UoN to offer financial journalism course

By Samwel Doe
@samweldoe

Kenya’s financial journalism standards have recorded significant improvement on the back of rise in executive training programmes targeted at mid-career professionals.

The country’s top universities have also begun incorporating financial journalism units to related courses in efforts to bridge gaps in data journalism. Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa (BMIA) country programme coordinator for Kenya, Dr Samuel Siringi attributes the improvement to two successful media executive programmes held in the country last year.

Siringi, also Associate Director, University of Nairobi’s School of Journalism and Mass Communications, says some of the students from the first cohorts have improved their writing and understanding of financial journalism.

“Some journalists joined the programme when they were just writing county news but after the training. We have received positive feedback both from editors and read their stories in newspapers, listened to them on FM radio and watched their reports on TV and they are doing great journalistic work.

That is evidence that the training is bringing enough impact to journalism in the country,” Dr Siringi said. He spoke during the official launch of Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa (BMIA)-Intake three of the Kenyan executive training for the advancement of financial journalism at Strathmore Business School recently.

University of Nairobi, Director School of Journalism Dr Ndeti Ndati said the institution is considering adding Financial Journalism to boost financial and business reporting. “Already two beneficiaries of the BMIA programme are working for Bloomberg, an international a news network,” he said.

The programme is funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies led by Michael Bloomberg of US, with support from the Ford Foundation. The two have partnered with the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science (Gibs), the University of Nairobi’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication and Strathmore University.

Other partners are Rhodes university of South Africa and Lagos Business School of Nigeria. The aim of BMIA is to accelerate the development of a globally competitive media and financial reporting industry and to enhance the contribution of the media to accountability, transparency and good governance.

Mid-career journalists and journalism students will take part in a fellowship programme, including “educational offerings, coaching, peer learning, collaborative projects and networking opportunities”.

First published in the People Daily

Email and @ Symbol inventor dies at age 74

By Samwel Doe

Ray Tomlinson, the US programmer credited with inventing email in the 1970s and choosing the "@" symbol for the messaging system, died at the age of 74. 

He was the first to use the @ symbol in this way, to distinguish a user from its host.

Ray Tomlinson

The program changed the way people communicate both in business and in personal life, revolutionizing how “millions of people shop, bank, and keep in touch with friends and family, whether they are across town or across oceans”, reads his biography on the Internet Hall of Fame website.

“I sent a number of test messages to myself from one machine to the other. The test messages were entirely forgettable and I have, therefore, forgotten them. Most likely the first message was QWERTYUIOP or something similar. 

When I was satisfied that the program seemed to work, I sent a message to the rest of my group explaining how to send messages over the network.Tomlinson said in his blog.

The first use of network email announced its own existence. Tomlinson's innovation has endured for 45 years - and shows no sign of going anywhere yet.

Indian company launches smartphone for less than Sh500

An Indian company has launched what is being described as the world's cheapest smartphone Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, priced at less than Sh500.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is the first smartphone to feature all new metal unibody design and has a relatively larger 4000mAh battery. The smartphone runs MIUI 7 based on Android 5.1 Lollipop and will receive Marshmallow update soon

Ringing Bells, a little-known manufacturer based in the northern Uttar Pradesh state, started selling the Freedom 251 on its website on Thursday. 

The phone was unveiled a day ahead of the launch and is being sold for 251 rupees (Sh350) - a price that sceptics said was far lower than what its components would cost.

Overwhelming demand caused Ring of Bells' website to crash hours after the phone went on sale, but it was back up and running on Thursday evening.

The company, based in the Delhi satellite city of Noida, was set up only last year and the launch event for the new phone on Wednesday night was attended by a senior leader from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party.

Company president Ashok Kumar Chadha said the Android smartphone would have pre-installed apps that tie into Modi initiatives such as "Make in India" and "Clean India".

The company currently imports the parts of Freedom 251 from Taiwan and assembles them in India.

The phone comes with a 10cm display and is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core processor and 1GB of RAM. It comes with an in-built storage of 8GB which can further be expanded up to 32GB with a microSD card.

While it’s all good with Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, the deciding factor will be the price and variants launching in India. Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is now direct competitor to Le 1s and Lenovo K4 Note after that aggressive pricing.

Valentines coalesces around the idea of romance

By Samwel Doe

Many things in life have caught attention of my eye but very few have managed to occupy my heart as the much hyped Valentine.Just think about what love means to you. To me, it means caring about others and being cared for.

Valentines coalesces around the idea of romance.It is not a festival nor a gazetted holiday. It is a day our women drive the demand wagon of being showered with intelligent gifts  as display of emotions.Passion colors of red,pink,white,orange fills the air on this day. Its ritual of commodification makes it a popular event since the Media advertisers knows that we cannot celebrate love each and everyday they settled on this day.Historians traced some facts and pegged this lovers day to February 14th of every year.


valentines day!hail to the returning of this day.Old Bishop Valentine day.Great is this name which has impelled poor human to seek perfection in union.You are indeed a prefect immortal go between because of your mysterious personage in relationships.
 
Legend has it that, of the several martyrs named Valentinus who were persecuted for ministering to Christians, one in particular is venerated above all others. As the story goes, Valentine of Rome healed the blind daughter of his jailer during his imprisonment, and wrote a note to her signed “Your Valentine” prior to being thrown to the lions. Whether his unhappy end happened on the day the Gregorian calendar now calls February 14th is unknown.

For Me there is no day secretly marked in my calendar as this day.This day charming little missives like chocolates,roses,flowers and gifts crises-cross each other in the streets and turning of my city Nairobi. On this day Nairobi is usually painted red.

People are wearing red and everything seems to be ready for reds. Whether the hype is a commercial gimmick or real show of affection,entrepreneurs are poised to cash in on the prevailing sentiment by introducing marketing concepts like experiential gift boxes, special cupcakes and even delivering on demand rose flowers to sweethearts.

NETFUND award propelling enterprise innovations toward green development

 

 By Samwel Ouma


NETFUND Green Innovations Award is a green entrepreneurship initiative promotion giving up to Sh5 million to a business incubation that provide environmentally friendly solutions.

The third Phase of NETFUND Green Innovations Award was launched on the 24th November, 2015 with support from the Swedish Embassy in Nairobi, USAID, and the Government of Kenya through the Ministry of Environment Natural Resources & RDAs among other funding and implementing partners.

Call for application to the award is ongoing until 30th of January 2016. ”Every green project from all over the country is encouraged to apply online on www.netfund.go.ke or by picking application forms at NEMA, Kenya Forest Service, Kenya Wildlife Service and Women Enterprise Fund county offices as well as Posta office branches countrywide,” explained NETFUND, Ag. Communications and Awards Manager Ms. Carole Macharia.

“In addition to incubation, winning initiatives that may not have a business angle to them but are good environmental initiatives stand to benefit from funding aimed at up-scaling their initiatives.

 The funding in form of grants is awarded in two tranches and amounts to Sh1 million for first prize winners in all categories, Sh500, 000 for second prize winners in all categories and third prize winners Sh250,000 for third prize winners in all categories. The overall winner gets an additional SH1 million” adds Ms. Macharia.

The program targets bottom of the pyramid segment of the population by encouraging entrepreneurs in the grassroots to come up with green development enterprises in the areas of energy, waste management, water conservation and agribusiness.
Innovative ideas stand a chance of being supported with a seed capital worth Sh2 million.

The award is also geared towards giving participants a platform to showcase environmentally friendly initiatives, give them an opportunity to be recognized and link them to investors for the most viable green initiatives.

“For eligibility, applicants must be located in Kenya and their initiatives must have a clear focus on environmental management and conservation.

The initiatives must also demonstrate tangible results towards solving a given environmental issue and conform to existing environmental regulations,” said Sweeny Ogeto, Senior Projects Officer at NETFUND.

The program aims at achieving solutions that tackle climate change and poverty reduction while enhancing green entrepreneurships.

“Since no one wants to destroy the environment willfully, we believe we can sustain ourselves while respecting the environment and pursue development in a sustainable way. NETFUND GIA supports green enterprising in line with vision 2030 and attention drawn to climate change on low carbon economies.” explained Sweeny.

Small and medium sized enterprises, secondary schools, primary schools, individuals, civil society organizations and women groups are eligible and are encouraged to participate in this competition. After the application process, selection is done in two phases.

“After the application process, the ideas are audited and the best idea selected by judges who come from relevant fields of expertise, due diligence is done and the best ideas selected to pre-incubation process where their concepts are proved.” Sweeny Said.

 

 

Naivasha resort on the road to becoming East Africa’s golf destination hub

By Samwel Doe

Aberdare Hills Golf Resort, which is regarded as one of the greatest golf development courses in Africa by 2015 International Property Awards in London, is in talks with the International Professional Golf Association (PGA) to achieve International golf status on its operation to become the East Africa’s golfing destination.
 

The 72 par world championship golf course, put up on  6,400m 18-hole course is uniquely planned to take advantage of the natural gorges that shape the 1,600 acres of land on which it sits, positioning it as one of the most fascinating and challenging courses in the world.

a par 72 world championship golf course, which is set to put Kenya on the golf global map.
Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/sports/article/2000184965/world-class-golf-course-in-the-offing-aberdare-hills-golf-resort-in-naivasha-will-be-game-changer

a par 72 world championship golf course, which is set to put Kenya on the golf global map.
Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/sports/article/2000184965/world-class-golf-course-in-the-offing-aberdare-hills-golf-resort-in-naivasha-will-be-game-changer

a par 72 world championship golf course, which is set to put Kenya on the golf global map.
Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/sports/article/2000184965/world-class-golf-course-in-the-offing-aberdare-hills-golf-resort-in-naivasha-will-be-game-changer

a par 72 world championship golf course, which is set to put Kenya on the golf global map.
Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/sports/article/2000184965/world-class-golf-course-in-the-offing-aberdare-hills-golf-resort-in-naivasha-will-be-game-changer

PGA representatives visited the golf resort on Tuesday to view and advice on the possible grounds and requirements to elevate this iconic golf development to the international status once. “Our aspiration is to help grow the game and together with the Kenya Golf Union we will ensure that we help the people involved in this project succeed,” announced Mr. Maxwel Maxfield, a PGA representative when he visited the resort.

The golf resort is situated at the foothills of Aberdare Mountains, an hour’s drive to Aberdare National Park; a spectacular setting with panoramic view of Lake Naivasha, overlooking Mount Longmont and Eburu Hills.

The global golf tourism market is worth over US$17 billion, according to the International Association of Golfing Tour Operators (IAGTO).  “Upon its completion, the Sh25 billion is expected to boost tourism in Naivasha and make the county a golf tourism destination hub,” said Nakuru Governor Kinuthia Mbugua.

According to Aberdare Hills Golf Resort Managing Director Dr. Pritam Singh Panesar, the golf course presents a real potential for the resort and the county in general to make a real contribution to Kenyan export revenue and foreign earning. “I envisage the golf course to bring as many as 5,000 high profile guests to Naivasha in the next five years,” said Dr. Panesar.

Industry analysts attribute the growth of golfing estates to the expansion of Nairobi that is pushing projects that require large tracts of land to other counties. Naivasha County in particular is a magnet for luxury estates, one of its attractions being the town’s proximity to Nairobi.  The developer said the estate will have 500 houses, a club house, a Leisure Park and commercial buildings sitting on 100 acres of land.

So far the project has constructed a 30km road, a boundary wall, three dams, four boreholes and infrastructure for the residential developments, including a drainage sewerage and power.

Kenya Power awards contracts for implementation of the Last Mile Project

By Samwel Ouma

National electricity distributor Kenya Power on Thursday signed 11 agreements with contractors to pave way for full implementation of the Last Mile Connectivity Project in January 2015 with the aim of enhancing affordable power supply and connection and ensure universal access of power by 2020.
The Company’s Managing Director and CEO, Dr Ben Chumo, said the African Development Bank (AfDB) being the financier of the project recently concluded approval procedures giving the power utility consent to engage with contractors who won bids to implement the USD150 million (Shs.15 billion) project.

Dr Chumo said the contracts sign off signals commencement of the initial phase of the project countrywide that will connect approximately 314,000 households to electricity and providing electricity access to an additional 1.5 million Kenyans.

He said: “A total of 5,320 existing distribution transformers will be utilized to the maximum through extension of low voltage network which entails construction of 12,000 kilometers of low voltage distribution lines. Customers within 600 meter transformer radius will be connected at a subsidized cost of Sh15,000 under the programme.”

The project aims at extending connection to over one million people every year and reducing the cost of power supply from the initial Sh35,000 to Sh15,000 especially to the country’s rural and low income areas.

Dr.Chumo stated that he expects that 70 per cent of Kenyans will have access to electricity by 2017, translating to more productivity and creating more jobs opportunities in the rural areas that will absorb the idle human resource capacity and make them productive. Currently, only 35 percent of Kenyan households are connected to electricity.

The Last Mile Connectivity Project introduced a new approach at how electricity connections are
done. Whereas Kenyans used to make applications with long procedures in the past, now Kenya Power and the Rural Electrification Authority come knocking on doors asking Kenyans to allow them to connect their households to electricity.