Mobile Monday Today @ KINU Hub

Join MoMoDar Mobile Monday Dar event. This month we are going to discuss about the uses of ICT in education sector. Speakers will include:

1. Emanuel Feruzi: Lecture at IFM & EASTC
2. Faith Shimba: E-Learning specialist at COSTECH.
3. Joel S Mtebe: Lecture at UDSM & PhD Candidate at TUT
4. Loyola Students: Projects demonstration
The event will be held at the KINU space starting from 18:00 to 20:00.

Registration is required as seats are limited, so reserve yours quickly at

 http://momodareducation.eventbrite.com/

Tanzania: Govt to Tighten Screws On ICT Abusers

   

 THE government has warned that stern measures will be taken against people who use mobile phones and other types of social media to incite conflicts and go against the country's customs and norms.

 

The Minister for Communications, Science and Technology,

Prof Makame Mbarawa, said in Dar es Salaam over the weekend that the government has decided to take action because the abuse has been alarming.

"Strict measures will be taken against all individuals or companies who will abuse the government and its leaders; religious, political leaders and individuals," he said.

He added that such measures will be directed towards people showing pornographic pictures, child defilement and giving out information that seek to disturb the country's peace and tranquility.

"It is just few people who misuse mobile phones, email and other social media channelsÉ the law will catch up with this group wanting to destroy our nation," he said. The minister noted that despite the fact that technology has helped bring about development in recent years in the country; there are few people who use ICT negatively and that the government will not sit aside watching as things go awry.

Prof Mbarawa said there were reports of people using ICT to accomplish evil things such as banditry, rape, drugs, prostitution and releasing private information without concert of people involved. "We will not tolerate thisÉ we will work with other government agencies to stop this for the good of our country," he said.

Also, he said that any agent or a telephone company which will sell a sim card to any person without a recognized identity card will be liable. He said that it is a crime for a person to provide wrong information during sim card registration and that the government will switch off all unregistered sim cards as required by law.

Zantel gets new CEO

Zantel Tanzania, has announced the appointment of Mr. Pratap Ghose as their new Chief Executive Officer filling the position which previously used to be owned by Mr. Ali Bin Jarsh, who led the company for two years.

Mr. Pratap used to work with Etisalat as the group Vice President, handling Etisalat activities in the African Region.With over 18 years of experience in Business Optimization and finance he is considered to be the wright person to fill the gap. Also at some point of time he used to work as Chief Financial Officer for Millicom's International (Tigo) in Tanzania

 

Microsoft uses TV whitespaces to take broadband to Tanzanian universities

 

TV whitespaces are playing an increasingly important role when it comes to providing broadband to emerging market countries. The latest project to use the technology sees Microsoft partner up with the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH) and UhuruOne to provide wireless broadband access to university students and faculty in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

TV white spaces technology provides wireless broadband by tapping into unused portions of wireless spectrum in the frequency bands generally used for television. Although Africa has the highest growth rates in the world for mobile broadband penetration, wireless broadband services remain largely unaffordable throughout the region.

According to Microsoft, this pilot looks to improve that situation by focusing on broadband access in the area of education, “an effort that will increase digital literacy, teach technical skills, advance e-learning and ultimately promote economic growth”.

The pilot’s initial deployment in Dar es Salaam will target the University of Dar es Salaam, among others. “We anticipate that tens of thousands of Tanzanian students and faculty members will be able to take advantage of the wireless broadband packages offered by UhuruOne through the project,” said Dr. Hassan Mshinda, director general, COSTECH.

These packages, says Microsoft, will include a Windows 8 laptop or tablet, wireless broadband connectivity, and applications and services. Its partners are reportedly working with banks to offer small loans to cover the cost of the packages.

Vodacom Tanzania reports five million M-PESA subs; transactions top USD823m

Vodacom Tanzania says that the number of people signed up to its mobile money transfer service M-PESA has broken the five million barrier, while total monthly transactions now stands at TSZ1.3 trillion (USD823.3 million). The figures compare favourably to 4.5 million subscribers and USD622 million in transactions when the carrier released its last M-PESA update in February this year.

 The mobile operator recently announced investment of TZS250 billion in expanding and improving its networks across the country, and has now announced the signing of an agreement with a number of local financial institutions which is designed to spur e-commerce in Tanzania. According to the firm’s press release, Vodacom Tanzania has already signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Microfinance Bank (NMB),CRDB Bank, Standard Chatered Bank, Tanzania Postal Bank (TPB) Bank of Africa-Tanzania (BOA Tanzania), Akiba Commercial Bank (ACB) and AMANA Bank, that will allow its customers to use M-PESA services to access their bank accounts for financial transactions. Further, a tie-up with Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) enables M-PESA customers to withdraw money from their M-PESA accounts through DTB’s nationwide network of ATMs, giving customers 24/7 access to their cash.

Technological innovation for companies in Africa

 

By the end of the last decade, and  Begin  of the new one we owe,the ICT companies have been largely increasing in number in other parts of the globe and specifically in Africa.Even though as the number increasing,the problems are not going to stop as we always facing daily challanges especially in innovation of the new technology which is the mother of development.

It is said that most employers underutilize the creativity of their employee hence fail to capture their fertile ideas into their companies.The major reason for these can be;lack of time,absence of effective processes to manage all the ideas and the fear to demotivate the employees when ideas rejected.

Encouraging ideas is the core management task,as the curreant existing business demand great attention;stimulating the ideas is the core task in leadership,this also fascinate and endorse the organizational creativity unwillingly.

With fast changing market challanges,demand customers and smart competitors,we need new ways to innovate and raise the new challanges.Being more creative is our only way to become resilient in time of Change and   Crissie will secure our sustainable success,therefore stimulating and harvesting creativity shall be our strategic priority.