Web AddiCT(s); » Africa

Ummeli gets South African Youth Working via Mobile

Rafiq Phillips — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 12:55:34 +0000

When most people watch the above video about Mobile Stats in Africa 2011 many think of opportunities to only milk that huge audience. The Praekelt Foundation are different. They build open source, scalable mobile technologies and solutions to improve the health and wellbeing of people living in poverty.

Launched at Tech4Africa 2011, Ummeli is a new mobile platform that helps communities create their own employment opportunities. Traditional tools built for job-seekers assume a plentiful supply of employment opportunities. Taking a realistic view of employment prospects, Ummeli focusses on creating opportunities. Unlike most services that attempt to assist young people looking for jobs, Ummeli is built to take advantage of the one medium that is accessible and already in use by our audience: mobile phones. Inspired by the principles of Ubuntu – “I am what I am because of who we all are” – Ummeli is a collaborative tool that allows communities to share and set goals and to initiate their own projects. For impoverished communities, services need to be free or as close to free as possible. Currently hosted on Vodafone Live in South Africa, Ummeli is entirely free to access.

Some of the aims of Ummeli are:

To assist young people in preparing for employment applications.
To help Africa’s youth find meaningful employment.
To provide the tools for communities to set goals, and self-organise projects.
To disrupt the Western, individualistic job-culture which does not suit Africa
To foster the community-benefiting spirit of Ubuntu.

You’ll notice the above paragraphs have been copy/pasted from the Ummeli site, I only added links to blog posts previously written here. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while or you know the way Web AddiCT(s); think I have an idea or 2 hidden in plain sight here that could add value to the Ummeli project. Stay tuned while we get this off the ground…

Tech4Africa – The Only Good Reason to Visit Johannesburg

Rafiq Phillips — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 10:17:11 +0000

I really really really loathe traveling to Johannesburg. It’s ugly, traffic kills me and there are no mountains. It’s all about the mountains. I have nothing against the residents of the massive city though. The one reason and only reason (for me) to go to Jozi is to attend Tech4Africa. Previously covered here. Tech4Africa promises that they are the premier mobile, web and emerging technology conference, bringing global perspective to the African context.

It ticks all this blog’s category check-boxes and the speaker line-up looks killer. How does a Web AddiCT get from Cape Town to Johannesburg to attend Tech4Africa by spending little or no money? A simple mash-up. My work at MIH SWAT, my hobby (what you’re reading now) and the project I’m continuously iterating in my free time are all intertwined in on way or the other and what better way to get to Joburg to be attend Tech4Africa than combining all of the above?

We’ve recently started the MIH Incubator and what better way for the start-up founders to learn, connect and grow than to attend Tech4Africa? So we secured 2 tickets for them. One of the companies I assist on a regular basis, DSTV Online, require some one-on-one time with yours truly so we’ve scheduled some time with them, a day before Tech4Africa.

The Tech4Africa Innovation Award was announced and all they asked was that you submit a one-pager…

on why your product embodies African innovation, for African problems, and how it can or does already have global potential. Your submission should cover these two criteria, as well as showing the traction you have already gained (users, downloads, visits, etc). If you can’t explain the above in one page, then you have bigger things to think about

Hang on, I did this kinda thing already for Cape Town Entrepreneurship Competition 2011 (see the winners here). As your Web AddiCT I love to Copy/Paste and that’s exactly what I did when applying. Copy/Pasted the introduction to the CTEC competition which focused on economic, community and social development– added 88 words covering the traction & results achieved and it all fits onto one page. Clicked send. 3 Birds, 1 Stone made up of 88 new words. Repurposing content previously created to share an idea I believe is worth spreading.

6 days ago this message arrives…

Thank you for your Innovation award application. We are pleased to announce that your project has been selected as a finalist in this years Tech4Africa Innovation awards.

Free ticket to Tech4Africa and get to connect with all the other innovative teams behind the projects in the finals and other awesome individuals at a dinner the night before Watch out now. If that is not a reason for someone from Cape Town to travel to Jozi what is?

Will you be at Tech4Africa 2011?

iHub Nairobi

Rafiq Phillips — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 10:44:10 +0000

Silicon Cape isn’t the only place where you can find innovative people and organizations in Africa. Say hello to iHub Nairobi. Founded by Erik Hersman, who also founded Ushahidi. This video explains what iHub Nairobi is all about…

World Aids Day 2010

Rafiq Phillips — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 08:47:55 +0000

World AIDS Day, observed December 1 each year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. AIDS has killed more than 25 million people between 1981 and 2007, and an estimated 33.2 million people worldwide live with HIV as of 2007, making it one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history. Despite recent, improved access to antiretroviral treatment and care in many regions of the world, the AIDS epidemic claimed an estimated 2 million lives in 2007,[3] of which about 270,000 were children.

This is how you can show your support for wwworld Aids Day online and on your mobile.

Add a World Aids Day twibbon to your avatar on twitter or Facebook here.
MXit is always supporting World Aids day with the support and advice system which can be found via Tradepost.
Angel on MXit will provide you with even more HIV related information.
Do you know what HIV/AIDS-related services are available in your area? Go to HIV911. This information is freely available to everyone.

Lastly, it is of utmost importance to know your HIV status. The AIDS test is free and everyone, sexually active or not, should go for one. Do you know of any other resources to help understand the HIV/AIDS pandemic online?

[update]

HIV-911 is proud to be part of South Africa’s official World AIDS Day campaign. On a day when we remember those we have lost to the pandemic, and look forward to increasing support for those infected and affected by HIV and AIDS, HIV-911 is forging ahead with new ways of giving you hope and connection.

The international theme for World AIDS Day 2010 is “Universal Access and Human Rights”. HIV-911’s programme works towards helping those in need to access essential services and information, in order to obtain help. Global leaders have pledged to work towards universal access to HIV and AIDS treatment, prevention and care, recognizing these as fundamental human rights. Valuable progress has been made in increasing access to HIV and AIDS services, yet greater commitment is needed around the world if the goal of universal access is to be achieved. HIV-911’s referral network of health and welfare service providers is growing at an exponential rate, enabling the programme to link clients and service providers more easily and effectively.

With over 16 500 service providers listed on the HIV-911 database, it’s coverage of HIV-related activities and services in South Africa makes it a comprehensive resource for people seeking help or networking opportunities in all regions of the country.

HIV-911’s products include:

An online directory, accessible via www.hiv911.org.za;
A mobi-site, accessed via http://mobi.hiv911.org.za;
The hard-copy directory series, now entering it’s fourth series;
A telephonic contact centre – 0860 HIV 911 or 0860 448 911;
Call *120*448# from a mobile phone and follow the menu prompts

Find your nearest testing facility by visiting http://compass.mapservice.co.za/

Dead Aid – Dambisa Moyo (video)

Rafiq Phillips — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 17:40:40 +0000

This is a video worth watching. Dead Aid author Dambisa Moyo is spot on. Brings back memories of TED Global 2007.

During the past fifty years, more than $1 trillion in development-related aid has been transferred from rich countries to Africa. Dambiso Moyo asserts, however, that this assistance has made African people no better off. Africas real per capita income today is lower than in the 1970s, with over half of the 700 million Africans living on less than a dollar a day. Eschewing the glamour aid of celebrities such as Bob Geldof and Bono, she argues that the key to transforming African countries is to make them less reliant on foreign aid and compel them to enforce rules of prudence and not live beyond their means.

5 things to do while Seacom is down

guest — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 12:21:15 +0000

This week has been really tough if you are one of those users reliant on a Seacom connection, the cable
which connects you to the world is down and will be for at least a few more days. So now you sit there with
absolutely no idea what to do… no worries! There is always the local internet.

Since I started Local List with help from ISLabs two years ago I have indexing local websites and services for
you to enjoy in times like these.

5.) Google and Bing

Both Google and Bing host locally, even though they won’t be able to help you much with regards to search
as the results will be international, they both still have an impressive list of product that you can access locally, for example Google Maps etc.

4.) Antfarm Radio streams like 5FM

I live in a place with terrible radio reception and almost exclusively stream Dj Fresh into my hear lobes, thus it’s very cool that they
host the audio stream locally, because not only can I use it when I am capped or Seacom is down, but it is also fast and uninterrupted due to locality.

3.) News24 and TimesLive

I religiously look at these two news sites all day, so the fact that they host locally is a life saver. All Media24 and Avusa sites are hosted in SA.

2.) Youtube and Metacafe

Yes, I’m not kidding you Youtube is hosted locally! You can now waste away your time watching videos for hours forgetting all together that Seacom is even down.
Who are you kidding, you know this is what you would have been doing even if Seacom wasn’t down.

1.) Facebook

The most popular social network on the planet is also locally hosted! I personally cannot live without checking FB every 5 seconds and even though Seacom is down
you can too! Hint: Just make sure you never log out because the log in requires you to have international access.

So now you have no reason to complain about Seacom being down, most of what you need is hosted locally anyway!

Check out Local List for more websites you can visit while Seacom is down.

This guest post was written by Jason Adriaan, founder of Local List.

Highway Africa 2010 – Grahamstown

Rafiq Phillips — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 09:26:23 +0000

Google this year will bring four speakers and trainers to the influential pan-African journalism gathering, Highway Africa, held in Grahamstown at the start of July (http://www.highwayafrica.com/).

Andrew Bangs, Community Marketing representative at YouTube will speak about the rise of citizen journalism across the globe, and the significance of the internet in enabling free expression and ground-breaking reporting.

Participants will be able to attend training workshops on Google Search and other useful applications to aid their information-gathering, including Google Scholar, Translate, Books, News, Trends and more. The workshops are being run in collaboration with Izak Minnaar of the SABC, who has offered computer-aided journalism courses at previous conferences. Participants will also have the opportunity to get hands-on experience using Google’s numerous geographic products, particularly Google Maps, which has now been launched across 32 Sub-Saharan African countries.

Google representatives will include Ravi S. Yadavilli, head of Geo Content operations at Google and a key player in Google’s efforts to map Africa; Jacqueline Rajuai, a GIS Specialist from the Google Kenya office, who focuses on enriching Google Maps content across the continent; and Julie Taylor, Communications and Public Affairs Manager for Google South Africa.

Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. In Africa, the company is focusing on making the internet more relevant and useful to Africans by creating more African content online; raising awareness among consumers and businesses about the opportunities offered by the internet; and developing products that are meaningful to Africans. Recent efforts in the past year to strengthen web developer communities include training for hundreds of developers and entrepreneurs at Google events in Ghana, Senegal, Nigeria and Mauritius.

In South Africa, Google recently announced the launches of Street View in Google Maps, and a local YouTube domain (http://www.youtube.co.za/).

To keep abreast of Google in Africa, follow our Africa Blog, http://google-africa.blogspot.com/

Tech4Africa – Jozi

Rafiq Phillips — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 10:20:04 +0000

Tech4Africa

TECH4AFRICA is the first Web, mobile and emerging technology conference of it’s kind in Africa, bringing global perspective to the African context. It’s taking place in Johannesburg at The Forum on August 12-13, 2010, and as such the conference promises to be a pioneering and intimate affair, congregating digital elite for the first time in Africa.

We’re featuring Clay Shirky, Matthew Mullenweg (WordPress), Andy Budd (Clearleft), Alex Hunter (ex-Virgin), Joe Stump (SimpleGeo), Jonathan Snook (Yahoo!) and Dustin Diaz (Twitter), among many other great local speakers (profiles below). Clay Shirky is one of the worlds leading voices on all things Internet, and will be delivering the Keynote speech.
More at: http://tech4africa.com/speakers/

We’re also happy to announce that Seedcamp, Europe’s programme to jumpstart the entrepreneurial community, will be at Tech4Africa looking to invest in the most promising start-ups.
More at: http://www.tech4africa.com/seedcamp/

Conference registrations are now open at: http://tech4africa.com/register/
(hurry up! discounted tickets for early birds)
Find out more below, or at http://tech4africa.com/

We’d love to follow you on Twitter too! We’re @tech4africa

Bonus: Attend 27Dinner in Jozi on the 28th? and receive a R500 discount to attend tech4africa.

The State of the Internet

Yasser Buchana — Mon, 31 May 2010 09:23:46 +0000

There have been recurring themes about there internet this year, and one of them is growth. As previously predicted, it has indeed grown. The world average internet penetration stands at about 26% ( for 2009) and interestingly enough, Africa has surpassed the middle east in the number of internet users by Geographic region. it stands at about 86.2% while the middle east is at about 58.2%.

I found an interesting short video giving all sorts of stats about the internet and its growth. Enjoy

The State Of The Internet from R. Deniz ÖNER on Vimeo.

Join the South African Wave with SonyEricsson

Yasser Buchana — Thu, 20 May 2010 10:42:21 +0000

There has been an element of creativity about this year’s World Cup in South Africa. For SonyEricsson, however, this can be said to be routine, because they have always been innovative . And now, they have started a movement by engaging the fans and supporters of the various nations that will be participating in the world cup to create the world’s longest mexican South African wave online.

You can upload your small video doing a South African wave, ( BTW, my video has just been approved ) and invite 8 of your friends to do the same and you could win world cup tickets. Currently, the top Waving nation is England with 19% of waves, followed by Brazil in second place and South Africa all the way to 13th place with only 2% of waves. Im pretty certain with a little input from everybody in South Africa , we can do better than 13th place. Let’s get Waving