Apple will be paying $400 million just to settle accusation that a price fixing conspiracy concerning how it set the prices of e books sold through its iTunes store.
The price will be approved by a court in New York as well as resolve claims for consumer damages and civil penalties.
“This settlement proves that even the biggest, most powerful companies in the world must play by the same rules as everyone else,” said Attorney General Schneiderman.
Under the settlement, the amount that Apple must pay E-book consumers is contingent on what happens in Apple’s appeal of the court’s July 2013 finding that Apple violated antitrust laws by orchestrating a conspiracy with five publishers to artificially raise E-book prices.
If the Court’s ruling is not affirmed, the settlement provides for a smaller recovery of $50 million if liability must be retried, or no recovery if Apple is determined not to have violated antitrust laws.
Any amount received by consumers pursuant to the settlement with Apple will be in addition to those amounts already recovered from several E-book publishers. E-book purchasers have already received compensation from $166 million in settlement funds paid by the five publishers involved in the conspiracy – Penguin; Macmillan; Hachette; HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster.
Many E-Book consumers received these funds through automatic credits sent by Amazon and other E-book retailers.
Kenya is known to be the first African country to tap into geothermal power to meet the electricity needs of its population. And when the expanded Olkaria geothermal plant becomes fully operational this year, it is expected to produce an additional 280 MW of energy, increasing Kenya’s electricity output.
The Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) has so far built two plants to exploit the Olkaria geothermal resource, which includes Olkaria 1 generating 45 MW and Olkaria 2, generating 65 MW while the third privately owned Olkaria 3, generates 48 MW, giving a total of 200 MW of installed geothermal capacity, set to increase soon.
Yet, Kenya is expected to produce 5,500MW of geothermal power, making the country the largest source of clean energy in the next 15 years. As a step forward, in 2010, environmental impact assessments were conducted in the area that showed that previous geothermal plants had not negatively impacted the environment, making the government give a “go ahead” of Olkaria’s expansion set to be complete by end of 2014.
Worldwide, according to the CIA World Fact Book, at least 23 million GWh (Gigawatt hour) of power is produced, with China leading, producing 5,361,600 GWh. Kenya ranked 102nd on the list, still has a long way to go, as it produces 7,330GWh of electricity mainly coming from hydroelectric power, geothermal power, solar and wind energy.
In terms of geothermal energy, the Olkaria dam has come a long way. While its first phase was successfully completed in 1980, the government reserved 64 square kilometers of land in the vicinity, to become Hell’s Gate National Park. The agreement was that the park was to be restricted for wild animals, while KenGen would dig diagonally and access the pools of energy that lay underground, of which, is still continues to come to play.
Years later, in 2008, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between KenGen and the Kenyan Wildlife Service in which, it was agreed that KenGen would pay a sublease fee to KWS but it remain exempt from paying land rates within the Park. Thus, this opened up the potential for drilling wells in an area that was previously reserved for wildlife and tourism purposes.
On a positive note besides supplying Kenya’s electricity needs, the geothermal plant has left the impression that it would provide a green form of energy, leaving the wildlife in the area in peace. However, environmentalists have complained that the expansion of Olkaria geothermal plant will cut Hell’s Gate National Park by half, in turn affecting tourism.
Amidst concerns, as the geothermal expansion is currently being carried out, the Kenya government has set its target of being able to create 500 MW of geothermal energy by 2017.
In two years, you could be part of the population in both Middle East and Africa that will be driving at least 25 new sets of vehicles, as Ford has introduced a new product rollout for the continents to target growth opportunities ranging from small to large size cars.
Besides Mustang the iconic American sports car and other vehicle brands landing in the continents, Ford is set to introduce advanced technologies including EcoBoost engines, SYNC in-car connectivity, and inflatable rear seat belts to mention a few technologies.
The product acceleration announcement comes only six months after Ford realigned the four regions of North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa and the Middle East into a new single Ford Middle East and Africa business unit to improve customer services and expand in the fast-growing region.
“We are accelerating the introduction of our new products in Middle East & Africa, leveraging our One Ford plan with a full family of vehicles offering the very best quality, fuel efficiency, safety, smart design and value,” said Jim Benintende, president, Ford Middle East & Africa. “Thanks to our One Ford plan, we can offer vehicles and technology that customers want and value, tailored to the needs of our markets.”
That means that in the next two years will see a major expansion of Ford’s vehicle and technology line-up in South Africa and the Middle East. In total, 17 vehicles will be launched or refreshed, including new Ford Focus, Fusion, Ranger XL-Plus, Transit and Mustang.
The best of all the technologies from Ford will be introduced in vehicles throughout the region, including EcoBoost engines, SYNC 2 connectivity, Active Park Assist, Active City Stop, Adaptive Cruise Control, Blind Spot Information System with Cross-Traffic Alert, Rear View Camera, and Lane-Keeping System.
Moreover, the stylish all-new Ford Fusion offers striking design and premium-level interior craftsmanship. All-new Fusion delivers segment-first adaptive full LED headlamps; SYNC with MyFord Touch, which includes an eight-inch colour touch screen.
In all, while each vehicle such as the Mustang is worth at least $23,600 USD, the total Middle East and Africa car market is expected to grow 40 per cent by the end of the decade to 5.5 million vehicles, concurred Benintende.
“Middle East & Africa is the final frontier for global automotive growth and we are putting the infrastructure and people in place to participate in this growth with the introduction of new products, leveraging our One Ford global strengths,” he said.
Motivated to improve ICT compliancy, education and research in Uganda, Smile Communications Uganda, a broadband provider is set to provide schools in the country with free routers providing 20 GBs of free data on the 4 G LTE platforms monthly.
“Smile Communication focuses on education as one of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), because education is key to unlocking our country’s future and economic development,” Jacob Okoth Head of Sales and Marketing, Smiles Communication said, giving a reason as to why the organization would provide free routers for the schools.
The launch came at a time when Smiles Communication aspired to recognize the role education plays in the country while enable schools to attain ample information that would ease school projects.
Previously, the company launched the first true Fourth Generation Long Term Evolution (4 G LTE) network in Uganda last year and since then it has been delivering the fastest broadband internet services to customers in Kampala, Entebbe and Mukono with phased rollout planned across Uganda over the next five years.
IT Experts claim that 4 G LTE technology is set to become the global standard for delivery of mobile data and voice services for at least the next ten years. Version 4G LTE wireless broadband for instance is estimated to be ten times faster than the older 3G, of which is able to handle download speeds between 5 and 12 Mbps (Megabites per second) and upload speeds between two to five Mbps with peak download speeds approaching 50 Mbps. More so, the device allows up to ten users with any Wi-Fi enabled Smartphone, tablet, kindle or laptop to connect to the internet and experience the full benefits of 4G LTE.
While this technology would be introduced in schools, it would enable each school in Uganda to connect directly with other schools worldwide, in turn making students and teachers more ICT compliant.
Moreover, schools are set to benefit from instant available access to online study groups, video lectures, the how to educational videos, latest articles, information and knowledge, Smiles Communication concurs.
And if feasibility studies prove success, Smiles Communications will in the next two months connect four additional schools in the country and 15 more in other Kampala districts.
Palmchat has partnered with KONGA.COM to bring its users all the shopping discounts, new arrivals, promos to the mobile social platform.
Konga has now formed the ‘KONGA group’ on Palmchat giving users all the breaking news on your world of retail shopping will be at your finger tips so that the network’s users know what is new on Konga.com as it happens.
The best part? All new followers get an instant discount code to shop with! Yes, it’s true. Are you worried about getting unnecessary notifications from Konga? That won’t happen. Anytime you need the latest information on discounts, promos and sales, simply enter the Konga.com group conversation and you will be informed.
Join the thriving community of super-smart Konga.com shoppers on Palmchat and make your lifestyle more fashion-forward. Follow KONGA on Palmchat today. Click here to download the Palmchat app.
Just a little background. Plamchat is a mobile social app with over 80,000 users worldwide and is available on all mobile app stores: Java, Windows store, Apple store, Google play, Blackberry world-among others. It promises an interactive and fun custom features such Shake-Shake and Look around to find your friends and instant file sharing, instant messaging and voice recording and also friendly online social and dating experience for paid users. The app has chat rooms, voice recording capabilities, photo and video sharing and chat or date by location and interest.
Malaria is still the most dangerous diseases in the world, killing as twice as many people as AIDS, with an estimated four million deaths a year. Not only does malaria kill a child every 60 seconds, it causes miscarriages and also reduces the ability of people’s producivity, but it seems its being by relative indifference.
Four Makerere University students Brian Gitta, Joshua Businge Mulessi, Josiah Kavuma and Simon Fred Lubambo were among the masses that treated Malaria with indifference until they suffered it and experienced the pain of those infected.
“Each of us have personally suffered from malaria multiple times. In Brian’s last experience with malaria, the disease progressed so far Brian was bed-ridden and the invasive sampling inspired Matibabu, for early non-invasive early detection,” Gitta, a co-founder told TechMoran.
Matibabu, Swahili for treatment is a Windows Phone Application for early, non-invasive malaria diagnosis with a phone and a custom piece of hardware (Matiscope). Matibabu diagnoses for malaria without pricking the body. Connected with a custom piece of hardware, malaria status can be known in a minute the team says.
“We also obtain statistics for malaria in the world, this helps us run a prediction model on the occurrences and effects of malaria. Such data sets are available for subscription. We also do from the sales from the hardware as well as partnership from malaria initiatives,” said Gitta.
According to the team, human health is a very intricate field, more so when using technology. You don’t want to have a number of people die due to imperfection. So the hardest part comes from the hardware building and production to ensure high accuracy. They says there only competition in the local market are used invasive techniques which they aim to disrupt anyway.
While all the traditional diagnosis methods for Malaria diagnosis require a blood sample to be observed under a microscope or molecular diagnostic methods, the Matibabu team says Microscopes cannot do early detection because of under sampling, while molecular diagnostics don’t give a count of plasmodium. Matibabu excels compared with molecular diagnostics because of increased speed and no blood sampling required, and can detect malaria early compared with microscope.
Matibabu team at the Imagine Cup Challenge
Matitabu has received a $12,000 UN women Empowerment Award and another grant of $1,500 from TechCON HESN. They four are looking forward to launch officially at DEMO Africa in Lagos Nigeria and learn from their peers and investors as well and unveil the product for the public soon after DEMO Africa.
Nigeria’s Cribpark.com is an online shop set to sell everything needed in the house, from furniture, rugs, appliances and even services such as painters and home movers so you enjoy your stay in your new house, or move into a new one with ease.
Apart from its online store, the site also aims to put all the info you need about housing at your fingertips on your mobile phone or tablet without any fee.
Founded this year in Lagos Nigeria, the site has three major offers; A blog and professional community where users can access a wide variety of information on all areas of housing relevant for their everyday as well as project-related decision making, A catalogue and design kits from which they get plans and design inspiration for their architectural, interior, landscaping, and construction projects, A web shop through which users can purchase home items, appliances, tools and services.
CribPark is a brainchild of Dare O. Pius and Ayo Oladapo.
Pius, a project management professional, a web-interface designer, app developer and a structural engineer is the CEO of Cribpark and has worked as a design engineer in Alcatel-lucent Nigeria and as a structural engineer across several other companies. His co-founder, Oladapo is a structural engineer with special competencies in high-rise construction, a research and development enthusiast, and a multimedia designer. He is Cribpark’s business developer.
According to Pius, there is a huge gap between the volume of services and products provided in the housing industry and their online presence and accessibility, considering the increase in rate of online engagement in Nigeria. Having been in the industry for several years, he says they realised there was no known housing platform where an average person could go to if in need of any housing local content, there was no real community bringing together different housing professionals online, and there was no web shop dedicated to housing products and services.
“We wanted all these activities online, we wanted people to read articles, meet and see the works of professionals, and also buy home items and services. The end result is Cribpark.com,” ” he told TechMoran.
The platform, still in BETA goes live fully in August and Pius tells TechMoran they intend to make money through e-commerce.
“Cribpark is Nigeria’s first online shop dedicated to housing. While most online housing sites focus on property and real estate, we intend to explore the retail housing market entirely. This entails sales and delivery of home related products and services in general, and other evolving opportunities in the housing industry,” he says.
The plstform will stock all the household or home related products and services in general, and other evolving opportunities in the housing industry and so professionals like architects, carpenters, interior designers, and other experts showcase their works, get known and have the publicity their works need. Users who are potential clients also get to review the works of these professionals, get to know them, ask questions about their works, and eventually contract them for projects.
The platform also has a community where it engage people by providing rich information through via its blog, with articles which provide tips and solutions for daily home experiences and challenges, like how to go about building, how to maintain residential areas, home maintenance, security tips against burglary, and so many varied issues that affect users everyday lives.
There are challenges though.
“Home items and services can really be hard to standardise, especially for the services, the way services were being rendered which is based on location and so many other factors gave us a hard time standardising. But it is worth it creating products and services in a way that readily gives value to the customers and makes it easy for them to carry out their projects with less logistics,” says Pius.
Another problem is the technical and technological skills required and the costs involved and also constantly researching what people really want without having sufficient secondary data means the team has to do a lot of detailed ground-work.
Self-funded the team says its carving a niche which disrupts the presently available online offerings of the housing industry key players by creating value for their users such that wherever they are, once they have any need which relates to homes and housing, the first point of call is Cribpark.com because its offerings are in perfect harmony with their home needs.
Dare O. Pius is also Co-founder of www.mybirthpals.com; a social networking site which connects people who share same birth dates. He is also the founder of Stuere Designs, an ICT training and multimedia designs company. He designed Cribpark’s website and the multimedia contents on it.
Pius says they are elated to be among the DEMO Africa top 40 and aim to use the launchpad to gain even more users and mentorship to take on the huge market they play in.
“We are glad to have made it to the race; excited to passionately put our all into realising this vision, we are open to learning and having a great experience through this opportunity DEMO Africa has opened up, said Pius. “We plan to move to the next phase by utilising all benefits and lessons learnt during the course of the DEMO.”
Pius says his team intend to immediately get the web-shop fully operational, sort out all logistics, and intensify marketing efforts across mass media, while carrying out more research and strategizing in the right direction after DEMO Africa 2014. CribPark is one of the 14 startups from Nigeria that were selected to launch at DEMO Africa 2014 which is set to be held in Lagos Nigeria this September.
Just like the black Friday and cyber Monday is, Jumia Nigeria has introduced the big summer sale in Nigeria to give its customers the best deals on all items this year.
Calling it the biggest and baddest mid-year sale on all items, the Jumia Summer sale is aimed at celebrating what the firm calls its great first half of the year and also appreciate its customers.
Separated from the rest of the store, the Jumia Summer Store will sale everything by half price including shoes, cloths, Gadgets & home accessories. However, the summer sale will only last for a week, so go make some money and shop till you drop. Hot items on the list include Samsung 32inch Television for N42, 995 originally going for N70,000 or an AX Paris dress for N5000 originally going for N10, 000 or men’s suit initially for N40, 000 now going for an amazing discounted price of N20, 000 and a lot more than you can imagine!
South Africa’s FlickPay, a new mobile payments app aims to revolutionize e-commerce in the country by creating a smart, fast and secure platform to pay for stuff at the till via your smartphone.
FlickPay has loyalty rewards, geo-located coupon serving and relevant deal distribution, with intelligent split bill payments and allows a user to simply download the app on the Google Play or the App Store, register and enter their credit card details and they are good to pay for anything.
After confirming to pay with FlickPay, FlickPay generates a unique QR Code on their phone for every transaction and the transaction takes place as fast as a few seconds. With FlickPay, there is no physical handling of credit cards or cash and is integrated to the point-of-sale so buyers are safe and they retailers know instantly whenever a payment is made.
According to Trent McLelland, the founder and MD FlickPay, FlickPay is powered by wiGroup, a point-of-sale platform firm responsible for the mobile payment solutions and platforms for MTN, Shoprite Checkers, Pick n Pay, Engen, KFC, Vodacom among others known for powering more than R2 billion worth of in-store transactions via its platform.
The Cape Town-based firm also helps one track their spending, find great merchants around them or simply receive and redeem vouchers and coupons from merchants. Eevrytime you use FlickPay, you stay safe as the firm says it encrypts your card details and stores them on your phone and not backed up on a server anywhere.
Liquid Telecom has partnered with French-based Eutelsat Communications to meet increasing demand for IP connectivity from its clients in Africa, who include national parks, out of town offices and remote mining and exploration companies.
The firm has leased Eutelsat’s EUTELSAT 7B satellite that joined EUTELSAT 7A at 7° East on July 16 and also transferred existing traffic at 7° East onto EUTELSAT 7B to takeadvantage of the performance of its African footprint and has plans to ramp-up further capacity over the coming 12 months. The new multi-transponder contract for satellite capacity runs until 2019.
According to Nic Rudnick, CEO of Liquid Telecom, “The strong features of EUTELSAT 7B, combined with our new teleport facilities in South Africa, equip us to meet growing demand from businesses for satellite-based IP connections. Our fibre and satellite networks complement each other, enabling our company to provide high-speed, cost-effective broadband services to remote areas where it is neither commercially viable nor practical to lay fibre.”
Liquid Telecom has integrated satellite as core to their vision of quickly and efficiently taking Internet connectivity to the parts of Africa that other infrastructure has forgotten, and Eutelsat will be its proud partner.
Rodney Benn, Eutelsat Regional Vice President for Africa, added: “As a longstanding partner of Liquid Telecom we are delighted to take our collaboration to a new level with this multi-year agreement that highlights the value of our enhanced resources at 7° East as they contribute to building a digital infrastructure across Africa.”
As Daniel Guasco and Wayne Gosling, (the two founders of Twangoo which was acquired by Groupon and rebranded as Groupon South Africa after six months in existence) leave the firm, some people think its dangerous to have them exit the firm even if ti was struggling.
But the appointment of Emilian Popa as Groupon SA’s new CEO might be the best thing to ever happen to the firm as it transitions from a daily deals platform to being a marketplace.
Popa has been there, done that and reinvented the wheel.
The web entrepreneur has been involed in building and growing firms such as Lamoda in Russia, Wimdu.com in Germany & China, Zando in South Africa, Jumia.com in Nigeria, Jabong.com in India and wait, Groupon itself in South Africa.
On his LinkedIn profile, Popa says, ” I know well and believe strongly in Africa: launched Jumia Nigeria 3 weeks after landing in Lagos, launched Zando in 6 weeks after landing in Cape Town, successfully built group buying venture in South Africa and exited to Groupon.”
Popa has worked in Angola, Gabon, Cameroun, Kenya, Equatorial Guinea, Morocco and Algeria and has built and run Naspers’ backed Style36, 5rooms and Kinderelo. The MBA Columbia Business School and London Business School earlier Given the technological and logistical challenges online retail still faces in Africa, some wonder if the hype is justified.
He would be the right person to monetize and help Groupon make a profit in a field he himself said was hard to monetize. Speaking at the Tech4Africa conference 2013, Popa said most ecommerce companies in Africa were losing money and it would be years before even the most successful would turn a profit.
In a statement Roy Blanga, Groupon’s IVP for Northern Europe was impressed by Popa’s appointment. “Poa is an innovative and passionate leader who greatly understands the needs of both merchants and consumers. He joins us at an exciting time, as we look to shortly roll out both a completely redesigned website and updated mobile apps in South Africa.”
Left to Right- Jamia Mosque Chairman Sheikh Mohammed Osman Warfa, Airtel Kenya CEO Adil El Youssefi and Immam Sheikh Mohammed Swalihu
Airtel has introduced an Islamic Religious Portal to enable Muslims access Qur’an recitations, receive prayer alerts and listen to Khutbah and prayers live from Makka among others via subscription.
The portal available on request by dialing 0900730786 or sending the word START to 30786.was launched as part of the firm’s celebration of Ramadhan, a special time for the Muslim community all over the world and especially for Iftar, one of the religious moments of Ramadhan often done as a community gathering to break their fast together.
According to Airtel Kenya CEO Adil El Youssefi said, “This Iftar dinner occasion is Airtel’s token of appreciation for the continued support of the company by the Muslim community. We would like to thank the Jamia mosque leadership and all the worshipers for making this special occasion to enhance our association with the community. We are confident in keeping to our promise of providing our customers with the best quality of products and services.”
Airtel Kenya also yesterday hosted a special Iftar for the Muslim community at the Jamia Mosque in Nairobi Central Business District to enable Airtel employees share the joy of Ramadhan with the Muslim faithfuls.
The Iftar dinner was graced by Airtel Africa Executive Operations Director Christophe Soulet, Airtel Kenya CEO Adil El Youssefi and Jamia Mosque chairman Mohammed Osman Warfa and senior Muslim leaders and scholars. Also in attendance were Airtel directors and members of staff.
The chairman of Jamia Mosque Sheikh Mohammed Osman Warfa thanked the Airtel team for coming to break the fast with the Muslim faithfuls and that Jamia mosque. He welcomed the Airtel team to visit and collaborate with the community more often in the future. He further said that Jamia Mosque looks forward to support and assistance from Airtel towards their community welfare programmes in education and medical relief.
Airtel has a strong user base among local Kenyans of the Asian/Indian descent. The appointment of Youssefi will help the firm connect more with muslim faithfuls in the country and eventually across the region.
The 2014 edition of Mobile Web Africa is set to be held in Johannesburg Septmember 10 and 11 with great speakers such as Tomi Ahonen, Author & Consultant, Hong Kong (measured by Forbes as the world’s leading mobile expert), Gustav Praekelt, Founder, Praekelt Digital, South Africa, Tony Pearce, Founder of GamesGrabr, UK, Toby Shapshak, Publisher of Stuff Magazine, South Africa, Monty Munford, Founder of Mob76 UK and Robert Lamptey, Founder, Saya, Ghana among others.
The conference is receiving early booking registration with discounts available until 8th August.
The conference organizers are working on the events agenda which will be up anytime soon and several other great things to ensure you don’t miss out on anything. At the moment firms that want to be partners can get in touch and sponsor some of the sections or be included on the agenda to give talks or use the platform for their firm’s branding or product exhibition. If you want to get into the mobile ecosystem, this is the conference to be at.
In a move to solidify its customer base and see them keep coming, Easy Taxi Nigeria has launched a loyalty promotion which offers users in the cities of Abuja and Lagos, Nigeria, one free ride on every two rides taken within a week.
This is aimed at rewarding return users and also make the application a household name as it continues to effortlessly and safely convey users to and from their respective locations and destinations. EasyTaxi was introduced to the Nigerian transportation system about a year ago and is backed by Rocket Internet.
In a statement, Bankole Cardoso Managing Director, Easy Taxi Nigeria said, “Our Users continue to show their loyalty and we are very appreciative of this because it encourages us to be better in terms of delivering consistent excellent service. We have not only been receiving great reviews about this application, our database of users has continued to grow and we are very happy about this. Therefore, we are rewarding our users for their unrelenting support.’’
The on-demand taxi hailing app recently upgraded its application with newly added features and expanded to many more cities aims to enhance the taxi hailing experience of users in the country. Before this promo the firm launched a 3 for 2 campaign where users would pay for two rides a week and get the third one free from the firm.
A new app dubbed Shuffle allows an phone owner multiple unique phone numbers and email addresses, which a user can forward their calls or emails to. Shuffle is raising $35,000 through Indiegogo to make this a successs.
Developed by Canada’s Shuffle Ventures, Inc, Shuffle is launching in the US and Canada with plans to expand to other countries soon thereafter. It aims to allow a user to have disposable contact number which can be assigned a label that displays on the user’s phone when called, which helps the user recognize what the incoming call is about. All voice calls, voicemail messages, and text messages are grouped by each Shuffle number and can be managed through the app, bringing order to the many communications people deal with.
A Shuffle number can be used by just anyone to avoid them handing out their personal number to a new contact, can be used to make transactions on platforms such as classified Ads or dating services, job serach portals for privacy and any short term projects.
Shuffle numbers are reserved for 30 days and can be set up to auto-renew or expire depending on your specific needs. If someone is bugging you on a Shuffle number while you still need to keep it active, simply block them and the number will appear to be non-existing.
Shuffle offers free voice calls and text messages between Shuffle users utilizing Wi-Fi or the phone’s data plan. For communication with non-Shuffle contacts, the company offers VoIP text messages and voice call minutes at an affordable rate.
Shuffle is the first app to offer disposable email aliases as an extra layer of privacy in addition to disposable phone numbers. Personal email addresses remain private while using Shuffle’s email forwarding tool. Multiple email aliases can be created and managed through the app. When someone sends an email to the Shuffle alias, it is forwarded to the user’s actual email account.
With the funds raised through Indiegogo, Shuffle plans to finalize integration and testing of their iOS app and release it in the App Store. The company is offering top supporters, those who pledge $169 or more, an invite to join the exclusive inner circle of Shuffle beta testers.
The firm will launch an Android version in early 2015.
In November last year, we reported about the planned sale of Forbes Media LLC for just $400 million. Today the Forbes family sold a majority stake in the company in a move the family says will help it further increase market share of the existing Forbes Media product lines in media, digital, technology, as well as brand extensions.
The undisclosed agreement was sealed by an unknown Hong Kong-based investor group known as Integrated Whale Media Investments. IWMI is led by Integrated Asset Management (Asia) Limited which was founded by Tak Cheung Yam, is a Hong Kong-based investment company and Wayne Hsieh, Co-Founder of ASUSTeK Computer Inc..
Upon closing, Elevation Partners will fully exit its investment in Forbes Media. Forbes Media will use the funds as expansion and operational capital to reach more people. At the moment the firm reaches approximately 75 million people worldwide via print, digital, TV, conferences, research, social and mobile each month.
Forbes Media LLC will retain its operating name and will remain a privately-held, independent company headquartered in the U.S. Steve Forbes will maintain his role as Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, and current President and CEO Mike Perlis will continue to lead the company’s management team. Forbes Media’s Asian business will continue to be directed out of Singapore under Forbes Media CEO/Asia Will Adamopoulos. The company plans to launch ForbesLife.com in September 2014.
Ringier Africa has announced its sites Rupu in Kenya, Tisu in Ghana, Pulse, Allsportsin Ghana and Expat-Dakar, Senegal’s largest classified marketplace which the firm acquired a majority stake in this year have recorded a successful first half-year.
Ringier, which started business in Africa three years ago says it recorded fourfold sales in the first half of 2014, compared to the entire previous year due to professional scaling of existing products as well as winning renowned global corporations as media and advertising partners.
In a statement, Julian Artopé, Director of Ringier Africa said, “Especially the adjustment of our content and classified products in West Africa and the expansion of our number one position in e-commerce business in Kenya have contributed to this success.”
Ringier also praises Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal as among the growth markets most attractive for large American and European companies, according to the corresponding “Frontier Sentiment Index” drawn up exclusively for the Wall Street Journal. Nigeria, the former problem child of West Africa being the darling and attracting the interest of foreign investors with its fastest-growing economy on the continent.
Robin Lingg, CEO Ringier Africa & Asia: “The organization in Nigeria is contributing strongly to Ringier Africa’s success thanks to effective utilization of the enormous market potential; the largest market on the continent is already a great investment for us today.”
Though subject to regulatory approvals Ringier has sold 49 percent of the shares in each of Ringier Digital AG’s subsidiaries Scout24 Schweiz AG and Omnimedia AG. Scout24 Schweiz AG comprises online marketplaces for motor vehicles (autoscout24.ch, motoscout24.ch) and real estate (immoscout24.ch) as well as the anibis.ch general classifieds marketplace.
AutoScout24 is the number one among Switzerland’s online portals for new and used cars, while ImmoScout24 is the country’s leading online real-estate platform and anibis.ch is the largest general classifieds marketplace. Through its various platforms, the Scout24 Group operates the most comprehensive Swiss network of online marketplaces. In aggregate, these platforms attract some 21 million visits each month. Omnimedia AG is one of Switzerland’s leading digital marketing companies. In addition to offering its national and regional clients target-group-specific online advertising concepts, Omnimedia has exclusive marketing rights for Ringier’s Swiss Scout24 platforms.
KKR has invested in BMG Rights Management, Fotolia, ProSiebenSat.1, GoDaddy, InternetBrands and Mitchell International.
Dell is now accepting Bitcoins after Michael Dell announced in a tweet followed by a formal announcement by the firm that it’s accepting bitcoins.
“Now you can buy digital with digital – starting today, we’re accepting bitcoin on Dell.com. We’re piloting bitcoin, the world’s most widely used digital currency, as a purchase option on Dell.com for consumer and small business shoppers in the U.S. We’re excited to bring you the choice and flexibility this payment option offers and have partnered with Coinbase, a trusted and secure third party payment processor, to make this possible.”
The firm also said its offering a special Alienware promotion wherein customers can save 10 percent off a new Alienware system purchase (up to $150 limit) if they buy with bitcoins.
The firm says when someone is ready to make a purchase, they simply add the items to your cart and choose Bitcoin as the payment method.
“We’ve fostered a close partnership with the Dell team and that’s been instrumental in getting the Coinbase integration up and running in such a short timeframe. We look forward to continuing to support the team as they explore other ways to offer even more functionality when it comes to bitcoin payments,” said Fred Ehrsam, Co-Founder of Coinbase.
Dell has teamed upwith Coinbase to handle the processing of Dell.com transactions on the bitcoin network. Coinbase is an international digital wallet that allows anyone to securely buy, use, and accept bitcoin currency.
Dell is not the first compnay to accept Bitcoins as firms such as Overstock and Expedia are already using Coinbase to accept bitcoin. Dell will take Bitcoin mainsteam with its $57 billion in sales in 2013 followed by the Dish Network with $13.9 billion in 2013 sales and Expedia with $4.8 billion in 2013 sales and lastly Overstock with $1.3 billion in 2013 sales according to the WSJ.
Yesterday, the paper announced that South Africa’s PayFast, a payment processor had said it will be accepting Bitcoin as a payment option for its 30,000 merchant customers becoming the first such firm in SA to do so and the first in the world.
PayFast said it would be working with South Africa’s BitX, a local bitcoin exchange.
This post by John Sinden was originally published by the American University here and has been republished here with the author’s permission.
Q. Throughout your career, you’ve had an immense impact on the relationship between diplomacy and technology. Can you please share with us a moment from your career in which you’ve seen technology influence change in a developing country that was formerly resistant to change?
A. The most striking example I have seen is the impact of mobile payments in Africa. Kenya does not necessarily leap to mind when someone says “financial innovation,” but it may well be the most advanced of the 196 countries on planet Earth when it comes to the development and deployment of mobile payments. It’s remarkable—cab drivers get aggravated if you try to pay them in cash. The entire financial culture has gone mobile, and more than 10 million Kenyans live their financial lives entirely through their mobile phones.
Q. Mobile technology is transcending poverty lines and enabling nearly 86 percent of the world’s population to better access both the Internet and each other. Do you envision a situation in which this newly gained access to information will help to alleviate the more basic developmental issues?
A. It already is. Going back to the example of Kenya, an early study showed that those who adopted mobile banking saw their household incomes go up between 5 and 30 percent relative to their peers who did not adopt mobile banking. We are seeing how mobile apps are helping patients in environments with few to no doctors getting the kind of information they need to stay compliant with their medications. I don’t think that mobile technology is a silver bullet for poverty alleviation, but what it does is bring access to information and a piece of personal infrastructure to people who too often are isolated. Reducing this isolation has a material impact.
Q. What are the biggest security risks for global citizens as they continue to gain access to these new technologies?
A. A government’s ability to survey its citizens poses a real threat in countries where political dissent is not tolerated and where human rights are not respected. Being connected means having access to the kind of information and functionality it takes to compete and succeed in our technology rich, knowledge-based economy. Unfortunately, this connectedness can also make people more vulnerable to the prying eyes of authoritarian governments.
Q. Some governments use censorship as a form of control over their citizens. How do you see advancements in technology helping and/or hindering this kind of repression? Can technology combat government censorship?
A. It is getting more and more difficult to censor the Internet because of the powerful Internet freedom tools being developed by engineer activists around the world. When I was at the State Department, we probably spent $100 million to support the development of these tools and to train people how to use them effectively and safely. The kind of control freak mentality that censors have is ill suited to today’s world. The 21st century is a terrible time to be a control freak. I sit on the advisory board of a company called AnchorFree, which has a product called Hotspot Shield. It’s actually the 37th largest Internet service in the world—it just surpassed Yelp and Tumblr. After the leader of Turkey shut down access to Twitter, there were millions of downloads to Hotspot Shield, and the ability of Erdogan (the Turkish leader) to keep people from accessing Twitter was reduced to near nothing. We are going to see more and more of this as authoritarians try to censor the Internet.
Q. As more businesses develop socially responsible models of investment, do you see government’s role in international development declining and private businesses taking the lead? If so, what implications does this have for international development practitioners in 10 years? 25 years?
A. I think that development is being increasingly driven by the private sector—not so much by businesses developing socially responsible models of development (it is actually a tiny percentage who have these models in reality), but by government budgets being strained to the max. The United States has a large deficit and debt, which means it is difficult to grow the development budget. The private sector needs to fill in the gap.
Q. The International Relations Online program through American University’s School of International Service combines innovation and international relations by offering a top-10 ranked program in international affairs to students who live and work around the globe. How do you see our program changing the international affairs education landscape?
A. I love that people drawn from all over the world’s 196 countries can now be a part of American University’s School of International Service through its online offerings. I think this will not just extend the educational benefits of what AU has to offer to more students, but I also think the quality of the education will grow as the student body becomes more diverse and drawn from an increasingly broad geographic range. It bodes well for American University—and its students!
Alec Ross recently served for four year as Senior Advisor for Innovation to the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a role created for him by Secretary Clinton to maximize the potential of technology and innovation in service of America’s diplomatic goals and stewarding the Secretary of State 21st Century Statecraft agenda. In this role, Alec acted as the diplomatic lead on a range of issues including cybersecurity, Internet Freedom, disaster response and the use of network technologies in conflict zones.
Alec started his career as a sixth grade teacher through Teach for America in inner- city Baltimore where he lives with his wife and their three young children.
About John Sinden
John is the digital marketing coordinator for American University SIS International Relations Online . He earned a MA in International Relations in 2012 and his research interests include freedom of expression in Asia, cyber security, and the link between diplomacy and technology. Follow him on Google+ .Read More
MTN has entered into a partnership with KCB, RSwitch and I&M that will see customers transfer money between their Mobile Money and KCB accounts and withdraw money from their Mobile Money wallets using I&M ATMs and other RSwitch connected ATMs, without the use of a bank card.
Norman Munyampundu, general manager of MTN Business said: “MTN is constantly finding new ways of delighting customers through our digital strategy. These services are truly unique as they cater to both the banked and the unbanked population of the entire country.”
“Being able to access your Mobile Money through ATMs or bank integration services opens up a new way of banking, effectively turning your mobile phone into an e-wallet with the convenience of being able to withdraw or transact money 24/7,” Munyampundu added.
According to the Rwanda Focus, the new service will also make it possible for customers to pay for goods, services and bills efficiently without having to be there and it is also a secure way of making payments.
Monica Keza, the head of Banking and Channel said that KCB’s strategy is to provide innovative ways of banking to its customers which is convenient and efficient to both the banked and unbanked.
“KCB’s partnership with MTN Mobile Money is a game-changing endeavour which aims to improve lives, create jobs, spawn new enterprises, expand financial inclusion and promote a cashless economy in Rwanda. This service will enable customer to access their banking services through the Mobile money platform at their own convenience,” she said.
RSwitch head of projects Catherine Ngali said they are happy to partner with MTN and the banks in providing card-less cash withdrawal services through the RSwitch Smartcash ATM network to MTN customers.
Ngali indicated that the new service is another step towards ‘fully functioning’ mobile wallets, adding that the company will continue to provide the latest solutions to enhance customers’ day-to-day financial experiences.
On his part, Innocent Muhizi, the I&M Bank head of IT and Transactional Banking Services, said that his bank is happy to partnering with MTN in the efforts of reaching more Rwandans that have hitherto had limited access to these transaction services either by proximity or by the inevitable limitation of agency operational hours, noting that the new services will create the much needed bridge to formal financial services while offering unmatched convenience for mobile money users.
“At I&M Bank, we are committed to continue championing innovation to increase ability to have access to money. We are here to transform banking,” Bahizi stressed.
Kenya’s BeiQuote, a price search engine aims to let its users find prices for consumer commodities with just a single click on their mobile phones or computers.
Now with over 20,000 items indexed and available in their database BeiQoute team tell TechMoran they build the system on Python and Django and the site is responsive thus it supports both mobile and desktop viewports, but mobile has the most reach and had to be factored in in the first release.
The guys, James Kanyi, Eric Wambugu, Peter Ouma, Paul Kabuchi and Wanyeki Maina say their BeiQuote’s business model is simple.
“Merchants can pay for their items to be ranked highly, also recommendations can be made if a search doesn’t yield any results.
Adsense is also another viable alternative.” They add that all shoppers in Kenya need to confirm the approximate price of a product to make their budgets before they go out to shop, but there has been no where for that. BeiQoute therefore solves that.
They alsi say that owing to the difficulty of obtaining the data and indexing such large amounts of data, many who have tried this have been discouraged.
The Universal service Advisory council (USAC) has been inaugurated by Cabinet Secretary, Information, Communications and Technology, Dr. Fred Matiang’I and will be charged with overseeing and providing strategic policy guidance in the implementation of the Universal Service Fund (USF).
The board was constituted in accordance with the Kenya Information and Communications Act,1998 which was amended in 2009 and 2013,providing for the establishment of the Universal Service Fund (USF) and mandates the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) to administer and manage the Fund.
“Members of the Advisory Council underwent a rigorous appointment process and I believe we have the best people with the right expertise for the job” said Dr. Matiang’i during the event.
The inaugurated USAC members who were appointed on 9th May, 2014 for a period of three years include; Catherine Ngahu (Chairperson), Josephine ChepkuruiTowett, James Long’oleWangiros, RodahAwinjaMasaviru, J. Kennedy OdiwuorOkong’o, Nixon MagekaGecheo, Wellington PakiaGodo, Samuel Gitonga Mutungi, and Michael Maina Itote.
Dr. Matiang’i said, despite the rapid growth of ICT services in the country, the disparity in availability and access to telecommunications services between rural and urban areas continues to widen. “While the private sector has an important role to play in meeting universal access, there is need for government to promote investments in un-served and underserved areas through various initiatives including Universal Service Fund,” he added.
The Fund will play a key role in subsidizing the cost of ICT infrastructure roll out and expansion in these un-served and underserved areas. The Fund is primarily financed throughmandatory contributions by licensed operators, the Communications Authority and any other complementary sources. The Authority in the financial year 2013/2014 injected Ksh1 Billion into the Fund as seed money and has collected a total of Ksh45million out of the expected Kshs 800 Million from communication service providers.
Director General, Mr. Francis Wangusi, said the Authority has over the years partnered with various institutions to carry out pilot projects in several rural parts of the country to facilitate access to ICT services. In particular, the partnership with the Nairobi Provincial Medical Office that witnessed computerization of selected health centers, and with the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development to digitize the Kenya Secondary Education curriculum. In addition, he said the Authority has worked with institutions that serve Persons with Disabilities to establish ICT centers in eight (8) schools across the country as well as the establishment of community telecenters in Chwele (Bungoma), Mutomo, Eldama Ravine and Kitundu (Makueni).
The CA Chairman, Mr. Ngene Gituku, informed the USAC members that the Authority carried out several studies on access gaps in particular the National ICT Survey and theICT Access Gap study in a bid to better understand the ICT environment in the country.
The Chairman further stated that aUSF Frameworkthat was developed by the Authority’s Management provides a mechanism for managing and administering the Fund as well as outlining the criteria for project selection. The Chairman asked the Management team to fast track the development of theUniversal Service FundRegulations to conform to the enacted Kenya Information and Communications (Amendment) Act, 2013.
On her part, Ms. Catherine Ngahu, USAC Chairperson, noted that the Council is committed to effectively and efficiently overseeing the implementation of projects that will increase penetration of ICT services to over 90% of the country.
Can you prove that what you are doing is helping to build a sustainable future? That’s a question that Unilever is asking all the youth.
This is why the company is asking, Unilever in partnership with Ashoka and the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability is inviting all youth of 30 years of age and below to come up with a practical and innovative solutions to some of the world’s biggest sustainability challenges. Once they do that they are encouraged to take part in the second Sustainable Living Entrepreneurs Awards.
Seven stellar entrepreneurs will be awarded a total of more than €200,000 ($272,000) in financial support, in addition to mentoring, to help scale their services or applications. The competition seeks to provided resources and recognition to solutions based on one or more of the following nine categories:
Water, sanitation and hygiene
Nutrition
Water scarcity
Greenhouse gases
Waste
Sustainable agriculture
Smallholder farmers
Opportunities for women
Micro-Enterprise
Tackling critical issues
Finalists will take part in a four-week online development program and a two-day accelerator workshop in Cambridge, U.K. before pitching to a panel of leading business and sustainability entrepreneurs in London.
Entries will be assessed on their level of innovation, measurable impact, financial sustainability and the overall leadership qualities of the entrepreneurship. The most influential entrepreneur will receive the HRH The Prince of Wales Young Sustainability Entrepreneur Prize.
Seven finalists will be announced in October, and the accelerator workshop and final judging will take place in January 2015
The competition deadline is August 1. To enter, submit your solutions online through the Ashoka Changemakers Platform.
Phishing is a fairly simple way of tricking Internet users into handing over their personal and financial information. The attackers create new phishing links every minute and now phishing sites typically operate for just a few hours.
Kaspersky Lab has released data about the new phishing wildcards that have been added to the company’s anti-phishing database every month. According to the report, there were 96,609 new phishing wild cards every month in 2013 but this count has risen sharply in 2014. This year the average number is up to 113,500 per month, an increase of 17.5 percent. Not only is Kaspersky Lab seeing more false links, but also these links are quickly taken down in an attempt to avoid detection
“This strategy is intended to make it impossible for their site to earn a bad reputation and take its place in the anti-phishing databases established by security companies. This in turn changes the rules of the game for developing anti-phishing products: now we must carefully monitor the relevance of the phishing wildcards stored in the database. We are working with ‘perishable’ malware so a quick reaction to every update is critical.” explains Nadezhda Demidova, Content Analyst at Kaspersky Lab
Detecting this everchanging phishing sites thus requires anti-phishing solutions to carefully monitor and update phishing wildcards stored in the database. For instance, Kaspersky Lab’s anti-phishing solution combines a database of phishing wildcards on the endpoint with a constantly updated database in the cloud and heuristic analysis. By doing so, if a URL is not listed in any database, the heuristic module will look for evidence of anything suspicious in both the URL and the HTML content of the website.
Kaspersky Lab has provided additional precautionary measures to help steer clear from phishing sites.
Do not click links on suspicious sites or those you receive from untrusted sources via email
Enter all addresses into the browser address bar manually
Check the address bar immediately after downloading the page to ensure the domain name corresponds to the one you expect
Check whether the site uses a secure connection
If you have the slightest doubt about the authenticity of the site, do not enter your personal details in any circumstances
To ensure the legitimacy of a page, contact the company via its official website
Avoid entering your sensitive data while using a public Wi-Fi network
Movitel, SA, a joint venture between Vietnamese telecommunications group Viettel and Mozambique’s SPI company – has won the “Best Mobile Innovation Award” in the Mobile Innovations Awards 2014, becoming the first and the only operator in Africa to win 3 prestigious international awards in 3 consecutive years. They have won the Judges’Award: “Best Mobile Innovation Award” as well.
This is the most notable prize among the 18 others of the Mobile Innovations Awards 2014. The Mobile Innovations Awards rewards the companies bringing mobile technology innovation into a business context across the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. Especially, the Judges’ Awards are not open for individual entries but considered by the Judges based on all the shortlisted entries in the awards to look for the most outstanding entry for the “Best Mobile Innovation Award”.
Movitel has outpaced many other strong telecom and electronic commerce companies such as PayPal, IMImobile, Vodafone, TSYS, Ericsson to convince the Judges thanks to the unique mobile operating solution of popularizing telecom services in Mozambique. The solution initiates from the concept that telecommunications is a commodity that everyone, regardless of their locations and income conditions, needs.
The company has built a great network infrastructure of 2,800 towers – accounting for 50 percent nationwide, 25,000km fiber optical cable – accounting for 70 percent nationwide and a widespread supplying chain to every village with 153 shops, 12,600 agents and points of sales and nearly 4,000 direct sales staff to cover services to 85 percent of rural population and more than 70 percent of all population. Besides, the low and flexibly tailored tariff plans for different customers also makes it is easier for the people to access telecom services. Movitel has brought services to rural and remote areas; provided free internet to 2,500 schools; and created nearly 20,000 jobs in rural areas; considerably contributing to uplifting the telecommunication status of the country and creating the field for e-commerce in Mozambique.
This is the third consecutive year in a row that Movitel has been selected for the coveted award for its achievements and innovation in mobile technology. Formerly, Movitel won the Rural Telecom Award of the AfricaCom Awards in 2012 and the Competitive Strategy Leadership award by The American Research and Consulting firm Frost and Sullivan in 2013.
Kenyans will now be able to buy insurance online without the need for intermediaries through an online portal called www.Bima247.com.
www.Bima247.com is powered by bima247, software developed by Cubic Media Systems and Logistics, a Kenyan based software Development Company and Transafricana Risk and Insurance Agency. The team behind this venture is two highly experienced Kenyan insurance experts, Yvonne Wangeci Gitobu and Dr. Chris Odindo while the insurance cover is provided by Jubilee Insurance Kenya, which is the largest composite insurer in Kenya.
Dr. Odindo, a director of Bima247.com said: “In recent years Kenyans have became comfortable using technology in their everyday lives for a variety of things including accessing government services such as filling tax returns, banking, shopping and money transfer services such as Mpesa. The insurance industry has lagged behind in embracing technology and putting their services online.”
He said the Kenyan insurance industry which is reliant on labor-intensive, paper-based processes for policy and claims management processes would now have a system that will improve productivity and efficiencies through reduction in the number of handoffs between proposers, insureds, agents, adjustors, and the company; through automation of straightforward decisions – whether on underwriting, claims or premium payments – using an expert proprietary software.
“Bima247 is a first of its kind in Kenya. It is a white label ‘plug-and-play’ system that will significantly benefit key stakeholders in the sector such as the insured, agents, brokers and the insurance company. Insurance organisations can see how bima247 works by visiting the online portal www.Bima247.com”, said Stanley Ngumo, the company’s development director.
For insurance companies and brokerages, the core system not only allows them to take advantage of a new distribution and delivery channel but also bring down costs significantly through its highly optimized automated service delivery pathways.
It is easy for insurance companies and brokerages to integrate Bima247.com with their existing systems due to the fact that the proposal forms and questions used are the same standard industry paper based ones. The only difference is that they are digitalized and in a way that allows the system to make an intelligent assessment of the risk.
Dr. Odindo added: “Consumers will only have to log onto Bima247.com, enter their details once and never have to worry about completing another proposal form or as long as they are with us. Once that’s done, they get a quote either on screen or through their emails. They then pay online through any type of the available payment methods in Kenya, and if their proposal is accepted, they will get their insurance documentations through the post, or collect them in person from our underwriters. When that’s done, we will email or text them timely reminders when renewal is due. We believe that Kenyans are busy and ‘your insurance in your inbox’ can only be a good thing for the time-constrained person”.
Commenting on the innovation, Washington Ndegea of the BIMA Intermediaries Association (BIA) said: “We believe that the use of bima247 will have a significant impact on how insurance business is conducted in Kenya and also change how people consume insurance.”
Dimension Data has invested in two Oracle SuperCluster half rack systems with various Oracle enterprise software components like Oracle Database and Oracle GoldenGate to run in its data centers as the key IaaS and CaaS platform for its Oracle client base.
Donovan Lawrence, Executive for Dimension Data Application Services, explains: “Our engineered services for Oracle ensures clients receive access to the fastest, most scalable and best engineered systems from Oracle. This gives flexibility to add or remove compute and storage resources on demand. With the Dimension Data engineered services for Oracle, we can set-up and run test, pre-production and production environments in the cloud whenever needed, for as long as needed, at a reduced cost while having access to the skills and expertise to assess, configure and manage the environment.”
“Dimension Data worked closely with us to build an Oracle based Dimension Data owned Cloud Solution for the South African market,” says Stefan Diedericks, Alliance and Channel Director for Oracle South Africa. “Dimension Data demonstrated leadership and vision in on-boarding such a solution, which can enable increased adoption of Oracle based Private & Public Cloud Solutions by customers in South Africa.”
Multi-tenant capable, Oracle SuperCluster allows for full-redundancy and high-availability and provides superior performance for clients while reducing licensing costs. The integrated solution provides a single support interface, common standards and short backup and recovery times.
Oracle SuperCluster is an integrated server, storage, networking and software system that provides maximum end-to-end database and application performance and minimal initial and ongoing support and maintenance effort and complexity at the lowest total cost of ownership.
Thenewly established tech incubator in Kigali Think, announced today through its website- think.rw, the call for applications to technology entrepreneurs in Rwanda and Africa.
Successful applicants will undergo a six-month program designed to support exceptional undertakers and startups to develop new and innovative digital solutions.
Tigo and Millicom incubator, called “think”, located in a purpose-built facility in Gasabo district, City of Kigali will be the base from which up to five applicants/teams with higher potential will be selected by a competitive selection process; application details are available on think website.
The first think cohort will be based in Kigali, Rwanda. Tigo will provide these entrepreneurs with seed financing, structured training and coaching programmes, access to Tigo technical resources for product testing and trials and support in accessing outside investors and customers.
Tigo Rwanda General Manager, Tongai Maramba said: “We are excited to welcome the first batch of talented entrepreneurs at think. We are calling on tech entrepreneurs across the continent with solid ideas for digital innovation for Africa. Tigo is looking forward to invest in their skills and ingenuity.”
Rwanda’s Minister for Youth and ICT, Jean-Philbert Nsengimana commented: “Rwanda is becoming a hub for technology innovations, and think is a great addition to our vibrant ecosystem. We cannot wait to see the next Africa startups bourgeoning from Rwanda.”
Royal Philips has unveiled the spectacular illumination of Ghana’s iconic Black Star Monument with its latest LED lighting technology, boosting the beautification of the city of Accra and cutting energy consumption by 80 percent as compared to the existing conventional lighting. Philips is showcasing its LED lighting solutions in Ghana as part of its fifth consecutive pan-African Cairo to Cape Town Roadshow. The new lighting solutions from Philips will highlight and enhance the architectural quality and aesthetic beauty of one of the most iconic structures in the city.
Philips placed its LED technology at the most important landmarks in Ghana – the Black Star Monument. Located in Accra in the historic Independence Square, the Black Star Monument commemorates the independence of Ghana and is considered an architectural masterpiece and iconic symbol of the city.
“The spectacular lighting of the Black Star Monument in Accra demonstrates the incredible advances that are being made in the efficiency and beauty in lighting”, says Abdallah Hussein, CEO, Philips West Africa. “Philips is very proud to have placed its know-how and technology at the service of this iconic monument and contributing towards the preservation of Ghanaian heritage. For us the challenge was to devise effective lighting while respecting the authenticity of this monument.”
Accra is the seventh stop on Philips’ annual flagship Cairo to Cape Town roadshow (from 14 April to 3 September 2014) which focuses on key challenges facing Africa today – the need for energy-efficient lighting and the revitalization of African healthcare infrastructure. Philips has committed to lighting up and illuminating iconic monuments in every city visited during the roadshow with the latest LED technology. As the number one LED lighting company in the world, Philips will now provide a stunning lighting makeover of historic, well-recognized monuments in African cities.
The Roadshow will make its way across seven countries and ten cities in Africa. The next stop will be Johannesburg, South Africa on 27th August 2014.
Africa Internet Holdings has made its presence felt in Africa’s world of internet and one of the products of this influential company is Jovago.com.
Jovago.com is an online hotel booking service headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria with operations in Kenya, Senegal and 12 other countries. It has become one of the leading booking portal thanks to its employees who developed more than 10 000 hotel listings across Africa.
Having originated from Germany, the portal was first launched in Africa in August 2013 as Africa’s solution to online hotel booking platform, well this is according to the Managing Director of Jovago.com Nigeria. The MD talked to TechMoran and this is what he had to say.
Tell us a little about Jovago-the brand and a little about you as the MD.
Jovago, because it is new and online wants to make hotel booking as easy as possible now lets customers enjoy the fastest booking experience through a transparent and easy to use service.
My name is Marek Zmyslowski and I am the Managing Director of Jovago.com Nigeria. I‘m 28 years old, I launched the first Jovago.com branch in Africa in August 2013. I was born in Poland and also grew up there. After my studies, I went into the world of finance but soon discovered my love for entrepreneurship and thereafter moved into setting up online ventures.
What was the inspiration behind Jovago, how it began as well as how it works and what did it take for you to get where you are now?
Looking at Sub Saharan Africa, it is easy to see that travel is one of the fastest growing industries. This is why Africa Internet Holdings set up Jovago.com to help provide an easy hotel booking solution to the teeming population of Africans who love to travel.
Booking a hotel on Jovago.com is very easy, customers just need to search for a hotel or district, select their travel dates and proceed to make bookings. At the onset, when Jovago.com was set up, we were focused on building hotel inventory, now we have over 10,000 hotels across Africa, 200,000 worldwide and still growing. Recently we have begun to do a lot of marketing and with our exceptional customer service we have recorded an impressive number of hotel bookings daily.
What were you doing before Jovago?
Before becoming the Managing Director of Jovago.com, I co-founded and exited two online ventures in Poland. Mementis.pl was an online network of funeral services and MotoRaporter.com was an online vehicle verification service.
Did you know you were going to be an Entrepreneur all along or did it happen by chance?
I began my professional career in Finance. I also spent three (3) years in sales. In the early 2000s, start-ups in Poland began flourishing and that got my attention. At that point, I realized I wanted to build companies. I decided to focus on the Internet because of its immense power to change the world. So I went ahead and set up two online ventures in Poland: Mementis.pl and MotoRaporter.com. After my ventures with the 2 online businesses, I knew that entrepreuneurship was the niche for me. So I was very excited when the AIH team approached me while I was still in Poland to come and set up Jovago.com in Nigeria.
How successful are you against competition?
Jovago.com has in the space of less than a year grown to have over 200,000 hotel listings around the world. We also have a database of over 3,000 travel agents who make hotel bookings using Jovago.com. Every successful business has competiton and I would say that this is a healthy way to grow a business as the competition keeps you on your toes constantly. The way we face competition at Jovago.com is to focus on the work at hand and staying the number 1 hotel booking website in Africa.
In how many countries can we find your services or company and which countries are you?
Jovago.com is presently in 15 African countries with our headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria.
How is the response in your markets, and who is your most important client?
When we first started Jovago.com, we invested a lot of work into signing up hotels and growing relationships with hotel management. We have a local team that physically goes to all the hotels, meets with the hotel managers and signs them up to our website and takes pictures of the hotel. The outcome of this is that our customers know and trust that all the hotel listings on our site are valid and we are able to confirm every booking before sending the customer to the hotel, to ensure that there are no hitches. All our clients are very important to us; both the hotels and the customers.
Which are some of the major partnerships you have done and how has it influenced your business?
Last month was a very busy one for Jovago.com. We were able to sign partnerships with TripAdvisor and the Nigerian Toursim Development Corporation. We also just signed up Ice Prince as our brand ambassador. This is a first for an online travel agent in Nigeria and it has already started reflecting on our traffic stats and bookings.
Comparing the markets that you have worked with and the different African countries you have explored, how would you rate Africa’s adaptability of Jovago?
It’s going to be simply amazing; what we have now is a tip of the iceberg. There are however a couple of factors that needs to be urgent actions for this potential to become a reality. The two main ones are improving infrastructure (electricity and internet access) and growing a middle class with a higher purchasing power.
Africa is the main focus for us and so far the market has proven very exciting and ready for the amazing disruption which we are bringing to the travel ecosystem.
Where could you place Africa compared to the world in terms of ICT development?
In comparison to the rest of the world, Africa still has some way to go with regards to ICT development. But with a huge potential, a massive growth and constant Africa’s mobile penetrations rate of 40 percent, we see the ICT development in Africa accelerating pretty quickly.
What do you love most about your business and your life as an Entrepreneur?
I would say it is the ability to build a business from scratch and watch it grow to influence the lives of so many people. An example is Jovago.com which has grown in less than a year to become Africa’s No.1 Hotel Booking Platform – making it easier for people to find quality hotels around the world.
What keeps you and your team motivated?
Our vision of being the go-to place for everyone looking for hotels across Africa.
What can your team not live without?
People, spare time (laugh) and the internet!
Is there a specific skill one needs to join you, if yes what is it
One needs to prove to be disciplined, structured in thinking and hungry for success.
What does Jovago have in store for the future except expansion?
We have a lot of plans in the works which will be shared in due time.
Who was the most influential person or mentor in your life?
I had two of them actually. Filip, my first boss and Marcin, my first angel investor, both are very different, wise, great role models.
What advice would you give to any person who wants to follow your example
“I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life, and that’s why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan
