Huawei smartphone, the P series not only achieved great sales performance but a reputation for excellent quality.
From the world’s slimmest smartphone HUAWEI P6, to the all-metal flagship HUAWEI P8, to the HUAWEI P10 with 10 colour variations, the HUAWEI P series is a flagship device series targeting young and fashionable consumers.
In terms of photography, from the monochrome cameras of the HUAWEI P9 to the redefined portrait photography of the P10, and from Leica certification to AI empowerment, the HUAWEI P20 established a benchmark in the 2018 smartphone industry with its brilliant design and powerful triple rear camera setup. Meanwhile, the P20 set a barrier for other smartphone manufacturers. After one year, people have greater camera expectations of the P series successor.
Reportedly, the latest P series product is coming to Kenya soon, and it will be the light flagship HUAWEI P30 Lite, designed for the elegant and international, fashionable elites. Enriching and supplementing the Huawei P series after the P20, what surprises will the P30 Lite bring to us?
The Huawei P30 series of phones was announced in Paris on Tuesday March 26, 2019. The event, which Huawei billed #RewriteTheRules was live streamed on Huawei’s YouTube channel.The new flagship smartphones, which succeed the Huawei P20 and P20 Pro, are the first flagship handsets Huawei has unveiled this year.
At the event, Huawei unveiled the P30 and P30 Pro, talking up the cameras big time, in particular the low light capabilities, the zoom, and how much better they are than Galaxy and iPhone cameras, even putting on a live demo of the three makers’ phones head-to-head to show where the P30 Pro excelled.
The P30 series features a new smaller notch and reduced bezels. Battery sizes in both handsets have also been increased, while there is now an earpiece-less design on the front screen. The unlock speed on the in-screen fingerprint reader is now 30 per cent faster, too.
The P30 has a 6.1-inch screen with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio, while P30 Pro has a 6.47-inch screen with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The P3o Pro is IP68 water and dust resistant. The colour finishes on both devices are made from 9 layers of nano optical color finish material. Handset colour options include Breathing Crystal, Amber Sunrise, Pearl White, Aurora and Black.
In terms of photography, the P30 features a SuperSensing 40MP Leica Triple Camera system (40MP main + 16MP wide angle + 8MP telephoto) with AIS and OIS. The P30 Pro features a SuperSensing 40MP Leica made quad camera system, (20MP ultra wide + 40MP wide angle + 8MP 5x telephoto +ToF).
AI HDR+ is embedded in both phone’s camera systems, which deliver machine learning of photo composition and pro colour and adjustment capabilities, such a portrait against strong backlights. Both the P30 and P30 Pro pack 32MP front facing selfie cameras with AI HDR+.
The P30 comes with a 3,650 mAh battery, and the P30 Pro comes with a 4,200 mAh battery. Both these batteries support Super Fast 40W SuperCharge charging, which allows a 70 per cent charge in only 30 minutes. 15W wireless and reverse wireless charging is also supported on the P30 Pro.
Also announced were two new earbuds – the Huawei FreeLace and the Huawei FreeBuds Lite – and new variants of the Huawei Watch GT. Another interesting thing is that there were some Huawei smart glasses which were reserved for the end of the event.
Morocco-based Outlierz Ventures, an early-stage VC fund backed by private investors from Silicon Valley, Middle East and Africa has made five investments in fast growing tech-enabled companies across five different markets.
The startups received investment tickets range between $50k and $500k in Seed stage and Pre-Series A companies.
“We see tremendous opportunities at the intersection of Technology, Africa’s young and fast-growing populations, and the continent economies. Our mission is to back extraordinary founders that leverage technology to transform African traditional economies,” said Kenza Lahlou, co-founder and Managing Partner at Outlierz Ventures.
The fund invests in tech-enabled companies solving a fundamental problem across key industries in Africa, which include fintech, insurtech, agritech, healthtech and logistics. The fund focuses primarily on the most dynamic African ecosystems, namely, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Egypt and Morocco, and is starting to explore untapped Francophone and West Africa ecosystems where it plans to play an active role.
The fund position itself as a bridge between Francophone and Anglophone African market with the objective to help tech companies access markets and scale from South and East Africa into North and West Africa – or the other way around.
· WaystoCap (Morocco), Africa focused B2B marketplace that helps SMEs import and export products securely and reliably, using technology to structure the value chain of international trade in Africa. After graduating from YCombinator, WaystoCap raised $ 3M in Seed and grew from 6 to 33 employees in less than two years with headquarters in Morocco and offices in Benin and Burkina Faso.
· Sokowatch (Kenya), is reinventing consumer goods retail value chain in the informal segment across East Africa. The platform enables small shop owners to order products via SMS or mobile app, pay via mobile money and get delivered for free the next day. Sokowatch raised $ 2M from Silicon Valley and Africa investors and is accelerating its African expansion with a solid monthly growth.
· Asoko Insight (UK/Anglophone Africa), is a platform that structures data on private companies and key industries in Africa, considered as the most comprehensive database of African private companies for due diligence and business development. Asoko covers more than 7 markets across the continent.
· TousFacteurs (France), is a B2B last-mile delivery company, based in Paris and co-founded by an African diaspora founder. TousFacteurs addresses the growing logistics needs of merchants and international carriers such as DHL by enabling them to leverage independent cyclists to deliver packages at unbeatable prices and time slots via an optimized tech-enabled platform.
· MaxAB (Egypt), is a B2B ecommerce marketplace that connects food and grocery retailers to suppliers in Egypt’s most underserved geographies, using a tech platform to make on-demand and predictive micro-distribution directly to small shop owners. The company is co-founded by the former General Manager of Careem in Egypt and the former operation officer of Aramex.
“We are excited about the opportunities created by the tech revolution for the African continent, both in terms of economic value creation and in terms of accelerating the continent’s development. Africa is definitely the next frontier to VC investments and we are eager to contribute to proving it,” explained Ali Bensouda, co-founder and General Partner at Outlierz Ventures.
Some of the top investors backing Outlierz Ventures include Michael Seibel, CEO of YCombinator, 500 startups, Hicham Oudghiri, and Joel Sibrac, former President of the BMCI bank in Morocco, and Bank of the West in San Francisco,part ofBNP Paribas Group.
Uber has agreed to acquire Middle East competitor Careem for $3.1 billion, consisting of $1.7 billion in convertible notes and $1.4 billion in cash, in the region’s largest technology transaction ever.
There have been various media reports about this deal but today the firm officially confirmed the acquisition which it says awaits applicable regulatory approvals in the various countries Careem operates. The transaction is expected to close in Q1 2020.
Uber will acquire all of Careem’s mobility, delivery, and payments businesses across the greater Middle East region, ranging from Morocco to Pakistan, with major markets including Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
Upon closing, Careem will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Uber but it will preserve its brand and will be led by Careem co-founder and CEO Mudassir Sheikha. Careem will report to its own board made up of three representatives from Uber and two representatives from Careem. Careem and Uber will operate their respective regional services and independent brands.
“This is an important moment for Uber as we continue to expand the strength of our platform around the world. With a proven ability to develop innovative local solutions, Careem has played a key role in shaping the future of urban mobility across the Middle East, becoming one of the most successful startups in the region.
Working closely with Careem’s founders, I’m confident we will deliver exceptional outcomes for riders, drivers, and cities, in this fast-moving part of the world,” said Uber CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi.
The greater Middle East region is already seeing the economic and social benefits of rapid technology adoption and improved access to transportation.
This transaction supports the collective ability of Careem and Uber to improve the region’s transportation infrastructure at scale and offer diverse mobility, delivery and payment options. It will speed up the delivery of digital services to people in the region through the development of a consumer-facing super-app that offers services such as Careem’s digital payment platform (Careem Pay) and last-mile delivery (Careem NOW).
This transaction brings together Uber’s global leadership and technical expertise with Careem’s regional technology infrastructure and proven ability to develop innovative local solutions.
“The Careem team said that joining forces with Uber will help it accelerate Careem’s purpose of simplifying and improving the lives of people, and building an awesome organisation that inspires. The mobility and broader internet opportunity in the region is massive and untapped, and has the potential to leapfrog our region into the digital future.
“We could not have found a better partner than Uber under Dara’s leadership to realise this opportunity. This is a milestone moment for us and the region, and will serve as a catalyst for the region’s technology ecosystem by increasing the availability of resources for budding entrepreneurs from local and global investors,” said Careem CEO and co-founder, Mudassir Sheikha.
BoostMe360,a new entry-level, contractual positions recruitment platform has launched to help employers find talent fast without needing to make it official until proven otherwise by their new, hit-the-ground-running employees.
Giving employers an unmediated job-matching process they can instantly tap into, BoostMe360, is launching business owners into a new online HR era where automation conveniently combines with on-demand work opportunities and agile recruitment.
For business owners, especially those seeking to scale their SMEs and small businesses, it can be challenging to hire permanent staff upfront when prospects for growth are not certain. Where a human resource department can be an unfamiliar concept among smaller enterprises, business owners are often forced to manually scout for candidates before they can build a fluid workforce for temporary or project-based jobs.
“Even when employers expect online search engines to simplify the candidate search, they are often served with impersonal, incomplete CVs and popup ads that slow down the process,” says Carolynne Lengfeld, BoostMe360s project director. “In the clutter of it all, finding candidates from a younger workforce and who are looking for on-demand work opportunities, is often a ‘no-go’ for employers. BoostMe360 visibly links employers’ needs with the ideal skillsets through a customised online filtering process that instantly matches candidates’ profiles with the job criteria.”
This March, employers can conveniently load a job posting and reach out to prospective applicants without needing to commit to job listing fees. Employers can now test the platform, load job listings and recruit from BoostMe360s database of enthusiastic, talented staff for free before the end of March 2019.
BoostMe360s e-learning modules ideally gear up employees to successfully, confidently pitch their profiles, build a relationship with employers, and secure trust and commitment on both ends.
BoostMe360 offers employers who are searching for entry-level employees through a simple to use platform, on-hand support to answer any queries, access to a large database of young working adults, filtered to your specific requirements.
The site guarantees placement for your first month of hire. If the placement candidate does not work out in the first month, it finds a replacement free of charge. It has on-going support for you and the chosen candidate during the job placement process. Other services available at a fee to employers include online learning modules, conducting of interviews, creation of job postings and selection of candidates.
Over twenty startups from Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa have been invited to London to take part in the first Go Global Africa programme in a move to improve their business skills and capability, and connect them with UK’s thriving counterparts.
The programme was started by the UK Israel Tech Hub and over the last four years it has helped develop new UK-Israel collaborations in the digital economy. According to the most recent report on its impact, the UK Israel Tech Hub has led 175 tech partnerships in deals worth £85 million.
According to Digital Minister Margot James: “Africa is a vibrant and dynamic continent, with huge potential for growth, and the firms chosen for the first Go Global Africa programme see tech as a force for good in society.
“I’ve no doubt they have the talent to play a transformative role in their country’s growth while also building connections for UK startups in new markets and highlighting Britain as the place to develop new technology.”
The startups will receive coaching from pitching experts Enterprise Academy, a public speaking masterclass, and advice on scaling up from PriceWaterHouseCoopers dedicated startup team and the Natwest Fintech Accelerator.
Bethnal Green Ventures, Europe’s tech for good accelerator, will provide the startups with insights on how to launch and scale tech for good ventures and Carlos Espinal from Seedcamp will provide guidance on fundraising. The startups will receive ongoing support from the UK’s International Tech Hub Network and will act as Go Global champions and share the skills they have learned to mentor other firms in their countries.
The tech sector is one of the fastest growing sectors in Africa. The continent’s startups raised 50 per cent more venture capital in 2017 than in 2016, and the majority of this is being invested in South Africa (£130 million), Kenya (£114 million) and Nigeria (£89 million). Nigeria and Kenya’s technology sectors are growing rapidly and generate more than ten per cent and 11 per cent of their respective economic output.
Strengthening the UK’s partnership with African nations is a key element of the Government’s commitment to reinvesting in the UK’s relationships across the world, expanding and deepening the nation’s overseas network, working with others to face challenges and advancing common interests.
Prime Minister Theresa May announced the UK-Nigeria, UK-Kenya and UK-South Africa tech hubs in August 2018. The hubs are one pillar of a broader Digital Access Programme which aims to boost digital inclusion across Africa.
Apple today released iOS 12.2, the second major update to the iOS 12 operating system that first launched in September 2018. iOS 12.2 comes more than a month after the release of iOS 12.1.4, the last iOS 12 update, and just after Apple’s March 25th event that saw the unveiling of new subscription services.
The iOS 12.2 software update is now rolling out to iPhones and iPads even here in Kenya (Just made an update to my device). The software release brings Apple News Plus, its news subscription that bundles magazines and other premium news articles, for $9.99 per month.
In iOS 12.2, another big feature is Siri’s ability to play videos from your iOS device to your Apple TV. This allows you to control your Apple TV with Siri from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. In order to take advantage of this feature, you’ll need to update your Apple TV to version 12.2.
As expected, the new software update brings support for Apple’s second-generation AirPods. Also arriving with iOS 12.2 is iPad Pro support for the Logitech Crayon, which was previously limited to the sixth-generation iPad.
The new software also includes improvements and bug fixes. In terms of other features, Apple says that it also brings four new Animoji, including a giraffe, shark, boar, and owl.
To check for the update on your iPhone or iPad, open up the Settings icon, select General, Navigate to Software Update option and it should load the latest version once you select download and install. As with all iOS updates, iOS 12.2 is free to download.
Africa’s Talking, a go-to platform that helps developers in Africa bring their ideas to life by providing SMS, USSD, Voice, Airtime and mobile payments infrastructure through easy-to-use APIs, has appointed Bilha Ndirangu as its Chief Executive Officer to drive the company’s vision and open new doors through strategic partnerships.
Prior to joining AT, Bilha
was a senior project manager at Dalberg Global Development advisors in its
Nairobi office where she advised varied clients including national governments,
multilaterals, foundations and private sector companies. Her projects spanned
multiple sectors ranging from technology, agriculture and energy. As the first
employee of the Dalberg Nairobi office, she also helped grow the office from
one consultant to a team of forty consultants advising clients across Africa.
Fresh from a series A financing round led by IFC in mid 2018, the firm now aims to expand to reach more software developers in Africa but also creates an environment that we can offer mentorship so that they succeed and scale across the continent.
Africa’s Talking new Africa’s Talking Group aims to create a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem for Africa through equipping developers and businesses with what they need to be successful. ATG will house two companies, Africa’s Talking and Africa’s Talking Labs (AT Labs), that will lower the barriers for access to communications, payments and cloud infrastructure to software developers and businesses across Africa as well as provide an environment where it can co-create value with partners within its network and accelerate the path to market for technology startups.
Africa’s Talking’s next frontier is to expand its reach to all 54 countries in Africa, creating partnerships and impacting developer communities. So as to effectively achieve this, Bilha Ndirangu, who was Chief Commercial Officer, Africa’s Talking, steps up to be CEO, Africa’s Talking. Her experience in building organisations by creating partnerships with different stakeholders and scaling them to new markets will be valuable here.
Samuel Gikandi
Samuel Gikandi, previous CEO and co-founder of Africa’s Talking will be CEO, AT Labs to equip more people with skills involved in creating profitable businesses with as little hurdles as possible. AT Labs will help startups in growing to fully-fledged businesses across Africa.
AT Labs works on validating startup ideas and helping them grow to fully-fledged businesses easily by providing mentorship, infrastructure and work space.
Samuel has a Bachelors and Master’s Degree in
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. After graduating from MIT, Samuel worked for 6 years as a Software
Developer and Trading Strategist in Morgan Stanley’s New York and Hong Kong
offices. Samuel was involved in building the trading infrastructure across
Morgan Stanley’s global equities business. He also helped establish and grow
the High-Frequency Trading desk for the Systematic Trading group in Asia.
He was recently accepted in the Endeavor
Network; a network that supports and mentors entrepreneurs who have
demonstrated a potential for rapid scale and expansion of their business.
Apple finally unveiled its software news of new subscription services after days of daily hardware updates. This day brings Apple subscriptions across news, television, and video games just a week after Google unveiled the Google Stadia at the Game Developers Conference.
The event’s keynote also brought a new business venture for Apple with a new credit card service. All of the above services highlight privacy as Apple’s key differentiator, with each product noting that there will be no Ads, and your consumption behavior will never be shared with marketers.
What is interesting is that many of the products announced at the event did not receive a live onstage demo, and most will be available much later this year. Below is a recap of the biggest announcements from the Apple event.
APPLE NEWS PLUS
iPad showing My Magazine screen
Apple is adding magazines to the Apple News lineup with Apple News Plus. The $9.99 monthly subscription is currently available in the US and Canada, and the price covers family sharing. The first month is free. You can browse through magazines you subscribe to, and new issues are automatically downloaded for offline reading when they are released.
At the launch, subscribers can access up to 300 magazines. Other digital and traditional news partners are part of the service as well, including The Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times. Apple touts privacy in its app, noting that advertisers can’t track what you’re reading so you won’t receive targeted ads based on stories you click on.
APPLE ARCADE
https://youtu.be/67umVefSXnY
Unlike cloud gaming services announced by Google last week at GDC, Apple’s version is more like a subscription to games that are available through the App Store instead of traditional titles that you can play on sets like the PlayStation, Xbox, or Nintendo Switch.
Apple says that it will include access to more than 100 games that are exclusive to iOS. You can also play games across Apple devices, including the iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and a Mac computer, and games will be available for offline play.
APPLE TV CHANNELS
Previously, the TV app could only send you to other third-party providers and recommend what to watch. But now, Apple is attempting to make its TV app a final destination for watching shows. You’ll be able to catch Apple’s new video streaming service inside the app, and you won’t need to be redirected to other apps: as long as those companies have made deals with Apple.
The new Apple TV update will now include a focus on channels like HBO, PBS, CBS, Acorn TV, and Tastemade without pointing users to a third-party app. Named Apple TV Channels, subscribers can choose which channels they’d like to subscribe to and pay per channel instead of a traditional, large package from cable companies. The Apple TV app will receive an update for Channels this May.
APPLE TV PLUS
In addition to the new Channels service for the Apple TV, there’s now also a Plus package for original programming. Unfortunately, Apple didn’t announce a lot of details other than the name and that it will be available in the fall.
Apple TV Plus will be ad-free, available on demand, and view-able both online and offline. Apple plans to launch it in over 100 countries sometime this fall, though it did not disclose pricing today. But you’ll access Apple TV Plus through the redesigned Apple TV app on iOS, Mac, Roku, Fire TV, and televisions from various manufacturers.
There will be original programming that includes documentaries about immigrant life in America, science fiction about a world where inhabitants are blind, and children’s programming featuring Sesame Street characters. Oprah will have two documentaries highlighting workplace harassment and mental health, and a Book Club.
APPLE CARD
https://youtu.be/HAZiE9NtRfs
Unlike traditional applications, you can apply directly on the iPhone and, once approved, the card is stored digitally on the Wallet app where you can view your statements, balance, and payment due dates. The app also tags locations and retailers to help you browse through transactions and remember where you may have made that purchase.
The card also generates new security codes each time you make a purchase. It doesn’t even have a credit card number, CVV, signature, or expiration date. According to Apple, there are no late fees or increased interest rates for late payments.
The Apple Card, backed by Goldman Sachs and Mastercard, also offers a 2 percent cash back reward (3 percent for Apple purchases) that is paid daily into your Apple Pay account that you can use toward paying your credit card balance, in-app purchases, or transferring to friends. The card should be accepted wherever Mastercard is. Apple will also offer a physical titanium card for real-life uses or when you’re traveling, but rewards for those purchases are 1 percent cash back.
In a move that will see Uber customers move from one point to another with or without data, Uber has unveiled a hotline to allow its users to hail cabs using just a phone call.
Gone are the days whereby you’d have to approach a taxi parked on the side of the road to negotiate prices with the driver. This mostly depended on either how you looked (Some people just look monied), your destination and at times the drivers financial state.
Better yet if you had “your taxi guy”, you’d just make prior arrangements for your pick up and have your money ready, or at times call him abruptly hoping that he is free to drive you to your desired destination.
What you need to know is that at the moment the service allows requesting a car within the city of Nairobi only, and you can request a ride without an Uber account. During your first call, you will be asked to provide your name/last name for registration. The estimated cost of the trip is calculated using the estimated distance and the expected duration of the trip. Final pricing may differ and will be visible on your driver’s phone screen.
What you need to do is:
Dial 0800 722 000 to request a ride by phone
1. Call 0800 722 000 on your mobile:You will be connected with an Uber representative who will help you find a driver partner for your trip.
2. Share trip details:Give your pick up and drop off locations to your Uber representative.
3. Confirm the fare: The Uber representative will quote you the price and confirm your trip.
4. Find your driver: Once you get off the phone, you will receive your driver’s details via SMS and all you do after this is meet them at the agreed pick up location.
5. Pay in cash:When you reach your destination, pay your driver with cash (no credit cards).
Cape Town-based VC firm Knife Capital, SA SME Fund and Deloitte have partnered to launch the Grindstone Accelerator programme in Johannesburg in a move to help Gauteng entrepreneurs take their businesses to the next level.
Jointly owned by Knife Capital and Thinkroom Consulting, Grindstone assists high-growth innovation-driven SMEs to become sustainable and fundable.
“With this being the first time that the programme is offered in Johannesburg after successfully running it in Cape Town for four cohorts, we really want to tap into the city’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and highlight success stories,” says Andrea Bӧhmert, Co-Managing Partner at Knife Capital.
Grindstone will be working with the current leading Johannesburg-based incubators, entrepreneurial support organisations and individuals committed to building the ecosystem. Grindstone supplies 10 startups in a year-long programme with knowledge, networks and funding readiness through growth measurement, gap analysis and deep interventions designed to build a foundation for growth, transfer skills, create relevant business networks and enable these companies to take advantage of market access opportunities.
“The programme helps entrepreneurs who are navigating their way through the treacherous business scale-up phase by identifying the pitfalls and success metrics of their businesses strategies while closing growth gaps to execute those strategies. A big differentiator is our approach to measurement – the companies need to be able to experience and measure the positive impact the programme has on their businesses,” says Bӧhmert.
The SA SME Fund is providing favourable funding support to the 10 Grindstone Companies to enable them to close the initial growth gaps identified. Further growth funding is also available on commercial terms to scale the companies through Knife Capital’s Section 12J VCC KNF Ventures as well as other funding vehicles backed by the SA SME Fund.
According to Valter Adão, Chief Digital and Innovation Officer at Deloitte Africa, the biggest challenge facing entrepreneurs is access to business insights, mentorship and access to customer networks at the right levels of seniority. Deloitte aims to solve that by contributing to the programme’s pillars of Knowledge and Networks.
Through the programme, Deloitte is able to introduce entrepreneurs and businesses to the valuable and credible networks that it has access to.
Long-time strategic partners in Grindstone: FNB Business, Webber Wentzel and the BillyBo Group have once again committed their support to the entrepreneurs alongside some new collaborators.
Successful businesses that have completed the
Grindstone Programme in the Western Cape include iKubu (subsequently acquired
by Garmin), Payfast, SeaMonster Animation, Electrum Payments, Iono fm, Quicket,
PICSA Finance, Custos Technologies and WhereIsMyTransport, amongst others.
Lord David Currie, former chairman of the UK Competition and Markets Authority and current chair of the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority, has been appointed as Non-Executive Director for 4G Capital, an MSME-focused lender in East Africa, with effect from 31 March.
At 4G Capital, Lord Currie is expected to help increase its footprint across Africa and development of further financial products and services that support inclusion and help catalyse enterprise growth in Africa.
According to 4G Capital Chairman, Wayne Hennessy-Barrett in a statement, “We are immensely privileged to have Lord Currie on our team as we move to our next phase of development. It is now vital for us to expand into more areas of need where we can help micro-enterprises transition from an informal to a formal footing. We are clear on the need to work with partners in government, central banks and other service providers to deliver the right working capital solutions across Africa.”
Launched in 2013, 4G Capital has supported the sustainable growth of micro-enterprises in Africa by providing financial literacy training blended with working capital credit.
The MSME finance gap in Africa critically stands at $331bn even though MSMEs across Africa contribute to over 50% of combined GDP and more than 80% of employment. 4G Capital is addressing this by expanding its product portfolio as well as geographically.
In 2018, 4G Capital expanded to Uganda and Ghana and now has 72 branches across Kenya and Uganda. In Kenya over $21m was disbursed over the course of the year. By using its proprietorial artificial intelligence and mobile money technology, 4G Capital delivers loans, primarily for rapid-cycling retailers. 4G Capital is estimated to continue its 100% year on year growth record in 2019 while moving into other financial services for its target markets.
Last year, 4G Capital, launched its NxtGen, a new credit solution developed specifically for the banking industry that will help provide working capital credit to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) across Africa with Ghana’s The Seed Funds (TSF), being the company’s first banking customer to use NxtGen.
NxtGen is based on 4G Capital’s Kuza product, which has been successful in Kenya since its launch in 2017. To date, Kuza has provided more than US$ 500,000 in credit to 1,400 businesses.
On his appointment, Lord Currie said, “I am delighted to join this remarkable company which is poised to build on very solid foundations to do great things. Poverty alleviation is a global issue, and one best addressed by empowering small businesses to provide opportunities for the communities they serve.”
This virtual incubator, which has invested more than $13 million into more than 24 graduated startups has announced that it has finished its first round of funding for 2019 to invest in startups interested across Africa and beyond.
UAE-based FasterCapital.com, which has attracted more than 250 submissions from more than 60 countries is a virtual incubator based in Dubai but focused on startups from the whole world. Application results will be announced in four weeks time and will allow FasterCapital to come in as a technical cofounder and invest up to 75% of the seed funding in each accepted startup.
FasterCapital closed the round with the announcement of accepting a new innovative startup from Australia (Bubble.Global) into its incubation program with an investment of usd 150,000.
FasterCapital is a virtual incubator based in Dubai Internet City, UAE has invested more than 13 million USD since its creation in 2010 and has more than 100 internal developers working on multiple projects.
Startups can apply to join our Virtual
Incubator at:
Kobo360, a logistics marketplace is launching in Accra, Ghana and Nairobi, Kenya, just days after the company launched in Lome, Togo – home to West Africa’s largest shipping port.
In a statement, Ife Oyedele, Co-founder and CTO of Kobo360, said: “Kenya is the hub of East Africa, it is the most innovative market in Technology and if we win here, we have won across the region. From here we will expand to Uganda and Tanzania. By adding Ghana to our West African territories of Togo and Nigeria, we will link all the market to a Global Logistics System and this will help us to serve our customers across a seamlessly lined Pan-African market. By this we create value to our customers as we are in all the key countries in the continent”.
The firm estimates that Africa needs ten times the number of trucks to meet short-term commercial transport needs due to poor railway systems. Kobo360, are building a global logistics operating system [G-LOS] that will ensure fast movement of goods at a lower cost for businesses across Africa.
The beta operation in Ghana has recorded over 100 trips serving big clients such Olam Ghana, among others. In the coming weeks, Kobo360 Kenyan team will meet with drivers and equip them with the tools they need to run trips effectively as it continues its test in the East African country.
The company now plans to aggressively extend to other key markets and expects to be in nine African countries before the end of 2019.
“Location is a critical factor in global logistics, and each African country we’ve chosen to expand into has its own value proposition. These markets are among the fastest growing economies and we want to grow with them by supporting the thousands of freight companies who require a safe, reliable and cost effective delivery of their goods to cargo recipients across the continent,” Oyedele added.
To-date, the company has partnered with global logistics brands including Dangote Group, DHL, Unilever and Lafarge and has moved over 297M KG of goods, serviced over 1,450 businesses and aggregated a fleet of over 10,000 drivers and trucks. Launched in 2016, with a vision to revolutionize the logistics value chain in Africa, currently estimated at $150Bn, Kobo360 connects end-to-end haulage operations to help cargo owners, truck owners and drivers, and cargo recipients to achieve an efficient supply chain framework. Through an all-in-one robust logistics ecosystem -reducing logistics frictions in supply chain via a combination of Internet of things (IOT), mobile technology and data analytics.
Kobo360 matches a user’s request with a selection of quality trucks of all categories reducing back and forth telephone costs, opaque pricing and expensive middlemen in the logistics industry.
Kagure Wamuyu, will be COO East Africa and Bilal Abdullah, will be COO West Africa as the firm prepares to officially launch in Ghana on 4 April, and in Kenya by May 2019.
Kobo360’s officially launched in Togo in March, where the company announced its affiliation with the Ministry and Office of Postal Affairs and Digital Economy, as well as the Mediterranean Shipping Company.
The budget smartphone is powered by Mediatek Helio A22
MT6765 chipset, 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal storage which can be expanded
with a microSD card.
Inside the box
For a $134 smartphone Huawei clearly made some tradeoffs
with the packaging. It’s quite simple and includes only the bare minimum:
a USB cable
a wall charger
a set of earphones
a pin for the SIM-card tray
a plastic film screen protector
and documentation
Huawei Y6 Prime 2019 is lightweight which makes it really
nice to use as it fits well in the hand. The shape is comfortable with rounded
corners; you can use the smartphone with no problem as the controls are located
in the right places. The Huawei Y6 Prime 2019 has a 6.09 inches IPS display
with 720 x 1560 px resolution + HUAWEI Dewdrop display (a teardrop-style
notch).
The Y6 Prime 2019 runs on Android OS v9.0 (Pie) out of the
box, customized by Huawei with the EMUI 9.0. It comes with a Li-Po 3020 mAh,
non-removable battery.
At the phones bottom, we have a single USB-C port to handle
charging, which is sandwiched between the main microphone and the bottom
loudspeaker; while the top houses the headphone jack and noise cancellation
mic.
The sim card and microSD card slot is positioned on the left side of the screen whilst the volume and power buttons are on the right side.
Also at the back, you’ll see the single 13MP primary camera with flash and a fingerprint scanner mounted on the back of the phone as well.
Key Features
Brand – Huawei
Model – Y6 Prime
Device Type – Android 4G Smartphone
CPU – Quad-Core 2.0GHz ARM Cortex-A53
Chipset – MediaTek Helio A22 (MT6761)
GPU – PowerVR GE8300
Camera – 13 MP with LED and AF Dual Rear Camera
| 8 Megapixel Front Camera
Memory – RAM- 2GB LPDDR3 | ROM 32GB External
Memory Support up to 512GB (Uses SIM 2 Slot)
The recently launched Samsung trio, Galaxy S10e, S10 and S10+ continues to offer consumers a new all-round experience with ground breaking innovations on the phone’s look and feel as well as the overall performance.
With a reengineered dynamic display, a pro-grade camera and performance optimized for today’s needs, the Galaxy S10 line is the result of 10 years of smartphone innovations.
The Galaxy S10 line is jam-packed with next-generation technology – both new and upgraded. The smartphone offers users the familiar premium Galaxy experience, while it breaks new ground with a series of firsts and bests across the Galaxy S10’s cutting-edge features.
The Galaxy S10 line harnesses a Dynamic AMOLED display, which received the industry’s first certification for 100% Mobile Color Volume in the DCI-P3 color range, achieving excellent color expression, contrast ratio and peak luminance, and garnered the Eye Comfort Certification from TÜV Rheinland.
The device’s new Ultrasonic Fingerprint Scanner is the first advanced on-screen fingerprint-scanning method on a smartphone to receive the FIDO Alliance Biometric Component Certification.
In addition, its Wireless PowerShare technology provides the next level of convenience, able to charge multiple devices simultaneously.
Users can create mesmerizing content with HDR10+ recording, while Super Steady powered by stabilization technology smooths out shaky images. The Galaxy S10 is equipped with 64bit game support, in an industry-first for Android devices.
The smartphone also works seamlessly with Unity’s new Adaptive Performance features and brings Dolby Atmos’ advanced gaming mode to smartphones for the first time. With the largest storage and fastest speeds on a Galaxy device, the Galaxy S10 gives you performance optimized for the way you use your phone today.
We will soon be reviewing the Galaxy S10 trio, be on the look out for that in our next articles.
Safaricom has today announced that it has passed the 30 millionth customer milestone, cementing the firm’s position as the most preferred mobile service provider in the country.
With this new milestone Safaricom has consolidated its lion’s share in the Kenyan telecoms market beating competitors Airtel and Telekom which recently announced a merger to break its monopoly.
Key to Safaricom’s growth is its mobile money payments and remittance service M-PESA which was unveiled in 2007 and serves over 21 million active customers and over 162,800 M-PESA Agent outlets countrywide. Safaricom also has a mobile lending and savings product dubbed M-Shwari which allows its customers to save and borrow cash on the go. Recently, Safaricom launched Fuliza, an overdraft facility to allow its customers pay for bills or send money uninterrupted even when their own M-PESA wallets run out. Fuliza loaned out Ksh6.2 billion in one month.
According to a report by Communications Authority, Kenya had around 46.6 million active mobile subscriptions as at December 2018 and in terms of market share, Safaricom PLC had a 64.2 per cent whereas Airtel Networks Limited stood at 22.3 percent. Telkom Kenya Limited, Finserve Africa Limited and Mobile Pay Limited recorded market shares stood at 9.0 , 4.2 and 0.2 per cent respectively.
To celebrate the milestone, Safaricom is thanking its customers for their loyalty through compelling Bonga Points offers beginning Friday 22nd March, 2019.
“We would like to thank each of our more than 30 million customers for choosing Safaricom as their preferred network which has contributed to our achievement of this remarkable and historic milestone. This breakthrough reflects our customer’s vote of confidence in our purpose of Transforming Lives. Last year as we turned 18, we announced our brand promise of ‘Nawe Kila Wakati’, where we renewed our commitment to always deliver great value on our network,” said Sylvia Mulinge, Chief Customer Officer – Safaricom.
Between Friday and Sunday, all Safaricom customers will have the option to redeem 1 Bonga Point for KES 1 worth of airtime to a limit of KES 100 airtime, or 1 Megabyte of data valid 7 days to a limit of 1 GB, enjoying a 67% discount. Customers can redeem the offers as many times as they wish for the three days by dialing *444*3#.
Safaricom will also extend the 1 to 1 offer to the Neon Kicka 4, which will be available for 3,499 points. Customers with fewer points can top up the difference in cash at KES 1 for 1 point. The device will be available at all Safaricom shops and all dealer outlets countrywide while stocks last.
In October 2018, Safaricom marked its 18th anniversary since the company was founded in 2000.
Over the last 18 years, Safaricom customers have enjoyed a variety of transformative products and services.
Safaricom has also spent more than KES 100 billion in the last three years ensuring more than half of Kenya’s population has access to high-speed mobile connectivity through 4G while 3G and 2G networks reach more than 91 per cent and 96 per cent of the population respectively.
Besides its products and network, Safaricom has also placed a lot of focus in being close to its customers through initiatives such as ‘Ndoto Zetu’.
“We continue to appreciate our customers through the ‘Ndoto Zetu’ initiative, where we are coming together to make a difference to their communities, inspired by their dreams. Our objective is to make a positive change across more than 500 communities,” said Sylvia.
During the Official Galaxy S10 launch in Kenya, Samsung confirmed that they will be bringing the new A-series for 2019 line-up to Kenya. As per rumours, this may include – Galaxy A90, Galaxy A70, Galaxy A50, Galaxy A30 and Galaxy A10. They are expected to compete with brands like Oppo, Techno, Huawei and Infinix in the budget price smartphone segment.
The official retail price of these phones have not been released yet for the Kenyan market, but be on the lookout for their launch in Kenya in the next few months.
The Samsung Galaxy A30 and A50 are already officially launched in some markets and the reviews seem to be pretty exciting for budget smartphones. The Galaxy A50 and A30, boast of flagship features such as the A50’s on-screen fingerprint sensor while the A30 comes with a rear fingerprint sensor and face unlock; nearly bezeless screen and multiple cameras.
Cameras are one of the main focuses with both the A30 and A50. The A50 has three cameras on the rear: a primary 25 megapixel main camera, an 8 megapixel ultra wide lens (which the phone will intelligently recommend you use depending on what you’re shooting), and a 5 megapixel depth sensor. The front also boasts a 25 megapixel camera with a special selfie focus for blurring out backgrounds. The A30 has two cameras on the back — a 16 megapixel primary lens and 5 megapixel wide angle lens — along with a 16 megapixel camera on the front.
Both smartphones have a sleek and curved design, a large 6.4inch Super Amoled Infinity-U display with a teardrop notch, and a 4,000mAh battery capable of fast charging. And they will all come running Android 9 Pie.
The Galaxy A50 has 6GB RAM and 128GB storage, while the A30 has 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. Both have a microSD card slot for adding up to 512GB more space, and the models will come in three colours, Black, White and Blue.
Pricing and availability have not yet been released for either the Galaxy A30 or A50. Once confirmed we will be sure to update you in our upcoming posts outlining both full specs, and pricing.
Amplify, a fintech firm, builds and facilitates payment solutions and digital financial transactions in Nigeria. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
OneFi will add Amplify’s assets, tradements and flagship products, AmplifyPay and mTransfers, to its growing portfolio.
According to Chijioke Dozie, OneFi Founder and CEO, “Today’s announcement signals OneFi’s first acquisition; a strategic decision that kicks off our transformation from a digital lender to a diverse digital financial services platform focused on transactions, payments and loans and will ensure we meet our ambitious goal of doubling our size in Nigeria this year. We have long respected the Amplify team for their ability to provide innovative solutions under adverse conditions, and we look forward to blending our expertise to power the future of fintech infrastructure and digital payments in Africa.”
Amplify was conceived in 2015 by Segun Adeyemi and Maxwell Obi, who first met as Entrepreneurs-in-Training at MEST Africa’s Entrepreneurial Training Program in Accra, Ghana. The firm has scaled quickly to become one of Nigeria’s leading online recurring payment processors, supporting over 1,000 merchants and facilitating digital transactions for four of the country’s largest banks.
Of major interest to OneFi are Amplify’s AmplifyPay – a payment gateway specialising in recurring transactions – and mTransfers – a keyboard banking solution that enables consumers to conduct bill and P2P payments in any chat app – have propelled the three-year-old start-up to a market-leader in Nigeria’s financial processing space.
The deal will see Amplify co-founder and CTO, Maxwell Obi join the OneFi team to oversee the payments, whilst co-founder and CEO, Segun Adeyemi, will depart as he pursues new ventures.
Paylater, OneFi’s consumer-facing lending platform, was launched in 2016, and provides hassle-free loans without the need for human intervention or bias in decision making. Paylater has deployed over $50M across 750,000 loans, approving over 1,500 loans a day at an average of $80 per loan.The acquisition of Amplify is the next step in the company’s journey, seeing the platform pivot to a one-stop-shop offering additional products such as savings, bill payments and credit reporting.
Amplify also secured their first investment from MEST Africa, the Pan-African incubator, training program and seed fund, in 2016, when Adeyemi and Obi graduated from the program and the company officially launched. Amplify is the 5th MEST Africa company to be acquired and the first in the fintech space.
The latest budget device, the Y6 Prime 2019 from Huawei mobile, was released early this month and it goes head to head with the earlier released Y7 Prime 2019 in a specs showdown. The two phones are not very different in specs but all have different features that you might fancy.
If you are a Huawei lover, check the budget smartphones below in the comparison table and see the device that has the best features that fits into your daily needs, desires and financial capabilities before you make that purchasing decision. We have put together a side by side comparison of the latest Huawei Y series phones, the Huawei Y6 Prime 2019, Huawei Y7 Prime 2019 and the Y9 2019.
Without the World wide web we doubt you’d be reading this here and right now.
You’d probably be writing a postcard and eagerly waiting months for the post office to deliver your little envelope of news. Some of you don’t even know how life was before the World Wide Web, people had actual private lives.
Imagine. No Google, no Facebook, no Amazon. No email, no tweeting, no streaming. No Skyping, no Snapchat, no Airbnb. No online trolls.
In the world before the web, a lot of time was spent waiting. Appointments were kept on paper calendars. Photos were taken to a shop to be developed, which took some weeks. And maps, people actually learnt how to read them, or just set off on trips knowing they might get lost. Distant relations, high school boyfriends, co-workers faded into memory, but thanks to the world wide web, they’ve been resurrected only decades later by Facebook.
It began by asking how future scientists would keep track of their increasingly large projects. “This proposal provides an answer to such questions,” he wrote. The proposal described what, in just a couple years’ time, would transform into the World Wide Web: a connected system for sharing information that would revolutionize how the entire planet communicated.
At the time, connected networks of computers had been up, running, and growing for a couple of decades. People had sent emails, shared files, ran message boards, and even created the first emoticons.
But it wasn’t until the World Wide Web came along that the internet at large really began to take off. Web browsers, webpages, and hyperlinks made information easy to find and move between, and because the core code was open sourced, anyone could create a browser or website of their own.
The web has become a public square, a library, a doctor’s office, a shop, a school, a design studio, an office, a cinema, a bank, and so much more. Of course with every new feature, every new website, the divide between those who are online and those who are not increases, making it all the more imperative to make the web available for everyone.
And while the web has created opportunity, given marginalised groups a voice, and made our daily lives easier, it has also created opportunity for scammers, given a voice to those who spread hatred, and made all kinds of crime easier to commit. As much as there are news stories about how the web is misused every other day, it’s understandable that many people feel afraid and unsure if the web is really a force for good. But given how much the web has changed in the past 30 years, it would be pessimistic and unimaginative to assume that the web as we know it can’t be changed for the better in the next 30.
Microsoft is planning to double the number of people that can participate in a Skype group video call. The software maker is testing a new change to Skype that will raise the limit from 25 people all the way up to 50 participants.
This is definitely a change that will help small companies that rely on services like Skype to hold meetings, and it pushes past Apple’s limit of 32 people in FaceTime group video chats.
They are also adding the notification feature to all group video calls, by making ringing completely optional. When you start a video call in these smaller groups, they will send a notification to your group rather than having Skype ring all the members. (just like in the large calls). But if you still want to ring, you will be given the option once the call has begun.
Beta testers can access these new calling features in Skype immediately, and are expected to launch on Skype in the coming months.
There is definitely no doubt that 2007 marked the dawn of a new era in the global smartphone market. Industry giants like Nokia, Microsoft, and BlackBerry, which was at the time called Research In Motion, all scoffed when Apple first debuted the iPhone.
The device was so simple and basic compared to phones that ran older smartphone platforms, including BlackBerry OS, Windows Mobile, and Symbian which was by far the most popular smartphone operating system on the planet at the time. The question then was, how could such a simple device compete when it lacked all of the complex features available on these larger platforms?
If you’re buying a new smartphone in 2019, chances are very good that it will run one of these two operating systems. But, if you’re considering keeping your old device and moving to a SIM-only plan that saves money, you might want to unlock your mobile to use on any carrier. Many Americans are tied to AT&T or T-Mobile as these are the two big network providers. But if you want to move across Cricket or Verizon with an unlocked phone, it’s easier than you might think. Service providers like Mobile Unlocked can release your device from its carrier, giving you the freedom to shop around for the best SIM-only phone deals.
These two platforms accounted for 99.7 percent of all new smartphones shipped in 2017, according to IDC, and that percentage rose even higher last year. Microsoft has thrown in the towel on its Windows Phone, BlackBerry makes Android devices now, and there are very few other options worth considering.
So, how do these two differ and what do they have in common? And more importantly, which one should you pick in 2019? Ultimately, the best platform for you depends on you of course. You should pick the things that matter most to you, count the wins in those categories, and have a personalized recommendation.
Affordability
Everyone knows that Apple devices are expensive, period. There isn’t much to say in this regard, and it is fairly obvious from the get-go who the winner will be. This goes not only for iPhones, but for everything else. MacBooks, iMacs, Apple Watches, and virtually every accessory you can think of from Apple. The only way to get an affordable iPhone that is not the iPhone SE, is to get an older-generation model, probably even getting a second-hand one. Even then, they are bound to be quite pricey (Depending on your budget though). This is due to how long iPhones are kept up-to-date.
For sheer scale and variety, nothing competes with Android. You can spend quite a lump sum if you want to. For instance, Google’s Pixel 3 XL and Samsung’s Galaxy Note line almost match Apple’s iPhone pricing, but there’s also a huge choice of good, low-cost handsets from a wide variety of different manufacturers, and the platform has been deliberately optimized to run on low-end hardware. Brand-new Android phones can be found for under $100, although the saying holds true: cheap is expensive.
The cheapest Android phones usually offer terrible performance, although a $300 mid-range Android phone might have all the features and performance that you’d need out of a smartphone. The fact that Android also leads the field in free apps makes it the natural choice for the budget-conscious.
Winner: Android
Apps
The Apple App Store offers fewer apps than Google Play (around 2.1 million vs. 3.5 million, as of April 2018), but overall selection isn’t the most important factor. This gap stems mainly from Android’s open-source nature and Google’s looser policies when it comes to what is accepted on the Play Store. Android phones also allow users to access third-party app stores, such as the Amazon Appstore. As if that isn’t enough variety, Android phones also allow the user to ‘side-load’ apps via manual insertion of .apk files.
We all know that quantity does not equal quality. While Android may have a lead in the former category, Apple’s strict control of the apps available for their platform ensures that the apps function properly and that they are entirely safe and free of any malicious code.
The Play Store definitely does have more free apps than the App Store does, but this does come with some strings attached, and those strings are ads (Urgh! We all hate those). Needless to say, nobody likes being interrupted by pesky advertisements when using apps or playing games, and if you want an ad-free experience, you will have to buy the app just as you would on the App Store. Nonetheless, being able to test out an app for free before buying it is a very welcome option.
We like the fact that you can buy apps using your fingerprint via TouchID on iPhones, but you can set up the same thing for the Play Store on Android phones with fingerprint sensors. The Play Store wins points for having a no-quibble refund policy within two hours of purchase. There are some questionable apps in both stores, but Apple is generally stricter about blocking certain types of apps. That can be a good thing for overall quality, but it’s a bad thing if you’re into something like game emulators for classic consoles. The App Store edges the win for usability and curated content.
Winner: iOS
Customizability
This has always been definitely one of Android’s main strengths. It’s very easy to customize your phone. You can set up the layout you want on your home screen, add widgets and shortcuts, and even change your entire user interface with launchers. Even though some OEMs like Huawei put their own rigid iOS-like skins on top of the operating system, the user can always download a more flexible launcher such as the Nova Launcher, bringing a stock Android experience to every phone.
Needless to say, the iOS experience is highly stable but not at all customizable. iPhones all have the same streamlined design, and while this design is arguably the best one for a phone, a certain degree of customization is always welcome, and it’s an area where iOS is sorely lacking.
If you want a phone that works well, delivers a high-quality experience, and is easy to use, Apple is the clear winner. On the other hand, if you value flexibility and choice enough to accept some potential issues, you’ll probably prefer Android.
Winner: Tie
Security – Do we really have to break this down for you?
If you care about the security of your smartphone, there’s only one choice: iPhone.
Specific manufacturers like Samsung have taken extra efforts to beef up security for the enterprise market. But the slovenly nature of updates on many Android devices can seriously delay important security patches.
Speedy updates are now more important than ever because security breaches are becoming more serious. Android is behind in the update world, unless you have a stock Android device, and so it’s less secure. Because millions of Android phones are still running software that’s years old, they can be vulnerable to serious hacks like Heartbleed and Stagefright.
Apple is already firmly entrenched in corporate America and has also worked on improved security for general consumers, most notably with Touch ID and FaceID in the iPhone X and later. The tight oversight that Apple has on apps and the ability to push updates out to more devices, more quickly, gives it a definitive edge over Android. The company also encrypts data in iMessage and its other apps.
Apple prioritizes user privacy, so you can feel safe knowing your personal data is not stored or read by Apple. It is all encrypted, too. Meanwhile, Android encrypts some data, but your privacy is less protected. Google mines your data for information that it can use to sell better ads and market products to you. Your data is also stored and read to provide you with a better A.I. experience.
Winner: iOS
Cameras
This is a difficult category to call. In the past, we’ve argued that Apple does the best job capturing lighting, coloring, and other details, but the latest Android smartphones are casting a lot of doubt on that assertion.
Much like displays, the quality of a smartphone camera depends entirely on the OEM.
The differences between flagship cameras are still fairly minor, both on paper and in practice. The only way to tell apart the cameras of, say, the iPhone Xs and the Google Pixel 3 is to put them side by side, but even with that, the untrained eye is unlikely to notice any real difference.
As for the more affordable budget and mid-range Android phones, the camera quality varies greatly from OEM to OEM based on which area they decide to cut corners in There’s more variation on Android simply because manufacturers tend to add their own camera apps with lots of features, some good, some a bit gimmicky.
As such, there is no way to determine a clear winner in this category either.
Winner: Tie
Hardware and Performance
It is not uncommon to see someone claiming that iPhones have “bad hardware”. At face value, that does seem true: lower-resolution screens, smaller amounts of RAM than competing Android models, among other things.
Only Apple makes iPhones, so it has extremely tight control over how the software and hardware work together. On the other hand, Google offers the Android software to many phone makers, including Samsung, HTC, LG, and Huawei. Because of that, Android phones vary widely in size, weight, features and quality.
Premium-priced Android phones tend to be as good as the iPhone in terms of hardware quality, but cheaper Android options are more prone to problems. Of course iPhones can have hardware issues too, but they’re generally higher quality.
iOS doesn’t need humongous amounts of RAM as it can keep over a dozen apps loaded and ready with only 2GB, and while the resolution of some models (ahem! Xr) may seem low, the pixel density remains more than adequate, all the while the lower resolution means less work for the GPU and thus, lower battery drain.
Furthermore, Apple’s CPUs have also seemed fairly weak over the years. The A12 Bionic chip is the first one to boast eight cores; the preceding A11 and A10 chips having six and four cores respectively.
Meanwhile, even mid-range Android phones have had octa-core CPUs for years now. However, the same still stands: due to superb operating system optimization, Apple’s CPUs have been consistently outperforming the competition for years now. As a matter of fact, even older-generation iPhones tend to beat newer Android flagships in benchmarks.
Some may prefer the greater choice Android offers, but others appreciate Apple’s simplicity and quality. All in all, while Android phones almost always have superior hardware specs on paper, iPhones offer better performance in the vast majority of cases.
Winner: iOS
Variety
It has pretty much been the same deal with Apple for the past few generations, Each year, we have seen a new phone with the same fundamental design. Although when the iPhone X was introduced things did change.
Incorporating a screen with very thin bezels and heralding a new era in iPhone design which is bound to remain largely unchanged in the next few years. But considering that iPhones are only made by a single company that releases only a handful of models each year, the lack of variety is understandable.
On the other hand, there is no lack of variety with Android phones. There are countless of Android phones out here, with dozens of manufacturers pushing out dozens of models month after month.
Although let’s be frank, the phones aren’t as diverse as they used to be back in the day. Plus, they look more alike than ever, but different OEMs almost always have something unique to offer, be it a hardware or a software feature.
Quite obviously, Android wins in this category, as Android phones cover a much wider portion of the price spectrum and usually introduce some useful features years before they are implemented in iOS.
Winner: Android
Accessories: USB Is Everywhere
Owning a smartphone usually means owning some accessories for it, such as speakers, battery cases, or simply extra charging cables.
Android phones offer the widest choice of accessories. That’s because Android uses USB ports to connect to other devices, and USB ports are available practically everywhere.
On the other hand, Apple insists on its proprietary Lightning cable, which means it’s much easier to find a charger if you’re not an iPhone owner. This often means you have to splash out on an overpriced Apple adapter. Peripheral manufacturers may still go after iOS as their main target, but it’s very rare to find something without Micro USB or USB-C support.
Another mark against Apple here relates to its abandonment of the standard 3.5mm audio port, which started with the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. You do get an adapter in the box, but it’s easily lost and the choice of headphones sporting 3.5mm audio jacks far exceeds those with Lightning connectors. Of course, now some Android phones are axing the headphone jack in favor of USB-C audio, so this may not be a difference for much longer.
It’s also important to note that Apple’s ecosystem of products all work together exceedingly well. The iPad, Apple Watch, MacBook, and HomeKit products all work together in perfect harmony. MacOS, WatchOS, and iOS are all well connected, making it easy to have all Apple products on the same page.
Since Android phones are produced by many different manufacturers, product ecosystems vary. Samsung has a great ecosystem, for example, and Android phones have support from Home, Chromecast, and Android Wear. However, it’s not as seamless as on iOS.
Overall, taking all available accessories into account, you have more choice with an iPhone, but you can also charge your Android practically anywhere.
Winner: We’ll let you decide for this one.
Conclusion
iOS
Android
Superior performance Higher-quality apps and app store Long-term OS updates Better value in the long run
Much greater degree of freedom Highly customizable interface Greater variety of apps More affordable phones
Ultimately, different categories will be important to different people, so you should pay attention to the ones that count for you and make your decision based on that. If security and privacy are an important factor, then the iPhone is the obvious choice. If battery life tops your list and you want to be able to customize your phone, then choose Android.
If you do decide to go with an Android device, make sure you do a little research and look at the version of Android it runs, the manufacturer skin on top, and the manufacturer’s record for software updates.
Both Android and iOS are mature, feature-packed platforms with far more similarities than differences, and we can heartily recommend either. That’s because both platforms offer are good choices for different people. You’ll need to decide what factors are most important to you and then choose the phone that best meets your needs.
If you’re buying an iPhone, you just need to pick a model, but because many companies make Android devices, you have to pick both a brand and a model, which can be a bit confusing.
But we do hope that this helped a bit with the choice.
GreenTec Capital Partners today announced that the GreenTec Capital Africa Foundation has started its activities in Europe and in Africa in a bid to promote investment in African entrepreneurship with the goal of driving the creation of economic and social added-value.
The foundation’s team will work with African entrepreneurship ecosystem players, investors, and corporates from Europe and Africa as well as public and private institutions.
The foundation aims to help investors and companies benefit from shared knowledge and expertise with regards to investments in African entrepreneurship through collaboration with the foundation’s efforts. Moreover, the GreenTec Capital Africa Foundation will work with public and private institutions to fulfil joint missions, improving time-to-impact ratios through strengthened partnership contributions.
According to Thomas Festerling, GreenTec Capital Africa Foundation’s CEO: “Investing in African entrepreneurs can bring a manifold of positive outcomes in the form of economic success; for investment and for local value. In order to invest or to receive investment it is crucial to have the right knowledge, the right partners and local and global visibility.”
The GreenTec Capital Africa Foundation will collaborate with organizations who see the value in the approach and are willing to make a long-term difference.
GreenTec Capital’s portfolio include Boreal Light, PEBL, Divine Masters, Bio Phyto Collines, Netwookie, LegAfrik, AgroCenta, Parcel-IT, Bismart, SuperFluid Labs, Yusudi LTD, ARED – African Renewable Energy Distributor, Farmcrowdy, NOK360, Afrilife and African Bamboo.
The foundation will support the pan-African startup ecosystem to create jobs and transfer knowledge and value to the society. By putting the spotlight on these entrepreneurs and sharing knowledge the foundation believes it can create an environment that facilitates the creation of global partnerships for investments, technology exchange or market access.
Emmanuel Macron, the President of the Republic of France has announced efforts to support the revolution of entrepreneurship and innovation in Africa through a new initiative dubbed Choose Africa.
Choose Africa will be coordinated by the AFD Group and Proparco will devote 2.5 billion euros to financing and support of African start-ups, VSEs and SMEs by 2022. AFD and its subsidiary dedicated to the private sector Proparco will be mobilized to support nearly 10,000 companies at different stages of their development.
Start-ups, small and medium-sized enterprises play a key role in job creation, economic growth and innovation. In Africa, these companies will have a fundamental role to play in welcoming the 450 million young people who will join the labor market by 2050.
The lack of adequate financing remains a major obstacle, which hinders entrepreneurs’ ambition and limits the potential of their companies. Today, only 20% of SMEs in Africa have access to bank loans and 87% of start-ups have no access to financing.
The Choose Africa initiative launched today will devote 2.5 billion euros to financing and supporting African start-ups, VSEs and SMEs by 2022. Driven by the AFD Group, this initiative mobilizes all the tools AFD and Proparco to provide unparalleled support to African businesses.
1 billion euros will be invested in equity in start-ups, small businesses and SMEs in Africa while EUR 1.5 billion will be used to facilitate access to credit for small and medium-sized enterprises via public or private local financial institutions (microfinance institutions, banks, leasing companies, etc.).
In total, nearly 10,000 African small and medium-sized enterprises will benefit from Choose Africa , including 600 through equity investments. Through this initiative, France, via AFD and Proparco, reaffirms its commitment alongside African entrepreneurs and at the service of the continent’s economic development.
Choose Africa through AFD Group will offer both equity investments and tools facilitating access to credit for SMEs (through credit lines dedicated to SMEs, granted to African financial institutions, or via guarantees granted to banks to cover SME risk);
It will also offer technical support to financial institutions in their support activities for SMEs, to train companies and entrepreneurs to improve their environmental, social or governance practices, and finally to develop accelerator and incubation networks local ecosystem support actions to develop an enabling environment for entrepreneurship and SMEs.
Early this month, Samsung Electronics unveiled a new line of premium smartphones: Galaxy S10. With four unique devices, the Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10+ , Galaxy S10e and Galaxy S10 5G. While late last year, Apple Inc. released three upgrades to the existing iPhone X—the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR.
All three phones vary in screen sizes with the iPhone XR being the least specced model with an LCD screen and single rear camera instead of the OLED panel and dual rear cameras on the iPhone XS and the iPhone XS Max. The trio, however, feature the same Apple A12 chipset based on a 7nm process.
The Galaxy S10 Plus has a 6.4-inch AMOLED screen with two front-facing cameras housed in a double hole-punch cut-out that Samsung calls the Galaxy O display. Just like the Galaxy S10, it has a fingerprint reader built under the display, but unlike the smaller Galaxy, the S10 Plus has dual cameras on the front for selfies.
Neither the S10 Plus nor the XS Max are intended for the average smartphone buyer. They’re too large and, crucially, too expensive to be genuine choices for most people.
These phones are aimed squarely at power users, people who are willing to pay more to get the most capable phones on the market, ahead of other concerns.
The S10 Plus has a sharper display
The XS Max has a faster processor
The XS Max has a better selection of gaming apps
The S10 Plus has better front facing cameras
The S10 Plus has expandable storage
The S10 Plus has better battery life and a headphone jack
The S10 Plus is a collection of enormous numbers and features. The XS Max, on the other hand, focuses on providing as streamlined experience as possible. This difference is best expressed through Samsung’s inclusion of the micro-SD card slot and the headphone jack, while still offering wireless earbuds and different internal storage options.
On paper the Galaxy S10 Plus is the most powerful Android phone, but it has to contend with Apple’s iPhone XS Max with its super-fast A12 processor. It’s also up against the Google Pixel 3 XL, which has one of the best cameras on any phone in 2019, and is $100 cheaper.
Have a look at our spec chart below to see how these top dollar phones compare.
A new ‘Uber for trucks’ startup has launched in Kenya to take on Sendy, Lori Systems, Senga, and Bwalae in a move to solve the last mile delivery problems in the country.
Amitruck, a mobile app connecting pick-ups, truckers and shippers aims to be a catalyst in transforming the transportation of goods in the country as well as important in streamlining working relationships between truck owners and their drivers.
However, as a peer-to-peer logistics business, Amitruck will struggle to gain any market share because the logistics industry needs more than just linking a truck owner, insurance and a customer. On-demand peer to peer logistics services were pioneered in the country by Sendy but uptake was low because apart from supply and demand, there was need for centralisation which brings sanity and safety to the industry. If Amitruck survives its first year in business, then the team will have all it takes to serve clients across the country. A pivot to a centralised B2B platform might help the company grow faster than its current C2C model.
The app’s name originates from the French word ‘ami’ meaning friend, Amitriuck uses mobile and cloud technology to provide a friendly, efficient and affordable way to the customer to deliver goods of all sizes across Kenya and neighbouring markets by accessing their fleet/network of trucks in the mobile app.
According to its founder, Amitruck Founder & CEO Mr Mark Mwangi, “As we embrace the 4th Industrial revolution, the mobile phone has played a significant role in shaping African technology. Due to its accessibility and high penetration rates in Africa, it gives start-ups an appropriate tool to create and deliver locally relevant solutions”, he said.
Amitruck app allows a customer to book a delivery using the mobile app. The trucks in the area get notified and their quotes are sent to the customer through the app. The customer chooses a quote, date and time for the delivery to be made. Payment is made but only released to the driver upon confirmation of delivery
For the cargo owners, Amitruck links them to transporters at competitive rates while for the truck owners and drivers, they have access to more business outside of their networks and have full control of their trucks and what jobs to engage in. The app also offers tracking of both goods and trucks in real time.
Goods transported using the Amitruck app are also insured for free up to Kes 500,000 with options to increase cover above this for a small premium.
PIVOT East, once East Africa’s tech startup conference is coming back to give local startups a chance to meet, network and pitch to angel investors and VCs from around the globe.
The application portal for entries was opened on March 12th 2019 and will continue to accept applications until midnight EAT on April 13th 2019. Pivot East says it has refined the program to ensure maximum value for entrepreneurs, investors and partners after it took a break from 2016.
“We’re excited to bring back Pivot East having incorporated invaluable learning on content and structure. Moving forward, learning will be a key component of Pivot East to ensure that the program remains relevant, exciting and impactful for the ecosystem” Nekesa Were, iHub Managing Director.
“Over the past 2 years, we have researched, refined, asked, listened and learned a lot from our alumni, partners and the community. We are ready for the next phase of the PIVOT EAST. We are ready to support and provided a much-needed launchpad and platform for East Africa Startups,” Were added.
PIVOT East 2019 will be held on 27th June, 2019. After not holding in 2017 and 2018, iHub is calling for companies locally and internationally to come in as sponsors and partners.
“We are looking for individuals or firms of angel investors, venture capitalists, private equity and banks to participate as judges, panellists or attendees. If you would like to participate as an investor sign uphere,”announced iHub.
Since 2011, m:lab East Africa which was in charge then, organized annual editions of PIVOT East where 15 startups have raised close to US$120,000.
The 2015 edition, saw startups get a $5,000 grant and a $5,000 seed investment which may be topped up by other investors depending on the startups funding requirements and their ability to convince other investors.
But in 2016, Pivot East ran out of energy in what m:lab East Africa said was a lack of time while some voices from the corporate sector claimed the returns on their investments were too low. iHub was also going through a transition which saw the m:lab lead quit his gig at the then Bishop Magua based organization. Thereafter the loss making organization was sold and revamped into a for-profit private limited entity.
PIVOT East has attracted more than 200 investors from across the world. Pivot Alumni have gone ahead to raise over $200K from iHub and $40M from external investors in the past 5 years.
With a new iHub, and new energy the m:lab core team seems ready to go all in for the conference this year. PIVOT EAST is looking for startups in five categories in both software and hardware including Finance,enterprise, entertainment, social Impact and Utilities.
Some of the notable sponsors of Pivot East conferences and startup pitch competitions include Samsung, Omidyar Network, NESC, Co-op Bank, InMobi, Mercy Corps, Kenya ICT Board, Safaricom, Qualcomm, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Nokia, CGAP, Accion, BlackBerry, OLX, Eskimi, Uganda Communications Commission, MTN Uganda, NITA-UG, World Bank( infoDev), Chase Bank, Motorola Solutions , Intel, Facebook, Making All Voices Count, Chase Bank, Homeboyz Entertainment among others.
PIVOT East has officially opened the call for applications for its 2019 edition and startups from across the region that meet the requirements can start applying for the competition. To join, startups must be domiciled in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Somalia.
Startups that reached final 25 lists of previous PIVOT East competition cannot compete with products/services previously submitted for the competition.
You can sign up as an investor hereor as a partner here.
