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LagBook twins resurface with Publiseer, a free digital publishing platform for Nigerian authors & musicians

Sam Wakoba
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LagBook twins resurface with Publiseer, a free digital publishing platform for Nigerian authors & musicians

The Nigerian twins who built and sold their social network LagBook back in the day have launched Publiseer, a free digital publishing platform for independent Nigerian authors and musicians.

The platform aims to help book publishers to publish and sell their books on bookstores like “Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Google Play Books, Apple iBooks and Kobo” and music to music stores such as “Amazon, Spotify, Google Play Music, Apple iTunes, Deezer and Shazam.”

The two say publishing should be free and easy and the platform is “tailored to meet the growing needs of independent Nigerian authors and artists by providing a hassle free, easy to use, extensive, digital publishing service with professional book/album cover design, global distribution of books and music to over 400 online stores, formatting of book and mastering of tracks, EPUB and FLAC file conversion, 7 hours customer support every weekday, and crafting of marketing essentials.”

Authors and artists using the platform retain the publishing rights to their work, and can republish their work elsewhere. Their authors and artists receive a dollar for every sale of their work, and get paid when the royalty accrued reaches a $20 threshold. At the moment, the platform is only open to young and budding Nigerian authors and artists residing in the country.

Publiseer claims that the only thing their authors and artists have to do is to write a book or record a song, and they will do the rest for them. The young company’s international competitors are BookBaby and CDBaby, both sister companies. The only difference is Publiseer is free to use.

“All you have to do is write that amazing book or record that hit song, and we’ll do the heavy lifting for you. We’ll take your raw work, turn it into a professional masterpiece, and distribute it worldwide,” said Chidi. “We’re passionate about the success of our authors and artists, which is why our services are broad — touching every important sector in the publishing business. We’ve created the digital platform authors and artists need to succeed in today’s competitive market.”

Publiseer says its mission is to “promote the creativity of Nigerians to the rest of the world.

Taxi hailing app Little launches Little Wallet months after investing into restaurant platform EatOut

Dennis Mathu
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Taxi hailing app Little launches Little Wallet months after investing into restaurant platform EatOut

In May, Craft Silicon invested $500K into restaurant discovery platform EatOut to launch a mobile wallet for food lovers. Today the firm unveiled Little Wallet for passengers using Little taxi cabs to load money and save their time and earn discounts in the process. This was earlier known as Little Life.

With the wallet, Little will be improving its customer experience through a simplified checkout process and building customer loyalty. The wallet will also give the firm money to expand, give loans to its driver partners as well embark on product development minus using its own money. It’s technically flexible hedging for the firm.

With a faster checkout process, passengers are more likely to come back hence leading to more rides for the drivers and more revenue for them. The Wallet will also allow Little to expand beyond mobile phones as the wallets can loaded and checked out using a desktop PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone, good for shared family or corporate accounts.

The Little Wallet will also allow customers to keep all their Little financial information in one place securely with ability to load their wallets using M-PESA, credit or debit card among others and customers can check out anywhere and anytime and on any device. The Little Wallet also comes with  a 10% bonus for any amount a user deposits. So if a passenger loads 5,000, they get 5,250 as their balance. 50,000 will give one a whopping 55,000, that’s 5,000 free cash.

Little Wallet makes payments hassle free at the end of a passengers ride and also makes it possible to send trip credits to friends and family. Customers load their Little Wallet via MPESA Paybill 309999.

BookAid Launches to Provide Small Businesses with Bookkeeping and Accounting Services

Christie Uzebu
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BookAid Launches to Provide Small Businesses with Bookkeeping and Accounting Services

BookAid was launched to meet the needs of small businesses struggling to monitor their cash flow, and keep financial records up to date.

The startup provides bookkeeping and accounting support service to small businesses.

According to the Bookaid team, “we understand tracking and sorting your business books and accounting can seem like a horrid task. We also understand you are on a budget. Our mission is to help businesses and NGOs keep up to date accounting records according to international standards by providing book keeping and accounting support services.”

To begin using the platform, users sign up by choosing and purchasing your preferred plan, then the Bookaid team setup an accounting system customized to the business’ need.

Businesses owners can also keep their accounts on the platform regularly updated by regularly sending in records of daily business transactions, including revenue, purchases, receipts and expenses to the Bookaid team, who in turn post and update.

At the end of the month, Bookaid sends business owners an accounting reports – profit and loss, cash-flow and balance sheet, with data on how the business has faired financial. They also provide free accounts audit at the end of the year. In addition to these, Bookaid provide business intelligence and advisory services to businesses, giving them a guide on how to control costs, improve business process and grow profit.

With tons of small businesses springing up everyday, and accounting/bookkeeping being an everyday business need, BookAid sure has the potential to thrive in Nigeria. However, it has a number of competitors to deal with, including accountinghub.com.ng, and its success would be dependent on how innovative the team can get.

Three Nigerian Startups Accepted Into 500 Startups’ Batch 22 Cohort

Christie Uzebu
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Three Nigerian Startups Accepted Into 500 Startups’ Batch 22 Cohort

500 startups’ has revealed the list of startups accepted into its Batch 22 cohort, and in the list are three Nigerian-led startups.

The Nigerian startups represent the only black startups in the cohort.

They include Mail Haven, Mobile Forms, and Fyodor Biotechnologies.

MailHaven led by Kela Ivonye is a smart mailbox that tracks and protects your packages. The MailHaven app for iOS allows you to manage your online purchases and track your shipments – all in one place. No more cluttered inboxes, lost tracking codes, or missed deliveries. When used along with the MailHaven smart mailbox, you unlock the ultimate online shopping experience with automatic tracking, protection from the elements, and notifications the instant your package arrives.

Mobile Forms is a platform for local and international businesses to crowdsource reliable market data in Africa. It helps users create forms online and collect quality data using any mobile device. It also helps run Campaigns and get real time response from its global agent network.

Fyodor Biotechnologies, led by Dr. Eddy Agbo is a privately held medical device company whose mission is to develop and commercialize novel medical diagnostic tests that address unmet needs in Nigeria and emerging economies. In response to the large proportion of malaria that is managed at home and in all healthcare settings, Fyodor has developed the Urine Malaria TestTM(UMT) – the first ever non-blood (one-step, no blood, no reagents, no equipment, visually read) rapid test that tells in 25 minutes or less if a fever is due to malaria or not. It removes the complexity, pain and risks associated with a blood test.

The new cohort consists of 36 innovative startups from 14 countries.  42% of the companies are based outside of the United States, with founders representing Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Nigeria, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

B22 includes a focus on FinTech (9 companies), Data (7 companies), and Digital Health (4 companies), with other startups ranging from facial recognition to supply chain management to the largest global community of motorcycle riders.  14% of companies have a female founder.  31% of founders are Asian, 11% Middle Eastern, 10% LatinX and 8% Black.

As is tradition, B22 kicked off with the notorious Sales and Marketing Hell Week, as founders dove head-first into the world’s most rigorous growth accelerator program.

Here’s a full list of B22 companies:

Agentbong — A home care marketplace in Asia that helps families hire qualified and trustworthy caregivers.

Botsociety — A design tool for previewing, prototyping and testing conversational interfaces

COR — Project management software for helping professional services firms increase profitability by intelligently optimizing project costs and cash flows.

Core Labs — Helps knowledge workers early in their career access mentorship, build a reputation, and unlock the value of their professional connections with goal-oriented “micro-networks.”

Cryptomover — Developing index funds to allow investors diversify their crypto portfolios with minimal time and effort.

curio.io — Listen to curated, professionally narrated articles from premium publications like The Financial Times, The Guardian, and Aeon at home or on the go.

Cushion — Trains bots to fight banks fees on customers’ behalves.

Elyse28 — An online subscription service that helps women live free of chronic illness by offering personalized health coaching.

FalaFreud — An online subscription service that helps Brazilians get therapy from certified therapists over audio, text, and video on their mobile device.

FreightRoll — Makes shipping predictable through an open marketplace of connected shippers and truckers.

Fyodor Biotechnologies — Developing a non-invasive technology that helps people with a fever diagnose malaria in 25 minutes using a few drops of urine instead of blood.

Jones — Automated insurance compliance that helps enterprises kill the headache of hiring independent contractors.

Judolaunch — A tool that helps small e-commerce brands expand internationally by engaging a global community of online consumers.

LaborVoices — LaborVoices protects apparel brands through intel on factory conditions sourced directly from workers.

MailHaven — An electronic mailbox that helps suburban homeowners secure and monitor their deliveries without the need for wired power or home WiFi.

Mediation Online — A web service that helps Brazilian corporations and consumers resolve legal disputes quickly and inexpensively with an automated, binding mediation process.

Mira — Streamlines the life insurance experience for the higher risk population using technology and machine learning.

Mobile Forms — A platform for local and international businesses to crowdsource reliable market data in Africa.

Myndlift — Offers a therapist-guided solution to help people improve their attention ability using “brain wave” training.

Next Play — Powers personalized employee mentorship at scale.

Ohalo — Blockchain-based data management solution to help financial institutions prove data provenance and compliance.

OpenUp — Measures the impact on purchase behavior across online and offline ads.

Payment24 — A fuel payment and fleet management system that integrates into gas stations and vehicles to reduce fraud and increase efficiencies.

Plum — A chatbot that automates your money so you can effortlessly save, invest and avoid rip-off bills.

Prodsmart — Provides a tracking system to help factories eliminate paperwork and collect real time data by using smartphones on the shop floor.

Public Goods — Health-focused consumer-packaged goods.

Rapa — Alternative mortgage lender for US customers to buy homes abroad

reDock — A proposal automation solution that mines and tailors corporate information on-demand to help professional services companies win complex RFPs

Rever — A mobile application that helps a global community of motorcycle riders discover, track and share their riding experiences together.

Sendoso — Helps B2B companies grab the attention of prospects and customers with an all-in-one platform for sending things like direct mail, handwritten notes, and custom gifts.

ShortPoint — A subscription software that helps department managers build gorgeous intranets with no coding from their existing content systems, such as Office 365, SharePoint, and SAP Cloud Portal.

Sofy.ai — Intelligent, trainable bots for software developers to end daily repetitive tasks like testing, deploying and monitoring and live support.

Texel — Enables efficient streaming of VR and AR content over existing networks by using viewing data and behavioral analytics to reduce the bandwidth by more than 50%.

TrueFace.Ai — A turnkey facial recognition solution for privacy conscious enterprises

VCV — AI-powered recruiting bot that helps enterprises hire smarter and faster by autonomously searching resumes, conducting automated phone screens with voice recognition and recording video interviews.

WayPay — Streamlines the accounts payable process for SME’s by connecting to any AP system and automatically reconciling payments sent to local or international suppliers from any combination of bank and credit card accounts.

Kwilist Launches to be a Video Classifieds for Cars

Christie Uzebu
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Kwilist Launches to be a Video Classifieds for Cars

Classifieds platforms are not new, as they’ve become really popular. But Kwilist wants to redefine classifieds by enabling users post video ads of cars they intend to sell.

When it comes to purchasing cars from sellers, what obtains is, buyers having to go long distances to the seller’s location, and sometimes traveling from one state to another just to inspect the car and see if it suits their needs. Kwilist is changing the game, allowing users to find great deals on the car of their taste, and also carry out inspection without leaving the comfort of their homes or offices.

The platform provides users access to a large database of new and used cars from verified sellers, and makes it easy for one to make the best choice by allowing them see a video of what they are buying before contacting a seller directly on the platform.

For users looking to sell their cars, they simply record a video that clearly shows the exterior, interior and the engine of the car, fill in the details of the car, post it on the site and wait to get contacted by buyers. The platform also supports pictures, for sellers who are not able upload video ads.

To further improve the experience of buyers, Kwilist automatically resizes videos uploaded by sellers, to ensure users are able to watch videos without having to worry about exhausting their bandwidth. 

Kwilist provides all of these services at no cost.

According to the team, “Kwilist is the perfect answer the buyers have been waiting for. It allows one who wants to buy a car to inspect the car right without traveling miles. Its a perfect solution against fraud.”

The online classifieds space in Nigeria has a number of big players, with many new entrants struggling to make a name for themselves. But one way they can succeed is by being innovative. This is what Kwilist has done, and we can’t wait to see how it works for them.

Kenya’s e-Passport still on track for September launch; old ones to expire in two years

Dennis Mathu
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Kenya’s e-Passport still on track for September launch; old ones to expire in two years

The Immigration Department released a statement to remind Kenyans that they will start issuing the new e-Passports from 1st September this year. These new documents had been initially scheduled for an April 20017 release but they were pushed to September.

The government has been teasing images of the new passports to illustrate the main changes. Some of the differences with the old one include a new blue colour scheme on the cover as well as a logo of a biometric chip at the bottom to signify its electronic chip inside. Moreover the header will be labelled ‘East African Community’ and below it will be the title ‘Republic of Kenya’. Many countries have already moved to electronic passports and we applaud Kenya in its decision to follow suit in line with the digitization agenda initiated by President Uhuru.

Statements from the Immigration Department noted that the old passports will expire on 31st August 2019, exactly two years after the new ones will start being deployed.

It’s advisable to get your traditional passport replaced with the new version early enough to start enjoying the new ease of usage and security features as well as avoid the last minute rush.

Nokia 8 full specifications and price

Dennis Mathu
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Nokia 8 full specifications and price

Nokia 8 pays homage to the company’s phones of the olden times by reintroducing Carl Zeiss optics to the renewed brand. The phone is HMD’s new flagship for the Nokia brand and is set to compete against other high end offerings from competitors.

It comes with a dual camera which is fine-tuned to produce better low light photography thanks to a monochrome sensor, OIS and laser autofocus. In addition, the device packs a new surround sound recording technology, called OZO audio, which copies the real human way of capturing sound from all directions.

  Nokia 8
Display 5.3 inch

IPS

Quad HD resolution

554 pixels per inch

2.5D screen slight curvature
Internet 3G, 4G
Camera Rear: Dual 13MP cameras (One monochrome, one coloured), f/2.0, OIS. Laser autofocus, Carl Zeiss lens.

Front: 13MP selfie shooter
OS Pure android 7.1 Nougat
CPU 2.5 Quad core kyro

Snapdragon 835
GPU Adreno 540 GPU
RAM 4GB RAM
Storage 64 (Expandable up to 256GB)
Battery 3090mAh with Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0
Body 151.5 x 73.7 x 7.9 mm

Full metallic body

160g weight
Colours Tempered Blue, Polished Blue, Steel, Polished Copper
Special features ·         Dual rear camera, one is monochrome(black and white for better low light photography) + one colored sensor

·         Premium Carl Zeiss camera lens

·         Optical image stabilization + laser autofocus

·         OZO audio for 360 degrees surround audio recording

·         Fingerprint sensor (front mounted)

·         Gorilla glass 5 protection

·         Dual SIM + SD card slot via 2nd SIM slot (2 total slots)
PRICE KES 70,000

 

 

Nokia 8 gets unveiled with dual rear cameras, 13 MP selfie and amazing OZO audio recording

Dennis Mathu
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Nokia 8 gets unveiled with dual rear cameras, 13 MP selfie and amazing OZO audio recording

Nokia has released 3 android phones so far, the 3, 5 and 6. We had an encounter with them recently and noted down our findings. One thing that stood out was that none of the phones was competing at the premium flagship level due to their midrange specifications. Today, HMD just launched their proper flagship, the Nokia 8.

The phone pays homage to the Finn’s flagships of the olden days by making the camera to be crown jewel of the device. The smartphone packs dual rear 13MP cameras with a premium Carl Zeiss lens that made outstanding photography during the reign of Nokia. One camera in the duo is monochrome (black and white) for better low light photography while the other one is a standard colored shooter. They both have an f/2.0 aperture and 1.12µm pixel size. The colored one has optical image stabilization for blur –free shots and videos as well as laser autofocus and a dual LED flash.

The selfie shooter has the very same 13MP sensor as the rear shooter with f/2.0 aperture and even autofocus, a feature that is not often found in front cameras. Users can record video from both front and rear camera at the same time in a split-view viewfinder mode- a feature called Dual Sight- this footage can be streamlined live to Facebook and Youtube. So with the Nokia 8 you can record some live action as well as have yourself in the video at the same time.

HMD also equipped the phone with a new cutting edge sound recording technology dubbed OZO audio. OZO is Nokia’s camera division that specializes in virtual reality and 360 recording. They have come up with a surround sound recording technology that tries to capture audio the same way a human ear does in real life. With OZO audio, the sound recorded with Nokia 8 is not only crystal clear but you can tell exactly which direction it is coming from. The phone uses its 3 microphones to capture your surroundings in a manner that is direction-conscious and one that does not have any distortion whatsoever. You can find a recorded sample here, it compares OZO audio with normal stereo sound recording; the difference is mind blowing (tip: use earphones or turn up the volume to get the best experience).

The rest of the specs are up to par with other major flagship phones launched this year. They include a 5.3 inch IPS LCD with QHD resolution wrapped in 2.5D (slightly curved glass) and an aluminum 6000 series rear casing. The phone is resistant to elements to a slight extent thanks to IP54 rating. Under the hood is the latest snapdragon 835, 4GB RAM and 64GB expandable internal storage. Pure android 7.1 Nougat is running the show and ready for future updates such as Android O which was promised. Battery life is capped at 3090mAh juicer that has Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0 for fast refills. All this fits in a slim 7.9 mm body that comes in polished blue/copper and tempered blue/steel color variants.

In terms of availability, the phone will ship first in Europe starting from next month and then trickle down to other markets after that. It will go for $700 (KSh 70,000), a price tag that is similar to bigwigs like the Samsung Galaxy S8 but more expensive than the LG G6 and the stunning HTC U11. Is the Nokia 8 packing enough oomph to justify that price tag, especially now that the iPhone 8 trio and the Galaxy Note 8 are just around the corner packing futuristic bezel-less displays? You decide.

 

Askafrika Want to be the Quora of Africa

Christie Uzebu
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Askafrika Want to be the Quora of Africa

Everyday single day, people have issues and questions on their minds. From the very personal ones, to the really simple, and extremely difficult. The Internet has opened up an avenue where we can ask questions anonymously and get answers without feeling shy or worrying about of what others would think.

Asides using search engines like Google, there are a number of forums that make this happen, enabling us get live answers from real people. Askafrika has joined this list to attend to questions throbbing your mind.

To provide a seamless way of sharing information, Kazeem Omoniyi and Abdullah Olaniyan launched Askafrika on January 1, 2017. The platform adopts the question and answer approach to information sharing, and aims to be the one stop platform for gathering reliable information in Nigeria and Africa at large.

According to the team, “it is expected to be a go-to site for information that may be used. For example, a question concerning the cost of farm produce like onions can reliably be answered by a merchant in the North or someone really involved in the business.”

An interesting feature available on Askafrika is upvote and downvote, like what obtains on Quora, to give users the ability to vote on responses to questions. This, according to the team would make it easier for administrators to pull down answers that have negative votings.

The Askafrika team recognises Nairaland as their biggest competitor, but are not shaken, as they intend to cover the entire African audience, not just Nigeria.

The team also reveal that the startup is still a work in progress, and they are looking out for investments that’ll help cover marketing costs, reach their target market more effectively and gain traction.

Nairobi Sees 22% Boost in Domestic Air Travel Capacity as Compared to other African Cities

Shera
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Nairobi Sees 22% Boost in Domestic Air Travel Capacity as Compared to other African Cities

Nairobi is the only city in Africa whose airports are recording higher growth for domestic capacity than that of international capacity, with a 22% boost. This is according to a new report by ForwardKeys, which compares Nairobi’s trend to most of the other top 10 African Airports ranked by total scheduled capacity for August to December 2017, which are seeing more growth in international than in domestic capacity.

The report, whose special focus is on the East African Community (EAC), further indicates that Nairobi’s airports have a total scheduled capacity (August to December 2017) of 18% in domestic seats, 31% in long-haul international seats, and a 51% capacity in intra-Africa international seats. Of these, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport’s scheduled capacity is 13% and 5% long-haul and intra-Africa international seats respectively within the same period under review.

Generally, the wider analysis of the report on travel to Africa shows EAC destinations received a strong growth of 14.3% for 2017 year to date.

Collectively, the entire African continent continues to record positive performance, welcoming an increase in international arrivals of 14% in 2017 year to date. In a parallel report by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), global passenger traffic data for June shows that demand (measured in total revenue passenger kilometers) increased by 7.8% compared to 2016, and from May’s record of 7.7% growth. All regions, according to IATA, reported growth.

This Nigerian Startup Wants to Help with Your Deliveries

Christie Uzebu
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This Nigerian Startup Wants to Help with Your Deliveries

As the use of technology keeps growing in Nigeria, startups are springing up offering solution to everyday needs. One of these is delivery service. Picking up items, getting parcels across to people have become easier than ever with platforms dedicated to taking off this burden.

Say hello to the newest member of the online delivery service industry – Parcel-it.

Parcel-it is a dispatch booking/scheduling app that claim to offer the smartest, fastest and most convenient way to deliver parcels, with the use of mobile phones

Launched by Gregory Asenime on June 9, 2017, the startup helps users carry out deliveries of any kind, no matter how small an item might be. From shipping of documents, to purchase from online stores, and picking up of items a user might have forgotten at home, or somewhere else, there’s always a dispatch rider, ready.

The service is currently available to users in Lagos, with plans to expand to other cities.

According to the team, “we are on a mission to provide a convenient, fluid and innovative last mile experience in meeting delivery needs using an easy to use mobile phone application and a web API.”

The online delivery service space has a number of big players like MAX and Africa Courier Express. The Parcel-it team recognises this competition, and believes that their mobile friendliness, shortest possible waiting/delivery time, and an open marketplace for riders would give them an edge.

8 Tweets that Show that Kenyans Just Don’t Agree With Raila’s ‘Hacked IEBC Servers’ Story

Shera
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8 Tweets that Show that Kenyans Just Don’t Agree With Raila’s ‘Hacked IEBC Servers’ Story

As Kenyans were in their homes last week, waiting anxiously on the results, Raila, not agreeing with his position during the ongoing election reveal, fought back by claiming that the  IEBC servers were hacked and dismissed the poll results as fake.

Without sufficient evidence backing  his claim, several Kenyans refused to be swayed by allegations even as he goes to the supreme court. Many took to twitter expressing their feelings;

 

This Startup Wants to be a Peer-to-Peer Lending Marketplace for Nigerians

Christie Uzebu
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This Startup Wants to be a Peer-to-Peer Lending Marketplace for Nigerians

When it comes to accessing loans from financial institution in Nigeria, it’s never really easy. From too many processes, to strict requirements that many find hard to meet, and high interest rates.

MOLI (Multi-versatile Open Loan Interface) was launched to bail you out. The platform is a peer-to-peer (P2P) lending marketplace for loans, that matches borrowers with lenders based on their interest.

According to the founder, the platform was designed to serve the huge market of borrowers that conventional financial institutions in Nigeria have left behind through high interest rates.

Specifically, MOLI is modeled for investors (lenders) who want to take control of their investment preference, working professionals, start-ups and real-estate developers who desire to seek funding at a lower rate with less hassle.

Through the platform, working professionals can access loan for domestic needs, young entrepreneurs looking to transform their ideas into workable products are linked with investors.

 MOLI makes it possible for lenders and borrowers to decide upon an agreeable loan rate and conditions for their transactions.
To use the platform, register as a borrower or lender. Once registration is completed, MOLI undertakes a comprehensive verification process.

After successful verification, borrowers then state what they require the loan for, and an automated system suggests the loan period, loan amount and interest rate against the borrower’s profile.

Lenders can also make offers to fund borrower’s requirement, which are accepted based on matching the lender’s preference.

Once a lender and borrower are satisfied with their terms, MOLI provides a paperless technology based on their contract for both of them to sign. They also claims to setup a complete process of funding within 72hrs.

This is innovative platform that’ll help make access to funds a lot easier. However, getting people to part with their money is the challenge that comes with running a platform of this kind. But, we’d like to see how MOLI makes this happen.

Booklify Launches to be a Community for Book Lovers

Christie Uzebu
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Booklify Launches to be a Community for Book Lovers
Launched on July 7, 2017 by Nathaniel Okwoli, Booklify is an online bookstore devoted to creating a global community of book lovers by encouraging our users to discuss and share their favourite books with their friends.

Users can sort books by categories, follow a particular author, write book reviews, share and recommend books to their circles (reading clubs/groups).

To enhance interaction within the online community,  the platform also has features that allow users create quotes, create conversational reviews, engage in direct messaging with other users and mention authors of interest in their newsfeed. On the other end, publishers promote their books can track their sales on their dashboard.

According to the Booklify team, “We believe in creating a platform to allow people connect and find books that matter the most to them. Booklify is about finding, reading interesting books and sharing your thoughts.”

With the platform, users can search for and find their favorite books in any category, publish or self-publish their books and gain access to a wide network of readers, meet new people and get book recommendations from friends.

Although, there’s a popular stereotype that Nigerians do not read, established online bookstores like Wattpad and Okadabooks prove that the reading culture of Nigerians have improved a great deal.

The Booklify team recognises this competition, and they believe that the social component of the platform, and strategic partnership with African global youth leaders would give them an edge.

In the words of the founder, “most Nigerian Authors find valuable a platform that they can publish their books, with efficient distribution and promotion of the books to a wider audience of readers. The social component of Booklify makes this achievable for authors.”

ExtraClass.ng is Connecting Learners to Expert Tutors

Christie Uzebu
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ExtraClass.ng is Connecting Learners to Expert Tutors

ExtraClass.ng is an educational technology platform that helps learners find expert tutors near them.

The platform also provides wide range of preparatory test questions & answers to help the learners master subjects and skills on the go.

For the tutors, ExtraClass gives them an opportunity to put their knowledge and experiences are to work, earning them extra cash.

“We don’t just help you get an expert tutor near you, we ensure that you assimilate all that you were taught by providing you with an intelligent and robust Test Prep solution. From English to Mathematics to many others; all past questions & answers are accurate and updated.”

Through the platform, Learners are able to browse through hundreds of tutors with expertise in over 100 subjects, courses and skills, sort by category and location, view the profile of tutors, watch their videos, read reviews about them and book their services directly by sending a message on the platform or contacting them via phone/email.

ExtraClass also assures that tutors are carefully examined and scrutinized to ensure they are qualified to give expert tutoring service on their chosen subject.

At the same time, learners can review tutors to share their experience and give other learners an insight that’ll  enable them make the best decision when looking out for a tutor.

Educational technology platforms keep growing in number, as a number of startups have launched in the last few years to offer tutoring services. There’s Tuteria, PrepClass, Pass.ng, Tutor.ng and a host of others.

With a lot of competition for ExtraClass, we only wonder how the team would innovate to set it apart from others, and in turn dominate the space.

Gigfisher is Connecting Freelancers to Clients

Christie Uzebu
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0
Gigfisher is Connecting Freelancers to Clients

For small businesses still trying to save cost and grow, they turn to freelancers for some tasks, instead of hiring full-time staff that would require payment on a monthly basis. The number of freelancers on the other hand keeps going, as technology is giving more people opportunity to offer their services from a remote location.

Gigfisher was launched to give project owners and freelancers a platform to connect and collaborate.

Launched in February 2017 by Joseph Ogbonnaya, the platform serves as a marketplace where people in need of services such as web development, designs, sales, marketing and more could connect with those who have the skills.

According to Gigfisher, “whether you need one writer or an entire team of programmers, we help you find the right experts to fuel your success. Our freelancing website connects talented freelancer with creative people, genius entrepreneurs, and savvy businesses. No more limits!”

To use the platform, project owners post details about projects that need attention, then Gigfisher matches them with the right freelancers.

Project owners can then browse profiles, reviews, and proposal, interview top candidates, hire a favourite and begin their project.

According to the founder, “we aim at becoming a top-of-the-mind brand for anyone who has a project whether mini and/or macro ranging from basic everyday projects like getting a plumber fix your tap, designing a logo or even making your hair this weekend to design/programming a website, writing a copy, producing a jingle etc.”

Although, there are a number of online platforms offering same service as Gigfisher, including Asuqu.com and Jolancer.com, the founder is quite confident that Gigfisher has what it takes to dominate the space.

Patasente Inc is Changing the Game in Credit Financing

Shera
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Patasente Inc is Changing the Game in Credit Financing

Patasente, founded by George W Bakka is a supply chain financing platform that enables people guarantee or to businesses in East Africa. Entrepreneurs get working capital loans to grow their revenues, and lenders finance the loans by buying a range of interest bearing promissory notes to earn extra incomes.

Unlike traditional banking institutions that offer credit based on physical immovable collateral, they instead base their decisions on the credit score ratings of their customers. They also provide financing that enables entrepreneurs to move goods and services to customers who need them most.

Let’s say that Jojus Logistics Ltd gets a USD 10,000 contract to supply food-maize flour to St Mary’s College, and needs USD 5,000 loan at 5% interest to deliver. 10 lenders can each buy notes worth USD 50 to collect the entire amount which then advanced to the entrepreneur. Once St Mary’s pays the client, all lenders are paid back with interest.

To date, 33 lenders have lent out $ 68,710 to 66 businesses with contracts worth $ 196,470. An example of their impact as a business is through one of many companies, Jojus Logistics, which is a commodity trading company that sources agricultural produce-maize and beans from rural farmers to sell to local and regional markets. His only limitation was capital to impact his suppliers and meet his clients. To date, Jojus has borrowed and paid back over $ 30,000 through LPO and Discounted Invoice financing, impacted over 300 small holder farmers and created 7 jobs. Through Jojus we are looking to expand our finance service offering to over 10,000 farmers in East and North Uganda.

Their goal is to further grow Patasente into Africa’s #1 Credit Marketplace. Unlike other platforms, Patasente enables entrepreneurs to access loans to finance lorchase orders, discount invoices and acquire assets. Investors finance these loans by buying promissory notes with 30-365 maturity days to earn solid competitive returns. Their next steps are to 1) Complete development of a robust secure web and mobile application 2) Raise internal funding to finance 50% of the loans on the platform 3) Grow our market base to profitability.

For more information click here.

New Google Allo for web works like WhatsApp, but there’s a catch

Dennis Mathu
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New Google Allo for web works like WhatsApp, but there’s a catch

Allo is Google’s answer to WhatsApp, it is a messaging platform that brings together smart features like an AI assistant and search results from the internet. Despite having some unique traits compared to other chat apps such as shouting messages and Google Assistant built in, Allo has been struggling to get users. In fact its sister app called Google Duo -that specializes in video and audio conversation- has almost ten times more users, not to mention WhatsApp that is basically in every phone out there. The move to introduce a web portal to the platform is a smart move from Google and one that may gain it more followers.

The web version works the same way as that of WhatsApp; you open the portal and you will be presented with a QR code. The Allo phone app has a QR scanner under the option “Allo for web”.  Once the phone and the computer browser portal have authenticated each other, you are in. You can carry on with your chats on the desktop web browser. The layout is similar in aesthetics but a bit different in arrangement to better accommodate the bigger real estate of a laptop browser. You have your contacts on the left and your current conversation on the right, emojis and the Google Assistant tabs can be pinned on the right side if so desired.

There are a couple of catches however; the first one is that the web version is currently only available to android phones. The second catch; only the chrome browser can access the web portal. Google promises to add Apple iOS support soon and other web browsers as well. Unfortunately, no timeline has been indicated.

Three Ways to Start a Side Business Using Your Skills

Shera
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Three Ways to Start a Side Business Using Your Skills

In this day and age you need more than just the income you make from your 9-5 job. It wouldn’t hurt to enjoy some extra money either way. If you have experiences or knowledge that may be of interest to people out there, then you could use this to your advantage. Here are three things you can do to make some extra income;

1. Freelancing

If you’ve built up a set of marketable skills throughout your career and at your day job, you should consider the idea of starting a freelance business on the side.

There’s a rapidly market demand for talented freelance help.

This also applies to those whose skills include writing, designing, developing, marketing, social media management, or any other high-demand digital skill, then you’re in a great position to start bringing on freelance clients.

Freelancing services can be offered to clients online on various platforms. It is important to look for a niche specific website which meets the standards of your skills. For instance a mentor or business coach can offer their services on Lisnic on a freelance basis. Freelancing is important in creating a network of clients while at the same time having enough time to work on your regular job.

2. Blogging

This is a rather fun way of starting a side business, with my very own here. Albeit a very long term investment, starting a blog and building up a loyal audience of regular readers can take a while. If you’re comfortable with the potential that it may very well take you years to start earning a decent income.

3. Online Teaching or Online Courses

If you have a particular skill that others want to possess or improve in, then there’s a market for being paid to coach people, one-on-one, into an accelerated learning experience. To make it easier to find an audience, there are various online coaching websites like Savvy and Clarity.fm which come with a built-in community of people looking to work on various different types of skills.

If you’d like to take it a step further and start your own online course, it may take more investment on your time, considering the content you need to provide on a relatively good platform. However, you may be able to monetize it further. Websites such as Teachable are also helpful at launching an online course business.

BudgIT Unveils CivicHive to Bridge the Gap Between Citizens and Government

Christie Uzebu
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BudgIT Unveils CivicHive to Bridge the Gap Between Citizens and Government

BudgIT, a  a start-up that provides Nigerian citizens with access to public budgets, has launched CivicHive in a bid to create an intersection between the citizens and the government.

The new initiative is expected to close assessed gap in access and dissemination of information and make citizens much more active in governance.

The Lead Partner at BudgIT, Oluseun Onigbinde, at the launch in Lagos, said: “Civic Hive is part of the five-year plan for BudgIT to make the governance more open with more tech solutions. With this effort the program, has placed four resilient youths on a six month fellowship to help them actualise their dreams”.

The CivicHive Fellows, who will be selected and groomed under the platform, are subsequently expected to form a pool of talented civic professionals equipped to creatively boost the standard of governance with their solutions, and by extension, the society.

Oluseun also noted civic engagement plays an important role in the work BudgIT does, amplifying campaigns and reaching intended audience.

He indicated that fellowship is a way of building the capacity of people with transformational ideas to do more, and solidifying our partnership with the society at large’.

Acoording to BudgIT, the philosophy of CivicHive is to create a nest to habour and build active citizens, taking them through curricula with the capability to initiate, articulate and maintain conversations on demanding effective governance. This is also a space to blend civic innovation with various facets of  governance.

Already, Civic Hive currently has four fellows who are working on different thematic areas that improve civic engagement.

The first, Amplify, led by Dotun Olatoke, is a civic tech initiative that seeks to raise the voices of the forgotten people of Nigeria and generate support for underserved communities.

Through digital tools and platforms (website, social media), issues affecting people in these communities and the plight of the forgotten will be spotlighted and given adequate coverage, with the goal of generating awareness capable of motivating government and active citizens to support for sustainable interventions.

The second is Locate, a platform under Robert Ogbogu, that helps to track missing persons easily in Nigeria, which he said: “People gets missing every minute in Lagos alone and every first four hours matter to locating the individual” with the rise of this platform missing people will reduce drastically.

Nelson Olanipekun runs the third, Gavel, a platform that seeks to bring transparency to the justice sector in Nigeria, as the platform will present citizens more access to the justice system and be able to take action at all times.

In his word: “Gavel is building a justice clock that will track all court cases that are initiated by the masses”.

The fourth is Open Medic, led by Dennis Akagha, as he seeks to have an Open Inventory platform that will enhance the accessibility of essential medical consumables in health facilities and other medical outlets in Nigeria at any given time.

Cameraman.ng is Connecting Nigerians to Professional Photographers

Christie Uzebu
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Cameraman.ng is Connecting Nigerians to Professional Photographers

The business of photography in Nigeria has grown over the years. A little search on Instagram would reveal that a lot of people have turned into photographers. With a lot of people in the business, it in turn gives event organisers a hard time deciding who would be the best man for the job.

But Cameraman.ng wants to take away that stress, as they’ve launched to connect you directly with photographers and videographer.

Cameraman.ng is the first ever platform that connects you to both professional, affordable photographers and videographers around your locality.

To use the platform, users select the date and time they’d like the photographer or videographer to show up, then the team confirms appointment and payment is done electronically or physically.

After an online booking that takes about 60seconds, an experienced, fully-equipped photographer/videographer shows up for the event, at the agreed time. The Cameraman.ng team also claims to provide affordable services that won’t break the bank.

With Cameraman.ng being the only startup currently providing this service, making it easy for Nigerians to order the services of photographers and videographers without having to search, and the fact that photography is one service that has increased in demand over the years, the platform definitely has the potential to thrive and dominate the space in no time.

All you need to know: ICT Authority KSh 160 million fraud in only 6 months

Dennis Mathu
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All you need to know: ICT Authority KSh 160 million fraud in only 6 months

ICT Authority was created under the Ministry of Information Communication and Technology in 2013 and was tasked with managing the ICT functions of Government with the aim of achieving the President’s agenda of a digitalized Kenya. It has been doing its duties well until a recent audit uncovered an underlying fraud that has been crippling the Authority for over 6 months.

How much was stolen

According to a report by Patrick Masika, the Auditor who investigated the matter, a group of 4 top officials at the Authority have siphoned KSh 160 million most of which was earmarked for the Presidential Digital Talent programme. The programme was targeting 400 engineers and ICT graduates with internship opportunities.

How they did it

Masika reported that money was moved in amounts less than 500,000 which was the threshold that would not require approval by the CEO. Most transactions ranged between KSh 483,000 to KSh 499,650. The money was withdrawn from the authority’s CITI bank account using falsified documents and was deposited to a single personal account. The money was disguised as deductions of personal savings using the names of 21 known Sacco societies.

The report, however, stated that “The 21 names using the same account number are the names of existing Sacco societies but the account number does not belong to the Saccos.”

The report also added that such an arrangement would have required the bank to be involved in the fraud. “Collusion with banks is needed for money to be wired to the same account number under different names” said the auditor.

In addition, a total of KSh 20 million was paid to the 4 executives’ personal accounts as per diem allowances (that is, out-of-office allowances). The report indicated that the amount was equal to 541 days out of office, a number that is impossible given the fraud ran for about 6 months (around 180 days). However, Masika noted that the fraud could have been running longer that the 6 months audited, between January of this year and July 19th 2017. In fact, some publications indicated that the scheme might have started back in 2015 running into up to 10 billion shillings. “Shoddy” school laptop programmes have been cited as one of the avenues used to steal the money.

Action taken

Victor Kyalo ICT Principal Authority has already suspended the 4 suspected officials to pave way for investigations to take place. Their names are Felix Ongaga (Director Corporate Services), Daniel Ouma (Head of Finance), Peter Mwangi (Accountant) and Antony Mwangi (Cashier).  The government has reported that their assets have already been confiscated in a bid to recover the stolen money. The Assets Recovery Unit in conjunction with the CID are the ones in charge of the investigation.

Update

Robert Mugo, the CEO ICT Authority released a statement assuring Kenyans that the officials involved will be dealt with, in accordance with the law, in case found guilty.

RIP to Opera Max, the data saving app gets discontinued.

Dennis Mathu
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RIP to Opera Max, the data saving app gets discontinued.

Opera is a company best known for its Opera Mini browser. The browser is not only light weight but it is popular for its data saving features. In line with this lean data objective, the company had come up with an ambitious app that aimed to compress all the data coming into your phone from other apps and services to make them more data friendly. It achieved this by passing the data through their servers where it gets compressed and reaches your phone at smaller sizes hence saving your internet bundles. So if a user is streaming a clip while having Opera Max turned on, he or she will use less data than a person streaming the same video without using this data compression app. So why would the company discontinue such a helpful service?

In a blog post, they stated that the app had a “substantially different value proposition than our browser products, and represented a different focus for Opera.”

The company will now focus on its browsers and other upcoming apps. At the moment, there isn’t an app at the Play store that can replace the system wide data compression that Opera Max offered. For those who still have the app installed, you have a couple of days to enjoy it before the company shuts it down on the server side. The company will inform the users before that date comes.

MPESA should integrate this Truecallers’s new non-awkward way of requesting people for money

Dennis Mathu
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MPESA should integrate this Truecallers’s new non-awkward way of requesting people for money

In March, Truecaller launched a pay service in their messaging platform. With a few taps, users can now send and receive money to friends within the app. All they need to do is link their banks with the app during the initial set up process and from there they can make transactions by simply entering their MPIN.

Today, the service got an update that enabled users to “nudge” others to send them money owed or payments. The request money feature sends a notification to the recipient containing the amount owed, a small note and the button to pay instantly by entering the MPIN as you can see on the image below.

So now you do not have to take tens of minutes composing that awkward text asking your friend for that loan money you gave them. Just type “loan” and enter amount being requested and Truecaller will do the rest. Unfortunately, this feature is only available in India for now, that’s why we are asking Safaricom to integrate it into MPESA, especially now that they have a service PIN option to pay instantly (no need to go the MPESA menu).

In addition to the money request feature, Truecaller also introduced sharable payment links. These links can be shared on a website or sent to other apps allowing those who click on them to pay you/ send you money through Truecaller. This feature can be ideal for situations where people are trying to raise money for a worthwhile cause, such as donations. MPESA could benefit from this too, it would take away the need to remember complex paybill numbers. Online merchants and retailers could simply add a payment link at checkout and customers would pay instantly by clicking it instead of using till numbers. Simple, isn’t it.

Here Are The 11 Most Popular Dating Apps In Kenya

Vanessa Waithera
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Here Are The 11 Most Popular Dating Apps In Kenya

Forget Whatsapp, Facebook and all these minor social media applications. According to mobile app ranking Kenyans have been on the go on these dating apps and it’s a bit surprising. When you think of dating apps the first thing that comes to mind is Tinder, but even that got boring for the majority. People will always have specific needs and with every need there is an app that has everyone covered. Here are the most popular dating apps in Kenya.

  1. Free dating app and flirt chat.

This is a completely free application where single men and women meet to date and obviously flirt. It also allows you to send messages in the blink of an eye and the best part is that you can see who has visited your profile.

2.Sugar Mommas Dating.

If you’re a young man interested in older women then this would be the right app for you. You have the option of filtering your search for sugar mommas either by location, age, gender, nationality and a lot more. Thereafter you can chat with the mommas through messaging and connecting with the ones closest to you.

3.Hide App, Private Dating, Safe Chat- PrivacyHid.

I would honestly believe that this is the best apps for players. This app allows you to hide your frequently used social and dating apps. It basically helps you hide anything you wouldn’t want to be seen by other people. It can hide apps from your recent app list and basically keeps everything under control.

4.Meet4U – Chat, Love, Singles!

It is a lot like tinder only that it has games involved. You meet people that are nearby and play simple games with the people you’re flirting with. As well as that you can send voice notes and chat with the people you are interested in.

5.Mingle2: Online Dating & Chat.

This app will allow you to add as many friends as you want and also see who is online so you can start a conversation. It also gives you different match everyday, talk about options.

6.Sugar Daddy Dating App – Sudy.

This is where sugar daddy’s get their sugar babies.  There are also advanced searches and filters where you can get exact location from your dates. After a verification process, sugar babies can chat with sugar daddies for free.

7.WannaMeet – Dating & Chat App.

As long as your profile proves that you are interesting you’ll see people who like and wanna meet and date you in requests section. You can always edit your profile adding your picture, languages you would like to communicate in and your actual location!

8.Tinder.

With this app you get to swipe to the left or right and just like that you can match with someone you never even expected. When you upgrade to Tinder plus you can get unlimited likes and swipe right until you are satisfied. Rewind to give someone a second chance, one free Boost per month to be the top profile in your area for 30 minutes, and additional Super Likes to stand out from the crowd

9.Black White Interracial Dating.

Its as straightforward as it sounds. You are basically on an app like tinder but now to meet people of the opposite race.

10.BeNaughty.

This app is unique because it also has room for gay and lesbian people. It has free chat rooms for people who do not want anything too serious but are looking for something playful and perhaps fun.

11.Tagged.

It has a 4.1 rating on Google app and has over three hundred million users world wide. I mean that is enough dating for the rest of your life. It is said to have good algorithm which will match you instantly to someone who is similar to you based on your interests.

This New Entrupy App Can Detect Fake Products

Vanessa Waithera
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In this day and age where everyone has an app and our app stores are filled with millions of products, it is hard to know the difference between a real and a fake product. This is why we are excited to have this new Entrupy app  that will enable your smartphone to know the difference between real and fake products.

The problem with some products is that some have counterfeit versions of the exact same product. Researchers from New York noticed that many genuine product owners are faced with the issue of their products affected by duplicated products. Product creators are still faced with the challenge of how to stop counterfeit trafficking which currently represents seven per cent of the world’s trade today.

So how exactly does it work? It provides a non-intrusive solution that can detect authentic versions of the product created by the original manufacturer and fake versions of the product made by counterfeiters. It does so by deploying a dataset of three million images across various objects and materials such as fabrics, leather, pills, electronics, toys and shoes. It is said to be 98% accurate and has been able to verify the authenticity of everyday objects.

Tiwale Seeks to Empower Malawian Women by Providing them with Economic Opportunities

Shera
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Tiwale Seeks to Empower Malawian Women by Providing them with Economic Opportunities

Malawi is the world’s poorest country by per capita GDP. Most families cannot afford to finance their children’s education which can cost up to $30 or more annually. Only 33% of secondary school aged children are attending school. From this 33%, only 42% are girls. Most girls marry early in exchange for dowry; payment from the husband’s family.

With the infrequency of social mobility in Malawi, daughters and her daughter’s daughter often face the same fate: early marriage and insufficient schooling. Over time this vicious cycle has created a substantial population of women who are under-educated, jobless and facing extreme poverty.

Tiwale which means “let us shine/glow” in Chichewa, was set up as a youth-led community based organization to empower Malawian women by providing economic opportunities through leadership workshops, micro-finance loans, vocational skills training, and education grants.

Ellen, the founder of the organization, has been a budding entrepreneur since her pre-teen years. She is trying to change the difficult circumstances of women in Malawi who deal with low primary school completion rates, low socio-economic status, higher than average rates of HIV and AIDS, and one of the world’s highest rates of maternal mortality through her for-profit social enterprise, Tiwale.

Tiwale started with a team of five young people between 14 and 19 years old in January, 2012. The project commenced with a business education program that was to be followed by micro-loans. The first loan program aided 12 women to start businesses. To date, this venture has trained 150 women as entrepreneurs, guided 40 women to start businesses via micro-loans and has allowed 30 women to undergo a vocational skills training program. While also offering grants, loans and lessons that can lead to empowerment and independence.

Ellen’s enterprise has had its fair share of victories including winning the Ashoka’s Future Forward: Youth Innovations for Employment in Africa challenge. One of the Tiwale organization projects are to train women to do traditional fabric dye-printing. Some of the revenue from the sale of women’s handiwork is used to fund other programs offered by the organization that give women opportunities for self-sufficiency. These programs include a  school grant program that covers fees, transportation costs, school supplies, and offers a small living stipend, plus the flagship microfinance loan program.

Considering that many women in Malawi do wear African-styled fabrics, and yet most fabrics are imported, Tiwali introduced the dye-printing skill to the women of Ntsiriza community. The Design Project involves a group of 30 women undergoing a dye-print training program for a week. The women then work with their teacher to produce various patterns (usually ten). The patterns are dyed onto fabrics which are sold through our organization. 60% of the profit goes to the women who created the fabrics and the other 40 percent supports our organization’s initiatives such as our school grants program.

She received USD $1,500 in unrestricted funding to be used towards the implementation of her work described and an all-expenses-paid trip to the Ashoka Changemakers Day on Youth Employment in Africa, which had kicked-off at the Globalizer Summit in Cape Town, South Africa, in February. There, they received training and support.

Furthermore, to grow their efforts at providing economic opportunities for Malawian women, Tiwale had acquired a plot of land to construct an education center which would provide secondary school education classes and further vocational skills training for the women of Ntsiriza Community, Malawi, set to have been completed by the beginning of this year.

For more information click here.

 

Here’s How More Kenyans Can Invest in Bitcoin

Shera
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Here’s How More Kenyans Can Invest in Bitcoin

Land, property and M-Akiba aside, cryptocurrency is an alternative method of investment that Kenyans aren’t appreciating. Cryptocurrency is a digital currency in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units of currency and verify the transfer of funds, operating independently of a central bank. It’s similar to trading stocks in the stock market. The worth of bitcoin varies with the market just like gold.

Bitcoin is a particularly popular currency among traders. I decided to give it a shot with a very small investment on my part to see if it’s worth the hype. Note to others; cryptocurrency like anything else in the stock market is a bargain not a guaranteed investment. You need to do your research and shouldn’t invest in more than you’re capable. Start off with chump change or spare money that you have and build on that.

However, not many bitcoin trading platforms cater to potential Kenyan traders. One particular website called Paxful enabled me to  use Mpesa to buy $18 dollars’ worth of bitcoin (Kshs 1950) back in July. Paxful allows you to trade bitcoin easily and quickly and records your track record for interested traders to view when either buying or selling to you.

At the time a full bitcoin was around about $2700 (Kshs 270,000). As such my $18 dollars was only worth 0.00682405 of bitcoin.

During that time to now, bitcoin value has been rising and dropping but my investment had gone from $18 to $25 (Kshs 2650). Currently, one bitcoin is $3700 (Kshs 3700). Between July and now the value of bitcoin has increased by about 50%.

From the observation of my small investment and research, I’ve discovered bitcoin goes through incredibly high and low market margins, a high for example is where it’s at currently, being $3700 from $2700, a 50% increment. To make up for such a high increase of value in such short span of time, the bitcoin market sometimes falls drastically opening a great window for traders to buy bitcoin at a low price before the market heals and reverts back to its current value.

Something similar had happened back in July when bitcoin had reached $2500 and fell to about $2000, but recovered within a few days. This fall had negatively affected the bitcoin in my wallet which reduced to Kshs 1800 which was however recovered as the market itself recovered. This reverts back to my point of investing only what is convenient. Note however that to properly trade on Paxful, you must have 0.1 worth of bitcoin in your wallet/account, whatever that is at any given time, currently that would be around kshs 37,000.

For those with the money, I would advise to go ahead and invest; bitcoin is a currency many are looking into and making part of their financial lives. However, it’s also wise to read further and move skeptically, before getting too comfortable with investing in the currency.

For more click here.

Pronita is the Amazon of Product Testing in Nigeria

Shera
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0
Pronita is the Amazon of Product Testing in Nigeria

With more and more startups commencing throughout Africa, it gets harder and harder to seek investors. You may have a good idea and product, but if you have not moved the business along, tested the concept on real customers, built a prototype, or tested your marketing assumptions, you simply won’t look serious to any investor.

Pronita, based in Nigeria and founded by Olaolu Olaleye, can help you deal with the above issue.  It is an online marketplace for product testing & validation. They help businesses market-test their products, get firsthand end-user feedback and create early product traction easily and affordably. As such it also gives end-users a large variety of free and discounted products to test. They help start-ups immediately determine if their products provide intended value to their targets. They also help users determine if products meet their needs and they give suggestions on how to improve them.

Startup Get;

  • Product tests
  • Firsthand user feedbacks
  • User engagement
  • Product analytics
  • Market analysis
  • Start-up/User community
  • Product traction

While End Users Get;

  • Free & discounted products
  • Product tests
  • Exclusive innovation and products
  • Product reviews
  • Innovation catalog
  • Start-up/User community
  • Incentives and rewards

Once the startup posts a product test ad, an interested end user would then order for the same product. The product is then shipped to the user who receives the same, uses it, and reviews the same on the website. The startup then receives such feedback and proceeds from there.

Entrepreneurs Need to Improve on These 5 Skills if they Want to Suceed

Shera
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0
Entrepreneurs Need to Improve on These 5 Skills if they Want to Suceed

Many business owners have made their business-related plans for what they want to accomplish this year. However, to achieve these plans, one needs to invest in themselves and sharpen their skills. The following skills in particular are crucial to ensure success:

  • Communication

Whether it’s your employees or customers, there should always be fluid communication. It could be through phone, email, WhatsApp group, etc. Ensure there is a constant stream of communication, to ensure you can track whether either your employees are working accordingly or that your customers are happy with your product or service.

Also it’s important to ensure that the message you send through your website and social-media profiles is the one you want.

Any business can go quickly south without proper communication, while effective communication can positively impact and grow a company.  Many experts and psychologists even believe that communication is the most important skill an entrepreneur can learn. For some, basing their entire career in communication is a viable option, and for entrepeneurs who want in, getting a masters of communication will greatly benefit many business endeavors. 

Even if you’re not a skilled communicator, paying attention to how people react to you can clue you in to how well (or not) you’re reaching them. Getting puzzled looks whenever you speak? Ask the person you’re talking to if what you said makes sense, and give them the opportunity to ask for clarification.

  • Personal Branding

A sub-topic of communication, the new currency is your personal brand. This is the message about yourself, as gathered from your online presence, professional reputation, circle of influence and the trust you command from peers, followers, customers, employers and general public.

For example, revisit Steve Job’s keynote speeches and marketing tag lines, you’ll immediately understand how he turned Apple into one of the world’s most valuable companies.

You need to learn how to grow a reputable brand and understand how to do that online. Branding starts with being active on social media, and is shaped through content publication, whether on or off your website. Poor content leads to negative branding, while quality content will bring more customers.

  • Financial Management

Your parents always told you to save a bit of what you have. This is something we’ve all heard from somewhere one point in our lives as we grew up. While growing your business this is also a necessary skill. Lack of the ability to manage finances exposes you to the risk of becoming unsustainable, consequences include bankruptcy, regret and probably needing to  go back to a full-time job.

Develop a plan, and discipline yourself regarding savings and investments.

· Sales

If you can’t sell your products or services, then you have no business to begin with. The one skill that keeps the lights on in your business is sales. Most occupations require the skills to sell, whether it’s an artist, a writer, etc. If you need funding, you have to sell your idea to investors.

If you run a business, you’re involved in sales. You do this while pitching your business, negotiating with a vendor, or persuading any partnership or anything really. Even if you have hired sales people, you’ll need to learn the skill yourself.

· Relationship Building

Probably the most fun part, possibly. Get out there and make friends and beneficial relationships. In our highly connected world, ‘introverts’ may never get far. You’ll need people to make progress. From offering referrals, to giving endorsements, recommendations, your network of people the your most valuable resource; your network is your net worth.

 

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