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YCombinator Class Of 2012 Startups Pitch To Investors On Last Night’s Hot Demo Day

Startups

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March 27, 2013

Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($14-20k + an $80k note) in a large number of startups twice a year, since 2005 and have seen startups launch into companies such as the famous Reddit, Dropbox, Airbnb, Disqus, Songkick among others. Last night 47 startups were graduating from the class of 2012 in YCombinator’s traditional Demo Day pitch to investors at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California.

A Demo Day is when the cohort of startups present to a large audience of investors after being moved to Silicon Valley for 3 months, with intensively coaching and mentorship.

YC last night helped launch a number of startups including one nonprofit. Some of the startups worth to watch are:

Teespring : A clothing startup that wants to make you proud of what’s you wear. Taking advantage of the communities rallying for causes and interests. Teespring lets any group upload a clothing with the group name on it like a logo ,slogan to put on a t-shirt and setup a page to sell it. They promote the page to their group members and when people click to purchase: Teespring prints and delivers the clothing and splits the profit with the group. Its one of the hottest startups to watch currently it’s profitable.
BuildZoom: It connects contractors with remodeling jobs. The goal of the startup is to build a national remodeling brand across the world. The startup claims to be the leading contractor listings in San Francisco and to offer deeper information in those listings. The company makes money by partnering with contractors and charging them 7% commission. Will it disrupt this huge market?
Zaranga : Zaranga wants to bring demand-based dynamic pricing to the vacation rentals. It wants to disrupt the already high demand market driven by Airbnb. With the success experienced by Airbnb Zaranga is exploiting plenty of still unused inventory in many verticals from property managers, special integration and custom terms and other variables that increase space ratings.
Flightcar: Flightcar is a car sharing startup that is specifically focused on travel around airports.car owners drive to the Flightcar location that’s five minutes away from a given airport, drop off their cars and get black car services to their flights. With Flightcar owners get guaranteed free parking , car wash ,pickup and drop-offs. It’s also one of the hottest startups to watch currently its making $12k in revenue just under a week
Wevorce : offers a system for handling divorces that attempts to avoid the pain and cost of going to court. It covers six broad steps that’s divorce planning, co-parent planning , a parenting agreement ,financial mapping , financial agreements and divorce settlement. Currently the startup is satisfying its customers at 95% .With the huge divorce market Wevorce will be huge and the impact will be felt.

Other startups that pitched at Demo day include Airware ,FiveTran ,Thalmic ,Circuitlab , simply Insured ,Errplane and padlet.

Hopoptions Launches In Nigeria To Help You Search For Airlines & Compare Prices.

Ifeanyi Abraham

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March 26, 2013

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The startup scene in Nigeria is definitely heating up, with the recent launch of a Rocket Internet backed startup “Vamido”, to help you find a place to live, whether to rent or to buy or to book an hotel as they offer online property listings for sale and rent in Nigeria.

Now we see the launch of a new platform Hopoptions originally launched in 2011 by Hopoptions Limited, an online travel company, which aims to simplify travellers’ experiences in searching for and purchasing travel-related services across Africa.

With this beta launch, the platform features a domestic airline flight aggregator service, which provides quick, accurate and user-friendly comparisons for travellers booking flights currently only within Nigeria.

How does it work?

After arriving at the platform www.hopoptions.com, a user can decide to peg/narrow his search using several available criteria like time, ticket class, number of stops, etc

There are only a few listed local hotels and airlines but we believe the brand has plans of expanding.

17 Year Old Joins Millionaire’s Club

Okii Eli

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March 25, 2013

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summly_2386061b — Nick at the launch of his app

After acquisition of Summly by Yahoo today, Nick D’Aloisio at just 17 years joins the millionaire’s club and becomes the youngest Yahoo employee ever.

What an exit admired by so many young founders, a whopping $30 Million for a 2-year-old startup.

Summly, allows users to skim and share news quickly with some really intuitive gestures. The app delivers snapshots of stories giving users elegant and simple way to find news you want faster and reliable than the normal way of flipping across long pages. In the blog post announcing acquisition, Nick highlighted his dream of working with yahoo.

The startup raised $1.53 Million from Betaworks, Horizon Ventures and other known funds in Silicon Valley. Yahoo will shut Summly down and absorb the team.

According to Nick, Summly’s vision is to simplify how people get information and that will be what they will continue at when they join Yahoo. A place he never emerged he will work at or acquire his app when he founded it at 15.

“I would have never imagined being in this position so suddenly. I’d personally like to thank Li Ka-Shing and Horizons Ventures for having the foresight to back a teenager pursuing his dream. Also to our investors, advisors and of course the fantastic team for believing in the potential of Summly. Without you all, this never would have been possible,” said Nick.

He also thanked his family, friends and school for supporting him and to the users who made Summly Apple’s Best Apps of 2012 award for Intuitive Touch.

Through Summly, over 90 million summaries have been read in just a few short months, and the acquisition even means more, though the app is to be pulled out of the Apple Store, Nick promises to have a more powerful tool launched under Yahoo products soon.

Image Credit:Telegraph.co.uk

Being #OgaAtTheTop In Difficult Times | Importance of Understanding Innovation as a CEO.

Ifeanyi Abraham

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March 25, 2013

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Its 2013, an age of viral marketing, memes, social media stunts and African dotcom millionaires, and it is gradually becoming suicidal for any company, corporate brand, government or public figure not to be on top of their digital online destinies, and although the change has been met with mixed feelings in Africa,many companies have eventually done what they have to do, which is- “To Create a Brand presence on the internet”, now the question of how active the brand should be, is another issue for another day.

So the huge buzz around the #OgaAtTheTop drama has finally fizzled out, and what many saw as the public annihilation of one man, I see as rather a public torture of the NSCDC brand, of the Nigerian government as a whole, and whatever PR agency they use; it’s quite saddening that a Man that can represent a government agency on national TV isn’t adequately prepared or have sufficient knowledge about several issues that affect the government agency as a whole.

Kuluya made a very interesting game out of it, Amebortalk did a viral video out of it, Pierce Morgan even tweeted about it, several jokes have come out of it, etc, a friend of mine called me from the USA and spoke for 5 mins about how corruption is all that exists in Nigerian government agencies, and I tried to defend our agencies, but he kept on asking why the #OgasAtTheTop had said nothing about the issue and when the NSCDC boss finally spoke, he said: “It is an internal measure, we will keep you posted. We are still on course because he has not committed any offence. If a person is being interviewed and in the process he could not comport himself that does not result to a crime, it is a question of maturity,”

Silence from the #OgaAtTheTop can be suicidal for a brand

I worked at iROKO Partners Limited, a startup valued at several millions of dollars and with top internet brands, iROKOtv, iROKING and Kuluya, and if there is one thing I learnt, it’s the importance of the #OgaAtTheTop manning up during times of crisis. I remember a particular incident that happened on July 2^nd2012; iROKOtv was making a transition from its paid platform, and there were lots of issues on the website and some staff (myself included) had to be called in at night to help customers via the website live chat, and as tired and grumpy as we were, the one thing that motivated us to work was the presence of top management helping out, we had iROKO CEO Jason Njoku, COO Bastian Gotter, former CFO Seyi Yerokun and also Analytics head Ifeoma Nwakwesi online with us that night answering questions, etc; just imagine yourself as a disgruntled customer and you meet someone that says “Hi, I am Jason Njoku, CEO of iROKO Partners”, and he goes on to help you solve your problem, you would probably come back to that platform, no matter how disgruntled you had been”

I read an article by Dr Anderson Uvie-Emegbo on handling backlash on Social Media, and the good doctor made several points; L-Leadership, S-Speed and L-Like For Like.

The main point I would pick out from all of that and from the hashtag being circulated is “Leadership”-#OgaAtTheTop; my pastor, Bowale Abrahams once told me that;

A good excuse means bad leadership

When he made this point, it took me back to my time at iROKO and what happened in that period and all the wrong steps taken by the NSCDC Ogas At The top;

They were silent about the issue for too long.
They eventually spoke, and rather than look for positive spins, they took a negative angle, attributing the virility of the issue to “external influence because of the commandant’s resolve to take legal measures against those who defraud the government through oil theft”
No further comments on measures taken by other agencies to help avert a reoccurrence (will anything be done?)
No tactical response on Social Media, T.V, Radio or print

As a CEO or Agency head, it is your responsibility to take the lead in different areas of the business, every backlash, failed product launch, or poor performance always comes back to you. It is sometimes very difficult for C.E.Os. to move with innovation, and this has seen the exit of several CEOs, but I recently read an article on Socialboost.com about how CEOs can get involved in Social Media and it was very helpful on how a CEO can be on top of things even with all his responsibilities in the company. Several brands miss out opportunities of gaining positive points with customers by missing out on opportunities, I have been on twitter severally and seen comments being made about several Nigerian brands like SwiftNG, Tastee fried Chicken, but these comments go unnoticed, I think it is time for companies led by CEOs that respond to innovation to cross the digital divide/get their digital strategies right by hiring people with requisite knowledge and gradually becoming experts themselves so they don’t end up shooting themselves in the leg when something like what I am writing about in my next article on “Tastee Fried Chicken Needs to FIRE or HIRE Someone Fast” happens.

How Big Spenders Jumia & Konga Are Helping Other E-Commerce Brands In Nigeria

Ifeanyi Abraham

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March 24, 2013

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Now a title like that will definitely get someone who is familiar or related to both brands want to figure out what this article will be driving at, but the thought that will be provided here will shed some light on how some of the “advertising” activities being carried out by the bigger commerce Brands of JUMIA and KONGA are helping other smaller or growing e-commerce brands in Nigeria

Now who has seen/heard the JUMIA and KONGA T.V and radio ads, or the little time pieces found on YouTube, and spread on Facebook, twitter and literally everywhere? At a recent tech event, questions were thrown as to the effectiveness of the more traditional media adverts in drawing real buyers and sellers to the different e-commerce platforms, and whether this was a method adopted in some of the countries that most of the existing brands in Nigeria are being cloned from.

Now there was silence as people began to think about it, and different people began to raise points and words like “effectiveness” “conversion” “ROI” and some of the traditional tech lingua began to fly around, but I was in a corner smiling to myself because this was a topic I had already researched on and I had come up with a theory on what these adverts were really doing, but I chose not to share it at that meet.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLai3cfp-zE]

The first question is: What’s the real purpose of these adverts?

Back in the 1950’s in America or in the 1990s in Nigeria when we had what we would call a “captive audience” on Radio and T.V with fewer stations, and advertisers could actually expect to get phone calls and actual customers walk into their showrooms, and thus get sales, but in 2013 if that is your goal, then I am afraid you are simply living a false dream.

So what is the real purpose of spending so much money on advertising by JUMIA and KONGA? The answer lies in an eight letter word “INTEREST”, the real purpose of most of the advertising done is to generate enough interest in the brands to get people online visiting their website or searching for their business and what they do. Now if the people at the tech meet had realized this, all they would have been discussing which is a more relevant topic is “How to measure the impact of traditional advertising on INTEREST in e-commerce” (this is a future post from me), now this isn’t the topic of this post, but rather let us trace how this helps other growing e-commerce firms.

Now Nigeria is a country of over 170 million people, and although the internet usage data is increasing among Nigerians, but there are several problems still associated with buying and selling online, problems like lack of trust in online platforms, etc are faced by not just JUMIA and KONGA, but other smaller e-commerce players.

Now in generating leads for JUMIA and KONGA, what the T.V and Radio ads do is to;

Make people aware of their brands and products available online
Tell them about the amazing features such as free/Payment on delivery
Get people to know their business, and trust them.
Get people to know where they are. They know how to find your business if it’s retail or how to get a hold of you for service.

“Now Great! We have established what these adverts do, but how can it help a smaller e-commerce firm”

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C2NfW1zfzQ]

Get your competitors to pay for your marketing!

Now that’s the number one secret that I would tap into as an e-commerce brand with just enough money for my inventory.

Look at this; As a potential customer, when I watch a JUMIA or KONGA ad that they have spent thousands or 10′s of thousands of naira/dollars marketing, it generally piques the interest in the possibility of getting things online and these leads him/her to do a search for some goods on GOOGLE or any search engine and as the JUMIA and KONGA products available come up, other competing brands will also come up.

I did a search for “Shoes and bags JUMIA” and other brands like DEALDEY and BUYCOMMONTHINGS also came up, whether in paid or organic search.

So other e-commerce brands that have simply focused in SEO and SEM have as a result of JUMIA and KONGA’s “INTEREST” generation via offline channels benefitted directly/indirectly leading to increased sales and revenue for these brands.

I believe ( and it’s happening already) that more brands will follow JUMIA and KONGA’s footsteps, and this should lead to an elimination of some of the common problems faced in e-commerce in Nigeria like lack of trust, because people will continue to try out the platforms and see how reliable they are, but until that happens let’s see what other adverts will be done by the big boys.

Zambia’s Zamtel Plans Rural Broadband Roll-out

Tech

Milcah Lukhanyu

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March 23, 2013

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Plans are underway to connect Peri-urban and rural areas in Zambia to broadband services by telecommunications firm Zamtel,the leading telecom in the country.

The company provides a modern Internet service through Zamtel On-line, founded in 1997, including digital subscriber lines (DSL) and wireless access.

The company also aims at investing $4 million to better telecoms infrastructure at Livingstone within a span of three months which include rolling out optic fibre network in various parts of Livingstone, as well as Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula International Airport.
According to Zamtel officials, the rural broadband project will include installing 400 high capacity site for 3G and 2G services.

Zambia’s ICT sector has approximately a million internet users and about seven million phone users, out of a population of 13.2 million. The reason being the country’s internet connectivity is concentrated mainly in urban areas and internet service providers consider rural areas as economically unfeasible to realise their investments.

Top Five African Startups To Watch

Tech

Okii Eli

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March 21, 2013

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Africa’s startup ecosystem is growing and booming day by day leading to massive competition to for users, seed or VC money and clients for the benefit of the local users.

We have identified a number of the fastest growing and probably the most promising startups but today we shall present only five of them as we get the rest of the list complete under various categories.

Ghaflakenya, Kenya

Kenya’s biggest, hottest entertainment news website with. Banned at one time on campuses, Ghafla is frequented by readers of all walsk of life. The startup founded by Samuel Majani currently gets over 720, 000 readers per month , 4,500,000 page views per month ,has over 32,000 Twitter followers and over 27,000 Facebook fans. It’s the most read entertainment site and ranked second after nation on Klout score of over 80%. The startup got funding from 88mph and says it’s already profitable.

Mimiboard, South Africa

Enables local content creation and unlocking access to content across Africa. The startup aims to help communities by making it easy for them to create and share content. Through the establishment of trusted brands (iportals) and virtual noticeboards (Mimiboard) Umuntu Media aim to improve access to information and facilitate user-generated content. It’s currently available in 16 African countries with a growth of 11 million visits this March, the startup aims to reach a billion visits in the next 2 years.Mimiboard is currently used by over 50 media firms on the continent and is working on full integrations of its iportals this June. After the completion all the iportals will run us virtual noticebaords or Mimiboards.

Njorku, Cameroon

Njorku.com is a job aggregator and search engine, just like CareerBuilder.com, but with an African focus. Basically, Njorku.com crawls several African careers and recruitment websites, retrieves job advertisements, and then provides a simple interface for job seekers to search through and filter jobs from all these websites. The speed and simplicity of Njorku along with its accessibility on web and mobile via www.njorku.com and njorku.com/mobile allows job seekers to search for jobs conveniently, wherever they are.

Founded by Churchill Mambe Nanje, a 25 year-old Cameroonian serial tech entrepreneur, Njorku is Africa’s Google for jobs and currently it’s available in over 8 countries with over 500k users.

SasaAfrica Kenya

Sasa Africa, one of DEMO Africa’s 2012 top five startups, is an e-commerce platform connecting offline artisans to buyers online using feature phones. The founders say they saw the need to promote locally manufactured African artifacts such as necklaces, bangles and other jewellery to buyers globally. With $50k in funding and a team around 20 SasaAfrica wants to be Etsy of Africa.

IROKO Partners Nigeria

IROKO Partners is the world’s largest distributor of Nollywood movies. Launched December 2010, the company has built a global audience of over 6 million unique users from 178 different countries.

Dubbed Africa’s Netflix, iROKO Partners task is brutally simple: buys the online licenses of movies and music directly from producers and recording artists and stream them online to a global Diaspora audience. In doing this, iROKO Partners has assembled the world’s largest online library of awesome African content and is Africa’s fastest growing internet company.

Image:www.wpclipart.com

Twitter Turns Seven Today | Says Thank You For Creativity

Okii Eli

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March 21, 2013

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Since the launch of Twitter 7 years ago, today the company has grown to over 200 million active users with 400 million tweets being posted on daily basis. The company commemorated the day with an awesome video showcasing the growth from the first tweet, retweet and tweet, the first tweet from the universe, world cup, use of twitter in Egypt during Arab revolution, Japan earthquake, London Olympics and on top #KOT.

According to Karen Wickre (@kvox Editorial Director @Twitter Jack first first tweeted today and now Twitter has become homw to millions of users with over 200 million active users creating over 400 million Tweets each day.

Wickre in a blog post said, “As we’ve grown, Twitter has become a true global town square — a public place to hear the latest news, exchange ideas and connect with people all in real time. This is where you come to connect with the world at large. Get on your soapbox to critique elected officials, or go sotto voce to the neighbor next to you. And as in other gathering places, commerce happens too (and jokes and art-making and debating, and — you get the idea).”

This global town square even extends into space: an astronaut like Commander Chris Hadfield can express himself — and so can Captain Kirk. And we can all enjoy the moments when they connect with each other:

Watch this video here celebrating some of the many moments on Twitter so far and thanking you for your creativity, curiosity and experimentation on Twitter.

YouTube Hits 1 Billion Monthly Users

Tech

Okii Eli

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March 21, 2013

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Founded in February 2005 and after 8 years in operation today YouTube announced it has hit a billion unique active users monthly since its launch.

YouTube has been recording over 4 billion hours of video are watched each month and 72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute and one out of every two people on the internet visits YouTube with a viewership of roughly ten super Bowl audiences reach.

In comparison with the country’s population YouTube will be the third largest country in the world after China and India or simply 25 times the size of Kenya. If going with the most viewed videos PSY would have to perform in front of packed Nou camp stadium 11k times which is magical.

The streaming of the Olympics to YouTube users boosted the number of users with Kenya being among the most growing user base country and the famous universe free fall record breaking event. The team at YouTube appreciated all aspiring filmmakers, next great pop musicians and all its fans in the world that tune in, subscribe and share their favorite videos with the whole world. Today marks great step by YouTube which just hit a billion monthly users and micro blogging site twitter which celebrates 7 years since launch but the bad news is when will Arsenal celebrate its milestone too…?

YouTube is good news to ad agencies and Google ads business.

Mobile Number Portability Commences In Nigeria

Tech

Milcah Lukhanyu

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March 21, 2013

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The communication Commission of Nigeria has announced that the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) programme which had been planned for June last year but failed will now be launched on 26th of March this year.

The NCC Director of Public Affairs Tony Ojobo, said that the launch would be flagged off by the end of this month as this would be in the same accord with the NCC’s goal of launching MNP in the first quarter of 2013.

He pointed out that MNP would enable subscribers to port from one service provider to another without losing their numbers. He explained the procedure saying that a user would go to the customer service centre of the network one wants to port to and take with them a photo ID,and fill in forms and all data will be recorded in the centre database.

According to Ojobo the move complements SIM registration exercise that was done last year. He added that the “verification of all the SIMs that have been registered would be done next month to ascertain any discrepancies arising from the registration exercise and the affected subscribers will then receive an SMS requesting them to go to a service centre to rectify the mistakes.”

Ojobo said the process of porting would take a maximum of 48 hours from the time its initiated to the to the point where the number is functional through the new service provider.

Facebook Wants You To Log In | Firm Testing New Reminder To Update Profiles

Tech

Okii Eli

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March 21, 2013

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Facebook is reportedly running a small test of a new notification that reminds users to post something to their profiles if they haven’t been active in a while, fast company reported earlier on.

The report comes after venture capitalist Bijan tweeted out the alert he received on his phone. The response from the followers was not positive.

Facebook has been adding features slowly by slowly. Most of the features are from Hackathons that are normally undertaken by the engineers in the company. Of late after the changing of the newsfeed design and timeline, Facebook as added ability to send images through message in the mobile version.

Facebook growth is limited to retention of the billion users and acquiring more of them and mobile is powerful. The introduction of reminders will be effective in retaining active members and increasing their activity rate .

Tecno Partners With Zalego To Reward Top App Developers

Tech

Milcah Lukhanyu

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March 20, 2013

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Tecno and Zalego are working together to reward the best entries in the Afmobi developer challenge this Saturday.

Zalego Ltd is a technology solutions firm specializing in mobile software development, value addition, consultancy and empowerment through training where as Tecno Telcom Ltd is a comprehensive mobile phone manufacturer specializing in R&D, manufacturing, sales and service and boasts itself as one of the major mobile phone suppliers in the world and a leading mobile phone manufacturer in China. The firm has plans to launch mid-end smartphones mid this year. To complement the strategy, Tecno is looking for local apps which will drive uptake of its phones.

Recently, the firm put up an app contest through the continent known as Afmobi Developer Challenge which is basically looking for Java apps for Tecno’s low end devices and Android apps for Tecno’s smartphones.The contest is especially interested in Swahili apps for Kenya, Amharic apps for Ethiopia and Hausa apps for Nigeria.

In the partnership, Zalego will give free application development training to interested developers.The ultimate goal of the contest is to expose the hidden talent within the Kenyan developer community.

At an event that will take place at Kenyatta University on 23th March this year,the two firms will offer cash and phone rewards to the top developers who will take home Ksh. 200,000 and an Android phone. The runners up will receive KSh. 150,000 and an Android handset while the third place gets KSh. 100,000 and an Android phone.Other top 10 entries will also win a Tecno Android smartphone each.

Tecno has plans to introduce new Android devices later this year including an Android-4-based device to retail at approximately KSh. 10,000. Other planned devices include a 5 inch low-resolution smartphone and a high end smartphone, similarly sized to the Samsung Galaxy S4, that will retail at between KSh. 20,000 to KSh. 25,000.

Top 5 Tech Millionaires To Watch In Africa

Okii Eli

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March 20, 2013

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Most startup founders dream to scale their ventures into millions and probably have a good exit. In Africa a few founders are on the brink of making it huge but the journey is worth it when there are success stories around. Below are the top five African Tech millionaires to watch.

Mark Shuttleworth founder Ubuntu and Thawte, South Africa

After the acquisition of his digital certificate and internet security firm Thawte by software giant VeriSign for more than $500 million, he joined the class of millionaires in Africa. After the acquisition mark went ahead and founded one of the most famous viruses free and open source computer operating system Ubuntu and a tech incubator in South Africa. With the release of Ubuntu for mobile phones, he’s headed for a market full of competition with iOS and Android among others. He’s estimated to be worth more than $1 billion.

Jason Njoku co-founder iROKO Partners, Nigeria and London

Hailed as Africa’s Netflix, iROKO Partners is a pioneer platform for streaming Nollywood films which currently hosts more than 10,000 films. He raised over $8 million from a US venture capital firm, Tiger Global and $2 million from a Swedish firm. The platform boosts of more than 1 million users since its launch. iROKO is so far the fastest growing internet startup in Africa with many partners ranging from YouTube, iTunes, Amazon and Vimeo. His music streaming service iRoking is also growing everyday.

He also started an accelerator program to help out startups in Nigeria.

Kamal Budhatti founder Craft Silicon , Kenya

He grew in a humble background in India; he developed an interest in computers and software while at university in India. His first job was as a data entry clerk before he started developing banking software’s which was his turning point, later forming Craft Silicon in 2000.

Craft Silicon is a Kenyan software company with a local base and global presence across 40 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and America .the company provides software in core banking , microfinance , mobile and electronic payment solutions for over 200 clients .The company has a market valuation of over $80Million and currently has over 400 employees in Kenya only. It’s also building a world-class campus for its team in Nairobi, with growing number of banks and demand for demand driven banking solutions, Craft Silicon is on the brink of exploding.

Herman Heunis CEO and founder Mxit, South Africa

Who doesn’t know about Mxit in Africa? Herman is the brain behind the successful social networking site ,he sold the company to World of Avatars for around $60 Million marking an exit that many young developers dream of. The site had over 40 million users then, the user base as since shrunk since the departure of World of Avatar CEO coupled with stiff competition from other known instant messaging startups like Whatsapp ,2go ,Facebook Messenger , Message Me and others and entry of Smartphone’s. For him he made it at the right time.

Mike Macharia founder of Seven Seas Technologies , Kenya

Mike is a college dropout just like Steve Jobs, he dropped out of the University of Egerton after a year as a mathematics and physics undergraduate to study accounting in Strathmore University. As a qualified accountant, he founded Seven Seas Technologies at age 25 and lead the company to current status. Seven Seas is in more than 7 African countries with a team of over 100 employees and some of his clients include major telecom companies, banking and Governments institutions. Seven Seas provide cloud solutions and other services. It’s among the most talked company in Kenya with many accolades and awards to its name.

ZANTEL Launches MIMINA, A Promotion Offering Its Subscribers Free Calls, Internet and SMS

Tech

Milcah Lukhanyu

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March 20, 2013

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Zanzibar Telecom Ltd. (ZANTEL) has launched a promotion dubbed ’MIMINA’ a platform which will allow subscribers to enjoy free calls for some minutes across all networks, internet access and SMS for 24 hours for just 3,499/-.This translates into 200/- a day where subscribers will get 10 free Mins talk time, 10 SMS and 10 MB GPRS valid for one day.

The offer will provide subscribers 200 minutes of airtime to all networks, 200 SMS and 200MB internet bundle for 5 days. To register for the package subscribers will have to dial *149*15#.

According to Zantel Chief Commercial Officer, Mr Sajid Khan, the offer will allow customers access information and connect to others at affordable rates. He further said that the company intends to make communications accessible to all Tanzanians regardless of their economic status.

The offer which is available only to prepaid customers aims at bringing more subscribers on board as well as increase internet use through mobile phones.

88mph’s Cape Town Demo Day Here | Startups Pitching Live To Investors April 25

Startups

Okii Eli

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March 19, 2013

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After 3 intensive months of work, nine startups which were accepted into 88mph accelerator will pitch live Thursday April 25to potential investors at the accelerators Cape Town base, formerly the Umbono.

The Demo Day will provide a platform for the startups to showcase their ideas and achievements to potential investors.

88mph’s programme focuses on investing in technological startup companies at the seed stage and granting them access to business networks. It also provides guidance to grow their businesses as quickly as possible.

The selection of the nine startups was made after vetting 400 applicants from a range of different fields within the mobile tech sector. The startups chosen were all web mobile startups, so only required seed money and a large network of mentors to get their businesses up and running. The startups were all across Kenya and South Africa.

Startups expected to demo:

Adrenaline Hunter – Compare and book extreme sports online.

CableKiosk – E-commerce for cables & electronic accessories.

Easy2Map – Crazy customized Google Maps for a more personal touch.

Homebug – Manage your electricity consumption in real-time.

Peach Payments – Payments solution for emerging markets.

LiquidCrunch – SMEs can auction off large invoices and improve cash flow.

The Massive – Property management & decisions made easy.

Near a Builder – Home owners find builders. Builders find customers. Amen for simplicity.

Wabona – Bringing African movies and series, to locally based& diaspora customers.

Zapacab– Uber for Africa.

Mark your calendar for this great event ,we look forward to this great day and we will be updating you instantly.

Image Courtesy: Acceleratorgazette.com

Standard Chartered Bank Tanzania Seeks To Upgrade Its ATMs.

Tech

Milcah Lukhanyu

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March 18, 2013

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The Standard Chartered Bank Tanzania has announced plans to expand and upgrade its automated teller machines (ATMs) network in strategic locations, including those in Arusha.

While addressing customers in Arusha,Ms Liz Lloyd, the bank’s Chief Executive Officer said, “a number of them will be upgraded to embrace latest technology that supports both cash and cheque deposits.”

According to Ms Llyod, plans are under way to start the first electronic banking unit which would allow its customers to enjoy enhanced internet banking services.In addition, the bank has upgraded its head office branch and set up a priority banking centre geared towards offering a comfortable and functional banking setting.

MS Llyod added that the bank will soon be re-opening these state-of-the-art banking premises She further pointed out that Standard Chartered was the first financial institution in Tanzania to introduce ATM machine.

The initiatives are a follow up to the recently introduced visa electronic debit card, the visa infinite card, and premium banking -a service concept focused on high net worth individuals which allows these customers to experience personalised and convenient banking. Other activities include web banking services for corporate, the supply chain financing product and the Diva account Specifically for women

The bank is currently positioning itself to open 100 new branches in the continent as well as expanding the employee base in Tanzania and elsewhere.

My Take: Is Nairobi Becoming The Hottest City In Africa To Launch A Startup?

Startups

Okii Eli

-

March 18, 2013

1

Launching a startup is directly affected by the start-up ecosystem and there has been a vacuum on whom to learn from in Africa.

There’s no record of success or failures as even those who tried were doing it on their own. There are few exits recorded if they ever existed and it seems up and coming entrepreneurs have few local examples to learn from. However, things are changing fast.

Now & Here

Africa is working on the next big thing, and in which sector cities are booming with hubs, accelerators and there is an influx of investment funds and VC’s. There is also a growing tech community among the hubs with a focus on innovations and the customer. Everyday its becoming the NOW time and HERE place to launch a disruptive start-up. The entrepreneur atmosphere and culture is becoming the best for launching a successful startup’s each new day. The major countries in Africa with a higher growing number of internet users, higher internet accessibility are Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Morocco and Egypt.

Nairobi, Kenya’s capital boosts of more than 8 million internet users, several co-working and incubation spaces such as iHub, Nailab, The GrowthHub and iLab and the 88mph Startup Garage. Several creative and art working spaces are springing up across the city. From hackathons to grants, then growing to seed funds such as 88mph and Village Venture Fund and venture capital such as Savannah Fund, the city is heading there. Entrepreneur social networks like VC4Africa, HumanIPO and AfroVumbua are also making dreams possible by exposing them to early stage funding oportunities.

Local Solutions, Global Attention

Nairobi has seen a number of startups launch and grow and still growing such Kopokopo Inc, that got the attention of Google’s chairman Eric Schmidt while on his Africa tour. Ghaflakenya, top local entertainment site, SasaAfrica, Africa’s craft market and top among the DEMO Africa top five 2012. Other successful names include Rupu, EatOut, and Cheki-independent success stories and not a result of hubs or accelerators, though they have gained from several available resources in the tech community.

The city also holds major tech events such as Mobile Web East Africa which concluded on 22^nd February this year , the inaugural DEMO Africa and Pivot East,a local startups pitching event among others .

Big Players

The success story of Mpesa and crowd sourcing platform Ushahidi have positioned Nairobi to be the next silicon Savannah in Africa. The recent entry of Rocket Internet’s Jumia with Euros 20m funding and Hellofood are some others signs the city is getting attractive.

The brothers are set to stir the startup culture globally with their today’s launch of Global Fund, to fund start-ups across the world. Mostly leaning on eCommerce, fashion and mobile payments, the brothers sold their CityDeal startup: Groupon clone to Groupon. They were responsible for the massive Groupon growth across Europe before they made a calculated exit at the IPO. The brothers have had successful exits to firms like eBay. The firm has built successful firms such as Wimdu, Paymill, Jumia, Hellofood, Lazmada and many others.

With ventures in Brazil , Europe, Asia and across Africa, entrepreneurs in Nairobi might learn a thing or two as the brothers have proved good in launching viable business with tried business models, great at execution and hiring top talent and also good at exits. The brothers have also inspired most of the eCommerce startups on the continent and most of them are either founded by former Rocket Internet partners or employees. May be Kaymu will be launched in Kenya after Nigeria.

Classified player OLX and the several entrepreneurs in Kenya will have to battle it out fighting for loyal customers as the scene gets many heavy budget promotional budgets. Kenyan entrepreneurs might either learn from multinational entrants and raise their game or we shall be trailing behind them.

Better to be the head than the tail.

Image Courtesy.

Orange Launches The First Ever 3G+ Internet In Central African Republic

Tech

Milcah Lukhanyu

-

March 15, 2013

0

Orange Telecommunications Company has introduced the first ever 3G+ network in Central African Republic.

Patrick Benon,CEO of Orange Central Africa Republic,said, “Orange is now the first operator to operate a 3G + network in Central African Republic, and it reinforces our position as an innovative operator.”

According to the company , the launch marks fastest mobile internet connectivity the region has ever had. The 3G + is 10 times faster than EDGE. With a flow rate up to 21 Mega bits per second (Mbps), 3G+ is the most powerful and paves a way to a world of innovative services

The launch of the 3G + will allow subscribers to access their favorite matches , football championships on their mobile with mobile TV and in addition a user can even see their partner in a call with videophone.

Yum.co.ke Delivers Your Food In Just 45 Minutes

Tech

Okii Eli

-

March 15, 2013

0

Are you hungry? Need food delivered to your doorstep? Yum.co.ke, a local Kenyan startup founded by Jake Goldberg and Mike Hudson from personal experience.They were disappointed with the few delivery options when ordering food from their favorite restaurants and saw an opportunity to help Kenyan restaurants to reach a bigger customer base hence yum was born.

You simply place an order by going the site yum.co.ke and choose location. A list of restaurants available in the location will be displayed; the user browses through the menus, finds a dish they would like, adds to the cart and makes a purchase directly online with available options for payment MPesa, credit cards and payment on delivery. Yum delivers your order in under 45minutes.

They communicate with the restaurant after the purchase immediately and ensure the food is delivered to the customer as soon as possible. The startup has an all round delivery service which is very active and delivers currently to a few neighborhoods in the city.

The startup is growing at a promising rate with over 1000likes on Facebook and already has a huge number of returning customers who use the service daily. They are constantly adding new restaurants into their portfolio with new menus like Brew Bistro Terrace Lounge, Kenchic,-Urban Spoon and Rendezvous food menu.

Yum has a wide range of meals covering large price as low as Ksh 200 Swahili vegetable stews to yummy ksh.1950 king prawns and delivers on Sundays too.

So far the company has been boot trapped with expansion plans to all over Kenya but first with exhausting the capital city Nairobi. Yum what’s your favorite meal delivered right to your doorstep, get started yum.co.ke

However, Yum is not alone in the market as a food delivery service, Rocket Internet’s Hellofood launched late last year opens beautiful competition in the market. Several local startups and even restaurants have joined the food delivery band too.

Here Is The Fourth Generation GALAXY S | GALAXY S4

Mobile

Okii Eli

-

March 15, 2013

0

The most and widely talked Samsung Galaxy S4 launched yesterday. Samsung, a key rival of Apple is taking things to another level with the release of this new amazing phone.

Here is what Samsung said it contains:

The Galaxy S4 is slimmer and is available both with 3G and 4G LTE across 327 mobile operators and in 155 countries.

Size and Weight

Galaxy S4 is 7.9 mm thick ,weighs 133 grams, the screen is full 5 inches ,full 1080 HD screen, 441 pixels per inch. It’s available in two colors: Black Myst and white frost, wifi enabled, Bluetooth 4.0, infrared LED for remote control. For some of us who liked to be glued to our phones, you can use GS4 to control your TV now. For the camera it has both rear and front, 13 MP and 2MP respectively. It contains 16 , 32 or 64 GB of storage plus a SD card slot for up to 64 GB of more storage, 2600 Mah battery and contains infrared gesture , temperature and humidity sensors.

Galaxy S4 has S voice drive which syncs with your car over Bluetooth and alerts you when you have incoming calls plus navigation is built in and its voice activated. The ‘S Translator’ which provides instant translation, using text or voice translation on applications including email, text message and ChatON. This instant translation is possible both from speech to text and text to speech and ensures that you can rely on the correct information whilst abroad.

Full HD Super AMOLED Display

The GALAXY S 4 boasts of the world’s first Full HD Super AMOLED display to showcase images at their very best. Its 5-inch large screen has 441ppi for stunning viewing quality. The Samsung GALAXY S 4 also utilizes Corning’s new Gorilla® Glass 3, making it a durable travel companion for all of life’s adventures. It has 13 megapixel rear camera and a front camera and users can choose from a variety of frame effects which blend the two pictures naturally and also adjust the size of the small picture inside the big one.

Users can select 8 different ways to combine the two photos taken by the front camera and the rear camera. At the same time, the ‘Dual Video Call’ function enables you to make and receive a video call with friends and family while showing what you are looking at during the call.

Sound & Shot

Apart from Dual Camera functionality, S4 has 12 outstanding shooting modes including ‘Drama Shot’, which allows you to see all the action in one continuous time-lapse, and ‘Sound & Shot’, which uniquely stores sound and voice together as the picture is taken so those special moments are captured in the truest form imaginable, exactly as they happened.These meaningful moments can also now automatically be stored in a photo album, with the new ‘Story Album’ function.

Photos taken by the GALAXY S 4 are automatically gathered and sorted out according to your timeline, geo-tagging information, or a specific event to create a photo album. These unique story albums can be ordered and delivered as an offline photo album.

Group Play

With its ‘Group Play’ function, users can enjoy music, photos, documents and games with those around them without even requiring a Wi-Fi AP or cellular signal. This innovative feature enables users to connect directly with others to share, play and co-create content and entertainment instantly. Its ‘Share Music’ option allows users to have the same song playing on multiple phones in sync to create the best party atmosphere.The GALAXY S 4 supports HSPA＋42 Mbps and 4G LTE which means wherever you are in the world, you can rely on perfect connectivity. Especially, the LTE version supports up to 6 different band sets which allows it to function in most LTE coverage areas as well as enabling global LTE roaming. Furthermore, TDD/FDD LTE Dual Mode version will be introduced later this year.Smart Pause‘Samsung Smart Pause’ enables you to control the screen by where you look. When you are watching a video, the video pauses when you look away then it starts right up again when you are back.

Eye Scroll

‘Samsung Smart Scroll’ allows you to scroll the browser or emails up and down without touching the screen. It recognizes your face looking at the screen and movement of your wrist and then scroll the pages up or down accordingly.

Air View

Air View allows users to hover with their fingers to preview the content of an email, S Planner, image gallery or video without having to open it. You can even see a magnified view on the internet browser, or a phone number saved in the speed dial on the keypad. With ‘Air Gesture’, you can change the music track, scroll up and down a web page, or accept a call with a wave of your hand.

With ‘S Voice™ Drive’ you can activate commands via voice control for optimization when driving. Once connected with a car Bluetooth, the phone automatically turns into driving mode converting text to speech so you can easily and safely check messages with no need to look at the screen.

Optical Reader

‘Samsung Optical Reader’ automatically recognizes text, a business card or QR code information, and providing useful functions such as translation, call, text message and search.

‘Samsung WatchON’, the GALAXY S 4 will transform into an IR remote to control your home entertainment system including TV, set-top box, DVD player and even air conditioner. In addition, you can enjoy various content including live TV, cable TV and VOD.

Samsung GALAXY S 4 Specs

Network	2.5G (GSM/ GPRS/ EDGE): 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz3G (HSPA＋ 42Mbps): 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 MHz4G (LTE Cat 3 100/50Mbps) : up to 6 different band sets(Dependent on market)
Display	5 inch Full HD Super AMOLED (1920 x 1080) display, 441 ppi
AP	1.9 GHz Quad-Core Processor / 1.6 GHz Octa-Core ProcessorThe selection of AP will be differed by markets.
OS	Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean)
Camera	Main(Rear): 13 Mega pixel Auto Focus camera with Flash & Zero Shutter Lag, BISSub (Front): 2 Mega pixel camera, Full HD recording @30fps with Zero Shutter Lag, BIS
Video	Codec: MPEG4, H.264, H.263, DivX, DivX3.11, VC-1, VP8, WMV7/8, Sorenson Spark, HEVCRecording & Playback: Full HD (1080p)
Audio	Codec: MP3, AMR-NB/WB, AAC/AAC＋/eAAC＋, WMA, OGG, FLAC, AC-3, apt-X
Camera Features	Dual Camera: Dual Shot / Dual Recording/ Dual Video CallDrama Shot, Sound & Shot, 360 Photo, Cinema Photo, Eraser, Night, Best Photo, Best FaceBeauty Face, HDR (High Dynamic Range), Panorama, Sports
Additional Features	Group Play: Share Music, Share Picture, Share Document, Play Games
	Story Album, S Translator, Optical Reader
	Samsung Smart Scroll, Samsung Smart Pause, Air Gesture, Air View,
	Samsung Hub, ChatON (Voice/Video Call, Share screen, 3-way calling) Samsung WatchON
	S Travel (Trip Advisor), S Voice™ Drive, S Health
	Samsung Adapt Display, Samsung Adapt Sound Auto adjust touch sensitivity (Glove friendly)
	Safety Assistance, Samsung Link, Screen Mirroring
	Samsung KNOX (B2B only)
Google Mobile Services	Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail, Google LatitudeGoogle Play Store, Google Plus, YouTube, Google Talk,Google Places, Google Navigation, Google Downloads, Voice Search
Connectivity	WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (HT80)GPS / GLONASS NFC, Bluetooth® 4.0 (LE)IR LED (Remote Control), MHL 2.0
Sensor	Accelerometer, RGB light, Geomagnetic, Proximity, Gyro, Barometer Temperature & Humidity, Gesture
Memory	16/ 32/ 64 GB User memory ＋ microSD slot (up to 64GB) 2GB RAM
Dimension	136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9 mm, 130g
Battery	2,600 mAh

Samsung Africa Launches Solar Powered Health Care Initiative

Tech

Milcah Lukhanyu

-

March 14, 2013

3

Samsung

Electronics Company Africa today launched a Solar Powered Health Centre model at its 2013 Samsung Africa Forum in Cape Town, South Africa. The move marks a step towards a large-scale medical initiative on the continent.

According to Samsung ,the mobile centres are built for use in remote rural areas, and aim at eliminating the economic and geographic barriers that prevent people across Africa from obtaining quality medical treatment.

The centres will move progressively from one area to the next providing a range of eye, ear, blood and dental medical services to the public.

A report by World Bank shows that, more than 60% of people in Sub-Saharan Africa live in rural areas. These people often lack the time and resources to reach clinics for proactive medical care, and particularly if they are ill and unable to make long journeys. In South Africa, only approximately 20% of the population is served by private medical schemes, with the public health sector struggling to cater to the remaining 80% of the population

Ntulule Tshenye,The Business-to-Government and Corporate Citizenship Lead for Samsung Africa says, “We have been providing medical services to rural areas in Africa for a few years now through our annual Employee Volunteer Programmes.This experience has shown us how desperately medical treatment is needed across the continent, and inspired us to develop a sustainable and innovative solution to reach the people who need it most. While our CSR strategy in Africa is largely focused on education, our efforts to enrich lives will not be felt if people’s basic needs, such as access to healthcare, are not met.”

Samsung therefore seeks to reach one million people through its Solar Powered Health Centres by 2015.

The core activities of the initiative will include screening people to establish conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, tooth decay and cataracts.

In addition, the centres will educate communities on health issues and encouraging people to do tests as preventative measure. Samsung’s partners will provide medical products to support this project, including the Department of Health and pharmaceutical companies. The company will also work with medical universities, and organisations that are involved in health care like World Vision, and Doctors without Borders.

Zimbabwe Mobile Operators To Pay More For A New Operating licence

Tech

Milcah Lukhanyu

-

March 14, 2013

0

Mobile operators in zimbabwe will be charged USD180 million as compared to the current charges at US $100 million to $180 million for a new operating licence.

Current licences are due for expire in June this year, and therefore the Ministry of Transport and Communication is in a process to issue new 15 year converged licences that would allow them extend their services.

The new framework would require that the operators share infrastructure to cut on operating costs and tariffs.

According to the Finance minister Tendai Biti, the licencing system will move away from the current system that awards two licences; one for GSM-mobile and data services.

Kenya’s Dash2do Wants To Get Your Tasks Done Conveniently

Startups

Okii Eli

-

March 14, 2013

0

Dash2do, Kenya’s Taskrabbit wants to do errands you don’t have time for as you run your office, crib or party.

The team told TechMoran they want to make sure busy people here in Nairobi and the Diaspora get almost anything done for them such as shopping, virtual assignments, taxis, home and office cleaning, gift buying and delivery.

Dash2do was launched late last year by Sam Wanjohi of Foresight Group. Sam quit his civil engineering job in the US to concentrate fully into interior design and technology, finding Foresight Ventures, an interior design firm and Dash2do.

Speaking to TechMoran, Wanjohi said,”Dash2do is spearheaded by a network of staff assigned under different departments to be at service to clients, such as cab drivers who get SMS notifications whenever a client books, parcel and courier staff to pick and deliver clients packages, laundry attendants and office cleaners on stand-by.”

Dash2do notifies a client and the staff assigned on the progress of the task via SMS and through an Android app recently launched at the just concluded Mobile Web East Africa conference in Nairobi.

According to Wanjohi, clients need not be high-class, as the Dash2do has a variety of errands requiring different skills set.

There are simple tasks like shopping, packaging and delivery, cab services or virtual tasks.

Dash2do gives convenience to busy blue-collar or business people and is a source of income to those who want to be part of the dedicated team.

To use Dash2do, one has to sign up on their website, top up their account and choose what it is they want done and pay for it via PayPal, Mpesa, Yucash and Airtel Money.

Dash2do is available on the web, as an App on the Google Play Store.

Egypt To Offer ICT Training To Fresh Graduates

Tech

Milcah Lukhanyu

-

March 13, 2013

0

Plans are underway for the ICT Ministry of Egypt to award a tender for a specialised ICT training programme to students in Egypt. Sixteen training companies have been considered to support 8 specialised training tracks for around 720 students.
Atef Helmy, the Minister of Communications and Information

Technology, has already discussed with the training companies on the proposed programme. The meetings was basically focused on the framework of implementing the Egyptian Information Society Initiative, intending to prepare fresh graduates in Egypt by refining their technological skills to enable them to keep up with developments in ICT.

The training will center on Microsoft databases, Oracle databases, UNIX and Linux programs, communication networks infrastructure and security systems, Java mobile applications, web application development, e-commerce software and graphic application development.

Rovio To Launch The Angry Birds Video Series This Week

Tech

Milcah Lukhanyu

-

March 13, 2013

0

Rovio Entertainment,the Finish game developer and entertainment company behind the Angry Birds mobile games has been positioning itself as an entertainment company on the level of Disney—complete with an animation studio, theme park, book business and plush toys. And on March 16 and 17 the company will launch the Angry Birds Toon video series

Michele Tobin, Rovio’s head of brand partnerships and advertising for the Americas, said “We view ourselves as the media company for the connected device era. Considering that Angry Birds apps have been downloaded 1.7 billion times and reach 263 million monthly active users, Rovio has the stats to back up such a claim.”

In keeping with that Disney 3.0 position, Rovio will be distributing Angry Birds Toons through a new channel being added to the Angry Birds smartphone and tablet apps, as well as multiple video and TV distribution outlets. In the U.S, the new show—which goes into Angry Birds’ characters backstories on the fictional Piggy Island—will be available via Comcast’s Xfinity on-demand service and Samsung Smart TVs, and will eventually be available through Roku and other connected devices.

However, Rovio’s YouTube Channel, which has received over a billion video views, will not be an initial distribution vehicle, but Tobin made it clear that the video platform could be in the cards for the future.

Rovio seeks to adopt a more traditional scheduling system. A single 2 minute 45 second episode will air each weekend, first hitting TV on Saturday and then rolling out to the mobile and tablet Angry Birds apps on Sunday

The series will be distributed traditionally through TV network partners outside the U.S. (such as Cartoon Network in India)

According to Tobin, The company has a very large, highly engaged audience, and they will continue to give the fans what they want and also bring them new and exciting content, citing a 97 percent brand awareness stat for the brand in China.

Tobin says,”Given the series’ potential reach (the apps have been downloaded by 263 million users) Activision, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures and BlackBerry are the series’ four launch brands,and other advertisers will be will be incorporated before all 52 episodes air.”

Umuntu Media’s Mimiboard Celebrates One Year Anniversarry | Hits 27 Million Page Views Per Month

Startups

Okii Eli

-

March 12, 2013

0

Mimiboard, a virtual notice boards built by SA’s UmuntuMedia, a firm founded by Johan Nel have today announced a 27 million page views milestone.

Speaking to TechMoran, Nel said,” This expansion has been enabled by partnerships with other major brands like Capital FM in Kenya and Lagbook in Nigeria. Mimiboard is expanding at alarming rate with the brightest minds being outsourced across the continent and working to fully integrate Mimiboard with its all iportals, bettering the UX and making it responsive for mobile users.”

The South Africa firm also reported that the one year old noticeboards are recording 450k visits per day.

Mimiboards launched at MWEA2012 in Nairobi enable local content creation and unlocking access to this content across Africa. They allow communities to easily create and share local content.

Umuntu media iPortals, inforamtion portals which carry the Mimiboard too are currently available in 16 African countries with the biggest source of traffic including Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Malawi, Uganda and South Africa.

According to Nel, the technology is not only being used by locals but they work closely with great media owners across the continent majority of them are based in Nigeria and Ghana.

Mimiboard recently partnered with Nyasa Times from Malawi, Gambia Dispatch from Gambia, and New Business from Ethiopia and QFM from Zambia.

The founder said that, ‘ Seeing the vision come to life is one of the most rewarding experience.’

“Our continent is alive with opportunities and our technology is making great impact and with the current growth, Umuntu Media will be positioned as a catalyst of on the continent. We urge our growing user base for more good things to come,” he added.

Johan raised $1 million from eVentures Africa and the fruits are already being ripped and he’s seeking to raise another round to expand to Europe and USA before competition sets in. UmuntuMedia already has a wordpress plug-in that bloggers can embed Mimiboard onto their sites .The revenue generated is shared between UmuntuMedia and the blogger and to him that is another chance bloggers in Africa can add something on top of their revenue streams.

This is not the end, Mimiboards want to be the next big thing in Africa and eventually across the globe.

MTN Cameroon Launches A Youth Friendly Tarrif Plan Dubbed N-Joy

Tech

Milcah Lukhanyu

-

March 12, 2013

0

In bid to fulfill its undertaking to provide the Cameroonian market with simple and affordable solutions to meet their communication needs, MTN Cameroon has introduced a new tariff plan, MTN N-JOY, specially tailored for young subscribers who intend to build a community and call each other at preferential tariffs.

With MTN N-JOY, MTN is the very first mobile operator to offer the choice of 10 favorite numbers per subscriber in Cameroon.

The tariff is an opportunity given to young subscribers to always stay together, share their dreams and ambitions and live their passions. To celebrate the launch of this new tariff plan, MTN organized a musical jamboree with the internationally acclaimed Togolese group, Toofan.

The Startupangel.com Launching April In Kenya To Accelerate African Startups Online

Startups

Okii Eli

-

March 12, 2013

1

TheStartupAngel accelerator programme is set to launch its first online accelerator programme in a move to help startups in Africa that have not yet received funding or not in incubators but with a potential to grow huge.

TheStartupAngel.com, run by B Success Network, LLC. works with startup entrepreneurs to bring them exposure, funding and network. The programme was founded by Giang Biscan, an advisor to Mixergy.com, a US startup mentorship programme through events and firesight chats with proven entreprenuers founded by Andrew Warner and other renowned tech investors .

Giang Biscan, PhD. (giangbiscan.com) in 1997 founded an internet startup, which she sold in 1998 and has worked in the tech and real estate sectors and has a technology transfer service for telecommunication & pneumatic equipment from Australia and Europe to Vietnam.

She has a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Newcastle in Australia, and an MBA from UCLA.

Several stats show that many startups in Africa fail due to inadequate skills and mentorship which the programme seek to address via its 3 days per week for 6 weeks interaction with the mentors to measure the progress and ability of the teams to execute. Successful startups will be provided with seed funding if the mentors are satisfied with them.

The programme is already signing up the first batch of startups to start with across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa ,Ghana and Nigeria.

The first batch will start the work on early April. TheStartupAngel in Africa is open to all startups especially those not in incubators or accelerators. mLab East Africa also has a similar programme online set to reach out to the many entreprenuers across the region. These efforts will build the mobile and web entreprenueral ecosystem in the region through mentorship.

Mentorship is key in any startup growth and with limited Incubators and accelerators in the region, made young upcoming entrepreneurs fail to get traction and eventually shut down.

Kenya has a line of success startups such as Rupu, Ghaflakenya, Sematime, Kopokopo Inc among others. The lead teams of these startups have been in and out of mentorship networks, incubators and accelerators apart from just raising funds.

To join contact @GiangBiscan or @nextstevejob

mYwindow.me Shines At SXSWi & Gets Down To Business At India’s Top Accelerator

Startups

Okii Eli

-

March 12, 2013

0

A few weeks ago we covered one of the hottest startup in India, mYwindow.me which was only a few weeks old in the market. Now the startup is set to join the famous and Biggest India startup accelerator Kyron after winning hearts and users at the SXSWi this week in Austin. Emerging among the best globally.

According to the industrial engineering student and co-founder, Nikunj Agrawal mYwindow, enables users to showcase their skills, talents and amazing things they have created and worked on. Users can sell their beautiful creations to people in their cities, local community, friends and followers and who understand their culture within just 10 seconds. Combining both the social network and e-commerce objectives, mYwindow.me expects to change the way users interact with their family members or pursue their passion and keep their identity.

Just three weeks after launch, the start-up has signed up over 10,000 users with unique profiles showcasing the future of personality and passion. The pages resemble the redesigned Facebook profiles with simpler user design in mind.

The startup joints the accelerator this May and according to the founder was very optimistic of exponential growth after pitching at Austin yesterday. With growth expected to be at 500% rate.

He said,”mYwindow is taking the India tech scene by storm from place to place,” and added, “with more and more invites to pitch in various tech invites from lauchpad Startup festival, MIT GSW 2013 Startup showcase in Estonia, Innovation summit 2013 India and many more others.”

The Computer science graduate is opportunistic that following Twitter and Groupme’s successful launch at SXSW, mYwindow might just be following in their footsteps. Its demo video released 3 weeks ago has garnered over 50k views.

My Take:Lessons Entrepreneurs Can Learn From The Failed IEBC System

Startups

Okii Eli

-

March 12, 2013

1

It’s now a week after Kenyans went into historic elections to choose their leaders in an elections characterized long queues, manual voting and in some areas voting into the night even when voters were out and ready by 3 am in the morning.

Prepare

Things didn’t run well as expected the EVID (Electronic Verification Identity devices) all went down and the virtual network assigned for results transmission failed leading to manually identification which was 2007 concept. The tallying had to go manual.

In relation to this, Africa has emerged as the next frontier for Internet startups sprouting in every country and the entry of Rocket Internet signals another level of growth. Many of the founders rush to only to launch the MVP and fail to collect enough feedback from users but instead do what IEBC did ,the commission hurried to test the system with very few users not knowing the level of traffic that will pass across it leading to slow penetration of results and eventually total failure.

Back Up

Startups need to collect enough feedback and provide reliable backup solutions to cater for surging downloads or traffic. Many successful startups have been victim of backup failure like Pinterest; the site was brought to a halt when Amazon data center was affected by storm. The mock election carried by the commission was not well marketed and attendance was very low , below 1% of registered voters.

The commission relied on the Safaricom VPN after Safaricom warned of possible failure ,as a startup what the consumer wants is what you give to him not what you feel it should be.

Be Realistic

The team is very critical, for any growth and technical problems troubleshooting plus execution. The failure of IEBC systems can be blamed on the technical team on poor ability to scale and simulate the system under higher level of traffic. The team also failed to offer option B when option A failed. This calls for pivoting in scenarios success is not on your path.

They opted for option Z which was manual register and all returning officers to report to main tallying center which was very expensive. In my opinion why not tweet the results to IEBC with #tag of the constituency number, as the results were to be made public anyway? Same applies to startups, with limited resources in Africa, lets opt for cheaper options of survival and the team is your backbone and failure to identify when to pivot is the worst mistake you can make, the success of Fab is the best example.

Purpose-Driven

Lastly before your MVP goes to the market let it be able to execute its main objective else the users will be frustrated and will never come back. This happen to IEBC whereby all over a sudden all the EVIDs failed , the voters were very frustrated with many questions lingering in the air till now. I always prefer to attend an event of failures than success stories, you will always learn a lot and IEBC voting was one of them.

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