Tag Archive for 'Kenya'

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MobileMonday Kenya Meeting Summary: 16th August 2010

Published on August 16, 2010 in Uncategorized. 6 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

This evening was the the fifth meeting of the MobileMonday Kenya Chapter at the iHub. Below is a summary of the presentations made:

Jacaranda Health’s mobile maternal health solutions.

Jane of Jacaranda Health (JH) spoke about how they are using mobile technology to provide low cost and high quality maternal healthcare in Kenya. JH is targetting 4 million urban poor in East Africa with their offerings. Theirs is innovate maternal and neonatal healthcare for low income earners. JH is currently focussed on peri-urban Nairobi areas such as Umoja, Kasarani, etc. JH’s strategy is to use clinical innovation, systems innovation, and business innovation.

The JH Information System consists of EHR/EMR, mobile applications, forms, education/alerts and banking. It uses existing mobile technologies to deliver services such as SMS-based patient outreach, electronic medical/health records, data collection and mobile payments/banking as well as pre-payment cards. The focus of JH on android devices via tablets, netbooks or smartphones. More details can be found on their web site at www.jacarandahealth.org.

iChecki android app from the Xrystalgenius Team.

The team from Xrystalgenius who recent graduated from Starthmore University presented their “iChecki” matatu tracking android application. These students we’re impressive and had attended MIT’s AITI programme and also won US$ 3,000.00 in a Google sponsored competition. The idea behind iChecki is that there are over 45,000 matatus in Kenya and a 1/3 of of these are in Nairobi. However, no matatu schedules exist and as such passengers have to guess when they can expect transport to come their way.

The team from iChecki identified that Safaricom’s high speed 3G network is a key driver for mobile services, and high-end mobile phones are getting cheaper by the day. Since the Kenyan mobile market is varie, iChecki has been designed to serve high-end android mobiles, mid-level mobiles through mobile web and low-end mobiles using USSD/SMS. Therefore, iChecki is also multi-platform making it accessible to all.

In addition, since Safaricom has 16+ million mobile users, they hope to achieve 10% penetration within 3 years. iChecki integrates Google Maps, GPS and mobile telephony to power its functionalities. Users send requests which iChecki then processes using using GPS, LAI (Location Area Identity) and smart predictive algorithms. A reply is then send to give the approximate time that a designated matatu will arrive.

The goals are that year one will be to get people to use it (critical mass). Year two will be about familiarization and maturity. Year three will be for iCheck to become profitable. The plan is for iChecki to generate revenues from advertising, equipment sales and ultimately service charges. In the future, iChecki will use GSM to track, bus bookings, personal tracking solutions, and services for courier companies so that their customers can track their packages are.

Pay.Zunguka from Symbiotic Media.

Mbugua of Symbiotic Media talked about Pay.Zunguka, a micro-payments mobile platform. Pay.Zunguka is targeting markets that require micro-payments such as music downloads for instance. Its about also going to the bottom of the pyramid. The solution works by integrating with mobile networks. Case in point for micro-payments for instance in selling bite-sized news content instead of a full newspaper.

A concern of Mbugua’s is that mobile network operators take over 50% of revenue if content is billed for through them. Pay.Zunguka aims to fill a gap in this respect by leaving most of the revenues with the content producer. This could be hyper-local content that is contextually relevant for users and buyers, giving them a strong incentive to pay for it. Another opportunity is giving users the ability to pay for social gaming on social networks, without having to use a credit card.  Pay.Zunguka is also being tested for bank transactions as well as point of sale (POS) integration.

The Safaricom Innovation Forum.

Al Kags spoke about the Safaricom Innovation Board. More information on this initiative here>

GKenya from Google.

Chris Kiagiri, Technical Lead of of Google Kenya announced GKenya at Mobile Monday Kenya. More details on this event here>

Facebook Photo Album from the Meeting.

You can view photos from the 5th MobileMonday Kenya meeting here>

Next MobileMonday Kenya Meeting.

The next MobileMonday is the 13th of September 2010.

BBC feature on ICT growth in Kenya.

Published on August 16, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

This is a feature by Kevin Mwachiro that was aired on the BBC last month covering the growth of IT in Kenya as well as outsourcing. In the feature, Ushahidi’s Ory Okolloh and I had been interviewed for the same on issues such as social media, crowd sourcing and the growth of local (digital) content.

BBC feature on IT in Kenya from Moses Kemibaro on Vimeo.

Kenya ICT Board’s (Tandaa) Local Content Grants Statistics.

Published on August 11, 2010 in Uncategorized. 5 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

NOTE: The statistics and review results for this blog post have been taken from publicly available information currently being circulated by the Tandaa initiative of the Kenya ICT Board.

As reported on this blog over 2 months ago, The Kenya ICT Board though its local content initiative dubbed “Tandaa” issued a call for proposals from Kenyan firms and software application developers for grants to support local content and software applications.

The proposals submitted for grants are currently being reviewed by the Tandaa team at Kenya ICT Board after applications closed. They recorded a total of 2,154 applications on their online system. Of these, 667 were complete and submitted within the deadline.  With the support of the Tandaa Team at Kenya ICT Board, an independent consultant is now reviewing and grading these 667 proposals.

Given the large number of grants received, the board had had to push the announcement date for successful proposals from the 15th August 2010 to the 31st August 2010. A full report will be submitted to an independent Grants Committee in mid-August 2010. The Committee will then make the final decision and select the successful grantees. Grantees will be announced on the 31st August 2010.

The day after the grants deadline, Kenya ICT Board’s Tandaa Team will send out an evaluation form to get feedback from everyone who had participated in the grant process. Below are some highlights from the evaluation and statistics on the grant process:

  • Total numbers of approved applications we’re split between 103 females and 608 males. Barely 15% of applicants were women.
  • Overall, participants were satisfied with the grant application process with 39.2% indicating they were ‘very satisfied’ and 38.4% ‘satisfied’.
  • Of respondents that did not complete the grant application process, 64% cited ‘lack of supporting documents’ as the leading cause for non-completion, while 7.4% cited ‘lack of internet access’.
  • 20% of respondents have attended a Tandaa Symposium. That comes up to almost 34% of Tandaa participants also participating in the grant application process.
  • And finally… most people submitted their proposals on the very last day! leading to a huge spike in submissions on last day

The full evaluation results can be viewed here>

E-Marketing for East Africa’s Tourism Sector to be unveiled at Nairobi Conference.

Published on August 11, 2010 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

Nairobi… A wave of e-marketing offerings will be unveiled at the upcoming E-Tourism East Africa Conference in Nairobi on the 2nd and 3rd September 2010.

The conference, which is being sponsored by Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), Safaricom and the Crowne Plaza Hotel will feature leading global players such as TripAdvisor, Expedia and WAYN.com – the world’s largest travel focused social media site. The international experts will be giving presentations at the two-day conference, on how East Africa’s tourism sector can harness the potential of the web, especially following the enormous interest generated in Africa from the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

KCB, a lead sponsor of the E-Tourism East Africa Conference, said: “The Tourism sector is hugely important to the growth and development of the region’s economies. The introduction of e-commerce in Kenya is an added opportunity for KCB to develop an innovative online booking solution”, said KCB Divisional Director Treasury, David Thuo.

He went on to say, “The online booking solution allows for online transactions and reservations that are vital ingredients needed for the future of tourism across East Africa. The tourism sector will have a user-friendly and affordable solution that will give access to reservations and management of online payments. With so many products and services being purchased online today, we want to ensure that the tourism sector knows the value and benefits of accepting online payments” said Mr. Thuo.

Safaricom through the Easy Travel portal is also a key sponsor. Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph said “We are a key service provider to the tourism sector and we have the right infrastructure in place to help promote this industry through an integrated service that incorporates both booking and payment functions”.

He went on to say, “We will be improving the online reservation system that will allow for hotels to be included on our Easy Travel portal. We are especially focused on the domestic market, buoyed by growing awareness about how easy it is to book and pay online in real time using M-PESA, our globally-acclaimed mobile money transfer service. Our eventual aim is to increase the utility of the mobile phone to our subscribers and position our data services as a solution to everyday challenges. We hope that the E-Tourism East Africa Conference will help deepen awareness within the sector on the need to conduct business online for greater efficiency and customer satisfaction.”

Damian Cook, CEO, E-Frontiers.

Damian Cook, the CEO of E-Tourism Frontiers, said that alongside the international speakers at this year’s summit, there will also be an impressive number of Africa based companies and projects presenting new and innovative ways of promoting and selling Africa online.

“We have some amazing projects in our line up this year- including some exciting local products and projects from Kenya, South Africa and Uganda. We will be presenting a case study of the Friend a Gorilla project which made Uganda’s gorillas individual members of Facebook and their updates and followers made them a social media success story – with increased bookings and massive global media coverage” said Cook.

The E-Tourism Frontiers CEO summed up,  “African Travel companies have seen the success of tourist produced online viral videos such as the Battle of Kruger, which has been viewed by over 50 million people, and they are now creating platforms for user generated content, reviews and discussions of their products. More companies are also using Twitter and Facebook to develop strong networks of supporters and consumers. The web has really made it easy for small players to use technology, creativity and innovation to make a big connection with global markets.”

The E-Tourism East Africa Conference will be held in Nairobi at the Crowne Plaza Hotel – Upper Hill on the 2nd and 3rd of September 2010. For additional information visit www.e-tourismfrontiers.com

Samsung’s bada-powered Wave finally hits Kenya.

Published on August 10, 2010 in Uncategorized. 5 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

I’ve been waiting for this news for sometime and its finally here! Samsung today launched the much anticipated and bada-powered Samsung Wave handset (S8500) in conjunction with Safaricom in Kenya. The Samsung Wave is the first mobile handset to be released on Samsung’s new, open mobile platform, bada, which is the cornerstone of Samsung’s bold commitment to provide a smartphone for everyone.

The Samsung Wave has a Super AMOLED 3.3” display that makes its screen visually stunning, a Social Hub to bring you closer to your contacts and connections, and TouchWiz 3.0 for an intuitive and hugely customizable user interface. The Wave’s high-speed CPU ensures swift, smooth application experiences and multi-tasking, making the device an always-on mobile multimedia companion. The Samsung Wave has been built to offer users an unrivalled level of performance, customization and choice in how they connect with their world.


“The Samsung Wave truly demonstrates our commitment to deliver rich, connected and innovative smartphone experiences to everyone,” said  Robert Ngeru, Samsung Electronics Nairobi Office Deputy Managing Director. “Samsung Wave sees our platform vision become a reality. For the first time, developers have the freedom to create applications across multiple platforms, for consumption on a huge range of devices. In the Wave, our developer partners can see the ocean of opportunity that is offered by the bada mobile platform and our device technology,” he said.

“We are very excited to have partnered with Safaricom to make this product nationally available for Kenyans. The Samsung wave will be retailing exclusively at Safaricom outlets countrywide for Ksk  29,999 and will come with 100MB Free data and Kes. 1,000.00 free airtime.” he added.

Super AMOLED – Seeing is believing

With the Samsung Wave, seeing really is believing as it features the world’s first Super AMOLED display; delivering an unrivalled screen experience on a smartphone. The Super AMOLED offers much brighter, clearer, and less reflective AMOLED OnCell display, featuring a high resolution WVGA (800×480 pixels) screen with mDNIe (mobile Digital Natural Image engine) technology. DNIe technology is proven display technology which incorporated to Samsung’s LCD TV and LED TV lineups. With a free viewing angle and super fast response, the Samsung Wave display provides superb image quality for viewing both videos and photos.

Social Hub – my communities at my hand

Social Hub has been designed from the ground up to seamlessly integrate all major portal’s email, IM and SNS services directly into the Samsung Wave. With its TouchWiz 3.0 UI, it provides users easy-flow integrated experience of messaging, managing contacts and viewing calendar events. Social Hub is powered by the amazing push technology to deliver email messages, calendar events and SNS updates in real-time.

TouchWiz 3.0 UI – new and improved

The Samsung Wave provides superior levels of choice to all users via its fully customizable menus and home-page. For those who demand access to their social networking sites at all times, the device allows users to change the layout of the home-page to allow instant access to Twitter, Facebook and a host of other social networking services. For those who love music, the device home-page can be turned into an intuitive media player; while for those who take and share a lot of photos, the home page can be customized to feature favourite images. Users will also benefit from Quick Panel, a way of prioritizing and aggregating applications into one screen for instant access.

With its eye-catchingly brilliant screen, Samsung’s latest TouchWiz 3.0 user interface gives a tactile, intuitive user experience, and includes iconic new features such as motion UI, smart unlock and customizable widget screen.

Speed, performance and beauty

The Samsung Wave benefits from a superb 1GHz processor which offers users the best graphic performance available today. Its speed makes the touch screen user interface incredibly responsive and intuitive and, more importantly, means that the 3D and memory-intensive graphic and video performance is unsurpassed.

The Samsung Wave is also one of the most attractive devices to launch so far this year; its seamless, streamlined body has no parting or harsh lines and features a beautiful curved, tempered glass display which perfectly complements and enhances the vividness of the Super AMOLED display. And with anti-smudge technology, those greasy thumb prints are a thing of the past.

Multimedia Features and Connectivity

Multi-codec support for DivX and Xvid, and support for 5.1 surround sound delivery transforms the device into a personal entertainment system and HD video decoding and recording capabilities make the Samsung Wave an outstanding device for capturing, sharing and viewing video.

For the first time in the world, Samsung Wave is incorporated Bluetooth® 3.0 and WiFi 802.11n standard.

SamsungApps: Unlimited Expandability

Samsung’s bada platform allows mobile users to simply and easily download an abundance of applications from Samsung Apps, an integrated application store accessible from the device and online. Featuring a wealth of games, navigation, social networking, e-book, health and lifestyle applications, SamsungApps gives users instant access to a huge choice of mobile experiences.

Samsung established its mobile application ecosystem through the launch of Samsung Mobile Innovator in 2008 and the Samsung Application Seller Site followed by Samsung Application Store as another key element of this offering. Already launched in the UK, France, Italy, Singapore, Germany, Brazil and China, this will be expanded to more than 50 countries all over the world in 2010.

Safaricom launches low-cost Huawei VF845 Android Phone.

Published on August 10, 2010 in Uncategorized. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

This came as something of a surprise to me but Safaricom has launched its second Huawei Android handset this week. The big difference between the latest Huawei Android and the one announced a few weeks ago by Safaricom is the price. The Huawei VF845 will be retailing at only Kes. 16,499.00 which is substantively cheaper than the earlier launched U8220 handset which is supposed to retail for approximately Kes. 30,000.00 when it hits the marketplace.

The information on the Huawei VF845 Andorid was in a full page in yesterday’s edition of the Daily Nation. Some of the key features of the handset are as follows:

  • 60,000 applications (via the Android marketplace).
  • Fully touchscreen.
  • 3G Enabled.
  • Bluetooth.
  • Expandable memory.
  • WIFI enabled.

Bharti Airtel to boost Eastern Africa connectivity with the launch of EASSy

Published on August 5, 2010 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , .

In a move that is set to hugely boost connectivity of East African countries with rest of the world, Bharti Airtel, one of the leading emerging markets’ telcos together with global telcos today announced the launch of the EASSy cable system. This 10000 Km cable has received investment of around $263 million and has a capacity of 1.4 terabits per second, making it the largest submarine cable system serving the African continent.

EASSy is the first East coast system to connect a direct route to Europe thereby helping to deliver data traffic faster to key internet peering points in Europe and North America. It connects Mtunzini in South Africa to Port Sudan ( in Sudan ) with landing points in nine countries. This cable system is expected to prove a boon in proliferation of broadband connectivity to all parts of Africa, a prerequisite for the successful production of e-commerce, internet, and other broadband applications and projects on the continent.

Speaking on the occasion Mr. Ajay Chitkara, CEO, Global Data Business , Bharti Airtel said, “Our investment of over US $500 million over the last two years are designed to create a global network that offers unmatched resilience and maximum diversity. The commencement of EASSy cable system is a significant step in our journey to create a robust undersea cable infrastructure for our customers. It will also safeguard & ensure all time connectivity of East African countries with the world. This will facilitate proliferation of ICT services thereby ensuring macro economic development of the region. Bharti Airtel is proud to be part of the consortium building this significant undersea cable system.”

“EASSy represents a bridge for Africa’s broadband infrastructure by linking Africa to the global broadband infrastructure network. The presence and partnership of global players such as Bharti Airtel means that EASSy can and will also act as a bridge for South-South cooperation. This link delivers an important direct route for efficient flow of information for trade, economic, social and other cooperation between Asia and Africa.  I trust that the achievement of this economic expansion is a clear indicator that the initial objectives of EASSy go far beyond just the simple delivery of infrastructure” said, Chairman of the EASSy Cable Management Committee.

The consortium comprises of 16 telecom operators including Bharti Airtel and other players like British Telecom, Etisalat, Saudi Telecom, MTN International Group, Telkom South Africa & others. EASSy landing stations include Port Sudan, Djibouti, Mombasa, Dar-easalaam, Moroni in Comoros Islands, Toliary in Madagaskar, Maputo in Mozambique and Mtuzini in South Africa

This cable link synergises with Bharti Airtel’s existing multiple high speed connectivity options for its global wholesale operations and offers a direct route to Europe from India. Bharti Airtel’s investments in EASSy, is part of its plans to expand it global network through its ownership of the i2i submarine cable system and consortium ownership in other global undersea cable systems like Unity, SEA-ME-WE 4, EIG, I-ME-WE and AAG.

About Bharti Airtel Limited.

Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 18 countries across Asia and Africa.  The company offers mobile voice & data services, fixed line, high speed broadband, IPTV, DTH, turnkey telecom solutions for enterprises and national & international long distance services to carriers. Bharti Airtel has been ranked among the six best performing technology companies in the world by BusinessWeek.  Bharti Airtel had over 189 million customers across its operations at the end of June 2010. To know more visit www.airtel.in

Nokia unveils Ramadan 2010 OVI Apps in Kenya.

Published on August 2, 2010 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .

Nokia today announced the launch of a new range of mobile applications and content tailored for Kenyans during the Holy Month of Ramadan set to start next week. The new range of Ramadan applications 2010, an updated set of mobile applications are tailored for the Holy Month, are available on Ovi, Nokia’s popular application store and can now be downloaded on the compatible Nokia devices for free.

Mr Badru Jaffar, a Muslim scholar, shares his experience on how mobile technology and applications on Nokia’s Ovi Store could help spread knowledge during the upcoming Ramadan period.

Mr. Kenneth Oyolla, Nokia, Head of Sales, East and Southern Africa said: “Nokia users have now a single and easy access to many of the cherished experiences that Muslims like to be close to, and keep them connected to the Holy Month. We have witnessed growing demand from Kenyans in general and we expect a good response from users interacting with these new applications among our Muslim brothers and sisters as they go to the Holy Month.”

The Ramadan applications are feature-packed and include the Holy Quran, Prayer Times and Hadith. The Holy Quran includes Quran recitation from multiple recitors from which users can choose to download in MP3 format while offers Qibla direction, provided for 1,000 cities in 200 countries, along with the ability to add, remove, update and edit any location using the Global Positioning System (GPS).

“The applications this year also support a wider range of devices including both touch and non-touch Nokia devices and are available in more languages. We are delighted to offer a these specific applications during this period,” said Mr. Oyolla.

“This is a region that is greatly important to us and we have committed to ensuring that we tailor

Ken Oyolla, Head of Sales, Nokia, East and Southern Africa

solutions that meet the local needs. Ramadan applications for 2010 are free and offer a variety of content from a range of global and local content providers ready to be downloaded for the widest range of devices,” added Mr. Oyolla.

Ramadan applications for 2010 are compatible with a range of Nokia devices including Nokia N97 mini, Nokia E72, Nokia E52, Nokia X6, Nokia 5230,Nokia 5530,Nokia C5,Nokia 5235, Nokia 5800, Nokia E5, Nokia 6700 slide, Nokia 5233, Nokia X3, Nokia 6303i, Nokia 2710, and Nokia C3. The user interface for the applications is available in English, Arabic, Farsi, French and Urdu.

Nokia 2010 Ramadan Applications include the following:

The Holy Quran: allows users to read, search, bookmark and listen to Quran recitation
Prayer Times: provides prayer timings and Qibla direction for 1000 cities in 200 countries, along with the ability to add, remove, update and edit any location using the GPS
Hadith: gives an easy and convenient way to read the Honorable Hadeeth from Sahih Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Riyad us-Saliheen, Holy Hadeeths and Arba’in An Nawawi

Bharti Airtel appoints Michael Okwiri Head of Corporate Communications for Africa

Published on August 2, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Bharti Airtel, a leading emerging market telecom services provider, today announced the appointment of Michael Okwiri to head the Corporate Communications docket for Africa. In a statement  Bharti Airtel CEO, Manoj Kohli said Mr. Okwiri will be responsible for building and sustaining positive corporate reputation for Airtel Africa. He said the appointment was in line with Airtel’s business strategy of tapping into the diversity of Africa’s world-class talent pool.

Michael Okwiri

Until his appointment, Mr. Okwiri was the Corporate Communications Director at Zain Kenya. He has over 15 years experience in Corporate Communications having served in a similar capacity at Kenya Airways when the Airline was voted African Airline of the Year in 2005 and the most respected company in East Africa for two years running. Prior to joining Kenya Airways, Mr. Okwiri also worked for the Kenya Commercial Bank and Coca Cola.  He will be based at the Airtel Africa Headquarters in Nairobi.

“Mr. Okwiri’s experience and invaluable knowledge of the African markets will be a great asset to the Airtel team as we embark on the journey of making Airtel the most loved brand in the daily lives of African people. We are going to entrust the responsibility of running the business to African professionals,” he said.

About Bharti Airtel Limited

Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 18 countries across Asia and Africa.  The company offers mobile voice & data services, fixed line, high speed broadband, IPTV, DTH, turnkey telecom solutions for enterprises and national & international long distance services to carriers. Bharti Airtel has been ranked among the six best performing technology companies in the world by BusinessWeek.  Bharti Airtel had over 189 million customers across its operations at the end of June 2010. To know more visit www.airtel.in

This Blog featured in the Business Daily.

Published on July 30, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

This blog was featured in an article on the growing influence of blogging in Kenya in yesterday’s edition of the Business Daily Newspaper. You can read the article, “Kenya has the third largest number of blogs in Africa” in full here>