Posts tagged with ‘Kenya’
Safaricom, Kenya’s leading mobile network operator, and arguably the nation’s most omnipresent brand, celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.
To mark the occasion the company produced this spectacular and uplifting ad.
The commercial, shot with a huge cast of Safaricom staff, who are members of the Safaricom Choir, and put together by the firm’s advertising agency Redsky, will
be relayed through a fully integrated 360 degree execution that will see it on TV, radio, retail units, press, billboards, websites, cinema screens and digital media platforms.
I just love this spot to bits. It’s such a powerful piece. With over 16 million subscribers and a suite of innovative mobile money products, Safaricom has done more to to unite and empower Kenyans than than all the squabbling fools in this house.
Have a look at this to find out more about how the Niko Na Safaricom video was made.
Kenya’s Tech Innovations, Japan’s Digital Divide
If you follow my blog, you know that I like to report on the many technological innovations coming out of East Africa, especially Kenya. There is no shortage of subjects to report on, from the nationwide spread of mobile money to portable solar solutions, but also the inventiveness of individual “hacks”, such as SMS-powered remote locking systems and home-made mobile phone sonar fishing devices.
While Kenya’s young tech entrepreneurs show no shortage of ingeniousness, the lack of technological advancement in Japan, of all places, is becoming a major cause of concern for policy makers and analysts.
“Police stations without computers, 30-year-old “on hold” tapes grinding out Greensleeves, ATMs that close when the bank does, suspect car engineering, and kerosene heaters but no central heating.”
In a recent piece for the BBC entitled Revealing Japan’s Low-tech Belly, Michael Fitzpatrick paints an alarming picture of a nation whose hi tech prowess was once the envy of Germany and the US.
“Japanese banks, post offices, government offices, all are staffed with three to five times the employees because they must do every process once on paper and then again on computer.”
An aging technophobic population, a government bureaucracy which refuses to go digital, local phone manufacturers rapidly losing market share to Apple, “tech standards and business practices incompatible with anything beyond its borders”. This is the digital divide crippling Japan that we rarely hear about.
In May Safaricom, Kenya’s largest mobile network operator launched Kipokezi, a service which allows ANY mobile phone to send and receive emails and IMs by converting them into text messages. ForgetMeNot is the company behind the gateway software.
At the moment Kenya is only the second country where the service is available (it was piloted in Lesotho), however, ForgetMeNot has signed up operators in other African markets, so expect the service to spread across the continent before the end of the year. According to Russell Southwood of CIO,
“15 million mobile phone subscribers in Kenya – over a third of the country’s population - will now be able to access email and online chat regardless of the make and model of their mobile phone. The new Kipokezi service is being rolled out by Kenya’s largest telecoms operator, Safaricom, suppliers of mobile phone connectivity for almost 9 in 10 Kenyan mobile phone subscribers.”
Kipokezi is just the latest in a range of innovative products introduced by Safaricom this year. In May the company finally announced the launch of both MXit in Kenya as well as the long-awaited M-Kesho service.
From SUNO’s 2009 (yes I’m a little late with this) collection. For a fun video featuring their 2010 resort collection click here. This seems to have been shot in Puerto Rico for some bizarre reason.
“SUNO was formed in 2008 by Max Osterweis after more than a decade of collecting textiles in visits to Kenya. Building a successful and visible company that employs local Kenyan talent, treats workers fairly, and showcases some of Kenya’s artistry could potentially affect positive and lasting social and economic change.
The design and development for SUNO takes place in New York City, employing skilled sample and pattern makers in New York’s Garment district. The patterns and samples and then brought to Kenya where the garments are then artisinally produced in small workshops. The inspiration for this first collection comes from both the women of coastal East Africa and the women of downtown New York.”
This photo is just one of many images available on Africa Knows, a new site launched by Sheila Ochugboju and Joshua Wanyama.
“An elephant monument at the Nairobi National Park celebrates the burning of 12 tons of ivory in July 18th, 1989 by the then President Daniel Arap Moi. The event was a gesture against poaching worldwide.”
In the words of the curators, the purpose of Africa Knows is to:
“…tell a different story about Africa. The Re-branding of Africa. The story everyone knows and yet no one knows. Africa Knows is about the challenges, triumphs, dreams and nightmares of being an African in a 21st century city that is straddling several revolutions at the same time – the technological revolution, the agricultural revolution, a democratic resurgence and a post-colonial identity crisis complicated by old ethnic tensions.”
Recent research from ResearchICTAfrica reveals that Kenyans are spending incredible amounts on mobile communication as a proportion of income. Here’s how it breaks down. The average Kenyan spends over 50% of their disposable income on mobile communication. For the bottom 75% of the population, that figure goes up to 63.6%. In terms of total individual income, the average Kenyan spends 16.7% of their income on mobile communication. That figure rises to 26.6% when looking at the bottom 75% of the population. These figures are astounding. It highlights the fact that Africans are paying for mobile communication in spite of how expensive it is, not because of how affordable it is.”
“Marine divers fit the fibre optic cable that arrived at Mombasa on Saturday. The cable will connect Kenya with South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, Tanzania, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, India, Egypt, France and London. The cable is expected to reduce the cost of communication in Kenya.” - Daily Nation. Photo credit: Laban Walloga
