Nokia, the leading mobile phone manufacturer has opened the sub-Saharan research centre in Nairobi
The Nokia Research Africa (NoRa) is the first in Africa and will carry out study into Nokia products and services across the continent, said Jussi Impio, NoRa team leader. The centre tackle issues related to entrepreneurship, energy management, healthcare, education, transportation, social media, arts and culture.
NoRa will work closely with African universities and Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to develop prototypes of devices that are suited for the African market, and to study the telecommunications trends in the various countries.
The center is targeting mobile phone users and the youth in order to design products and services that are relevant and add value to users, said Impio. Mobile communication plays a significant role in the socio-economic fabric in the continent.
The region has majority of the people in the low income bracket, poor infrastructure, low access to information, and a variety of social problems, most of which can be tackled through the use of mobile phones, added Impio.
Nokia which claims it manufactures a million mobile phones handsets everyday will focus on issues of pricing of mobile phones and the inclusion of features that are relevant to the region.
NoRa has carefully selected its partners to ensure that the research methods and resulting technologies are relevant and connect with the communities involved, he added.
“NoRa will work with NGO’s and institutions of higher learning because these institutions have an understanding and knowledge of the research methods to be applied in communities,” Impio explained.
NoRa is currently undertaking a study in Huruma estate, a lower income estate about 10 kilometers from the city center. Through partnership with the slum code programme, NoRa hopes to understand the dynamics of the informal music industry in the urban slum communities.
Ends
Friday, October 03, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
For those using Safaricom internet (Bambanet)....
It is very ironical that Safaricom advertises for services and makes such obscene profits annually yet is unable to train employees to give proper and accurate information especially on data services.
From the time I bought the Bambanet in June, my bill has been shrouded in mystery and none of the customer care agents has been able to explain.
For instance, for the first two weeks after I bought it, I was blocked ostensibly because I had burst on the 700 MB and reached my maximum of 4000 shillings per month.
That was puzzling because my Bambanet had an accumulated statistic showing that for the time I was online, I had used 750MB, my simple math shows for me to pay 4000 per month, I need to use the 700MB plus 250MB charged @ 8 per MB. So, if I am to pay 4000, then I need to use 950 MB a month.
The bills come as statements and are not broken down and any attempts to have an agent break it down have been fruitless, because “they also don’t understand”. Because I needed the service, I paid the bills anyway.
That was fine, until I applied to migrate from 700MB to 2GB on August 20th, 2008; I went to Sarit to pay my other outstanding bills plus the migration deposit. My data services account was indeed overpaid but I advised that the migration be done at the beginning of September.
Before I left, I asked the agent to inform me how many MBs I had used for August and after consulting with another agent, she told me that I had used 500MB and had 200MB on my monthly fees, meaning I could use the 200 in 10 days.
Ten days later, I called customer care to find out about the migration, only to be told that my account is blocked because I have a bill of 4000, then I sought to know how I accumulated such a bill in t10 days and I had 200MB left to use.
Explanation 1: By Anthony, when you applied to migrate, your account started being charged shs 8 per MB.
Explanation 2: Your account is X and not CMB blablabla…you see, we have various packages on how they take effect, and that is why we are charging you shs 4000.
Explanation 3: By the time you asked to migrate, you had already burst on your 700MB and you were already being charged at commercial rates (whatever that means).
In as much as Anthony gave cyclical arguments, I asked him to read the breakdown of the MBs I had used between the 10 days, he said the system was down and that the only option I had was to divide 4000 by 8, simple mathematics, or wait for the bills.
By the way, from the time I bought the service, I let the volume accumulate without resetting, and right now, the Bambanet shows that for the 289 hours 43 minutes and 16 seconds I have been online, I have used 2.1 GB, you can calculate the cumulative amounts I have paid on this data service to get the total.
Unless Safaricom supplied faulty modems, it should clearly indicate the statistics as it has.
The failure to get an explanation on the billing and the usage shows that Safaricom is hell bent on unjust enrichment without bothering to conceal it or making it look like am getting value for money.
Even if you have gotten away in other cases, please make it look like am getting value from this conmanship!
From the time I bought the Bambanet in June, my bill has been shrouded in mystery and none of the customer care agents has been able to explain.
For instance, for the first two weeks after I bought it, I was blocked ostensibly because I had burst on the 700 MB and reached my maximum of 4000 shillings per month.
That was puzzling because my Bambanet had an accumulated statistic showing that for the time I was online, I had used 750MB, my simple math shows for me to pay 4000 per month, I need to use the 700MB plus 250MB charged @ 8 per MB. So, if I am to pay 4000, then I need to use 950 MB a month.
The bills come as statements and are not broken down and any attempts to have an agent break it down have been fruitless, because “they also don’t understand”. Because I needed the service, I paid the bills anyway.
That was fine, until I applied to migrate from 700MB to 2GB on August 20th, 2008; I went to Sarit to pay my other outstanding bills plus the migration deposit. My data services account was indeed overpaid but I advised that the migration be done at the beginning of September.
Before I left, I asked the agent to inform me how many MBs I had used for August and after consulting with another agent, she told me that I had used 500MB and had 200MB on my monthly fees, meaning I could use the 200 in 10 days.
Ten days later, I called customer care to find out about the migration, only to be told that my account is blocked because I have a bill of 4000, then I sought to know how I accumulated such a bill in t10 days and I had 200MB left to use.
Explanation 1: By Anthony, when you applied to migrate, your account started being charged shs 8 per MB.
Explanation 2: Your account is X and not CMB blablabla…you see, we have various packages on how they take effect, and that is why we are charging you shs 4000.
Explanation 3: By the time you asked to migrate, you had already burst on your 700MB and you were already being charged at commercial rates (whatever that means).
In as much as Anthony gave cyclical arguments, I asked him to read the breakdown of the MBs I had used between the 10 days, he said the system was down and that the only option I had was to divide 4000 by 8, simple mathematics, or wait for the bills.
By the way, from the time I bought the service, I let the volume accumulate without resetting, and right now, the Bambanet shows that for the 289 hours 43 minutes and 16 seconds I have been online, I have used 2.1 GB, you can calculate the cumulative amounts I have paid on this data service to get the total.
Unless Safaricom supplied faulty modems, it should clearly indicate the statistics as it has.
The failure to get an explanation on the billing and the usage shows that Safaricom is hell bent on unjust enrichment without bothering to conceal it or making it look like am getting value for money.
Even if you have gotten away in other cases, please make it look like am getting value from this conmanship!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Traditions and paying dowry via Mpesa
The other day I accompanied friends of mine to the rural home as part of a marriage ceremony, am not sure which stage it was- but must have been Ngurario or Kuracia.
At some point, we found that we had money in the phones but we almost did not have it all in cash. It left me wondering whether it would nice to send that money via Mpesa, its easier and less cumbersome.
I think it will soon be used in Kiambu, my home, where the traditions do not make that sense provided there is money in the mix. Then after the ceremony is over, the local thugs come for the money, arguing that they heard from the grapevine that the visitors left a lot of money.
To beat the thugs, I think Mpesa makes a strong case plus all those funny old men who sit in the house and purport to “negotiate” for dowry do not have anything to divide at the end of the day.
For the record, I hate the chauvinistic Kikuyu marriage traditions but as a friend of mine told me, that is my culture and there is nothing I can do about it. But the best thing is that things are changing, I know of a friend’s father who can not discuss a family decision with a woman in the house. It is so frustrating.
Anyway, back to the tech business, I know it will be hard for the die hard traditionalists to accept it because it will be seen as impersonal but with the new way of conducting ceremonies, I think it will be faster and easier.
At some point, we found that we had money in the phones but we almost did not have it all in cash. It left me wondering whether it would nice to send that money via Mpesa, its easier and less cumbersome.
I think it will soon be used in Kiambu, my home, where the traditions do not make that sense provided there is money in the mix. Then after the ceremony is over, the local thugs come for the money, arguing that they heard from the grapevine that the visitors left a lot of money.
To beat the thugs, I think Mpesa makes a strong case plus all those funny old men who sit in the house and purport to “negotiate” for dowry do not have anything to divide at the end of the day.
For the record, I hate the chauvinistic Kikuyu marriage traditions but as a friend of mine told me, that is my culture and there is nothing I can do about it. But the best thing is that things are changing, I know of a friend’s father who can not discuss a family decision with a woman in the house. It is so frustrating.
Anyway, back to the tech business, I know it will be hard for the die hard traditionalists to accept it because it will be seen as impersonal but with the new way of conducting ceremonies, I think it will be faster and easier.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Microsoft vs. Toyota
This is Ndung'u of Microsoft EA, he fascinated me the other day when he suggested that Kenyans should quietly pay for proprietorial licenses for Microsoft products the same way they pay for the other services and products by Multinational Corporations.
He argued that Microsoft is no different from Toyota because they are all large corporations that have invested the money.
I wanted to tell him that when I buy my Toyota, its a one time affair and the Toyota Corporation does not send inspectors to ensure that my car runs on genuine parts or that my downtown garage is selling genuine parts. They only advice me on what parts to put and just like any other advice I can decide to heed it or not.
I found that to be a funny analogy....but maybe M$ should become like Toyota, sell the computers to cyber cafes, get a one time fee and then leave them alone for the rest of the computer's life.
It will be very innovative of the software giant.....
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Kenya BPO gets training support.....but..
Kenya’s Business Process Outsourcing industry is headed for a major competitive boost after last week’s launch of the “LiveBean Scholarship Program” valued at US$ 300,000.
The scholarship is sponsored by LiveBean consulting, one of India’s outsourcing business and is expected to benefit the BPO and Contact Center Professionals in Kenya and demonstrate that the country is ready to take up its place as a leading destination of outsourcing business.
Big companies look for professionalism and experience in business, which the Indian firm hopes to transfer through the training program. Lack of training is one of the major problems affecting the Kenya Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector. India is one of the leading outsourcing destinations but the focus is slowly shifting to Africa.
The scholarship program will be rolled out in phases, and will provide skills in operations management, people management, customer relationship management and strategic business essentials, said Mahesh Punia, CEO of LiveBean Consulting, who launched the program on Friday August 22nd.
The training will be offered in conjunction with “The Call Center School,” based in Tennessee, USA and is expected to attract several applicants from the BPO sector. The scholarship will be administered by the Kenya BPO Society. Kenya ICT Board is also expected to play a major role in the scholarship program.
The scholarship may be a good idea, but the BPO society and the ICT board need to scrutinize the source of the funds and whether there are any strings attached. The society and ICT board officials need to read the fine print and establish whether the scholarship ties any of the society members or scholars in any way.
While LiveBean is said to be a leading company with a track record of revamping customer service functions for leading organizations and setting up highly successful customer contact centers in India, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Europe, it may be important to tread carefully on the training credentials.
In a brief to members, James Ochola an executive officer at the BPO society said that LiveBean team had experience in business combinations comprising of mergers/acquisitions and strategic alliances for specific units like contact centers.
From the website, LiveBean officials look very experienced but their training credentials do not say much about success of trained BPO professionals. LiveBean Consulting & Training Private Limited was founded in July 2007 to operate in Consulting, Training, and Customer Experience Research & Management.
With such a young company, Kenya may be used as a starting ground for the company and it does not mean that the BPO professionals will get high quality training compared to that offered by established companies such as Call Center Industry Advisory Council (CIAC).
There is nothing wrong with a new company setting up training base in Kenya with the view of expanding its market but the sector will win the international legitimacy battle by also engaging the more established trainers.
While the course will cover basics in finance, contract negotiations and management, customer relationship, outsourcing it will also describe the process of managing the relationship between client and service provider.
There is no doubt about the experience of the training team and the Kenyan officers from various BPO companies will gain skills such as practicing the recommended techniques for transferring callers or putting them on hold, and recognize best practices when relying upon voice mail communications.
Lack of training is just one of the challenges facing the BPO sector, lack of project planning and management is a huge challenge for the sector. Most people were inspired to start or pump more money because of the promised bandwidth subsidy from the World Bank.
The subsidy, to be administered by the ICT board, has taken long to be released by the World Bank and most BPO’s have closed shop.
“I have learnt that many people doing business today should not have started in the first place, many need to take a step back and reflect on the fundamentals such as business plans and contingency plans; if the bandwidth subsidy does not come, what do we do?,” poses Paul Kukubo, CEO of the Kenya ICT board.
If the challenges are addressed, Kenya hopes to catch up with top outsourcing destinations such as South Africa and Egypt.
South Africa leads Africa's BPO sector; performing call center services and all types of back office operations, while Egypt is second with significant outsourcing work. This is according to Peter Ryan, a call center analyst for Datamonitor, which provides a barometer for BPO activity on the African continent.
South Africa and Egypt have used a four-pronged approach to attract BPO companies: tax breaks; competitive telecommunications rates; training funds; and marketing aid. For instance, telecom rates are as low as shs3.50 per minute to Western Europe and North America. International bandwidth of 2Mega bits per second circuits costs shs 254,000 ($3,800) per month while in Kenya the same bandwidth costs shs 670,000 (US$ 10,000).
Faced with these statistics, Mauritius is aggressively pursuing its vision of making the island a major BPO destination on the continent. It presently has 23 operators in its Ebène Cyber Tower with a second tower under construction.
Other countries in the South African region like Botswana are making a huge push to attract investment in the BPO sector, offering solid packages. Botswana, for example, offers a guaranteed corporate tax of 15 percent until June 2020.
Ends
The scholarship is sponsored by LiveBean consulting, one of India’s outsourcing business and is expected to benefit the BPO and Contact Center Professionals in Kenya and demonstrate that the country is ready to take up its place as a leading destination of outsourcing business.
Big companies look for professionalism and experience in business, which the Indian firm hopes to transfer through the training program. Lack of training is one of the major problems affecting the Kenya Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector. India is one of the leading outsourcing destinations but the focus is slowly shifting to Africa.
The scholarship program will be rolled out in phases, and will provide skills in operations management, people management, customer relationship management and strategic business essentials, said Mahesh Punia, CEO of LiveBean Consulting, who launched the program on Friday August 22nd.
The training will be offered in conjunction with “The Call Center School,” based in Tennessee, USA and is expected to attract several applicants from the BPO sector. The scholarship will be administered by the Kenya BPO Society. Kenya ICT Board is also expected to play a major role in the scholarship program.
The scholarship may be a good idea, but the BPO society and the ICT board need to scrutinize the source of the funds and whether there are any strings attached. The society and ICT board officials need to read the fine print and establish whether the scholarship ties any of the society members or scholars in any way.
While LiveBean is said to be a leading company with a track record of revamping customer service functions for leading organizations and setting up highly successful customer contact centers in India, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Europe, it may be important to tread carefully on the training credentials.
In a brief to members, James Ochola an executive officer at the BPO society said that LiveBean team had experience in business combinations comprising of mergers/acquisitions and strategic alliances for specific units like contact centers.
From the website, LiveBean officials look very experienced but their training credentials do not say much about success of trained BPO professionals. LiveBean Consulting & Training Private Limited was founded in July 2007 to operate in Consulting, Training, and Customer Experience Research & Management.
With such a young company, Kenya may be used as a starting ground for the company and it does not mean that the BPO professionals will get high quality training compared to that offered by established companies such as Call Center Industry Advisory Council (CIAC).
There is nothing wrong with a new company setting up training base in Kenya with the view of expanding its market but the sector will win the international legitimacy battle by also engaging the more established trainers.
While the course will cover basics in finance, contract negotiations and management, customer relationship, outsourcing it will also describe the process of managing the relationship between client and service provider.
There is no doubt about the experience of the training team and the Kenyan officers from various BPO companies will gain skills such as practicing the recommended techniques for transferring callers or putting them on hold, and recognize best practices when relying upon voice mail communications.
Lack of training is just one of the challenges facing the BPO sector, lack of project planning and management is a huge challenge for the sector. Most people were inspired to start or pump more money because of the promised bandwidth subsidy from the World Bank.
The subsidy, to be administered by the ICT board, has taken long to be released by the World Bank and most BPO’s have closed shop.
“I have learnt that many people doing business today should not have started in the first place, many need to take a step back and reflect on the fundamentals such as business plans and contingency plans; if the bandwidth subsidy does not come, what do we do?,” poses Paul Kukubo, CEO of the Kenya ICT board.
If the challenges are addressed, Kenya hopes to catch up with top outsourcing destinations such as South Africa and Egypt.
South Africa leads Africa's BPO sector; performing call center services and all types of back office operations, while Egypt is second with significant outsourcing work. This is according to Peter Ryan, a call center analyst for Datamonitor, which provides a barometer for BPO activity on the African continent.
South Africa and Egypt have used a four-pronged approach to attract BPO companies: tax breaks; competitive telecommunications rates; training funds; and marketing aid. For instance, telecom rates are as low as shs3.50 per minute to Western Europe and North America. International bandwidth of 2Mega bits per second circuits costs shs 254,000 ($3,800) per month while in Kenya the same bandwidth costs shs 670,000 (US$ 10,000).
Faced with these statistics, Mauritius is aggressively pursuing its vision of making the island a major BPO destination on the continent. It presently has 23 operators in its Ebène Cyber Tower with a second tower under construction.
Other countries in the South African region like Botswana are making a huge push to attract investment in the BPO sector, offering solid packages. Botswana, for example, offers a guaranteed corporate tax of 15 percent until June 2020.
Ends
Friday, August 29, 2008
Maasai and tech
Though the Maasai hold on to their traditions, technology plays a vital role. The cell phone has made a marked difference in this community probably more than it has in many other communities.
Given the distances between one home to another, the phone comes in handy, especially during cattle raids or when communicating with herders in the field.
The ultimate romance
While in college I attended a course on intercultural communication and Dr. Marete, who was the course instructor talked about the various cultural interpretations about romance and how we define who knows how to love and who doesn’t.
The world has become so westernized that romance is defined by how many times you say “I love you”, the exotic dinners and the flowers one sends or receives. So he talked about the traditional African culture and the definition of romance.
Ever heard of stories that men batter women because they love them? That an African woman is considered weak if he tells a woman he loves her? That land and children is all that a woman needs to know she is loved? Well those are stories that have been watered down over time.
When I went to Magadi last week, I met Elijah, a Maasai guy. He had a walking stick and I thought it was for older guys, so I asked him why he was carrying it and he said it was because it was made by the wife.
I enquired how long it takes to make the stick embossed with colorful beads and decorates. It takes not less than two days. That’s the sign of love from his wife, and he treasures it, he won’t even sell it at any price.
In return, Elijah is the warrior in the family, the guy who ensured that the hyenas and lions do not get away with any of the cows or livestock. That rule is not written anywhere but everyone knows it.
The encounter with Elijah made me wonder why that cannot be defined as the ultimate romance; the sign of dedication and love.
It is cultural and it is how we communicate it, I thought it was very touching…..
Friday, August 22, 2008
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Olympics, Masai Mara and infrastructure sharing
It was sad that KBC was erratic in showing Olympics live. It was erratic and not-understandable, they were showing some funny live matches and the most important to us were delayed or not shown at all, or maybe they did at midnight.
But on Sunday, they televised live from Beijing and from Masai Mara courtesy of KTN. It was nice to see the KBC screen split, showing updates from Beijing and Masai Mara. You can imagine what will happen when we have the fiber and cost of bandwidth becomes cheaper, KIXP will experience great local capacity.
Infrastructure sharing is not new in Kenyan media, in the past, KBC was offering the link during the national holidays like Kenyatta day, we are yet to see NTV and KTN collaborating on some live events.
I wish our telecoms sector would be the same, that when the Safaricom masts become congested, some of the traffic can be moved to zain, so that communication is not interrupted. But again, that may only be a pipe dream.
But on Sunday, they televised live from Beijing and from Masai Mara courtesy of KTN. It was nice to see the KBC screen split, showing updates from Beijing and Masai Mara. You can imagine what will happen when we have the fiber and cost of bandwidth becomes cheaper, KIXP will experience great local capacity.
Infrastructure sharing is not new in Kenyan media, in the past, KBC was offering the link during the national holidays like Kenyatta day, we are yet to see NTV and KTN collaborating on some live events.
I wish our telecoms sector would be the same, that when the Safaricom masts become congested, some of the traffic can be moved to zain, so that communication is not interrupted. But again, that may only be a pipe dream.
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Protecting ICT consumer interests
Who is an ICT consumer? A friend of mine asked. Hmmm….. had not thought about it that way, but I guess it refers to anyone who is an end user of ICT services and products.
Is the CCK capable of protecting consumer interests as well as those of big telcos? That was another question I could not answer, because it is only the regulator who can answer and or demonstrate its capability.
Its disempowering to know that we all have complaints against providers at one time or another but lack the proper mechanisms to channel them. Why has CCK not made adequate use of technology, why not have an online forums or blog in its site that we can rant and pour out the frustrations?
I think someone needs to tell CCK about the call completion rates and the call drop rates because I do not think the guys there do a good job of monitoring the GSM companies.
I recall they bought some equipment to measure the call drop and completion rates at some point, I think its two years ago, but it seems it has not been put to proper use.
Is the CCK capable of protecting consumer interests as well as those of big telcos? That was another question I could not answer, because it is only the regulator who can answer and or demonstrate its capability.
Its disempowering to know that we all have complaints against providers at one time or another but lack the proper mechanisms to channel them. Why has CCK not made adequate use of technology, why not have an online forums or blog in its site that we can rant and pour out the frustrations?
I think someone needs to tell CCK about the call completion rates and the call drop rates because I do not think the guys there do a good job of monitoring the GSM companies.
I recall they bought some equipment to measure the call drop and completion rates at some point, I think its two years ago, but it seems it has not been put to proper use.
Friday, August 01, 2008
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Sunday, July 06, 2008
The Danube river, no comparison to Chania
There was a time I was mesmerized by Chania river, we took trips there, to see the water flowing downstream and the rocks. The big boys liked swiming and showing off their skills.
The Danube is no comparison to Chania, that is why am allowed to stand by the bridge and get mesmerized once more.
Ghanaian representative, media tycoon in court
When business tycoon Chris Kirubi was charged in a Nairobi court, he probably did not think the photojournalists would be so hysterical.
Perhaps because he owns one of the top radio stations, he thought the camera people would cut him some slack.
Gosh, he was so irritated and visibly angry as the journalists hunted him down blocking his space and taking 1000 photos. I must admit the journalists dramatize but that was a sight.
Kirubi is also the Ghanaian representative, something like an ambassador or some diplomatic relation of some sort.
I thought he enjoyed some sort of diplomatic immunity. I wonder what privileges being representative comes with.
Just a thought!
Ends
Perhaps because he owns one of the top radio stations, he thought the camera people would cut him some slack.
Gosh, he was so irritated and visibly angry as the journalists hunted him down blocking his space and taking 1000 photos. I must admit the journalists dramatize but that was a sight.
Kirubi is also the Ghanaian representative, something like an ambassador or some diplomatic relation of some sort.
I thought he enjoyed some sort of diplomatic immunity. I wonder what privileges being representative comes with.
Just a thought!
Ends
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Juliana, David, make the village pose famous ....
We enjoy meeting people, those we know, and those we dont...
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