September | 2010

Mobile Monday turns 10

As Mobile Monday celebrates its 10 years community collaboration and innovation at Helsinki, Finland, the Kenyan chapter held its monthly meetup at the iHub where by virtual city presented their project which won the Nokia’s Growth Economy Venture Challenge. Mobile Distributor Solution app which supports small and micro enterprises in emerging markets. The team which includes Thomas Mwanzi , Conrad Akunga and John Waibochi among others ,received $1 million (USD) in venture capital and a commitment from Nokia to help turn his idea into a business reality.

Shujaa solutions MD,Michael Wakahe presented on his product the shujaa developer platform which gives software developers resources such as test bed, documentation and code sample.

Conrad Akunga gave a tri via to the participants whereby he asked them what was the theme of Nokia 2010 call for innovation?A virtual city shirt was up for grabs.

By: susan

22-09-2010

Events iHub

Mocality Launch @ iHub

Mocality is the Africa’s largest business directory in the making. In August 2010, they relaunched their mobile and web platform to improve usability and searching even easier.The cocktail was graced by different personalities in the tech community.

Networking session at Mocality cocktail

The Mocality CEO Stefan Magdalinski gave a speech on the past , present and future of Mocality. It started last year May and its aim is to generate a massive base of local content that is accessible from your mobile phone and easy to search. It’s designed to help you find whatever you need in Kenya without having to look it up in a yellow pages book.

They already have a J2ME version and soon launching an android version. Congratulations to Mocality we’re keenly watching the space.

By: Judith

22-09-2010

Events

Building Bridges Award Ceremony

On the 21^st September the building bridges award ceremony was being held at the iHub Nairobi. Building bridges is a campaign to encourage, map and connect peace initiatives in Kenya.

Winners of the individual category

The winner of the individual category was Jane Mweru Kamau from Kiambaa, Eldoret. Jane is the true picture of love that believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things. Jane was hiding out in the Kiambaa church during the post election violence that was right after the presidential announcement in 2007. She managed to escape when the church was set ablaze. She did not escape unhurt that night as she was stoned. She hid in the nearby toilet with some children.

After the incident the adults tried to find ways to heal and reconcile the past but she saw the children were neglected. They still fought as they had seen the adults fight and judged each other on the basis of tribe. She decided that she would start a school in her two bedroom mud house for the children aged 3-6 years old. The children are representative of the different tribes in the area and are taught to live together in harmony.

She is active in peace initiatives; and she attends public barazas and women meetings to talk about peace. Her involvement in peace activities has earned her enemies, her house has been demolished 3 times, and she has also been attacked by thugs on several occasions. Her 3 year old grandchild was recently raped; she thinks that her active role in peace building may be the cause of this. She is happy to keep up the peace initiatives.

Winner of the Community Based Organizations category was Amani Kibera. The main focus of Amani Kibera is improved youth community participation in peace building, conflict management and active non violence through sports, culture and education in Nairobi’s Kibera slum. Their community approach is through mentoring, exchange and direct intervention and networking.

For more information on the winners visit: http://www.buildingbridges.co.ke

By: Jessica Colaco

20-09-2010

iHub Mentorship

Video for the week

By: Jessica Colaco

20-09-2010

Events iHub

What a TEDx weekend and weekstart!!!

On Saturday the 18th of September 2010 the fantabulous TEDxNairobi team (shown below) organised the 2nd TEDxNairobi event at the Louis Leakey Auditorium. The theme for this year was Green City in the Sun which and indeed in all its splendour it was a truly remarkable event.

The TEDxNairobi team assembled of line up of incredible speakers such as Dr. Ceasar Mwangi, Dr. James Nyoro, Julie Gichuru, Dr. Laila Macharia, among others… Here are some memorable qoutes from some of the speakers:

“Rebrand what is modern and cool and represents development ” – Dr. Laila Macharia

“We need to embrace Africa’s environmental competitive advantages, as well as technology” – Julie Gichuru

“We need to use ICT as an enabler of development, not just as a service.” Dr. James Nyoro

“To build a sustainable economy, we have to make sustainable choices based on VALUES” – Dr. Ceasar Mwangi

Here are some incredible pictures and stay tuned to the site for the videos. What a TEDx Weekend.

In other news, what a TEDx Weekstart – TEDxChange, all happening Nairobi’s Premier Innovation Hub – *iHub_ . Here is a recap of the talks that were streamed lived at the iHub.

By: Judith

14-09-2010

Events iHub

Mobile Monday 6th Edition

On the agenda of the MoMo session on September 13 at the iHub was:

Mobisoko by Juliana Rotich

Mlab by Ken Mwenda and Jessica Colaco

Mxit

I-Match by Akirachix (Judith Owigar, Linda Kamau and Marie Githinji)

Mobisoko

App store for Africa

Juliana noted that mobile phone usage grew by 550% in 2009. She also noted that Africans are becoming App and content creators. We as Africans need to create applications that are relevant to us. Mobisoko is a place where we can find applications that are made for us by us.

‘The poor can at least afford poorly designed products and services’ @janchip

Developers can email their applications to Juliana@mobisoko.com for their apps to be added to the mobisoko store. All rights of the app will remain with the developer.

Mlab

The Mlab is an space where local companies, technologists and experts can collaborate to develop locally relevant applications that meet user demands and build sustainable businesses. It is a mobile lab for East Africa. The *iHub consortium, comprising Nairobi’s iHub, eMobilis, the World Wide Web Foundationand The University of Nairobi School of Computing and Informatics, was chosen to host the East Africa lab.It is funded by Infodev. It is the first of its kind in Africa, another lab will be set up in South Africa.

The reason it was set in Kenya: Critical mass of quality programmers, universities, technology corporations and a government focused on ICT growth.

Mobile application developers will be able to train, interact, work, and gain access to tools. The lab will provide an environment conducive to the development of solutions that have the potential to scale commercially.

MXit

MXit is a South African Tech firm. It was founded in 2004/2005. The MXit presentation took us through the journey of how MXit came to be and how it got to where it is today. The first MXit iteration was developed in flash using the XMPP platform. Infobot was the name of the first MXit bot. There have been many other bots developed. Currently MXit is written on the MXit protocol.

Other Ideas

We were also challenged by Dickson Kirathe a developer with futuristic to develop applications for the cheap phones that come from China popularly referred to as china phones. These phones are usually dual sim, with cameras, have touch screen, low processing capacity and are half or even quarter the price of high end phones available in the market. He said these phones do not run java apps (subject to confirmation) or android and seeing their growing popularity in Kenya (and Africa) we should consider them when developing applications. Most run on the MTK operating system.

By: Jessica Colaco

14-09-2010

iHub Members

Applications for Green Membership Now Open!!

Hello white members. We are now accepting applications for Green membership. If you registered with us earlier on, you have received an email to activate your account and apply for green membership, if you wish to do so. The application process will continue until the 27th of September 2010. For more details about membership and the vetting process, please check here. Thanks the *iHub_ Team

By: Jessica Colaco

14-09-2010

Entrepreneurship iHub Members

Call for Techpreneurs to participate in a focus group

Excelsior Firm, is performing a consulting engagement on behalf of World Bank/infoDev, Hivos, and UKaid to develop interventions and capabilities for ICT SMEs. This is a call to the local techpreneurs to participate in this focus group. The focus group will held on the 14th of September 2010 at the iHub and will be divided into two sessions:

Morning – 10am – 12pm
Afternoon – 2pm – 4pm

PROJECT BACKGROUND

The arrival of sub-marine fiber optic cables in East Africa presents a significant development opportunity in East Africa. The emerging ICT sector is poised to be a major pillar in the development of the EAC. Policy makers and multi-laterals have both invested significant capital to enable the growth of this sector. Key to the success of this nascent market will be the emergence of a critical mass of successful SMEs to act as a nucleus for growth.

Research has shown, however, that these entrepreneurs face several challenges including: limited business skills, lack of access to financial resources, difficulty in accessing markets, and relevant business networks, a small number of skilled workers and finally, a weak regulatory framework that stifles innovation, entrepreneurship and SME development. In order for SMEs – and by extension, the ICT sector – to successfully overcome these challenges, appropriate interventions must be identified and implemented.

OBJECTIVES

This project aims to understand the environment and challenges facing SMEs in the East Africa ICT sector through robust analyses and fieldwork, and intends to identify specific strategies and implementation plans to address these challenges. The project has three major objectives:

Understand the East Africa ICT market dynamics including the internal and external environment
Develop perspectives on the major challenges facing SMEs in this market as well as the critical success factors required to overcome these challenges
Recommend solutions and an implementation for areas where DFID, Hivos and infoDev can best intervene to support local entrepreneurship and enhance the near term growth of SMEs

By: Jessica Colaco

10-09-2010

Entrepreneurship iHub Members Mentorship

SAMOSA Mentorship Program – Call for Mentees

Find a mentor by applying for the SAMOSA Mentorship programme.

Deadline is 15th of September 2010

By: Jessica Colaco

10-09-2010

Events iHub Members

Yet another Mobile Monday !!!

Yet another chapter meeting on Monday the 13th of September 2010 from 6 – 7pm at the iHub. We have a team from MXit in the house talking about their API, MobiSoko by Juliana Rotich and a brief about the Mobile Lab from Ken Mwenda from eMobilis and myself. Please register here! You cannot miss this one