The Kenyan-based Westlands Chess Club (WeCC) has just redesigned its website, adding more features, backed with the mission to turn Kenya into a “mad-chess country”, drawing more players.

Months after the WeCC came to existence, its old website with the same URL has been quietly up for two and a half years. However, the new site opened on Friday is expected to attract at least 600 followers from its Facebook page, set to fuel more chess-loving fans.

Marking this year’s latest development, in the drive to ease navigation of which would to cater for the growing number of chess players in and out of the country, WeCC is not just launching a school initiative that would encourage youth to play the game, but is set cater for players keen on receiving news updates and game reports posted on the new website.

Yet, as one of Kenya’s newest and most progressive chess clubs based in the Westlands suburbs, WeCC has come a long way years after chess was introduced in the country as early as the 1920s, say British journal reports.  The board game was officially registered as a club for in 1958 by the Nairobi Chess Club. Years later, as the game emerged in the country, Paras Gudka and his supporters, felt the need to open Westland’s very own club.

Thus, the Westlands Chess Club was opened in August 2011 having its base at the Westgate courts beginning with one chess board and handful of players. And today, it now accommodates at least 40 players at the Slush Coffee World, Parklands Nairobi, in tournaments and even on busy Saturday afternoons. Its membership packages cater for a wide range of players including chess veterans, complete novices and a few occasional spectators.

According to the WeCC website developers, the new site is expected to deliver better user experience for visitors to find information efficiently. It has a design that makes better use of screen space accessing it through a desktop computer, laptop or mobile phone.

“This site works really well on my smart phone too,” noted WeCC Director, Paras Gudka.

Visitors can now post comments under each news item and event pages making it more interactive.

While adding PNGs of games played in the WeCC tourneys would be the club’s next mission, participants of tournaments organised by the Club would be assigned a rating of 1300 at the start of their first Blitz, Rapid and Classical tournaments, all of which would be expected to be posted on the website for further details.

But for now, the names and URLs of its website’s pages will remain the same. To view the website, follow this link: http://westlandschess.com/

AWM360 Data Systems (Pty) Ltd., a business technology partner and solution provider within the Southern African Human Capital Management (HCM) and Workforce Management Solutions markets, has reinforced its ability to address the ICT and technical requirements of the African market through its partnership with Logitime International, a firm which offers integrated solutions for Time & Attendance, Access Control, Job Time (Shop Floor Data collection), Project Registration, Human Resources and Planning.

From its base in South Africa the two will rollout next-generation solutions that empower the modern organisation to capitalise on HR development in the workplace.

Logitime has recognised AWM360’s leadership position within the Africa market and believes the stature of this company can help it rollout high quality product within a growing channel.

“AWM360 is a new partner, but we know that it has a very structured way of working – one of the foundation principles behind any successful venture,” says Jan Karel Prinsen, MD and founder, Logitime International. “Partners who have a long term vision in terms of time and attendance are able to add the value that customers expect. In AWM360, we have a partner who has the knowledge, resources to ensure optimal client service.”

Logitime has already an established presence in Northern Africa, with several high profile clients utilising the Company’s systems – including the Central Bank of Egypt.

The Company sees the uptake of new systems to replace outdated infrastructure to cope with evolving legislation, the need to reduce cost of technology acquisition and implementation, and improve efficiency and productivity as key market drivers.

Guenter Nerlich, Managing Director, AWM360 Data Systems, says the Partnership is an exciting and formidable alliance that will continue to deliver value to Africa’s growing ICT landscape.

“We look forward to years of continues service and value to Africa’s developing ICT market… these are solutions that help decision makers to empower people and support growth strategies with effective HCM,” he adds.

By Akin Ande,  CEO at Chert System Solutions Nigeria

Even someone outside of the ICT market can see that Africa’s ICT market is growing at a phenomenal rate. This growth is predicted to continue for at least the next 5-10 years, as more multinationals invest and setup operations in Africa. However, the lack of enough visibly strong, credible and experienced VARs across Africa will mean that a large chunk of the IT spend will go to European and US multinational VARs, who will then export into Africa.

In the IT industry, a VAR (value-added reseller) is a company that has the skills and expertise to combine different IT components to build complete IT solution for their clients. So, when presented with a specific IT problem, a VAR might look at products from different vendors and combine them to create the best solution. For example, a computer chip, printer, hard drive, monitor and graphics software from different vendors, could be combined and packaged to create a computer-aided design system. Or another example could be to combine a barcode scanner, receipt printer and computer to build an ePOS (Electronic Point Of Sale) solution.
The more strong VARs that are created across Africa, the more sophisticated the IT channels will become. This is will result in the more significant and substantial IT expenditures staying in Africa as we create trustworthy and valuable service.

To achieve this I believe as VARs, we need to focus on the following:

Understanding our client’s needs, rather than just selling them a product. This will mean Asking our clients relevant questing like “what do you need that product for?” or “why do you want that particular product?”

Focus more on adding value to our client’s solution rather than focussing just on price.

Focus on developing our product knowledge by investing in staff training and attending vendor training.

The stronger African VARs are, the more we will create local skills, create jobs, improve our local economy and YES make more profits which can stay within Africa.

That is why as the CEO of Chert System Solutions Nigeria, I am striving to provide our clients with a service rivalling that provided by our competitors in the developed world. We started four years ago in Lagos with $ 3,000 and now we are one of the biggest VARs in Nigeria, with business clients in 8 African counties.

**********

Ande launched Chert Computers in Nigeria in 2010 with just $3,000 and and within 1 year the firm won a$500,000 deal with AirTel/tech Mehindra in 8 countries in Africa. The firm is now one of the leading IT store in Nigeria and is set to launch across sub-Saharan Africa.

Q-KON SA will distribute AudioCodes entire product portfolio to the Sub Saharan region, this will also give customers Q-KON SA’s value-added offerings such as local certified product training, on-site support, pre- and post-sales engineering support,  product repair and upgrades, free POC units, advanced replacement units, and national installation support.

Speaking about the deal, Tjaart de Wet, MD at Q-KON SA, says AudioCodes is a “strong offering that will add immediate value and help address market requirements, including scalable infrastructure, advanced features and functionality that add value to developing UC and SIP environments across Africa.”

“They (AudioCodes) have a solid understanding of the South African and African market, and we are ready to include one of the biggest names in the industry into our product offering.” de Wet adds.

AudioCodes, is a global market leader, with over 17 years of product development experience, focussed on VoIP network products and technology and is quite well known to the South African market. AudioCodes’ VoIP products are deployed by service providers in the least cost routing, SIP, and mobile markets, as well as by small, medium and large Enterprises for their unified communication networks in over 100 countries.

The company provides a diverse range of innovative, cost-effective products for converged VoIP and Data networks including Media Gateways, Enterprise Session Border Controllers (E-SBC), Multi-service Business Routers, Residential Gateways, IP phones, Mobile VoIP clients, Media Servers and Value added applications e.g. Voice Recording Solutions.

Munish Bhasin, AudioCodes Regional Director of Africa concludes “We are pleased to announce Q-KON SA as our Distributor for the Sub Saharan region. As we embark on our growth journey, we are confident that Q-KON SA, with their reach and skilled teams, will be able to help strengthen the business and induct more value partners & customers in this fraternity. Q-KON SA’s specific approach to being a VAD is well proven over the last 10 years, and will be effective in increasing our market”.

The Afrinolly Short Film Competition now has done their final cut and the finalists are now 20; Ten in the Short Film category and ten in the Documentary category.

The entries were more that 400 all from 16 countries which include; Rwanda, Kenya, Nigeria, UK, Namibia, Tanzania, Ghana, USA, South Africa, Zambia, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Malaysia, Ukraine and Cameroon.

In the Short Film category finalists, Nigeria lead in numbers. The list included:-

1.                  1. The Strangers – Ejim Fortune (Nigeria)

2. Everything Happens for a Reason – Florian Schott (Namibia)
3. 10:10 – Gbenga Salu (Nigeria)
4. Blurred Lines – Benjamin Kent (Ghana)
5. Crimson – Your Cup Of Tea – Daniel Etim Effiong (Nigeria)
6. Busted – Frank Orji (South Africa)
7. Big Man – Julius Onah (USA)
8. In Iredu – Abiola Sobo (Nigeria)
9. Five – Akin Okunrinboye (USA)
10. Imodoye – Femi Omoluabi (Nigeria)

In the documentary category, it was even. This list included:-

1.                  1.Umalume – Ndud Shandu (South Africa)

2. British Nigerian Me – Dayo Adeneye (UK)
3. BIJOU Death Of A Cinema Hall – Ashraf Nayan (South Africa)
4. The Quest – Howard Bland (Zambia)
5. Free Inside – Amit Makan (South Africa)
6. Yellow Fever – Ng’endo Mukii (Kenya)
7. Awele’s Diary – Ronke Ogunmakin (Uk)
8. Blind Aspiration – Dapo Osinaike (Nigeria)
9. Creative Minds – Victor Okoye (Ukraine)
10. Mount Ephrem – Martial arts pioneer in Ethiopia – Garmamie (Canada)

The selection was based on the narrative’s imagination and originality, the plot’s ability to attract and retain the viewer’s attention, clarity of purpose and an overall professional impression. Other criteria for selection included having adept mastery of technical aspects i.e. sound quality, costume, acting, screenplay, editing, lighting and camera work.

These films are now online for the public to view and vote for their favorite. To vote for your favourite short film and documentary, log on to afrinollyshortfilmcompetition.com/vote.php. Voting ends on Sunday, 19 January 2014. Winners in the Afrinolly Short Film Competition will be announced online on Monday, 20 January 2014.

So what’s in for the winners? Cash prize of $25,000 for the overall winners in both categories, while the first and second runners-up will receive $10,000 and $5,000 respectively. Winners will be awarded at an exclusive Afrinolly Awards event in Lagos on Saturday, 22 February 2014.

The Afrinolly Short Film Competition is aimed at digitally showcasing African cinema talent and providing a platform to foster a new generation of African content and make same available online. It is supported by MTN, Cote Ouest Audiovisuel, IREP and Goethe Institut.

This July, between the 10^th and 11^th the Sandton International conference centre  in Johannesburg will be housing the African EduWeek; which carries the theme “Empowering teachers to deliver quality education everywhere”. 

Tanya Jackman, the event director said: “Our educators are the most central element in improving the education system, and they must have access to relevant training to develop and equip their learners with the tools required to succeed in professional and further education environments.” 

African EduWeek reportedly forms the largest meeting and trading platform of its kind on the continent for improving the standard of education in Africa. The conference will focus on empowering teachers, strengthening school leadership, using ICT skills to enhance teaching and learning, improving FET colleges and the role of technology in the classroom.

“There could not have been a clearer illustration of the need for EduWeek than the matric results we have seen, and responses we are hearing from the education community. Learners are leaving school without the necessary tools to succeed, as we see with the high dropout rates from universities and youth unemployment, and this simply has to change,” added Jackman.

The event also offers teachers free, practical courses to improve their classroom and technical skills.

For 2014, African EduWeek has taken the bold step in remodeling the conference model to make the sessions more affordable and accessible to those who need them the most.

Zimbabwe’s Empire Communications, a full- service public relations and communications agency, which specializes on the development and content management of new media tools wants to put young entrepreneurs on the map.

Empire Communications was founded and is wholly owned by Tawanda Chitiyo. I am inspired by a passion for new media projects, creative ideas, proven methodologies, strong media relations as well as flexibility, initiatives, and efficient execution. Also by the success stories of other young entrepreneurs who are broadening their horizons and opening up to limitless perspective.

TechMoran caught up with Chitiyo and he revealed his plans into the future of his firm below.

What exactly do you do?

We offer an integrated online, offline and mobile communications strategies. That includes marketing, advertising, awareness and promotion of goods and services using the mobile phone, internet (online) and outdoor LED screens (offline). The outdoor LED screen will be installed by the 2^nd month of 2014 in Mutare, Zimbabwe’s fourth largest city.

Do you have any clients at the moment?

We have six confirmed clients but we have embarked on an aggressive door to door campaign mainly targeting small to medium scale retail enterprises (SME) and the response has been excellent. We have approximately 501 (SME, s) in Mutare. This figure is based on the number of valid shop licences with the City of Mutare Council. Most of these cannot afford traditional advertising and marketing methods so we offer them a cheaper alternative, in the form of direct targeted advertising on Facebook mobile and on Google. After the marketing campaign we will have a lot of clients.

 Are you seed funded?

We haven’t yet have access to any form funding due to the economic environment that we are operating in. According to the 2014 World Bank’s Doing Business report Zimbabwe is ranked 170 out of 183 countries, meaning it is one of the countries where doing business is very difficult and expensive. Therefore making it unattractive for investors and funders.

Where do you think your company would have achieved in two years?

In 2 years we would have finished our ongoing drive to deliver fresh vigour to the IT industry in Zimbabwe. We plan to create a unique and personal connection to the digital world for all the people in the rural areas and farms. Create a larger market share, profitability and geographic spread.

Do you have any expansion plans?

2014 we plan to venture were no one has dared to venture that’s the rural areas, farms and all the marginalised areas.  Introducing mobile web advertising, create interactive text messaging, conduct competitions and sell content. Sports betting, lottery style power ball and casino games on the mobile phone and online.

What would you tell the youth trying to start businesses?

Youths need to be persistent and patient especially in a patriarchal society like the one we are in were change is passionately resisted. Youths also need to embrace failure and learn from it and use it for our advantage.

Challenges you have faced and how you overcame them?

Mainly its legislation making it illegal for us to offer some services without a licence and the licences and application fees are very expensive. That’s also a one of the main reasons why we cannot get funding. But we always try to find loop holes that we exploit to work according to the law. Besides that we do not have any other challenges to write home about.

UK-based short term finance lender to online retailers iwoca has raised $8.2 million (GBP 5M) from Global Founders Capital in a move that wil help the firm expand across Europe and serve more businesses.

Launched in March 2012, Iwoca is on a mission to revolutionise business finance with its flexible loans to ecommerce sellers. The firm uses innovative technology and expert account management to lend up to £50,000 in minutes. This round of funding will help it reach out to many firms to hire staff, up their technology and business inventory, technology and expand internationally.

iwoca says it is still at the beginning of its journey as there are over 4.6 million businesses in the UK it needs to serve. The firm also said ecommerce is experiencing double digit growth in the country and so need for speed.

In a statement, Christoph Rieche, CEO and co-founder, iwoca said, “This latest round of funding will allow us to leverage our existing operations and drive growth. Our highly innovative approach to data-analysis and credit scoring coupled with Global Founders Capital’s experience and global puts us in an incredibly strong position to take advantage of the structural change within the business lending industry.”

The German-based Global Founders Capital invests in proven concepts with huge market potential globally and was founded last year by Rocket Internet’s Oliver Samwer and Marc Samwer  and Fabian Siegel famously known for Delivery Hero.

According to GFC partner Fabian Siegel, “The team at iwoca has demonstrated extraordinary execution skills and are committed to breaking new ground in business lending. We will put our expertise in building internet companies and our global network at their disposal to help them drive.”

GFC has invested in Lingoda, an online language learning platform that offers live classes with real teachers, Kreditech uses BIG DATA and complex learning algorithms to assess creditworthiness,Videdressing is a leading online marketplace for pre-loved fashion and Girl Meets Dress, an online platform that offers rental dresses for special occasions.

A Hawaii man has filed a $300 million copyright infringement lawsuit, claiming the “Matrix” trilogy of science fiction films has striking similarities to his screenplay. 

Playwright Thomas Althouse of Maui claims 166 instances in the movies are similar to parts of his 1992 screenplay, “The Immortals.”

“They took so much,” he told the Maui News. “The striking similarities are off the charts.”

Named in the lawsuit are Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., producer Joel Silver, directors and writers. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California in January 2013. Althouse said he was invited by studio executives to submit his story to the Burbank, California, studio in 1993 for consideration as a possible project. Defense attorneys, in court filings, deny such an invitation was made.

“There is no merit to this frivolous lawsuit,” Warner Bros. said in a statement.

Because the lawsuit was filed more than 10 years after the first film’s release, the statute of limitations has passed. Althouse’s lawsuit is for claims against the two remaining movies. He said it took him 20 years to file a lawsuit because he was diagnosed with a stress disorder that prevented him from watching violent movies. He also said he heard the two other films were horrible and didn’t bother to watch them.

Althouse said he saw the first movie and just thought the similarities to his screenplay were a coincidence. But later, after seeing some images on movie websites, he decided to watch the last two films in the series.

Althouse said he “was like … ‘No way.'”

“I started researching immediately, and I was blown away,” he said.

Althouse claims there are “almost verbatim dialogue and character descriptions.” He has lived on Maui for 11 years, and has taught drama to middle school students.

Trial is set for June 17. According to court records, it’s expected to last up to eight days.

Courtesy of new zealand herald

TV viewers in Kenya have been disgusted with news that they will have to pay monthly subscription fees whichever pay TV service they subscribe to.

With fears that Free-to-Air (FTA) TV Channels will be no more, majority of Kenyans see no escape from the additional monthly TV bill even if its below $50.

However, allaying this fears that all subscribers will be forced to pay monthly subscription to access FTA, Mr Felix Kyengo, General Manager GOtv Kenya has said that the company’s GOtv Open Bouquet is a non-subscription FTA bouquet which requires no monthly subscription charges.

“This is an option for television viewers to receive their local free to air channels for a once off administration fee,” said Mr Kyengo. Currently the GOtv decoder is available at a special price of KSh 3,399 inclusive of 2 months GOtv Plus subscription from MultiChoice Agents countrywide.

 GOtv decoders come with a two month inclusive viewing of GOtv Plus, after which they can subscribe to GOtv or GOtv Plus – OR activate GOtv Open by paying a once-off administration fee of KSh 2,600. GOtv service offers GOtv and GOtv Plus bouquets which are packed with exciting local and international channels designed to keep families entertained with great news, movies, kids programming and sport.

Clarifying the current confusion in the market regarding FTA’s Kyengo assured GOtv customers that the free channels exist and customers who want paid options can choose after the initial two month period or otherwise continue accessing the six FTA channels for two weeks while they wait to renew their subscription or pay the once off nonrefundable administration fee for GOtv Open with access to six FTA channels forever.

GOtv is a locally owned firm, with the 40% shareholding held by the government, while the rest by MultiChoice and private individuals. The DTT pay-tv service provider has great African television content suitable for family entertainment. Its affiliation to MultiChoice,with 20 year African digital TV legacy gives it an upper hand over its competitors.

Nairobi is set to move from analogue transmission to digital this February end.

Bunifu Technologies is an industry innovation leader founded in the year 2011. They are a nexus of engineering and programming and since inception Bunifu have developed more than 30 products ranging from mobile, desktop, web and engineering solutions and tools.

This start-up begun with the development of management systems, SMS solutions and Sikizi server and in the process of this all the start-up started receiving request to fix infected computers or unstable operating systems.

A project on Swochei Duplicate file scanner (a utility for removing duplicate files and folders in computer) is the breakthrough that led to the Bunifu team entertaining the thought of building the first African Antivirus, this coupled with the problem faced by most Antivirus customers.

The team started building the first prototype of Bunifu Sniper Antivirus on February 2012.

So here is what you would like to know about the Sniper Anti-Virus.

1. How long did it take actualizing the idea?

It took us 17 months. The team started working on Bunifu Sniper on February 2012, but this was preceded by the development of various modules and utilities by our team prior February 2012. Among these are

1. Bunifu antipiracy module
2. IWIN framework
3. Swochei duplicate file Scanner
4. Bunifu C# File search DLL (Library)

This utilities and modules had been developed in 2011 by our team.

2. What were the cost implications?

Can’t really quantify the amount. Considering the size of our team of nine and the 2  1/2 years of work on the various products that contributed to the success of our Antivirus. It’s evident that a lot of human resource and time went into this. Setting up an office and equipping it not mentioning the cost of running it made this project very costly.

3. How different is Bunifu sniper antivirus from other anti-viruses in use? /How effective is it?

Our Anti-virus comes with the following unique features. This are features not available in the other antivirus types. This have been tested and proven. The 2^nd year computer science class at Kenyatta University participated in the testing and debugging process.

• Wireless and LAN scanner: Can scan devices in your WIFI range or over a local network.
• Document, File & Folder Repair and restore
• Document, File & Folder unlock.
• Winrar  internal Virus Scanner Plug-in
• Wireless and LAN threat sensor.
•  Ability to run in safe mode
• Bunifu anti-piracy Licensing module for piracy protection.
• Sniper Data Security Utility

It also comes with the following features which are not unique to it but are improved versions of the same.

• Pro-active real-time file system surveillance and monitoring for threats
• Internet and firewall security
• Automated removable media scan.

4. Has it been tested? By who?

Bunifu Sniper has been undergoing testing and trial for 4 months by our computer programmers and engineering experts. In addition a computer science class of 80 students in one of the public universities took part in the testing and debugging process.

5. The team come from diverse backgrounds (Academically), how did this play out during the process of developing it?

The diversity especially engineering and computer science that happen to form a majority of the team (7 out of the 9 members) played out perfectly. As I have indicated above, the ability to scan and disinfect devices on your WIFI range and over a network is only unique to Bunifu Sniper Antivirus. This feature requires extensive knowledge on electronics, telecommunication, wireless networks and networking principals. With our experienced programmers translating this algorithms and concepts into computer program was easy.

The other 2 members of the team have been supportive providing ideas and insight to current business trends and legal aspects.

6. In terms of innovation how is the antivirus going to help in the IT world?

I believe the unique features will transform the security and Antivirus industry. Established entities will need to upgrade their systems and even might have to buy this technology from Kenya. It’s also important to note that this field is a serious revenue earner for some countries like Russia. We expect Bunifu Sniper to be a major revenue earner for not only Baringo but Kenya also.

Being the first African Antivirus, we hope to revolutionize the technology industry and make Baringo County, Kenya and Africa a brand to be recognized; a net exporter of technology and Engineering solutions just like India, Japan and South Korea.

7. What are the challenges your team faced while coming up with the anti-virus

1. Financial constraints and      lack of funding for research has been a major challenge.
2. Working in Baringo posed      another challenge in that there are no serious internet providers and the      ones available are costly.
3. Lack of a testing unit. All      software related projects require elaborate test labs which are not      available in the country.

8. In terms of economic prospects-what do you anticipate to gain?

The Antivirus business is a multimillion business; some companies make up to Kshs 60 billion in after tax profit. Given the proper support and platform Bunifu Sniper can become one of Kenya’s largest companies.

It can also stimulate economic growth in the country by creating hundreds of jobs directly and thousands others in the sales and supply chain.

The interest shown by global technology giants in the country will only intensify once news about our Antivirus goes viral. This means more foreign investment in the country.

9. For long, employers have questioned the quality of graduates- with the innovation is this a vote of confidence that our institutions of higher learning is not all about theory/cramming to pass exams?

What the Bunifu Technologies team has achieved is an example of what functional education is all about. The team has sacrificed about two years living on shoe string budget piecing together what has now become the first African Antivirus.

The team comes from 5 different institutions of higher learning namely:

• The University of Nairobi
• Kenyatta University
• Maseno University
• Catholic University
• Jomo Kenyatta University
• Bartek Institute

Using their varied experience and knowledge we brought together our skills to achieve this. Given the much needed support this clearly indicates the exponential potential our African youth have only if given the space to express themselves and passionately exercise their talents. So yes, our education can be functional if some passion is added to the learning process.

10. Why Bunifu Sniper? How did you come with the name?

Bunifu sniper is one among many products that our company has developed; our naming systems derive their names from their functionality. A sniper is a highly trained marksman who operates alone, in a pair, or with a team to maintain close visual contact with the enemy and engage targets from concealed positions or distances exceeding the detection capabilities of enemy personnel. Snipers typically are highly selective and with

specialized training in high-precision, camouflage, field craft, infiltration, special reconnaissance and observation, surveillance and target acquisition. These are traits shared by our product, thus the name Bunifu Sniper Antivirus.

11. Future of Bunifu Sniper Antivirus

Bunifu Technologies is currently finalizing the beta version of the product. This will take us three months up to April 2014. Support structures and systems are also being put in place, this include a dedicated Bunifu sniper website, customer care platform, online payment systems and an online update system among others.

The release date of the product will be on 16^th May 2014.