Author: Cyrus

Dear All We as Kenyans On Twitter (KOT) will tomorrow, Friday 16th November 2012, hold a small procession march from Tom Mboya Statue along Moi Avenue to Kenya Police Headquarters (Vigilance House). The Procession is a symbolic event where Kenyans from all walks of life lead by Kenyans on Twitter will remember the police officers killed while trying to neutralise a security challenge in Suguta Valley in Samburu. The event will start at 10am with us (KOT) and other interested Kenyans meeting at the venue. We will then proceed from there at exactly 10:45am and arrive at Vigilance House around 11am. We…

Microsoft is tonight launching its latest OS which is targeted at both Desktop and Mobile (Windows Phone 8) users. The Windows 8 launch will be at Sankara from around 6pm. There is not much you will gain from the launch since Africa launch happened in South Africa a fews weeks ago. So the local launch is just for formalities. Pundits criticised the Windows 8 as full of many promises and not much delivery. There are promised experiences but few can be proved by even the top Microsoft leaders. It was also surprising that the head of Windows 8, Steven Sinofsky,…

The winners in the second edition of Orange African Social Venture Prize have been recognised. With an entre of of more than 450 applications and the competition having run from May to September 2012, you can understand that there is some underlying entrepreneurial vitality that exists on the African continent. The proposed projects submitted spanned a variety of fields such as healthcare, agriculture, education, energy, industry and commerce. The panel of judges consisted of Orange specialists, the media and institutions that promote development. They chose three prize winners from among the 13 nominated projects that were presented on Orange’s pan-African…

Bharti Airtel has today announced that its subscribers in Africa, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will enjoy free incoming calls while roaming. That means that India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka is now officially part of its current ONE NETWORK services. The ONE NETWORK service is currently active in 17 African countries. Airtel subscribers in Africa will not need to register for the ONE NETWORK service or buy new SIM cards as they will now be automatically provisioned as ‘citizens’ of Airtel’s borderless network across 20 countries in Africa and Asia. The offer will be available to more than 60 million Airtel…

Orange Kenya’s Corporate Affairs boss, Angela Ngang’a, has officially resigned from the company. A source at the French Telecom owned operator indicate that Angela has finished serving her 2 month notice and is set to join Microsoft East and Southern Africa as the  Corporate Affairs Lead. Angela who is one of the young but powerful top PR honchos in the country, joined Orange Kenya 4 years ago from AAR health. She studied Sociology, Political Science, Literature and French in her first degree at Panjab University in India. She further went to specialise in PR through the Chartered Institute of Public Relations. The…

Pan-African pay media giant MultiChoice Kenya has today announced the establishment of 25 MultiChoice Resource Centres in Kenyan public schools this year as it pushes with the vision that robust community development initiatives are essential for sustainable business. The new additions will increase the number of beneficiary public secondary institutions to 150, drawn across the country. Speaking while officiating the launch at Imale School, earmarked as a centre of excellence in Machakos County, the Minister of Education, Hon Mutula Kilonzo lauded MultiChoice Kenya for its interest in assisting to mould young minds through the use of world-class educational programming. “This effort…

Motorola Solutions has announced the launch of its Enterprise Mobility business in Kenya. Motorola Solutions will offer its portfolio of next generation enterprise mobility solutions including: ruggedized mobile computers and enterprise class smart-phones; advanced mobile scanning and imaging solutions and a robust line of barcode scanners and RFID readers. Strategy Consultant, Motorola Solutions Enterprise Mobility Africa, Carlos Ferraz, said the strategic business move was informed by the need to support growing needs of Kenya’s developing business sector. He explained, “Motorola Solutions is a leading provider of communication technologies and solutions. For many years we have been supplying our public safety…

Computer storage manufacturer, Western Digital (WD) has appointed Mitsumi Distribution as its new partner for Africa. WD looks to cater to the rising demand from Africa’s growing storage market. Mitsumi will serve both the enterprise and home users providing better availability of the range of storage, networking and entertainment solutions offered by WD. Mitsumi Distribution is WD’s first Africa-focused partner. Mitsumi Distribution, one of Africa’s leading IT distributors, will cover the Central, East and West African regions for WD’s component and branded products. WD’s component products include internal storage products such as desktop, mobile, SOHO NAS and enterprise hard drives,…

Radio Maisha just did something which is a No! No! within the online community. The Standard Group has photoshoped a banner which Capital FM has been using to honour the Fallen Heroes online. The image has all Capital FM links removed and posted on Radio Maisha’s facebook page. After the Caroline Mutoko’s theft of a bloggers work and now this, I am getting convinced that Kenya really needs some strict laws on using the work of others. Big or small, we have thieves all around us. Sad that a media house like Standard Group also can’t be original and had…

AccessKenya Group has today announced that it plans to spend Kshs 120 million in 2013 to expand its fibre network. This pales in comparison to Ksh 2 billion which Safaricom is going to spend in building its data network. Access Kenya MD Kris Senanu says that the company has faith that fibre networks will solve the poor connectivity problems in the country. The company is looking to spend the Kshs 120 million in 2013 towards expanding fibre solutions majorly focused at the corporate sector in Kenya. Senanu said; “We continue to sign up clients onto our fibre network and our…

A Kenyan police constable based in Kimilili has been sacked and arrested for allegedly inciting his colleagues to go on strike through the social media. Police Constable Philip Omondi will be arraigned in court on Friday morning according to the Acting Internal Security Permanent Secretary Mutea Iringo said. The Kenyan police is barred by law from protesting and “any person who advisedly attempts to incite members of the disciplined forces from his duty and incite such persons to make a mutinous assembly is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for life.” While the PS was denying that…

Vodacom Tanzania has launched a campaign where M-Pesa users can send money to other Vodacom M-Pesa users free of charge. The company CEO Rene Meza said the campaign was Vodacom’s way of thanking the over 4.5 million customers who continue to rely on M-Pesa for their day to day transactions. The Vodacom M-Pesa users will instantly get a refund of their transfer charges on any amount sent to a Vodacom M-Pesa customer. The refunds will be in the form of airtime, and will be paid immediately after sending the money. The service is automatically activated for all subscribers of the network…

The Safaricom Foundation has announced the winners of the third phase of World of Difference competition. First launched in 2009, the World of Difference is a unique volunteerism programme which provides individuals with an opportunity to share their skills and expertise with community based organizations over a period of upto six months. The Foundation announced winners comprising seven members of the public, six Safaricom employees and three teams of four participants were selected from more than 1116 external and 46 staff applicants in a competitive selection process conducted by Deloitte. They will offer their expertise to a range of organizations which…

East Africa’s top investigative scribe, Mohammed Ali, is leaving Nation Media Group after less than 4 months at the media house’s TV station, NTV. Mohammed Ali who is very principled left KTN in July issuing a notice of resignation before quitting to join NTV. But what he expected to find at NTV was a better working environment with his work and worth well appreciated. This was not to be as sources close to Mohammed Ali indicate that investigative work done by Ali and John Allan Namu were frequently altered to suit ethnic or political interests. Sources at NMG indicate that…

Uganda Communications commission has post-poned the planned switch-off of “fake” mobile devices until 1 July 2013. The country planned to switch-off all fake phones by the end of November 2012. Kenya carried out a switch-off in October affecting thousands of subscribers. UCC claim that about 30% of the country’s 17 million mobile handsets are imitation of popular brands. The regulator has also given subscribers until March 2013 to register their lines. Now Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania are also planning to ban fake phones to curb criminal activities and have only quality devices sold in the East Africa region. In a…