Mobile Garage at UoN

This weekend on February 18 from 9 a.m. -12 p.m. Akirachix together with the School of Computing and Informatice (SCI) will be hosting the first of a series of Mobile Garage Workshops at the University of Nairobi, Chiromo Campus, SCI lab. These workshops will be held in different institutions of higher learning all over Kenya. This event’s theme is mobile technology and entrepreneurship.

Mobile Garage at UoN

Akirachix is the implementing organization of the Mobile Social Networking in Kenya project sponsored by infoDev. The main aim of the project is to create sustainable businesses for the knowledge economy through mobile applications development. We plan to achieve this by holding social networking activities in Universities and Colleges through an initiative dubbed “Mobile Garage”. Through such events we will look into:

• Opportunities in app development – what is happening in the future?
• How to monetize student apps – build a business case,
• Identify possible ideas for apps for competitions

We will also hold two annual app competitions. Winners of the app competitions will be linked to labs such as the iHub, Mlab or the NaiLab and be assigned mentors. We will highlight the work students/developers that we meet at institutions and profile their mobile applications on www.mobilegarage.co.ke. To register for the event go here; http://mobilegarageatuon.eventbrite.com/

2012 Grace Hopper Celebration Of Women In Computing (Call For Participation)

By BJ Wishinsky (Community Manager, Anita Borg Institute for Women in Technology)

The 12th annual Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (GHC) has opened its Call for Participation.

GHC 2012

The annual conference, presented by the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology, is the world’s largest gathering of women in computing.

The Grace Hopper Celebration will take place from October 3 – 6, 2012 at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland.

This year’s theme “Are We There Yet?” recognizes that technology and the culture of technology are continuously evolving but there are also concrete goals we are striving to achieve.

Important Dates:

• March 16, 2012: Deadline for submission of Program Abstract
• May 17, 2012: Notifications
• June 1, 2012: Registration Opens
• June 25, 2012: Deadline for submission of Final Program Content

Submissions are being accepted in the following tracks:

• Birds of a Feather (BOFs)
• New Investigators Papers
• Panels, Workshops and Presentations
• PhD Forum
• Posters and SRC Posters
• Social Collaboration Track
• Women of Underrepresented Groups Track

The organizing committees will review all abstracts submitted to the conference on the basis of a set of criteria, including the quality of the submission and its relevance to this conference, originality and scope of the subject matter.

For complete details,including links to the proposal template and sample proposals, see the Call for Participation page.

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Pivot East – Conference to be Held in June 2012.

This post was written by Will Mutua and cross-linked on our blog with his permission.

The second edition of East Africa’s regional mobile apps. developer competition and conference will be held on June 5th and 6th in Nairobi. The progression of events dubbed Pivot East will begin in January 2012 with a call for entries to the mobile applications  competition. The competition which culminate in 25 of the best mobile mobile applications competing at the June 2012 pitching conference. Eligible contestants for the competition will be individuals and companies domiciled in Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Kenya, Burundi and South Sudan. The pitching conference will have a rich audience of investors, development partners, telecoms operators and other industry players from East Africa and across the globe.

Building mobile innovation powerhouse

East Africa is increasingly being known globally as a breeding ground for mobile innovation. Deliberate efforts are required to sustain the favourable attention and momentum for the region to retain its position as a mobile innovations hub. Pivot East is an incremental effort to consolidate and showcase the region’s progress towards becoming a global powerhouse for mobile innovation. By leading the world with mobile money innovations such as M-pesa, the region is well placed to churn out more mobile innovations. This is more so with the launch of m:lab East Africa, the regions facility for mobile entrepreneurship training, incubation and applications testing in Nairobi. Other tech hubs and incubation centers have also been established recently in East Africa as part of a growing ecosystem to develop and nurture innovation alongside entrepreneurship.

http://vimeo.com/24254256Pivot25: East Africa\’s Big…

Pivot East also builds on the successes and lessons learned from Pivot 25 – the region’s first mobile apps. developer competition and conference held in 2011. Pivot 25 was organised by m:lab East Africa and its consortium partners led by iHub and eMobilis. The m:lab East Africa consortium which also includes The World Wide Web foundation and the University of Nairobi aims to identify, nurture and help build sustainable enterprises in the region’s knowledge economy. The mobile apps. competition and conference is therefore one of the Lab’s ways of improving chances for the most talented and promising mobile entrepreneurs “bubble up” and are showcased so as to receive support requisite through various access to markets, and access to finance initiatives.

Building on Pivot 25 in 2011

ThePivot 25 competition in 2011 attracted over one hundred (100) entries from across East Africa in five (5) categories. The five categories were “Payments and commerce”, “Entertainment, gaming and utilities”, “Business and the enterprise”, “Government, education and agriculture”  and “Health”. Twenty five (25) finalists in total were chosen and five(5) from each category were selected to present their applications at the pitching conference on 14th and 15th June 2011. The finalists were trained and coached to improve their skills to pitch their applications before the conference.

The 2011 conference was attended by over 300 people who included angel investors, venture capitalists, corporate executives, senior government officials, representatives of development organizations and researchers. The panels of judges for the contest were composed of industry experts and global thought leaders. The conference proceedings were live streamed by Capital FM. The competition and conference also received much coverage from local and international media including being featured in the Time Magazine.

To Taha Jiwaji, PIVOT25 was a “Great experience boiling down a business concept into a crisp sell-able message and concept.” Taha was one of the finalists hailing from Tanzania and fronting his “Bongo Live” application. Asked to comment on his experience being in the competition, Jeremy Gordon, another finalist from Kenya with the “NikoHapa” application said “So far, our experience at Pivot25 has opened doors for us to become the successful company we know we can be, and we’re now doubly motivated to make it happen.” According to Kariuki Gathitu, who contested in the finals with the “M-Payer” application, “Young innovators like the ones who showcased at pivot25 will definitely heal Africa with the power of their minds.”

Many pivot 25 contestants have gone ahead to achieve notable progress with their businesses including attracting venture capital and acquiring new customers. Seven of the finalists competitively secured a space at m:lab East Africa’s business incubation facility.

Information about the PIVOT25 competition and conference can be found at http://pivot25.com

Read more

Celebrating the Systers Community.

It has been said that the twenty first century is witnessing the ever increasing role of science and technology in all aspects of life be it culture, business, education, politics, to mention a few. Sadly, it has also been noted that women do not have a strong presence in these two fields yet they offer solutions for many global problems. As such, this has been a cause for alarm for a long period of time, and many initiatives have been established to eliminate this problem.

In 1987, renowned computer scientist Anita Borg founded the Systers online community in the spirit of broadly promoting the interests of women in the fields of computing and technology. This was long before online community was part of the mainstream. Systers provides a private space to seek advice from peers and discuss challenges faced as women in technology. It has created an enviroment in which women work more conducive for continued participation in the field. Today, Systers is recognised as the largest email community of technical women in computing, with over 3000 members in at least 54 countries globally.

Every year, Systers members gather in their respective areas worldwide in a forum to discuss technology, challenges they face and to support each other, in what is known as Systers global meetups. This year, in January 28, 2012, it shall be no different. Nairobi Systers event will be held at the Ihub from 2.00 – 4.00 pm to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Systers community. The event will be hosted by the Akirachix and Afriwit (African Women in Technology), ihub and Google. Technical women of all ages are invited to the event as the systers celebrate themselves and commemorate Anita Borg for including all women in the technological revolution- not just as bystanders, but active participants and leaders.

This event aims to bring together girls and women from high school, university, colleges and in industry to network and build relationships. We hope that these loose connections will be the start of greater endeavors among the women.So if you are a woman in Tech don’t miss out on the opportunity to network with the fellow women in tech community.

Register for the event Here.

Mobile Web East Africa 2012

Mobile Web East Africa comes to Kenya on February 22^nd and 23^rd. This year’s event is part of a series of events that include Mobile Web Africa 2009, 2010 and 2011, Mobile Web West Africa 2011 and Mobile Entertainment Africa 2011. It was previously held in Kenya in February 2010.

MWEA2012 builds on the massive opportunity that the internet and applications on mobile devices represent to all the different echelons of society. Furthermore the role of this event, like its sister events in Western and Southern Africa, is to facilitate and enable the expansion and growth of the mobile ecosystem.
To participate in the #MWEA2012:

• Registrations can be made here
• You can find the agenda here
• Enter the App Competition get the details

Visit www.mobileeastafrica.com for a full rundown on the conference.