HiPipo Money

British Airways offered 2 return tickets to London at the recent International School Uganda (ISU) PTA fundraising dinner dance as part of the airline’s Corporate social initiative. The tickets were won in a raffle by Yolande Cook, Protea hotel and Amber Rheinhart, ISU.

The annual event comprised parents, teachers and friends of ISU who have committed to support the school scholarship fund which provides pre-university education of an international standard for socially and economically disadvantaged Ugandan students aged 16-18 years, usually orphaned or otherwise lacking adequate parental support.

The three-year and a quarter scholarship estimated at $12,000 per student, enables them to obtain an IB Diploma to pursue University education. The qualifying students are required to have attained grade one results at the Uganda Certificate of Secondary Education (o-level).

Beginning April 5, 2013, KLM will operate daily flights direct from Entebbe International Airport in Uganda to Amsterdam, said a company statement which added that “KLM will be the first carrier to offer direct daily flights to the premier transfer hub in Western Europe: Amsterdam Schiphol”.

Flight from Entebbe operated with Airbus 330-200 equipment will depart at 23:30 and arrive in Amsterdam 06:45 of the next day whereas the return flights will depart Amsterdam at 11:00 and arrive at Entebbe at 22:15 of the same day, with an intermediate stop in Kigali. This is a similar route like Brussels Airlines with three times weekly flight between Entebbe to Brussels and Brussels to Entebbe via Kigali.

Other Flights from Entebbe to Europe are those to London Heathrow by British Airways and from Entebbe to Istanbul by Turkish Airlines

Google is providing $3.1M to the Network Startup Resource Center (NSRC) to grow their work to bring local network engineering expertise to universities and national research & education networks (NRENs) across Sub-Saharan Africa. Through labs and a train-the-trainers program, NSRC will provide hands-on training on campus network planning, deployment, and management for over 600 university and NREN staff. Their work will bring the Internet to students and staff at over 50 institutions and increase network engineering know-how in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Google is also supporting Internet Society (ISOC), providing $1.3M to improve and create Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) in emerging markets stating that IXPs play a big role in core Internet infrastructure, allowing Internet Service Providers to peer locally (and cheaply), which can lower end user costs, promote competition, and improve user experience. ISOC will create a toolkit for those who want to create and improve IXPs and build an industry portal to share IXP information and data.

In a blog post Google says that by supporting the work of NSRC and ISOC, they can make sure that internet access opportunities are available to more people in more parts of the world. 
 

DHL Express, the world’s leading international express services provider, has expanded its network of DHL Service Points in Sub-Saharan Africa from the initial 300 to over 1000, in just a few short months. The move is an aggressive expansion into the market which is aimed to further cement the company’s leading position in Africa but also to offer local consumers and small businesses an efficient, convenient way of shipping overseas.

The logistics and express company, which is present in 52 Sub-Saharan Africa markets, has been looking to improve access for cash and account customers, creating enhanced accessibility for customers and increasing connectivity between African markets and the over 220 countries and territories that DHL currently serves worldwide.

“In our recent 2012 Global Connectedness Index, which measures the state of globalization around the world, Sub-Saharan Africa remained the globe’s least connected continent,” comments Charles Brewer, Managing Director for DHL Express Sub-Saharan Africa. “However, it did average the largest increase from 2010 to 2011 and boasted the top five ‘gainers’ –  Mozambique, Togo, Ghana, Guinea and Zambia. This tells us that there is still major opportunity to improve connectivity across the continent, and access to logistics services and international markets are both key to this improvement.”

The logistics operator had also identified the need for increased convenience for small to medium enterprises (SMEs), as a recent study by global information and analytics company, IHS, showed that accessibility to international markets was a driver of small business success. “The SME is sector is growing at an amazing pace and this investment will help to connect African SME’s to the rest of the world,” notes Brewer. 

“Africa is a complex market to operate in but we’ve proven that, with a bit of creativity, you can expand your footprint and provide a way to service the continent’s growth,” concludes Brewer. “Ensuring the people within Africa can access global markets, and transfer skills, goods and information, means we are able to support and spur on the continued African resurgence. Expanding our retail presence is just the first step.”

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MTN Uganda launched the 2013 edition of the Chairman’s Cup, making it the 12^th year that the telecom giant has sponsored the tournament.

According to MTN, the sponsorship that is in excess of Shs 62 million will see participants competing in 9 sporting disciplines including squash, tennis, darts, chess, table tennis, mweso, scrabble, pool and swimming as they vie for the coveted Chairman’s Cup.

“MTN recognises the role that sports plays in our customers’ lives. It is therefore in our interest to support such platforms that give participants an opportunity to play competitively and to explore their potential.” said Ernst Fonternel, Chief Marketing Officer at MTN Uganda.

The tournament that will be played at Kampala Club will be held between Monday, 25^th February and Saturday, 2^nd March and will see MTN staff members compete with the club members in the games.

Kampala Club is the oldest leading discipline sports club in Uganda. Its membership is comprised of members of the business community, academicians, politicians as well as civil society.

From the event related press release MTN states that it recognises and supports all sporting activities and their development in Uganda and has sponsored the Chairman’s Cup since 2002 and will continue to support the various sporting activities at the club.
 

As part of its corporate social responsibility, British Airways delivered its annual donations including clothes, toys and book to Sanyu Babies Home.  The activity is part of BA’s Corporate Social Intiative that has been supported over the years by both BA Uganda and BA United Kingdom.  

British Airways stated that the relationship between British Airways and Sanyu Babies Home has grown over the years to create a strong bond assuring the orphaned and abandoned children of an annual donation of clothes, books, shoes, feeding bottles, medicines, soap, among others.

“Children are brought in this home hanging on for dear life but miraculously survive, it is for this reason we have held Sanyu Babies home dear to British Airways’ heart to give them a sense of belonging, access to basic needs , an experience of a normal childhood and build and invest in the future of Uganda” said UK British Airways’ Annette Matthews who is volunteering at the Home for a week as part of her holiday in Uganda.

MTN Uganda in partnership with the Red Cross, Pinnacle Security, Uganda Athletics Federation(UAF), The New Vision, Huawei, Rwenzori Beverages and the Uganda Police has handed over UGX. 307,660,500 Million to assist the people who were displaced by landslides in Bududa.

The money was raised from the 9th edition of the MTN Kampala Marathon that took place on 25th November 2012 and a donation drive campaign on the MTN social media sites. The theme of last year’s marathon was; Run with your heart and the proceeds were earmarked for providing clean and safe water for the people of Bududa district who were displaced by the landslides that claimed several lives. The displaced people were relocated by government to Kiryandongo in 2011.

“MTN Uganda and our partners are committed to enhancing development in the communities in which we do business, not just by providing universal access to communication, but also through contributing to providing basic and essential necessities such as clean and safe water, “ said Mazen Mroue, CEO MTN Uganda. 

Bududa District is a relatively new district that was created in 2006, with an approximate population of 146,000 people. This disaster and the effects after is what motivated MTN Uganda and other partners; Red Cross, Pinnacle Security, Uganda Athletics Federation(UAF), The New Vision, Huawei, Rwenzori Beverages and the Uganda Police to choose the people of Bududa as beneficiaries of proceeds from the 2012 MTN Kampala Marathon. The landslide events caused significant damage to farmland, crops, and livestock, claimed over 400 human lives and displaced an estimated 5,000 people. 

The MTN Kampala Marathon is an annual event that has attracted over 100,000 entrants across local and international spheres over the last nine years since its inception, it has raised close to Ugx. 700 million to help the less privileged in various parts of the Uganda.

The very first Rails Girls event was held in Kampala last weekend, organized by Outbox a local technology innovation hub supported by Google that provides support for people to turn their tech ideas into sustainable businesses. Under the initiative Girl Geek Kampala, Rails Girls seeks to create a community that promotes and celebrates women in the technology field by infusing entrepreneurship and programming skills into girls passionate about IT.

The free event brought together over 50 girls to learn and experience programming using Ruby on rails, a tool used to build web applications and software services.

The girls were taught how to install the Ruby on rails web application framework on their personal laptops on Friday, and later on Saturday, they were introduced to the basics of Ruby on rails and worked with close to 15 coaches from Thoughtworks, the sponsors, all day in order to get an understanding on how to use the platform.  

Rails Girls is a non-profit international community of volunteers who organize weekend long events whose aim is to give tools and a community for women to understand technology and build their ideas. It’s intent is to open up technology and make it more approachable for girls and women.

The Girl Geek Kampala, Rails Girls event was sponsored by Thoughtworks Uganda.

In a blog post twitter reminds its users about their password security highlighting best practices around passwords – both on Twitter and on the Internet generally. Among the reminders twitter posted that we further elaborate are:

1.     Use a strong password. Your password should be at least 8 characters that include upper and lower case characters, numbers, and symbols. You should always use a unique password for each website you use; that way, if one account gets compromised, the rest are safe.  In order to more easily remember these passwords, paraphrases can be used

What makes a password or passphrase strong?

2.     Watch out for suspicious links, and always make sure you’re on Twitter.com before you enter your login information. Be cautious when clicking on links in Direct Messages. Whenever you are prompted to enter your Twitter password, just take a quick look at the URL and make sure you’re actually on Twitter.com. Phishing websites will often look just like Twitter’s login page, but will actually be for destinations other than Twitter. If ever in doubt, just go directly to twitter.com in your browser. 

This reminder if for every website and application one tries to access. It is common that users on Facebook, Twitter, Google and other social networking platforms will get so accustomed to the look of these platforms that they may forget to look at the URLs they are visiting. A phishing attack may take advantage of this and unsuspecting users will have their accounts compromised having provided their login details through the phishing attack.  

3.      Don’t give your username and password out to unknown third parties, especially those promising to get you followers or make you money. When you give your username and password to someone else, they get complete control of your account and can lock you out of your account or take actions that cause your account to be suspended. Be wary of any application that promises to make you money or get you followers. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is! 

4.     Make sure your computer and operating system is up to date with the most recent patches, upgrades, and anti-virus software. Keep your browser and operating system updated with the most current versions and patches; patches are often released to address particular security threats. 

Here are the 25 most common passwords of 2012