September | 2011

Milking the Rhino: Innovative Solutions Showcase

The Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship (HESE) program at Penn State will be hosting a global competition called Milking the Rhino: Innovative Solutions Showcase and would like to invite students in all disciplines to participate.

Milking the Rhino: Innovative Solutions Showcase is created for students from all disciplines as a venue to foster critical thinking about sustainable community development, developmental entrepreneurship, and the role of technology in enabling new solutions to global inequities.

We want students to explore the ethical intricacies of globalization and loss of indigenous cultures, and the role technology plays in fostering and hurting sustainable self-determined development. MTR: ISS first originated at Penn State in 2009 and is inspired by the eponymous award-winning documentary by Kartemquin Films. “Milking the rhino” refers to leveraging natural resources in an organic manner to empower indigenous communities while preserving their unique culture.

Student teams with one to four members are invited to submit a 3-minute video pitch explaining the specific problem, innovative solution and the solution’s feasibility, sustainability and potential for expansion. The pitches can address any general or specific problem related to the indigenous peoples’ livelihoods, including wildlife and natural resource management, access to income, famine, gender inequity, human rights and ethics. The context should be either the Maasai or Himba people and their natural surroundings, or any other indigenous people with similar challenges in Africa.

There will be $4,500 in cash prizes awarded to videos selected by expert panels across various categories. The video pitches are due on October 31st, 2011 and the final showcase will be held on November 16th, 2011. This event is open to all students across the world who have an original, sustainable and scalable solution to a social, environmental or economic issue specific to the African continent.

For more information, please visit the website: http://mtrsolutions.weebly.com/

By: Leo Mutuku

30-09-2011

Community Events iHub Members

Fire Side Chat with Dr. Vinton G. Cerf

As the Internet Governance Forum 2011 week here in Kenya culminates, the iHub was privileged enough to host the Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist of Google , Dr. Vint Cerf for a fireside chat. This fire side chat was part of an all-afternoon interactive session with different panels themed Synergistic Communities.

The Session began with some opening remarks by Erik Hersman. Jessica Colaco, the moderator of the sessions, then explained the idea of synergistic communities. Synergistic Communities is mainly about bringing together communities and networks with different backgrounds to work together in synergy and promote innovation and cooperation. It was thought to be a fitting theme for this IGF week as the Internet is one of the largest promoters of synergy within different networks.

In line with Synergistic Communities, the first panel was diverse, consisting of Vinton Cerf, Adel El Zaim of IDRC, Cairo and Engineer James Rege, Member of Parliament, Kenya and chair of the Parliamentary Energy, Transport, Information, Communication and Public Works committee. After a brief introduction by each member of the panel the floor was opened for a Q&A on the Internet, Technological advancements and Youth Innovation. A few questions were asked based on cloud computing, and general ownership and governance of the internet space which the panel endeavored to answer accordingly.

This session, which lasted about an hour, was soon followed by another interactive session on ‘African Internet Oldies: Sharing with the Young community’ with a different panel this time round. The panel was made up of Stefano Trumpy of ISOC Italy, Adriana Lazzaroni of Institute for Informatics and Telematics, Italy, George Sadosky and Laura Abba of the RINAF project. They were also joined by Vint Cerf. The panel shared on their experience during the genesis and implementation of the Internet in Africa and, in particular, Kenya. This was through the RINAF project in partnership with UNESCO and the setting up of the framework and implementation took place between 1991-1998. This panel also welcomed questions from the community on the genesis of the Internet in Kenya and if the structure they laid down has since changed.

After a short tea break, the Fire Side Chat began where Dr. Vint Cerf chronicled the story of the internet, from conception up to now, 30 years later and gave a humorous account of his involvement in its evolution and growth as a founding father and evangelist. As a sign of appreciation for gracing the event and his efforts in technology, the iHub community gifted him with a spear and shield. We are glad to have met and interacted with such a great visionary.

By: Leo Mutuku

29-09-2011

Community Events iHub iHub-Research m:lab

Synergistic Communities

Today, the iHub hosts one of the “Fathers of the Internet “, Google’s Vinton G. Cerf, in an interactive session from 2.30-6.30pm. This session, Synergistic Communities, will also include a fireside chat.

Link to this blog for live updates as well as on our twitter page.

[liveblog]

By: John Kieti

27-09-2011

Applications Entrepreneurship iHub m:lab

Remote Device Access Services for Mobile Application Developers

m:lab East Africa aims to foster the growth of mobile innovations in the region by promoting access to quality assurance services for mobile application developers. A majority of mobile applications developed in East Africa are destined for major application distribution channels such as the Apple’s App store, Google’s Android Market and Nokia’s Ovi Store. Developers often require speedy access to testing services in an effort to expedite publishing of their apps through these major distribution channels. m:lab last week began a familiarization and sensitization effort for local developers to access Remote Device Access (RDA) services for applications destined for the Ovi store and other distribution platforms.

Through a web conference, Risto Helin – Manager for Testing and Application services at Nokia facilitated an orientation session on RDA testing options available for free to application developers. This useful session highlighted the following concerns that need to be addressed by application developers

Applications need to be tested on real devices to guarantee reliable test results
Devices are expensive to buy and send around the world, especially when there are many different models and variants
Some device models are only sold in certain regions / countries
The number of available prototype devices available for testing is usually very limited

The RDA service by Nokia enables developers to access live devices over the internet.

According to Risto, three different service options for remote device access exist with Nokia as follows :-

Remote Device Access on the Nokia Developer Portal – This is a service free of charge on the Nokia Developer Portal where a developer registration is also required. The service supports symbian, maemo and meego devices. It includes access to about 199 live devices as well as pre-release (prototype) devices.
Nokia Virtual Developer Lab powered by DeviceAnywhere – This is a fee based services which includes test scripting. The service also includes access to symbian and series 40 devices
Nokia Handset Cloud Service powered by Perfecto Mobile -This is a fee based service which includes test scripting and support for symbian, maemo 5 and series 40 devices

A followup web conference session is planned for mid October at m:lab. Developers and entrepreneurs with queries regarding Nokia’s Remote Device Access service are invited to channel them through email - testing@mlab.co.ke. The questions will also help to focus the followup session better.

By: Angela Crandall

27-09-2011

iHub-Research

ICT4Democracy in East Africa Workshop at iHub Research

iHub Research hosts the ICT4Democracy in East Africa Network

Members of the ICT for Democracy in East Africa Network:

- Transparency International Uganda,

gathered on 26 September 2011 for a workshop on ICT4Democracy in East Africa activities on-going in the region. During this meeting, which was held one day prior to the start of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2011, each project team provided updates on their implementation and research activities. CIPESA also shared their recently released briefing note, which explains the new Open Governance Partnership (OGP), looks at OGP indicators and prospects in selected African countries (Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa), and explores the role ICT could play in catalysing the achievement of Open Government in Africa.

The launch of this group, the “ICT4Democracy in East Africa Network”, in June of this year (2011) was premised on the recognition that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) enhances communication and the right to freedom of expression, as well as the right to seek, receive, and impart information. In this respect, ICT has the potential to increase citizens’ participation in decision-making processes, thus strengthening democratization.

The ICT4Democracy in East Africa project, which has seed funding from SPIDER, is encouraging collaboration between democracy actors in the three countries (Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda) with a view to catalysing the role ICTs can play in enhancing civic empowerment and improving governance.

Stay up to date with the ICT4Democracy in East Africa by following ICT4demEA or #ICT4demEA on Twitter and Facebook. The new website, www.ict4democracy.org will also be up soon!

By: Patrick Munyi

26-09-2011

iHub iHub-Research

Mobile Broadband in Kenya

The arrival of the undersea fiber cables in Kenya in 2009 has revolutionized the technology and economic sectors. Kenya is one of very few countries in Africa with a comprehensive framework set up in this regard. Average national download speeds have increased from 670.89 kbps in 2009 to 3,806.03 Kbps in 2011. Further, mobile broadband speeds have also drastically increased while cost of Internet access decreased. Mobile broadband is the ability to access data, voice and video at high speeds over an Internet connection through a portable modem especially a mobile phone. Recently, Safaricom and Orange announced download speeds of up to 21Mbps on their 3G networks .

Network operators such as Safaricom are relying more and more on data to generate massive revenues. According to statistics, mobile broadband providers are making up to 19% of their revenue from mobile data services. It is predicted that mobile broadband can potentially increase national productivity and growth by up to 15%.

Subscribers are now opting to access Internet and other web based services on the go from their cell phones and other portable modems due to the convenience provided by a wide coverage of GSM/3G networks in Kenya. The low bundle rates being offered are also a motivating factor. 1Gb of data cost about Kshs. 2500 last year compared to the current rate (calculated using cheapest combinations) of Kshs. 998.

Innovation is at an all-time high with many local apps for phones being produced and sold on app stores every other day. Social and informative sites like Facebook, Twitter and the blogs are increasingly getting more mobile traffic than desktop traffic while marketing campaigns are slowly being taken to the mobile phone.

It is however disappointing to see the little attention mobile broadband services are being given in terms of research (m-research.) New focus ought to be given to mobile broadband with regards to m-commerce, apps, and other online solutions and more so, on the potential of growth and impact on the country as a whole.

By: Jessica Colaco

24-09-2011

Community Entrepreneurship Events iHub Members

Synergistic Communities with Vinton Cerf

Vinton G. Cerf has served as vice president and chief Internet evangelist for Google since October 2005. In this role, he is responsible for identifying new enabling technologies to support the development of advanced, Internet-based products and services from Google. He is also an active public face for Google in the Internet world.

Widely known as one of the “Fathers of the Internet,” Cerf is the co-designer of the TCP/IP protocols and the architecture of the Internet. In December 1997, President Clinton presented the U.S. National Medal of Technology to Cerf and his colleague, Robert E. Kahn, for founding and developing the Internet. Kahn and Cerf were named the recipients of the ACM Alan M. Turing award in 2004 for their work on the Internet protocols. The Turing award is sometimes called the “Nobel Prize of Computer Science.” In November 2005, President George Bush awarded Cerf and Kahn the Presidential Medal of Freedom for their work.

On Thursday the 29th of September 2011 from 2.30pm – 6.30pm at the iHub, we will have a session dubbed : “Synergistic Communities.” This will be an interactive moderated session for the different communities in technology to share their ideas, insights and opinions. The program will be as follows:

Time	Item	Presenter
14.30h – 15.00h	Welcome Remarks iHub Overview and tech in Kenya	Jessica Colaco, iHub Manager and Research lead Erik Hersman, iHub Founder
15.00h – 15.30h	Speaker Introduction	Dr. B. Ndemo Prof. Vinton Cerf AT&T Verizon IDRC
15.30h – 16.15h	Youth innovation, local content development and technical community session: Working together with local innovators and Industry Opportunities for global links	Open session with the speakers and the iHub Community moderated by Jessica Colaco and Alice Munyua
16.15h – 17.00h	African internet oldies to share with the young community	Stefano Trumpy: Session co-chair Adriana Lazzaroni, Laura Abba: RINAF project George Sadosky, Charles Musisi, Shem Ochuodo, Ibukun Odusote
17.00h – 17.30h	Refreshment Break	Networking session with guests and iHub community
17.30h – 18.15h	Fireside Chat with Vinton Cerf and Q and A	Vinton Cerf
18.15h – 18.30h	Closing Remarks	Alice Munyua Erik Hersman

REGISTER NOW!

By: Patrick Munyi

24-09-2011

Applications Community Members

Research In Motion Mini Developer Conference – Nairobi

Research In Motion, the makers of the BlackBerry smartphone have the pleasure of inviting you to participate in a Mini Developer Conference on Thursday 29^th September 2011 at the Laico Regency’s Marsabit Room.

In attendance will be Mr. Colin Abouchabki head of business development, Africa, and Michael Weitzel, Technical manager who will talk about the BlackBerry OS and fundamentals of developing for BlackBerry and tackle any questions you may have on their devices and systems.

Waldi Wepener, Regional Director for East, Central and West Africa will also be on hand and will speak to the strategy side of RIM’s business.

Sessions start at 7.30am and run through till 5.30pm. Meals will be provided.

To attend this developer conference, please RSVP to Mukami Muriuki, Tel no: 20-2396898

By: Jessica Colaco

23-09-2011

Community Entrepreneurship iHub iHub-Research Members Start-Ups

iHub Start-Up Profiles – Capefield

As part of our weekly start-up profiles, this week we take a close look at a fresh, energetic and upcoming entrepreneur – Yound David Lemayian. David is an enthusiastic hiker, photographer and student, but he is also the CEO and Founder of a Kenyan based technology company called Capefield which is also registered on crunchbase. The 20 year old recently won the Google Android Developer Challenge in sub Saharan Africa for his mobile application Olalashe.

What inspired the genesis of Capefield?

” I got into programming in high school. My friends and I would have friendly coding challenges. I started nurturing my talent henceforth and I am still learning. I believe in making an impact in society and in doing, not just trying. I believe in creating applications that are tuned to the needs of the society and this is what brought about the origination of Capefield.”

“ Capefield is about empowering the individual and the society by creating innovative mobile solutions. We first look at the individual, what he/she needs, and then leverage this with mobile technology. This is the evident with the applications that we have created. We have bootstrapped for the past one year and believe in hardwork.”

Who are the team members?

“There are two people currently on the team – Lillian Nduati and myself. I am the CEO and in-charge of steering the company to achieve its mission. I am also the technical lead and develop most of the applications. My counterpart Lillian is in-charge of operations – she helps plan, direct and coordinate the operations at Capefield, as well as provide support such as documentation, research and testing of the developed apps.”

From left: Lillian Nduati and David Lemayian

What applications have you created?

” Our specialization is mobile technology and we customize applications for clients. We have released our own applications such as Olalashe and MsemaKweli which both have a social impact.”

“Olalashe is about making people feel secure and safe. If you are in trouble, you can quickly press one button and it sends communication to all your ‘in case of emergency contacts’ giving them your location and alerting them that you might be in trouble.”

“Olalashe which means brother in the Maasai language can also help people to report crimes as they happen using the mobile phone. We foresee this app potentially saving numerous lives.”

“Msema Kweli’s social impact can be seen by how it gets government to be more accountable by putting the information in citizens hands. The application enables constituents to monitor and track how their Constituency Development Funds are utilised.”

How has the iHub helped with your start-up journey?

“iHub is more than a space. It has given me a platform to launch my business idea. I get enlightened each day I am at the iHub with the connections I make daily. I have also been able to meet two amazing mentors at the iHub, who have really helped me focus and shape the business strategy.”

What is your advise to other iHub members?

“When in the space, I would advise meet people and keep yours eyes and ears open. There is so much to learn from every single person using the space!”

By: Leo Mutuku

22-09-2011

Applications Community Entrepreneurship iHub Members Start-Ups

Dragon’s Den

A special edition of a UK reality show, Dragon’s Den, is set to be filmed in Nairobi, Kenya soon by Comic Relief . It is billed as the UK version of the ABC show, Shark Tank.Comic Relief is giving a chance to local entrepreneurs who are seeking investments for their business ideas or inventions countrywide to realize their business ambitions.

The concept of Dragons’ Den is that five multimillionaire investors, also known as the ‘dragons’, with a combined net worth of almost a billion pounds will come to Nairobi in November to hear pitches from local entrepreneurs for any kind of business with the aim of investing in the best. The investors are looking for entrepreneurs whose proposals demonstrate a unique selling point, scalability, clear route to market and a planned exit strategy. Further, they should be able to explain how their proposal has what it takes to be a success and will make a difference to the local community.

The entrepreneurs stand a chance to secure an investment of about $50,000-$250,000 for their business idea, in exchange for selling a share of their company to the ‘Dragon’ investing in them. The catch is that, the entrepreneurs must get AT LEAST the amount they are asking for or walk away with nothing.

The Den beckons- this is an opportunity to make your business dream a reality.

For further information, visit Dragons’ Den or watch Dragon’s Den on You-Tube.

You can also email: DragonsDenNairobi@bbc.co.uk at Comic Relief.