Alliance Francaise, Nairobi, will for the first time screen the well sought after Usoni TV series, following its official screening at the United States International University on 27 November 2013 and its huge response from international media and movie reviewers.
Since its first screening at the University, the Usoni crew having a cast of about 15 actors has generated an audience of curious fans checking out the trailer posted on social media. Thus far, the number of views the official trailer on Youtube has generated has risen from 300 in October 2013 to a whopping 17,663 to date.
The series set in 2062, produced by Dr. Marc Rigaudis, directed by Cherie Lindiwe tells a futuristic story of European refugees seeking paradise in Africa. It has indeed captured the hearts of many viewers and readers in the Diaspora with many expressing mixed reactions after watching its short preview.
“What you are about to see might not be ornamented with the best production bling-blings, but it certainly is a daring and exiting story!” commented a viewer on Youtube.
“This looks intriguing – I wonder if we will see it in the UK at some point,” added Tony Jones on Youtube, among others that expressed high hopes of the plot’s idea would get support from channels abroad while others tried to imagine the real-life possibility of Europe seeking refuge in Africa – a continent often referred to as one with diverse challenges.
“At last. I was wondering when we might see such a narrative develop. Glad it has been made and, no matter the quality of this first outing, I think this is a rich seam of potentially new stories – certainly an intriguing setting,” noted another.
However, other viewers of the official trailer who aired their opinions to The Guardian did not seem to see the plot’s science fiction essence.
“What’s fiction about it? The Portuguese are migrating to Angola in large numbers and other parts of Africa are seeing economic growth that a decade ago would have been unimaginable,” a reader informed the publication.
“This sort of thing has happened before but in the 18th and 19th centuries it was called invasion and colonisation. I suppose it all depends on who has the biggest guns,” added another.
Thus, with enormous feedback, Usoni series has undergone its final touches of its first 30 minute premier episode set to be screened in local cinema for the first time.
Alliance Francase, the French Cultural Centre in the heart of Nairobi’s CBD will be screening The Usoni pilot episode of a TV series this coming Monday the 27th of January 2014 from 6.00pm. Entrance at the Center located along Loita Street, adjacent to Uhuru Highway Nairobi will be free and open to the public.
Founded in May last year, Nigeria’s Insidify.com wants to be a ‘Google’ for jobs and a Facebook for professionals in Africa and to prove this it has already signed up 11,000 users and aggregated over 200,000 new jobs.
The site combines search and professional networking to help job seekers land their dream jobs and expand their professional network.
According to Emmanuel Okeleji, Co-founder at Insidify.com, the website aggregates jobs from job sites, company career pages, newspapers among others and index the search results just like giant search engine Google. This gives job seekers a unified search experience.
Apart from job aggregation and search, Insidify also has a professional networking platform that helps job seekers find people on their Facebook, LinkedIn and email contacts who work in any of the companies that advertise the vacancies aggregated. (Through this connections (which looks like a privacy issue) job seekers get to know when any job that fit their qualification is posted online or withing their networks.
Though they are not the only ones in Nigeria, they say they are unique in that they make searching for jobs far easier and add to it the social and professional networking bit. The site’s latest feature called “Employer Platform” helps to solve the problems facing most Nigerian employers and recruiters alike by helping them projecting their brands and connecting with thousands of professionals and job seekers on Insidify.com. The employer platform, a profile page for employers, also gives them an opportunity to influence/attract top talents on insidify where they make career decisions.
Using the profile page, firms can can update their statuses, just like on social networks and engage and grow their user bases or even promote their products and services or just company news and offers. Employers can also share and promote products and services for reviews and get feedbacks from the public.t
Insidify add that the employer platform also readily matches employers with candidates as long as they fit their portfolio and they can also access the database of CV’s and track a candidate’s social behavior before recruiting them. Insidify has its eye on the African market and other emerging economies and wants to make life easier for job seekers, recruiters and employers using its job aggregation and professional social networking site.
As social media gains ground in Africa, Okeleji says the future of recruitment is undoubtedly social and his firm is helping Nigerians get into this future, it is defining it.
” Yes we are new and people think what we are doing at Insidify.com is truly world class, but we are not resting, we are driven by a passion to make impact, to deliver real value, we drive ourselves each day to invent, innovate and do more for the customer, we dont put a cap on creativity, or a limit on what is possible. The way we see Insidify.com, this is only the beginning,” he Okeleji concludes.
One of the sites we thought would suffer from Insidify’s entry into the job search market was Njorku.com, Africa’s premier job search engine but Churchill Nanje, co-founder and CEO thinks otherwise.
“The only competition Njorku has is Njorku. We have 40million+ unemloyed and underemployed people in Sub-Sahara Africa alone.The industry is still very young and alot of people will try to tackle this issue and its all for the greater good for the average African.”
I know you love to travel and want to find and book airlines real fast instead of having to jump from one airline’s site to another or from agency Y’s site to agency X’s site and then to another.
Here is the solution.
The SkyTeam, a global airline alliance with 19 member airlines has launched an online booking tool for customers wishing to book a Go Round the World pass on any of its 19 member airlines. The tool available via laptop, desktop computers as well as tablet devices. allows users to a choice from a minimum of 3 to a maximum of 15 stops plus access to four fare levels, ranging from 26,000 to 38,000 miles, automatically calculated by the tool upon creation of an itinerary.
“The booking tool has been designed to simplify even the most complex itinerary, providing convenience and a pleasant, efficient experience for our passengers,” said Mauro Oretti, SkyTeam’s vice president sales & marketing. “Our network includes many hidden gems, offering customers the chance to circumnavigate the globe; exploring some lesser known destinations for a truly unique Round the World tour.”
The SkyTeam Round the World booking tool is expected to offer customers a seamless planning and booking experience with cost-effective fares and access to 1,024 destinations worldwide in places like Latin America and Asia, Korea to Africa, among others.
One can book to six stops such as Paris – Buenos Aires – Lima – Mexico City – Shanghai – Hanoi – Moscow and then back to Paris.
Nigeria’s ICT development firm, Mobile Monday (MoMo Nigeria), in collaboration with Microsoft, Nokia and Verve will be running a contest for mobile software application developers and designers in the country; which will be called DevCon Alpha.
The contestants stand a chance to win prizes of up to $250 000 in order to support the winners.
So who qualifies? the software applications for participation in the contest must be developed on either Windows 8 Mobile or Windows Phone platforms with in-app payments powered by Verve.
There are three categories in this competition;
Existing apps from “devigners” and retailers that meet the eligibility criteria and available for showcase at the event
Apps from devigners that meet the criteria and already registered on the Windows App Store
Concepts from devigners that have conceptual models of apps that can meet the criteria.
MoMo says that there will be a panel of experts with a focus on user experience, scalability and design submitted who will assess the entries.
So if you are up for this challenge you can registar on the MoMo Nigeria website, which also gives instant access to the Verve SDK.
South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) has launched its ‘My ANC’ app nationwide ahead of the upcoming elections, a move that many are saying is a desperate trial for the party to sign up more youth and have them participate in the elections.
The nationwide launch comes after the success of its ‘My ANC Western Cape’ Mxit application, which gained more than 400 000 subscribers, the large majority of which are aged 17 to 25.
The free app is compatible to over 8000 mobile devices and is expected to help the youth actively engage with the ANC, gain access to information on service delivery, learn about ANC events, voting and registering for the 2014 elections and details of their local ward councillors. It also addresses topical issues such as unemployment and education and allows subscribers to sign up as ANC volunteers. The app claims to have already registered 8000 volunteers before its nationwide launch.
According to ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu, “The ANC continues to showcase its strong commitment to connect and engage with the South African youth. The My ANC WC Mxit application has proven to be highly successful and we are pleased to offer its benefits to the rest of the country today.”
He added that the app will help young people across the country to access and learn more about the ANC and how to vote to ensure the voice of their generation is being heard. The My ANC app is available for free via the Mxit App store. Users search ANC to find it and download.
“Mxit is a chat-focused mobile social network – and it lends itself well to brands and organisations starting a conversation and engaging with our user base,” commented Mxit CEO Francois Swart “The ANC is an example of one of these brands that use Mxit very effectively. Politics is an important conversation in South Africa – especially when it comes to the youth, who might be less engaged in the conversation happening in newspapers and other media platforms. We believe in our users’ right to be informed about everything that is relevant to them, and one of the great things about Mxit is that it is not just a one-way communication tool, users have the opportunity to engage back and have their own opinions shape the conversation.”
Mxit has over 7,3 million active users across the continent.
In move that shows LG Electronics hunger for wearable tech, a popular trend with Google, Samsung and Apple, the firm has launched its Lifeband Touch and Heart Rate Earphones, both expected to be used by fitness enthusiasts.
The products have comfortable designs and are compatibility with other devices such MyFitnessPal, Runkeeper or MapMyFitness among others. Available for Android and iOS the devices can transmit data to the intuitive, easy-to-use LG Fitness app which can also transfer data to third party apps so that monitoring one’s health requires no additional effort beyond strapping on a watch and inserting a pair of headphone ear buds.
Image:CNET
Lifeband Touch is a smart activity tracker that incorporates a bold yet comfortable design and is compatible with heart rate monitors (HRM) as well as smartphones. Meanwhile, the innovative Heart Rate Earphones’ unique dual-function design offers a convenient way for users to measure their heart rate while exercising.
LG says both devices are designed to help users take greater control over their health and they can wirelessly link up to each other, creating a seamless wearable ecosystem.
Pan-African payment card firm, Verve International which can be used across all channels, ATM, Mobile, POS, WEB and Kiosk has today partnered with Microsoft and Nokia to support developers by providing payments in Mobile Apps.
According to Mr Charles Ifedi, Chief Executive Officer, Verve International, “Verve is thrilled to be forming partnerships with stakeholders in technology, including Microsoft and Nokia, towards growing Nigeria’s application development community. The growth in Mobile App development by indigenous entrepreneurs can no longer be under emphasized.”
Introduced through a competition themed “Build with Verve: Lumia Edition”, the initiative will allow developers build Mobile Apps using the Verve Payment SDK, hence able to host in–app payment services.
The payment SDK will be made available to all developers and the Mobile Apps developed will be commercially available. The winner of this competition will also walk away with interesting prizes and an advertising push provided by Nokia, Microsoft and Verve. It would also be deployed on the Nokia OVI store.
Mobile Apps developers will then be able to receive payments within the app from the over 20 million Verve Cards and Verve payment tokens in Nigeria. The in-app purchases will also have Verve’s “Remember Card” feature, so that customers do not need to enter their card numbers when initiating these payments – only PIN and is some cases CVV2 is required to complete a payment.
Tiger Global has invested $10.4 million (Rs. 64 crores) into CommonFloor.com, India’s No.1 real estate portal according to Comscore.
Accel India also participated in the round which the firm says will use to fuel growth through new marketing initiatives, product development and building on its research expertise in the real estate domain.
Last year the firm also received $7.5 million in Series C round from Tiger Global and Accel India.
Speaking about the funding, Sumit Jain, Co- founder and CEO of CommonFloor.com said, “We have seen phenomenal growth in the past 2 years on every possible parameter – be it financials, visitors, advertisers or engagement. In fact, our topline has continued to grow by over 100% quarter on quarter since last year and we have been able to beat deep-entrenched competition in a short time frame to emerge as leaders in this space. This round by our existing investors is a vote of confidence in our business model, leadership team and vision.”
Jain said people expect much more from real estate portals than just listings as they want the sites to help them make intelligent decisions – whether it is about purchasing a home or even decorating one. CommonFloor.com wants to do just that.
CommonFloor.com has more than 75,000 projects listed on their portal, which is more than any other property portal in India. It also currently has nearly 2 Lakh active listings. With regards to recruitment the company has hired top talent that has worked previously for the likes of Google. It is also filling its ranks with graduates from top engineering and management colleges in India like ISBs, IITs and IIMs. On the technology front, the company recently launched its mobile app for iOS. The app offers innovative features like map search and augmented search.
CommonFloor has also recently expanded its geographic footprint with new offices in 11 cities – Jaipur, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Nagpur, Indore, Ahmedabad, Kochi, Coimbatore, Mysore, Kolkata, Mangalore. The company already had offices in Bangalore, Mumbai, Noida, Gurgaon, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune. This takes the tally of their offices to 18. The company plans to continue to expand to new locations going ahead.
Subrata Mitra, Partner, Accel India said the current round of financing will help accelerate the growth & leadership of the 2007 founded company.
“With the accelerated penetration of Internet & connected mobility in India, real estate research is moving online in a big way. As a result, the builders are willing to move significant parts of their marketing budget online. CommonFloor.com, with its leadership in the online property listing space, is uniquely positioned to take advantage of this market dynamics, as they have been demonstrating with significant growth in the past couple of years. We’re confident that the current round of financing with further accelerate their growth & leadership in the space.”
Network Platforms, a South African IT solutions provider has brought its data centre offering in Cape Town online and has the capacity to rollout service from Teraco Isando and Teraco Cape Town – to facilitate virtual and co-location service delivery.
In June 2013 the Company completed the move of its entire datacentre infrastructure from its old environment to its current location, Teraco, in Isando.
Teraco offers neutral data centres and co-location facilities throughout the country. The environment provides comprehensive services to govern telecommunications, cloud or hosting requirements.
Network Platform utilised the strength of connectivity and centralised infrastructure within the Teraco environment to secure a substantial reduction in cost and reliability – and being able to deliver customised solutions at very short notice.
Today, with its high availability, multiple links network and connectivity to international capacity resources such as SAT3, Seacom, WACS and Easy, it is in a strong position to leverage these resources and offer collocation and virtual server offerings.
“We are able to provide the benefit of high availability and disaster recovery solutions between data centres, as well as bandwidth offerings from these centres,” says Warwick Ward-Cox, MD of Network Platforms.
Established in 2003, the Company has served as the premier service provider to clients for over a decade. Over the years the company has fine-tuned its service portfolio and adapted to the ever-changing dynamics and emerging trends that characterise the domestic technology industry.
Its value proposition lies in solutions that address requirements related to ADSL connectivity, Diginet; Fibre, Microwave and 3G connectivity, IT management, VPN management, infrastructure monitoring, IP PBX/ VoIP and cloud services.
For the lovers of fashion, Samsung has you for the utmost considering as a menswear fashion designer, Juun.J, has created a range of slink leather covers for Samsung’s Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition.
The two custom book cover designs as well as Samsung’s newly announced tablet, the Galaxy NotePRO (12.2), were showcased during Paris Men’s Fashion Week, marking Samsung Mobile’s first step into the men’s fashion world.
“Mobile technology has become an integral element of personal style and is now influencing fashion more than ever before,” said Juun.J, creative director. “This collaboration offers me the chance to demonstrate the inspiration behind my designs seen on the runway, while showcasing how technology and innovation are central to my daily business and the creative process behind my collections.”
The Galaxy NotePRO (12.2) and Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition represent Samsung’s premium tablet offerings. The Galaxy NotePRO (12.2) made its first fashion week appearance on the Juun.J runway, following Samsung Mobile’s recent announcement of its PRO tablet line at CES last week.
Now we have Samsung tablets on the runway, who again said that technology is less than fab??
Vodafone Ghana is looking to improve the network quality for its customers in Ghana. The telecommunication company had already made its first step in November last year and will see the network will cover a total of 403 capacity sites as well as a Core Network expansions using the latest state of the art technologies by the end of March this year.
This means that business as well as customer experience will grow as the Vodafone intends to enhance the quality and reliability. Mobile customers will enjoy a faster and better data and voice experience.
The decision by Vodafone Ghana to undertake the massive network expansion drive is to give customers value for money and also meet the communication needs of new and existing customers across the country.
The Chief Technology Officer of Vodafone Ghana, Patricia Obo-Nai, believes network quality remains the biggest driving force of Ghana’s highly competitive telecoms sector.
“It is fundamental to customer satisfaction and loyalty and Vodafone is keenly aware of this. Over the years we have invested over 700 million US dollars into expanding our sites from an initial 300 in 2009 to about 2000 across the country,” she emphasised.
“We’ve made a conscious decision to invest not just in our brand and market, but to build a network that is reliable, sound and stable. We are going to make sure that we are consistently reliable, and provide the best service. Our customers want to achieve a lot and require a very reliable connection to the people and things that are important to them. So they need a network that they can trust to provide great value,” she said.
Dr. Bitange Ndemo, the former Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information and Technology is now part of the advisory board of iHub. Being a government official in the same area of ICT, he has seen the development of the particular sector.
iHub had this to say: “He (Ndemo) has for a long time been a friend of the iHub, and has been very supportive to the tech community, having been part of numerous barcamps and other events, interacting freely with startups and young entrepreneurs, He brings to the iHub community lots of experience from his time working in government as a technocrat, unbridled passion and energy as a knowledge-based economy evangelist, and will continue to be very instrumental in shaping Kenya’s tech future with us.”
It is in his term that internet in Kenya has received a major boost due to the inclusion of fibre optic cables, hence acquiring the name ‘Father of broadband’. Dr. Ndemo, is currently steering a campaign to lower the cost of accessing ICT (Connectivity, Hardware and Software) in Kenya and the region.
He is at the forefront of developing the demand side of ICT by actively promoting Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) in urban centres to showcase ICT entrepreneurial opportunities through digital villages in rural Kenya. He is also the Honorary Chair of the recently launched Alliance for Affordable Internet, Advisor to the Better than Cash Alliance and Strategic Panelist at ICANN. He is also a Senior Lecturer of Entrepreneurship and Research Methods at the University of Nairobi. His interests include Technology, Culture, Education and the Economy.
Just in case you’ve been hanging out under a rock this holiday season, Beyoncé shocked the world last month, on Dec 13, with the surprise release of a new, self-titled album, which came complete with 17 music videos. One of two singles released thus far, Drunk in Love has elicited more discussion than any other track on the set, thanks to its frank depiction of female sexuality as well as the presence of her rap-mogul husband. In the new video, Beyonce looks super sexy on the beach twerking and dancing in a scandalous bikini. Naturally, her hubby is right there too!
Jay Z has always been Rihanna‘s mentor, and has even collaborated with her on hits like “Run This Town.” However, it appears that now his wife Beyonce could be throwing shade at the singer — she gets super sexy in her new black and white video, “Drunk In Love.” We know that the ladies have had beef in the past — is this another diss?
Over Timbaland‘s minimalistic mix of Arabic-scale vocal arpeggios and scintillating synth-strings, Bey spins an opulent narrative of lust in the club, before passing the mic to Jay Z for a hot-and-heavy penultimate verse. Hype Williams crafts the cut’s equally steamy cinematic accompaniment. Feeling it? If you haven’t already, climb out from under the aforementioned rock and cop BEYONCÉ, available now wherever fine music is sold.
However, it kind of reminds us of a song that Rihanna would do. Not only does it have a ridiculously close title to RiRi’s hit, but the lyrics and the video are super sexual, much like many by the Barbados singer (you’ve seen “Pour It Up” right?).
Who knows — but if you read the lyrics to Bey’s new song — it definitely sounds like a song Rihanna would sing! Personally I love it and its my best song so far this year, whats your verdict on it.
Three ex-Jumia Nigeria employees have launched SureGifts in a move to propel the country’s gifting sector and also help their clients express gratitude, love and care with more than just words.
The three, Olaoluwa Samuel-Biyi, Adeoye Ojo and Babafemi Lawal, are all early employees of Jumia Nigeria and before launching Suregifts, they did e-commerce/financial consulting under the umbrella of Numbers.
“Sometimes, words are not enough to express just how much you celebrate, appreciate, regard or love someone,” they say. “Here at SureGifts, we make the art of gifting simpler but richer.”
Being offered online makes gifting simpler, brings convenience to an industry which was majorly offline and saves the time of both the sender and the recipient as they don’t have to figure out which gift would be the best for what occasion neither do they have to go through the hassle of picking it up, wrapping or delivery. The recipients have the gifts dropped at their doorsteps and the sender can add a note with a special message to their spouse, girlfriend or fiancee in time to ignite the widest smile.
Recipients either have the gifts delivered to their homes, offices, schools or they receive vouchers by email and redeem them at selected vendors countrywide or anywhere SureGifts Cards are accepted.
TechMoran caught up with co-founder Olaoluwa Samuel-Biyi and below is the whole story behind SureGifts.
Suregifts is the online gifting solution in Nigeria. We primarily offer gift cards redeemable at high-quality merchant locations nationwide. We also have a Gift Specialist service for people who need additional assistance.
What inspired you??
Building a company with Rocket Internet really creates a big appetite for entrepreneurship and technology. Being key members of a team that built Africa’s largest e-commerce business also comes with a lot of learning and access to a pool of highly talented and ambitious people who quickly rub off on you. It only made sense to leverage on this while there’s still space in the industry to capture.
Why launch a gifts site instead of a full e-Commerce store?
There are several players in the market attempting the full e-commerce model along with Jumia and Konga. We can’t have two ‘amazon.com’, and unless they can come up with a value proposition that is truly unique, most will likely fade with time. However, there are big opportunities for niche businesses. These businesses can specialize in one category of products/services, do it better than everyone else, and win. That’s what Suregifts intend to do with gifts.
SureGift Card Merchant sticker
How does it work?
To use Suregifts, you simply browse through several filters like occasion, location, gender and age, price etc. and narrow-down the merchants featured. You then select your favourite merchant and view several location images, as well as additional description and customer reviews of the merchant’s business to help make your buying decision. Next, you select the preferred gift card denomination, decide the mode of delivery and add a special message to the recipient if you choose. Once purchased, the recipient receives the beautifully designed gift card either via e-mail or at a physical location, and they can redeem at the giver’s chosen merchant. The generic Suregifts gift card can be redeemed at any partner merchant, and all Suregifts Gift Cards don’t expire.
How do you vet your merchants?
Our merchants are carefully selected by the team. We visit our target merchants to assess their suitability for Suregifts before contacting them. The quality of our merchants reflects on us, and we’re very meticulous with our selection process.
Do you deliver or it’s the merchants who deliver?
Delivery of gift cards is handled by Suregifts. The merchants’ responsibility begins when the recipient shows up with a gift card.
Where do you get your cut?
We have revenue-sharing agreements with our merchants.
Is online gifting lucrative yet, in Nigeria?
There is a big gifting culture in Nigeria. All Suregifts’ founders worked with a lot of data while at Rocket Internet, and they have found that a significant portion of items bought online are gifts. It was intuitive to believe that the market will welcome a platform dedicated to making gifting easier, and so far, that belief has been validated. We’re now looking to expand our network of merchants and offer Nigerians the best variety of gift cards online.
How are payments done?
Payments are done online via debit or credit cards. For the Gift Specialist Service, customers are invoiced and they can issue cheques or make bank deposits.
What are your challenges?
Like online shopping two years ago, the concept is still novel to most Nigerians. The biggest challenge right now is effectively communicating the utility of gift cards. Nigerians are quick learners though, and we believe they’ll quickly see the value of gift cards and why they are ubiquitous in the developed world and among corporates.
Who is your local competition?
Suregifts’ model is quite unique, and we’re not facing any direct competition yet. However, there are existing solutions out there offering prepaid debit cards that must be used over point-of-sale devices.These cards are expensive to make, purchase and ship, and they do not appeal to recipients who do not want just another ‘ATM card’ in their wallets. These cards are not personal or intimate enough, not redeemable at the best locations, and they lose their expected utility as an alternative to physical gifting because they mimic cash transfers with their debit card properties.
How unique are you from the competition?
Merchants don’t get special advantages from the above solution, and it is tedious and unappealing to buyers. Suregifts does not need to integrate with existing merchant systems. We simply drive sales to them at no cost. The personal touch and the diversity of merchants on Suregifts also make it more appealing to buyers and recipients. We have received strong acceptance from merchants and the shopping population as a result.
Where do you expect your business to be in five years?
In five years, we hope to have gathered enough experience to establish ourselves as the true home of gifts in Nigeria. We will take all lessons and pivot as necessary to until the model is rock-solid. We want Nigerians to think gifts and think Suregifts.
Why Nigeria when South Africa seem to have a fairly large middle class population?
E-commerce in South Africa is relatively advanced, and gift cards are already popular there. The market in Nigeria is large enough and largely uncharted. Any plans to expand out of Nigeria?
We’ve identified other African countries that could benefit from a platform like Suregifts. Nonetheless, there’s a lot of work to be done in Nigeria and we’ll like to gain a lot of experience here first.
Have you received any funding yet?
Yes. We have raised money from Venture Garden Group in Lagos and partly from some individual angel investors.
How is the start-up environment in Lagos?
The start-up environment in Lagos is very vibrant and there’s a very real economy brewing in the background. It’s a tough place to be, but it offers a lot of opportunities.
One word to guys/girls who want to start tech businesses?
Founded in 2008 in Lamu by former fisherman Ali Omar and Swiss photographer and traveler Daniela Bleattler, AliLamu.com had an unlikely start. The weather wasn’t good, even economically, Ali Omar, then a fisherman and broke went to Bleattler for a job as he couldnt fish anymore and he was jobless.
Bleattler, who was then a heartbroken traveler and afraid to give love another chance was looking for a tanga (sailcloth). She loved them but couldn’t find anywhere to buy one. So when Omar showed up and asked for a job, the only thing she wanted was him to get her a “tanga.”
Determined to fulfill the request, Omar went around looking for her request but what he found was so old and weathered and Bleattler wasn’t pleased with it. The old sailcloth was tattered and had a huge hole in the middle. Omar, who was also a painter went to his home and got paint and brushes and went back to Bleattler’s to fill the tattered part. They did the painting together. Bleattler loved the piece, framed it and put it up for sale at a friends art store. Within two hours it had been bought by an American couple.
Today, Alilamu.com has employed over 30 employees from Lamu’s fishing community. With several workshops, the two with workers who hit 70 at times get old sailcloths, paint them and then create bed covers, cushions, pillows, furniture, bags and many other items.
The handmade products are then sold to the tourist community in Lamu, a coastal city in Kenya. Apart from just the designs, the painters put thoughtful and uplifting messages to promote peace, love and environmental conversation.
All the crafts are made from recycled fishing materials disposed off on the shores of the beaches and from old sails. The designs are inspired by fishermen, the cool ocean, the sandy beaches, the lovely people playing on them, and at times inspired by their own moods. Apart from the Alilamu.com site, they also sell their items from their Lamu boutique, though the island has had a reduction in the number of visitors due to rampant terror attacks.
See TechMoran‘s interview with Daniela on CEO Weekends segment below;
What is Alilamu.com? Alilamu.com is a recycling family getting bigger and bigger.
What are your main products? We make bags, paintings , cushions among others but we are dreaming big and so new little things always come out.
Who are your biggest customers-locals or tourists? Tourists here and abroad. We export or they order online.
How do you get materials? People know us, so they come to us with all kinds of old materials then our team recycles them.
Who are the founders? I, Daniela Blaettler, am a photographer and a lover of elephants and Ali Omar, a fisherman
Any business challenges? The biggest challenge is we at times fail to produce enough in time and sometimes we find it hard to get enough materials especially the old sail. Our workers have kids here and finding food to feed everyone and then send them to school is not easy.
Is there anyone doing something similar to yours? Yes, so many but if someone copies our work, we feel proud of ourselves, the important thing is to be the first and original and be good enough not to let your competition beat you. We are happy we managed to to inspire others and hopefully they are able to earn some money and help other people survive too. What makes you stand out from the competition? Alilamu is Alilamu, one can copy us but they will never be us because we are 100% heart and handmade Alilamu .
Where do you expect your business to be in five years? (Jokingly!) Over the moon, playing with the stars, allover!
Have you raised any funds and do you plan to expand? Of course we are expanding every day and we have faith that everything is possible with a big open heart. We make every shilling here and we are already out there and online. Our goal is to help the poor and get as many people out of poverty, no one might get rich in the end but we just want as many people out of poverty as we can.
How is the business environment in Lamu? One day it will be good again, but in the last three years, it has been very hard for everyone.
Founded by Femi Okanla and Kingsley Moka, Nitestay is a hotel booking and reservation website, that affords the luxury of choosing a hotel accommodation from anywhere and anytime. The site also offers travel guide information on shopping malls, cinemas, concerts and car hire around Nigeria .
Speaking to TechMoran, Moka said, “We are looking at creating an international hotel booking and logistics provision site which is capable to cater for the needs of any individual no matter their location and need. We hope to grow beyond the shores of Nigeria and beyond the shores Africa likewise.”
Though Nitestay has not received any funding yet, the firm has launched leading initiatives in the online hotel booking service in Nigeria such as “Pay at Hotel” for customers that choose to make payment at check in. Other leading initiatives include receiving booking confirmation as text message (sms), customer reviews as well as unbelievable hotel discounts and deals.
Moka said their model is to let Nitestay grow organically and are not seeking funds for expansion. Even though the online hotel booking and reservation segment is still fairly new in Africa, Moka says its growing rapidly and the number of new entrants into this sector have increased drastically over the past one year.
Moka adds that Nitestay can’t be categorized as start-up anymore, as its one of the pioneers and major players in the online hotel booking segment in Nigeria, however, for anyone who wants to start up an online business, he advises they should plan and understand the target market. Most importantly entrepreneurs should have the desire to provide excellent and quality service to customers should serve as the motivation.
Founded three years ago, Nitestay connects a platform for hotel users and hotel service providers. It’s an easy to use website with the basic search for hotel feature and provides options for booking hotels. The booking process can be summarized as the customer gets on the site, finds the hotel room that suits his or her budget, select a check-in date and number of days to stay and then proceed to checkout. There are a variety of payment options allowing the customer to either pay online with Nitestay’s or choose to make payment at check-in with Nitestay’s solution.
Nitestay is not just for tourists, business travelers but anyone who travels, or need a break from the hustle of everyday life. The platform helps one pick some form of temporal accommodation be it officers from government agencies, religious organizations and the small and medium enterprises. In turn, Nitestay earns a commission on every booking made on the site.
“We decided to move into the online hotel reservation business because as at the time there was no online platform for hotel bookings and reservations. We looked to create an online hotel supermart where customers can have the added dimension of variety in making hotel bookings, says Moka. “We focus on ensuring that hotel users get the best possible experience and deals available, bridge the gap between hotel owners and the customers by helping travelers in securing a hotel room prior to arrival.”
Moka says the hotel booking segment is a very lucrative sector considering the volume of demand for hotel accommodation on a daily basis. They allow customers to place group bookings too, which are working well in Nigeria. Nitestay has signed an affiliation with hotels.com and has several partnerships to enable them provide additional value added services to its customers.
There have been challenges too just like for any businesses, ” but every business has the most important to overcome the challenges peculiar to your business segment to achieve growth,’ says Moka. We believe our strength is our unparalleled focus on customer satisfaction.”
Nitestay’s almost 3 year span is a testament to the fact that they are doing well.
Founded in Nigeria last year Wowyard.com is a creative platform for lovers of African fashion, art and craft and paintings. The platform connects the artists to the international market with an aim of giving them exposure and increasing their sales.
The founders, Iyke Ijeh and Nancy Ijeh were inspired by the passion they saw in creative people, especially the fashion designers who were working hard but weren’t getting known or selling their stuff. So they decided to launch an Etsy-like platform to help promote art in Africa.
“When we launched Wowyard in September 2013, we wanted to get these people on one platform so we could take that responsibility of promoting them, then they can concentrate on their passion, which is creating,” Nancy told TechMoran.
“Yes we also know that many have their own websites, but how many are really functioning? How many can manage and promote their websites?” she added.
Wowyard gives the artists (fashion designers, art and craft dealers) a free homepage where they sign up for a profile, set up a shop and upload photos of their products and then sell. The products appear on the homepage in the “latest products” section. The shops or Yard has the capacity for unlimited number of products with a maximum of fifteen on every page. A Yard owner can also use the sharing buttons in their Yard to share their products on social media.
Yard owners also get a reviews and feedback section where customers can communicate with or endorse the seller. Buyers can also contact sellers by calling or using the “contact seller “button to make offline transactions.
Wowyard also has its own ratings, the wow!, cool and ok buttons. The Yards with the highest number of wow!s usually have a spot in the “wow! Rated” section on the homepage.
For now, FrontPage listing and advertising and is set to go full eCommerce for its sixty sellers. Wowyard sees African fashion as an endangered species right now which needs to be protected, nourished and promoted and though there are a number of ecommerce sites that sell fashion, Wowyard wants to help them sell and promote African fashion and art.
With plans to be the go-to place for “African Fashion and Art Network” the founders are working hard achieve their dream. They are everyday moved by the successes of firms like Iroko TV, Jumia, Konga and others and say its a good sign. They are also looking for seed funding to scale their operations. Some of their competitors include ShopSoko, Cirqy among others but the market in Africa is huge and there is need for more players. Competition also brings in quality and benefits the sellers and artists with better commissions.
Juakali, is a blue collar job directory and a meeting place for workers in the informal sector and construction companies, corporate empowers, home owners and later individuals.
Founded by Judith Owigar, a University of Nairobi Computer Science graduate, now pursuing an Msc in Computer Science at the same university and president at Akirachix, an initiative getting girls into tech, the platform is set to connect the unskilled workers in the informal sector and the service providers such as construction firms, security companies, individuals among others.
Owigar says the Juakali was inspired by her need to do to something for the society and also develop a technology solution using her skills, unlike at Akirachix where she only teaches.
“We used to go around hosting mobile garages to help girls get into tech but and I needed to practice what I preach so I founded Juakali.”
“I also believe that in ten years, Africa will have its own Facebook and Google. I wanted to be part of that revolution. I believe in the 10,000 hour rule and I believe Kenya is headed in the right direction. I will put in my efforts than wait for others people to do it, she added.
Judith Owigar, founder Juakali.co.ke and President Akirachix (Image credits:africastyledaily.com)
When she arrived at university, Owigar found herself alone in her computer science class and thought women were not allowed to take engineering courses, so she was moved to get more women in tech. She a teamed up with her friends to start Akirachix at iHub.
Though she agrees that most of the blue collar workers dont use internet so much, she agrees that they are educated and have diplomas from vocational institutions. She says the group has just been ignored by job sites and they cant find informal jobs on other sites out there.
Akirachix recently received $500,000 from SIDA and is also working with Intel and other firms to bring more women into tech. Away from the success she has had as Akirachix president, Owigar says JuaKali wont jump any queues but will grow step by step until it stands on their own. She also wants to do the startup to learn business skills to add to her programming skills.
The informal workers sign up on the platform for free, fill in their employee history for rating and reviews. The system runs on SMS and USSD as most of its target population are mostly offline and staying in informal settlements.
Juakali’s earlier version was a web-only platform but a few pilots made her to change mind to SMS to make it more practical. Employers however will have to pay to access the database of employees on Juakali, and that’s where she expects to get her cut too.
Her immediate goal now is to get more users on the site during the pilot, before the February launch. She says she will be working with vocational institutions, friends, and construction sites and then recruit firms to who want vetted employees. She also wants to focus on their satisfaction at the moment and though there are similar services in the market such as M-Pawa, M-Kazi, Fundi Mjanja among others she is not worried of the impact Juakali will make.
To be ready to run her for-profit businesses, Owigar went to Growthhub for free business training which she says has helped change her mind and see entrepreneurship the way it is. In two years, she is sure Juakali will be the standard for the informal sector and vet who employers can be trusted. Without a Juakali certification a blue collar workers would find it hard to get work. Juakali’s uniqueness is its focus on employee reputation.
Some of the Akirachix graduands
Owigar is against the get-rich quick developers who are into tech for personal gains and she promises not to give up even when the going gets tough. Her advice to founders is they need to be careful, take time before looking for co-founders and get business skills than just the money, she hopes one day we will have entrepreneur support groups in Africa to help advise entrepreneurs.
The Kenya Film Classification Board has banned the sale, exhibition and distribution of a Hollywood film The Wolf of Wall Street.
When contacted, the board’s communications office said the film has been “restricted” due to elements that include nudity, sex, alcohol, drugs and profanity.
According to Hollywood Reporter, with 569 F-bombs (a record) and graphic sex scenes, the film has been censored or edited-down dramatically in some foreign markets – namely Asian and Middle Eastern.
The Kenya Film Classification Board posted on their Facebook page:
Some users on social media were against the move by the Film Board with one twitter user stating “who still bans movies on this 21st century?.. smh RT Kenya Film Classification Board has BANNED “The Wolf of Wallstreet” in Kenya!”
While others stated that the move only served to make the film more appealing to local viewers. “You know you have just made it more appealing, right? Everybody who sees this will get to watch it just to find out what is the big issue with it.” One person commented on the board’s Facebook page.
Personally I watched the movie two days prior to the ban and to say the truth, the board is kind of right to ban the movie, as within the first 10 minutes you might be thinking you’re watching a porn movie. In some countries they have just cut out some scenes, so the movie is like 45 minutes shorter. Anyway you have to watch it to judge for yourself.
Nigeria’s Federal Government has banned the importation of analogue TVs and transmitters in a move expected to see a massive shift from analogue transmission to digital totally.
Spearheaded by the National Broadcasting Commission and in collaboration with the Nigeria Customs Service, the country will from June 17 ban the importation and use of analogue transmitters everywhere in the country. The move is also aimed at reducing e-waste in the country during the switch-over.
Mr. Emeka Mba, the Director-General, NBC speaking to the Punch today said the ban was put in order to cut the accumulation of electronic wastes in the country as the equipment wouldn’t be useful anymore.
“When the digital switchover happens, there won’t be importation of analogue sets, that is, the second-hand or Tokunbo TVs and analogue transmitters anymore. Certain TV sets will not work again,” Mba told the paper. “People using digitally-enabled sets with digital tuners may not need decoders because signals can be picked from the air; but antennas will be needed.”
Nigeria has set January 1, 2015, as the deadline for digital migration ahead of the June 2015 deadlines set up by the ITU.
The country expects to earn nearly $2 million from the the move in form of jobs for content creators, channels among others. The Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) says its services will be all digital by June 2014. It has already digitized in 32 states in the country.
Farmers in Rwanda and Zambia will soon be protected from bad weather asIFC, a member of the World Bank Group, has signed two grant agreements with MicroEnsure Ltd, valued at about $650,000 combined, to increase the supply of index-based weather insurance to small-scale farmers in the two countries.
This should help curb the adverse effects of climate change and to strengthen food security.
The grants were issued by the Global Index Insurance Facility (GIIF), a multi-donor trust fund financed by the European Union, Japan and the Netherlands, and implemented by IFC and the World Bank.
“As a pioneer in the provision of weather index insurance to smallholders since 2004 we have seen the impact that these products have in unlocking credit to fund inputs, resulting in a dramatic increase in yields and rural income. Our on-going relationship with the team at IFC has been central to our growth in this sector,” Richard Leftley, CEO MicroEnsure and MicroEnsure Asia.
The land in Rwanda and Zambia experience extreme weather in some areas, this limits smallholder farmers as they are afraid to invest in crops as they may fail; this leads to reduced yields and continued food insecurity.
Traditional indemnity-based agricultural insurance has seen little success due to high transaction costs and premiums. Index-based insurance, which pays out benefits on the basis of weather data without costly field verification of losses, is a more efficient risk management tool. Supported by the GIIF grants, MicroEnsure is expected to offer index-based insurance to an additional 90,000 small-scale farmers in Rwanda within two years and 15,000 small-scale farmers in Zambia within one year.
Gilles Galludec, IFC GIIF program manager, said “There is great potential for index insurance to strengthen economic security for smallholder farmers in Rwanda and Zambia while also serving to further the development of sustainable insurance markets in both countries. A reduction in weather-related risks also stimulates investment in farming by making it viable for financial institutions and agribusinesses to extend credit to smallholder farmers for long-term investment in the land. Index-based insurance is a powerful tool in the fight against poverty.”
Headquartered in the UK, with a regional base in Nairobi and country operations across Africa and Asia, MicroEnsure works with mobile network operators, banks, microfinance institutions, and other aggregators to provide insurance for the mass market. MicroEnsure has been operating since.
South African free site builder, Yola has launched its first Yola Website Buildathon Contest in a move to encourage people of all ages and tech skills to build professional website s and quickly and easily and win prizes along the way.
The contest requires entrants to create a three-page website using Super Flat or Skyline and then submit it to Yola before February 9.
According to Yola winning sites will each receive prizes and they will be converted into a Theme on one of Yola’s Styles, the builder will have a one-year premium website services subscription (Bronze, Silver, or Gold), get a custom domain and private registration for one year plus Yola Mail, email marketing among others.
“Everyday we see websites published on the Yola platform that show true promise,” said Trevor Harries-Jones, CEO of Yola in a blog post. “The Yola Buildathon contest will give people the opportunity to showcase their customized websites and be a part of what makes Yola great.”
The firm has also launched an eBook: Get Started Building Your Website to help contestants plan and design their websites using Yola’s free tools. The site builder will also publish a series of 5-Minute Website Fixes on its blog to help builders fix any bugs if present.
“Everyday we see websites published on the Yola platform that show true promise,” said Trevor Harries-Jones, CEO of Yola. “The Yola Buildathon contest will give people the opportunity to showcase their customized websites and be a part of what makes Yola great.”
Founded in Cape Town in 2007 by Gyft c0-founder Vinny Lingham, is based in San Francisco and Cape Town and has over 8 million users using the platform in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. It has both free and paid subscription packages.
This year will be a year of transformation, suggest Pyramid Research. The research institute says, in a report that there will be increased competition and innovation, particularly around mobile broadband and media.
The new report; Pyramid Research Predictions 2014: Global and Regional Trends in the Information, Communications and Technology Industry provide key insights into top market trends.
“We anticipate that 2014 will be a year of transformation. The introduction of sub-$50 Smartphone is one of the most transcendental events we expect will take place in 2014, as mass availability of Smartphone’s will mean empowering underpenetrated populations and bringing them one step closer to the networked economy and its benefits,” explains Daniel Amparán, Managing Director at Pyramid Research.
This new report says that globally, over 40 percent of some 7bn mobile subscriptions will be on 3G+ networks by year-end 2014; LTE will make up merely 4 percent of the total. Across emerging markets, Chinese device vendors led by Lenovo will make strong gains outside their home market, disrupting Apple’s and Samsung’s positions in the mid-range and high-end smartphone segments.
This year almost one in every three mobile subscriptions in Africa and the Middle East will be on 3G or more advanced networks. Pyramid expects that the 2014 world cup in Brazil give a 15 percent boost to mobile data revenue in Brazil and that nearly 4m new pay-TV subscriptions will be added during 2014.
“Pyramid Research is the only firm in the industry with a heritage of more than 25 years in emerging markets. We are proud to be considered the partner of choice of industry leaders in the converged global communications, media and technology industries, and look forward to sharing our top predictions for this exciting year ahead,” says Amparán.
Pyramid Research offers practical solutions to the complex demands our clients face in the global telecommunications, media and technology industries. Our analysis is uniquely positioned at the intersection of emerging markets, disruptive technologies and innovative business models, powered by the bottom-up methodology of our market forecasts for more than 100 countries—a distinction that has remained unmatched for more than 25 years.
Savannah Fund, a Nairobi-based Africa-focused seed fund is calling startups to join its third accelerator class set to begin in March 2014. With a portfolio of 9 startups from across Africa, the accelerator is this time welcoming tech entrepreneurs from anywhere in the world as long as their solution is build for Africa.
Announcing the program, Savannah Fund said, “We welcome startup applications from all over the world who are addressing the subsaharan Africa market. The 3rd accelerator class is due to start in March 2014. The deadline for applications is February 15th.”
Based on the Y-Combinator model, Savanah Invest small amounts of capital into 3 to five startups for 3 months at a time. ($25,000 to each company in exchange for about 15% equity stake- non negotiable). The in-house acceleration program is held at m:lab East Africa, an iHub incubation arm for mobile enterprises.
If you are into social entreprises, you might save your tie not applying to join the cohort as Savannah Fund seeks for profit business solutions not impact guys who look at optimism, social change and culture. I f you still want to try, be ready to pivot your business model. Applications need to have an initial prototype, early customers and revenue.
After the online application, the businesses will go through an interview process and then the successful teams will be contacted. Those selected will be given skills and experiences on building successful companies and launching products. The entreprenuers will learn from experienced reputable local and international mentors that have built global technology brands and have hands-on experience than just word of mouth.
You just have one month to apply, submit your application here.
We all love shopping and tend to get excited whenever new brands are launched. The shopping trend in Nigeria did not only focus around the purchase of Fashion Items but there was a massive increase in the purchase for Gadgets, Electronics Books, Home Appliances, Groceries, Beauty Products, Baby Products, Event Tickets Online.
Jumia Nigeria which had implemented an online pre-order option allowing customers to pay ahead to receive the latest gadgets shortly after their international proved to be a success with such as Blackberry Q10, Samsung Note 3, PlayStation 4 and more gadgets.
Recording high subscription rates and customer interest, Jumia saw Nigerian’s buy bags of rice and oil to give out to their older members of their families along with clothing, home appliances and gadgets for their own personal use.
Online shopping habits in Nigeria have grown over the last year, with Nigerian’s shopping for everything from big to small items across the country. With the data gathered from our website in 2013, here are the top 10 products across categories showing how Nigerians shopped last year.
1. Mobile Phones (Nokia Lumia, Blackberry, Tecno Phantom)
Giant social network Facebook wants to become more like Twitter, in December 2012 the network changed the name of its ”Subscriber” button to ”Follow”, just as Twitter’s. Then in June 2013, it launched clickable Hashtags and like that wasn’t enough, the network has today introduceded Trending, similar to Twitter’s trending topics.
Announced by Chris Struhar, Facebook’s Engineering Manager, the Trending is designed to surface interesting and relevant conversations in order to help users discover the best content from all across Facebook.
Placed on the right of a user’s News Feed, the list of topics show the most popular topics based on a user’s interest.Twitter trends are usually on the left of a user’s account, and seems to be the only difference, for now, before we get access and review them.
“Each topic is accompanied by a headline that briefly explains why it is trending. You can click on any headline to see the most interesting posts from your friends or Pages that are talking about that particular topic,” Stuhar said.
The Trending feature will first be rolled out for desktop in select countries while the mobile feature is still under testing at Facebook.
Forget PesaTalk‘s Joel Macharia, who walked away (with a minority stake) from Kenya’s then web financial news startup which endedp up closing shop due to investor-CEO ‘differences’, Rocket Internet’s Jumia is reeking with stench.
This morning startups in Africa were awakened by shock when one of our very own realized that Rocket Internet, the parent company of Jumia, had allegedly bought and is sitting on it’s domain names across the continent. The Blitzkrieg is said to have registered 11 domain names related to Konga outside Nigeria, an evil move by any competitor ever seen.
If these allegations are true, this decision is aimed at stifling growth of Nigerian and African businesses in the sectors the Berlin-based business builder wants to dominate, especially online real estate, auto, job classifieds and online retail stores.
The domain names now under ownership of Rocket Internet or its affiliates include;
Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal caught a clue about Rocket Internet’s activities in Nigeria and mentioned the exit of Jumia Nigeria’s two African CEOs(Tunde Kehinde and Raphael Afaedor) here.
Earlier, we realized that the Havard MBA founders had been let go off from the firm they co-founded. There are different ‘founders’ and directors now. Kehinde is working on a courier/delivery startup called Apost to be based in Nigeria but we doubt if he will stay, our sources reveal the founders have left the firm empty-handed, minus any equity and MTN Group just bought stolen companies in Africa and Middle-East from Rocket Internet just like that!
Though it’s OK for Rocket Internet to replicate internet successes from other markets in Africa and compete Cheki, BuyRentKenya, Private Property, BuyAm, Tranzit, CityChops and EazyAppetite with its Camido, Jovago, Kaymu, Vamido, EasyTaxi and HelloFood, the way the firms are being run are affecting the future of internet and mobile businesses in Africa.
Zimbabwe could be right, all the firms have to have 60% local ownership before they are registered; this helps keep jobs and profits back home. With our brothers out at Jumia, and Rocket Internet selling to another face, this is seriously hurting a local operation with the same business model including. These local companies WILL die if not supported. It is that simple.
TechMoran has send an email to Rocket Internet on these allegations, we shall publish more details in a bit, below are some of the domain names being squatted on Konga domains by rocket screenshots.
The Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (also known as Truth in Domain Names Act), a United States federal law enacted in 1999, is part of A bill to amend the provisions of title 17, United States Code, and the Communications Act of 1934, relating to copyright licensing and carriage of broadcast signals by satellite (S. 1948). It makes people who register domain names that are either trademarks or individual’s names with the sole intent of selling the rights of the domain name to the trademark holder or individual for a profit liable to civil action. It was sponsored by Senator Trent Lott on November 17, 1999, and enacted on November 29 of the same year.
Ericsson and Unitel, Angola’s top telco have demoed LTE Advanced (LTE-A) Carrier Aggregation technology with 1800MHz and 900MHz spectrum bands live in Luanda, Angola, carrying commercial traffic.
LTE-A is said to be the next step in the evolution of high-speed mobile broadband services, enabling operators to make the most of their existing spectrum assets by combining multiple spectrum bands to enable higher mobile broadband download speeds.
In a release statement, Amilcar Safeca, Deputy CEO of Unitel said, “With the global leap toward higher data access speeds for sophisticated video and mobility services, we are enhancing our network to ensure we continually provide high-quality services to our high-demanding subscriber base.”
Safeca said the demo promises the launch of the service in Angola soon. If it goes live this year, Unitel won’t be the first to launch the high speed spectrum bands, especially in Australia, Portugal and South Korea.
Magnus Mchunguzi, Vice President, Ericsson sub-Saharan Africa says LTE-A technology will help operators increase their network capacity and enhance the mobile broadband user experience with speeds up to 1Gbps.
“This demo places Unitel on the very limited list of operators in the world to demonstrate LTE-A in a live network using a commercial terminal. We are very proud to have partnered with Unitel in this achievement, further extending our long-standing relationship with Unitel,” Mchunguzi said.
Google EMEA Engineering Hub, in Zürich Image-abduzeedo.com
Cameroon is set to restart Cellucam Edea Tech, set in the country’s coastal region after an inter-ministerial delegation led by the Ministry of Industry, Emmanuel Bonde visited the former site.
Started in 2008 and build by Comifin an Italian firm, Edea Technopole Services (Edea Tech Ltd) was a joint-venture between Cameroon and Comifin with a 35% and 65% stake respectively. The 36 hectares site and equipment will be made into a state-of-the art tech-centre, projected to give over 1000 jobs to the population.
The inter-ministerial delegation is yet to receive an audit from the Edea Tech Company then set up project timelines and budgets. Teh centre will host green energy startups, water treatment and wood processing firms plus SMEs working doing automobile maintenance and engine rentals plus training centre to train youths in lumbering.
ActivSpaces Cameroon is the country’s top entrepreneur innovation hub and startup incubator helping youths developing web and mobile ventures by mentoring them and helping them access seed funds.
CcHUB is set to formally launch its CcHUB Mobile Experience Lab (MX Lab) Tuesday January 21 in a move to enhance the quality of local digital solutions and improve customer satisfaction in the country.
Tolu Agunbiade, CcHUB’s Business Analyst said in a statement that the Mobile Experience Lab was created from the need to bridge the gap between users and digital service providers in Nigeria. The MX Lab similar to iHub Nairobi’s UX Lab through research generates, processes and disseminates comprehensive knowledge and data to help devs design think with end-users in mind.
The lab also helps developers test their applications pre-launch with real users for better user experience. It also teaches the dev community on the need and importance of product user experience design and it’s place in technology product development.
Launched in 2011 in Lagos, CcHUB is Nigeria’s first open living lab for technologists, entrepreneurs, investors, tech companies and hackers set up to accelerate entrepreneurs innovations that solve social problems such as transport, governance, education, water, and entertainment.
For more details drop them an email at info@cchubnigeria.com
