January 2013 - KICTANet

Re: [kictanet] Elections 2013: BVR Kits a raw deal for Kenyans
by meshack emakunat 28 Jan '13

28 Jan '13

True true true. I mean how do you replace paper with an old skull computer then chest thumb that ur updated. Its just too shallow for a 55% of Kenyans who claim to be educated or rather literate too be hoodwinked. I have always thought smthig was a miss especially when in a connected world someone literally claims they cannot communicate with others in the other end of the world. Something that I do everyday in less than a minute..(claim dat they are incapable of haandling the exercise from foreign ground ) Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android

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FW: New openings at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences
by Edith Adera 28 Jan '13

28 Jan '13

FYI Dear Colleague, The IDRC's Regional Office for Sub-Saharan Africa (ROSSA) would like to bring to your attention about new openings at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences. For more information, please see below. [Description: cid:image001.jpg@01CDFCB5.30136530] The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS<http://www.aims.ac.za/>) is an innovative, pan-African centre for post-graduate education, research and outreach which has achieved global recognition since opening in South Africa in 2003. AIMS recruits students from all over Africa for a postgraduate program taught by outstanding international lecturers within an exceptional 24-hour learning environment. The AIMS students have studied mathematical sciences in the broad sense at an African university for 4 years before coming to AIMS. AIMS-NEI is coordinated by a Secretariat located in Claremont, near Cape Town, South Africa. Our team currently consists of a mathematician, a cosmologist, an engineer, an astrophysicist turned accountant and a social scientist, together with partners from across Africa and around the world. We need exceptionally motivated and talented people to join us in making this happen. ________________________________ At present we have the following openings: * Strategic Communications Manager<http://nexteinstein.org/assets/files/Jobs/Communication%20Consultant.pdf> * Network Director of Finance<http://nexteinstein.org/assets/files/Jobs/Director%20of%20Finance.pdf> * Network Director of Academic Development<http://nexteinstein.org/assets/files/Jobs/Director%20Academic%20Development…> * AIMS-NEI Career Development Manager<http://nexteinstein.org/assets/files/Job%20Description%20Career%20Developme…> * Curriculum Consultant - Integrated Career Learning at the Masters Level<http://nexteinstein.org/assets/files/ToR%20Curriculum%20Consultant%20Dec%20…> Best wishes, Richard Nzuki Nzioki Research Information Officer Information Management & Technology Division International Development Research Centre|Centre de recherches pour le développement international Regional Office for Eastern and Southern Africa|Bureau régional de l'Afrique Orientale et Australe +254-20-2713161/0 | Fax: +254-20-2711063|Ext: 3449| Mobile: +254723567781 rnzuki(a)idrc.ca<mailto:rnzuki@idrc.ca> --- You are currently subscribed to esaro-dissemination-dl as: eadera(a)idrc.ca<mailto:eadera@idrc.ca> To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-esaro-dissemination-dl-243394I(a)lyris.idrc.ca<mailto:leave-esaro-dissemination-dl-243394I@lyris.idrc.ca> Please forward this message to others who may be interested to subscribe - they can do so by contacting rnzuki(a)idrc.ca<mailto:rnzuki@idrc.ca> For any queries or comments, please send these to; rnzuki(a)idrc.ca<mailto:rnzuki@idrc.ca> --- You are currently subscribed to esaro-dissemination-dl as: eadera(a)idrc.ca<mailto:eadera@idrc.ca> To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-esaro-dissemination-dl-243394I(a)lyris.idrc.ca<mailto:leave-esaro-dissemination-dl-243394I@lyris.idrc.ca> Please forward this message to others who may be interested to subscribe - they can do so by contacting rnzuki(a)idrc.ca<mailto:rnzuki@idrc.ca> For any queries or comments, please send these to; rnzuki(a)idrc.ca<mailto:rnzuki@idrc.ca>

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Government extends financing for ICT incubation
by Phyllis Nyambura 28 Jan '13

28 Jan '13

Listers, The incubation model got fresh momentum today as the government, through the Kenya ICT Board, announced that it is putting money to support ICT SME's. The incubation facility will be hosted at Nailab and more than 30 start-ups are expected to benefit for a period of 3 years. For more information see below: *Government extends $1.6M support for ICT start-up businesses* * **Pilot incubation program to tap into the robust ICT Enterprise by developing soft business skills and operational support* * **Nairobi, January 24th, 2013…*The Kenya ICT Board, has today launched a pilot of the first government supported ICT based incubation program worth $ 1.6 Million with funding from the International Development Association (IDA). The Information and Communication Technology business incubator pilot will be implemented by NaiLab and will work with at least 30 startups hosted at the incubator and another 100 virtually over a three-year-period in an effort to sustain the concept and create high impact enterprises aimed at growing Kenya’s economy and creating employment. Nailab, a partnership funded by *1% Club* and managed by NaiLab Ltd, won the contract to host the incubator, in a competitive process that saw more than 16 companies bidding. The program’s main goal will be to build a program, support infrastructure and outreach with successes being replicated in other parts of the country. “The growth of Kenya’s economy is pegged on how many profitable businesses we are able to build and sustain. This project displays the government commitment towards supporting SME’s and growing Kenya as an ICT destination,” says the PS, Ministry of Information and Communications, Dr Bitange Ndemo. The project is timely as Konza Technology City prepares to transform the ICT investment landscape in Kenya in the next three years. Innovation, a strong talent pool and entrepreneurship will be the cornerstone of the smart city success. The incubation addresses many of the gaps that have been identified in SME high failure rate. These gaps include increasing the capabilities of the entrepreneur in terms of soft skills, technical skills and business skills, business counseling, access to affordable services and facilities, access to SME finance, better linkages with both the academic community and industry, and quicker commercialization of innovations. “This initiative is a public-private-partnership that builds on existing efforts in building an ICT ecosystem to support entrepreneurs towards turning ideas into scalable businesses. Such collaborations have proved to give great results,” said Kenya ICT Board CEO, Paul Kukubo. The incubation facility will have a mix of entrepreneurs in the concept, early and mature stages. The companies to be considered will be less than five-years old, offer ICT-oriented products and their offerings should have an impact on Kenya’s social-economic environment. “Our objective has been and will always be to stimulate innovations and encourage entrepreneurship in Kenya, with the signing of this contract with the Kenya ICT Board; we will be able to reach out to other parts of the country, all grass root problems cannot be solved using ICT, but innovation includes creating new more effective processes and we hope to play our role in that. “We want to make sure that those we will incubate double their turnover within three years,” said Sam Gichuru, the NaiLab, CEO The pilot project will also see Kenya ICT Board and Nailab establish collaborative relationship with relevant organizations and institutions to drive the ICT agenda in the country. “It is important for entrepreneurs to have other value addition other than just capital such as industry knowledge and strong mentorship for their start-up. Establishing a facility to give support services will enable the entrepreneurs get clarity in various areas like target customers, approaches to reach them, infrastructure and how to run their business successfully,” says Mr. Andrew Lewela, Project Manager, BPO/ITes at the Kenya ICT Board. A business incubator avails young enterprises with an environment conducive to accelerate business ideas by availing work spaces, business coaching and mentorship. The Kenyan pilot model is looking at innovative ideas with business potential in ICT. “Our target has never been to have more “techies” /programmers sitting in the space but to have them interact with the farmers, health workers, teacher and matatu drivers and other relevant subsectors of the economy, we need to understand their problems so that we can design market driven solutions,” added Sam Gichuru. * * *About NaiLab* NaiLab is a startup accelerator is a partnership between 1% Club and Nailab ltd ,that offers a three to 12 months entrepreneurship program with focus on growing innovative technology driven ideas, this is done by providing business advice, technical training and support, professional mentoring and coaching, access to market, strategic partnership and most important investors. The NaiLab focuses on early stage business ideas that are likely to have a large social and economic impact, are highly scalable, require minimum investments to prototype and have a strong value proposition. *About Kenya ICT Board* Established as a state corporation in 2007, the Kenya ICT Board’s has been a champion and an active enabler for the adoption and exploitation of ICT, through promotion of partnerships, investments and infrastructure growth for socio economic enrichment. This is in line with making Kenya African premier ICT hub by 2030. * * *Regards,* Phyllis Nyambura Communication Writer Kenya ICT Board Telposta Towers, 12th Floor, Kenyatta Ave P.O. Box 27150 - 00100 Nairobi, Kenya t: + 254-020-2211960/62 | m: + 254 (0) 789396433 | e: pnyambura(a)ict.go.ke Visit: www.ict.go.ke Become a fan: www.facebook.com/kenyaictboard Follow us on twitter: @kenyaICTboard --------------------- *Our Vision*: Kenya becomes a top 10 ICT hub * Our Mission*: To champion and actively enable Kenya to adopt and exploit ICT, through promotion of partnerships, investments and infrastructure growth for socio economic enrichment * Our Quality Policy*: Kenya ICT Board is committed to consistently deliver quality ICT services and manage projects that support the growth of Information and Communication Technology, to satisfy the needs and expectations of customers. Kenya ICT Board shall comply with all requirements and continually improve the effectiveness of the Quality Management System. Kenya ICT Board leadership shall establish and review quality objectives in line with this policy and ensure commitment of all employees.

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Facial recognition
by robert yawe 25 Jan '13

25 Jan '13

Hi Listers, Today I found out how advanced my digital camera is when I found and used the smile recognition feature. I bought the Canon G12 camera some 2 years ago and have been using it for point and shoot just as I did with my first Kodak when I was 8 years old, even though my son used it recently to produce a short film http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3fAdvpPKIA&feature=share, Today while browsing through the menu options as I prepared to do some video recording I came across a function called "smile recognition" and for a minute thought it must be a jock so I decided to try it out and to my surprise it actually works. I took the camera and placed it on its tripod then focused to the location where I was going to sit and proceeded to get seated, the camera automatically took the following pictures (http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151355886158624.496186.739953623…) automatically every time it recognised me smile. It took a while to detect that my smile is slightly different from that of a Caucasian or Asian but after a few minutes the software seems to have learned and off it went snapping away. What is the moral of this post, imagine if a US $ 600/- camera has built in smile recognition what about the more powerful Canon EOS 5D Mark III or the Nikon D9000, its also very telling about where software development has gone. After this experience I have no doubt about the lethal capability of the unmanned drone and also believe that the Americans know where Kony and his ilk are but just refuse to bring him to justice as it is not yet convenient. In addition as we are being unfaithful when we encourage our youth to develop applications that emulate mpesa and surabook using frameworks while their peers elsewhere are working on complex embedded low level applications, we are misguided when we encourage developers to produce basic apps to be placed on store shelves together with a million other apps and hope to make a living leave along an impact on the world. Unless our developers take the plunge to go below high-level coding we shall keep playing in the baby pool where we sit at the bottom and deceive ourselves that we are swimming in neck deep water. Developers out there are working on complex projects that cannot be done using drag and grope (no error), in closing, a few years ago Canon launched a new camera for which a "hacker" downloaded the OS, improved it and then upgraded the camera. The new OS gave the camera functionality that even the manufacturer never knew it could perform (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=742806) Regards Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696

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Looking for a Tech Partner
by Edith Adera 25 Jan '13

25 Jan '13

Listers, Looking for a Tech partner with two key features: 1) the technical know-how to develop research platforms for web and mobile use in Africa, and 2) a commitment to social good/open source technology that fits with a non-profit mandate of providing open access to research. I would appreciate recommendations for the top 3 you would recommend in Kenya? Feel free to write to me directly. Thanks Edith

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Fwd: Upcoming University of Michigan Courses
by Alice Munyua 24 Jan '13

24 Jan '13

The University of Michigan is offering interesting courses via Coursera, see below. The courses are online and free. Best Alice Courses launching January 28: Introduction to Finance - https://www.coursera.org/course/introfinance Fantasy and Science Fiction: The Human Mind, Our Modern World - https://www.coursera.org/course/fantasysf Courses launching in March: *Internet History, Technology, and Security - https://www.coursera.org/course/insidetheinternet* Model Thinking - https://www.coursera.org/course/modelthinking Social Network Analysis - https://www.coursera.org/course/sna Thanks so much for your interest in our courses, and we hope to see you again in the near future! University of Michigan Coursera Staff

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Re: [kictanet] KONZA GROUND BREAKING CEREMONY-CONGRATULATIONS
by eonchari＠lynxbits.com 24 Jan '13

24 Jan '13

@ Liko, As VP put it rightly at the launch...we need more "crazy" Dr Ndemos to make things happen...therefore, as a Nairobi Tech Hustler, I shall take me to Konza and Hustle there 'till I make it...this is a good project and we should be proud that it is now on course...of course criticism is healthy and must be tolerated in a democracy - and I am sure the many critics within and without this forum did +vely influence the approach of this project over the years Therefore, Kudos to Dr. Ndemo and your team for a job well done thus far Edwin ----- Original Message ----- From: jwalu(a)yahoo.comTo: eonchari(a)lynxbits.com Cc: kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke Sent: 1/23/13 10:30 AM Subject: Re: [kictanet] KONZA GROUND BREAKING CEREMONY-CONGRATULATIONS @Liko, You/Pesapal is a big player...and you should be there hustling with the big boys at Konza Technopolis. Dream big, and you will be surprised how soon your dreams come true. For me, Konza is an example of what we as a country are capable of. A break from the past, where we compared ourselves to our neighbours (e.g Somalia with apologies) and a leap into comparing ourselves with where we belong (read Malaysia, Singapore et. al.) Lets aim for the Sun, because the worst that can happen is that we land on the moon. Rather than aim for the main, and by 2030, we shall still be here on earth :-) walu. From: Agosta Liko To: jwalu(a)yahoo.com Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2013 3:36 PM Subject: Re: [kictanet] KONZA GROUND BREAKING CEREMONY-CONGRATULATIONS Mr Nduati Raising concerns and shaping decisions does not make one a doubting Thomas but the, this thing is for HP, Oracle, Microsoft ... not Nairobi Hustle Tech Thanks On Tue, Jan 22, 2013 at 3:49 PM, charles nduati <charlesnduati2002(a)yahoo.co.uk> wrote: Hi Daktari Ndemo and Your team, Congratulations on the ground breaking ceremony tomorrow. I wonder where the doubting Thomases are. Have a great day and let us know where the party will be thereafter Kudos all Charles Nduati _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/agostal%40gmail.com The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development. KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications. _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/jwalu%40yahoo.com The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development. KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.

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Poghisio appoints Konza City board members
by Grace Githaiga 24 Jan '13

24 Jan '13

IN SUMMARY The minister has appointed four directors — Haron Nyakundi (building economist), Reuben Mutiso (architect), Emma Miloyo (architect) and Rosemary Maundu — in the board that will be chaired by investment banker John Ngumi.The appointment of the board sets the stage for hiring of CEO and executive team of the Konza Technopolis.President Kibaki will preside over the ICT city's ground breaking on January 23 http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Corporate-News/Poghisio-appoints-Konza-C…

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Top companies line up for piece of Konza
by Grace Githaiga 24 Jan '13

24 Jan '13

IN SUMMARYFourteen large firms have expressed interest in the first stage of the Konza City project set to be carried out in four phases of five years each.The flagship project under the Vision 2030 economic blueprint is set to position Kenya as the ICT powerhouse in eastern Africa.http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Global-giants-line-up-for-slice-o…

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Facebook spent $4 million to lobby U.S. lawmakers in 2012
by Gideon 24 Jan '13

24 Jan '13

Facebook wined and dined U.S. lawmakers and racked up a tab close to $4 million during 2012, an increase of 196 percent over its courting costs in the previous year. According to disclosure forms, Facebook spent $1.4 million<http://disclosures.house.gov/ld/ldxmlrelease/2012/Q4/300542025.xml>in the fourth quarter to lobby government officials on foreign relations matters, online privacy issues, data security, immigration reform, and online advertising. More: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57565507-93/facebook-spent-$4-million-to-l… Gideon Rop.

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