Latest Stories : Page 682 of 876 : TechMoran

Kobby Adams is Airtel’s as Sales and Distribution Director

Telcos

-

February 12, 2015

Kobby Adams is Airtel’s as Sales and Distribution Director

Kobby Adams is the new Sales and Distribution Director at Airtel Kenya and will be responsible for the Company’s sales activities, leading the consumer sales team to develop and meet strategic sales and distribution targets.

He will also be in charge of developing sales assignment forecasts and reporting structures for the market.

Kobby joins Airtel Kenya from Millicom Ghana Limited where he was the Sales Director. He has had an illustrious sales career within Millicom having joined as the Distribution Manager in April 2010. He was later appointed to the role of Head of Sales and Territory Management in June 2011 before eventually taking on the Sales Director role.

Kobby began his career as an Associate in The Nielsen Company’s Emerging Leaders Programme before being promoted to Research Director in Hollywood, where he was involved in making television shows.

Kobby holds an M.B.A. from London Business School in the United Kingdom. He also has a B.A. with a Major in Mathematics and a Minor in Economics from Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Indiana, USA.

While confirming his appointment, Airtel Kenya CEO Adil El Youssefi said; “Kobby brings with him rich domain experience of the telecom industry and has an exceptionally strong track record of business successes in each of his previous roles. Given Kobby’s vast experience, sharp focus on business goals and leadership skills, we are confident that he will enable us achieve our goals on our aggressive growth plans for the country. We welcome Mr. Adams to the Airtel family and look forward to working with him to take our business to the next level.”

Soweto to host first technology , digital conference at innovation week

Tech

Susan Mwenesi

-

February 12, 2015

0

Soweto to host first technology , digital conference at innovation week

Johannesburg’s south western township, Soweto, will host its first ever technology and digital conference dubbed Soweto Innovation Week 2015 bringing together over 400 technology and digital professionals, leaders, startups and corporates.

The conference will run from 8 April 2015 to 10 April 2015 at the acclaimed Soweto Theatre.

The 3 day conference is a collaboration between the Internet Society Gauteng Chapter and iAfrikan in partnership with local non-profit organisation Soweto Wireless User Group.

Each day of the event will have a different theme with various speakers and events among these Internet Governance, Technology for Economic Development and Digital Broadcasting

Soweto Innovation Week 2015 will serve as a platform for an exciting new generation of entrepreneurs, thinkers and leaders at the cross section of technology and innovation.

“The innovation economy in the South Africa has emerged as one of the leading drivers for job creation, wealth creation and overall economic productivity. In order for South Africa to remain a leader in the global economy it is critical that all of its citizens are effectively positioned to compete and profit.

Historically disadvantaged communities, the youth and women are not participating in the technology industry at anywhere near the levels of other South African communities,”said Gabriel Ramokotjo, President of Internet Society Gauteng Chapter

Registration to attend the event will open in the first week of March. Currently those interested can visit the website and sign-up to be notified as soon as registration opens and to keep up to date with further announcements regarding the program and speakers.

“It is imperative that we not only talk about uplifting communities but do something about it. Soweto Innovation Week is about, among other things, bringing the knowledge, inspiration and education about innovation and technology to the people of Soweto and Johannesburg.

The future of South Africa hinges on job creation and these jobs are more likely to come out of startups and in our case tech startups given their ability to scale. Technology, when used for social good or in business, has the power to liberate people politically or economically

We aim to arm people with the knowledge, inspiration and skills to liberate themselves,” said Tefo Mohapi, Co-Founder of iAfrikan

Another taxi hailing app to launch in Kenya

Startups

Sam Wakoba

-

February 11, 2015

0

Another taxi hailing app to launch in Kenya

Even though most guys (and girls) are still getting to know and trust and fall in love with Uber which launched just recently. Another taxi hailing app is set to launch in Nairobi.

WapiGo-coined from Swahili word ‘Wapi’ for where to and the English word ‘Go’ WapiGo means where are you going and wants to take Nairobians to wherever they want to go-easily and safely.

The guys at WapiGo say there service brings an ”ideal transport experience, taking you wherever you want to go, on your demand. With WapiGo, your ride is now safe and reliable, and we give you the option to choose your ride, based on your preference.”

To use WapiGo as a passenger, one will need to download the app on their smartphone. Register their details if they are using it the first time and then send a request, wait for a reponse telling them their taxi will arrive in a few minutes then once it has arrived they board and go.

WapiGo is also recruiting drivers to add to what it says a growing fleet. Drivers send WapiGo their details, the firm then calls the driver for an interview after verification of their details then that’s it. WapiGo says it aims to change the taxi experience in Nairobi for good. We hope it will have it the money to do free rides likes its competitors Uber and Easy Taxi have been doing. WapiGo also faces stiff challenges from normal taxi drivers if it decides to go with some of the branded cars in its fleet.

WapiGo is presently available for Android smartphones only. WapiGo is a product of Lompang, a service and app that let’s users in Singapore share scooters. We don’t know how this guys will transfer their scooter experience to cabs but we hope it all works out for WapiGo, an instant web-app facilitating a community of friendly, peer-rated drivers and passengers connect to get around town.

Goodluck Jonathan Launches Nyenet.com to fund startups & win the youth vote

Sam Wakoba

-

February 11, 2015

1

Goodluck Jonathan Launches Nyenet.com to fund startups & win the youth vote

We won’t discuss politics here because we know your vote is your right but we think President Goodluck Jonathan’s new Youth Entrepreneurship Strategy (YES) and the Nigeria Youth Entrepreneurship Network (NYENET.COM)‎ is a move to get him popular among the youth even though it might be late for any swing votes.

Nyenet.com, launched under the YES strategy is a public private partnership between the Federal Government of Nigeria, its Ministries, Departments and Agencies and the EMPOWER NIGERIA Initiative; the Anabel Group.

According to Goodluck, Nyenet.com is designed to help the youth and women to access entrepreneurship and empowerment programs supported by the Federal, State and Local Governments as well as investors from the private sector. Users can also apply for any government entrepreneurship empowerement program online.

Though the president says his government has created 5.4 million jobs for Nigerians others think its just a move to influence the youth vote due to its timing.

5 reasons why retailers struggle to move online

Tech

Susan Mwenesi

-

February 11, 2015

0

5 reasons why retailers struggle to move online

According to a report by World Bank, a 10% increase in broadband has correlated to a 1.38% in GDP growth explaining why investors are a-buzz overcountries like Kenya and Nigeria, within the African continent, whose internet penetration is constantly on the rise.

According to Peter Allerstorfer co founder of Silvertree Capital internet penetration brings e-commerce which will soon open up a new shopping experience for Africa’s growing middle class and Allerstorfer states that, by 2025, online retail could account for 10% of retail sales within the continent’s largest economies, which will translate into some USD 75bn in annual revenue.

Despite these exciting prospects, however, many e-commerce Sites are finding it tough to operate within the African online climate. The following five points offer reasons, according to Peter, as to why retailers struggle to move online and one of these is

1. The Right Resources because 72% of consumers state that if Website performance is poor, they are unlikely to complete their transaction. Among these are source of products, Quality control, a studio and warehouse, Online marketing, An online shop, picking and packing, third-party logistics provider, Customer care.

2.Lack Strategic Gaps These have been found to appear in implementation, content management, and transactional processes. In general, there seems to be a poor awareness of best practices when it comes to Website strategy.

3. Walking Out A good customer experience, within e-commerce, is absolutely vital. This is due to the fact that it is so easy and convenient for viewers/users to ‘leave’ – as opposed to walking out . “68% of consumers say that if a Website performs badly or does not match their expectations, they will use an alternative Site.”

4. Inability to Monitor Data Many online retail companies lack knowledge on how to monitor the data available that tracks the behaviour of their customers. They struggle to make this information meaningful in order to bring about improvement. In line with this, retailers are unable to pinpoint problems, solve them quickly, and proactively manage their online service.

5. Lack of Competition Many retailers do not see a priority to move online due to the lack of competition in the online retail market. Merchandisers, in Africa, could not be bothered to go to all the effort of setting up shop online, when their storefront shop is performing perfectly well and the return on investment is more predictable.

This is expected to change soon, however, as online retail competition increases due to the likes of TakeALot.com, Zando, and potential players, like Amazon, entering the market with local distribution. “Although 15% of the world’s population lives in Sub-Saharan Africa, only 6% of the world’s internet users do.”

Huawei invests over Ksh 20 million into the Presidential Digital Talent Programme

Tech

Sam Wakoba

-

February 11, 2015

0

Huawei invests over Ksh 20 million into the Presidential Digital Talent Programme

Huawei Technologies, Kenya’s ICT Authority and the Ministry of Information & Technology have partnered to launch the Presidential Digital Talent Programme (PDTP) in a move to address the ICT talent shortage and bring ICT to the core of government’s service delivery.

Huawei said it contributed Ksh 20M worth of human capital, training and certification towards the programme. Huawei will also provide mentors and training on various sectors of the ICT development such as networking/ infrastructure certification, ICT security among others.

This is not Huawei’s first partnership for capacity building. In June 2014 Huawei signed an MOU with ICTA to serve as a local ICT advisor for ICTA by being part of the monitoring committee of the ICT master plan. Under this MOU, “Huawei seeds for the future” flagship project aims to provide internship, training and mentorship opportunities to university students while incorporating tours for top interns to China for further training. Huawei successfully flagged off the first 9 interns for 2 weeks training on culture and language in Beijing and ICT training at the Huawei headquarters in December 2014.

Huawei CEO Mr. Dean Yu said that Huawei is committed to developing ICT talent in Africa and beyond by collaborating with local governments, higher learning institutions and other organizations for students put into practice the knowledge gained in class.

The PDTP is set to train approximately 200 interns in a period of 1 year to bridge the digital divide and bring transformation to the ICT sector. The interns selected will undergo a three month meticulous internship programme that will leave them well acquainted with the working environment and better still competitive for the job market. This will also see them bring change in service delivery in the government sector.

During the launch the cabinet secretary for the Ministry of Information Communication and technology Dr. Fred Matiangi stated that his ministry was firming with Huawei a new framework of high end skills to provide ICT services to ministries and ICT projects in government.

Samsung Marks Safer Internet Day To Encourage Parents to Take More Interest in Children’s Internet Use

Tech

Caroline Vutagwa

-

February 11, 2015

0

Samsung Electronics East Africa this year marked Safer Internet Day by raising awareness on the benefits and dangers of internet use among young children and teenagers.

Safer Internet Day is celebrated on February 10 every year, and is this year promoting greater responsibility among parents and guardians under the campaign tagline: “Let’s create a better Internet together.” Now in its 12^th year, Safer Internet Day is commemorated across the globe, with its significance growing year on year as more and more children are exposed to the online world from an increasingly younger age.

To make the day more meaningful, Samsung has partnered with Watoto Watch Network (WWN), a Kenyan child focused non-profit organization that is taking the lead in raising awareness on Child Online Protection by implementing an informative and sensitization program for them in schools. Together with WWN, Samsung will be highlighting some of the child safety features on its mobile and handheld devices, with a particular focus on the Kids Mode application (app).

Kids Mode is a parental control app that parents and guardians can activate to create a child friendly mobile environment for their kids, protecting them from the dangers of the Internet. When in Kids Mode a child using a Samsung smartphone or tablet can only access applications and content pre-selected and deemed suitable for them by parents and guardians.

“With more children becoming exposed to the Internet via smartphones and tablets from as early as two years of age, Samsung has put in place measures to ensure that parents and guardians can protect their children from inappropriate content,” says Robert Ngeru, Samsung Electronics East Africa Vice President and COO.

Kids Mode is available on Samsung Galaxy S5*, Note 3**, Note 4*, Galaxy Tab 4** (7-inch) and Galaxy Tab S* (8.4 and 10.5-inch) models, and can be downloaded in three easy steps as follows:

Step 1: Install

Click on the Kids Mode icon visible on your applications menu/widgets list. You will then be prompted to download and install it on your device. When you click on install you may be prompted to allow installation from unknown sources. Select allow which will lead you to the settings page. Head to the security option and scroll down to find unknown sources. Check the unknown sources box to proceed with the installation.

Step 2: Set up your child’s profile and select apps

Once the installation is complete, open your app drawer and launch the app, then go through the configuration prompts.

You’ll start by setting up a PIN and backup password for the Kids Mode. Assign a “Kid’s profile” for your little one (name and birth date), and select the apps you want to provide access to.

In the Kids Mode home screen, you’ll see the apps you’ve allowed displayed as little gift boxes which your child can tap to unwrap. These are accompanied by five standard apps: Gallery, Media Player, Doodle, Sound Recorder, and Camera.

Step 3: Fine tune parental controls

Back on the main home screen, there are two icons toward the bottom of the screen – Settings, Exit – each of which will require your PIN to access.

Settings: this will let you monitor activity, set play limits, add more apps, enable media and more.

Exit: allows you to leave Kids Mode and return to your normal launcher. You will require your set pin to do this.

Parents and guardians wishing to receive assistance with setting up Kids Mode or other parental control features on their handheld Samsung devices can visit Samsung Brand Shops countrywide, or visit: http://www.samsung.com/us/support/howtoguide/N0000005/16596/225786/SM-G900TZWATMB

For more information on Watoto Watch Network visit: http://watotowatchnetwork.org/about-us/

New Facebook Groups feature to Improve the Way People Buy and Sell

Tech

Susan Mwenesi

-

February 11, 2015

0

New Facebook Groups feature to Improve the Way People Buy and Sell

With the advent of the New Year, Facebook has been busy from launching free internet in Ghana and India to introducing a new super bowl experience and place tips in News feeds and now the company has shifted its attention to entrepreneurs.

The social media giant has introduced new features to For a Sale Groups with a view of improving buying and selling with members now being able to choose the Sell feature when creating a post.

“You can add a description to what you’re selling, include a price and set a pick-up/delivery location. Sellers can also mark posts as Available or Sold and easily view their catalog of items previously sold.”“We will continue to introduce new features in the coming months to help people in the For Sale Group community easily connect, browse and search,” said Facebook on their blog.

These new features will roll out to all Facebook For Sale Groups in the coming months across iOS, Android and web. Facebook Group admins who would like to participate now can nominate their Group.

Kenya’s Angani Closes Undisclosed Seed Round to take your business to the cloud

Tech

Sam Wakoba

-

February 11, 2015

0

Kenya’s Angani Closes Undisclosed Seed Round to take your business to the cloud

Afb is just about to fully acquire a local Kenyan startup for $2m but that’s a story for another day.

Today, Kenya’s Angani, an automated public cloud infrastructure founded in 2013 by brilliant Phares Kariuki and Riyaz Bachani, Brian Mutia and Ripduman Sohan has announced it has raised a seed round led by Invested Development with participation from Africa’s Talking, Savannah Fund, and Africa Angels Network to get East African SME’s into the cloud.

Phares Kariuki, CEO of Angani told TechMoran, “The figures are undisclosed but we will use the funds to build our infrastructure and recruit to satitsfy the demand.”

Angani, a pay as you go cloud service is steadily gaining traction in a market where hosting has been left to international players due to capacity. Angani means “The Sky” in Swahili and aims to be a huge business enabler just as IT, electricity and telephony are as business are increasingly spending a larger share of their revenues on IT which Angani wants to solve by buying infrastructure in bulk, virtualizing it and lease it out for a reduced rate.

This raise will mean more firms

Safaricom customers in Nairobi experience outage

Telcos

Susan Mwenesi

-

February 11, 2015

0

Safaricom customers in Nairobi experience outage

Safaricom customers living in Nairobi estates of Westlands, Karen, Lang’ata, CBD and Kinoo areas were this morning unable to access Safaricom services such as voice, SMS and data services.

Capital FM reports that the outage affected the areas since 4.25 and mainly affected customers on It mainly affected customers on 2G, 3G and WiMax services in

Although the reason for the outage was not given, by 8.30am, services had started resuming in some of the affected areas

“Network services in Westlands, Karen, Kinoo, Lang’ata and NCBD have now been restored. We thank you for your patience and apologize for the inconvenience,” said Safaricom on their twitter account.

Zuku Kenya Has Unveiled New Sports Channels

Tech

Caroline Vutagwa

-

February 11, 2015

0

Kaymu recruits more sellers in Nigeria

Startups

Sam Wakoba

-

February 11, 2015

0

Every business has to either grow or shrink or eventually shut down. Though the AIH-backed marketplace is online, the firm has been steadily signing up offline sellers in Abuja, Port Harcout and Ibadan and helping them with an easy to set up online presence.

Today the firm says it has expanded to two other states to fulfil its vision to bridge the gap between buyers and small and medium scale enterprises across Nigeria.

Kaymu.com.ng has today expanded to Warri and Benin in what the Managing Director Evangeline Wiles says will improve its efficiency and satisfy more customers.

Though Kaymu is slightly different in its B2C model it still competes with C2C marketplaces such as Nasper’ backed OLX, Ringier’s Ady.ng (formerly Kiramu), TradeStable among others as still sellers turn to them to sell their stock.

The only weapon Kaymu can have is by recruiting more businesses and helping those business sell off their inventory quick and easily-using efficiency and satisfaction as weapons over the free and open C2C marketplaces.

Uhuru Kenyatta unveils Digital Talent Programme for university students

Tech

Susan Mwenesi

-

February 11, 2015

0

Uhuru Kenyatta unveils Digital Talent Programme for university students

University graduates in Kenya now have an opportunity to master their digital envromnet after President Uhuru Kenyatta unveiled the Presidential Digital Talent Programme that brings together leading lights in the ICT landscape is expected to mentor, inspire and lead a new wave of digital trailblazers.

The programme – which aims at building Government’s capacity in ICT and digital innovations to enhance efficient and effective service delivery to Kenyans – will provide graduates with an opportunity for a full year of on-the-job training both in public and private institutions.

Speaking during the occasion at the University of Nairobi’s Main Campus, the President said: “Today, we begin the next chapter of our story. Today, we inaugurate the next phase of ICT transforming opportunity for all people,” President Kenyatta said.

He said the first 100 talented ICT professionals will lead the way in Kenya’s digital tradition to enhance transparency and accountability in the public sector.

President Kenyatta challenged the beneficiaries of the programme to inject into the public service a new sense of integrity and accountability.

“This programme is not just about technology and efficiency. We expect you to bring in a new sense of integrity, professionalism, accountability and commitment to public service delivery,” President Kenyatta said.

He was categorical of Kenya’s determination to position itself as the regional and continental hub for education, research and innovation, banking and insurance, manufacturing, healthcare and ICT is already a reality.

The President said key challenges facing the nation can be resolved through digital solutions that will enhance productivity, efficiency, innovation and accountability in all sectors of the economy.

“My Government, therefore, has committed itself to expanding and intensifying the development and application of digital technology. We expect this to accelerate our determined drive towards productivity, efficiency, innovation and accountability,” the President said.

The Head of State noted that the Digital Talent Programme will boost the country’s hope for a sustainable economic growth beyond the projected 7% to more than 10%.

Airtel Kenya rated top global brand on social media

Tech

Susan Mwenesi

-

February 11, 2015

0

Less than a month after Kenyans performed exceptionally well on the social media circles in Nigeria, Airtel Kenya has been branded a top global brand on social media making it fall under the category of socially devoted companies in the region.

This is according to a report issued by Social Bakers, a leading global provider of social media analytic tools, statistics and metrics for the quarter ending December 2014 that also cited the high response of the company on Facebook and Twitter as the reason for the popularity.

According to Social Bakers, being socially devoted means opening up to customers, receiving and responding to questions and communicating within the shortest time possible.

In the report published online , Airtel Kenya scored high on Facebook and twitter with a total response rate of 92 per cent and 89 per cent respectively in the last quarter. It also takes into account Likes, Comments and Shares of a post of a particular brand both on Facebook and Twitter to the total number of fans of the brand at the time it was posted.

The company also scored well in the Facebook and Twitter engagement rate with 98 per cent and 86 per cent respectively. Social media engagement rate measures how well fans interact with the content an organization or brand posts on the popular, social media platform. Engagement Rate measures how well fans interact with the content an organization or brand posts on the popular, social media platform.

Airtel Kenya CEO Adil El Youssefi said, “Quick, satisfactory and personalized responses to our customers’ queries is one of the key areas that has contributed this success. We have also improved on our response rate to customers issues, with an average response rate of 13 minutes and 7 minutes for Facebook and Twitter respectively. We will continue to improve on our online customer engagement, making it easy for our customers to engage with the brand.”

The Lumia 535 Is Now In Tanzania

Mobile

Caroline Vutagwa

-

February 11, 2015

0

The Lumia 535 has been launched in the Tanzanian market, Microsoft has confirmed.The company says that the Lumia 535 is accompanied with its own branding for the company’s latest campaign dubbed, “Make It Happen EA Lumia 535.”

Micka Mavoa, Country Manager for Microsoft Mobile Devices East Africa, stated that: “The Lumia 535 is a dual smartphone, which carries a Microsoft logo without the Nokia brand name. The smartphone features a a 5-inch screen, 5-megapixel front- and rear-facing camera, and integrated Microsoft experiences such as Skype and OneNote.”

According to Mavoa: “The phone’s operating system is not quite different from other Lumia phones, but possesses a qHD display with a resolution of 960 x 540 pixels.”

According to Microsoft, this is the first Lumia Smartphone without Nokia branding to be launched within Tanzania.

CAMAC Oil Company Has Now Completed The 2D Purchase In Kenya

Business

Caroline Vutagwa

-

February 11, 2015

1

CAMAC Oil Company Has Now Completed The 2D Purchase In Kenya

Oil and gas exploration company CAMAC Energy has now done with its onshore 2D seismic acquisition in Kenya.

The program, conducted by geophysical services company, BGP Kenya, and covering around 700 line kilometres, aims to identify potential exploration targets in the the Paleozoic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Middle to Lower Tertiary sections, which are known to be oil-bearing in the East Africa region.

CAMAC Energy Inc added that the seismic survey, paired with the previously completed airborne gravity and magnetic surveys, will be used to help identify potential drilling targets on the blocks.

“The preliminary results from data processing in the field are encouraging. These seismic surveys are fundamental to advancing our onshore Kenya work program and our understanding of the resource potential on these blocks and will help us determine potential locations to begin our exploration drilling,” said Segun Omidele, senior vice president of exploration and production at CAMAC Energy.

Airtel uses internet to make a difference in the society

Telcos

Caroline Vutagwa

-

February 11, 2015

0

Airtel uses internet to make a difference in the society

Airtel Kenya has partnered with the Albinism Society of Kenya (ASK) to offer them free. This is expected to provide seamless and effective internet connection to the organization, giving its members the freedom to freely interact with the internet.

Airtel Kenya CEO Adil El Youssefi explained that, “Through our seamless internet connectivity, we are enabling the albinism society of Kenya to drive its organizational research, public education and awareness, connect and interact with its members, stakeholders and the world. By doing so, we believe that we will be enabling the organization’s campaign that is being supported by Honourable Isaac Mwaura, Simon and many other supporters to make a difference in the society.”

One of the key objectives that ASK aims to achieve this year is to carry out interactive sessions and dissemination workshops throughout the country, in a campaign that seeks to educate people about albinism.

In March 2013, Hon. Isaac Mwaura was nominated to Kenya’s National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament as the first Member of Parliament with albinism. Hon. Mwaura, who is also a founder and former vice chairman of the Albinism Society of Kenya (ASK) nomination, has brought a new narrative about people living with albinism- it has shown that they can also lead and that their contribution is needed in the country.

The Albinism Society of Kenya (ASK) is a non-governmental organization founded in 2006 with an aim of sharing the experiences of people living with albinism; stories of stigma and discrimination, of living as a minority group in cultures and societies that are ignorant of their rights, needs and condition.

DIGITAL TV STAKEHOLDERS TO WORK TOGETHER FOR A SMOOTH TRANSITION

Tech

Caroline Vutagwa

-

February 11, 2015

0

DIGITAL TV STAKEHOLDERS TO WORK TOGETHER FOR A SMOOTH TRANSITION

The Consumer Federation of Kenya recently organized a digital migration forum that brought together key digital television stakeholders including the Ministry of Information and Communication, Communication Authority, Digital Decoders Dealers Association, content developers and Digital Broadcasters Association of Kenya who deliberated on current challenges facing the analogue to digital broadcasting resolving to work together towards making the transition a reality.

During the forum, the decoder association noted that the continued delay in migrating to the digital platform had negatively affected their members investments where the majority had injected huge amounts of capital in their ventures only for the delay to lead to hesitation by Kenyans to acquire the type approved set top boxes thereby translating to huge losses.

The digital broadcasters association equally upheld the concern by their decoder counterparts noting that Kenyans have been deprived of increased choice in their television viewing options where through digital television signal, Kenyans should be enjoying up to 22 Standard Definition (S.D.) Channels in the same bandwidth that previously produced one Channel on the analogue platform but currently continue enjoying fewer channels due to the delayed migration and slow decoder uptake.

Stakeholders remained optimistic that the broadcast sector will continue to attract increased investment with the current prospects of growth. On its part, Pan African Network Group (PANG) one of the licensed broadcast signal distributors noted that the company has so far invested over Kshs. 6 Billion in three years since they were granted a B.S.D. license in October of 2011 and created over 700 employment opportunities for Kenyans.

This investment will complement the investment by the other media houses who have invested around Kshs. 40 Billion collectively thereby driving the broadcast sector in Kenya into a robust industry that will see all major stakeholders achieve their goal to drive access to information while availing entertaining and informative content across Kenyan households.

With the 1^st and 2^nd phases of the analogue switch off having kicked off on 30^th December 2014 and 2^nd February 2015 respectively, stakeholders were optimistic the rest of the country will effectively migrate to the digital platform during the scheduled 3^rd phase expected to commence on 30^th March 2015.

The forum called on Kenyans to acquire type approved set top boxes of their choice there being various options that they could consider including:

1) a). Conditional Access (C.A.) – Pay TV Decoders

b). Free To Air (FTA) Decoders.

2) a). Satellite Transmission Digital TV.

b). Cable Transmission Digital TV.

c). Internet Protocol (I.P.) Digital TV.

During the forum, participants noted that the country has more than 1.2 million set top boxes available in the market which will enable Kenyans enjoy enhanced viewership including access to:

Electronic Program Guide which will provide users with a friendly, easy to use way of watching programs where all programs are displayed and accessed easily,

Multimedia Function where Movies, music, photos are accessible by use of external storage device such as flash discs.
PVR Function – Allows program playback and time-shift play.
HDMI Port – This interface gives a much clearer picture than traditional TV Systems.
USB Port – Allows for automatic software upgrade as an alternative to upgrading software through the data broadcast server.
Capable of high speed data broadcasting about stock quotes, ticketing, electronic newspapers and websites

Participants equally noted that the price of set top boxes had considerably dropped to an average of Ksh 4,000 for the free to air option and 1,700 for the pay television option thereby ensuring that the majority of Kenyans have access to digital television. With these developments, the country remains on the right track towards making digital television a reality in Kenya.

Vodafone launches 4G & voice services in Uganda

Tech
Telcos

Sam Wakoba

-

February 10, 2015

0

Vodafone launches 4G & voice services in Uganda

Vodafone has launched its voice and 4G high-speed internet in Uganda for users in Kampala and Entebbe while customers outside the city will use 3G and 2G for sometime as the firm expands its services at a later date.

The firm also launched unlimited data plans which is set to take on Smart Telecom and Uganda Telecom with their unlimited offers. Orange Uganda, MTN Uganda and Smile also have 4G internet services.

The firm is targeting individuals, SME’s, and large organizations in the country with its 2.6 GHz 4G services optimiszed for high speed ulploads, high capacity and reduced network congestion making services like video streaming possible.

The monthly unlimited plans go for UGX149,000 per month and UGX5000 per day. Users who buy thie monthly unlimited plan will get Vodafone’s 4G LTE data devices for FREE.

In November, Vodafone began pre-launch campaigns as ‘global brand’ and ‘feel’ to launch and probably dominate the Ugandan tuff, run by MTN Uganda, Airtel, UTL, Africell Telecom and others such as Smile Telecom, Sure Telecom^,K2 Telecom, Smart Telecom.

Vodafone Uganda is running on the 0723’ prefix andis giving users free Vodafone to Vodafone calls when they load airtime of UGX 3,000 or more.

Connect Nigeria to host its 2ndannual e-Business Fair this month

Tech

Caroline Vutagwa

-

February 10, 2015

1

Connect Nigeria to host its 2ndannual e-Business Fair this month

Connect Nigeria is pleased to announce that its second annual e-Business Fair will hold on February 21st 2015 at Eko Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos. The events starts at 9am.

In 2013, over 2,000 people turned up for the e-Business Fair and learnt about e-Business as well as necessary skills they needed to develop in order to take their businesses to the next level.

With this year’s theme being ‘e-Business and The Growth of Your Enterprise’, it is anticipated to be Africa’s biggest e- Business Fair. Union Bank, MasterCard, Etisalat, Microsoft, Google are among the sponsors as well as FirstMonie, Skye Bank, Heritage Bank, JMG, Terragon Group, and Leatherworld. Some representatives from each organisation will be speaking on the day.

Media partners include Nigeria info 99.3Fm, Bellanaija.com, IN3K8 Media and proshare, webTV.

Speakers also include representatives from Tranzit.ng, Hotels.ng, Jovago, Supermart.ng and many others.

There will be raffle draws, and prizes such as ipads, laptops, and other useful gadgets to help and support businesses will be distributed.

Last year, several lucky attendees won various tech-related prizes and this year promises many more. Expecting over 5000 businesses and visitors this year, Connect Nigeria assures you that this is an event that you don’t want to miss.

Don’t miss out on #Africasbiggestsmeevent.

Registration is free and can be done at www.connectnigeria.com/bizfair.

Ghana’s Ajumah secures $40,000 to empower African freelancers

Sam Wakoba

-

February 10, 2015

0

Ghana’s Ajumah secures $40,000 to empower African freelancers

Richard Brandt and his partners came across a good number of highly motivated, young and talented Africans with world class skills. However, they realized that they found it difficult to find job opportunities where they can use their skills to earn a decent living.This inspired Brandt and his friends to create a platform so that they can find freelance job opportunities while they build an online reputation.

Ajumah.com was born.

Speaking to TechMoran Brandt says Ajumah, launched in October 2014 seeks to meet the needs of African freelancers in particular as Freelancer.com does not have payment systems that are easily accessible to African freelancers.The startup has been accepted into Startup Chile and got a seed investment of $40,000.

“Ajumah allows African freelancers to receive payments on their mobile money wallets and also their preferred local bank accounts. Also, unlike Freelancer.com, Ajumah’s mission is to bring wealth and jobs to Africa, so the jobs on Ajumah are targeted at African freelancers. We believe African start-ups and SME’s can accelerate their growth by getting more tasks done by hiring freelancers on a freelance site which allows them to easily find, hire and pay African freelancers, hence Ajumah,” he told TechMoran.

Brandt says they reached out to young African professionals and freelancers by email asking them to give them feedback on the new service designed to meet their needs, and their response was amazing. He says their feedback contributed immensely in shaping the product, and so they use Ajumah as proud contributors to a worthy initiative.

Set to come out of its testing stage in February, Ajumah has posted USD $17,870 worth of jobs on the site and currently have 330 registered freelancers from 10 African countries.

Ajumah makes money by taking a commission on all completed jobs. However, it is free for to post a job and hire on Ajumah. For start-ups that need help with finding and hiring freelancers, Ajumah offer a free service to help them with their needs. It is also free to create a freelance profile and to bid for unlimited number of jobs.

The site says its has an escrow system to ensure the interests of clients and freelancers are safe online. When a freelancer’s bid for a job is accepted, the system ensures that the client pays a deposit into Ajumah escrow to show commitment. The freelancer can commence work only when the funds are deposited into Ajumah escrow, and Ajumah only pays to their freelancer after work is completed and the client is satisfied with work done. Also, Ajumah’s ratings and reviews system ensure that fraudulent and unprofessional users are eliminated from the system.

Some of the challenges the firm experienced was the process of designing a product that is easy to use, best suited for the African market and meets the needs of its users. This is a challenge Brandt says they face everyday and they rely on continuously collecting user feedback to improve.

Ajumah recieved funding from USD$40K from Start-Up Chile Accelerator and are seeking interested investors for followup funding. The Accra-based startup says the biggest investment so far has been the investment of time and dedication of the Ajumah Team saying its hard to quantify the long work hours, intellect and commitment everyone has put in.

“The team have invested thousands of dollars in start-up and operation costs and also got seed investment of USD$40K from the Start-Up Chile Accelerator Program to get things off the ground. We are currently looking for followup investment from interested investors for hiring, development and marketing,” Brandt told TechMoran.

Brandt says the startup scene in Accra is like most African cities it is upcoming and it has a great potential. There are startups with brilliant ideas seeking to solve local problems as well as global problems.

“It is inspiring to see a growing number of co-working spaces, tech hubs and tech meetups in the city. However, most of the ideas die in their early stage due to the lack of support or seed capital. I believe that access to seed capital and followup funding, a lot more ideas will become a reality with Accra becoming a hub for tech startups and so I would like to call on investment firms and VCs to see this opportunity,” Brandt concluded.

HelloCash In Launches Ethiopia

Tech

Caroline Vutagwa

-

February 10, 2015

1

The partnership between Lion Bank, Somali MicroFinance and BelCash Technology Solution PLC has brought to birth the official pilot of the Hello Cash mobile money services in Ethiopia.

BelCash Technology Solution PLC is an Ethiopian based technology service provider for financial pilot of the HelloCash mobile money services.

The HelloCash service enable existing and potential customers of Lion International Bank and Somali Micro Finance to carry out transactions in four key areas of financial transactions: Deposit, Withdraw, Transfer and make payments. The platform is hand with National Bank of Ethiopia has been provided in compliance with the bank’s directives on mobile money.

The pilot of HelloCash mobile money service is underway in three part of the country with locations consisting a mix of agent outlets and branches. HelloCash Mobile Money would make financial services available to more Ethiopian, especially at the grassroots in order to drive financial inclusion in the country. This allow any customers of any partnering bank to visit any agent or branches to conduct financial services regardless of which bank customers belongs too. The sharing of agent network allow partnering banks to optimize their investment as well as increase national wide service coverage.

CEO of BelCash International, Mountaga Vince Diop mentioned that this is only the beginning of what seems to be an irreversible step to reinforce Financial Inclusion in the country. BelCash Technology Solutions PLC provides the Banks and the Micro Finances, Go-to-Market turn-key mobile money solutions (including capacity building, business and operational models, hardware, disaster recovery and Call center facilities) and facilitate the penetration of Mobile and Agent Banking in the Ethiopian Financial landscape.

The Financial Institutions providing HelloCash in Ethiopia are confident to build a unique network of more than 20.000 agents across all Ethiopia within the 3 coming years. One of the uniqueness of HelloCash mobile money services is its interoperability and shared infrastructure features. The system is designed for multi banks and MFI’s to be interconnected and offer the mobile money service to their respective customers, therefore, partnering financial institutions are able to share each other’s agent and branch network to serve each other’s customers.

Lamudi raises $18 million to get every property developer online

Sam Wakoba

-

February 10, 2015

0

Lamudi raises $18 million to get every property developer online

Rocket Internet-backed online property site Lamudi has today raised EUR 16 million (US$18 million) from Asia Pacific Internet Group, Holtzbrinck Ventures, and Tengelmann Ventures in an Asian and LatAm expansion drive.

The firm’s main aim with the cash is to build the world’s largest real estate platform and the funding gets them closer to that. The firm will use the cash to up its desktop ad mobile product to help developers and real estate agents to list their properties online and well help buyers and renters to easily find property online.

It’s especially looking at dominating in Asia and Latin America where Internet uptake is growing. It’s African operations have also been expanding with launches in over 10 countries on the continent. The site is now live in 32 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin Amedica and the Middle East and has over 800, 000 properties listed on the site.

Lamudi last year launched its Android and iOS platforms and as well raised $7 million for its Asian expansion drive. $18 million is not child’s play and the firm is sure to gain some markets and acquire as many customers as it can.

Uber Gives Its Users Fun At The UberYATCH On-Demand

Tech

Caroline Vutagwa

-

February 10, 2015

0

Uber Gives Its Users Fun At The UberYATCH On-Demand

Uber is giving all its users the chance to attend a free party on the UberYACHT with Martin Garrix and Oliver Heldens, in Cape Town on Thursday 12 February 2015.

The company will give an opportunity to a few lucky music lovers and three friends each to attend a dance experience like no other, partying with these two world famous Dutch DJ’s. Martin Garrix is best known for the chart topping track “Animals“, which was a Top 10 hit in more than 10 countries across globe. Garrix was also rated at number 4 on esteemed DJ Mag Top 100 DJs list for 2014 and this week launched his latest singleForbidden Voices together with a slick new music video. Oliver Heldens began his professional music career when he signed to Spinnin’ Records and entered the DJ Mag Top 100 list at number 34. Heldens receives praise from British radio DJ Pete Tong, who calls him ‘one of the producers of the year”.

To top this off, winners will be celebrating on the boat with local bloggers, celebs and music industry legends such as Dom and Dave from Goldfish, Top Billing’s Jeannie D,Dean FUEL, MCBN and Mr CPT.

To stand a chance to win this amazing prize, starting today, all participants must be Uber users and enter the promo code UberYachtSA which will open the Martin Garrix view.

At 4:00pm on Thursday 12 February, be ready, because this on-demand is all about fastest fingers first! Winners will be collected, by an UberBlack, within minutes of requesting a car and whisked off to the UberYACHT. The boat will then cruise to Granger Bay where the A-list DJ’s will rock your body and soul until 8.30pm. The yacht will then head back to shore for final dock at 9:00pm.

If you missed the boat, no need to stress. Uber, Martin Garrix and Oliver Heldens are offering four more lucky winners a chance to win double tickets to UltraSA in either Cape Town and Joburg. And the added bonus is these tickets include a meet and greet with Martin Garrix and Oliver Heldens. All you need to do is keep an eye out on Uber’s social media pages for the competition to launch, and then motivate why you should win on social media with text, pictures or videos – anything goes! Just remember to tag Uber onFacebook and Twitter.

How UberYACHT works:

1. Starting today, 09 February 2015, enter the promo code: UBERYACHTSA to unlock the UberYACHT view on your Uber app

2. Starting at 4:00 PM, 12 February 2015, you will be able to request a spot for yourself and three friends on the UberYACHT … FOR FREE!

3. Simply toggle over to the UberYACHT option and request a ride as you normally would

4. If you are one of the lucky first few to request, an UberBLACK vehicle will be sent to your location to collect you and three friends

5. You will then be taken to the UberYACHT, where you will be met by an Uber representative

6. The UberYACHT will set sail at 4:30 PM and will arrive back to shore around 9 PM

If you are not an Uber user yet, all you need to do is sign up here or download the free application for Android, iPhone, Blackberry 7, Windows Phone and entering the promo code: UBERYACHTSA

UberYACHT Event Running Time:

· 4:00pm – 4:30pm: Boarding of the Yacht
· 4:30pm – 5:00pm: Set Sail
· 5:00pm – 5:30pm: Dean FUEL DJ Set
· 5:30pm – 6:30pm: Goldfish DJ Set
· 6:30pm – 7:30pm: Oliver Heldens DJ Set
· 7:30pm – 8:30pm: Martin Garrix DJ Set
· 8:30pm – 9:00pm: Yacht returns to dock

Important: Demand for this exclusive experience is going to be huge, so all you party animals, be prepared!

For more details on:

Martix Garrix – http://www.martingarrix.com
“Forbidden Voices” – YouTube

Oliver Heldens – https://www.facebook.com/OliverHeldens
“You Know” – YouTube

UltraSA – http://www.ultrasouthafrica.com/

For more information visit the Uber blog post: http://blog.uber.com/uberyachtSA

Nigeria & South Africa offer better trade & customs regulations than India or Brazil

Partner Content

-

February 10, 2015

0

Nigeria & South Africa offer better trade & customs regulations than India or Brazil

Trade data from the World Bank’s (WB) Enterprise Survey (2014) of 130,000+ firms in 135 countries reveals that sales for export constitute a higher proportion of total sales for Moroccan (23.5%) and Kenyan (11%) firms as compared to Korean (6.9%), Chinese (5.4%) and German (4.9%) firms. In addition, Ghana (3.8%) beats India (3.7%) and Brazil (0.8%) in the same category. These statistics partially demonstrate Africa’s capacity and potential to produce export quality goods and services which can compete on the international market. Read more here…

iPolice Goes Live In Nigeria

Tech

Caroline Vutagwa

-

February 10, 2015

0

It’s has not been very long since the launch of iPolice and now its already live and very relevant in the Nigerian market as the elections are drawing near. iPolice is an urgent security information sharing application.

Peter Ihesie, chief technology officer at Complustech Nigeria, said, “We are making the app available to serve the society. Some people would prefer to have security report around their area or somewhere they need to visit, even before stepping out of their home. The app will be critical at this moment of elections.

According to Ihesie, the application will promote safety in the coming general elections and for this reason they are in talks with the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Director of State Security (DSS), security consultants, among others, for community generated security reports and tips on how to handle certain situations.

The technology officer further said that, private security agents with tips or valuable information to share with the people can leverage the platform to reach the subscribers; which would be either mail or SMS.

On Community Generated Security Information, Bumi Idoko, the team’s customer support officer, said that “there are situations where Security Agencies might not be present, individuals could generate such reports and file to them”.

She however said though such reports might not be verifiable, Complustech Nigeria included props to distinguish the reports from others generated from verifiable sources.

Also speaking, Christian Uzor, the head of technology, added that iPolice makes it possible to follow and analyze security and crime trends according to federal state and given location.

Orange rolls out free Wi-Fi in Bungoma County

Tech

Sam Wakoba

-

February 10, 2015

0

Orange rolls out free Wi-Fi in Bungoma County

Orange has rolled out Wi-Fi in Bungoma County covering the county headquarters and the town and the company says it will roll out in phase two to cover the entire sub-counties and the adjacent areas.

The roll-out of Wi-Fi in Bungoma follows a similar project in Nakuru country where INFONET, a Kenyan based innovations group. Orange says INFONET approached it to provide a redundant link at a reasonable cost that was to run alongside one provided by another ISP that INFONET had also engaged. Orange installed the link as instructed by INFONET; however, it never got to complete the integration to the access network, as INFONET denied its technical team access to their equipment.

After the Nakuru deal failed, Liquid Telecom moved in and revived the project. Liquid Telecom Kenya said it invested between $340,000 and $400,000 to revamp the stalled Nakuru Wi-Fi project.

Orange has not specified partners in the Bungoma Wi-Fi project but we just hope its not INFONET again.

Kenya’s BitPesa Raises $1.1M | Expands to Ghana, Uganda & Tanzania

Tech

Sam Wakoba

-

February 10, 2015

5

Kenya’s BitPesa Raises $1.1M | Expands to Ghana, Uganda & Tanzania

Kenya’s BitPesa, a Bitcoin to Kenyan Shilling (KES) remittance service has closed a follow-on round of $1.1M to fuel its operations in Kenya, Ghana and as well expand into Tanzania and Uganda in an African expansion move.

The two year old compnay started sales of Bitcoin in Kenya and Ghana. says the latest raise was led by Pantera Capital Management LP, Crypto Currency Partners LP, Stephens Investment Management LLC, and its existing shareholders: the Bitcoin Opportunity Corporation and Future/Perfect Ventures, among others.

With the raise, BitPesa adds Dan Morehead of Pantera Capital Management LP to its Board of Directors and will start its regional expansion to fill the growing demand for low-cost international transfers. BitPesa said its November raise brought its 2014 total equity to over $1.7M.

In a blog post, Elizabeth Rossiello, the CEO / Founder, BitPesa said “Keep an eye-out for our fresh new site design and launch of Bitcoin buy/sell in Tanzania and Uganda in the next few weeks – as BitPesa keeps up the pace making the fastest, easiest and lowest-cost international transfer products for Africa.”

Tshwane Metro Police & Alan Knott-Craig Jr launch app to enhance secutity

Tech

Sam Wakoba

-

February 9, 2015

1

Tshwane Metro Police & Alan Knott-Craig Jr launch app to enhance secutity

The City of Tshwane, Huawei and Tshwane Metro Police are piloting a mobile app aimed at helping South African remain safe wherever they are.

The app dubbed Namola, allows users to send an alert to the nearest Tshwane Metro Police in cases of an attack or raid. The users click on a button which sends messages to the police for response. The app is being piloted in Monument Park for 5 weeks from 9 February 2015.

When a user within Monument Park opens the Namola application and clicks the “Get Armed Response” button an alert is sent to the dashboard-mounted smartphones in the nearest three available response vehicles. The first responder to indicate that they are available to assist is automatically directed to the requesting user using the GPS technology on the smartphone.

The requesting user is shown a photo of the responder and their name. They are also able to phone them, or the police, directly. Users can either “Get Armed Response” or “Call Police” according to their location.

“The Namola app doesn’t create new infrastructure. It merely provides a new mechanism for the citizens of the City of Tshwane to alert nearby responders.” says Craig Rivett, partner in Ever Africa.

The Chief of the Tshwane Metro Police, Steven Ngobeni said the pilot is a first step in understanding how this new technology can be used to make all in the City of Tshwane and South Africa safer.

The Namola app is available for download now on the Google Play store. This app has been developed by Ever Africa (EAF) a firm established by Sibella and Alan Knott-Craig Jr.

Eneza Education to launch in Ghana & Tanzania

Sam Wakoba

-

February 9, 2015

0

Eneza Education to launch in Ghana & Tanzania

After hitting 350,000 unique users in Kenya, Eneza Education is set to launch in Ghana and Tanzania in a move to give kids a chance to get the best schools at an affordable fee.

At the moment, the Eneza Education team is visiting various schools in Ghana before its official launch. Recently, the firm announced “Did you know Eneza is spreading to Ghana? Members of our team are there now. More info coming soon!

With over 350,000 student users last year and over 40, 000 active monthly subscribers spread around 5,000 schools in the country, Eneza Education aims to have over 550,000 lifetime users by year end.

The SMS platform last year launched a gaming feature dubbed“Uko Wapi Ms. Mandizi” and 3 baselines to automate impact assessment with quizzes in Maths, English Grammar and English Vocabulary. Apart from its SMS features, the firm is also accessible online via its website for users who have acess to internet.

TECHMORANAFRICA\'S TOP STARTUP, TECH NEWS & REVIEWS

TECHMORANAFRICA\'S TOP STARTUP, TECH NEWS & REVIEWS

Editor Picks

Popular Posts

Popular Category

ABOUT US

Business & Partnerships: sales@techmoran.com Tips, Events & Editorial: editor@techmoran.com

Business & Partnerships: sales@techmoran.com

Tips, Events & Editorial: editor@techmoran.com