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Meeting Reminder, iHub Discussion, Tomorrow, 6pm, 4th Floor Teleposta Towers, MMU
by Phares Kariuki 01 Feb '10

01 Feb '10

There will be a Skunkworks Meetup on the 2nd of February 2010. This will be the first meeting this year, and it's an honor that we will be discussing iHub, Nairobi's new Tech Innovation Hub... http://whiteafrican.com/2010/01/25/ihub-nairobis-tech-innovation-hub-is-here The meeting will be coordinated by Erik Hersman, who is a co-founder at Ushahidi (www.ushahidi.com) who is also behind the concept of iHub. Meeting starts at 6pm, Teleposta Tower's, 4th Floor, Multimedia University... Profound gratitude to Multimedia University, who have hosted the Skunkworks meetings for the last year and have been more than gracious hosts over the period. -- With Regards, Phares Kariuki | T: +254 734 810 802 | E: pkariuki(a)gmail.com | Twitter: kaboro | Skype: kariukiphares |

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Re: [kictanet] Kenyan BPO fails to snap up the subsidy, why?
by charles nduati 01 Feb '10

01 Feb '10

hi all, Nick has hit the nail right on the head As JKUAT, we have also taken on this challenge and signed on with African BPO Academy and BCI to start offering BCI's certifications so that our graduates know what it takes to take Kenya where it ought to be in BPO space. give us the support by sending your staff for trainibg which we are also offering at Nairobi CBD. regards charles On Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:26 EET nicholasnesbitt wrote: >this biggest concern for this industry is the lack of business. not the lack of talent or the high costs. It's the cost of overcoming perceptions, reaching out to new prospects, convincing them that kenya is a worthwhile outsourcing destination. Marketing! Spreading the word. > >I have just spent a week in the UK meeting with some of the largest outsourcers in the world. They have never heard of Kenya as an outsourcing destination. Very interested now, but completely unaware. We stopped marketing Kenya as a BPO destination before we had built international recognition and credibility, which raises questions in these prospects' minds about our commitment as a country to making Kenya an outsourcing destination... > >Nicholas A. Nesbitt >Chief Executive Officer >KenCall EPZ Ltd >P.O. Box 27507 - 00506 >Sameer Industrial Park, Mombasa Road >Nairobi, Kenya > >+254.20.660.2000 (office) >+254.20.660.2222 (fax) >+254.721.458.458 (cell) >+253.733.458.458 (cell 2) > >nnesbitt(a)kencall.com >www.kencall.com > >BEST Non-European Contact Centre 2008 >

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Nairobi Super Highway Proposal
by robert yawe 01 Feb '10

01 Feb '10

Hi, It was sad to read about the KQ pilot who was robbed on Uhuru Highway and later died from injuries inflicted by the thieves. This is an opportunity to kill many birds with one stone. I want to make a proposal to all parties out there that we turn the entire mombasa rd, Uhuru Highway and Waiyaki way into a digital super highway. How you ask? We have fiber optic cable laid along the length of the road from Athi River interchange to the Limuru Interchange. Then install solar powered wifi equipment and web-cams atop the street lights and also on any building with a fibre node along the stretch. The WiFi will turn the whole of the road into a hotspot which will enable tourists to use their WiFi enabled phones as they drive from & to the airport as well as business traveler and Yawe. Through the link we can feed country specific information such as weather, animal sightings, culture etc. In addition the links should enable the mounting of multimedia display boards along the road that can have content streamed to them remotely. This two areas will provide the revenue for maintaining the infrastructure. Traffic information can also be provided through the display boards to enable drivers decide if they want to remain in the jams especially when the president has been allowed out of statehouse. With the webcams the police will have a better view of what is happening on the road and can fine errant drivers such as the matatus that obstruct at the Shell near DHL. We can also connect the traffic light controllers to the police allowing the lights to be controlled remotely therefore leaving the extra traffic policemen to be redeployed. I have provided this information with no non-disclosures anyone out there who can pick it and run with it is welcome to do so. If you feel you would like to invite me to participate please feel free to do so. "don't hide your light under a bushel" 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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Broadband my foot
by robert yawe 01 Feb '10

01 Feb '10

Hi, I notice the 3G discussion has come to an abrupt end, as usually, but I feel I need to share my frustration with all the GSM providers. I live in South C but frustratingly I can only use my phone (Safaricom, Orange GSM & Orange CDMA) from a particular corner of the house, if this is the service available in Nairobi how much worse is the condition outside the City. Many of you raised concerns about the 3G license issue and I said this should not be the issue, CCK needs to enforce service delivery levels for the GSM providers. I am forced to carry 4 modems with me if I am to get any miningful work done when I am at home as the providers services are erratic. As I write this the Orange Internet Nowhere service is offline. My Safaricom bambanet working but only working at edge speed, it normally would not work at all but I found a solution by purchasing an external high gain antennae. The other providers modems unfortunately do not have a facility for plugging in an external arial. CCK can you please do your work of monitoring the network operators performance, if you cannot monitor this in Nairobi how will you be able to do it nationally. Maybe we should devolve CCK. 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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Re: [kictanet] Hackers attack Tanzania government websites
by Gichuki John Chuksjonia 31 Jan '10

31 Jan '10

These defacers are not what we should entirely worry about, but the guys doing the cooperate cyber espionage are the greatest threat right now. ./Chuks On 1/31/10, Robert Alai <alai.robert(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Guys http://bit.ly/cWkvWq > > -- > TECHMTAA BLOG: http://bit.ly/cmRFZR > VALENTINES PLOT: http://bit.ly/dkzaxA > SHOP ONLINE AND GET DOOR DELIVERY: http://bit.ly/cwzi78 > VACANCIES: http://myafricancareer.blogspot.com/ > SOCIAL PLACE: http://bit.ly/5O6M8L > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "MlalaHoi" group. > To post to this group, send email to mlalahoi(a)googlegroups.com > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > mlalahoi+unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/mlalahoi?hl=en > -- -- Gichuki John Ndirangu, C.E.H , C.P.T.P, O.S.C.P I.T Security Analyst and Penetration Tester infosigmer(a)inbox.com {FORUM}http://lists.my.co.ke/pipermail/security/ http://nspkenya.blogspot.com/ http://chuksjonia.blogspot.com/ -- TECHMTAA BLOG: http://bit.ly/cmRFZR VALENTINES PLOT: http://bit.ly/dkzaxA SHOP ONLINE AND GET DOOR DELIVERY: http://bit.ly/cwzi78 VACANCIES: http://myafricancareer.blogspot.com/ SOCIAL PLACE: http://bit.ly/5O6M8L You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MlalaHoi" group. To post to this group, send email to mlalahoi(a)googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to mlalahoi+unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/mlalahoi?hl=en

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Payment Portal Promises Major E-Commerce Shift in Kenya
by alice 30 Jan '10

30 Jan '10

(Balancing Act) Payment Portal Promises Major E-Commerce Shift in Kenya When Quentin Faulkner launched an online store for parents looking for good quality clothing for their children two years ago, his peers told him he would close shop in weeks. But the business - a baby clothing store that has no physical location and is solely marketed using social networking website Facebook - now handles up to 90 transactions a month. That growth has inspired him to launch a second e-commerce website – www.Bagalicious.co.ke <http://lists.balancingact-africa.com/t/6647/235533/964/0/>, which sells handbags. We handle up to 155 orders a month on this website. January is shaping up to be our second best month in terms of orders and revenue," said Mr Faulkner. More recently, web commerce has become a key driver of the many online commercial portals that Kenya's restless technology entrepreneurs (also known as techpreneurs) have been trying to establish with the growth of internet use in the country. In this club of online commerce start-ups is Totallytoto.com <http://lists.balancingact-africa.com/t/6647/235533/965/0/> launched at the beginning of the year to solely sell goods online. The firm joins a growing list of websites that are selling mostly foreign made goods to Kenyan consumers at competitive prices. Mystrawberrystore.com <http://lists.balancingact-africa.com/t/6647/235533/966/0/>, pesapal.com <http://lists.balancingact-africa.com/t/6647/235533/967/0/>, enrakenya.com <http://lists.balancingact-africa.com/t/6647/235533/968/0/>, kalahari.co.ke <http://lists.balancingact-africa.com/t/6647/235533/969/0/> and nsoko.co.ke <http://lists.balancingact-africa.com/t/6647/235533/970/0/>, styleconnection.co.ke <http://lists.balancingact-africa.com/t/6647/235533/971/0/> and intokenya.com <http://lists.balancingact-africa.com/t/6647/235533/972/0/> are the vanguards of this budding internet economy. Growth of the internet sector is expected to create new opportunities for the development of e-commerce and m-commerce linking Kenya more closely to the global economy. This new push for e-commerce got an impetus mid last year with the landing at the Kenyan coast of two undersea fibre optic cables that linked the country to high-speed internet connectivity, laying the groundwork for a digital economy. E-commerce is expected to give rise to a digitally-enabled economy that runs on platforms such as e-government, e-health, e-education, social media and e-science. Because of its association with lower overhead costs, e-commerce has enabled retailers to charge lower prices besides offering consumers a more convenient shopping window. Globally, the e-commerce industry is now worth $500 billion, but Africa's many technological challenges, including the absence of local electronic payment portals, have ensured that the continent accounts for only a tiny fraction of it. With the arrival of broadband internet, Kenyan companies are now refocusing their strategies to tap on online commerce that is expected to grow at an annual average of 10 per cent in the next decade. Helped by the changing landscape in the travel industry, national flag carrier Kenya Airways is for example offering online ticketing and tens of small and medium-sized firms such as e-manamba.com <http://lists.balancingact-africa.com/t/6647/235533/973/0/> are offering commuters the opportunity to purchase tickets online. Media companies such as the Nation Media Group have also gone online to sell digital editions of their publications. Nakumatt, the country's largest retail chain is planning to launch an online hyper-mart that offers for sale on-line all products available in its stores. It will work as a complementary sales tool that will serve customers in remote areas. And to ensure its success, we have enlisted the support of a leading logistics solutions provider to handle the delivery and logistics support elements," said Atul Shah, the Nakumatt managing director. Currently, MamaMikes.com <http://lists.balancingact-africa.com/t/6647/235533/974/0/> - the oldest locally developed e-commerce portal - draws its customer base from Kenyans living in the diaspora but now hopes the availability of a local payment portal launched by I & M Bank last week will open the online shop to the domestic consumers. The website has been offering its customers a platform to buy gifts for relatives and friends in Kenya from abroad. The menu of items on sale includes mobile phone airtime, Nakumatt or Uchumi vouchers, or cakes and flowers during special occasions. The company now handles around 500 orders a month, a figure that had grown steadily until last year when a number of small enterprises offering the same service entered the market. We never realised growth last year, partly because of intense competition from new players offering the same services," said Segeni Ngethe, the company's founder. Analysts say last week's launch of the country's first electronic payments system may not have an immediate effect on the budding e-commerce industry citing the pricing structure that I&M Bank and Visa will offer the retailers. That pricing will determine profit margins for online sales - a key ingredient for e-commerce. For many Kenyan e-commerce retailers, card use translates to higher transaction charges and reduced profit margins. The larger the profit margins, the easier it is to accommodate Visa transaction fees. When an online company sells products with margins of 70 per cent, it is easy to justify paying a fee of 5 per cent of the sale price to visa to make the sale possible," said Mr Ngethe. But for smaller firms that generate lower sales margins, hefty payments to Visa may force them to hike prices in order to make profits. "This is an unnecessary expense for us. Our margins are small enough that this has a significant effect on our bottom line. It will also involves a much higher level of security and protection to safely use credit cards for online transactions and that administrative cost is too high for us," said Mr Faulkner. In Kenya, alternative payment systems have been gaining popularity as consumer demand for different payment avenues, other than credit cards, intensifies. Online retailers say Kenyan consumers have been shying away from credit cards in favour of cash on delivery or mobile money transfers.And as security concerns surrounding e-payments increase, some online retailers are turning to outsourced payment processing companies such as Pesapal to manage their e-payments. A poll of e-commerce outfits reveals that the most used payment system in Kenya is cash on delivery, which accounts for 70 per cent of on-line purchases. A growing number of payments (around 20 per cent are made using M-Pesa or Zap, a segment that many industry insiders believe will grow as more consumers get online using their mobile phones or computers. With eight million users already on the system, M-Pesa is gaining ground as the cashless currency of choice because they offer instant payments at rates lower than those charged by banks or credit card vendors. Only five per cent of online purchases are paid for using credit or debit cards which two million Kenyans have access to. The remaining five per cent of the payments made through intermediary payment sites such as Pesapal or Paypal. (Source: Business Daily)

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National survey shows Kenyan Internet market heading towards “critical mass”
by alice 30 Jan '10

30 Jan '10

(from Balancing Act) National survey shows Kenyan Internet market heading towards “critical mass” The latest national survey from market research company Synovate shows Kenya’s Internet market is growing fast and on the basis of this growth will soon reach “critical mass”. The growth in users is coming from both urban and rural areas and is predominantly amongst the young and well educated. Russell Southwood pored over the results. The total sample for this random survey was 1,500 people, with 500 of those in a boost sample from across the major districts of Kenya. Therefore the coverage is nationally representative of adults 15 and above and has a sampling margin of error of + or – 3%. It makes comparisons with a similar survey it carried out in 2007. On the basis of this sample, Synovate estimates that there are now 3.5 million Internet users in Kenya. However, daily Internet use has grown from 2% of the respondents in 2007 to 5% in 2009 and weekly use from 5% to 12% over the same period. The daily use figure is the crucial one as it shows users who are finding that that they cannot do without Internet services. If the weekly Internet use is broken down on an urban vs rural basis, urban use grew from 22% of respondents in 2007 to 30% in 2009. Rural use grew from 4% to 9% over the same period. These results confirm a lot of anecdotal evidence that has been reaching us about young people using the Government’s new Internet centres and cyber cafes in rural areas. The lower income groups recorded a much more fast paced growth in internet access. However Internet penetration within middle class and below is still very low, making it the group with the highest growth potential. And following the expected drop in Internet costs LSM 4-10s should provide the highest growth in usage. At least half the non-users across all social categories said they would be interested in using the Internet if they had access. In terms of age, 50% of the respondents using Internet were aged 15-34 with 21% in the 18-24 age bracket. The upcoming generation of Kenyans will be regular users of the Internet and it will form as much part of their lives as mobile phones. Over 56% of the Internet using respondents were college or University educated. Therefore those countries with better education levels in Africa will show markedly higher Internet penetration levels. On average, the Internet users in the sample spent approximately 70 minutes on the Internet per visit. This level of media user is close to the average time spent on television on daily basis but does not challenge radio use which is much higher. This will inevitably impact on the media usage of key socio-demographic groups. Although the survey results did not include newspapers, it is likely to be them that suffer as younger generation make less use of the printed word in getting information. The big shift in where sample respondents accessed the Internet between 2007 and 2009 has been a significant fall in the number of those using Internet cafes and a commensurate rise in the number using mobile phones. Strikingly, this trend – of using mobile phones for access – is more pronounced amongst the rural part of the sample. This is bad news for cyber-cafes for despite rising numbers of users they are not coming their way. But this is good news for mobile operators if they can get their mobile Internet offers cheap and pre-paid. The five top uses of the Internet range between 40-50% of the sample users and were in descending order: entertainment; games and music; social networking and instant messaging; e-mails; general surfing; and job search. The pattern is very close to existing mobile usage (with the exception of job search) if you take SMS as the equivalent of e-mails. Users are starting with what they know but will inevitably become more adventurous as more content and services are put on offer. Not surprisingly it is the young who are disproportionately more likely to be members of social networking sites but membership is more likely to be male than female. Facebook was by far the most popular site although You Tube (which features in the Top 10 sites used in Kenya according to Alexa.com) does not feature. BBC, CNN and The Nation are the most used news sites. The significance of these findings is that Kenya is both one of Africa’s largest mid-scale markets and is a bell-weather in terms of technology adoption. Crudely, what happens in Kenya will start to happen elsewhere. And as the uptake of M-Money services shows, this is not simply an urban, well-educated, middle class phenomenon. Critical mass kicks in when the number of users starts to create networking effects. In other words, existing users start to draw in new users who don’t want to be left out. In Kenya, this is clearly already beginning starting to happen. And although the number of daily Internet users is smaller than the overall estimated total of 3.5 million, it is beginning to grow significant and will continue to do so as access prices fall and local content offers become more varied. For more details either e-mail Joe Otin of Synovate on Joe.Otin(a)synovate.com <mailto:Joe.Otin@synovate.com> or phone him on +254 4450190-6.

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Very soon....your handwritting will be readable :-)
by Judy Okite 30 Jan '10

30 Jan '10

What a life saver!! over the years I have watched my handwritting, deterioriate........its actually reached a point I cant read it anymore......Thank God, for technology.....there is an option!! To our dear Doctors....Am I hearing deep sighs of relief?? .....read below,what guys next door are about to do....... http://www.elearning-africa.com/newsportal/english/news213.php Kind Regards, -- "An optimist stays up to see the New Year in. A pessimist waits to make sure the old one leaves".Bill Vaughan

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The end of Open Source as we Know it?
by Al Kags 29 Jan '10

29 Jan '10

http://alkags.com/?p=493 <https://photos.sun.com/thumbnail/400/400/5163> It occurs to me (after a spell of burying my head in some sand) that Oracle has bought Sun Microsystems (who in turn had bought MySQL)It occurs to me (after a spell of burying my head in some sand) that Oracle has bought Sun Microsystems (who in turn had bought MySQL). I have several issues in my head that are struggling to find words: 1) that Jonathan Schwatz, my favorite CEO blogger, is moving on (this is just that sentimentalclinging - "don't go!") but more importantly 2) this buy-out may signify the end of Open Source as we know it. What is Kenya's position on the matter? I imagine that this has been discussed in the technology policy circles?

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educational tourism
by meshack emakunat 29 Jan '10

29 Jan '10

dear listers i have no doubt how our beloved country (kenya) has invested poorly in the educational tourism. try compairing the number of foreign students in our universities with those who fly out of the country to SA , USA ,UK China etc. first i think the country's education system is slow in adopting the new learning technologies. its about time the kenyan students and the government put some empasise/effort in this issue. a good example is in our own public university like egerton, the ratio of students to lecturer is way out of range yet the same lecturers will stand in the lecturer hall trying teach 300 students with a piece of chalk and a small blackboard(how does a student in the back of the class get anything out of this lecture): what am trying to say is that the administration should adopt technologies like projectors in order to serve even the student standing at the back of the class, otherwise people will preffer having better education in the foreign countries rather than their own country.

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