Communication / ICT in Kenya
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KENYA, 2017/09/09
Alphabet Inc’s Google aims to train 10 million people in Africa in online skills over the next five years in an effort to make them additional employable, its chief executive said on Thursday.
The U.S. technology giant as well hopes to train 100,000 software developers in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa, a company spokeswoman said.
Google’s pledge marked an expansion of an initiative it launched in April 2016 to train young Africans in digital skills. It announced in March it had reached its initial target of training one million people.
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KENYA, 2017/09/06
In early July the government contracted Italian construction firm ICM to build roads, water and sewerage systems for the $14.5bn smart city project, which is under way 60 km south of Nairobi.
The KSh40bn ($390m) transaction covers engineering, procurement, construction and financing. Work has by presently begun on the sewer system and access road, inclunding internet, power and water infrastructure, according to Victor Kyalo, principal secretary at the Ministry of ICT. Government plans to establish Kenya as the “silicon savannah” received a boost with the awarding of a $390m arrangement to build key infrastructure for Konza Technopolis, a master-planned property development targeting Kenya’s ICT sector.
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KENYA, 2017/07/22
An innovative Kenyan bond which is bought via mobile phone had raised far less than the 1 billion shillings ($9.6 million) targeted on Friday, failing to match a previous success.
In March, the East African country became the initial country to issue a mobile phone-based bond, which can be bought by phone users without the need for them to have a bank account.
Investors can use mobile phone networks' financial platforms like M-Pesa to send money and receive interest payments on the M-Akiba bonds, which can be traded in the secondary market.
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KENYA, 2017/07/16
Kenya has been ranked the third most innovative country in sub-Saharan Africa.
The United Nations' World Innovation Index 2017 places Kenya third next South Africa and Mauritius.
The index which is in its 10th edition surveys some 130 economies using dozens of metrics, from patent filings to education spending providing decision makers a high-level look at the innovative activity that increasingly drives economic and social increase.
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BOTSWANA, 2017/06/15
The number of mobile phone subscribers in the world has reached five billion, according to the research arm of the world mobile industry organization, GSMA. But sub-Sahara Africa is the least penetrated with 436 million incomparable subscribers, the organization says in a press release copied to ghanabusinessnews.com.
The GSMA defines a ‘incomparable mobile subscriber’ as an individual person that can account for multiple ‘mobile connections’, that is SIM cards.
According to GSMA Intelligence, the world’s five billion incomparable mobile subscribers today account for approximately 7.7 billion mobile connections – excluding mobile-to-mobile (M2M).
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BOTSWANA, 2016/11/03
Africa is home to some of the world’s greatest digital innovations. From medical applications to inventions aimed at enabling the continent’s educational system, the continent is not just experiencing a digital revolution, but it’s as well solidifying its place as world leader in science and technology.
The number of young people creating life-changing digital applications in Africa continues to grow. In Mozambique, counselors are using Short Message Services to spread awareness about HIV/AIDS, while in Nigeria a Do It Yourself generator that can produce six hours of power just from a liter of urine was invented by a group of 15-year-old girls. And in Zimbabwe, a 24-year-old engineering student has managed approaching up with a machine that turns plastic into diesel.
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KENYA, 2016/08/27
mSurvey, a Kenya based startup specializing in mobile data collection, has raised seed capital as it looks to expand its survey business in partnership with retailers in sub-Saharan Africa.
Safaricom, Cross Culture Ventures, and the Virgin Group’s Alpha Angels joined an investment round in the four year old business.
“It’s a seed round. I can’t disclose the all, but part of it comes from the $1 million Spark Venture Fund Safaricom set up to invest in high increase startups,” said mSurvey CEO Kenfield Griffith. “We’ll use the funds to drive price add to merchants using Safaricom’s Lipa Na M-Pesa [bill pay and digital payments] service and to further fuel increase in Africa and other emerging markets,” he added.
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BOTSWANA, 2016/08/13
Africa is the second-largest continent, after Asia, in size and population; located south of Europe and bordered to the west by the Atlantic Ocean and to the east by the Indian Ocean.
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BOTSWANA, 2016/02/08
"Mean spirited", "inhumane" and desecrating the spirit of the Refugee Convention are some of the milder criticisms levelled at Denmark's harsh new asylum laws, passed last week.
Part new measures is a decision to strip new arrivals of any cash and valuables worth additional than 10,000 kroner (US$1,450), purportedly to pay for their upkeep. Switzerland and some southern German states have introduced similar policies.
It's a move that reflects the fragmenting world of European migration policy, lacking in solidarity, empathy and basic human decency. But what of the financial implications for asylum seekers?
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KENYA, 2015/11/20
Africa currently has over 900 million mobile phone subscriptions, according to communication technology company Ericsson. And across the continent, mobile phone subscribers are increasingly using their devices to access the internet. Social networking sites and instant messaging platforms have become popular communication tools.
Kenyan start-up Ongair is taking on the opportunity to help companies better communicate with their customers through instant messaging platforms like WhatsApp and WeChat.
Ongair offers businesses a desktop interface through which they can easily send messages to individuals and groups. They can as well tag and track complaints and other issues raised by customers.
