AfICTA e-NEWSLETTER 3 September, 2019

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AfICTA e-NEWSLETTER 

3/September/19 Vol 73

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ICANN65 Fellowship Program Post-Meeting Report and ICANN66 Statements of Interest Are Now Available

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced the publication of its ICANN65 Fellowship Program Post-Meeting Report The report, authored by fellows, provides information on their pre-meeting activities, meeting highlights, and plans to stay involved. 

The Fellowship Program Post-Meeting Report is part of the New Fellowship Program Approach, an initiative aimed to increase program transparency and provide the community with more data and information on the ICANN fellows' activities. The report will continue to be published after every ICANN Public... read more

5 Best Innovations that Have put Kenya on the World Map

They say innovation comes out of great human ingenuity and very personal passion. Kenyans have come up with mind-blowing innovations that solve day-to-day challenges. It is for these innovations that Kenya is recognized as the Silicon Valley of Africa. The country is among 17 middle and lower-income economies that perform better on innovation than their peers. 

Below are innovations by Kenyans that have changed some lives. 

1.Smart Gloves At 25-years, roy allela invented Sign-10, a pair of smart gloves with flex sensors... read more

Konga floats back to school discount offer

As schools are about to reopen for new academic section, e-Commerce platform, Konga, said it has unveiled massive discounts and appealing deals for its annual Back-to-School campaign. 

The company said this year Back-to-School promotion has started since Monday, August 26th and will last till Friday, September 6th 2019 online @ Konga.comand in every Konga retail store nationwide. 

It said the programme offers wide variety of products across multiple categories spanning computing, mobile, electronics, home & kitchen and fashion and much more. ...   read more

Mozambique's Tmcel Plays Catch up with 4G Deployment

Mobile operator Mozambique Telecom (Tmcel) is leaning on Chinese expertise and financial support to help it catch up with competitors - including Vodacom and Movitel, that already offer 4G coverage. 

Vodacom Mozambique deployed 4G coverage in Mozambique in 2018 after renewing its telecom licence. This year, Movitel, the smallest operator in the country, also rolled out 4G internet connectivity, although coverage was initially said to be restricted to the capital, Maputo. 

Now Tmcel says it will deploy LTE internet connectivity on its network by the...  read more

FinTech Solution Launched to Assist Zimbabwe's Diaspora

Zimbabwe education-focused loan and people development company Educate has partnered with UK-based FinTech company, SympliFi, to enable Zimbabweans based in the United Kingdom to invest in the education of their loved ones back home. 

Educate has partnered with 53 academic institutions in Rwanda, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe,and offers finance to enable students to attend these institutions. The company has now established an alliance with UK-based FinTech firm SympliFi to enable Zimbabweans in the United Kingdom to serve as guarantors for education loans. .. read more

Nigeria Remains Africa's Largest Smartphone Market

The Africa mobile phone market declined 1.8% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) in Q2 2019, according to the latest figures announced by International Data Corporation (IDC). 

According to the global technology research and consulting firm's newly released Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker,overall shipments for the quarter totaled 52.2 million units, down from 53.1 million units in Q1 2019. Feature phones accounted for 58.3% of the market, with shipments declining 3.7% QoQ, while smartphone shipments increased 1.0% over the same period to account for 41.7% share...  read more

SA Manufacturers Lag Behind in IOT, AI

The majority of South African manufacturers are falling behind the curve in the adoption of high-speed, reliable Internet connectivity, hampering their ability to implement advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and Internet of things (IOT). 

This is the key finding of a new study titled: “The Mobile Corporation in SA 2019”, conducted by enterprise resource planning software solutions firm SYSPRO, in partnership with business technology research firm World Wide Worx. ...  read more

New Programme Targets more Women Coders

Local coding academy WeThinkCode has unveiled its WomenThinkCode= initiative in partnership with the Momentum Metropolitan Foundation and MWR InfoSecurity. 

Speaking at the launch event in Sandton, Johannesburg, this morning, WeThinkCode’s Cape Town campus manager, Ruvimbo Gwatirisa, explained that WomenThinkCode= came about with the main objective to overcome the gender disparity in technical roles within industry. 

Gwatirisa indicated that one of their biggest hurdles is getting the gender parity right and. ..   read more

4 Startups Selected for the 2nd Cohort of Honeywell’s Itanna Accelerator Programme

Itanna, the accelerator and venture capital outfit of prominent flour making company, Honeywell, has announced the winning startups for the 2nd cohort of its accelerator programme.

As an accelerator, Itanna’s aim is investing and supporting tech startups to scale up through acceleration, investment and mentorship. This, the accelerator is doing, by providing an investment of $30,000 each in addition to a 4-month mentorship for the selected startups. 

The accelerator also had 4 companies in its first cohort: Accounteer, a complete cloud accounting solution; KoloPay, a cashless target savings mobile and web application...  read more

Ten years ago, when Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency was created by some anonymous fellow or fellows called 'Satoshi Nakamoto', the established monetary system represented by Central Banks across the world ignored the event. 

Today, all central banks are grappling with the reality that Bitcoin and its many variants of other cryptocurrencies are not going away anytime soon. 

Whereas the majority use of cryptocurrencies remain in the hands of fringe speculators and other minority groups, the value of assets held and transferred within these groups cannot be ignored... read more

As a result of a deal struck with Huawei Egypt, Telecom Egypt will use 5G and augmented reality technologies from Huawei Technology Corporation to enhance its communications services portfolio – including virtual reality and augmented reality services. 

The agreement was signed by Adel Hamed, chief executive officer of Telecom Egypt, and Vincent Sun, president and chief executive officer of Huawei Egypt on the sidelines of the BRICS Future Network Innovation Forum hosted in China. 

Egypt's Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat was also present.. ..  read more

Four students of Princeton College, Surulere, Lagos, under the tutelage of the school’s ICT partner, New Horizons Computer Learning Centre, have emerged the African regional winner for the 2019 Technovation Contest for developing an innovative application, Frostbits. 

The contest was held at Pan Atlantic University, Lagos. 

According to the girls, the app will solve the menace of obstructive parking in Nigeria particularly in Lagos with the use of location sensors, database, and app inventor’s interface and more...   read more

ICT solution provider, MTC and the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), at NUST chambers this week, formally announced the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that the two institutions has entered into.

Signed earlier this year, the MOU marks the official partnership and cooperation between the two entities to collaborate in strategic areas that will enhance innovation and service delivery through research and development. 

The MTC-NUST Partnership, will focus on areas such as Emerging and Disruptive technologies ...  read more

UK based fin-tech startup, SympliFi announced the launch of its fin-tech platform on Wednesday, 28 August 2019. The platform is said to have been designed to empower users around the world offering access to financial solutions – meaning people living in foreign countries can use the platform to give their families back home access to education financing, savings and healthcare

SympliFi says that they focus on what the funds will be used for in the home country and aim to work directly with local financial institutions.....   read more

The Mastercard Foundation – founded in 2006 by global financial services company, Mastercard – announced the launch of a new initiative set to begin in Ghana aims to enable three million young people to access ‘dignified and fulfilling’ work by 2030. 

Young Africa Works programmes aim to support entrepreneurs, small and medium-sized businesses, and key growth sectors leading to greater productivity, job creation, and work opportunities. The company says that the initiative is aligned with government’s plan ‘An Agenda for Jobs: Creating Prosperity and Equal Opportunity for All’, as well ... read more

The Government of Rwanda is using drones in stepped-up efforts to eliminate malaria. The drones fly over areas with high concentrations of mosquitoes and spray them with insecticide.

According to Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana, the Director-General of Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC), the pilot phase will begin in Gasabo District before being rolled out to other parts of the country by the end this year.

Charis Unmanned Aerial Solutions supplies the drones. The insecticide is made from a bacteria found in soil. The drones can fly for about 15 minutes on a single battery and spray an area of 40 hectares in a single day...   read more

In Zambia, where agriculture accounts for 35% of the country’s GDP, farming is a way of life. One agri-tech company is bringing the future to Zambian farms.

Agripredict, led by young founder and CEO Mwila Kangwa, helps identify and stop the crop diseases that have ravaged Zambia’s farms in past seasons. Using Agripredict’s phone application, the 22,000 Zambian farmers in the company’s pilot programme can get detailed information on plant diseases and weather patterns that would before have come only from skilled agronomists. This has helped farmers cut costs and run...  read more

The government of Rwanda will soon issue national policy guidelines to eliminate gas motorcycles in its taxi sector in favor of e-motos. 

The country’s president, Paul Kagame, previewed the plan last week. “We will find a way to replace the ones you have now. We urge taxi-moto operators to help us when the phase-out process comes,” he said speaking at a youth forum. 

The director general for the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority, Patrick Nyirishema, confirmed Kagame’s comments were ahead of a national e-mobility plan in the works for the East African nation....   read more