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Exclusive: Rocket Internet’s Lamudi Africa Found Copying & Pasting it’s Competitors Property Listings

Startups

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January 28, 2014

Exclusive: Rocket Internet’s Lamudi Africa Found Copying & Pasting it’s Competitors Property Listings

Rocket Internet-backed Lamudi is under fire today, after it was found out copying and pasting it’s competitors property listings in Kenya, just days after the firm was sighted doing the same from another competitor in Nigeria.

This morning content managers of property site BuyRentKenya realized Lamudi’s tricks and thought it was just one property listing copied but a further perusal into the Lamudi site was a shocking trip, they said.

Speaking to TechMoran Jamie Pujara, CEO of BuyRentKenya said, “Rocket Internet’s Lamudi is doing a copy and paste of our properties. Our content managers spend time and money to get the properties on the site, we create relationships with property agents and owners, but Lamudi is simply copying our listings plus even our reference numbers and spelling mistakes.”

Ready with evidence, a property listed on BuyRentKenya here, had been replicated on Lamudi here and while the agent’s website had the same property here, its BuyRentKenya that went to the client and had it on its portal first. Now BuyRentKenya is asking where Lamudi got the property details word for word, even with spelling mistakes and BuyRentKenya’s property reference number BRKSPRENT9 which stand for BuyRentKenya, House for rent. (object ID being BRKSPRENT09- BRK being us, SP –being Stop Properties (the agency), RENT being the type of property followed by the number.)

And though two wrongs dont make a right, Lamudi further watermarks the images to show some credibility but Jamie knows where they come from.

“The property listings appear first on BuyRentKenya and Lamudi is copying them exactly as they appear on the property portal without consent. This follows its recent acquisition of Konga’s domain names and Lamudi Nigeria stealing property listings from OLX Nigeria, is this move to copy from its main competitors going to last?”

This is not a surprise to him as the news of Rocket Internet officials domain squatting on a Konga’s domains for Kenya, Morocco, Libya and across the continent is still fresh with an impeding court case coming up. OLX Nigeria has also been a victim, though with no public announcements yet, this could ruin the giant’s reputation in Africa, where trust plays a great role in the real estate market.

However, Aneesa Arshad, CEO Lamudi East Africa denies the allegations saying that many agents asked Lamudi Kenya to upload their listings and she adds that some of the listings come from the agents and other agents refer them to BuyRentKenya where their listings already exist.

“We only use the content created by the agents and none of the content on Lamudi Kenya has been uploaded without the consent of the real estate agents. It is important for Lamudi to operate in the agents’ and in the customers’ best interest.”

Lamudi went live October last year while BuyRentKenya.com was established in 2012 and boasts of a huge agent database and its over 20,ooo properties brings nearly 100,000 unique visitors monthly to the site. The firm recently joined the Eden Home Network which exposes its properties to millions of users from all over Africa, Europe, Asia, The Americas, Asia, and all the way to the Caribbean. Jamie says his team will keep working on updating listings, local real estate news, market trends, home styling, expert advice and useful guides on buying and selling.

UPDATE: The property agent/owner posted the description below on their site.

5 bed ALL ENSUITE town house in secure compund of only 4. Beautiful fully Fitted kitchen with attached breakfast area,large living room opening up into garden area, roomy master bedroom with jacuzi and balcony overlooking garden.En suite staff quarters ,generator, mature & functional garden.

Images from BuyRentKenya and Lamudi Kenya

Banks in Nigeria Launch Card-Less ATM Withdrawals

Business

Sam Wakoba

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January 28, 2014

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Banks in Nigeria Launch Card-Less ATM Withdrawals

Over 6,000 ATMs in Nigeria have introduced card-less ATM withdrawals allowing account owners to use Mobile money to withdraw cash from ATMs without the need for a bank account or bank card.

The card-less ATM withdrawals are acceptable by First Bank, GTBank, Stanbic Bank, United Bank for Africa and Zenith Bank and supports transactions between N1,000.00 – N20,000.00.

Powered by Interswitch Transnational’s Quickteller, the service aims at addressing challenges of mobile money adoption such as insufficient cash out locations thereby enabling those without bank accounts and bank cards have easier, more convenient and safer access to cash withdrawal.Frims at helping in the adoption of the card-less ATM withdrawal service include Pagatech, GTBank Mobile Money, Parkway, Cellulant and QikQik.

Speaking during the launch, Mrs Titilola Shogaolu, Chief Payment and Value Added Services Officer, Interswitch Nigeria, said the initiative is part of Interswitch Nigeria’s drive to deliver financial inclusion across the Nigerian populace.

“We firmly believe that Nigerians everywhere, with or without a bank account, deserve to have access to contemporary payment technologies designed to simplify financial access. We are optimistic that more MMOs will adopt the service by Q2, 2014. We are excited about the huge potential of this service and are glad that our infrastructure can be leveraged to deliver innovative services that will enable both individuals and corporate organizations achieve their goals,” she said.

Kenyan Bank Launches App to Allow Customers Bank their Cheques Online

Tech

Sam Wakoba

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January 28, 2014

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Kenyan Bank Launches App to Allow Customers Bank their Cheques Online

(L) John Gachora, Lena Karauri-Sitoyo and (R) David Kimura — John Gachora, Lena Karauri-Sitoyo and David Kimura

Kenya’s NIC Bank has launched “NOW” Banking platform which comprise of the NIC NOW Mobile app, online account opening, online cheque deposit and full online banking to give its customers on-the-go flexibility to access their accounts, save time and make more money.

The NIC NOW banking platform allows users do everyday transactions such as balance enquiry, M-PESA payments, bill payments and fund transfers while the online account opening capability allows users to open an NIC account without ever leaving the comfort of their home or office and deposit corporate cheques instantly deposited from office.

Speaking on the launch, John Gachora, NIC Bank Group Managing Director said,“This strategic shift is an answer to the emerging “NOW” generation that demands everything on their fingertips. Through this strategy, we aim to move all our products to the “NOW” platform, to ensure our customer needs are being met NOW!”

“Whether it be asset finance, stock trading, retail loans or SME banking, the aim of our MOVE to NOW strategy is to make them available NOW. We are confident that our customers will enjoy faster, efficient, NOW banking, “added Gachora.

Kenyan banks are known for their long queues and time wasting, the MOVE to NOW campaign by NIC Bank aims at saving time of its customers and make account opening simpler and cheque deposits friendly and convenient online or via a mobile phone on either Android, iOS, BlackBerry or Windows Phone 8 platforms. The bank also says users pay a flat rate fee and no hidden charges apply.

“There is a little question on the importance of physical branches in the Kenyan consumer’s mind. However, the same consumers today are demanding convenience with a growing preference for services that match their lifestyles. The NOW Banking concept is the Bank’s deliberate effort to make banking easy and convenient. The customer will be the one to choose when, how or where they wish to do their banking. And when they decide, it will be NOW”, added Mr. Gachora.

NIC joins the several Kenyan banks which have all launched applications to help their customers access their accounts remotely, however it’s cheque deposit system is brilliant.

Stark Contrast Between Nigeria & UAE Tax Regimes

Business

Brian Wafula

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January 28, 2014

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Stark Contrast Between Nigeria & UAE Tax Regimes

By Partners

This is not so much a tale of two cities but a tale of two countries, Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and their respective tax regimes. For when it comes to starting up a business overseas, fledgling companies need every financial edge they can muster, from top-notch business banking to simple and transparent taxation.

Nigeria’s tax system is complex and multi-layered, says the highly respected Oxford Business Group (OBG), which has historically resulted in wide-spread tax evasion. According to the Ministry of Finance, says the OBG, more than 75% of smaller enterprises fail to pay taxes, while revenues collected amount to 7% of GDP, a figure the Nigerian government has said it wants to see increased to 22% within two years.

However, citing figures from a report for the World Bank, published late last year by consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Nigeria was rated 170 out of 189 countries for ease of paying tax, down from 155 previously.

Taxation in most West African countries is a challenging policy issue, given the large size of the region’s informal sector. But, says the OBG, according to PwC, Nigeria has some relative strengths, including its “total tax rate”, defined as the sum of various taxes (such as corporate, labour, property and turnover taxes) expressed as a percent of profit for a hypothetical medium-sized business. By this measurement, Nigeria’s 33.8% was below both the global average of 43.1% and that of Africa, at almost 53%.

However, it fared poorly in other categories. One such example was the number of tax payments that the hypothetical company had to make, which stood at 47, well above international standards. But it was the time a business had to spend to meet its tax obligations – 956 hours annually as against the African average of 230 hours or the global average of 268 hours – that dragged Nigeria’s rating down.

The contrast with the UAE couldn’t be any starker. For this dynamic Persian Gulf state leads the world in the ease of paying taxes – yet again. The number of payments required in a year is only four while the time spent fulfilling tax obligations amounts to a mere 12 hours annually.

However, ease of paying taxes doesn’t mean the UAE grabs all it can from hard-pressed foreign-owned businesses. In fact, the opposite is the case, which perhaps helps to explain why setting up an overseas venture in the capital Abu Dhabi, or in Dubai, the largest metropolis in the UAE, is such an attractive proposition.

But there’s so much more to it than that, not least the free-zone business environment where red tape and bureaucracy is deliberately kept to an absolute minimum. There are yet more mouth-watering incentives on offer from the UAE government, such as zero personal or corporate tax rates; 100% foreign ownership allowed; 100% repatriation of capital and profits; no foreign exchange controls; purpose-built infrastructure options; and little or no restrictions on hiring and firing employees.

Finally, free zone businesses can be set up in a matter of days, not weeks or months as in so many other countries. Check out the OBG economic update on Nigeria here.

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Partner content is written by our friends from around the world.

Tony Elumelu Invests an Undisclosed Sum into Planet Labs, a US Satellite Firm to Revolutionize Agriculture in Africa

Startups

Sam Wakoba

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January 28, 2014

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Tony Elumelu Invests an Undisclosed Sum into Planet Labs, a US Satellite Firm to Revolutionize Agriculture in Africa

Tony Elumelu’s Heirs Holdings has invested an undisclosed amount in Planet Labs, a San Francisco-based satellite manufacturing technology firm, becoming the only African investor in the firm.

The firm, which manufactures satellite imaging technology aims to use the funds to help monitor Africa’s natural resources and agriculture.

Planet Labs’ co-founder, Robbie Schingler, said, “We are very excited to welcome Heirs Holdings to our team of investors and thank them for their support. The funding that they and other partners provide is vital for our development as a company and we are particularly pleased to be working with an African company, as our technology has the potential to support Africa’s development by monitoring and mapping the continent’s natural resources and agriculture.”

According to Elumelu, “As the only African investor in Planet Labs’ project, we are incredibly proud to have supported such an innovative and dynamic company, which has already achieved significant success. As part of our business philosophy of Africapitalism, we are committed to supporting entrepreneurs and start-ups to enable them to bring scale to their projects and we look forward to following Planet Labs’ achievements over the coming years.”

The US-based firm wants to introduce ultra-small satellites called “doves.” that circle the planet in low orbit and take higher resolution images than traditional satellites. The firm’s technology is also significantly cheaper to produce and deploy than existing technology. Moreover, as they orbit closer to the Earth, they are able to take higher-resolution images than traditional satellites.

In 2013, Planet Labs launched four satellites on three rockets, and delivered their first fleet of 28 satellites, which are expected to head into space shortly.

Egypt’s Housing & Development Bank Leads $7.5 Million Seed Round into NoCorner.com

Startups

Sam Wakoba

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January 28, 2014

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Egypt’s Housing & Development Bank Leads $7.5 Million Seed Round into NoCorner.com

Around nine leading Egyptian real estate firms in December 2013, came together to raise $7.5 million to build Egypt’s latest real estate site, NoCorner.com, the funds led by Housing and Development bank and existing partners said the funds will be used for talent acquisition, product development and brand promotion in a move to make NoCorner Egypt’s leading property site.

NoCorner will also represent the country’s biggest and most professional brokers and banks and Mortgage firms.

Abdalla Al Abiary, the CEO of Nocorner.com said the site had noticed the rise of Real Estate portals in Egypt and wanted to work with them but realized their focus was different. NoCorner therefore decided to go big on its own, with a number of its partners which include six top Egyptian real estate firms, two government owned companies and one bank owned firm.

In a statement Mr. Sherif Shams Eldeen, the Managing Director of Saudi Egyptian Construction Company said; “This is an unprecedented opportunity for the industry to own a new and strategic marketing channel. We cannot afford relying on Media and Technology companies to serve our Digital Marketing needs, it was very clear how prices were raised aggressively in the past 12 months, and it seems that these companies are not serving our best interests”.

VAT Legislation Killing Kenya’s PC & Internet Market

Tech

Sam Wakoba

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January 28, 2014

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VAT Legislation Killing Kenya’s PC & Internet Market

This is a story we hate listening to. Device manufacturers and iHub Nairobi came out against the then proposed VAT Bill on PCs in Kenya but some tax-hungry government mouthpieces said tax wouldn’t affect anything, not even mobile phone and PC penetration nor Internet uptake.

However, according to a new forecast by International Data Corporation IDC, PC shipments to Kenya were the lowest compared to the rest of East Africa countries. The region’s PC shipments increased 3.0% year on year in the final quarter of 2013 to total 140,251 units but Uganda, Tanzania, and Ethiopia took the lead, as Kenya struggles with the new VAT legislation.

This is not just 2013, IDC sees a problematic 2014 due to the recent freeze of government freeze all purchases of computer equipment to cut costs among the public sector.

“As forecast by IDC, the new VAT law had a debilitating impact on the PC market in Kenya, with shipments contracting 10.7% year on year in Q4 2013,” says James Mutua, a research analyst at IDC East Africa. “The bill’s introduction, which sees a levy of 16% added to all ICT products, resulted in a huge loss of business due to logistical issues caused by the hasty implementation of the new regulations by the Kenya Revenue Authority. However, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Uganda all performed much more strongly, recording impressive year-on-year PC shipment growth of 31.7%, 18.7%, and 20.1%, respectively, thanks to an improved and continually expanding business environment and increased consumer spending.”

Out of the sum shipped, desktop PCs suffered the most in East Africa, falling to 48,652 units, down 3.3% year on year. However, IDC expects the shipment of the ‘all-in-one’ (AIO) desktop PCs in the region’s to increase in 2014.

According to IDC, portable PC shipments to the region were up 6.8% year on year in Q4 2013 to 91,599 units. However, the growth is still low than expected due to Samsung’s change of tact to reduce its shipments into East Africa and focus on high-margin PC products, smartphones, and tablets. IDC says the change of tact was due to cutthroat competition in the consumer portable PC segment, where margins are very low and consumers are increasingly shifting to tablets.

Kenya’s CCK also reported a declining Internet subscriber base in the country, down to 11.6 million in the quarter ending September 2013 up from 12.4 million in June 2013. The body attributed the 6.1 per cent decline, the first-ever negative growth recorded in the local Internet market to the revision of the national population figure from 39.5 million to 40.7 million but in real sense, this would have meant more internet users, but all can see where the problem is; the less the hardware-phones, desktop PCs, Laptops, tablets etc the less access we have to internet.

The New ICT Authority’s Board of Directors to Market Kenya as an International ICT Hub

Tech

Sam Wakoba

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January 28, 2014

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The New ICT Authority’s Board of Directors to Market Kenya as an International ICT Hub

Since the launch of M-Pesa in Kenya in 2007, Kenya has entered the world map as an innovation hub, attracting eyes of international investors and media. The announcement of Konza city, a tech city funded by the government and the spread of innovation hubs led by iHub Nairobi and some of their innovations have demonstrated that Africa is no longer the hopeless continent.

In the same light, the Kenyan government though its ICT ministry has launched a new body and appointed its directors to sprearhead ICT innovation and development in the country.

Dr. Fred Matiang’i, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology has appointed six members to ICT Authority Board , an amalgamation of the former KICT Board, Department of e-Government and the Government Information Technology Services (GITS) in a bid to stir innovation and oversee ICT development in the country.

Set to work for three years, the six directors include include Prof Timothy Waema, Ms Esther Kibeere, Ms Bertha Dena, Prof Elijah Omwenga, Mr David Mugo, Mr Ugas Mohamed. Their chairman Mr Edwin Ochieng Yinda was appointed late last year by the President.

For basics, the ICT Authority board is in charge of everything ICT in the country and is expected to market Kenya as a local and international ICT hub via coordination, investment and policy implementation in Government of Kenya ICT institutions. The body is also mandated to enforce ICT standards in Government and enhance the supervision of its electronic communications.

The ICT Authority’s first meal on the plate is a plan to re-brand current bogus Government websites beginning with its own, up Government cyber security and help build capacity in ICT.

Earlier, in a speech Dr. Matiang’i had said the new ICT Authority Board would comprise a non-executive chair and ten members and will ensure continuity of the ICT sector’s decade long achievements.

“I wish to note that in the last seven years, significant strides have been made in the ICT sector and ICT Authority will ensure continuity. These include Digital Inclusion, creation of Local Digital Content, Public Sector Shared Services, e-Applications and the development of BPO/ITES sector capacity. We are on track with the National Backbone fibre-optic cable infrastructural development,” he said.

The authority is also at the centre of enhancing citizens’ participation in decision making on critical public issues such as environmental protection by making data open and accessible to all.

The ICT Authority is a State Corporation under the Ministry of Information Communication and Technology and was established in August 2013 comprising of The Kenya Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Board, the directorate of e-Government and the Government Information Technology Services (GITS) department.

According to a statement, the body will be in charge of setting and enforcing ICT standards & guidelines in the public service, deploy and manage all ICT staff in the public service; facilitate and regulate the design, implementation and use of ICTs in the public service; promote ICT literacy and capacity; promote e-Government services; facilitate optimal electronic, electronic form, electronic record and equipment use in public service; promote ICT Innovation and enterprise; establish, develop & Maintain secure ICT Infrastructure & Systems , supervise the design, development and implementation of critical ICT Projects across the Public Service and implement & manage the Kenya National Spatial Data Initiative

Tutor.ng, an Online Tutoring Platform With a marketplace for Teachers Launches to Disrupt Online Learning in Africa

Startups

Sam Wakoba

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January 27, 2014

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Tutor.ng, an Online Tutoring Platform With a marketplace for Teachers Launches to Disrupt Online Learning in Africa

With over 170 million people and 50 million accessing Internet, business offline doesn’t make sense especially shopping, education and food delivery.

Tutor.NG, an Online Tutoring Platform providing tools and resources for engaging and teaching learners anytime, anywhere has launched to provide the technology for tutors to transform any environment into a learning space. The platform provides a virtual classroom, functionality to create and deliver courses with assessment tools, ability to work with different document formats – doc, pdf, ppt., content sharing features, live interactive sessions and a payment system that helps you monetize your content.

According to Peter Ogedengbe, Co-Founder Tutor.NG, “We are extremely excited to launch this platform, online tutoring solves the problem of unemployment where smart and versatile graduates can become self employed by teaching online and make a living for themselves, also with the increase in internet availability and affordable computer/mobile devices, student and teachers can now do more meaningful things with their data package”

Ogedengbe says Tutor.ng is a good solution to illiteracy and will help promote online learning in Nigeria by giving users the opportunity to use their data on more productive things. Students/ learners also have the opportunity to learn anything which will help them understand the class taught courses better. Teachers can use the platform to conduct online meetings, deliver lectures and trainings, the platform also provide tools to collaborate from different locations.

Tutor is also open to large organizations and multiple teachers and instructors can log in, schedule, and deliver online classes in real time to unlimited number of students across the world, on your personalized e-learning space. Teachers will be able to monetize their knowledge and content on the platform’s marketplace and they can also use the platform to reach thousands more students than they previously did. Content is secured and only owners have access and control to their content.

He says that as the Nigerian economy is evolving and education sector going through a reformation stage with emphasis on technological needs, it has become imperative to build systems robust enough to support these developments. Some of these changes require technical awareness, training and other education support services in educational sector and we have found a way to help build on that foundation.

Some of the features to create effective learning are:

White Board: the tutor can use the whiteboard to illustrate, annotate and demonstrate key points

Live Video Sessions: interact face-to-face online with your student with standard collaboration tools

Live Session Recording: videos and other activities during the live session can be recorded to be watched at a later time by users.

Real Time Virtual Classroom: Users from remote locations can participate in real time in a virtual classroom

Content Creation: you can upload and publish courseware in any format PowerPoint, PDFs, Documents, and Videos

User Management: manage learners and multiple teachers to deliver and schedule classes

The platform has expert tutors and courses one needs to enhance learning and improve student performance and knowledge. Courses vary, and include bead making, cooking traditional recipes, creative writing, fashion design, business management and just about anything.

Tutor.ng is a product of Exolve Technologies Limited – a leading Information Technology company with core competencies in Learning Management Systems, Application Development (Mobile & Web), Enterprise Applications, Interactive Multimedia and Social Communities.

Euronews Partners With Congo Brazzaville’s Tele Congo to Launch in Africa as Africanews

Sam Wakoba

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January 27, 2014

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Euronews Partners With Congo Brazzaville’s Tele Congo to Launch in Africa as Africanews

Europe’s Euronews has signed a partnership with Congo Brazzaville’s Tele Congo to launch in Africa in 18 months time promising to bring to Africa its unique know-how as a multi-lingual and multi-cultural news channel, broadcasting around the clock in both English and French and Swahili.

Michael Peters, CEO of Euronews S.A., and Jean Obambi, Managing Director of Télé Congo on Saturday 25 January in Congo Brazzaville signed a cooperation agreement for the launch of of Africanews which will launch in the summer of 2015

Euronews, the top news channel in Europe produces 13 different language versions, around the clock and has over 400 journalists of 30 nationalities, and reach 400 million households in 155 countries.

According to Peters, “The company’s multinational shareholder base gives the channel the independence and the means to inform viewers without promoting any particular viewpoint. Its global success in terms of viewer numbers is proof of the channel’s professionalism and its ability to integrate diversity.”

He said the firm has the experience, reputation and the resources necessary to convey the message with respect of different cultures and values. The channel aims to give Africa its rightful place in the world of news and to give the world the latest news from the continent which is itself a news market, in the same way and at the same level as other regions of the world.

Euronews has been working with Stephen Smith, a recognized specialist on Africa and a former Africa Editor for two French daily newspapers Libération and Le Monde.

“The public television channel Télé Congo decided to join us in this adventure. Our teams will now begin the preliminary studies and organisational work to be ready to launch Africanews in 2015. We take great pride in announcing this emblematic cooperation project and we are eager to launch this new player on the world media scene,” he added.

Africanews will produce news content focused on Pan-African news, for its television channel and related products, both linear and non linear and will have a team of 40 professional journalists and technicians based in Brazzaville.

Starting with linear formats, offering TV broadcasts 24/7, live streaming of the channel on the internet, and then with live mobile applications and perhaps digital radio programmes. The non-linear formats will start right away on Africanews.com and then gradually move into specific mobile applications, following the latest trends in media consumption on the continent.

Africanews will be accessible to a large number of people on the continent thanks to rebroadcasts by local partners and operators, with the support and expertise of Euronews’ international teams.

Image credits:Facebook.com/Europenews

Beyonce and Jay Z’s ‘Drunk in Love’ Grammy performance

Tech

Milcah Lukhanyu

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January 27, 2014

0

Beyonce and Jay Z’s ‘Drunk in Love’ Grammy performance

Beyonce and Jay Z just killed it on the Grammys stage starting things off with the biggest bang ever! They kicked off the Grammys 2014 inside L.A.’s Staples Center Sunday, Jan. 26 with a performance that’ll be difficult to top

The duo opened the 56th Annual Grammy Awards Sunday night with their song Drunk in Love, off of Beyonce’s latest eponymous album. The performance was sexy, to say the least

Beyonce and Jay Z each have 17 Grammys to their names. Jay Z is nominated for nine Grammys this year for his album, including Best Rap Album.

Beyonce’s “visual album” — which generated major headlines for being released without any warning or promotional marketing in December — was not eligible for the 2014 Grammys because it was released after the September cut-off date.

FACT: Jay Z and Beyoncé are tied in their Grammy wins, each with 17 trophies at home.

So here’s the video of the opening performance, what do you think of it…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDn1iCjd-Oo

Good luck to the rest of the performers — it’s hard to top the King and Queen.

Bardo Group Launches in Kenya to Disrupt Africa’s Online Payment Services

Startups

Sam Wakoba

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January 27, 2014

0

Bardo Group Launches in Kenya to Disrupt Africa’s Online Payment Services

Founded in 2001 in France and later shifting base to Mauritius, Bardo Group, an online payment service and credit card payments processor for online merchants and call centres has launched its operations in Kenya in a quest to disrupt the countries growing online payments sector amidst mobile money.

The firm will now have offices in Nairobi, adding to its London, Hong Kong, Panama and Mauritius offices. The firm is Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCIDSS) compliant to ensure high processing standard and data security and is registered with VISA and MASTERCARD as IPSP and is promising first class services to its clients in Kenya ad across the continent.

Bardo Nairobi will be run by Laurent Alonzo, who is the Group’s CEO and Chairman. Alonzo boasts of over 17 years of experience in the ecommerce and online processing business. The CEO has relocated to the country with his COO to head Bardo Group operations and move in on their competitors by offering best processing options and support to their clients, the firm says.

The firm, which also has operations in China says it has worked with thousands of merchants from various industries located in different countries around the world and has implemented solutions to its merchants and to maintain good relations with both merchants and acquiring partners in its 13-year history.

The firm says it shifted base from France to Mauritius due to the offshore processing capabilities through Mauritian Acquiring Banks and it used it as a market entry intor Africa. Apart from the CEO and COO Bardo Group relocating to Nairobi, the firm is recruiting and training staff in Kenya to head its sales, accounting and technical teams.

Its entry poses a great threat to our friends at 3G Direct Pay, PesaPal, JamboPay among others.

Mobile Web East Africa Rebrands to Mobile East Africa | Bringing World’s Most Influential Mobile Expert for Special Address

Mobile

Sam Wakoba

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January 27, 2014

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Mobile Web East Africa Rebrands to Mobile East Africa | Bringing World’s Most Influential Mobile Expert for Special Address

Mobile Web East Africa is now Mobile East Africa and is bringin world-renowned mobile expert Tomi Ahonen to deliver a special address on February 12^th& 13^th as well as a dedicated full-day workshop on Friday, February 14^th at the Mobile East Africa Conference 2014.

Considered by many to be the best speaker on mobile in the world, Mr. Ahonen is travelling from Hong Kong to Kenya for the first time and will be sharing his views on the future of mobile and digital. Forbes ranked him as “the world’s most influential expert in mobile” in 2012; Mr. Ahonen has spoken at more than 300 conferences in over 60 countries and his cumulative audience totals over 100,000 people.He is the author of 12 bestselling books on mobile and digital communities and consults to Fortune 500 companies around the globe, helping to define their mobile strategies.

Mobile East Africa 2014 is taking place atthe Southern Sun Mayfair Nairobi, Kenya on February 12^th through14^th.The event will kick off with a ‘Leaders of Mobile‘ keynote session featuring executives from IBM, SAP, Airtel and Safaricom. Former Permanent Secretary of Information and Communication Dr. Bitange Ndemo will also be joining the panel, which will analyse the future progress of the mobile ecosystem in East Africa.

Other speakers, both local and international will come from Jumia Kenya, iHub, Virtual City, Bongo Live, Ghafla!,Smile Tanzania, Bozza, Every1Mobile, FrontlineSMS, Praekelt, Sponge, KINU Innovation Hub and Zilojo. Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Omidyar Network, MTech, and Google among others.

8 Movies Every Geek Should Watch (And Love)

Tech

Milcah Lukhanyu

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January 27, 2014

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8 Movies Every Geek Should Watch (And Love)

Without meaning to sound rude, you should probably have watched Star Wars by now. I’d hasten to add the Alien quadrilogy, Predator and 2001: A Space Odyssey to that list as well – but those are the obvious ones.
Today’s Stuff to Watch will focus on the geekiest of geeky films. These are films that your average tech lovin’ computer whiz should love – and they’re not all dystopian sci-fi movies either.

Office Space (1999)

One of the funniest films of the decade, Office Space is a must-see if you spend much of your day in a cubicle (work, not toilets) filing away reports and fighting the office photocopier. This film is for anyone who has ever worked a soulless office job, reluctantly given up weekends to a boss they hate or those with a fondness for staplers. Everything from the plot to the humour to the hip hop soundtrack is perfect. It was funny in 1999 and it will still be very funny (and probably more relevant than ever) in 2029.

Cube (1997)

I’m currently waiting till I forget enough of Cube to watch and really enjoy it again. Cube is one of those movies that takes the viewer on quite a journey without actually changing location all that much. The film kicks off with seven complete strangers meeting for the first time inside a giant cube. The cube is a labyrinth containing thousands of rooms, some seemingly harmless and others full of deadly traps. And so begins a roller coaster ride of a movie that maintains the perfect balance of hope and dejection all the way to the bitter end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dYirAi6TSYI

WarGames (1983)

In 1983, home computing had really started to take off and at the same time computer-related films and television shows started to enjoy mainstream success. Arguably one of the finest “hacker” films to date, WarGames is a must-watch for any geek. When David, a lowly hacker, gains access to a government computer he is asked a question – “do you want to play a game?”. What David doesn’t realise is that the answer he provides has the power to shape history and destroy the planet – 80s style. I found the full version of this movie floating around on YouTube, which is the second video below (with the first being the trailer).

Blade Runner (1982)

Blade Runner is easily one of the most celebrated sci-fi films of all time, and there’s a very good reason for that. Directed by Ridley Scott and starring (a young-ish) Harrison Ford, our protagonist – a blade runner – must hunt down and kill 4 replicants who have returned to earth after attacking a ship in space. Blade Runner isn’t just a special film for the plot and direction but also the beautiful cyberpunk setting and the fact that there is so much happening over the two-hour runtime that you’ll probably want to watch it a dozen times to get all you can from it.

THX 1138 (1971)

Quite possibly George Lucas’ best film (yeah I went there), THX 1138 is a dystopian tale of love in an authoritarian world run by robots and CCTV. I really must add that if you can, try to find the original 1979 cut rather than the one that Lucas released a few years ago.
The reason? Well the latest DVD release has been defaced with thoroughly unnecessary CGI which really detracts from the gritty atmosphere generated in the original. Why oh why must Lucas continue to ruin his own films and franchises I will never know, but you have been warned!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dns4zUKfskg

Dark City (1998)

In a city that never sees sunlight, one man starts to question his past, his memories and his very existence. As citizens go about their daily lives, unbeknownst to them a sinister event is taking place each night. The city is controlled, shaped and designed by mysterious beings with incredible telekinetic abilities. But when something goes wrong behind the scenes, John Murdoch can suddenly see the world for what it is – but can he convince others?

Moon (2009)

Moon is a beautifully constructed piece of cinema with gorgeous cinematography and the perfect soundtrack to boot. More importantly, it’s a film that is not over-reliant on CGI or convoluted back story and it features Kevin Spacey playing the role of a computerized robotic arm. In the not-so-distant future man’s energy demands have been satiated thanks to Lunar Industries and their operations on the moon. Earth is now completely reliant on helium-3, a clean energy source that must be harvested on the moon. The film tells the tale of Sam, the only human stationed on the base, as he approaches the end of his three-year contract.

They Live (1988)

What better way to finish off a geeky list of films with a John Carpenter classic? There’s a wealth of Carpenter films to choose from – The Thing & Escape from New York are two that spring to mind – but I think I enjoyed They Live more than I did the others. The plot is fairly simple – man finds sunglasses that reveal a terrifying secret about the world he is living in. The rest is your average John Carpenter action-cum-sci-fi flick, with the usual lashings of Carpenter’s self-composed 80’s keyboard score. Marvelous.

Conclusion: These are only my personal picks, and you’ve probably got your own favorites. If you think I’m wrong, that I’ve missed an absolute blinder or you’ve got a better list to share then please add your thoughts in the comments section below and help your fellow movie fans out!

Do you love these films? Do you have any other recommendations? Enlighten us all in the comments, below!

South Africa Launches World’s First Social Franchising Accelerator

Startups

Sam Wakoba

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January 27, 2014

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South Africa Launches World’s First Social Franchising Accelerator

The world’s first social franchising accelerator is set to be launched in South Africa this January, to accelerate innovation for social ventures to help meet the needs of the poor and vulnerable.

The accelerator is funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, the UCT Graduate School of Business Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the International Centre for Social Franchising (ICSF), and Franchising Plus.

The hub will help replicate solutions from one region to another and embraces former President Bill Clinton’s words that “Nearly every problem has been solved by someone, somewhere. The frustration is that we can’t seem to replicate (those solutions) anywhere else”.

Te Social Franchising Accelerator will initially incubate three South African social impact organisations under its wing and it has already called for its first round of nominations.

According to Dan Berelowitz, CEO of the International Centre for Social Franchising, the Accelerator has the potential to lead the way globally in terms of developing hands on expertise related to social franchising, and learning whether such support can help to scale social innovations dramatically.

“By combining the best of the private sector and social sector practice on two continents, we are well-placed to ensure that positive social impacts can be multiplied so that greater numbers of people benefit from models that already working well,” said Anita du Toit, Franchise Consultant and Partner at Franchising Plus.

Social franchising scales up projects that are helping to solve social and environmental problems and uses tools of commercial franchising, which have proven to be highly effective in growing businesses, creating local ownership and economic wealth, the idea behind the Accelerator is to take successful social impact organisations, whether they be NGOs or social enterprises and create the systems and support necessary to replicate these effectively.
Dr François Bonnici, Director of the Bertha Centre at UCT says that instead of reinventing the wheel and wasting scarce resources, social franchising enables successful social impact organisations to reach greater numbers of beneficiaries far more quickly than would be possible if they were to expand on a wholly owned or branched basis as it makes use of social franchisees’ resources and local knowledge.

In its first year, the Accelerator will work with the three pilot organisations, create sustainable social franchise systems and then launch pilot franchisees in three new geographical locations for each, enabling them to collectively reach at least 500 new beneficiaries within this time.

“These numbers are based on realistic projections grounded in the experience of ICSF, but we also know that the impact of social franchising can be exponential over time,” said Dr Bonnici.

Mumbai’s Child Line India which was founded 14 years ago, has been replicated 415 times and now has operations in 172 cities across India and has received over 21 million calls from vulnerable children.

In addition to offering one-to-one in-depth franchising support, the Accelerator will also offer one-to-many training, funding and mentoring to create a comprehensive package of support to enable impact enterprises to franchise and scale up their social impact sustainably.

Learning from this programme will be captured and replicated in a practical way in other contexts and countries around the world by the ICSF.

“We know that there are already a great number of social impact organisations in South Africa making a tremendous contribution and many of them are ripe for expansion, but the lack of expertise and support meant that there was nowhere to signpost them too,” said Bonnici. “We hope that the Accelerator can start to change this. Working smarter we hope to find ways to accelerate the impact of those whose work really counts and benefit ever greater numbers of people in need.”

To nominate a social impact organisation that is primed to scale up through franchising, please contact: berthacentre@gsb.uct.ac.za by 15 February 2014.

3 Africans Nominated for the Oscars

Tech

Milcah Lukhanyu

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January 27, 2014

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Africa has made a strong showing at this year’s Academy Awards. The brutal depiction of slavery in 12 Years a Slave secured a best actress nomination for Kenyan actress and director Lupita Nyong’o, who made her US debut in the film. Nyong’o says she feels honored to have been part the powerful movie, which received a total of nine nominations.

British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, who was born to Nigerian parents, received a best-actor nomination for his leading role in the film. Ejiofor’s performance has been described as extraordinary by critics.

Somali-born newcomer Barkhad Abdi received a best supporting actor nomination for his role as a pirate in Captain Phillips. The role has pushed him into the spotlight, but Abdi is just hoping the movie sheds some light on the circumstances that drive Somali pirates. Àbdi hopes his success will inspire others to pursue their dreams.

“For the Somali-Americans and for just all young men, you follow your heart and you follow your dream and it should work out somehow.”

Captain Phillips and 12 Years a Slave are among the nine contenders for the best picture award. The nominations were announced Thursday by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Oscar winners will be handed in Los Angeles on the night of March 2.

Google And Samsung In A 10 -Year Agreement

Business

Caroline Vutagwa

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January 27, 2014

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Google And Samsung In A 10 -Year Agreement

Search engine giant Google and leading electronics manufacturer Samsung have today announced their 10-year patent deal.

The financial bit has not been revealed, but the company say that this step should reduce the likely hood of the having legal disputes (like the one Samsung and Apple are facing) as well as enhancing future partnerships; which they are already in.

The means that in future we will be seeing more of Samsung in Google’s key projects; and will take the position of a hardware partner.

Kenya’s SokoText Raises $50,000 to Make Food Insecurity in Africa History

Startups

Sam Wakoba

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January 27, 2014

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Kenya’s SokoText Raises $50,000 to Make Food Insecurity in Africa History

Over 800 million people lack enough food in the world but over 60% of these live in Asia and Africa, the Food and Agriculture Organization FAO reports that 16 countries of the 22 most undernourished countries are in Africa with an undernourishment prevalence rate of over 35%.

Worse still Africa’s population is expected to hit 2 billion in 2050. But just who will feed all these mouths?

Kenya’s SokoText, an SMS based food pre-odering application aims to connect food vendors and retailers in the urban informal settlements. The startup has received ($8,000) Ksh 730,000 from the London School of economics and equity-free seed capital $40,000 ( Ksh3.5million) from Start-UP Chile in a quest to make food insecurity in Africa history.

SokoText’s unique idea got them a place at the world renowned Start-Up Chile, a program created by the Chilean Government, that seeks to attract early stage, high-potential entrepreneurs from around the globe to bootstrap their startups in Chile and use it as a platform to go global. The team will also have a temporary 1-year visa to develop their projects for six months, along with access to Chile’s social and capital networks. The startup was also among the the finalists at the 2013 Hult prize, the world’s largest social enterprise competition.
Aimed at solving Africa’s food insecurity SokoText was founded by Suraj Gudka, Sofia Zab, Carolina Medina, Verena Liedgens and Jonah Brotman in 2013 specifically for small-scale vegetable retailers.

The platform gives small-scale vegetable sellers and kiosk owners ability to pre-order food stuff a day earlier before they go to sell them than buying them every morning.

“A vegetable or food vendor puts an order with us in the evening via an SMS text, stating what the exact amount of food they want. We then buy for them their orders and they come to pick them from us instead of going to the market the following morning. Suraj Gudka told TechMoran.

“We won’t be a marketplace for farmers to sell their produce on SokoText. We will mantain buying from farmers then selling to our subscribers. In future we shall go deep into rural areas where food is cheaper and buy from the farmers there,” said Gudka.

SokoText aims at buying food produce in bulk food directly from farmers hence eliminating middlemen and reducing the time and money the Mama Mboga’s spend to get their stock. The Mama Mboga’s or vegetable sellers will instead just pre-order what they need and then pick at at various Soko Kiosks set to be distributed in Nairobi’s slums where people do their food shopping everyday as they do not have storage facilities to store food for a whole week or month unlike their middle class counterparts who have fridges and deep freezers.

The start up has been running a pilot project in Mathare and is at the moment building a Kiosk to serve the Mama Mbogas. SokoText aims integrate all the urban slums in Kenya to the system by the end of the year. SokoText aims to change lives than just win awards.The funds will go along way in helping the start up set up Soko shops in different locations so as to serve a larger customer base and help in expanding and making better the start ups operations.

Nigeria’s RLG Communications Launches Smartphone Assembly Plant

Mobile

Sam Wakoba

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January 27, 2014

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Nigeria’s RLG Communications Launches Smartphone Assembly Plant

Mobile in Africa is huge and will continue to grow according to a report by International Data Corporation (IDC) which projects the African smartphone market to double in volume over the next four years and account for close to a third of all handset shipments to the continent by 2017.

A Nigerian device firm, RLG Communications Nigeria Limited has said it will launch the first ever mobile phone and computers assembly plant in Nigeria on January 30th, 2014 in Ilesha Osun state ina move that will make phones even affordable and as a source of employment to the masses.

Dubbed the “RLG & ADULAWO TECH CITY” the plant will be launched as a government private partnership and is designed to assemble a minimum of 5,000 mobile phones and 2,500 laptops per day and as well act as a training center, research & development (R & D) lab. The facility will also have a Green Technology – Biogas Plant to provide cooking gas for the staff quarter and also the capacity to generate 3KVA electricity which can be used for lighting.

The facility has the capacity to employ 10,000 people directly and indirectly. The first set of employees are the beneficiaries of Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme Technology (OYESTECH), a programme set up by the state government to equip youths in ICT and it was implemented by the RLG training institute. A total number of 20,000 beneficiaries will be trained on this programme. The first set of 5,000 beneficiaries have graduated already.

DStv & Simba Colt to Give Away Cars, Free Subscription in a Three Month Promo

Business

Sam Wakoba

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January 26, 2014

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995308_717935851563958_1109670826_n DStv Kenya and Simba Colt Motors will be giving away at least three Mitsubishi Lancer saloon cars or 12 months DStv subscription t in an initiative dubbed “Subscribe Ushinde”

Aimed at rewarding DStv customers every time they reconnect before their due date, the customer reward promo started January 15^th and runs till March 31^st March 2014. During the period, Anyone who buys a Mitsubishi Lancer from Simba Colt motors gets a DStv standard decoder including one month free subscription on the DStv Compact bouquet.

Open for participation to all DStv subscribers, the promo will give away 3 cars, over 40 free subscriptions and 150 other fantastic prizes to winners. Among the prizes also include 13 High Definition PVR Decoders and 91 Walkas.

According to Danny Mucira, the General Manager of MultiChoice Kenya, “Creating meaningful value for our DStv subscribers is always our priority and MultiChoice has therefore started another loyalty incentive programme to reward subscribers for staying connected to DStv for three months and above.”

7327_XItPO5mw_o Mucira added that MultiChoice is committed to continuously provide innovative and unique home television services which are innovative and exciting and keep viewers at the cutting edge of pay television. Recently the firm introducrd new programming and channels and new technology such as the Explora PVR, High Definition, DStv Mobile and the Drifta.

The firm, which is partly owned by the Kenyan government is at the forefront of developing local programming and enhancing education and bridging the digital divide in the most underprivileged schools on the continent.

Its partnership with Simba Colt shows how keen it is at rewarding its subscribers who are the core of its business. Mitsubishi Lancer is a brand many Kenyans want too because of its great performance.

Mr Dinesh Kotecha, the Executive Director of Simba Colt said,“It has been very active in Motorsports since 1974 when our very own Kenyan Driver the Late Joginder Singh won the East African Safari Rally in a Mitsubishi Lancer GSR.”

Meet 15 Year-Old Terkura Ephraim | Founder of The Imongo Social Network

Startups

Sam Wakoba

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January 26, 2014

1

Meet 15 Year-Old Terkura Ephraim | Founder of The Imongo Social Network

Founded in February 2012, The Imongo is a social discovery, social entertainment, and social informative network created by 15 year-old, Terkura Ephraim Unongo. Terkura is the single founder of Imongo, though he gets support at times from friends to continue developing his network.

The Imongo Network user base, with a few thousands of users is growing steadily. Apart from just connecting with friends and family, users can play games, catch up with news or read the various blogs and access the many third-party apps available on the site.

TechMoran caught up with him and this is what he told us about his plans for this year and this decade. To find more about which games are on the social network just sign up for an account in a couple of minutes.

What does the name Imongo mean?

The name Imongo is derived from the Tiv native dialect of the Tiv tribe of North Central/Middle Belt Nigeria, in its simplest translation, Imongo means gathering, which I feel is a name that suits my goal the most, to create an international gathering of people from various walks of life coming together to mingle, stay informed, be entertained and share only what they want to share, and how they want to share it with the people in their lives and new people.

What inspired you to launch The Imongo?

I was inspired to create The Imongo because of my dream to change the world, and to show the world that an African who is a
Nigerian is worthy of competing with, I want to bring positive development to my nation Nigeria, Africa, and the world at large,
Imongo is my first way that I have begun to realize this dream, I want it to be written in the books of history that an African who is a
Nigerian made an impact in this digital age, by creating a social utility that competed with western created digital age wonders such as
Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, etc.

Why launch a social network when there are so many already?

There are so many social networks, but yet they are so few successful social networks in terms of popularity, users, and activity. I have
launched The Imongo to become one of if not the most successful social networks on the web, created by a Nigerian.

Tell us more about yourself?

My full name is Terkura Ephraim Unongo, I am a 15 year old teenager and 9th grade student of Hillcrest School. I am a Roman Catholic. I speak Tiv, English, a little Hausa, and a little French, I enjoy listening to music, playing guitar, watching movies, playing video games, and talking with and meeting with people. I enjoy a lot of things basically. I want to become a Medical Doctor, Computer
Programmer, Businessman, and then hopefully go into politics to become the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the future.

What is your business model?

We make money via advertising . At the moment our audience is in Africa and Asia, then the rest of the
world. I am targeting to get most of Imongo’s members between the ages of 15 and 35 in Nigeria, then the rest of Africa, then we will expand to the Middle East, the rest of Asia, and beyond. I believe there are many firms that want a perfect platform to reach this age group.

How has the going been since launching in 2012?

We have been good. Our main challenge now is people, committed people, we are still very young and new and to grow exponentially to our full potential, we need committed people, people working on content, advertising and marketing, etc. but we are working on recruiting committed people that share similar views with us of making a difference in the world, and God willing, people that will work with us and work alongside us will come and join our team as we work towards the realization of Imongo’s dream of being at the top.

Do you have any affiliations or partnerships locally or on an international level?

Currently Imongo has no official partnerships, except for our platform that Imongo is built on, but we are working on getting partners, and affiliates but currently we are not there yet.

Who is your local competition?

Imongo a social discovery, social entertainment, and social informative social network sees no local competition in the categories
which we are categorized in currently, but in terms of website popularity, we have many competitors in Nigeria.

What makes you unique?

Imongo is unique from competitors because what we are and what we are trying to be is a 3 in 1 social network that has social discovery for meeting new people, social entertainment, and social information for being entertained with music, videos, and staying updated with the latest news, trending topics, etc.

Where do you expect your business to be in five years?

Five years from now I see Imongo available in Chinese & Arabic, hopefully Hausa, Ibo, Yoruba, Tiv, Afrikaans, Swahili, French, Russian, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Japanese, and other languages, I see Imongo expanded to the whole of Africa, the U.K., & the U.S., at least, maybe Russia, China, Japan, and the Middle East, I see Imongo with approximately 100 million users worldwide. We want to be in every country in Africa, move into the Middle East, Asia, and the rest of the world.

Are you bootstrapping or you are seed funded?

Imongo has received funding for initial set up, and we are now working
on getting investments that will close the gap dramatically between
where we are and where we would like to be.

One word to boys/ girls your age who want to start their own businesses?

I encourage all boys and girls out there thinking of tech business or any kind of legitimate business to go for it, it doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from, money isn’t the major thing that drives success, passion, motivation, hardword, determination, and faith is what makes things happen. Don’t be afraid to dream, ignore all those telling you that you can’t do it, take criticism in but never let opinions bring you down, plan, outline your steps and then implement them. Never give up, for our greatest weakness lies in giving up, keepon trying. Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement, be confident, but don’t be arrogant. Fall in love with your work and your dream, and with your efforts towards the realization of your dream.

Safaricom Launches An Obamacare-Like Service Targeting 38 Million Kenyans With Affordable Medical Cover

Startups

Sam Wakoba

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January 25, 2014

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Safaricom Launches An Obamacare-Like Service Targeting 38 Million Kenyans With Affordable Medical Cover

Health statistics in Kenya show that only 3 percent of the population has health insurance leaving out a whopping 38.8 million without health insurance.

The good news is that some firms have come together to help end this. Safaricom Ltd, Britam and Changamka last week unveiled an affordable micro-insurance health service to the masses in a move to make medical insurance accessible and affordable to everyone.

Dubbed Linda Jamii, the Obamacare-like service is an affordable and comprehensive medical cover that will provide a family premium cover at an annual subscription of around $140 (Ksh 12, 000) for a cover valued at $3,400 (Ksh 290,000.) Linda Jamii is both an in and out patient service and covers maternity, dental, optical, a hospitalisation income replacement benefit of Kshs.500 per day to take care of a patient’s lost income while in hospital and in the case of death, funeral expenses.

Users will use M-Pesa to save and pay their premiums in installments. Users can start uisng the cover as long as they accumulate $70 (Ksh 6,000) in contributions. Open for persons 18-75 years and kids under 18 covered via their parents, the service is available in all Safaricom shops and M-Pesa agents countrywide, Uchumi Supermarkets and Postbank outlets countrywide.

On the public launch Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore said, “Kenya has for a long time been accused of lacking a culture of adopting insurance. However we believe that the real reason that 97% of the population caters for their medical expenses out of pocket, is because of the cost of insurance premiums. Therefore, Linda Jamii is to medical insurance what M-PESA is to financial services. They both promote inclusion.

If you have been keen, you have probably heard of Linda Jamii already. It’s not new as it was launched last year November 2013. But that’s not a big deal, who doesn’t want to push their services to the people who need them most? Linda Jamii was conceived by Changamka which recognized that many Kenyans were being locked out of the medical cover bracket by the cost of the medical packages on offer.

“The vast majority of the Kenyan population does not have a steady income. Subsequently, they cannot afford the premiums of existing medical covers which in essence leaves quality healthcare as the reserve of a privileged few. The introduction of Linda Jamii is therefore meant to fill this gap and shatter this medical cover glass ceiling thus allowing more Kenyans to access and enjoy better healthcare,” said Changamka CEO, Sam Agutu.

Linda Jamii is expected to enable users access medical care in more than 100 hospitals countrywide by mid this year.

CEO Weekends: Nigeria’s PushandStart to Help Startups in Africa Raise Over $1 Billion by 2019

Startups

Sam Wakoba

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January 25, 2014

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CEO Weekends: Nigeria’s PushandStart to Help Startups in Africa Raise Over $1 Billion by 2019

PushandStart, a new equity and debt-based crowdfunding platform opening to the public in the second quarter of 2014 aims to connect visionary innovators with early adopters who aren’t scared to be the first to trial a new product or service in a bid to show users that they too can become investors without breaking the bank.

Founded in 2013 by Nwachukwu Onyeaso, Ejike Okwor, Ernest Umeike, and Ify Onyeaso, PushandStart founders were inspired by failure and decided to showcase aspiring or bootstrapped founders to the world to raise funding and build their businesses. At the moment, the platform is targeting Nigeria and Ghana but has plans to expand across Africa.

Nwachukwu Onyeaso, co-founder, PushandStart told TechMoran, “We help VCs and angels passively generate high quality deal flow. By creating our own labour market, we provide people from all walks of life with the tools and a platform to monetise their skills and collaborate with some of the continent’s brightest and most promising startups.”

“We make it possible for experienced professionals and entrepreneurs to interact with relative newbie founders, mentoring them and enriching the ecosystem with knowledge that may otherwise have just faded away. As a crowdfunding platform, we also realise we’re in prime position to enthrone the precepts of Lean Startup by generating data for the Learn-Build-Measure loop. Simply put, if your campaign does not do well, you need to work on some aspect of your project,” Nwachukwu Onyeaso added.

“These are folks who have awesome ideas but are hamstrung by inadequate funding. People who don’t know any VCs or angels and their FFF (friends, family and fools) funding round can barely get them started,” says Nwachukwu.

Starting and sustaining a business on the continent is a tough job, something two of the founders of Pushandstart.com found out the hard way when they were made redundant by their banks during the global recession circa 2008.

The team tried their hands at numerous things, – public speaking, trading, hospitality businesses, a SaaS startup, teaching, financial services and almost everything but just became the quintessential Jack of all trades. Though some of these gigs put food on the table, they realized they were simply masquerading as businesses when in fact they were time-and-money sinks, sucking but never giving anything in return.

Then sometime in 2013, the scales finally fell off their eyes and they figured other people would be having a rough time hacking businesses too. They then started interviewing other founders and their personal friends and what they found reinforced their belief that a platform where founders can come to freely share insights would be a winner.

They thought of a crowdsourced repository of entrepreneurial wisdom created by actual African entrepreneurs. Then later the crowdfunding bit and all the other features were layered in based on user feedback.

“It’s really interesting to note that once they decided to bundle in crowdfunding, user interest mushroomed, strongly suggesting that they were now addressing a major pain point, says Nwachukwu.

The inability by banks to loosen the purse strings and make funds available to fledgling businesses, a major reason why they cannot do much for startups led to them starting a crowdfunidng platform. Banks aren’t business angels or venture capitalists but custodians of depositors’ funds and must invest the funds and minimise the likelihood of loss unlike startup funding which has inherent risks.

Many startups ideas die a stillbirth, never to be enjoyed by the world. Much noise has been made of the new emerging middle class and how they are going to lift the continent out of poverty but Nwachukwu thinks the shifts will only happen if those who have the acuity to escape poverty are given the enabling environment and tools required to do so and business funding is a very necessary component in that mix.

According to Steve Case in a recent report by Infodev, it may be possible for developing nations to use this new funding mechanism as a means to spur domestic innovation and create a larger number of high-growth entrepreneurs.

“Crowdfunding may have the potential to help catalyse existing efforts to create entrepreneurial cultures and ecosystems in developing nations,” Case said in the report. The four therefore want to be part of making that happen. The report adds that there are up to 344 million households in the developing world able to make small crowdfund investments in community businesses.

They are also encouraged by Kickstarter which has raised over $480m from 3 million contributors. They also say the market potential in sub-Saharan Africa, estimated at $2.5bn is big as Africans are naturally community-minded people. Social media has also cemented that community feel.

The platform works simply.

With a new business idea, one signs up for an account on the site, build a business profile by crafting an elevator pitch for investors, completing a business model canvas or lean canvas and then determining how much money you require and how you want it structured, either as a loan or as an equity investment. If a user wants a loan, they indicate how much they can afford to pay back and for how long, say like $1,000 at 3% per month for 24 months.

The founders say they will also assign an index number based on the risk involved for potential investors, for example an additional 2.2% per month. If any investors like a users terms, they will contribute funds. If not they won’t and a user will have to modify them like an auction.

If a user wants to raise equity investment, he or she will need to value their company or business idea and based on that valuation, they’ will decide how much equity they are giving out to investors, then pick a mentor for advise, hire an accountant and start the campaign. Investors donate via major cards such as MasterCard and Visa and PayPal.

Set to earn from commissions on the funds raised and for every job completed via Pushandstart.com, the team risks competition from firms such as JumpStartAfrica, Kowric, 1pagePlan, SliceBiz and PitchOffice even though their models are not entirely similar.

The four are not seeking any external funding and do not expect to do so in the near term but want to help entrepreneurs in cutting the cost of doing business, accessing market access and giving them more industry knowledge and funding.

“Ideas are essentially worthless until you get them out of your head and execute on them,” Nwachukwu says. “However, you should spare a moment to carefully consider. I rarely espouse nebulous qualities like passion with respect to starting a business, rather I think you need to have a dogged determination and staying power to bring your dream to fruition.”

Pushandstart.com expect to be live in 20 African countries in five years and to have crossed the $1bn mark in funds raised for startups also.

CEO Weekends: Zalego, Tecno App Challenge Submission Deadline Draws Close

Tech

Sam Wakoba

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January 25, 2014

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CEO Weekends: Zalego, Tecno App Challenge Submission Deadline Draws Close

Zalego, a top mobile application development training institution in Kenya has announced that developers have just five days to apply for the Tecno App Challenge 2014.

The firm, working in partnership with Tecno, an Android smartphone manufacturer, said the deadline for developers to apply to the challenge have until 31st of January, 2014 to submit their apps. The two firms aim to use the challenge to identify talent, and potential future partners and employees.

According to Eric Mutuku, Zalego founder,“I believe we have a lot of creative and innovative developers who have amazing solutions for different industry verticals. I urge developers to not keep these creative applications in their laptops but to let the world know about their solutions. I am calling on all mobile application developers to participate in this challenges it’s one of the best ways for potential investors and strategic partners to know you exist. For those who will not make it for this 2013 challenge, we have the 2014 challenge on the way”

The challenge was announced in July 31, 2013, and several developers have already submitted their apps. Winning apps will be announced and awarded on 31st May, 2014 and the top app will take home KSh. 300,000, while the first runners up KSh. 200,000 and the second runners up KSh. 150,000. All winners will take home a Tecno smartphone.

App submissions made as a team will have to select a team representative, who if the team wins, will be responsible with receiving the prize and ensuring distribution of the same to all team members. Team members must also agree on a mode of payment.

Apps can be submitted to info@zalego.com for further directives. If a team or a developer has more than one app, he or she can submit them in separate emails.

Important Dates
(1) App Challenge announced on 2013 July 31
(2) Submit deadline: 2014 Jan 31
(3) Award: 2014 May 31

Prizes
1. Platinum Kshs 300,000+ 1 Tecno smart phone
2. Gold Kshs 200,000+ 1 Tecno smart phone
3. Silver Kshs 150,000+ 1 Tecno smart phone

CEO Weekends: This Ex Israeli Air Force Pilot is Disrupting East Africa’s Online Payments

Startups

Sam Wakoba

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January 25, 2014

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CEO Weekends: This Ex Israeli Air Force Pilot is Disrupting East Africa’s Online Payments

Everything was normal for Eran Feinstein, an ex-Israeli army helicopter pilot. He had a happy wife and family and a huge cycle of friends. He had quit his plum army job, studied computer science and business administration and was working in Israel’s e-commerce industry until one day, he got a phone call from an airline in Kenya.

Eran was needed to help the airline sort out its online payments. It was the early days of Internet in East Africa and there were literally no players. He boarded a plane, did his consultancy job and saw a young nation rising and he went back home. But life would never be the same again.

Eran would not stay at home anymore. In 2006, his mind was fixed. He had finally found something he passionately wanted to do. The harder he tried to brush off the idea, the clear it became in his mind. The business idea was like his shadow, accompanying him wherever he went. He gathered up all his courage, convinced his wife and kids, packed up a few items and booked themselves a one-way ticket to Nairobi.

Over 600 clients in 8 years

Now nearly eight years since his decision to move to Kenya, Eran says he has never regretted. 3G Direct Pay, the firm he founded now has over 600 clients across Africa and is set to expand into Botswana, Namibia and Ethiopia soon.

“We began as as an online travel booking systems for airlines, but after sometime, we realized there were no online payment systems in East Africa so we decided to introduce them. After operating as a booking platform for three year, 3G Direct Pay focus entirely on online payments as its main business.”

Focus is blind

“I am happy because we went through all the phases. People told us we were either mad or stupid because no one would ever pay online in Kenya or in East Africa, but I had learnt something when I was young. When were told that no one was willing to pay online in Kenya, we saw it as a challenge and opportunity.

At the moment, the firm has over 600 companies from Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar, West Africa using its online payments system which accepts all major credit cards, mobile money and e-wallets and promises double the security, efficiency and modern technology.

“Four years ago we had just two hundred clients but because we have been good at it for long and are experts in online payments, more clients began coming,” Eran says.

“We set some standards the time we began to do online payments all the way and we have been working with banks in Europe and in the US and firms like PayPal among others in the payments industry.

Mobile partnership for offline payments

The firm is also working on a new partnership that will see it offer both offline and online payment services to its clients. This partnership see 3G Direct Pay clients accept non-cash payments offline too just as it has powered online payments for its travel agencies.

“We have selected an offline payments partner because they are good at it and we want to stick with our online expertise Eran says. “It’s not that cannot it all but we think everyone should be doing what he is doing best.”

Because 3G Direct Pay wants to power both offline online payments across Africa efficient, it’s set to launch in Namibia, Malawi, and Botswana and Ethiopia especially due to its growing population.

African expansion

According to the CIA World Fact Book, Ethiopia has over 90 million people and nearly 1.5 percent online and more getting online. Eran expects the huge population to be his customers both online and offline. The expansion into these countries will also help it be maintain its position as a leading online payments processor, providing payment solution services to hundreds of travel related businesses in East and Southern Africa.

It’s customer base is strong already strong in Kenya where it also faces stiff competition from firms like PesaPal, iPay, Jambopay among others. It’s also gaining a user base in Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda and is massive in Zanzibar, where it serves 35% of the country’s hotels, over 25 airlines and a number of tour operators and travel agents.

3G Direct Pay’s upper hand is its 8 year experience powering online system and the founders e-commerce experience back home in Israel. I think his army background is also another advantage on online fraud prevention, which is estimated to cost firms.

The firm is not launching in Rwanda soon because it says there is not much massive online transactions market yet but it’s keeping an eye on it.

Avoid being a jack of all trades

It’s not that we cannot do many things, but years ago I decided that when we do something we should be the best, that’s why we are the express firm for the online travel industry and we know exactly what we are dealing in and know what clients need, we cannot provide everything, its like but, people ought to act like professionals. This is where there are losing focus.

Everyone should be doing what they know best. Our next industry is the restaurants industry and we are not losing our focus which online payments for them.

One agency turned to him after their former payments firm messed up a customer transaction. The said online payments firm asked the agency to ask the traveler to provide a copy of his passport and credit card.

“Asking a client to send you a copy of the card is illegal. You cannot ask for a client’s copy of credit card and passport,” he says, triggering laughter from a woman sitting next to our table.

“They scared the client away, entrepreneurs need to focus on what they are good at and provide that at their best, instead of providing everything to everyone. Act like a professional and you won’t lose your customers,” says Eran.

And then he assures me 3G Direct Pay is serious on ending fraud.

Big data to combat fraud

According to a report from CyberSource, a unit of Visa Inc., retailers’ revenue lost to online fraud increased over the past two years to reach an estimated $3.5 billion, up 3% from $3.4 billion in 2011 and 30% from $2.7 billion in 2010, CyberSource Corp., a provider of payment processing and risk management services, says in its 2013 Online Fraud Report.

But the news isn’t all bad. The estimated loss of $3.5 billion last year is down from the recent highs of $4.0 billion in 2008 and $3.7 billion in 2007,

The average fraudulent online order ticket value dropped 20% to $200 last year from $250 in 2011. By comparison, the average valid orders ticket value dipped to $149 in 2012 from $150 in 2011.

With an eight year old database, 3G Direct Pay says its online fraud prevention centre is the most advanced and the biggest in East Africa. He says the firm has a team that analyzes data from its database and from its partners worldwide. The team tracks fraud patterns and can identify a fraudsters from whichever location worldwide. The team also monitors transactions in real-time, flags fraudsters or cleans doubts on those that have been blacklisted, or whose cards have been marked suspicious.

Eran stresses that fraud is different from the kind of service a firm offers, a firm selling airtime online and another allowing others to pay for services online have different modes of combating fraud. Fraud parameters in the online travel industry is different from online airtime sales. Airtime fraud is small and requires less technology compared to online travel.

3G Direct Pay monitors transactions by looking at the good side of the person not out to blacklist everyone. It uses parameters to convert one to be a client than blocking them. However, this does not mean the firm is lenient on fraudsters.

“The moment we confirm from data that one is a fraudster, we will nab them. Though we want to work with as many good people as possible; our clients shouldn’t worry about fraudsters. We know how to deal with the fraudsters and we want our clients to do business more freely.”

Payment service providers need to know the industry they work in and be able to litigate risks when they come up so as their clients are safer without having to carry guns to their premises. People are no longer carrying cash on them. As firms go cashless, so does fraud but with firms like Eran’s using technology to secure clients, the future is bright, even with hopes of an influx of more players by the day.

More players

More players in the industry will be good. Three years ago, 3G Direct Pay was the only player in the online payments industry, things have since changed.

“It’s ok, the marketing is developing quickly. It’s growing rapidly and it will be ok if we have more players, big and small and among those if we have one that is offering good services will take over.

We were the only players but at the moment other companies providing online payments are coming in, more players will make the services even better, its not about reinventing the wheel and building own M-Pesas but making the existing solutions better. The serious ones will take over. We might have 3 biggest payment processors in the region in five years, the market is still moving.

In the future Eran thinks Safaricom’s M-Pesa will be the region’s biggest payments processor, even better than their mobile services as they better at financial services. There and At the end of the end, when this guys agree on connecting themselves together, this is the future. We are not the back, we are not M-Pesa, so we would want to that’s why we need partnerships.

The future of payments in Africa

Eran is looking into a future where a group of payment players will come together and give users an interconnected service.

“At the end of the day when the giants-the banks, the mobile money providers will be connected, that is the future of payments,” says Eran. “The future of payments is when one machine can connect all the payment options available.”

He hopes that banks will just act as the back-end system and users won’t have to go to a bank as a company can connect them to the bank. He says that though M-Pesa is brilliant, the main problem is that it’s not connected.

“I am looking at a future where these options are connected, that when you want to pay with M-Pesa, money leaves your Airtel Money or bank account to your M-Pesa account. It’s a matter of time when M-Pesa, Airtel Money and our banks are fully connected,” he says.

Eran’s suggestion is not just a dream; various studies have suggested the need for mobile money interoperability to allow users switch money across accounts and even save money.

Away from home, a new payments player dubbed the Coin Card recently launched in the US. Coin replaces all a user’s payments cards and gives them an option to pick whichever card they want to pay with. Eran says this is in the horizon; his firm is working on a partnership which will see their online system.

CEO Weekends: FastCashier Advisor Comes to Windows Store to Help You Meet Your Saving Target

Startups

Sam Wakoba

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January 25, 2014

0

CEO Weekends: FastCashier Advisor Comes to Windows Store to Help You Meet Your Saving Target

Ghanaian-founded FastCashier recently announced it had launched its Fastcashier Advisor on Windows Store to help users organise their Incomes, Expenses, Reports, and set reminders in a bid to help them achieve their financial goals.

A user can set the app to advise him or her every morning, lunch break or in the evening after a hard days work. A user can then set aside the amount of target to save on that say or week or year.

“You are assured of achieving your targeted savings per day, week, month or year,” the team said.

Said to be Africa’s PayPal and Quickbooks combined, FastCashier develops accounting, payment processing and payroll software for enterprise firms and individuals. The advisory app is targeted at users who want to know how much they are spending on what and how or what they should cut down on. The team says it will add more features to the app like free and daily tips on Tax, Accounting and Payroll among others.

Fifty Shades Of Grey Revealing Scenes to be Edited?

Tech

Milcah Lukhanyu

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January 22, 2014

0

Fifty Shades Of Grey Revealing Scenes to be Edited?

Fifty Shades of Grey’s raunchy sex scenes could be cut out of the upcoming film adaptation so it can avoid an NC-17 rating. Stars James Dornan and Dakota Johnson have reportedly already filmed most of the sex scenes for the movie.

A decision by the studio to make the film less racy (in order to get a lower age rating) is likely to upset fans of the books, who will be expecting to see all manner of raunchy acts in keeping with the original’s um… ‘tone’. The book was famous for making mummy porn acceptable but fans of the trilogy could be disappointed by the movie version.

An NC-17 rating in the US means that under-18s cannot watch the film.

An insider added: ‘They’ve filmed the majority of sex scenes and have really hit it off.’

Dornan has been snapped surprising Dakota Johnson on the set of Fifty Shades of Grey. The actor, who plays Christian Grey, was pictured covering his co-star’s eyes in a scene where he gives Anastasia Steele a brand new car. He looks smart in a suit as he puts his hand over Dakota’s eyes before he presents the vehicle to her.

The pair have been shooting the film adaptation of EL James’ novel in Vancouver, Canada, with director Sam Taylor-Johnson.

Johnson was also seen filming scenes with Max Martini, who plays Christian’s bodyguard.

The film, which stars Dornan as kinky billionaire Christian Grey and Johnson as shy Submissive Anastasia Steele, is set to be released on 15 February 2015.

Would you watch a Fifty Shades Of Grey film that didn’t include any sex scenes? Let us know below…

Nokia Launches its $100 Nokia Asha Smartphones in Kenya

Mobile

Sam Wakoba

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January 22, 2014

0

Nokia Launches its $100 Nokia Asha Smartphones in Kenya

If you have been looking out for an affordable smartphone Nokia has you covered. The Finish firm has today launched its Nokia Asha 500, 502 and 503 in the Kenyan market and are selling for around $150 or less depending on where you buy it.

The firm says its new Nokia Asha 503, available in Kenya as a single SIM phone is the first 3.5G model in the new generation of Asha Platform smartphones and spots a unique layered design and a scratch-resistant, curved Gorilla® Glass screen. It has a 5MP camera and LED flash at just Ksh 10,500.*

The second piece, is a Nokia Asha 502, is a dual SIM phone and is retailing at Ksh 9,700* while the Nokia Asha 500 will be retailing for Ksh 7,600*. The firm said that the Nokia Asha 502 and 503 will be available in the country as Easy Swap dual SIM variants to allow Kenyans swap between SIM cards on the go for better tariffs.

The phones haven’t been made available to us for review but the firm says the Nokia Asha 503 and the Nokia Asha 502, are the first Asha Platform devices with a built-in five megapixel camera with LED flash and features a full-touch display and fully redesigned user interface.

For navigating the phone, swipe is the main tool used either for answering a call, viewing notifications or closing an app or when activating the built-in camera.

The phones boast of Fastlane, a shortcut to a users activities, calender, appointments and recently accessed apps, features and content. Other great apps available include WhatsApp, WeChat, Line, eBuddy and Nimbuzz and many others.

Basic Specs

Nokia Asha 503

Display: 3” scratch-resistant curved Gorilla glass screen
Weight: 110.2g
Standby time, single SIM: up to 35 days
Standby time, Dual SIM: up to 20 days
Network: 3.5G
Camera: 5MP camera with flash
Other: Bluetooth 3.0 with SLAM
Recommended retail price: KES 10 500
Available in black

Nokia Asha 502

Display: 3” QVGA screen
Weight: 100g (including battery)
Standby time: up to 24 days
Network: 2G
Camera: 5MP camera with flash
Other: Bluetooth 3.0 with SLAM
Recommended retail price: KES 9 700
Available in bright red and black

Nokia Asha 500

Display: 2.8” QVGA screen
Weight: 101.3g
Standby time, single SIM: up to 35days
Standby time, Dual SIM: up to 22days
Network: 2G
Camera: 2MP
Other: Bluetooth 3.0 with SLAM
Recommended retail price: KES 7 600
Available in bright red, white and black

GSMA Joins Alliance for Affordable Internet to Drive Uptake of Mobile Broadband in Africa

Tech

Sam Wakoba

-

January 21, 2014

0

The GSMA has joined Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) to identify policy and regulatory barriers to Internet access and affordability and collaborate on plans to address these issues globally.

Joining A4AI will help the organizations tackle the challenge of mobile broadband penetration in Africa and other less-developed countries which have penetration rates of mobile subscribers as low as 20 per cent (Ethiopia), 28 per cent(India) and 30 per cent (Pakistan) according to GSMA Intelligence.

“There is an urgent need for affordable smartphones, the rapid, economically viable deployment of wireless broadband infrastructure in rural areas and the promotion of digital literacy to help connect the unconnected in underserved communities around the world,” said Anne Bouverot, Director General, GSMA.

Launched in October 2013, A4AI’s main mission is to make broadband access to all and at affordable prizes, less than five per cent of average monthly income. A4AI thus seeks to create the conditions for open, competitive and innovative broadband markets via policy and regulatory reform through a combination of advocacy, research and knowledge-sharing at global, regional and national levels.

Sonia Jorge, Executive Director of the Alliance for Affordable Internet added: “Despite recent falls in prices, mobile broadband remains prohibitively expensive in most developing countries. A4AI’s recent affordability report highlighted that for those living on less than US $2 a day, mobile broadband costs in excess of 20 per cent of monthly incomes in many countries, and skyrockets to as much as 48 per cent of income in Colombia, and 35 per cent in Zambia.

“A4AI is tackling the regulatory and policy barriers that keep prices artificially high. Working with the GSMA and its members to lower cost structures and develop innovative delivery approaches will be a significant boost to our efforts. We must drive broadband prices down rapidly to enable billions more – particularly women and under-served rural communities – to access the life-changing potential of the Internet.”

GSMA is not new to A4AI. Before the Alliance’s launch, GSMA helped it shape its principles and policy positions. A4AI is made up of Ericsson, Facebook, Google, Intel, the Internet Society, Microsoft, the Omidyar Network, Alcatel-Lucent, the Association for Progressive Communications, Cisco, the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation, Research ICT Africa, the UK Department for International Development (DFID), USAID and Yahoo!

These organizations plan to start work in Ghana and Nigeria in the first quarter of 2014.

This is How to Prepare for & Win the TechCabal Battlefield $10,000 Grand Prize

Startups

Sam Wakoba

-

January 21, 2014

0

This is How to Prepare for & Win the TechCabal Battlefield $10,000 Grand Prize

This video pitch will help you prepare for and win the TechCabal Battlefield 2014. As long as you have a startup, which is less than two years old, you have raised some money but not over $200,000 and you feel you need some more. Watch this video instead of conspiring to rob a bank.

For starters, TechCabal is a premium online news publication for startups. The popular publication has launched its inaugural version the TechCabal Battlefield, something like Shark Tank or Dragon’s Den to give you chance to prove that your product is awesome and it can meet the demands of the Nigerian market. All you need to do is apply, prepare, go pitch and bring home this cash. Sounds easy?

However, you won’t get the prize money just like that. You have to have an awesome product, as a Ninja, you have to demonstrate the product to the judges and the audience, show that it really works. Get your freaking PowerPoint ready, and a tribal print hoodie and a pair of hot trainers. And do some pitching before your mirror.

And apart from you demo-ing a working product, you have to be sweet and eloquent and sure. The sweet tooth will help you sell your product to iROKOtv’s Jason Njoku, Jobberman’s Ayodeji Adewunmi, Stanbic IBTC’s Akintunde Oyebode and Paradigm Initiative’s Gbenga Sesan. As the judges, they are more of your early users and their feedback is significant. They just have to like it and like it or you are doomed. It wont be easy, it’s work, you’ll have to start preparing now by looking at MKO Abiola’s daughter gym it here.

If these gentlemen say you carry the day, then no one will say no. As the best startup, you will walk home with $10,000, free money and you will be at liberty to blow it up the same night on anything. There will reporters and bloggers everywhere wanting to talk to you, and boys and girls and your competitors whinging. Plus you never know, one of the Social Media Week participants might be looking for a startup to invest in all their pension!

If you are not so good, or by bad luck you have a sore throat and come second, don’t fret. There’s $2,000 for you to take home and bro or siz you better plan for it now, you can even make an order from Konga if you are sure you will win it. The third prize winner won’t go home empty-handed, there are lots of prizes and plus great feedback from people who have build global companies, not just websites.

TechCabal will also write about your startup, and you will be featured on VC4Africa and Memeburn and reach their millions of readers monthly. This is like a movie but its true!

Mark the dates- Wednesday 19th February 2014 at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos. TechCabal Battlefield is part of Social Media Week Lagos 2014.

Requirements: 1.Your startup has to be less than two years old.

2. Your startup should NOT have received funding of over $200,000.

Apply here HERE or HERE.

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