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.

MsemaKweli Wins AppCircus Nairobi

Kenya’s first ever AppCircus event was held on Saturday, hosted by AkiraChix and the iHub. AppCircus is a global traveling showcase of the most creative and innovative apps. Twelve finalists were given the chance to pitch their mobile applications to the eager audience.

Isaac Osiemo Winner of AppCircus with the MsemaKweli App

The overall winner was Msema Kweli, a mobile app that helps keep track of Community Development Fund Projects. It uses data made available by the Kenyan government through the Open Data initiative to track spending and progress by constituency. Users can then report and comment on the projects. The jury was impressed by the potential for the app to be used as a powerful citizen tool for transparency and accountability for any community and/or development project.

First Runners Up - Martin Kasomo of the Hewa App

The first runner up was Hewa,  a cloud-based, mobile music marketing and distribution platform for Kenyan artists and record labels to sell their music online. The jury was impressed by the ease of use of the mobile app and its attempt to tackle the problem of local music distribution in Kenya.

Second Runners up - Bernard Adongo of NikoHapa

The second runner up was NikoHapa, a customer engagement application for businesses that allows users to “check-in” to business and receive promotions. Judges were impressed by the social aspect of the app that allowed users to share news and check-ins.

The judges making the 'DECISION'

The jury was made up of a number of noted professionals in Kenya’s tech community – Dr. Joseph Sevilla of Strathmore University, Annie Njenga of Nokia, Idd Salim of Symbiotic, Alex Anderson of Frontline SMS and Maria Langat of AkiraChix. The judges were very impressed by the quality of the apps presented. They judged the applications based on the problem being solved, financial viability, scalability and user experience.

A section of the attendees

Post by Maria Langat

The Top Twelve Apps for AppCircus

The quality, the originality, the utility and the amount of apps submitted to the inaugural AppCircus is great! Kenya is clearly on track to be a leader in the development of mobile apps.

If you want to attend this unique event, you just need to be¬†registered¬†to book your spot. It’s this Saturday, September 10, from 9 am to 1 pm at the iHub Nairobi.

So here we are, proud to post the top 12 submitted apps that will have the chance to pitch in front of the professional jury.

CrowdPesa.com

Hewa

Empathy

3GINNOVATORS

NikoHapa Mobile App

iRelief

MEDKenya

WordPower

MsemaKweli

M-Shop

Symptom Tracker

Personal Nutritionist

Congratulations to the lucky listed! And now please, meet the jury that will evaluate your app from the stage:

1. Leonard D’cunha-Manager, Portfolio, Planning & Insights – East & Southern Africa at Nokia.
   
2. Dr. Joseph Sevilla- Deputy Vice Chancellor (Quality and Assurance) Strathmore University
3. Maria langat- Operations at Akirachix and Software Engineer at Bridge International Academies
4. Alex Anderson- Developer FrontlineSMS and also works on medical education website podmedics.com
5. Idd Salim- IT Expert.Coder at Symbiotic media and Xema labs. Blogger at http://IddSalim.com

Congratulations to all the App Artists that got selected! We would also like to thank the rest of the participants who decided to submit their apps, do not worry there will be more opportunities in the future, watch this site for more

AppCircus Deadline Extended!!

The deadline for the best travelling showcase of creative and innovative apps has been extended to the 31 August. This means that interested students still have an opportunity to present their apps before their peers and industry experts. The winning mobile application will be nominated for a chance to participate at the Mobile World Congress in Spain next year. The showcase date still remains on 1oth September.

Login and submit your app go here: http://appcircus.com/event/appcircus-in-nairobi

Akirachix Training Project Graduation

On Saturday, the inaugural class of the AkiraChix Training Program graduated in a moving ceremony held at the iHub. The Guest of Honor was Patrick Obath, Chairman of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance. Also present was Catherine Nyambala, Founding Director of STEM Africa.

The seventeen young women and one young man looked confident in their gowns, and the smiles on their faces reflected the pride they felt at completing and excelling in the year-long program.

Catherine Nyambala with some of the students

Linda with some of the students

A highlight of the ceremony was the presentation of the students’ final projects. The students used their newly acquired programming, web design and entrepreneurship skills to create websites that offered innovative solutions to relevant local problems. For example, “Soap ya Mtaa” website created a platform allowing local soap and detergent makers to reach a wider market through the internet. Mr. Obath was so impressed by the caliber of the presentations that he offered to follow up with the IT sector of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance to investigate which of the projects could be turned into real implementations.

Students Mary Irene and Daphine gave heartwarming votes of thanks. It was clear that they represented all the students in their gratitude for the program and the impact it has had on their lives. Judy Owigar, AkiraChix President, and Linda Kamau, Vice-President and Project Manager for the Training Program, also spoke. They expressed their gratitude for the support of generous people and organizations that believed in the AkiraChix mission of inspiring and developing women in Tech. They recognized Computer Aid, who provided the students’ laptops, SODNET who provided teaching space and Senaca Group who sponsored the graduation event. Dorothy Ooko of Nokia also provided the award for the best student.

The AkiraChix students face a brighter future thanks to the program. Several employers have come forward to request students for placements in their firms, and many students are already arranging job interviews and following up on new opportunities.

To view more pictures of the event please visit our Picasa Web Album stream here.

Post by Maria Langat.