As far as we know, this is a huge PR ploy by DHL but if it launches drones to deliver medicine and every other urgent parcel so be it.
The firm has today announced it’s in a pilot phase to launch to launch the first time worldwide drone delivery service of medications and other highly time sensitive goods delivered to customers by an unmanned aircraft.
Dubbed the DHL parcel-copter, the pilot project will be a first in Europe and represents the only time in the country where a flight by an unmanned aircraft will be operated outside of the pilot’s field of vision in a real-life mission. By taking this step, DHL moves to the next phase of the parcel-copter research project that was launched in December 2013.
Since its maiden flight last December, the DHL parcelcopter has been modified to perform this specific type of mission. The research team optimized such aspects as flight duration, flight range and speed to address the special challenges posed by the wind and marine-weather conditions of the North Sea – Juist Island – where the parcelcopter delivers urgently needed goods at certain times of the day.
“Our DHL parcelcopter 2.0 is already one of the safest and most reliable flight systems in its class that meets the requirements needed to fulfill such a mission,” said Jürgen Gerdes, CEO of Deutsche Post DHL’s Post – eCommerce – Parcel Division.
“We are proud that this additional service can create added value for the residents of and visitors to the island of Juist and are pleased with the support we have received from the involved communities and agencies.”
First autonomous delivery flights by DHL parcelcopter
The technical innovations of the DHL parcelcopter include extended flight duration and range: The flight route to the island of Juist is roughly 12 kilometers. The flight will be completely automated for the first time. This means that a pilot does not have to take any action at all during any phase of the flight. For safety reasons and in compliance with the requirements set by the responsible agencies, the DHL parcelcopter will be constantly monitored during the flight by a mobile ground station in Norddeich so that manual action can be immediately taken in real time if a malfunction or emergency occurs. The ground station will also maintain constant contact with air traffic controllers.
To ensure that the DHL parcelcopter operates reliably, flies safely and always lands at the right location, an autopilot with automated takeoff and landing functions was developed. This system is robust and reliable, and has been extensively tested. At an altitude of 50 meters, the parcelcopter can travel up to 18 meters per second depending on wind speed.
It will primarily transport medications from the mainland to the island of Juist at certain times during the week and on weekends. This delivery option will focus on times when such alternatives as ferries and flights are not available.
The parcelcopter will take off from the harbor in Norddeich. It will land at a launch pad and landing field on the island of Juist reserved specifically for the parcelcopter. From there, a DHL courier will then deliver the goods to the recipient. To optimally secure the goods during transport, DHL Parcel developed a special air-transport container that is extremely lightweight as well as weather- and waterproof.
“With the DHL parcelcopter, an unmanned aircraft operating outside the controller’s field of vision will perform deliveries for the first time in a real-world mission. Without the extremely high level of willingness to innovate and to find solutions exhibited by the involved agencies, communities and the Wattenmeer administrative unit of Lower Saxony, such a project would not be possible,” Jürgen Gerdes emphasized.
Currently, there are no specific plans to use the DHL parcelcopter in normal parcel delivery operations. This phase of the research project will test and evaluate the possibilities of such delivery methods. To the extent that it is technically feasible and economically sensible, the use of parcelcopters to deliver urgently needed goods to thinly populated or remote areas or in emergencies is an interesting option for the future.
The audience comprising ofinvestors, IT buyers, IT consumers, Government officials and IT enthusiasts from across Africa at the ongoing Startup conference, DEMO Africa taking place in Nigeria has been treated to a host of start-ups keen to solve the myriad of challenges in Africa.
The event which begun on an amazing high note, saw the first batch of the forty DEMO Africa finalist launch their IT generated solutions with the hope of attracting the right eye to take their innovation to the next level. These included VOTO Mobile from Ghana, Chura from Kenya, Cube and Hutbay from Nigeria.
Welcoming the guests, Honorable Minister of Communication Technology Dr Omobola Johnson commented that Africa is no longer a continent plagued with disease, hunger and illiteracy. She emphasized that Africa is rising and it’s time to invest in Africa. “Aside from Asia, we are the fastest rising continent and we are very excited as a government about the prospects that we are seeing in our young .I would urge the demonstrators to believe that it is possible to be the next Alibaba.”
Harry Hare the Executive Producer of DEMO Africa commended the participants for showing such great enthusiasm towards finding the much needed solutions for Africa.
“It is inspiring to see that, now, more attention is being accorded the pursuit of solutions to problems that are uniquely African. The continent has one of the most diverse and talented pool of young people and finally, we are seeing a real intent by authorities to utilize the massive power within these brains to bring positive change, especially through technology.”
The DEMO Africa forum has seen serious minds put together through various organized forums including the LIONS@frica Summit and the Pan African Angel Investors forum held yesterday.
VC4Africa’s CEO and Founder Ben White explains: “Going into the third year of DEMO Africa, we are excited to introduce a new exclusive investor-only event as part of the DEMO Africa 2014 event. This is the next step in making sure the leading innovators from across the continent are going to get the backing they need to achieve scale. At the same time, we see angel networks emerging across the continent. Now is the time to bring them together in a shared conversation about how best to move forward.”
This year’s event has been organized in collaboration with the LIONS@FRICA partners (Microsoft, Nokia, US State Department, DEMO, USAID, African Development Bank, VC4Africa among others) and Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies.
A new startup dubbed Market Atlas, a financial terminal that uses big data, graph search, and real-time information sources to improve emerging market investment decisions aim to help hedge funds, private equity firms, and impact investors make better decisions in Africa.
Speaking to TechMoran, Justin Mahwikizi, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Market Atlas said, “We at Market Atlas saw a vision of an Africa with robust and deep markets serving domestic, intra-Africa, and foreign investors to help them meet their long term financial objectives.”
“After realizing of serious gaps in data coverage by the world’s leading data providers, we seized the opportunity to participate in making a market for African equity, commodity markets, fixed income, and foreign exchange markets through a differentiated and intuitive platform built by folks who have been part of trading desks at the biggest banks in the world,” he added.
According to the firm, 53.3% of senior investment professionals agree that ‘lack of information’ is the primary deterrent keeping them from considering African companies as investment opportunities. The firm aims to fill the information gap by capturing, analyzing, and vetting data on African companies. Stock market capitalization in Africa is worth around $1.05 trillion yet Africa only controls less than 3% of global GDP though it has 15% of the world’s population.
Using big data, graph search, and real-time data, Market Atlas aims to help hedge funds, private equity firms, and investors make better decisions in multiple African industries and indices.
“What inspired me to start Market Atlas is my upbringing in Africa that had me visit Rwanda, Tanzania, and Kenya. I saw how these places were similar and yet separated. I always wondered if there was a way to link and connect them through a standardized language that allowed them to collaborate and make many economic decisions at the individual level. I found that answer in the language of mathematics, the framework of technology, and the playing field of the financial markets for the whole Africa continent,” he concludes.
For our readers in Kenya, Lipa Na M-Pesa allows merchants, retailers and distributors to receive mobile money payments in a far more secure way.
Vodacom Tanzania, has also launched a similar service dubbed LIPA KWA M-PESA to help the same group settle payments by using M-PESA.
According to Kelvin Twissa, Vodacom Tanzania Head of Marketing and Communication, “Vodacom has been adding value to help streamline and improve the operations of the business community in Tanzania by introducing new products and services that will revolutionize the business community, and moving away from the old traditions of doing business”.
The new LIPA KWA M-PESA services is integrated to one’s M-PESA and bank account, it enables merchants and retailers to transact money instantly, as all transactions are done at the disposal of your fingertips. With the new system, signed up merchants have an enhanced limit of up to Tsh 50 Million in M-PESA unlike the standard M-PESA account which has a limit of TZS 5 million. Distributors can hold up to Tsh 2 Billion on their M-Pesa accounts.
With just a few clicks on one’s phone, one can conclude the business using the paperless and no Internet services required as it utilizes the Vodacom GSM network. Once you are registered you can perform all your transactions in a very secure way, the system allows you to view and receive SMS confirmation of every transaction.
Confirming to you – the Merchant and customer on the transaction that has just occurred. All settlements are done free into the merchant’s M-PESA account. As of now, more than 24,000 merchants and retailers across the country have already been informed and subscribed to the service.
Signing up into the service is simple; Merchants and retailers can visit the nearest Vodacom Shop for more information and how to register. Vodacom has set aside a dedicated M-Pesa desk in the call center. In case of any queries all retailers, merchants and customers can reach it 24/7 through dialing 15000 toll free.
Akon, Airtel Africa and Trace TV have unveiled competition dubbed “Airtel Trace Music Stars” to give opportunity to youth in Africa to compete with others over their mobile phones.
The competition will involve youth in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda Zambia, Madagascar, Malawi, Nigeria, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Gabon and will identify, reward and help the best overall grand prize singer to sign a recording deal with Akon’s Kon Live and mentorship classes with Akon among others.
Airtel Kenya CEO Adil El Youssefi said, “Airtel is passionate about creating credible platforms that celebrate and reward young, talented people. Kenya has got talent and we are pleased to be able to showcase the wealth of talent that exists within our country. It was a fitting choice for us to partner with Trace Music Star to empower, reward and celebrate the youth.”
The grand finale will be held in March 2015. The partnership with TRACE Music Star will last three years. Other prizes up for grabs in the competition include – cash prizes and mobile phones. The overall winner will walk away with a prize of 30 000 Euros in cash, a recording deal with Universal music, mentorship by AKON and a 5 star trip to New York City.
“I am pleased to join Trace to develop innovative ways in which to identify and nurture dynamic music talent throughout the continent. The intersection between technology and artist development is elevated by the presence of this ground-breaking music competition concept,” stated Akon.
The six months competition is expected to begin in early October 2014; to participate, contestants will need to call in a short code number with their mobile phones, record their songs to stand a chance to become the next big music star in their country and possibly across Africa and the world. The platform also provides an option to rehearse on a phone karaoke that scores the performance.
Kenya’s mobile money service provider Tangaza Pesa is planning to introduce the thin SIM card even though the Equity bank is facing major challenges over the project. The reason behind this decision, the mobile money platform says, is the fact that its target market do ot want to buy new phones.
“This leaves us with no option but to use thin SIM card, which sits on a parent SIM,” Tangaza Pesa chief executive Oscar Ikinu said.
Not worring about the state at which Equity bank is in, Tangaza says that the law does not deny us access to the thin SIM card service.
Tangaza was licensed in May by the Communications Authority of Kenya to operate as MVNO on Airtel’s network alongside Equity’s Finserve and Zioncell.
It has begun its roll-out by recruiting money transfer agents countrywide. It has also been licensed by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) to provide cashless fare services to consumers.
On Monday, the Communication Authority and CBK gave the nod to Equity Bank to roll out mobile money services using the thin-SIM card technology on a one-year pilot basis.
During the period, no other operator will be allowed to use the technology to enable the regulator to study the technology’s security features.
This means that Tangaza Pesa will have to cool its heels for a year before it rolls out its thin SIM services. The Communications Authority has demanded that Equity Bank signs that it will compensate the regulator for any liabilities arising from fraudulent use of the thin SIM cards.
“This is important to ascertain that they are not hiding anything and they have taken security measures against any eventualities of fraud,” Communications Authority director-general Francis Wangusi told the Nation by phone.
The Federal government of Nigeria is looking to train about 29,600 unemployed youths on digital job opportunities across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. The scheme, conceived by the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology, is to be implemented in collabo-ration with the state governments where 800 unemployed from each state shall be provided with digital empowerment.
At the 2014 National Council of Communication Technology (NCCT) meeting a decision was made that each state provide a suitable venue with 250 sitting capacity and nominate 800 unemployed youths for the workshop for training of prospective job seekers on digital job opportunities.
Special Adviser on Media to the Minister of Communication Technology, Omobola Johnson, Efem Nkanga, said of the scheme: “Already, the scheme has started in Bayelsa and it is expected that after the training of 800 youth in that state, other states will follow, depending on their readiness to provide the facilities needed to implement the project.”
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says that the current youth unemployment rate at over 25 percent.
Nkanga further said said that after the successful launch of the NaijaCloud initiative in Lagos last year by the Minister of Communication Technology, the minister had made the job-creation initiative a priority of the ministry.
The Lagos launch was done in partnership with the World Bank through the STEP-B project of the Federal Ministry of Education. “As part of the project, a Microwork for Workers workshop was held to educate and train participants on how to create a user profile and manage their accounts on the various Microwork & E-lancing platforms.
Immediate results have been recorded as over 10,000 Nigerians are now earning money on this platform. Nkanga noted that the Rockefeller Foundation was impressed by the ministry’s NaijaCloud initiative and is partnering with it in an attempt to deepen the effect of online job creation and leverage the success of the Lagos launch to hold a workshop in every state of the federation to enable unemployed youths to access online work called Microwork.
She explained that a nationwide campaign commenced in Bayelsa during the National Council on Communication Technology held in Bayelsa State in September 10th – 17th, 2014. The next workshop will be held in the second week of October.
The 2014 Ebola outbreak is affecting multiple countries in West Africa, according to the World Bank, there are currently only one to two doctors available for every 100,000 people in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Ebola treatment centers are unable to provide sufficient care due to a shortage of properly trained health care workers. In rural communities, it is difficult to monitor patients and there are currently limited prevention and education outreach efforts.
As an initial response, the GE Foundation is donating Ksh. 1.7 Billion to help launch a coalition led by Partners in Health and Last Mile Health to scale-up Ebola response efforts and rebuild rural primary health systems in Liberia. Partners in Health will also be working with Wellbody Alliance and other private sector partners on a broader response effort in Sierra Leone. The Coalition builds on over 40 years of collective experience.
Together, the Coalition will partner with the Liberian and Sierra Leonean Ministries of Health to execute the project in four rural counties/districts.
The Coalition will train, equip and support 500 health workers across 47 primary health centers and will establish two Ebola Treatment Centers at two District/County Hospitals. In addition, the Coalition will train and support 800 community health workers to carry out community-based education, prevention, surveillance and monitoring, and maintain essential health services in 500 villages. The Coalitionwill also provide technical assistance to Ministries of Health at national level to support transition from Ebola response to strengthen health systems for the future.
Jay Ireland, President & CEO GE Africa, said, “GE is proud to support the Coalition with Partners in Health to scale-up Ebola response efforts and rebuild rural primary health systems in West Africa. Fighting Ebola requires a comprehensive strategy – from Ebola treatment in hospitals to revitalizing primary health care and community-based services – that could transform how the world responds to epidemics and rebuilds public health systems.”
The online space has created employment opportunities as well as grown small companies into big entities and more are yet to be born out of it. Online marketing is gaining momentum in Kenya and there many start-ups which are making it big in this area, one of them is DukaLako.
Dukalako is an online market platform that facilitates buying and selling in Kenya. Their aim is to make it possible for a person to make online sales irrespective of which area in the country he/she is in not having to leave the comfort of their homes. With DukaLako personal details like phone numbers do not need to be shared with the seller or listed on a public website.
Movement of items between the two is by courier. The Buyer is not at risk because Dukalako ensures that the seller will only receive funds once the buyer has received their item.
TechMoran managed to get hold of the two founders of the online market platform, Clement Langat and Dennis Langat (Surprisingly they are not related in any way). Both of them are also Directors of the company with Clement in charge of operations and Dennis in charge of Marketing. Dukalako has employed 5 staff members to assist with Marketing, Web Development, Customer Service and Sales.
DukaLako does into get funding from any other source as they generate revenue from charging a small commission on each transaction and from advertising on our platform
Dennis Langat
About the founders
Clement Langat
Clement has been in Australia for the past 14 years where he had gone to further his studies
Prior to starting Dukalako he was running an IT Support company with Dennis in Perth Australia. He was employed in the IT and Accounting industry for several years in Perth Australia.
Dennis Langat
Dennis has also been in Australia for 14 years prior to coming to Kenya. He was running an IT Support business with Clement before starting Dukalako. Prior to this he was an Operations Manager with a leading company in the mining and resources sector.
The inspiration behind the DukaLako idea
Clement says that: “Four years ago while we were living in Australia, we asked ourselves why a platform like eBay had failed to penetrate the Kenyan market and indeed the rest of the developing world.”
The benefits of such a platform succeeding in Kenya became clearer as the major problem in Kenya is traffic congestion and a not so good road network.
“We resolved then to build a platform that would acknowledge and accommodate the uniqueness of the Kenyan online market,” added Clement.
So what solutions is DukaLako offering
Convenience
The buyer and seller can conduct all transactions from home without having to step outside. Pickup and delivery of the item is done by courier. The days of travelling from one town to another to purchase a spare part or a gadget will soon be long gone.
There are flexible ways of making payment, including Mpesa, Yucash, Airtel money and credit card.
Listing is free
Security and Safety
There is no need to meet strangers at public places, your home or anywhere else for that matter. Pickup and delivery is done by recognized couriers.
Private details like phone numbers do not need to be listed on a public website
The buyer’s money is not at risk because it will only be released to the seller once the buyer confirms that they have received their purchase.
Opportunities for small business
Listing is free so any business can set up its own shop within Dukalako, increasing its customer base from the people who would walk past the shop on any given day to the millions of Kenyans who access the internet daily.
In days to come retail businesses will be able to wholly exist and thrive online without need for a physical presence. This will enable them to save on costs like rent, utilities and staffing.
Music platform
Dukalako has made it possible for musicians to sell their songs in a transparent and straightforward manner.
Listing a song is free.
The musician sets the price of each song; they are able to set a price for the Kenyan market, and a price for the diaspora.
The musician can monitor how many songs they have sold at any anytime through their dashboard.
At this point in time, musicians get 80% of the sale price of each song. No one else in the country does this.
This how DukaLako works
The Seller lists their item on Dukalako for free.
Buyer comes to the website, identifies what they want and clicks to buy.
Buyer makes payment using their preferred option.
Once payment is received, instructions are sent to the seller to prepare the item for shipping. The courier is also dispatched to pick up the item. (For songs, the download link is sent to the buyer once payment is complete)
Courier delivers item to buyer (overnight).
Buyer checks the item they have received then notifies Dukalako to release the payment to seller.
Our most important customers are all Kenyans who have access to the internet and are time poor. They can sell what they no longer need hence freeing up their cash or make purchases easily. To them we provide convenience and security.
Our other important customers are musicians; we give them control, transparency and a fair return for their hard work.
Small retailers are also another group of important clients. We have given them the ability to expand their client base countrywide.
Achievements and Challenges
One of our biggest challenges this start-up has experienced is pricing the items online. The two agree that kenyans love to bargain so much that it forces then to quote a very high price so that when lowering it would not hurt their revenues.
“While our platform allows bargaining, it is still not ideal in an online environment. We have therefore had to go out and teach our sellers to start off by listing the lowest price possible for their item,” says Clement.
The other challenge they consider is the fact that they have to educate their sellers about having good quality photos and detailed descriptions of their products.
On achievements:
“Despite being active for barely one month, big music names have already listed with us like Khaligraph Jones, Rabbit aka Kaka Sungura, Size8, LJ Maasai and many more,” says Clement. “Members of the public and small retailers are excited by the opportunity we are offering and are signing in large numbers daily. We currently have over 10,000 listed items and several thousands of registered users.”
This online business conservatives estimated have projected their turn over at Ksh 30 Million in 2014. (Cool, huh?)
On market response and competition
The Kenyan online market is large and diverse and consequently there are other players out there with different business models that are working for them. To beat them, DukaLako’s focuses on the individual and small retailer within and outside Nairobi.
“Our ability to connect a buyer from Turkana with a spare part dealer in River Road Nairobi is what gives us that extra edge. So far our interactions with other market platforms have been cordial and supportive as we seek to learn from and support each other,” says Clement
He added that: “The market loves our platform and is evidenced by the signups we have been getting each day and the number of visits to our site. We are constantly getting feedback from the public on what they would like to see listed, and we have a team on the ground making sure those items get listed.”
Where DukaLako will be in two years
“We will be the market platform of choice in East Africa. In two years someone in Kampala will be able to transact with someone in Mombasa safely and with ease. Same goes for someone in Kigali transacting with someone in Juba,” says Clement
Founders’ Parting Shot
Clement:
I love my business because I can see it changing lives. Traders are able to expand their business without increasing their physical presence which is very cost effective. Kenyans are now able to sell items that have been lying unused in their homes for decades. Musicians can sell their music at home and abroad with maximum control of the whole process.
Life as an entrepreneur is not easy mentally or on the family, otherwise everyone would be one. The rewards are also very good once your project has taken off. It is very exciting watching something grow from zero to something significant to the economy.
Dennis
I love IT and I love the fact that what I do is helping the economy grow and also increasing efficiency and providing convenience to the masses.
I have always wanted to do something in Kenya/Africa and Dukalako has provided me that opportunity to make a difference. For me being away from family can be very challenging and I thank my family very much as they have always been a source of inspiration and support.
Having lived in the diaspora for several years I like the fact that Dukalako can now provide a platform for us to buy new and second hand items for our relatives and friends back home and the fact that Dukalako promises to deliver.
I would also like to encourage more and more people to try their hands on ICT as this is a growing sector and has enormous benefits especially for Africa.
Kenya’s Kejahunt, an online property listing platform that assists home seekers find that ideal house and roommate has launched a mobile friendly website compatible with various mobile operating systems to reach more users and help them hunt for or rent out their houses.
Available at m.kejahunt.com the site can be accessed by Opera mini, Opera classic, Chrome, Firefox and major browsers.
Speaking to TechMoran, Joshua Mutua, KejaHunt’s CTO said, “It has been 6 months since the launch of the platform which has seen an increase in listings and users daily. The platform uses geo-location technology to show the exact location of the house and sociograph to match up roommates using their social circles on social media.”
“Unlike mobile apps which users don’t even download, the mobile site will be easily accessible by users on any of their mobile phones whether Android, Windows, iOS or BlackBerry,” added Mutua.
KejaHunt targets the youth and the low and middle-income earners group who make up 48.4% of the total Kenyan population. The platform allows for easy house hunting online with one getting information on vacant houses in various locations in the country and if the need to cost-share arises one is able to search for a roommate .
Landlords and property owners can easily upload their vacant properties using this mobile website from the comfort of their mobile phones as the platform provides for a dashboard for the property owners to manage their listings and add new ones.
It’s huge competition includes One Africa Media’s BuyrentKenya and Rocket Internet’s Lamudi among others.
AMPION Venture Bus has launched a crowdfunding campaign in a move to support the most creative and innovative startups built on the 2014 African Venture Buses.
While the Indiegogo campaign , will also offer classic perks like T-Shirts for smaller donations, AMPION explores a new approach for donations of 99€ and above: supporters have the possibility to adopt one of the winning AMPION Venture Bus startups or a single African entrepreneur. Depending on the budget, donators may choose from different lengths of support.
Adopting a startup enables its transition from an innovative idea into a real business, which also contributes to African job creation and entrepreneurial ecosystem improvement. As patrons of the startups, donors will in the future also be mentioned on the website of the respective company.
Over 160 participants on this years’ Venture Buses will create 16+ startups tackling African needs and priorities. The AMPION Fellowship Program will nurture the most promising business ideas, and produce tangible results for the local economy.
By increasing the interactivity between the sponsors and the sponsored, AMPION increases the transparency of its Fellowship Program and gives supporters the possibility to keep track of the impact of their donation. This way, AMPION involves crowdfunding supporters in the whole process of capacity building provided by the Fellowship Program. Donors can witness first-hand the positive change they help to enable.
Four AMPION Venture Bus hackathons will travel through 16 countries in Africa this year to create innovative and sustainable startups for the African market and tackle local challenges while the AMPION Fellowship Program offers financing, mentorship and office space to the best startups in partnership with AfriLabs.
Just when we thought BlackBerry was off the shelves, the firm amazed everyone by its recent launch of the BlackBerry® Passport, a touch screen and new QWERTY touch-enabled smartphone.
John Chen, Executive Chairman and CEO at BlackBerry said, “The BlackBerry Passport was created to drive productivity and to break through the sea of rectangular-screen, all-touch devices.”
The BlackBerry Passport has Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3 display and forged stainless steel for added strength, a large square screen for viewing and creating content, and a first touch-enabled keyboard with gestures that make typing, editing and navigating more efficient and accurate.
The firm says the BlackBerry Passport’s new QWERTY keyboard is almost four times more accurate than BlackBerry® 10 virtual keyboards – the error rate is on average 74% lower – so there are fewer typos to get in the way of what you’re trying to say.
The BlackBerry Passport along with Porsche Design P’9983 smartphone from BlackBerry®, are the first devices to launch on BlackBerry’s latest OS platform, BlackBerry® 10.3. They come preloaded with new productivity-enhancing features including BlackBerry® Blend and BlackBerry® Assistant, as well as the BlackBerry® World™ storefront and Amazon Appstore, offering access to the very best apps for work and play.
With BlackBerry Blend, users can sync info on their smartphone to their computer and tablet and as well get instant message notifications, read and respond to your work and personal email, BBM™ or text messages, and access your documents, calendar, contacts and media in real time on whatever device you are on.
Blend works across desktop operating systems, including Mac OS X 10.7 +, Windows® 7+ and Android™ tablets running Android 4.4+ via cellular, USB or Wi-Fi connections.
Key Features
Highlight features of the BlackBerry Passport include:
Screen – 4.5” square screen with a 1:1 aspect ratio, 1440×1440 pixel (453 dpi) HD display and Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3.
OS– BlackBerry 10.3
Battery Life – 3450 mAh battery WITH up to 30 hours of mixed use.
Dual app stores- BlackBerry World and the Amazon Appstore.
BlackBerry Assistant– Voice and text commands
Processor and Memory – Quad Core 2.2 GHZ Processor, 3 GB RAM, 13 MP OIS rear camera and 32 GB memory.
Nigeria’s online mall, Konga.com has added the GTPay Internet Bank Transfer to help shoppers login to their GTBank Internet Banking portal when checking out on Konga.com and make secure transfers from your GTBank account directly to Konga.com with ease!
Konga.com recently integrated on its platform a new GTPay Payment method – the GTBank Internet Bank Transfer. This was done in a bid to make shopping easier by providing a new convenient channel to make payments online. Customers on Konga can now pay for their goods through GTBank Internet Banking, in addition to the ATM/ Debit Card option.
With GTPay, you can now login to your GTBank Internet Banking portal when checking out on Konga.com and make secure transfers from your GTBank account directly to Konga.com with ease!
GTBank Internet Banking provides a secure and convenient alternative payment channel for all Konga customers. It also promotes cashless transactions and provides instant value for successful transactions.
OLX is a free general online classifieds site that connects sellers to buyers in a bid to remove the complications involved in selling and buying. Founded in March 2006, the site is available in over 100 countries and over 40 languages and funded by South Africa media and e-commerce giant Naspers.
OLX is simple to use and allows sellers to sign up for their own accounts, post photos of items they want to sell, provide a brief description and a price as well as give their location or the location of their items in a simple short way. Buyers can then browse the listings, select the favourite ones and then call the seller to meet offline and transact.
OLX doesn’t handle any money or own any property or listing even though it owns the copyright of the content listed on the site. Users are supposed to take personal safety precations while meeting a seller or buyer offline and should avoid dealing with cash most of the time. They are also encouraged to meet at public and safer places to increase to avoid chances of fraud.
Kaymu has launched in Nairobi, are you guys scared? Peter Ndiang’ui: No we are not ; first, they are more focussed on the marketplace b2c market and the 2nd reason is that the market is still big and the more we are the faster we can develop the market.
What is OLX doing to see more guys using it especially in rural areas?
That’s a good question. If you look at our awareness campaigns you’ll notice that we target a wide spectrum of users based on a number of parameters from the language to messing carriers.
People say verticals will wipe you out. Is this true?
I think if you look at the premise of a classifieds site , the most important thing is high liquidity both to the seller and the buyer. Whether it’s a vertical or a horizontal doesn’t really matter as long as users get results. Now if the vertical folks have results that indicate that their users are selling faster on their platform than on OLX then we would believe that warning but I am not sure that there is evidence to this claim.
Our Mobile app is top 10 downloaded app in Kenya and this is a key indicator of the demand that our service is attracting. On average over 50 % of sellers sell in the first 7 days of listing across all categories, this ought to be the defining parameter than the site vertical focus.
However, globally, we have seen that horizontals exist side by side with verticals in a very symbiotic way.
What about monetising. Are featured listings and digital ads enough for OLX to break even?
At the moment it’s too early for us to worry about monetization strategies and tactics in such an early stage market. We are fully focussed on developing the user base.
Some classifieds sites have sections to swap, donate and for freebies. Any plans for such on OLX?
If a feature improves the overall user experience , we wouldn’t hesitate to add it.
How has OLX build consumer trust to keep coming back?
By ensuring they get results. That’s the key motivator for returning users.
The founder of Gifted Mom, Cameroonian Alain Nteff emerged winner of the $25,000 grand prize Anzisha Prize Award followed closely by South Africa’s Schoolbag manufacturer Thato Kgatlhanye as the first runner up with $15,000 cash prizes and followed by 17 year-old Ivory Coast farmer Gabriel Kombassere who received $12,500 in cash.
Aln in the middle with the runner’s up
Nteff founded the Gifted Mom project, an e-content platform for pregnant women in underserved areas, to help them have safe pregnancies and combat the lack of access and knowledge that has led to high mother and infant deaths in Cameroon.
Gifted Mom works with health providers and medical students to create profiles for pregnant women to send automated alerts that help them track antenatal care. Since starting his project, more than 200 medical students have been trained, 1200 pregnant women impacted resulting in a 20% increase in antenatal attendance rate for pregnant women in 15 rural communities.
The first runner’s up Thato Kgathlanye, aged 21 co-founded Repurpose Schoolbags that designs schoolbags made from up-cycled plastic shopping bags integrated with solar technology. Mini solar panels are encased in the bags, charging up during the day and transforming into light for learners to study after dark. She runs a factory in Rustenburg, South Africa where she employs 8 women, has impacted the lives of over 120 children and taken major strides in reducing her carbon footprint through recycling over 10 000 plastic bags.
Gabriel Kombassere (17) founded Ribla Neda, an association seeking to eradicate starvation in his region. His principle being: we may be students but we can help our parents. Having grown up farming from the age of 8, he invested in what came naturally by asking his uncle for a piece of land and started to grow maize and cassava. He employees 4 students and has 30 members in his organisation. Annually, he produces over 20 bags of maize and a cargo of cassava.
The 4th annual 2014 Anzisha Finalists were honored at a prestigious ceremony on Tuesday, September 23 2014 at the Focus Rooms in Sunninghill, Johannesburg.
“Every year it gets harder to choose a winner,” commented Josh Adler, Director for the Centre of Entrepreneurship at African Leadership Academy. “All of our finalists this year are shining examples of youth entrepreneurship – examples we hope will inspire teenagers across the continent to start and grow similar ventures.”
Now in its fourth year, the Anzisha Prize received 339 applications this year from 32 countries for Africa’s premier youth entrepreneurship award. The Anzisha Prize is a partnership between African Leadership Academy and The MasterCard Foundation.
Other winners included 18 year-old Tom Osborn from Kenya who received a special $10,000 energy prize award from Donors Circle for Africa, for his eco-fuel venture, Greenchar. Greenchar, a clean energy project that produces charcoal briquettes and distributes clean cook-stoves throughout Kenya. It was started to fight deforestation and the health problems that result from smoke inhalation from charcoal. Greenchar coals are carbonized producing long-lasting, high-energy content, smokeless coals, made from revitalized agricultural forests. Tom was recently named an Echoing Green fellow.
The ICT Authority and SAP have said they will offer $6000 to unemployed recent university graduates in Kenya for an 8-week program Nairobi’s Techno Brain.
The deal aim to equip 100 young Kenyans with high – end ICT skills by the end of the year and help them access internships and jobs after that. The program dubbed SAP Skills for Africa targets recent graduates interested in finance and business development and is in accordance with the ICT Master Plan 2014-17 which recommends developing and sustaining talent as well as nurturing an ICT ready workforce to meet the needs of the industry.
Though the move is brilliant, an educational analyst thinks the US$6000 per student is inflated and could have been used to pay for a masters program for more than two students in a local university.
“Spending $6000 on one student in Nairobi for an 8 week course sounds like an insult. Whether it’s SAP or the government of Kenya spending this money, people will need an explanation,” she said, asking to remain anonymous.
But Cabinet Secretary Ministry of ICT, Dr Fred Matiang’i said the iniative is neccessary.
“We churn out thousands of graduates into the market, but they face a challenge in getting jobs as they do not match the skill set that employers are looking for. We are tackling this head on and our goal is to partner with the private sector to increase the capacity of our people in ICT,” says the Cabinet Secretary.
CS, ICT, Dr Fred Matiang’i
SAP and the ICT Authority signed a 3-year partnership agreement that will collaborate on innovation and incubation programs; general ICT awareness and literacy; skills development and internship programs; best practice sharing on process improvement and joint research initiatives.
In August, SAP announced a 500 million initiative for capacity building in Africa. SAP promised to invest over $500 million in a seven-year initiative to promote local African talent and drive sustainable innovation and growth continentwide. The US $500 million, which will be invested through 2020, will help establish the African region as one of the company’s top-five growth markets globally. This partnership, seems to be part of is entire plan for the continent.
“A key component of SAP’s Africa Growth Plan, is the training of 8,000-10,000 new consultants in Africa in the next seven years. These skilled people, in the main economic hubs of Africa, will enable governments and private sector to improve the way they do business across the continent and ultimately the World – driving prosperity through job creation,” says Mr. Andrew Waititu, Managing Director, SAP East Africa.
SAP MD, East Africa, Andrew Waititu
The successful candidates will go through a fully sponsored training program, certification and internship placements. The scholarships are targeting candidates that graduated between December 2011 and December 2014. The internships will run in the first quarter of 2015.
In 2013, the program graduated 56 successful students, most of who have been matched up with jobs.
Kenya’s Jubilee Coalition laptop project tender that had been issued has yet again dismissed by judges, now the tendering process will have to start all over again and will take at least six months and in addition to that the first deliveries will be delayed by months.
Justices George Odunga, Francis Gikonyo and Weldon Korir declared the Sh24 billion laptop tender that was awarded to Olive Telecommunications PVT Ltd of India, flawed.
It all started when the public procurement board cancelled the contract awarded to Indian firm Olive Telecommunications PVT Ltd because it had not marched up the financial requirement set in the tender document and was not an original equipment manufacturer.
Jacob Kaimenyi, Education Cabinet Secretary said the Government will abide by the ruling, adding, he hoped this time losing bidders will not launch appeals and stall the process further.
Jubilee had promised to issue the computers in its first year in office. The whole process began last year in august where the Government asked companies to bid for the provision of laptops, printers and projectors for all the public schools in the country, for a sum of Ksh53.2 billion.
Even after the likes of Microsoft, among other companies, had expressed their interest the government cancelled the tender later in October and called for another tender claiming that the bidders had exceeded the budgetary projections.
Later in march Olive was declared the winner of the tender, beating Hellewart Packard (HP) and Haier Electrical Appliances Limited.
HP then accused the government of awarding the tender to Olive unfairly since it did not meet the basic tendering requirements as Olive does not manufacture devices on its own and subcontracts Chinese companies to make Olive-branded devices, contrary to the tender rules that required all bidders be original equipment manufacturers.
According to the government, the company was awarded the tender based on the fact that it had placed the lowest bid of Sh22 billion shillings compared to the Sh23 billion bid by HP and Haier’s Sh24 billion.
Read about the best laptops for students that will be a good choice for studying remotely.
In January, Tiger Global Management and Accel India invested $10 million into CommonFloor.com, India’s No.1 real estate portal to fuel growth through new marketing initiatives, product development and building on its research expertise in the real estate domain.
Today, the firm announced it has received USD 30 million in a new round of funding again from Tiger Global to support it’s vision “to think out of the box, innovate and lead the online real-estate sector in its journey to further enhance user experience.”
According to Sumit Jain, Co- founder and CEO of CommonFloor.com said, “We have more than doubled our revenues and traffic and the funding will further accelerate our growth plans. This round of funding will be used to invest further in our product and technology that will enhance customer experience. The company will continue to strategically scale-up its marketing and operations across the 18 cities where it’s currently present and expand to 22 new markets in India.”
After the raise, CommonFloor says it has witnessed a 100% increase in traffic, 125% jump in live listings and added over 25,000 communities in the last two quarters. The website also gets more than 25% traffic on its site via mobile app.
Launched in 2007 by Sumit Jain, Lalit Mangal and Vikas Malpani, CommonFloor.com is now available in over 120 cities and has launched tools to help users search for property, manage their properties among others. Its augmented map-based mobile app signals users about available properties in the vicinity, drone service to take pictures of panoramic views from planned high rise apartments and systematic photographic verification of properties listed help users make a smart property decisions.
“India’s online real-estate sector has been expanding rapidly as Internet access grows, especially
through mobile. CommonFloor.com has carefully mapped the needs of the online-based real estate ecosystem and has forged a clear path toward future growth. We are pleased to continue to partner with them” said Lee Fixel, Partner at Tiger Global Management.
Jovago, has partnered with one of West Africa’s largest regional carriers, Africa World Airlines, to provide more accessible hotel booking services to Africans.
African travellers visiting the Africa World Airlines website can find and book over 200,000 hotels around the world and 10,000 hotels specifically in Africa, which are all available on Jovago.com. Every one visiting the website to book flights across Accra, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Liberia can as well book their trips easily from the wide selection of hotels available on Jovago.com.
As the official hotel partners of Africa World Airlines www.Jovago.com will ensure that travellers booking regional flights on Africa World Airlines can find hotels across Africa and around the world.
Marek Zmyslowski, Managing Director of Jovago.com said: “This is a great achievement for Jovago.com. As the leading hotel booking site in Africa, this is one step towards ensuring that we meet our travelling customers wherever they may be, especially while they are in the booking process. This partnership with Africa World Airlines will make booking hotels online even more accessible for African travellers.”
The Nigerian Malaria Destroyer Game (MDG) developed by Mobile Software Ltd has become one of the winners in the African Content Award (WSA ) Mobile 2014.
launched in Lagos in February 2014, MDG won along seven others in different Categories emerged from Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, South Africa, Tunisia, and Uganda.
In a Best African m-Content 2014-Wwinner announcement early in the week, Peter A. Bruck, WSA chairman told the winners “ It is my pleasure to herewith inform you that the African Content Award Jury selected your project as the best African mobile solution in your category. Therefore you are one of the winners of the African Content Award 2014! ‘We invite you cordially to receive your awards at the 2nd Ministerial Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation in Africa, organized by the African Development Bank, African Union, UNECA and UNESCO. The event takes place in Rabat, Morocco from Oct 14 – 17’”
Malaria Destroyer Game, MDG, is a multi-layered series of educational mobile games designed to save lives and eradicate malaria in Africa – particularly in Nigeria.
The full graphics animation tackles the challenge of 300,000 annual deaths caused by malaria in Nigeria.
It offers the user insights into the major challenges in the eradication of mosquitoes from the environment.
MDG users learn everything about how mosquitoes transmit the illness in a simple and fun way. Quizzes and learning cards enhance knowledge of malaria habitat, while users can fight mosquitoes in adventure game settings.
Mr. Chris Uwaje, chairman Mobile Software Ltd in said “Our hidden smiles and inspirations radiate in serving humanity, peace advocacy, impacting and saving life.
In a move to understand the current mobile phone gender gap, the drivers for and barriers to mobile phone access and usage, and implications for industry policymakers and other stakeholders, the GSMA and partners are set to conduct studies that will help see more women join the growing digital economy.
“The ubiquity and affordability of mobile presents us with the unprecedented opportunity to improve and enhance social and economic development” said Anne Bouverot, Director General, GSMA. “However, women in particular tend to be left behind, not only as consumers of mobile services, but also as employees and leaders in the mobile industry. To address this, the GSMA has partnered with key industry stakeholders with the vision of accelerating the potential of the female digital economy.”
The GSMA will conduct studies in China, Columbia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Mexico, Niger, Nigeria and Turkey and will include 12,000 interviews and 84 focus group sessions.
The GSMA will also look into the state of gender diversity across the industry, highlighting best practices and offering strategic advice on areas of potential change. This aim to raise awareness of the opportunities for and the role of women in the global telecoms ecosystem and to drive change across the industry by demonstrating how women can support the aspirations of the industry. The report will provide metrics for monitoring progress and activity.
Upon completion, the insights and recommendations generated will be used to create programmes and services for their female customers and employees.
The findings will see how the partners can enhance access to the mobile Internet for women; recruit women to become distributors of mobile airtime credits within their communities to allow them to expand digital access while generating household income; provide information and services that women need with regards to health, education and entrepreneurship skills; provide mobile technology to women factory workers to enable access to health information; and launch services designed to protect women in vulnerable situations by enabling them to block unwanted callers, preventing harassment and verbal abuse.
With over 10 million women through existing initiatives, the Connected Women Programme aims to offer critical insights into the socio-economic benefits of greater inclusion of women at all points in the industry and will be used by partners to develop initiatives and services for female consumers and employees.
Jambojet’s social media campaign #OccupyJambojet has ended today on a high note after a number of hitches here and there including the site crashing and a number of participants just being disatisfied they didn’t win.
The low cost airline today announced James Quest’s led #TeamPawa as the winners of the campaign after their captain mobilised 99 people to #OccupyJambojet for a one day all-expenses paid trip to Mombasa on Saturday 27th, September.
According to Jambojet’s Managing Director Williem Hondius, the campaign aimed to encourage more Kenyans, especially those who have never flown, to travel.
“We saw a lot of interest in the campaign with 174 manifests being formed, with a total of 5,000 passengers signing up for the campaign. It was competitive and close with James Quest emerging tops,” said Mr Hondius during the unveiling ceremony. “Since our launch in April we have seen our passenger numbers growing on average 45,000 per month. With this campaign we for see further growth.”
Jambojet also awarded the other top 14 captains with free return tickets, to a destination of their choice, for their efforts in the campaign.
The campaign, which was rolled out on Friday 12th, September 2014, and mainly on Twitter, saw Jambojet grow its online footprint exponentially. Jambojet Twitter following grew by two folds during the campaign.
The winning team will get to enjoy the free trip and will be hosted by the Voyager Beach Resort, with refreshments courtesy of Absolut Vodka, on-ground transport by Destination Connect and Nas Servair serving complementary meals at the airport and on-board.
Microsoft 4Afrika and AfriLabs have launched a $15,000 initiative dubbed ‘Collaboration Challenge’ to increase knowledge sharing and as well spur innovation across technology hubs in Africa.
“Collaboration fuels innovation. It encourages people to learn from each other and build on better and bigger ideas,” says Annie Njenga, Innovation Hubs Manager for Microsoft. “Innovation hubs give developers a collaborative space where organisations can assist them with the technical and business skills needed to get their businesses off the ground. They bring different people together who otherwise would never have met, and create successful companies that strengthen local economies.”
Officially launched at this year’s DEMO Africa event, the Collaboration Challenge’ is in line with AfriLabs core function of facilitating collaboration, which requires the right platforms, mechanisms and incentives for hubs and their teams to share information and dialogue.
The winning solution will receive $15,000 from Microsoft and technical support to develop it. The hubs within the AfriLabs network will be provided with a more efficient way to learn from each other’s best practices and build more sustainable models.
According to the World Bank, there are currently 90 innovation hubs across Africa. AfriLabs, a pan-African network of technology and innovation hubs, makes up 35 of these. Two of these hubs, the Co-creation hub in Nigeria and the iHub in Kenya, have been recognised as best performing models. The iHub has launched 152 successful local startups to date, encouraging the local Kenyan government to commit to establishing a tech hub in each of its 47 counties. “The encouragement of a vibrant innovator ecosystem is essential to the growth of Africa’s knowledge economy,” says Fernando de Sousa, General Manager of Africa Initiatives at Microsoft. “To remain relevant and sustainable, the hubs will need to not only promote innovation, but also focus on their monetisation.”
However, many hubs have been unable to find models that ensure sustainability from the initial grants that got them started. “Challenges like finding the right partners, determining the correct strategy and sustainability model, having the right team and skills in the hub, and the involvement of government can be difficult to navigate,” says Tayo Akinyemi, Director at AfriLabs.
The Collaboration Challenge has been designed to help stimulate collaboration and knowledge sharing within the Afrilabs network and fully leverage the knowledge, skills and resources that are available through the network and its partners.
“If you look at the success of Silicon Valley, you’ll see it lies in collaboration.” Research done by the Accenture Institute for High Performance pins it down to close ties among outstanding educational institutions, research organisations and businesses. “That’s what we’re aiming for throughout the pan-African network,” says Annie Njenga.
Hub members who enter the challenge will have until the 24th of October 2014 to submit their concepts and vote for their favourite ideas. All those proposing an application need to design it for the Windows platform and host it on Microsoft Azure, an open and flexible cloud platform with a single software-as-a-service offering that manages the entire lifecycle of an application. The winning individual or team will receive financial, technical and mentorship support from Microsoft to help them execute the concept.
The challenge will be run on Hylo, a social network that enables skilled collaborators to coalesce around shared intentions and challenges. Individual participants and teams can submit an ‘intention’ in the form of a brief description of the proposed idea. Others may respond by submitting their own ideas, requesting information from the idea’s originator, or submitting an ‘offer’ to help develop someone else’s idea. The winning concept will be the one that garners the most overall support.
What would you do with Kshs 2,500? According to guys at Microsoft, you can buy a new and original Nokia 130 in any shop countrywide and use it a backup phone to complement your smartphone.
The Nokia 130 has a built-in video player, music player with up to 46 hours continuous playback on a single charge. It has a flashlight, FM radio and USB charging and a features a 1.8” color display.
You can either buy single SIM variant and a Dual SIM Nokia 130 and can store up to 6,000 songs on a 32GB SD card as you hit your road trip. You can also share your photos with friends via its Bluetooth-enabled SLAM application and USB connectivity.
Key specs
Nokia 130: Specifications at a glance:
Up to 36 days standby (Single SIM) 26 days (Dual SIM), 13 hours 2G talk time. 46 hours music playback, 16 hours video playback
1.8” QQVGA color display
1020mAh battery
Connectivity USB 2.0, 3.5mm AV Connector, microSD, Bluetooth 3.0 with SLAM
Rocket Internet, the Berlin-based firm behind Jumia, Kaymu, Hellofood, Lamudi, Carmudi and several others yesterday published its prospectus of its upcoming IPO after approval from the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht BaFin).
In a statement, Oliver Samwer said,”The IPO is the next logical step for us, as we are determined to become the leading Internet platform outside the US and China.”
The global internet builder aims to raise sale new shares of 35.50 to 42.50 euros each a share, raising as much as 1.47 billion euros, or $1.89 billion on its October 9 IPO which will see the firm stand at $7.8 billion value, making it Germany’s largest tech I.P.O.
The firm aims to use the IPO proceeds to launch and finance new startup across the world and as well fuel its existing ones. The EUR 35.5-42.5 share price will put Rocket Internet’s pre money valuation at EUR 4.3bn to EUR 5.1bn on a fully diluted basis.
The 750 million euros ($970 million) IPO will comprise of only new shares and will make the Samwer brothers millionaires.
“Today is our chance to give something back to society and to make our contribution” said Fatoumata Ba, CEO of Jumia Ivory Coast, adding that the organisation believes in education as “the cornerstone of the future”.
She asked pupils to “make good use” of these gifts, before giving them out in the presence of Inspector for Preschool and Primary Education in Yopougon Kouté and Mme Grah, the Secretary General for the Abidjan 3 Regional Department of National Education and Technical Education, who was attending on behalf of the Minister of Education Kandia Camara.
Each student from the school group, which ranged from years CP1 to CM2 (aged 6-11), received a kit comprising a backpack containing plastic wallets, exercise books, a pencil and an eraser, as well as a slate and chalk for years CP1 and CP2.
Kouté’s village chief Agbassi Aimé said: “This is the first time that our school has received school kits, and we thank the donors for their support of our children’s schooling. This is proof that Yopougon-Kouté has not been forgotten.”
On behalf of the National Ministry of Education, Mme Grah said: “Normally, it is the government who provides these school kits. With this donation today, we feel that the situation is changing and moving in a positive direction. Thank you for what are doing, because you are contributing to the development of the Ivory Coast. I invite the leaders of private businesses to do the same in order to support parents, especially those whose incomes are limited.”
Ghana’s Ordio, a music aggregator and crowdfunding app for supporting and following music artistes is set to launch to revolutionize Ghana’s music industry and help existing and upcoming music artistes connect directly t their fans, producers, clients among others in the industry.
Set to launch in 2 days, the platform aims to help artists, producers and music industry stakeholders to market their products to a huge following than just social media as followers identiy with their works. Artists can also use the platform to raise funding for their projects-singles, albums or videos from friends via crowd funding.
The app also gives fans a chance to participate in building their favourite artists by funding them and by knowing their upcoming albums or projects and news in real time fromthe artists themselves. Apart from updating their fans on what they are working on, artists can also use the platform to promote or sell their music directly to their fans. According to Joseph Kiipo and Ronald Tagoe, the founders, the music oriented crowd-funding platform allows artists to organize their music in one place, connect with their fans, market their albums and events and tell fans of upcoming launch and concert. The artists can also see fans who are most contributing to their music projects and or attending their launches or shows among others. The platform can also help fans contact their favourite artists minus middle-men.
Ordio is not launching in a vacuum. Sanannah Fund backed BiGxGh is a top Ghanaian music community with influential Ghanaian musicians and songs both in audio and video plus news. It has the music, the artists, the events and the fans who play the music online. We will love to see how the two serve and share the market.
Equity Bank’s thin-SIM card rollout has been halted today fading the firm’s hopes to launch them in Kenya as soon as they could due to their security concerns purpotted by Safaricom.
Today, in a sitting the National Assembly’s Energy and ICT Committee asked Kenya’s Communications Authority (CA) to have a security audit of the technology before it’s deployed.
Safaricom announced it was not satisfied with CA’s move just hours after it had tentatively approved the roll out of the SIM overlay technology. The firm said it would review its legal commitments to its customers and banking partners with the view of addressing the legal exposures that could be created by the use of the SIM overlay technology, particularly in relation to mobile banking activities. This is what is said to have scared everyone away from thin sim even before it was launched.
“Being partly owned by the government, it becomes hard to regulate Safaricom and even harder to allow a direct competitor to its suppliers. Safaricom’s M-PESA is hosted by Kenya’s Commercial Bank of Africa-a bank said to have ties with the first family. It would be hard for anyone to let go of their golden goose just like that,” said a political economist who doesn’t want to be named.
The fate of Equity remains in the hands of CA though and it depends on how long an independent audit into the overlay sim will happen. However, it will take a longtime to relinguish the fear Safaricom has already inflicted among its users against the vulnerabilities in the overlay sim.
South Africa’sFirst National Bank (FNB) has unveiled its new app that will make it possible for its customers to get their money across borders to Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
Zimbabweans can collect their money at some OK Ltd stores throughout the country while Mozambicans can get transferred funds from any of the 15 FNB branches in the country using the app.
“The rollout of our services on the FNB Banking App has always been driven by customer demand,” says Giuseppe Virgillito, Head of Banking App, FNB Mobile and Connect.
“The Money Transfer service is an important addition to the FNB Banking App as there is a growing need for ease of payments between countries and with an increase in affordable smartphones, more customers will be using App banking for all their banking needs.”
FNB’s Zimbabwe Money Transfer service was first launched on Cellphone Banking in April 2013 to enable qualifying FNB customers in South Africa to send money to residents in Zimbabwe. The capability to send money to Zimbabwe through Online Banking followed in November 2013 and the Mozambique money transfer on both of these platforms was launched in June 2014.
To use the Money Transfer service, smartphone users simply have to download the FNB Banking App or upgrade their current version of the app from the appropriate app store, depending on the operating system of their phone.
For customers who do not have a smartphone, the service continues to be available via FNB Cellphone Banking and FNB Online Banking. Recipients do not need to be preregistered but must hold an identity document of the country where they are receiving the funds. Money can be collected at selected OK Ltd stores throughout Zimbabwe or at one of the 15 FNB branches in Mozambique.
“The value that FNB’s Money Transfer service adds to our customers’ lives is evident. Being able to send money instantly from your phone, desk or smart device makes this a truly convenient and affordable way to send money home in an emergency, as the sender does not need to take time off work or travel to a branch or agency,” says Leonora van der Plas, Head of Cross-border Remittances at FNB.
“We have every intention of continually enhancing FNB’s cross-border remittance service functionality on the FNB Banking App as it affords customers a convenient and improved banking experience,” concludes van der Plas.
South Africa today had the first trials of Vodacom’s nextdevelopment in 4G technology that promises the ability to download an entire 1GB movie in less than a minute.
The test, which was conducted directly on a mobile handset and used carrier aggregation technology, download speeds of 270 Mbit/s were achieved. At this speed an entire music album could be downloaded in 10 seconds. This is approximately four times faster than the fastest speed achieved with LTE technology on Vodacom’s network.
This is the first time that this has been done in the country , especially on a live network using a smartphone.
Speaking about this test, Vodacom Group’s Chief Technology Officer Andries Delport said: “Vodacom prides itself on innovation and being the first to bring new developments to South Africa, and this next step in 4G technology gives an idea of just how far mobile technology has evolved.”
These trials follow the recent completion of a multi-billion rand six year-long radio network renewal programme which has seen every single Vodacom base station in South Africa replaced with new equipment.
Delport said: “We’ve just completed the longest and probably the most complex engineering project in Vodacom’s history which involved switching out the equipment at every single site across the country. This new equipment means that all of our base stations are 4G ready, meaning that Vodacom is ideally positioned to support Government’s broadband objectives. We’re looking forward to rolling this higher speed technology out as soon as additional spectrum becomes available.
“In addition to this, the new equipment is more easily configured to handle future upgrades and is better for the environment, with reduced energy consumption and a smaller footprint compared to the old technology. Thanks to this project, Vodacom’s South African network is amongst the most advanced in the world.”
The upgrade programme, which began in Mpumalanga in June 2008, was completed on 15 September 2014 in the Free State and consisted of swapping out the equipment in over 10 000 base stations. The net effect of this investment project is that Vodacom customers will have an improved network experience with faster data speeds, more stability and fewer dropped calls.
Delport concluded: “The radio network swap project is about much more than superfast speeds. We’ve also been investing heavily to make sure that we have the capacity to handle the massive growth in call and particularly data volumes in South Africa. Broadband access is one of the keys to economic development and thanks to this project we’re ready and able to play our part.”
As far as we know, this is a huge PR ploy by DHL but if it launches drones to deliver medicine and every other urgent parcel so be it.
