Maker Fair Africa is an event  that aims to create a space on the continent where Afrigadget-type innovations, inventions and initiatives can be sought, identified, brought to life, supported, amplified, propagated, etc.

The event was held first Time in Kenya and it saw makers from  Kenya,Uganda, Rwanda, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria and South Africa

Solar powered traffic light system,by a very innovative Ugandan

A bicycle customised to charge a phone

A fully automated porridge making machine created by a Malawian

The kids were not left behind crafting for peace.

The open street map also represented

More photos from this event .click here

posted by Mgithinji
Filed under: Uncategorized

Mobile Monday Kenya

The turnout at the MOMO- Kenya is phenomenal. It is organized by John Wesonga and Jessica Colaco. The moderator for the day was John Wesonga.

Jane Del Ser from Jacaranda Health – health information systems

She started talking about maternal health care. They want to address the 4 million women in Kenya who don’t have access to quality maternal healthcare. There target is the peri-urban areas.

It consists of a EMR/EHR (Electronic Medical Record/ Electronic Health Record) and a mobile application. They are looking at having OpenMRS on mobile phones. They propose to have their health information system to be driven by android devices. The physical clinic will have netbooks that connect to the server. They plan to launch the pilot for the mobile clinic at the end of summer. There is an Open MRS google group organized by John Wesonga and Judith Wawira. They would like to work with people interested in health informatics and android.

iChecki android app from the Xrystalgenius Team.

People hoping to test their system were given a number to send their messages to. Texts to be sent were mobile queries on help, feedback, e.g. ‘check, Ngong’, town’.

There was a tech problem setting up so…

Chris Kiagiri from Google talked about g-Kenya and g-Uganda. Google events were mostly held in west Africa first was held in g-Mauritius. The reason is because the government is proactive about sponsoring ICT events. Google was invited this led to g-Africa days held in other countries mostly West African like, Senegal. Finally they get to East Africa. 1^st week of September g-Kenya will be held in Uganda and the second week 2^nd in Kenya. 2^nd day, focus will be on developers, and 3^rd day on entrepreneurs

Finally they got to present J

iChecki a PSV/matatu tracking solution.

What’s the problem?

Most of the times when we went to go somewhere, we walk to a stage (Matatu terminus) and wait for a Matatu. Without even knowing if one will come, we just trust one is coming. Remember time is passing.

Helpless, one just has to wait.

Opportunity?

-          45000 PSV vehicles in Kenya 1/3 of this are in Nairobi

-          Passengers have no clue on Matatu schedules

-          Safaricom has high speed access equipment

-          High-end mobile phones are becoming cheaper

Market analysis

If we did not CHECKI (Swahili for lookout) would we save/get money

Segments

Two people going to town one in a range rover, another in a Toyota starlet, both will get to town but one has a better experience, same case with someone with an Android and someone with a low end phone.

-          High end android mobile/web (Get the web app, the app, and gps)

-          Mid level mobile web (web app and GPS)

-          Low end –SMS/USSD (SMS querying and response)

Size

-          16mil mobile users 10% -1.6M

THE GRAND IDEA

Integrating Google maps/GPS and mobile telephony

All this was done at the Menengai lab in Strathmore where they used all the above to come up with a product.

Solution

-          Customer send request

-          We process the request using GPS LAI(location ) and smart predictive algorithms

-          Return a relevant reply

-          Customer give feedback

How they will get money

1^st year deployment (system will be free) 2^nd year familiarization (they will make money from equipment GPS devices) 3^rd year maturity(service charges, equipment sales, personal tracking solutions) 4thyear prosperity rubbing shoulders with MJ going to play golf

How to handle competition

-          We are using a multiplatform

-          Customers have monitoring devices

-          Crowd sourcing

First Kenyan developed android app! ( J )

In the future (3yrs ++)

-          Use GSM to track

-          A bus booking platform

-          A range of personal tracking companies

-          Offer courier companies( for customers know location of parcels)

-          Traffic

The Team,

Dominic mativo tech

Kelvin Ochieng Yonga

Mutinda Joseph kivuva

The presenter

Thanked all the people who supported them throughout the whole project.

Questions or suggestions.

How to ensure device stays in the mat? (Ans.) “You do not want to bite the finger that feeds you”, the system helps customer know when and where a Matatu is therefore they would not want to remove it

Someone noted it wasn’t the first android app.

How to guarantee there’s space in the Matatu? (Ans.) bus booking system..

Jess, encouraged them to participate in Apps for Africa.. Hackathon Friday 6pm

Matatu following Matatu they are seeing on the road..

iChecki is a product of Xrystalgenius

MBUGUA NJIHIA (Symbiotic media)

He has been working on applications and hoping is to get something in the Nokia Ovi store by the end of August.

Talked about what they are doing diff in the payment  system. They target content management bodies like newspapers, leaflets and social stories publishing. Their domain is Pay.zunguka.

Most people develop on Gateways that will just do M-pesa. They are trying to do micropayments. Enable people to pay for much less cost. E.g. using airtime for payments and less use of providers

Nation/Standard brag of  their readers numbers. But they only talk about politics mostly or clashes and international news. They do not contain anything moral. But papers Paper with social stories sold at Matatu terminus sell more than the newspapers.

Some people are willing to pay that 10 shillings for that story everyday rather that 35 shillings for a newspaper once a week. Integrate small payments. Social networks, social gaming people controlling markets, lifestyles.

Benefits…take expenses far, ability to do direct bank transactions make a point of sales system that works with mobile phone making transactions over the counter easier.

Basically: They are targeting markets that require micro-payments.

Questions/Suggestions.

Chris from Google advised people to attend g-Kenya where they will talk more about Admob.

People saying Safaricom is not listening to developers. They therefore came up with an innovation board. (Applause)

Al Kags ..

Few weeks ago people were angry about what Safaricom innovation had become. Safaricom owns people’s innovation, they don’t pay them and  so he wrote to Safaricom. They were king enough to reply. They said they were coming up with innovation forum but didn’t know how to go about it. Safaricom gets about 250 submissions on a bad week. They have thought about Api’s, a platform to share ideas, a place to test apps. They are in the process of making a Safaricom innovations board, made of developers.

More details about the Safaricom Innovation Board.

Mbugua talked about how developers have great ideas. But that’s just it, the ideas are on paper. He advised developers to at least make sure your app is running before presenting it. Ideas should move beyond paper.

John Wesonga the day’s moderator thanked the guests and everyone who participated and the attendees as well. He asked people to go to their website for more details, and the next mobile Monday will be on the 13^th September 2010.

posted by RKaranja
Tags: Mobile Monday
Filed under: Meetings

On the 1st of July 2010, the U.S. Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Judith McHale launched the “Apps 4 Africa” contest at the iHub.

Apps 4 Africa is a contest to highlight the talent of local developers in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania and to leverage the power of digital technology to make a better world. The challenge is to build the best digital tools to address community challenges in areas ranging from healthcare to education and government transparency to election monitoring.The competition runs through August 31 2010

Hence join us in this tech journey on Friday the 20th of August at 6pm t0 Saturday the 21st of August at 6pm for a 24hr Hackathon at the iHub.

Please note that you must register for this event. Sign Up Now.

posted by AkiraChix Team
Filed under: Events

JOURNEY TO THE LAUNCH

The AkiraChix team, led by the president arrived early at the Craft Silicon campus in preparation for the akishika launch.

The venue went from this

To this

With the PA system in check, banners up and sits arranged in order, it was time to wait for the guests, students and parents to arrive. In the meantime, we decided to bond and reflect on the project.

THE LAUNCH

With everybody on their sits, the MC ‘s of the day Jamila kicked off the event. Got a brief Introduction by Judy on then Linda introduced the Akishika project. John from Shika introduced his team.

Enough with the speeches, it was time for some entertainment, and the students did not disappoint.

There were  some lightening talks from the invited guests.

Gladys from computer aid gave the students some words of encouragement.

Catherine Nyambala from STEM Africa spoke on mentorship, opportunities and job placement.

Kaburo Kobia – Kenya ICT Board speaking on the grants, % of women who applied and using AkiraChix to reach their goal of targeting 30% of women

Priya, CEO and founder of Craft Silicon foundation speaking on the project and the partnership between AkiraChix and Shika.

Finally, the Akishika project was launched.

For more photos from the event, visit our Picasa Web Album photostream or this facebook album(via Infoafricanow Africa’s Web directory).

posted by LKamau
Filed under: AkiraChix, Events, Pictures

We are pleased to invite you to the launch of The Akishika Training Project this Saturday the 14th of August 2010 at the Craft Silicon Campus, Craft Silicon Campus, Musa gitua road, off Waiyaki way,Westlands, Waruku stage between 11 a.m and 1 p.m. This meeting is organized jointly by Akirachix, Craft Silicon Foundation and Shika.

The AkiShika Training Project is a project that was founded by the AkiraChix with the help of the Shika team members with the aim of providing IT education and skills to girls who are less privileged in terms of getting formal university/college education and training. This pilot plan is aimed at girls from the slum areas eg Mukuru kwa Njenga, Kibera, Korogocho etc.

The training, which is set to commence on the 17th August 2010, will be carried out by members of the AkiraChix and the Shika team. This has all been made possible by the Craft Silicon Foundation who have proved us with their facilities (The Craft Silicon Foundation Training bus and the training room both fitted with computers and fast internet) to use during the training.

This training will last be done for 18 months, after which we will aim at seeking employment opportunities for the girls, in the ever competitive IT careers market.

The partnership of these three parties is making it possible for the birth of a one of a kind training program for under privileged girls, whose success we are all focused to see through.

The aim of this meeting will be to familiarize the students with the Craft Silicon Campus where they will be having their classes and also officially launch the Akishika Training Program.

We hope that you will be able to join us for this unique day as we move a step closer to empowering girls through IT. We would appreciate it if you could confirm your participation by registering and confirming your attendance on http://akishikaproject.eventbrite.com

Kind Regards,

AkiraChix Team

posted by AkiraChix Team
Filed under: Uncategorized