CIO EA Magazine June 2014

Social media is quickly emerging as a major platform for companies seeking greater

intelligence and deeper insights into the markets, organisations and individuals they target and

serve. What are the new trends? 28

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+eManage: Moving your data to the Cloud | P14New APPOINTMENTS | P29Kenya, a technology paradox | P41Put that Smartphone Down!! | P44

E A S T A F R I C A

BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP

CEO PROFILE: Adil El Youssef,CEO, Airtel Kenya P30

Play a role in shaping aSmart Kenya P4

FEATURE: Key challenge in Kenya is a single dominant operator P24

JUNE 2014

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B CIO EAST AFRICA | JUNE 2014 www.cio.co.ke

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1CIO EAST AFRICA | JUNE 2014www.cio.co.ke

2 CIO EAST AFRICA | JUNE 2014 www.cio.co.ke

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Harry Hare

EDITORMichael Ouma

TECHNICAL STAFF WRITERSLillian MutegiKamau MboteBaraka JefwaCOLUMNISTS

Bobby YaweSam Mwangi

HEAD OF SALES & MARKETINGAndrew Karanja

ACCOUNT MANAGERSAmuyunzu Oscar

Vanessa OburaBenjamin Anyetei

DESIGNBrian Kamau

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EDITOR’S note

Treasury then announced plans to roll out electronic procurement in July this year as part of efforts to automate and streamline Government financial management processes and procedures while on the corporate front, Naushad Merali retired from the Board of Airtel Kenya where he’d served as Chairman for more than a decade.

However, the developments listed above were not the ICT industry’s high-lights for the month. For Safaricom in mid May announced an after-tax profit of Kshs 23 billion (USD 261 million) - which was a 31 per cent increase – and boost-ed by non-voice revenues which now account for 36 per cent of the company’s total income. M-Pesa continues to be the main driver of Safaricom’s non-voice revenues, raking in Kshs 26.6 billion (USD 302 million) which represents 18 per cent of the overall income.

Safaricom’s run of good fortunes did end with the huge profits. Just a few days later, the government announced that mobile network operator would had been contracted to build Kenya’s integrated public safety communication and surveillance system at a cost Kshs 12 billion (USD 136 million), an amount that the firm will recover in phases from the government while at the same time earning Kshs 2 billion (USD 22.7 million) in management fees for 4 years.

But it feels like that multi-billion

security contract from the govern-ment was the end of Safaricom’s run of good luck. This is because in April, the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) licensed three firms as Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), the licensees being Zioncell partly owned

by Mobile Decisioning Holdings, Mobile Pay which operates Tangaza pesa and Finserve, owned by equity bank.

The three 3 MVNOs are expected to take on the traditional mobile network operators (MNOs) head-on, offering the complete suite of services includ-ing voice, SMS, data as well as mobile money transfer by utilising Airtel Kenya’s infrastructure.

And here’s is where it gets interesting. The entry of Equity Bank into the mobile money transfer scene (via FinServe) is expected to destabilize Safaricom’s M-Pesa dominance. Equity has already stated that when it launches its money transfer services in July, it’ll charge reduced transfer fees of just 1 percent or not more than Kshs 25 and loan interest rates of between 1 and 2 percent per month. The rate is far much below the 7.5 percent interest rate levied by Safaricom’s and Commercial Bank of Africa’s (CBA) M-Shwari and cheaper than M-Pesa transaction fees which can go as high as Kshs 110 (USD 1.25).

And to rope in existing customers, Equity plans to issue 9 million SIM cards to its account holders by the July launch date, making it go head to head against Safaricom’s M-Pesa which currently has 12.2 million clients.

Amidst the expected competition, subscribers will be the overall winners, choosing and sticking with the best provider in the process. Let’s sit back and see who between a bank and mobile operator can offer the best in terms of mobile money transfer services

May’14 belonged to Safaricom, until Equity spoilt the party

Okay, a lot happened in May. Just to highlight a few, there was the launch of the Kenya Electronic Single Window System, aka Kenya Tradenet, a portal meant to ensure

efficient trade facilitation;

Michael Ouma

[email protected]


Quoted Verbatim

You can do all the things right but then you will need a market to structurally be addressed by the regulator so that

there is one level playing field

Adil El Yooussef, CEO, Airtel Kenya during the interview with CIO East Africa.

Trying to only focus your marketing efforts online assuming that the whole target market is there is like concentrating in

Church trying to convert people and forgetting that the people you need to convert are not in Church but outside. This means

that you should first aim to bring them to Church

Priscilla Muhiu, head of marketing, OLX Kenya during interview with CIO East Africa.

Everyone claims to be going digital and what we do is try to enlighten them on what digital means in regards to records and documents

management. Whether it’s storing data, scanning the data or whatever it might take in

order to manage information

Stephen Mwangi, director, eManager Africa during interview with CIO East Africa.

What can never be taken away is the legacy around us in the team and the brands that he built. When we have

mourned the loss of our friend we will, with renewed resolve, get back to building his vision into a great legacy.

In celebration of his life

Statement announcing the death of Carey Eaton, co-founder, Carey Eaton.


According to the event’s report, more than 500 top executives from government and the private sector attended the summit, which provided better engagement with the conference content and networking opportunities than in previous editions. The 2014 edition of Connected Kenya also saw for the first time participation by senior Government officials from Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan.

As indicated in my last piece, the summit also witnessed the re-launch of the National ICT Master plan, which has now been renamed the Smart Kenya plan and now looks set for imple-mentation.

The CS, while addressing the stakeholders at the meeting, said Kenyans need to change gears and talk less and do more in reference to the im-plementation of the master plan. In this regard, he directed the ICT Authority to formulate a work-ing caucus to spearhead the implementation of the plan. The caucus will be supported by a pro-ject office within the Authority and will be tasked with fleshing out the programmes outlined in the plan to projects and tasks and oversee its effec-tive and speedy implementation.

The plan has three key pillars: First is the ICT human capital and workforce development foundation. The plan sees the development of quality ICT human resources as a pre-requisite to the development of a viable ICT sector. This is ex-pected to ensure the development of the sector, implementation and exploitation of ICT as a cata-lyst to national development. This is intended to address the ICT skills shortage experienced in the country and even globally.

Second is Integrated ICT infrastructure. The

plan recognizes ICT infrastructure as crucial for the successful implementation of other founda-tions and pillars. And this pillar seeks to provide the integrated infrastructure backbone required to ensure cost effective delivery of ICT products and services to Kenyans, businesses and other stakeholders.

And third, the Integrated information infra-structure. The remit of this foundation is the provision of more and better information from the public sector. The objective is to ensure that there is maximum access to information held by public authorities to all Kenyans and that public information is readily available through consoli-dated portals in an affordable and secure way. This is expected to in turn improve the quality of e-Government services and enable the country to transition to a knowledge-based society.

One can argue that work has already started in some of these pillars and in some cases, real projects are on the ground already and to a large extent impact is already being felt. A case in point is the infrastructure development that saw the laying of the national fiber optic backbone, the metros in different cities in the country and the undersea cables docked at the Kenyan coastal town of Mombasa.

Overall, I think the new team at the Ministry and the Authority is trying to bring structure and form into the implementation of the plan, which is a good thing if bureaucracy won’t stand in the way. The CS has called on the public as well as the private sector to take them into account on delivering this plan. So, here is your chance to shape the Kenya you want through the Smart Kenya plan.

here is your

chance to shape the

Kenya you want through

the Smart Kenya plan.

[email protected]

PUBLISHER

Play a role in shaping a Smart Kenya

from the

Dr Fred Matiang’i, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Information and Communication Technologies, and his team at the Kenya ICT Authority seem to be on a path to some interesting things. Last month, the team convened a stakeholders’ meeting to report on the Connected Kenya Summit that the Ministry and the Authority hosted back in April in Mombasa.

Harry Hare, Editorial Director


CONTENTS

JUNE 2014

23 NewAPPOINTMENTS

44 LastWORDVirtual Reality?

28 Pictorial

6 In BriefCOVER STORY

Social media is quickly emerging as a major platform for com-panies seeking greater intelligence and deeper insights into the markets, organisations and individuals they target and serve.

34

CEOPROFILE

Adil El Youssef CEO, Airtel Kenya

I’m a person of ‘firsts’

32

Arthur Mandela (@Xtiandela): Effectiveness of a SocialMedia platform depends on a campaign, product | 38

OLX Kenya: First attract sellers, then buyers will come | 36

13 twitterINTERVIEWJabu Basopo, Country Manager,VISA

EMV cards offer clients increasedsecurity and reduce fraud

FEATURE

Greatest challenge in Kenya’s telecom industry is a single dominant player

24

Product Review

Intel2-in-1

30

OPINIONKenya, a technology paradox

Wearable tech: The new in-thing

Accidental Architecture

A case for business process re-engineer-ing in the Single Window System

41

Put that Smartphone down !!

The Virtual Real Estate Era

7 TrendLinesKenya Bus Service, KCB partner to launch Abiria Card

Ericsson: Mobile internet usage to increase at twice the global rate in five years in sub-Saharan Africa

Nakumatt unveils month-long e-wasterecycling campaign in Nairobi

Big Data, limited spectrum and how to fund new networks key issues for regulators

14 TrendANALYSISeManage Africa here to help you safelystore your data in the Cloud

FVC sees huge business potential in East Africa region

Gaining the competitive edge with Real-Time Predictive Analytics

Single Window System to bring harmonization, better sharing of data in Government

26 SPECIAL featureDEMO Africa on the road


AROUND

AROUND the

GUINEA: SkyVision strengthens commitment to deliver superior telecoms solutions in Guinea

SkyVision Global Networks has launching fibre and wireless based services, SkyVision SkyFibre. A member of the “Guinéenne de la Large Bande” (GUILAB) consortium, SkyVision has invested in the establishment of an integrated fibre and wireless network across Conakry. Connected over the ACE submarine cable to its global IP/MPLS network, the SkyVision service enables customers to benefit from innovative data processing and telecom solutions. This results in quicker response times, improved communications with customers and suppliers, and increased productivity and profitability. With

the launch of the SkyVision SkyFibre service over its new network, the company immediately increased the bandwidth it provided to existing business customers. The new network will also allow SkyVision to serve new customers across Conakry and throughout Guinea, with its full range of VSAT services. The company portfolio includes Internet access, end to end VPN & private networks, as well as value-added services, such as network security, cloud services, voice, business continuity and hosting solutions.

W RLDHGC to work on IPX peering arrangements with

telecom firms in Japan, Taiwan and UAE

Hutchison Global Communications Limited (HGC), the fixed-line division of Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong Holdings Limited, has today announced agreements with Taiwan’s Chunghwa Telecom (Chunghwa) and Japan’s NTT Communications Corporation (NTT Com) to establish multiservice IPX peering connections. HGC has also signed a MoU on IPX platform interconnection with Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat) in the UAE. These interconnection partnerships enables the 4 telecoms carriers to deliver greater reach to MNOs and ensure their end-customers can roam seamlessly across IPX platforms, enjoying extended coverage along with a high-quality voice and mobile data experience.

Fujitsu delivers satisfaction, great experience and high-quality products

to channel partners

Fujitsu has announces that over 80 percent of its global resellers are either very satisfied or satisfied with the company and the commercial benefits offered by its SELECT Partner Program, with satisfaction levels increasing at the higher Program levels as close business relationships are seen to be key. Over 2,000 respondents at organizations actively marketing and trading Fujitsu products, solutions and services participated in an independent survey, citing the quality of products and good previous experience as reasons for actively recommending Fujitsu offerings.

www.cio.co.ke

The full articlesare available on

the CIO East Africa Website

inBRIEF SOUTH AFRICA : Celltick to become default interface for MINT

users in South Africa

Celltick, a US-based provider of mobile initiated commerce, has announced a partnership with CZ Electronics Manufacturing, one of South Africa’s electronic manufacturing companies. CZ Electronics will provide an intelligent interface to its Android mobile users, based on Celltick’s Start on its Android devices that are distributed under the brand name – MINT. With Start MINT users are able to get fast access to the services and applications that they use most on the devices as well as special offers that are tailored just for MINT users. Start is a next-generation, intelligent Android interface that provides a personalized experience to users. With Start, users get fast access to numerous apps and a quick view into a variety of information sources, including social networks, music services and news feeds. Start eliminates the need to browse through screens, menus and folders and offers quick navigation, directly from the start screen. Start utilizes a powerful intelligent back-end recommendation engine that combines big data technologies and collaborative filtering techniques to provide context sensitive personalized suggestions based on the user’s behavior.


Abiria Card is EMV-enabled and MasterCard-brand-ed, fitted in with Near Field Communication (NFC) technology of tap-and-go. The card besides being used by passengers during transit, it can also be used in any MasterCard branded acceptance outlet locally and internationally. The card will be rolled out to com-muters on 1st July.

The card is powered by Tap To Pay, a subsidiary of advanced card systems company in HongKong that specializes in automatic fare collection. The company is also behind the implementation of the hardware and software devices that have already been installed in 260 KBS buses.

Sam Makome, MD, Tap To Pay Kenya said: “This historical sign up ushers in a new era for commuter transport industry that contributes greatly to the growth of the country’s business and the economy at large of the informal sector.” Makone added that customers will enjoy a more secure platform that will enable public transport operators and public transport vehicle owners to collect revenues, drive

loyalty programmes as well as establish more holistic relationship that allows the bank to provide credit facilities such as asset financing, check off loans, over-drafts among others.

Edwins Mukabanah, MD, KBS Management, said: “The cashless system will streamline the public trans-port sector making it more secure and give the public service vehicles investors’ greater control in revenue collection increasing efficiency and reduction of rev-enue leakages. It will also ease fleet management for buses and formalize the public transport that has over time operated in an informal environment.”

He also pointed out that KBS had invested over Kshs 270, 000 for each bus for the deployment of the whole project, coming to a total Kshs 70 million. How-ever, during the piloting stages commuters will still be allowed to use cash payment for fares. Mukabanah also confirmed that currently they were stabilizing fares for different destinations so as to reduce contro-versies of fare hikes. Abiria card hodlers can load their cards via KCB branches, M-Benki and KCB Mtaani.

Ahead of the government’s July 1 directive for all PSV operators to move to cashless payment, Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) and Kenya Bus Service (KBS) have signed a MuU that will see over 3 million commuters access banking services using Abiria Card.

Kenya Bus Service, KCB partner to launch Abiria Card

The cashless system will streamline the public transport sector making it more secure

TrendLINESStaff Writer


Dubbed, the ‘Recycle Today for a Better Tomorrow’ programme, the campaign - which will also be rolled out in partnership with East African Compliant Recycling (EACR), an electronics waste management company - is part of the programme scale up for the recently launched “Nakumatt Think Green, Go Blue” campaign.

Established two years ago, the Nakumatt Think Green, Go Blue campaign is geared at facilitating behavioral change among the retailer’s customers, staff and suppliers among other stakeholders by adopting the Reduce, ReUse and Recycle Principles.

At the shop floor, Nakumatt shoppers across the region, are encouraged to consider allowing their shopping to be packed in reusable bags, used cartons and bales instead of plastic paper bags.

Building upon the success of the Nakumatt Think Green, Go Blue campaign that encourages the recycling of plastics, metals, paper bags and glass items at strategi-cally placed collection bins within the retailer’s outlets, the new expanded recycling programme will offer Nairobi residents a chance to recycle their electronic waste items

such as kettles, TVs, fridges, computers, stereos, mobile phones.

Operating initially at 5 Nakumatt stores in Nairobi (Nakumatt Mega, Nakumatt Embakasi, Nakumatt Ngong Road, Nakumatt TRM and Nakumatt Ukay), the pro-gramme will be progressively rolled out to other Naku-matt stores in the coming months.

Like many other developing and developed nations, Kenya is facing a waste management challenge due to growing plastic and electronics waste. At the global front, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) acknowledges that reduction, reuse and recycling princi-ples are the most effective ways to save natural resources, protect the environment, and save money.

Atul Shah, MD, Nakumatt Holdings said: “At Nakumatt, we believe that the plastics and electronics waste environ-mental conservation challenge, can only be won through an integrated, focused and sustainable approach such as the ambitious Nakumatt Think Green; Go Blue campaign which is geared at sensitising end users.”

Nakumatt Holdings has partnered with United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and HP to jointly launch a month-long consumer campaign to encourage the responsible recycling of electronic items.

Nakumatt unveils month-long e-waste recycling campaign in Nairobi

The plastics and electronics waste environmental conservation challenge, can only be won through an integrated, focused and sustainable approach

TrendLINES Staff Writer

Atul Shah, MD, Nakumatt Holdings


The June 2014 Sub-Saharan Africa Ericsson Mobil-ity Report shows that in 2014 phone users accessed 76,000 TB (terabyte) of data per month, double the 2013 figure of 37,500 TB per month. In 2015 the figures are expected to double again with mobile phone users accessing 147,000 TB per month.

The rise of social media, content-rich apps and

video content accessed from a new range of cheaper smartphones has prompted the rise. Consumers in Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria are also increasingly using video TV and media services from their smart-phones.

Fredrik Jejdling, Regional Head, Ericsson Sub-

Saharan Africa, says: “Sub-Saharan Africa is currently undergoing a mobile digital revolution with con-sumers, networks and even media companies are wakening up the possibilities of 3G and 4G technol-ogy. We have seen the trend emerging over a few years but in the past twelve months the digital traffic has increased over 100% forcing us to revise our existing predictions.”

In the next five years, the Report’s findings show that the voice call traffic in Sub-Saharan Africa will double and there will be an explosion in mobile data with usage in Sub-Saharan Africa growing 20 times between 2013 and 2019, twice the anticipated global expansion. By 2019 the report predicts that 75 per cent of mobile subscriptions will be internet inclusive (3G or 4G).

This growth has been predicted following the

launch in 2014 of a number of smartphones for under $50 USD by a number of major device manufacturers allowing the rapid expansion of 3G and 4G technology across the region. The 2014 Report predicts that in just three years’ time 3G technology will become the dominant technology across the region.

Ericsson regularly performs traffic measurements in

over 100 live networks across the world and predic-tions have been made in collaboration with Ericsson ConsumerLab, utilising population, macroeconomic trends combined with the company’s own an-onymised data.

Ericsson has revealed the scale of the region’s ongoing data revolution with traffic growth doubling the past year.

Ericsson: Mobile internet usage to increase at twice the global rate in five years in sub-Saharan Africa

Fredrik Jejdling, Regional Head, Ericsson Sub-Saharan Africa

In the next five years,.. the voice call traffic in Sub-Saharan Africa will double and there will be an explosion in mobile data

TrendLINESKamau Mbote


The GSR-14 Conference, held in Bahrain in early June, also saw renewed push for consumer empowerment to put social development and human needs at forefront of global ICT policy.

Delegates at the meeting recognized ICTs’ increasingly central role in almost every aspect business and social interaction, adding that this is creating enormous chal-lenges for industry regulators and policymakers.

The GSR-14 was hosted by Bahrain’s Telecommunica-tions Regulatory Authority (TRA). It was chaired by Dr Mohammed Alamer, chairman, TRA and attracted over 700 specialists from 113 countries worldwide.

With the theme of ‘Capitalizing on the potential of the digital world’, the conference discussed how the fast-

growing global store of huge data volumes generated by high-tech sensors, human interaction over web, email and social media sites, and machine-to-machine communica-tions is creating a host of new business opportunities as well as concerns about privacy and the use of personal data by third parties.

During the session on Big Data, delegates heard that 90% of the world’s data has been collected over the past two years. With storage costs now low, the trend towards long-term storage of almost any kind of data – even information with no immediate obvious value – creates new potential for improving social services in areas like epidemiology, environmental management and disaster response, but also raises concerns about privacy protec-tion and over-concentration of the data collection market into powerful monopolies.

Big Data, ‘spectrum crunch’ and strategies to fund new network investment recently emerged as the main issues for technology industry regulators at the ITU’s Global Symposium for Regulators (GSR-14) conference.

Big Data, limited spectrum and how to fund new networks key issues for regulators

90% of the world’s data has been collected over the past two years

Staff WriterTrendLINES

Delegates attending the conference


In this regards to this, regulators were asked to be proactive about putting in place frameworks to har-ness the social benefits of Big Data while exercising foresight in protecting legitimate consumer concerns.

The regulators, on the other hand, stressed the so-cial importance of affordable ICT access while opera-tors and service providers sought ways of enhancing competition and bringing new products to market in the most cost-effective ways possible.

The need for more radiofrequency spectrum to al-leviate ‘spectrum crunch’ and support a growing array of wireless services was one issue where concepts around shared spectrum approaches stimulated vigorous debate, both during a pre-event workshop hosted by ITU’s Radiocommunication Bureau, and at a special session on spectrum licensing.

Several speakers and delegates stressed the im-portance of reliable spectrum allocations that deliver return on investment for ICT players and service qual-ity for users, urging regulators to be open to evolution while ensuring the protection of existing services.

During the Network Debate session, experts from the policy-making sphere, the telco community and the satellite industry also emphasized sharing – this time, of infrastructure, as part of innovative strate-gies that can help the ICT industry grow networks in today’s largely privatized environment, where national governments – the builders of most of today’s existing fixed copper and fibre networks – no longer directly fund new network build-out.

Panellists noted that shared approaches can help new players enter markets, stimulating competi-tion and giving consumers great choice. They also emphasized that in a highly capital-intensive sector, good levels of return on investment are essential, as are clear and predictable regulatory frameworks that promote investor confidence.

“For regulators, that means ICT frameworks need to be flexible enough to support innovation and new business models while ensuring current players still have the opportunity to develop and grow their opera-tions,” noted Kamal Shehadi, chief regulatory officer, Etisalat.

Billed as the largest specialized gathering of ICT policy makers, the annual Global Symposium for Regulators was launched by ITU 15 years ago with the aim of stimulating debate, knowledge sharing and exchange of best practice among regulators, govern-ment policy analysts and other ICT stakeholders.

GSR ensures the voice of industry is brought in through the Global Regulators-Industry Dialogue (GRID), where private sector experts have the chance to debate key issues with their regulatory counter-parts.

The event concluded with a set of regulatory Best Practice Guidelines which emphasized the importance of flexibility and manoeuvrability for regulators, and of a holistic approach to converged environment to take into account the needs of a broader digital ecosystem, rather than traditional service categories like ‘tel-ecoms’ or ‘broadcasting’

The need for more radiofrequency spectrum to alleviate ‘spectrum crunch’ and support a growing array of wireless services

TrendLINESStaff Writer


And higher learning institutions like Great Lakes University of Kisumu (GLUK) have made it a mandate for students to access internet to make learning easier and more convenient.

GLUK has invested heavily in IT, creating a structured network for all students. The institution also has Wi-Fi hot-spots, e-Centres, internet and e-learning facilities as well as portals to enable students carry out research.

The institution also offers ICT-related programmes including Bachelors in Science and IT, Diploma in IT and Certificate in IT. These courses enable students to be equipped with relevant IT skills which are crucial in the current job market.

GLUK has also invested in LAN (Wi-Fi technology and ethernet), web technology as well as Smart boards and projectors

According to Ronnie Mwai, head of marketing, GLUK, the institution school offers distance learning and due to this they, majorly use e-learning as a tool and prospective students can also apply for courses online via their portal.

However, Mwai states that this comes with a lot of chal-lenges with the main challenge being low uptake of the technology which has led to low usage of the facilities and infrastructure as well as little or no information provision. Mwai also notes that ICT has both positive and negative impact on students. “Due to appreciation of ICT, students are increasingly becoming tech savvy and thus enhancing online application,” said Mwai.

Through IT, research has been enhanced while teaching and sharing of information has further been enhanced. However this also outlines negative impacts including: plagiarism, resource wastage/ denial of service as a result of social networking, torrents and Low library use espe-cially with physical reference materials

Technology is becoming part and parcel of our everyday lives including learning institutions.

Great Lakes University adopting IT to enhance learning

Through IT, research has been enhanced while teaching and sharing of information has further been enhanced.

Lilian Mutegi

Great Lakes University

TrendLINES


TWITTER INTREVIEW Lilian Mutegi

@murugimutegi tweeted @VisaKenya

Jabu Basopo: EMV cards offer clients increased security and reduce fraud

Why are most countries currently migrating to adopt EMV-enabled cards?EMV cards offer enhanced security to reduce fraud resulting from counterfeit, lost and stolen cards.

How does card authentication work with EMV?This is done in two ways - online, with the issuer authenticating the transaction using a dynamic cryptogram and offline, with the card and terminal performing static or dynamic data authentication, or both.

How does NFC mobile payment relate to EMV?NFC mobile contactless payment transactions between a mobile phone and a POS terminal use the standard communication protocol used by EMV.

What’s VISA’s next generation plan?Visa’s commitment and unwavering focus remains to be the best way to pay and be paid for everyone, everywhere.

What major partnerships has VISA had

with other organizations locally?Examples include Airtel, Naivas, Equity and Junior Achievement to launch a debit card, a reward card, a money transfer service and financial literacy program respectively.

For how long has VISA been around and could you kindly touch on your global presence?Visa started in 1958 in USA. Today, the network spans 200 countries and territories, over 2.2 billion cards and over 2.1 million ATMs

What is VISANet?VISANet is a centralized and modular payments network unique to Visa, providing transaction processing, risk management and information services.

Being among the six partners in the FIFA world cup, what plans do you have for 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil set to kick off on 12th June?We are joining in on the world’s popular sport and sending a lucky winner to Brazil as we continue to support users through delivery of reliable services.

The effort by the card industry stakeholders pushing the adoption of EMV Chip and Pin cards by Kenya Banks received a boost from Kenya Bankers Association (KBA). In April, KBA said that 70 percent of the cards in Kenya had been converted to chip and PIN technology and certified as Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) compliant and the rest of the cards were expected to be migrated by May 31, 2014.

@CIOEastAfrica caught up with Jabu Basopo, VISA country manager @VisaKenya to understand more on EMV cards and why Magnetic Stripe Cards are prone to

skimming. Did you know VISA is among the six main sponsors of the 2014 FIFA World Cup? Well, read on…

We are joining in on the world’s

popular sport and sending a lucky winner to

Brazil


At some point, my ally interrupted me and asked: “Ten years from now, how will you get to let your people know that you visited all these places, you interacted with the high and mighty in the industry - CEOs, Cabinet Secretar-ies - and key leaders in the big boys’ IT firms - Microsoft, SAP, Oracle, IBM?”

“What even happens to all the data you collect or re-cord once you done with it? Where do you even take your written and published articles?” further posed my friend.

I paused and thought, silly as it may sound, simple…I DELETE. Well, at times, though not most of the time, I back it up in the cloud, CD or even an external hard disk but still most of it, I delete.

It wasn’t until sometime this month that I came across

the eManage Africa team then I realized how important it is to back-up ones documents for future records and tag them well for easy retrieval.

When I carried out my interview with Steve Mwangi, director, eManage Africa, the same question arose again, and just like the first time, my answer was still “I DELETE.”

Apparently, digitisation of documents is one trend in-dividuals and even organizations are yet to adopt as they still prefer having all the data and documents stuffed up in boxes, then piled up in a warehouse. This means that in case of fire or any form of damage, no back-up of the data and documents exists.

According to Mr Mwangi, digitization of documents is a process that involves, scanning the documents, indexing

Few weeks after I came back from the sixth Connected Kenya Summit, a friend invited me over for lunch. I got to share with him what my first experience at the Summit was like, the interviews I carried out with the key leaders in the ICT industry, the ‘selfies’ we took, beautiful culture of the Digo community, the beautiful white sandy beaches, the magnificent sceneries of the south Coast ocean shores especially during the fireside chats and so forth.

eManage Africa here to help you safely store your data in the Cloud

Digitisation of documents is one trend individuals and even organizations are yet to adopt

Steve Mwangi, Director, eManage Africa,

TrendANALYSIS Lilian Mutegi


TrendANALYSISStaff Writer

them, managing them, storing them and being able to retrieve them when they are needed.

“Everyone claims to be going digital and what we do is try to enlighten them on what digital means in regards to records and documents management. Whether it’s storing data, scanning the data or what-ever it might take in order to manage information.”

According to Mwangi, most firms across the region are still not ready for this trend, indicating that even though the word ‘digital’ is on everyone’s lips, no one wants to embrace it in regards to infrastructure.

“Firms will tell you how they want to go to the cloud yet still they lack the basic infrastructure like computers and the internet. It’s all about businesses understanding where they are and where they will want to be in future. Firms still will tell you they want to digitize their content then they will show you their documents, some were produced by computers yet they don’t know where they are,” said Mwangi, adding: “So it’s a process you ask them where the documents are and they tell you we printed them so we know where they are so scan them, but that’s just a single step.”

What firms should keep in mind while digitizing data is simple. First, categorize your stuff into impor-

tant documents which are nice to have and those that you can live without. You need to categorize them for easy retrieval.

Every day thousands of organisations lose critical data to fire, theft, equipment failure and disgrun-tled employees with recent studies indicating that 73% of the affected organizations being unable to retrieve their data after the disaster, a fact which has made offsite storage of data a necessity rather than a luxury.

It is due to this that eManage Africa partnered with other data protection manufacturers, leading to the development of data backup software whose functionalities include continuous data protection, incremental backups, e-mail and database sup-port, bandwidth throtting, open file protection, data protection and encryption version control, open file backups and automatic scheduling.

Working with big brands like Kenya Airways, Deloitte, Equity Bank, National Oil, Unga Holdings and Ecolab among others, 8-year-old eManage Africa currently offers data management, storage and protection solutions from a diverse array of sectors including financial, insurance, IT, manufacturing as well as government .


CIO East Africa caught up with Ahmed Youssef, GM, FVC East and West Africa who is responsible for develop-ing the channel ecosystem, growing business and profit-ability to get to know more about the firm’s operations and prospects in the region. Below are excerpts:

How is the Eastern African unit performing and how is the reception of your products and solutions?

East African market is very appealing in terms of busi-ness growth and has huge potential and that’s why we want to invest more on East Africa and have brought our office in Kenya. The Kenyan office will serve as our hub for the East African Market and we have high hopes that we can really add value here and do good business. As regards reception of our solutions, East African market is a technology survey market, so they are really looking keenly to know and understand what’s new. We feel the market is eager to know about our solutions.

What products/solutions do you currently have in the market?

We focus mainly on unified communication, advanced networking and information security. On Unified Com-munication, we offer solutions in Video conferencing, Tel-epresence, IP Telephony, Video Recording and Streaming, Presentation Tools and Conference room projectors. Our Information Security solutions include Next Generation Intrusion Prevention Systems, Vulnerability Management, IT Governance, Risk and Compliance, Next Generation Firewalls, Enterprise AAA & Network Access Control, E-Biometrics and UC Security where we have SourceFire, Aruba Networks, Watchful and Palo Alto Networks as vendors. Our Advanced Networking Solutions include: WAN and Internet Optimization, Internet, Network and Application Visibility,Link and Load Balancing. In Software Defined Networking, Datacenter solutions, Network Infra-structure and Cabling and Network Management, we have Alcatel Lucent, Riverbed, Datwyler, Cyan and Edgewater as

Recently FVC held its annual event with Polycom, the 2014 FVC - Polycom Partner Conference. The event was themed ‘Turn it On’ with the focus being to help FVC’s and Polycom’s partners recognise business opportunities across some of the key sectors and to maximise these opportunities.

FVC sees huge business potentialin East Africa region

We focus mainly on unified communication, advanced networking and information security

INTERVIEW Lilian Mutegi

Ahmed Youssef, General Manager, East & West Africa, FVC


INTERVIEWStaff Writer

our vendors.

What challenges are you currently facing in East African market?

Our first challenge is the credit part. Ability to provide credit to channel partners around the region is a challenge because credit insurance companies are not really working actively across the African Con-tinent. Secondly, internet connectivity too is not good and for us, connectivity is basic for our solutions. In other countries, internet costs are also high.

What new innovations have you brought in the market?

We have a new cloud offering for the unified communication solution. We also have a customer solution for banks and a kiosk video-enabled smart meeting rooms and smart classrooms. We also have smart meeting room solutions whose projectors have 2 inputs enabling the user to do two presentations at the same time on the same projector or a video and a presentation on a single projector. It’s the first time we are introducing this in the market.

How wide is your global footprint? FVC is a British distributor with our management

office based in US while we have operations in the Middle East and Africa. We’ve got a presence in Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Egypt, Kenya, Morrocco as well as ground presence in Ethiopia, Nigeria and

Pakistan.

Who are your local partners?Locally, we work with Sight and Sound, Dimension

Data, Orange, AGC Networks, Computech and GG Gesture and Guild.

Any plans for FVC to partner with the govern-ment in some of its projects?

From a consultation perspective, we will be proud to do that but for commercial projects, our distribu-tion is done through channels. However, we have technology experts which means that we can’t go into transaction business with the government but the government can check with us say on how we can add value to various installations to make them more efficient. We can also help the government when it comes to testing equipment.

What expansion strategy do you have for the East African region considering that other com-panies in the same market are expanding?

We are paying lots of attention in the East African market. We have plans to expand. We want to ensure the Kenyan set up is settled and then in the coming years, we will consider having more offices in the region. Our next move in Africa will be Nigeria while in East Africa, we have our eyes set on Tanzania and Ethiopia

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TrendANALYSIS Staff Writer

Nowadays, companies must extract meaningful busi-ness value from vast amounts of data, whether it ema-nates from transactional data typically generated within the enterprise itself or from unstructured data created by external sources in the Cloud and elsewhere such as social media networks and the like. SAP Predictive Analy-sis works with a company’s existing data environment at optimal levels when combined with the power of SAP HANA, an in-memory computing platform that combines database, data processing, and application platform ca-pabilities, for the delivery of real-time predictive insight.

“The resulting insight allows businesses to uncover hidden customer, employee, vendor and partner trends, anticipate buying behaviour and then take proactive ac-tion and the implications are huge, “ commented Andrew Waititu, MD, SAP East Africa. “Effectively leveraged predic-tive analytics allows businesses to significantly increase understanding of their customers’ behavior, improve response to clients, and deliver tangible business value

which will ultimately drive up profitability.”

Predictive insight is no longer the sole bastion of stat-isticians and data analysts, as it can be made available to all of the employees within the company to capitalise on the business intelligence.

The advent of revolutionary in-memory technology like SAP’s HANA platform has drastically reduced the time as well as the cost associated with data processing. It also makes it possible to perform predictive analysis of mas-sively expansive data volumes in real time. This means that businesses can now identify untapped opportunities and expose hidden risks buried inside these vast amounts of data and go on to design complex predictive models, visualise data from internal and external sources and share meaningful insights across the organisation. Even employees in the field are able to utilise SAP’s Predictive Analytics applications powered by SAP HANA.

Predictive Analytics may not be a new concept in business but the convergence of new market forces such as big data, mobility and cloud computing have resulted in a host of new and powerful opportunities for the application of this valuable technology toolset.

Gaining the competitive edge with Real-Time Predictive Analytics

Businesses can no longer focus solely on delivering the best product or service

Andrew Waititu, MD, SAP East Africa



Stanley Simataa, Namibia’s Minister of Informa-tion and Communications Technology, told a special meeting of ministers of education and ICT at the event that “a 10 per cent increase in investment in broadband infrastructure will guarantee a 1.3 per cent increase in economic growth.”

And the influential eLearning Africa Report, which was published last week, stresses that “if education is the key to everything, the key to the education of the future is infrastructure.”

A striking example of the powerful effect of this combination of education and communications infra-structure is the network of distance learning centres that has been built up across Africa. The centres are local and regional communication hubs, which facili-tate knowledge-sharing, education and training for leaders and professionals in the private, public, civil society and NGO sectors.

During the last decade, the centres have made an enormous contribution to enabling African govern-ments, businesses, NGOs and ordinary citizens both

to seize the new opportunities available to them and to respond effectively to numerous crises. “Under the leadership of Dr Mor Seck, the Director of the Senegal Distance Learning Centre, the Association of African Distance Learning Centres (AADLC) has played a cru-cial role in building the capacity of its members using the distance learning model,” says Charles Senkondo, Director of the Tanzanian Distance Learning Centre.

By facilitating the sharing of expertise and offering a forum for pan-African strategising between key stake-holders, the centres have helped African countries both to take advantage of new trends and to mitigate the effects of numerous recent crises, including the global financial collapse, mango fruit fly, management of mega disasters and the outbreak of bird flu. “The DLCs have played an important role in combatting HIV Aids across Africa,” says Senkondo. “They have been actively involved in educating, synthesising experi-ences and strategising across the continent. It has definitely resulted in a reduction of HIV Aids across the continent.”

Participants at this year’s e-Learning Africa Conference held in Uganda, Kampala from May 28 - 30 May were unanimous that that it is the combination of education and information technology that is critical to Africa’s future.

Distance learning centres have enabled capacity building across Africa

If education is the key to everything, the key to the education of the future is infrastructure


To shed more light on the new system, CIO East Africa sat down with Mr Kabuga, CEO, Kenya Trade Network Agency (KenTrade) for an in-depth interview. Below are excerpts:

Briefly explain the key features of the Single Win-dow System.

The main features of the Kenya TradeNet System (Single Window System) are Arrival Notices, Electronic Manifest Submission, Electronic Declaration Submission, Electronic Payments, Permits & Licenses, Dynamic Risk Management, and Access to all trade related Procedures & Updates.

The Main difference between Single Window System

(SWS) and other Systems is that SWS allows electronic submission of trade related documents by the busi-ness community through a Single Entry Point to meet all import, export, transit requirements and payments to Government. Single submission of documents means that data is captured only once and shared with all the Systems integrated to the SWS, thereby doing away with duplication of data, efforts and extra costs.

The trade documents that are lodged through SWS will also be accessible to all the Border Posts by Government of Kenya (GoK) regulatory Agencies in Kenya making it easier for Stakeholders to access the documents elec-tronically prior to the arrival of cargo at the Borders. In addition, the System will be integrated with the National Payments System (NPS) via a National Payments Gateway

On May 2, Mr Alex Kabuga must have been the envy of many CEOs when he’s privileged to have Presidents Uhuru Kenyatta, Yoweri Museveni and Paul Kagame during the launch of the TradeNet or Single Window System, a portal that aims to enhance efficient trade facilitation and improve business environment in the region.

Single Window System to bring harmonization, better sharing of data in Government

The trade documents that are lodged through SWS will also be accessible to all the Border Posts by Government of Kenya

TrendANALYSIS Michael Ouma

Alex Kabuga, CEO, Kenya Trade Network Agency (KenTrade)



to provide an end to end electronic trade logistics solution in Kenya.

Highlight some of the key benefits of the new system and how it will enhance regional trade

Establishing an electronic Single Window (e-SWS) in Kenya will bring about greater harmonization and better sharing of the relevant data across Govern-ment Departments and Systems and result in improved efficiency, transparency and effectiveness of official controls, enhance revenue collection and reduce costs of doing business for both the Govern-ment and the business community.

The System will lead to simplified trade informa-tion exchange; faster trade documentation process-ing through electronic platforms; reduced errors with minimized data re-entry and lead to overall improved efficiency and transparency after eliminating all the manual processes. Other benefits include lower business costs - e.g. port storage charges, container demurrage and labour costs among others; improved traceability and enhance revenue yields to Govern-ment.

How much had Kenya and the entire EAC been losing annually to corruption and delays at the ports before the implementation of the TradeNet system?

Studies contacted by various organisations have indicated that 40-45% of the cost of goods in Kenya and the East Africa Community (EAC) are attributed to trade transaction costs. Although it has not been established exactly what percentage of these costs can be attributed to corruption and related delays, it is believed that corruption contributes a large per-centage of these transaction overheads. KenTRADE is currently carrying out a survey to establish the actual cost of corruption in trade logistics in Kenya.

How does TradeNet system integrate with the National e-Payment Portal?

Currently Kenya TradeNet System has integrated with the Kenya Revenue Authority’s (KRA) iTax Pay-

ment gateway to facilitate electronic payment via banks and mobile platforms for Import Declaration Forms ((IDFs) and imports and export permits issued by some government agencies such as KRA, Port Health, Pharmacy & Poisons Board, Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS), Department of Veterinary Services and Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) among others. Efforts are ongoing to integrate Kenya TradeNet System to the National e-Payment portal currently being implemented by the National Treasury.

Apart from CrimsonLogic from Singapore, which other firms – both local and international – are involved in the project?

Due to its cross-cutting nature, the implementa-tion of TradeNet System has seen various firms being involved in implementation of some of the stakehold-ers’ systems integrating with the SWS in Kenya. These include Gainde 2000 (the vendor for KRA’s Simba System); TSB (the supplier of Kenya Port Authority’s KWATOS System); TATA (vendor of KRA’s iTax system) and Craft Silicon which deployed KRA’s mobile pay-ment solution.

As the EAC’s economic hub, why did it take Kenya this long to launch this platform consid-ering that Rwanda has implemented the same with plans underway to launch a similar system in Tanzania and Uganda?

The Scope of Kenya TradeNet System is bigger than any of the other Single Window Systems being implemented in the region including that of Rwanda. The Kenya TradeNet System brings on board many players in the Public and Private sector and also integrates with various Systems already implemented in Kenya. In addition, Kenya TradeNet has automated the payment leg of Trade logistics which none of the other Systems has implemented.

Because of its big scope and involvement of many players in the implementation of the System, more time was required to bring onboard all these play-ers and ensure the System meet their various user requirements.

The Main difference between Single Window System (SWS) and other Systems is that SWS al-lows electronic submission of trade related docu-ments by the business community through a Sin-gle Entry Point to meet all import, export, transit

requirements and payments to Government.


This is part of MasterCard’s objective which is geared towards transforming payments into the cashless realm especially in the developing world where a majority of transactions are still done in cash.

MasterCard says that this drive will in turn have an accelerator benefit for the Kenyan economy where 97 percent of all transactions are currently handled in cash with the average worth of each transaction just above USD 1 (Kshs 90).

James Wainaina, VP and Area Business Head for East Africa, MasterCard Worldwide says that a transformation of these transactions could lead to larger transactions, as the current average transaction for electronic payments stands at USD 40 to 45 in the local market.

“This will immediately trigger a spin off with an accel-eration effect where we can now expect higher volumes of transactions and a whole new channel for players to operate in as cashless transactions will open the local consumers to the global e-commerce largely dependent on e-payments,” says Wainaina, adding that MasterCard is best suited to drive this cash dilution agenda thanks its expansive and global presence which currently includes over 2 billion branded cards in 212 countries and over 150 currencies.

Locally, Wainaina says there is an appetite to go cash-less with the uptake of cards having increased by over 50 percent year-on-year basis over the last 3 years.

To support the increasing demand for cashless pay-ments, the company has increased the uptake at mer-

In the last few months, MasterCard has been actively making in the local market, developing and announcing partnerships with various players such as banks, retail outlets as well providers of cashless payment platforms.

MasterCard banks on cashless payments

There is an appetite to go cashless with the uptake of cards having increased by over 50 percent year-on-year basis over the last 3 years.

TrendANALYSIS Kamau Mbote

(L) James Wainana, Regional Vice President, Mastercard hands over the Certificate to Adekunie Sonola, MD, GT Bank Kenya



chant point-of-sale (PoS) terminals from the previous $100 to $600.

“According to our statistics, Kenya currently has about 18,000 PoS devices stationed at over 6700 ac-cess points,” he adds.

To stay ahead of the competition, MasterCard has invested in the contactless standard that enables quicker payments and longevity of the debit and credit cards.

The firm began rolling out the technology in July last year and has an agreement with Kenya’s biggest banks - Equity Group and Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) - to dish out 5 million debit cards as well as 1 million cards for retail giant Nakumatt.

Wainaina says another 10 banks in the Kenyan market are expected to use MasterCard debit and credit cards in the near future.

Wainaina credits the change around of Master-Card’s business strategy to the entry of a new CEO in the company who introduced a ‘fresh mindset’ and gave a chance for the transaction enabler to rethink its business opportunities and growth agenda espe-cially in potential markets.

Among the new service introductions to the Mas-terCard stable is Near-Field Communication (NFC) that enhances the contactless card model, which is already being promoted by the company.

The NFC technology, Wainaina states, will make it easier for consumers to make cashless payments and turnaround the elitist attitude associated with mak-ing payments via debit and credit cards.

“If you notice we have changed how the issuance of cards is done. While in the past it would take you days to get your ATM card, we have now made it very easy to be issued with our cards and this can now be

done even instantaneously at Nakumatt branch. This changes this elitist perception completely,” he adds.

Wainaina also projects a shift back to cards even for customers who have earlier shifted to mobile money as the latter faces various challenges in ac-ceptability especially while transacting internation-ally and at very high amounts.

“Mobile money is a big success in Kenya and in fact the country is light years ahead of many markets in the developed world. Kenya is however still a net importer and for anyone travelling outside the country with mobile money there immediately arises a geographical challenge,” he notes, adding that cards will continue to have a distinct advantage due to their global acceptability and their ‘transactive efficiency’ unlike mobile money as there’s no keying in of data required.

At the same time, a lot needs to be done to boost the uptake and use of cards by the population as very few cards are being used for shopping and other types of e-commerce.

This correlates with a similar view by the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) which says that whereas many people - especially in the middle class segment - have acquired the cards, most of them rarely use them.

“Men only use their credit cards in bars to show off to their friends for example while another group has a tendency to withdraw money before heading to the supermarket to shop while a debit card is all they need,” says Fidelis Mwaka, director for technology services at KBA.

In relation to the transition to EMV cards, Master-Card says it is assisting local banks with the technical expertise and has specialist teams that will help the banks secure certificates from the licensing body EMV Co before ultimately issuing the to their customers.

Mobile money is a big success in Kenya and in fact the country is light years ahead of many

markets in the developed world



Feature

By Kamau Mbote

The existence of a dominant player in Kenya makes the telecoms market seem more like a monopoly. These are the sentiments of Adil El Youssefi, the new CEO at Airtel Kenya who says his main focus after settling into his new office will be to break the challenge of perceived monopoly that has made it difficult for even players who have the right strategy to increase their market share.

(L-R) Adil El Youssefi, CEO Airtel Kenya; Eng. John Waweru, Chair-man Finserve Africa Ltd, Equity Bank CEO, Dr James Mwangi and John Staley, Chief Officer, Finance, Innovation and Technology dur-ing the unveiling ceremony at Equity Centre.

El Youssefi’s concerns are not misplaced considering latest industry statistics which show Safaricom commanding a market share of over 67 percent of the 31.309 million subscribers with the other 3 MNOs sharing the remaining 33 per cent.

In the latest industry stats from Commu-

nications Commission of Kenya (CCK), Airtel Kenya has 16.5 percent - and is arguably the main competitor to Safaricom – while the 2 other market players (yuMobile and Telkom Kenya) share the remaining 15.7 percent.

To level the market, El Youssef says the industry regulator CCK must put in place



Feature

policies that allow for competition and innovation, the only antidote to the market dominance.

“You can do all the things right but then you will need a market to structurally be addressed by the regulator so that there is one level playing field,” says Adil.

The new Airtel Kenya boss points out various vantage points that can enable companies to move ahead of rivals should they choose to focus their in-novations into them. These include mobile financial services, a high penetration of internet services and high acceptance of social media. He also wants to open up the market to content developers and in-novators who want to use the ecosystem.

“If the market remains as it is, the industry cannot move forward and other markets can overtake us,” he states.

One of the major efforts to open up the market, according to El Youssef, was the recent licensing of three mobile virtual networks (MVNOs), a move which he terms “another positive story from the regulator’s part.”

“When you have a market that is closed, you need an innovative way to ensure you can deliver what is expected from you by the customer, good service,” he noted, adding that partners such as MVNOs have the strengths and key assets that mobile network opera-tors find tough to develop.

The MVNOs, he believes, will help fuel competition in the industry in the right way by offering alterna-tives to customers.

For Airtel Kenya the entry of the three MVNOs could be a game changer for the company that is yet to make a dime out of its investment in the Kenyan mar-ket. The company says the lease out of its infrastruc-ture will help get money from its earlier investment providing an opportunity to monetize and reinvest again.

“This is an extremely capital intensive industry where returns are realized only after 7 to 9 after the investment. Majority or all of our returns are always reinvested,” said the Airtel Kenya boss.

Already, one of the MVNOs hosted by Airtel Kenya - Finserve which is under the Equity Group -has come out to set clear its strategy that also focuses on elimi-nating the monopoly by Safaricom on the mobile money front by offering a wider portfolio of services at a cheaper rate.

He hopes that his new focus on the customer can

help Airtel Kenya better understand its subscribers and thereby develop a customer-driven strategy.

He adds that he will also focus on making the company’s products – especially Airtel Money - more vibrant terming it “a live or die commitment.”

This will be done by opening up the Airtel Money platform to innovators to scale up the number of ideas it unveils to the market.

“I believe in creating an environment where people are empowered to voice their opinion, to try to fail, to take risks so that they can create dynamism in the industry. That’s my philosophy,” he emphasized.

One of the major efforts to open up the market, according to El Youssef, was the recent licensing of

three mobile virtual networks (MVNOs),


In the last three months, the DEMO Africa team – composed of Ali Hussein, Mbugua Njihia and Harry Hare - has been visiting various countries across Africa meeting various start-ups, the objective being to boost confidence levels of these up-coming entrepreneurs.

By Evelyne Wangui

The coaching and mentorship sessions have been co-organized in collaboration with various innovation hubs and incubators in host countries.

The journey which begun in Nairobi at the NaiLab has seen the team so far visiting Uganda’s Hivecolab, Zimbabwe’s Hypercube, Zambia’s-Bongo-hive and Tanzania’s Teknohama.

The experience has been described as enriching and highly informative. The team has confirmed that there is plenty of simmering energy from the tech entrepreneurial population in these countries.

Harry Hare-DEMO Africa’s Executive producer confirmed that the entrepreneurial lot feels forgotten. This is mainly due to the fact that most investors prefer to invest their

DEMO Africa on the road

SPECIAL Feature

DEMO Africa Innovation tour in Zambia


SPECIAL Feature

DEMO Africa Innovation tour in Zimbabwe

DEMO Africa Innovation tour in Uganda

resources in “safe areas” or the traditional channels and industries like manufacturing, transport and real estate

The team has however been inspired by the energy exhibited by the tech population in these countries. In all these countries, a common trend has begun to emerge - the technology sector has started getting the structures required for support while the government is channeling more resources towards this sector.

Emergence of hubs and incubators has also been a positive trend and international support is also being felt, with an example here being Zimbabwe where the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has started to collaborate with and support some of the activities at HyperCube.

It is this kind of recognition and credibility building that is bringing startups and other entrepreneurs to the space. With these structures coming up and the support from both the government and international organizations coupled with the energy, enthusiasm and talent among the entrepreneurs we can only expect to see more serious tech-innovators from Africa.

The curtains are close to being drawn on the DEMO Africa application window. Start-ups are encouraged to submit their project on http://demoafrica2014.com before June 15.

there is plenty of simmering energy from the tech entrepreneurial population in these

countries.


Pictorial

(L-R) Ben Roberts, acting Managing Director, Liquid Telecom Kenya and Dan Kwach, General Manager at East Africa Data Centre during the award ceremony

HU Xin, CTO, ZTE for Southern Africa, Sales Division (R) with a chats with a guest during ZTE’s Smart Government Solutions workshop recently

(L-R) Adil El Youssefi, CEO Airtel Kenya; Eng. John Waweru, Chairman Finserve Africa Ltd, Equity Bank CEO, Dr James Mwangi and John Staley, Chief Officer, Finance, Innovation and Technology during the unveiling ceremony at Equity Centre.

(L-R) Margaret Adhiambo from Kenyatta University poses for a photo with Dr. Kamal Bhattacharya, Vice President, IBM Research Africa with her counterpart, Raphael Kiminya of Strathmore University. The two students represented Kenya in the global IBM Master the Mainframe competition in New York city


Has been appointed Intel Africa’s Pro-gram Manager. Prior to this, Suraj was Corporate Affairs Manager, Intel East Africa. As Intel’s Africa Program Manager, Suraj will initially focus on Intel’s Girls and Women flagship program “Intel She Will Connect”. As a member of the Corporate

Affairs Group Africa team, she will drive Africa-wide initiatives in close collaboration with Intel’s Global Strategic Initiatives and Marketing team and field teams in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa as well as external partner organizations to ensure the success of the regional initiatives.

Suraj Shah

NewAPPOINTMENTS

Has been appointed chairman of Equity Bank’s mobile banking unit Finserve. Eng previously served as Director General of the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) and MD of Telkom Kenya. Eng Waweru is also chairman of MIS Solu-tion Ltd, an ICT consultancy firm and has extensive experience in the telecoms sector,

spanning close to 35 years.

Born in 1952, Eng Waweru started his career in telecommunications at the defunct Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (KP&TC) in August 1976 after graduating with a B.Sc in Electrical Engi-neering from the University of Nairobi.

Eng John Waweru

Has joined cloud services provider Angani Ltd as founder and the Chief Operating Of-ficer (COO). Angani went live with services at the end of 2013 and helps clients migrate from hosting of business applications at their premises to the cloud. Prior to Angani, Riyaz was in charge of Wazi Wifi and Group CTO at Wananchi Group. He is also the founding CTO at Kenya Data Networks

(now Liquid Telecom.

Riyaz has a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Riyaz also serves on the boards of the iHub Nairobi and Africa’s Talking Limited as well as the Technical Committee of the Kenya Internet Exchange Point (KIXP).

Riyaz Bachani

Has joined Frontier Services Group as the Head of ICT where he will be responsible for the ICT strategy for Kijipwa Aviation Ltd and its affiliate companies. The BEd (Science) graduate from Kenyatta University comes with 15 years of experience in ICT ac-crued while working with companies across the various sector ranging from oil and pe-troleum, NGO’s as well as government agen-cies. As the head of ICT at Nairobi Hospital,

he spearheaded the team that put together a 10g fiber optic backbone cabling plant with over 1000 access points that enhanced the service delivery of Nairobi Hospital. He also played a key role in the implementation of an Electronic Medical Records Management System within the hospital and its satellite clinics. He is currently completing his Exec-utive MBA from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).

Antony Miano


Intel 2-in-1With the Intel 2-in-1 gadget being my second “docking”

gadget to review after the ASUS Transformer Book T100, I was super excited when I opened it. I could judge from the outward appearance of the gadget that this would be one of the very exciting journeys and true to that, it was.

Intel 2 in 1 is made up of a cocktail of designs to bring out its perfect functionality and make it appropriate for students to enjoy learning. It makes Mathematics more fascinating and Science a walk in the park, simply making every bit of learning interesting.

The 10-inch touchscreen features a 1,366x768-pixel resolution and comes with Near-Field Communication (NFC) capability as well as Wi-Fi connectivity. It has an orange power button located at the top left hand side of the machine. On the right hand side of the tablet, there is a place where one can place the capacitive stylus while s/he is not using the gadget. It also has 60GB of internal memory which is expandable by an external Micro SD card.

Well, it took about 4 hours to fully charge the

Intel2-in-1. Afterwards, the battery took me for about to 8 hours while I was using it as a tablet to go through its impressive features, making me conclude that the gadget can optimally serve a student especially when s/he is learning all through the day.

I happened to drop the gadget from my desk accidently which is around 50cm from the ground and unlike other devices or tablets or even laptops which are bound to break when they fall, the Intel 2-in-1 survived this as it is designed to withstand a fall of upto 70 cm

The Intel Education 2-in-1 is powered by a quad-core Intel Atom processor Z3740D, runs Windows 8.1, and is water and dust resistant, which makes it ideal for hands-on learning in both inside and outside classroom environment.

It also comes with a nice keyboard, with keys quit spacious making it easy for one to type easily. The curvy edges also make the gadget easy to use while holding, though it could be a little bit tedious due to the weight though it makes up for this with its small size. It is easy to carry around and can easily fit in a school bag since it perfectly fit inside most of my handbags.

The overall package weighs in at around 1.2kg though the laptop is as thin as an ultrabook with a thickness of 27.8mm (just under 1.1 inches), and in tablet form, checks in at 11.6mm, or just under half an inch.The 2 in 1’s rear 5-megapixel camera comes with a snap-on microscope lens with 30x magnification. The microscope lens is detachable and is always attached at the eye of the rear facing camera. It also has a front-facing camera, which can help

The Intel 2-in-1 is a reference design and not a final product from Intel in that Intel provides education-specific product reference designs that cus-tomers bring to market. Intel allows customers to have shorter develop-ment time, to customize as needed, and to have the latest technologies, education-specific features and software, all of which benefit student learning.

A cocktail of things

ProductREVIEW Lilian Mutegi


The 2-in-1 comes with other resources that help students in their learning and assists teachers come up with content. These include:

Intel Education Media Camera: Which is an interactive multimedia tool for video and photo editing that enhances students’ creativity and media literacy skills

SPARKvue: which is a sensor based data analysis application for investigating math concepts in a meaningful and engaging way. It enables students to perform experiments that inspire their curiosity as they see beyond what is possible with their eyes alone

Classroom management: designed to enhance overall classroom productivity and collaborative student work. It provides teachers with tools to share screens, send/receive lessons, administer assessments and monitor student activity all while eliminating destructions.

ArtRage:a painting and drawing tool that stimulates real world materials such as water colors so that students can create sophisticated digital artwork

Lab Camera: is a science exploration application that uses the built in camera to enable students carry out scientific observations and measurements making abstract concepts tangible

Kno Textbooks: Kno is gives students and teachers access tp global digital content library of more than 225 000 educational titles. Students and teachers can also organize and annotate content to create notes, flashcards and other resources with ease.

McAfee Antivirus plus: which enforces safe and secure computing practices by proactively protecting student and educator devices from exposure to malware and identity theft risks.

RESOURCES

»Snap-on microscope lens »Charger »Capacitive stylus.

BUNDLED ACCESSORIES

ProductREVIEW

With the school Laptop Project still facing many hurdles, I believe the Intel-2 –in-1 gadget could be a preferable gadget for our kids. However, with the tablet having been created with students in mind, a transformable gadget wouldn’t be the best option for kids, in the sense that a student might forget to dock the gadget properly thus dropping it from high places and damaging it before it serves him or her. This is a device that can indeed change the world of education by making learning more fun and engaging.

Conclusion

students and other user groups with video calls. Shipped in with built-in Intel Education Software,

the 2-in-1 will easily enable you to see snowflakes or the fibres that make up your clothes. There are two LED lights at the side of the camera, which can be turned on to illuminate the samples you intend to look at.Another interesting bit is the gadget’s flexibility and mobility which is comparable to a tablet’s plus the performance and productivity which is similar to a laptop’s, giving students the best of both worlds in one device.

With just a push of a button, the 2-in-1 transforms from a laptop which students can use to create reports and presentations to a tablet which learners can use on a field trip or to collect data for a science project. One can also flip it around and use it from the other side.

It also comes with a capacitive stylus, which enable students to draw or write on the screen without the need to necessarily to type.

It has an integrated audio, stereo speaker and digital microphone plus other accessories that support inquiry-based learning. The device doesn’t produce much heat while being used.

It spots a USB 3.0 port and Micro-HDMI as well as a micro-SD card slot. A 3.5mm audio jack also doubles as a port for a temperature probe. The Micro-HDMI port will help students or lecturers connect easily to projectors while making presentations thus no need to carry an extra device. This also makes printing easy. The USB port, audio jack and MicroSD card slot are hidden, since they have a cover on them, maybe to keep away dust or liquids from getting inside the gadget through the ports. The ports are on the left hand side of the gadget and one has to be very keen to notice them.


CEOPROFILE

Adil El Youssef CEO, Airtel Kenya


CEOPROFILEBy Kamau Mbote

Who is the Adil El Youssefi you would like many people to know?

Of course many people have read of my professional profile which states that I am an engineer by profession. Many however don’t know that I was raised in Casablanca and I am an individual who believes in making a positive impact in his professional career, in my interaction with friends, family, col-leagues and partners.

How did you enter the telecommunications industry?I started as a supplier with Phillips Consumer Electronics

providing set top boxes for digital television operators. Our clients were telcos in Europe and US who were providing ser-vices through IP to their customers. After that, I went to work for British Telecom in London and that’s how I landed in the telco space.

There must have been something that led you to stay. What was that?

Telecommunications is a very interesting and part of everyday life. Now we have more mobile devices than people and mobile is a necessity. It is a very humbling to be part of an industry providing such a service to everybody’s life.

What are some of the changes that you have witnessed in the telecoms industry?

Telecommunications is one of the major revolutions in hu-man history. The phone has changed from simply providing voice and SMS with data and the center of the revolution. Now you can see content is richer and relevant and the internet

revolution is now more real than ever.

What is even more interesting is seeing conversions happen-ing across several industries with telecoms spearheading this with the best example being mobile money.

What are some of the highlights in your career?I am a person who likes firsts and thus my highlights include

first time I closed a deal with a customer in Paris, the first time I presented a paper to the British Telecom board, the first time I led a Telco in Chad and currently leading a company in one of the world’s most dynamic mobile markets - Kenya.

Who are some of your mentors and what qualities at-tract you to them?

I get inspiration from two people, number one being Nelson Mandela. I am attracted to this man’s strong beliefs, how he stood for them and finally surrendered himself to a large cause. The second mentor in my life is a Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta who is indeed the first world explorer. I am someone who really likes to travel and interact with people especially from different cultures. I am then inspired on how brave that man was in a world without communication and going out of his comfort zone to learn from other people.

How do you spend your free time?Most of my free time is spent with my family and kids. I do

also enjoy sporting activities.

Adil El Youssef: I’m a person of ‘firsts’

Two months since coming to Kenya to take up the position of Airtel CEO, Adil el Youssefi has been busy trying to familiarize himself with his new environment as well as the country’s telecoms sector. But the new CEO has never had a candid media interview which delves into El Youssef the person. CIO East Africa was privileged to be granted the first media interview. Below are excerpts:

I started as a supplier with Phillips Consumer Electronics providing set top boxes for digital television operators


SOCIAL MEDIACover Story

Delving deeper into the issues surrounding Social Media marketing

Social media is quickly emerging as a major platform for companies seeking greater intelligence and deeper insights into the

markets, organisations and individuals they target and serve.

By Lilian Mutegi


Social networking is also a sweeping phenomenon where businesses are sharing content, forming and joining virtual communities, organizing activities, tapping into the advice of others and sharing experiences at scale and without boundaries.

Thanks to social media, knowledge is being created and shared at unprecedented rates. According to a study by IBM, there are some 2 billion social connections with more than 3 billion expressions per day. It is s these expressions and interactions that are fuelling the emergence of a global knowledge-based economy.

According to Steve Biko, a social media expert at Public Consulting Practice Group (PCPG), social media is an essential tool for marketing as far as his clients – who include brands, CEOs and politicians - are concerned and makes it easy to reach a great audience at a go.

“Previously, marketing was simple but now everything is moving to technology and social media has simplified that. Before any media could have done without internet but now it’s a business must you can’t set up

a business however how small it is without a digital aspect,” said Biko.

Thanks to social media, information can now flow, both factual and fictitious information. This comes with an advantage as customers are empowered, before brands can overcharge or mistreat one and get away with it. Now with social media, one can bring an organisation to light, or in some instances even down to its knees.

For instance, we have of late seen on Twitter various hash tags that are created to criticize brands. This is a plus for businesses and any brand willing to exercise growth, making competition very interesting.

So what should one consider while choosing which social media platform to use as a marketing tool? There are three main factors to look consider: target audience, business targets and the type of business. For instance if you are running a fashion business, one has to think about the target market and their age bracket. For example if the potential clients

Vivian Ashioya, Application Sales Manager, Oracle

Previously, marketing was simple but now everything is moving to technology and social media has simplified that

Social MediaCover Story

Steve Biko (@sokoanalyst), A Social Media expert, Public Consulting Practice Group (PCPG)



Most OLX commercials are always about people who have managed to post items on the platform, were later contacted by prospective buyer(s) and made a successful sale.

From here, a trend quickly emerges: OLX adverts normally begin with someone in need of cash deciding to sell an item and not a buyer making an enquiry for a particular via the platform. During a recent interview with Priscilla Muhiu, head of marketing, OLX Kenya, I posed the same question.

“Buyers come. You can’t go to a supermarket which doesn’t have what you want. The outlet you go to has to stock what you want to buy for you to go there. That’s why our focus is first to attract sellers to display their items on OLX then buyers will definitely come,” said

Muhiu, adding that the aim is to make people have the mentality that they’ll get whatever item they need on OLX.

It’s this drive and focus on seller that recently informed OLX Kenya’s decision to contract research firm Nielsen to conduct a countrywide survey to establish the value of unused stuff within households which could be turned into cash, with OLX acting as a key platform for selling them.

The OLX / Nielsen survey – whose results were released in April - found that there is Kshs 158 billion worth of unused items in Kenyans’ homesteads. The survey was covered 6 regions – Nairobi, Eastern, Central, Rift Valley, Coast and Nyanza – with only North Eastern and Western Kenya left out.

Priscilla Muhiu, head of marketing, OLX Kenya

OLX Kenya: First attract sellers, then buyers will come

I’m sure I’m not the only one who finds it strange that leading online classifieds website OLX is always more concerned about having sellers to post their items on its platform than attracting potential clients to come and buy.

By Michael Ouma

Kshs 158 billion worth of unused items in Kenyans’ homesteads


are young people within the 12 to 30-year age bracket, then maybe on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and

Foursquare would be ideal.

Facebook is preferred because of the age demography as those aged between 12 to 30 years have accounts on this platform while Twitter would help showcase and push the trending products and services offered by the business using a hashtag.

An Instagram account can help to showcase the designs through photos with Foursquare assisting in rewarding loyal customers who check in from the business premises more frequently.

These platforms however would not apply for another line of business, say a car sale business where one is targeting older and mature people. For a business like car sales, traditional ways of advertising would do – that is TV, radio and newspaper adverts as well as SMS.

The biggest challenge that comes with social media marketing is that many businesses don’t know how to leverage on the platform. Brands should be in a position to come up with policies that comply with their vision and mission and see how they can then infuse social media into their platform

Another challenge would be verification of facts. This is because it’s easy for a company to get online and get a social media manager to tell you how good their product is as well as their services even when they are untested. But in instances where a previous customer who used their services testifies positively about their products or services, it becomes easy to win other clients via social media.

Biko noted that social media is a risky platform especially if a brand is not keen on and doesn’t understand participation.

“Various brands have been made on social media and can still be ‘broken’ on the same platform(s). If your competition is high, your competitor can be able to take you down using the same, an example here being the recent quail egg craze vis a vis the chicken industry. So you realize that if only you have a strong team supporting you on social media then you can be able to leverage it to your advantage,” stated Biko.

Overall, it’s evident that social media should work as a back-up in any marketing initiative and entrepreneurs should keep in mind that social media can never out do or completely replace TV, radio or newspaper advertising. This is because social media drives in data in large amounts at a go and maybe hard to reach your target audience, unlike TV and radio adverts that will always run and reach a greater audience.

Nairobi had the highest value of unused items with Kshs 69 billion, followed by Eastern at Kshs 26 billion then Central having unused goods worth Kshs 22 billion.

“We did a research before and asked people why they were not selling on OLX and the response was that they don’t have items to sell. So we decided to find out whether it’s true that they don’t have items to sell through the survey with Nielsen. From the survey, now we’ve found that they in fact have items but don’t know whether they can sell it on OLX,” said Muhiu, adding that most people assume that what they’ve kept unutilised in the house can’t be sold and be used by someone else.

To attract sellers to its platform and using data from the Nielsen research, OLX is currently carrying out a media campaign targeting people with unused items to post them on its platform and turn them into cash.

“The media campaign targets all platforms – broadcast, digital and online. We normally begin our campaigns with TV channels because TV delivers awareness then we move to radio as radio converts. We move to radio towards the end of the campaign to convert the people to become buyers” she noted.

Using all the media platforms made me curious because one would normally expect an online classifieds website to only concentrate its marketing efforts online, but this is not the case with OLX.

Muhiu stated that there’s a role that above-the-line marketing does which digital can’t do.

“When we’re Dealfish, we used to take 80 percent of our budget to online and 20 percent to traditional channels and we thought we were doing very well and on top of things. But when we rebranded to OLX, we charged our strategy and reversed this, where 80 per cent of our marketing budget is now spent on above-the-line and traditional media channels with the remaining 20 percent being taken to online channels,” she said, adding that they’ve since seen OLX Kenya’s traffic grow by over 250m per cent.

She maintains that it’s important to note that a majority of Kenyans are still not online.

“Kenyans are still offline. They are not online all the time. You need to give them a reason to go online and that’s why you need to talk to them first via traditional media platforms before you take them online and have them visit your website,” she said.


there’s a role that above-the-line mar-keting does which digital can’t do.



Well, social media marketing refers to the process of gaining website traffic or attention through social media platforms in order for the creation of content that attracts attention and encourages readers to share it with their social networks. Here’s the story of Arthur Mandela, a social media consultant and overall winner of the inaugural Africa Blogger Awards 2014.

On Twitter, your followers know you as Xtiandela, is that your real name? If not what is it? What do the people around you, your inner circle if you will, call you? No. XtianDela is my brands name. My real name is Arthur Mandela. My close friends call me X while others call me Dela.

How old are you? Do you think the limits to what one should and can do on the internet (in terms of social media marketing) should be dictated by age? Why (elaborate on your thoughts)? I’m 24 years of age. I don’t think age can limit what you can do on social media as far as marketing is concerned. It’s all about passion. If you have the passion for Social Media Marketing (SMM), you can go for it and actually make it big regardless of how old you are. Age should not and will never be a factor.

How many social media platforms do you know of, how many of them are you on, do you use them all to market products? I know a lot of Social Media platforms. I lost tract after everyone wanted to start their own Social Media platforms and decided to stick to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Yes, I do use my social media platforms not only to market products, but also to launch new products into the market.

Which one of the networks is the most effective, in terms of social media marketing, and why do you feel so? Effectiveness of a social media platform depends on your Influence as a brand. It also depends on the type of campaign you are running. Many young people around the ages of 14-17 are on Facebook while from those on the 18 – 35 age bracket are on Twitter. Let’s say you want to get a crowd to your event, you

should market the event on Facebook since it has the “crowd”, but if you want people to buy your products, then you have to market it on Twitter as it’s where the young people with the spending power are, that is the middle class.

Have you ever started a marketing campaign on any of these platforms, if you have, which campaign was it? And how successful was it? Yes. I have done both personal and co-operate marketing campaigns. I have done personal “damage control” campaigns for public figures and product launch campaigns for co-operate firms. Most of the campaigns have been for clients who prefer their identities to remain private. However, I can mention Rupu, Nokia, PSI, the Wazi campaign among others. Definitely! All of my campaigns have been extremely successful with some of them actually trending worldwide.

What are some of the advantages of social media marketing as opposed to the traditional marketing? Social Media Marketing has a lot of advantages compared to the traditional media platforms. Some of the advantages include the fact that clients are able to interact freely with their target market; clients are able to get quick and honest feedback about their products; the reach of Social Media Marketing is wider than both print and digital marketing as most people nowadays are on social media sites while few people buy newspapers or listen to radio or watch TV. Again, content posted on social media sites is accessible for a longer period unlike in the traditional form of marketing where the target audience gets to view your advert (product) only once or twice a day. On social media, the target audience gets to view the advert every time they log in and it will always be there for them to see.

What exactly does it take for one to be a successful marketer on social media? To become a successful Social Media Marketer, one needs: passion for social media; patience to build your brand to where you want it to be; hard work as it is not as easy as it looks as well as trust which will help you win and retain clients.

Arthur Mandela (@Xtiandela): Effectiveness of a So-cial Media platform depends on a campaign, product

Social media marketing is a growing trend in this our day and time, that doesn’t answer the question of what exactly it is.

Baraka Jefwa

Effectiveness of a social media platform depends on your Influence as a brand. It also depends on the type of campaign you are running.


According to a media release, Eaton died following an armed robbery in Nairobi on the morning of Thursday June 5. “It is with great sadness and regret that we an-nounce the untimely death of Kenyan businessman Carey Eaton, who passed away in tragic circumstances after an armed robbery at a friend’s home in Nairobi in the early hours of this morning,” said the statement.

Eaton was the co-founder of the OAM group which oper-ates well-known firms in Kenya including Cheki (for auto dealers and buyers), BrighterMonday (for job listings), BuyRentKenya (for those looking to buy or lease residen-tial and commercial properties) and StayNow in Kenya for the travel and accommodation services. “Previously CIO of the Australian classified group SEEK, Carey returned home to Kenya in 2011 to start Cheki. From humble beginnings he grew Cheki into Kenya’s number one car portal and the larger group of companies into Africa’s largest classified group. The Kenyan operation now includes over 150 peo-ple spread across the country,” states the statement.

“Carey was intelligent and bold but wielded this gift with a humility that gave all around him the confidence to achieve more than they knew was possible. However, it is not Carey the business leader that we will miss as much as

Carey the man: energetic, passionate and connected to us all in some special way,” it reads.

“What can never be taken away is the legacy around us in the team and the brands that he built. When we have mourned the loss of our friend we will, with renewed re-solve, get back to building his vision,” reads the statement. Eaton was married to Steph and had four children - Noah, ILola, Ted and Archie. In June 2013, Forbes magazine listed Carey Eaton among the “Ten African Internet Mil-lionaires To Watch” together with his One Africa Media co-founder Justin Clarke.

According to BusinessWeek, Eaton previously served as the Chief Information Officer of SEEK Limited from Oc-tober 2, 2008 to July 1, 2011. He had been responsible for SEEK’s IT activities including IT strategy, program manage-ment, enterprise and online systems, quality assurance, security and website hosting. He started his career at SEEK as Product Director in 2007. Prior to joining SEEK, his career included senior roles at News Limited’s CareerOne and managing the regional internet strategy (covering China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and Australia) for Michael Page International.

Kenya and by large the continent’s online classifieds community has lost one of its pioneers - Carey Eaton, co-founder of One Africa Media (OAM) – to armed robbers.

Carey Eaton: Online classifieds community loses one of its pioneers

Carey Eaton, co-founder, One Africa Media

From humble beginnings, he grew Cheki into Kenya’s number one car portal

TRIBUTE Michael Ouma


Yes, a paradox, an oxymoron, a contradiction to those of us who interact regularly with the day-to-day happenings around the country and not only at seminars and award ceremonies.

The straw that re-broke the camel’s back, I have been down this road before but like the mad man in the forest, only the trees hear my lamentations. It just killed me to watch this large crowd of highly educated and presumably technology-savvy youth, some sitting, others sleeping and the majority chatting away along the major highways with clipboards - yes clipboards - with forms clipped on and filling in details with ink pens (I emphasise the ink). This large group of highly educated and technologically-savvy gen X youth was deployed to count the number of vehicles driving past sections of the highways and at junctions. I glued to the spot in anger for over an hour trying to understand how a country that is most likely to be the first to go cashless still remains in the pre-stone age when it comes to other mundane activities like counting vehicles.

It is unfathomable how an engineer who dumped his drawing board over 10 years ago, drives a leading edge com-puterised automobile, carries on his belt a computing device that is more powerful than the mainframe that got man onto the moon would actually send out university mathematics graduates out in the cold to manually count vehicles. To add injury to insult (yes it is a cliché, but it works), they are forced to record the information on paper forms using Pharaoh initiated-technology ink pens yet in their pockets, they carry dual core, touch screen, 3G and GPS-enabled devices which they use for tweeting as they count the cars from the corner of their eyes.

Those forms will then be sent to another group of highly educated and technologically savvy youths who have been ferried for miles around and seated in a room recapturing the information from the forms. A highly wasteful and un-necessary activity that could have been carried out from the comfort of their dome rooms across the country or parent’s “shambaas” (farms) somewhere in Turkana or Ole Nguruone. I can clearly hear a smart aleck saying “the government needs to find employment for our jobless, highly technol-ogy savvy university graduates”, I refuse to dignify that with a response as it would never pass the keen eye of my edi-tor. Over 30 years ago, long long before many of you were born - and that might be the problem here - I asked a roads engineer what the 2 cables that were laid across various

roads were for, no it was not to trip cars (even a technology magazine needs some humour). The answer will shock many of you who believe that the technology we have today is revolutionary, the wires were for counting the number of cars using a road. I believe the new-age ending to that statement would be “dah”….I used Google on my 4-year-old Palm Pre running Open WebOS to confirm the meaning. Just to turn the blade in your guts, the Palm Pilot which was launched sometime in the year 1997 that had a touch screen and used a stylus to write could have captured the information that was being jotted on paper in 2014. Now imagine how much more could be done with a Windows 8.1 or Android Jelly Bean device…

Kenya is the home of M-Pesa, the home to IBM’s first tech-nology lab on the African continent and one of only 12 glob-ally, the home of MoDe the winners of the IBM SmartCamp, the home of Virtual City winners of the 2010 Nokia Growth Economy Venture Challenge and last but not by a long short the least, Robert Yawe who will soon be populating the Nairo-bi Securities Exchange’s (NSE) Growth Enterprise Market Seg-ment with former technology startups. It is unfortunate that even with all these great minds and solutions coming out of Kenya, we are unable to kill the 1884 electromechanical television system (analogue TV) which thereby stops us from rolling out 4G connectivity all because someone is protecting their technologically obsolescent investment.

As a nation, we seem to have parallel appreciation of technology, where a highly educated person sits in front of a set of digital cameras to make a judgement that forces that signal to be converted to analogue for transmission. At the other end of the city, their colleague claims that a directional microwave transmitter will cause cancer as a mobile phone in their breast pocket maintains a constant connection to a GSM BTS situated on the roof of the building. So as to avoid leaving the discussion hanging, the alternative solution to using highly educated and technology savvy university graduates to count vehicles could be the following: use the 1984 analogue wire-across-the-road technology that is lying somewhere within the Ministry of Transport offices; issue RFID chip embedded insurance stickers and install readers along the various roads which will provide continuous traffic flow information and allow IBM to install their intelligent cameras on the roads to do the counting. The paradox that is Kenya today needs to be addressed urgently otherwise, we shall continue to initiate but never get to innovate leading edge technology solutions.

It is interesting to listen to an expert who has just landed in the country giving glowing tribute to the technology savviness of the Kenyan youth and organisations yet every day, what I experience and observe is a paradox.

Kenya, a technology

HardTALK

paradox

Robert YAWE


A case for business process re-engineering in the Single Window System

This is technology at work in bringing collaboration and synergy between various government agencies and private sector involved in import and export trade value chain. It is reported that the system has integrated 24 gov-ernment agencies, and various payment modes, including mobile money transfer services and 24 commercial banks.

Global research (Gartner, AMR and Forrester) concludes that nearly 70% of IT projects fail in some way, putting the economic impact worldwide at USD 3 billion which corresponds to 4.7% of global GDP. These setbacks span the public and private sectors, occur in all industries, and often result in substantial economic and productivity losses.

Failure is usually attributed to the following: Require-ments (Unclear, lack of agreement, lack of priority, contradictory, ambiguous, imprecise), Resources (Lack of resources, resource conflicts, turnover of key resources, poor planning), Schedules (Too tight, unrealistic, overly optimistic), Planning (Based on insufficient data, missing items, insufficient details, poor estimates, poor prioritiza-tion of strategy) and

» Risks (Unidentified or assumed, not managed).

Technology rides on two other key pillars for successful realization of desired outcomes - people and processes. Let us take look at the success stories and not-so-success-ful stories of technology adoption in the past in this coun-try. M-PESA, adoption has been phenomenal. People and processes have been made to align to the value rather than technology of M-Pesa. In Safaricom’s half year results of 2014, it was reported that an average of Kshs 94.8 billion of real time payments were transacted per month (across the months of April through to September 2013). Let us consider the electronic voter registration, verifica-tion and result transmission systems that our electoral body used. The registration and verification process didn’t

go according to plan and the result transmission system also failed to deliver the desired outcomes.

Now it would appear improper to compare the two technologies but hang on a minute before you shoot down the message and the messenger. M-Mesa has taken long to come of age including improvement of the platform to accommodate rising change of demands from the users. Before it was launched, a lot of background work was done to ensure it was stable and usable by the time it was officially launched as a service. 7Our elec-tions technologies, on the contrary, took a rather hurried approach. Its implementation had the makings of a big bang approach. At some point, the planning and acquisi-tion of technology yo-yoed between various stakehold-ers, thereby compromising ownership. The downstream operational side of things was not clearly planned to say who will take care of the technology during and after the elections. Perhaps using a different approach that was more pragmatic, our elections technologies would have delivered tremendously as evidenced by the 2010 referen-dum process.

The point here is, as we celebrate the launch of single window, there has to be a change in how we interact with the technology in terms of our own processes to get the maximum benefits. If manifest information is all digitized, what is the impact on the clearing agent whose job mainly is to act as a bridge between the importer and the ship-per? If cargo will be cleared faster thus reducing the cargo dwell time at the port, what will be the downstream im-pact on the other out-of-port enablers like the container freight stations and the transporters of the consignment? Can the KPI cascade from just the port to the clearing agents as well to ensure the actual cost of doing business is felt by the trader and the consumer? Otherwise the risk would be transferring the inefficiency to a layer that may not be as automated as the single window. In other words, the Single window system will open up opportuni-ties for efficiency but the stakeholders (people) will have to define and determine the means (processes) to achieve that level of efficiency. That entire business process re-engineering is necessary to ensure a truly transformed trade facilitation value chain.

The recent launch of the electronic single window system promises to change the landscape of trade in East Africa. It is envisaged that the electronic portal will significantly reduce the time it takes to clear cargo at the port and in the process eliminate inefficiency worth USD150 million.

OPINION Peter MUYA

Technology rides on two other key pillars for successful realization of

desired outcomes - people and processes.


In February 2014, Samsung launched the Galaxy S5, plus three new wearable techs – the Gear2, Gear2 Neo and Gear Fit. In fact, Samsung’s not the only one. The RazerNabu, the LG Lifeband Touch, Sony, and the Huawei Talk Band are all entering similar smarter-band territory. The Apple’s mythical iWatch could have some of these elements in common, too.

Second OPINION Sam M MWANGI

Wearable tech: The new in-thing

Wearable techs are changing the way we live our daily lives. With the wearable gears from different vendors, we receive notifications, track our heart rate, control music, use a camera, speak on the microphone, share music, make calls, receive calls, and other fancy things using a myriad of apps. Both, Bluetooth Smart as well as optical sensors, are state-of-the-art for most of these bands. From mood-monitoring smartphone bracelets to temperature-adjusting wristbands, these high-tech accessory pieces are turning these otherwise ordinary bracelets into fasci-natingly futuristic designs.

Wearable techs date back to the 1960s and 1970s. Wearable computing devices found much of their history in attempting to cheat casinos. Inventors built some of the first wearables in the 1960s to count cards and im-prove a gambler’s odds at the roulette table.

A mathematics professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Edward Thorp, indicated that he had created the first wearable computer to cheat at roulette and it allowed the player a 44 per cent improved chance to win. In the 1970’s, the calculator wristwatches came to being but without much impact in the market.

The devices got more sophisticated and in the late 1980’s, the first hearing aids were developed but had power challenges due to short battery lives. Leading to the year 2000, the wearable techs gained commercial rel-evance and more companies invested in the research and development of this new trend, leading to the invention of wearable webcams, pacemakers and Bluetooth headsets.

Modern wearable techs include glasses, smart watches, gears, hands free and fitness trackers among others. Wearable techs are mostly used in an informal setup or for personal pleasure but corporates can also leverage on the benefits of these technologies as well.

By using current technological trends, companies can use wearable technology to improve business processes, resulting in more satisfied customers and happier em-ployees. When faced with challenging tasks in the field, it’s tough for technicians to solve complex problems with the

use of real-time video with an expert or 3D video tutorials illustrating how to troubleshoot a problem. Well, with the tools in his or her hands, the only way for a technician to access this information is via wearable technologies.

Safety can also be improved via this technology, includ-ing monitoring of workers’ activity and issuing of alerts or warnings if need be. By informing workers when a mistake is about to be made before it is committed, companies can increase inventory accuracy, making techs more productive and customers happier.

The future of wearable techs is bright and is beyond most of our imagination. It may seem laughable to sug-gest that people will soon neglect their smart phones in favour of amped-up watches, eyeglasses, rings, and bracelets. But then again, 10 years ago it seemed laugh-able to think that people would use their smartphones to email, surf the web, play games, watch videos, keep calendars, and take notes – which were all once core tasks of desktop PCs.

We can already see how wearable devices might peel off some of the phone’s key functions. One study of smartphone users indicates that on average, we unlock our gadgets more than 150 times a day, with some of us pawing at screens far more often than that.

Unfortunately, each of these benefits can also be a drawback. With wearable computers, that frequency is likely to increase—making corporate security even more complex and confusing than ever. Wearable computers’ ever-presence and connectedness is at the heart of secu-rity vulnerabilities that such devices have the potential to introduce at companies – both large and small. Addition-ally, many of these devices feature GPS for maps and user applications, which, if used maliciously, could allow an at-tacker to track your physical position anywhere on earth.

companies can use wearable technology to improve business processes, resulting

in more satisfied customers


Be honest! How often do you check your email, Facebook and Twitter accounts in a day? Smartphones, tablets and even laptops have made it possible to keep in touch with anyone 24/7 whenever, wherever.

Most people are so used to being connected that for them, it’s almost a normal state of being.

They’re constantly on their devices, and for them, not being on their devices means that they’re going to miss out on something. We’ve now reached a level where our personal devices have become so ingrained in our daily lives…it’s become so routinized.

The accessibility to stay connected has facilitated employees to fit work activity into times and places outside of the workplace. While the digital devices have aided employees to become more responsive to work demands, on the flipside it has also led to unethical behavior at work such as cyber-loafing.

In today’s professional environment, getting ahead is hard work. We all have to stay late or occasionally work weekends. For some people, long hours have become the norm. Many take work at home with them at night, weekends or even check their smartphones while on vacation

Drawing the line between the offline and online realms is increasingly challenging. Before, it was easier to say, ‘Here’s the work boundary. When I close my office door, this is where I leave the work behind.’ But today, this has almost impossible. Wherever we go, we’re so mobile - we take our work with us. So those boundaries are much more blurred.

Majority of mobile users can’t live without their smart-phones or disconnect even while on vacation.

According to Proper Insights and Analytics, 3 in 5 (60.9%) of mobile users say they use their smartphones for all functions of their daily life, up from 34% in 2012. Meanwhile, the percentage of users who use smart-phones for basic functions is down by 85%, indicating that smartphones are growing more intertwined with people’s lives.

The inability to disconnect even while on vacation appears to be a by-product of our society and in some cases can help relieve the stress caused by being away from work or home. However, constant connectivity can be a double-edged sword, because you are unknowingly sacrificing the true meaning of vacation.

A handful of companies are catching on to this idea. Finding ways to recharge and retain talent.

Of course, it’s unrealistic to ditch your smartphone altogether, especially if you also need it for work. But there are things you can do to use it wisely. Here are a few examples:

Turn off cyberspace: There’s no greater blow to pro-ductivity than breaking your concentration to reply to an email or text as soon as it hits your smartphone.

Tame the social media beast: Smartphone apps make it fun and easier than ever to read our friends’ status updates and to see the photos they’ve posted on Facebook. It makes us feel good when they “like” some-thing we’ve posted or when we’re tagged in one of their photos. That’s one reason social media is so addictive – it’s like experiencing human hugs all day long. The world won’t end if you don’t update your status or retweet.

Turn off the lights and your phone: Most of us are using our smartphones as watches and alarm clocks, keeping them plugged in to recharge on the bedside overnight. So long as your phone is plugged in, so are you. Take a break from your phone. If it’s by the bed, you’ll get those late night calls, tweets and texts that interfere with precious sleep.

Not at the table, please: Checking your texts and email during a meal is the social equivalent of picking your nose in public or saying to your BFF “this conversation is really interesting but excuse me while I score three more points.”

There’s no room in the restroom for a phone call: Smartphones carry more germs than a toilet seat – so why contaminate your bathroom with your phone? The last place you want to be sitting and using your smartphone is a toilet seat. You’re sharing your business with total strangers. Some people obviously spurn this rule, since dropping smartphones in a toilet is one of the number one ways users damage them

Put that Smartphone Down!!

OPINION Ellen MARCIA

According to Proper Insights and Analytics, 3 in 5 (60.9%) of mobile

users say they use their smartphones for all functions of their daily life


The lands registry is finally once again open for business! Whoop-de-doo! Release the billions folks, let bits and parts of the earth trade hands for ridiculous sums of money.

It’s no surprise that only a select few can rejoice in the thought of owning, let alone buying or selling land along with other property owners now that the Ministry of Lands Registry audit is thankfully over and thousands of ‘lost’ files (hello wealth) have been ‘found’. On a side note, it boggles the mind why these records have not yet began to be converted and made digitally available and traceable.

Back in primary school, we were taught about renew-able and non-renewable resources in geography and their value thereof. Land as a resource is categorised as not renewable like many other natural resources ergo the ever-rocketing prices. However cunning folk over at the lands registry along with their cohorts have proved that it can be ‘recyclable’. That is, they have proved that the same piece of land can be sold over and over to sev-eral buyers, all at the same time even as the authentic owner goes about his/her business unaware that the property is generating wealth for strangers.

It has been converted into a resource that is always in rotation, accruing in value and making the next indi-vidual wealthier than the previous one.

However, even as land prices become increasingly prohibitive, there is a not-so-new trend emerging in the tech space that is opening up an avenue for the concept of virtual real estate.

Thanks to technology such as server farms, virtualisa-tion and the mysterious ‘Cloud’, it is now possible to become a sort of landlord with minimal capital input, and with renewable resources to boot. Vast portions of virtual real estate are available, waiting to be claimed or created where necessary.

A quick overview of the 2000s and we find people such as Arianna Huffington, David Karp, and Jan Koum who are just a few of the examples of people who began their humble online enterprises, never imagining by how much the value of their virtual property would increase.

Locally we have applications developed for various

industries, such as hospitality, being acquired for tens of millions of shillings. There are also websites and blogs belonging to individuals that have established them-selves as authorities in various markets, making a killing from letting out some of their virtual space for adverts.

All these are examples of the nouveau landlords generating revenue by leveraging resources that had initially been created with other purposes in mind. The bonus from this emerging trend is that it provides scalability, flexibility, availability, redundancy, and easily transferable from one locale to another.

So how can an organisation or even a department in a company ride on this latest wave?

Businesses and organisations are shifting towards making their products and services accessible to a more global market. This creates a myriad of requirements such as the need for an e-commerce platform for those trading online, the need for data storage and back up services, the need for advertising space, the need for marketing services and so on.

These developments are swiftly changing the land-scape of how business is done and conventional meth-ods are fast becoming irrelevant. At the same time the changing needs have introduced contemporary ways for businesses to generate income, demanding that they re-think their strategies and appropriately re-align, changing their core business if necessary to keep up.

It has never been easier to build both small enter-prises and colossal structures and systems without the need for physical space or the huge financial input previously required. It is indeed an exciting time to be alive and witness the Information era hurtle towards a climax.

The Virtual Real Estate Era

OPINION Nyawira MURIUKI

It is now possible to become a sort of landlord with minimal

capital input, and with renewable resources to boot


CIO East Africa is celebrating its 5th year anniversery by hosting a

corporate Golf Tournament at Nyali Golf Club, Mombasa on

July 19th 2014

Contact us on Tel : +254 725 855 249

Email : [email protected]

You are INVITED

JULY 19th

2014Nyali Golf Club,

Mombasa


‘Building everywhere!’ is how one of my global colleagues put it recently after flying in to Nairobi and enjoying the mandatory tour of the city via a 1-hour traffic jam.

Accidental Architecture

The statement exemplifies the ideals that currently drive our socio-economic strata: we must build and own if we are at all to be of value in the community at large going forwards.

Unfortunately in our case, once you drive off the main city routes and along some of the extremely beautiful bypasses that crisscross our verdant me-tropolis like an intricate spider web, we begin to see more and more weird looking extrusions’ jutting out of some of the most awkward locations, primarily with the intention of serving as future residential abodes.

The challenge is not so much about why we are building, we must by all means cater to the needs of the second fastest growing city in Africa ( According to the African Development Bank’s Tracking Africa’s Progress report), but what we are building.

It would seem that in building, we are accidentally redefining the new urban focus areas and creating hotspot areas of high demand pressure for services without taking a look at the underlying ability of the ecosystem to sustain this. This of course will create a challenge, not for now but sometime in the future.

We only have to take a look at the fastest growing Mega-cities in the world like the Tokyo-Yokohama area catering for 37 million residents to realize that we need to probably spend a little more time re-defining how we want our grandchildren to live.

This brings to mind the need for Smart Cities, which are technology defined, running intelligent and flexible services that predict growth and demand for even the most ardent of urban consumers.

Interestingly enough, what is being mapped out in the brick and mortar realm inevitably begins to affect our technology world in one way or another. It’s the famed ‘Circle of Life’ that this region was immortalized for in the Disney hit the “Lion King.”

As CIOs, resource hungry projects driven by new business initiatives and fueled by the rapidly chang-ing macro-economic clime constantly force us into decisions which for want of better words result in ‘accidents’. Fortunately, due to the mettle of the bulk

majority of technology solutions, the problems will normally be solved but leave us with the proverbial ‘heap big’ issue of how to manage the entire environ-ment and how to get various portions of the environ-ment to talk to other important applications and apply changes without shutting the whole lot down.

This was the genesis of the Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). This has largely been overtaken by Cloud Computing in many countries but remains absolutely relevant to our region with our slower ap-petite for massive technology adoption/changes. SOA really is a software design approach where systems are composed of interoperable services featuring reusable code.

Now before you grab the pitchforks to come chasing me down, let’s take for example a typical hospital, Level 5 District, where does the technology begin and end? Do all the systems electronic, electric, mechani-cal and computing talk to one another? Do patient’s records follow them around as they move in the hospi-tal environment? Can a Doctor issue remote prescrip-tion’s based on existing stack of pharmaceutical stock stored in the dispensary?

We now begin to see the need for a more carefully planned out and meticulously implemented archi-tecture. We are beginning to see the growth of the Internet of Things and the onset of a new journey into the world of Machine-to-Machine and Big Data. Let’s Architect Interoperable Systems together

The Writer is Territory Sales Account Manager, Hitachi Data Systems

. We are beginning to see the growth of the Internet of Things and the onset

of a new journey into the world of Machine-to-Machine and Big Data. Let’s Architect Interoperable Systems

together

OPINION Delano LONGWE


Last WORD Dennis MBUVI

Virtual Reality?

You can clearly tell that I’m excited, and not because I am associated with billions of tax payer money that have been paid out to the equivalent of Acme, a fictitious company that supplies everything and nothing.

I’m happy for the third wave of the mobile network is upon us. It may be happening along the second wave of consolidation, which seems to have hit headwaters. The third wave, mobile virtual networks, may be the biggest transformation in Kenya’s mobile scene.

The history of Kenya’s mobile networks date back to the end of the last millennium when Vodafone invested in the country, closely followed by some French guys who ran a mobile network by the name of Kencell. Then, to invest in a mobile network, you needed the “techni-cal” advice from a group of unknown people who went by names such as Mobitelea, Alcatraz among others.

The first wave saw mobile networks being built by Europeans – Vodafone and the French. The Indians later came in, through Essar and Airtel, but so far have been as unlucky as the French when it comes to charting the peculiar waters of the Kenyan telecommunication wave.

The third wave will see mobile operations being built by Kenyans, the likes of Equity Bank, ZionCell and Tangaza. Perhaps, this will provide the much sought after challenger to Safaricom. Licensed as Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), these firms will offer some of the services offered by traditional mobile network operators or MNOs.

Perhaps, a “more Kenyan” mobile operator will un-derstand what we are looking for in a telecoms service provider. It’s not like Safaricom is not Kenyan, the firm is

one of Kenyan’s biggest employers, and also counts thousands of Kenyans amongst its shareholders.

The objective of the three virtual operators coming on board appears to be mostly offer mobile money solu-tions. These may lead to better tailored mobile money offerings, or a variety of other value added services, but that remains to be seen.

Equity Bank’s Finserve appears to be well positioned to be major player here by virtue of having access to financing and also due to Equity Bank’s extensive agent network. The bank probably has the second largest agent network in Kenya after Safaricom with it having half the number of banking agents in the country. Safari-com’s extensive M-Pesa agent network has been credited for being behind the success of the firm.

No one wants to send money through a network where it will take a lot of effort for the recipient to accept the money.

It also remains to be seen if the MVNOs will venture beyond their mobile comfort zone to offer services such as data and telecom services for businesses.

While MVNOs have existed as long as the Kenyan mobile sector has, they have mostly preferred to play in a specific strength such as international calls and mobile money. I’m yet to find any information as to whether there’s a single MVNO that has become as successful as traditional mobile operators.

Seeing that only 1 out of 4 mobile operators in Kenya is doing well, it would not come as a surprise if a MVNO leap frogged the mobile operators to emerge as a second front. While quite possible, such an eventuality would prove that the other mobile operators have been suffering due to a flawed strategy. It would also lead to an awkward situation where the MVNO is more success-ful than its host network.

As has been with the entry of each new player in Kenya’s mobile sector, the hopes are high. What remains to be seen is whether the curse that my fellow kinsman put on the mobile sector has been broken, or if we will have to wait till the 99 years are over.

Hello, Hello, can you hear me? This is Dennis Mbuvi.

It also remains to be seen if the MVNOs will venture beyond their mobile comfort zone to offer services such as data and telecom

services for businesses.

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CIO EA Magazine June 2014

Technology

Transcript of CIO EA Magazine June 2014