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Over the last decade Broadband has been shifting from a luxury to a necessity and human right as has been pronounced by MTN Uganda through its adverts.

Broadband internet service can deliver quality education, healthcare and employment opportunities.  Through tele-health services, a few specialist healthcare practitioners can deliver quality service to teeming patients in remote areas by electronic means, thereby improving on the volume and quality of healthcare services across the country.

In the educational sector, internet access would make it possible for huge numbers of people employed and full time students, to obtain quality education through distance learning schemes, improving their value and rewards in the labour market.

It would also make it possible for other retired professionals, such as doctors, lawyers, teachers, journalists, accountants, among others to contribute to the growth of the economy, by working from their villages or other remote locations without having to suffer the discomfort and costs of commuting. It would also improve the quality of education in universities and other tertiary institutions, by encouraging co-operation and collaboration between educational institutions and top rated foreign institutions.
Quality and affordable internet access, would also give impetus to electronic commerce in Uganda.  

http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/index.php/tech/78-computing/31485-nigeria-yearns-for-broadband-internet-in-2012

Despite of the many economic benefits, the lowest whole month access to broadband without a data cap but with limited speed of 512kbps on a shared link costs an average of 300,000 on Warid Telecom and 299,000 on Orange Uganda Telecom.  It hence means that a month’s broadband access in Uganda costs 120 USD. That is 3 times more expensive compared to 40 USD in Kenya for unlimited broadband package. Broadband Internet access costs around $10 per month in China, compared to $30 per month in India and $27 per month in Brazil.

 “Broadband prices can be over a thousand times higher in real terms in the poorer countries,” said Oliver Johnson, CEO at Point Topic.

Analysing tariff data from the middle of 2011, Point Topic compared the cost of 12 months of subscription to the cheapest, and usually slowest, fixed broadband service. Converting prices to purchasing power parity (PPP) equivalents for over 2,000 tariffs from around the world and then combining the results with the gross national income per capita (GNI/capita) again at PPP rates for the relevant country allowing direct comparison between the markets.

“The analysis allows us to see how much of an average yearly income in each country would be needed to pay a year’s subscription for the cheapest option available. The results gap between rich and poor, the haves and have nots in broadband terms is revealing,” said Johnson.

In the 2011 survey by point topic, it is stated that 79.9% of an average yearly Kenyan income would be needed to pay a year’s subscription for the cheapest option available in Kenya.  Currently as of 2012, Uganda’s broadband costs are way more expensive compared to Kenya.   Put it into context, this paints a picture of the affordability of broadband in Uganda. It is still very expensive for the average Ugandan.  At the look of real costs, the price of 300,000 UGX for unlimited data package is over 70% of the salary for teachers and many other workers.

Even as Uganda has made big strides embracing 3G, data caps and very high broadband costs mean that Uganda still needs much to do in terms of infrastructure to lower costs for broadband if Uganda is to enjoy more economic and social benefits coming with broadband.  We hope Uganda Communication Commission and other stakeholders are working harder to try to address the challenges that are still keeping broadband access very expensive. 

Tonight Seirra Leone’s Zainab survived eviction and upgraded to the classy Upville. On the other hand Dalphin her country mate, Luke, Yadel from Liberia were Evicted.

After an exhausting 2 weeks in Downville, Liberia is out of Big Brother StarGame. Sierra Leone lost Dalphin but still they have Zainab in the game.

As usual, the Housemates gathered in the lounge in anticipation of the fate of their Housemates.

Zainab and Dalphin were the first to be asked to leave the House. There were a lot of “I love yous” and hugs exchanged proving that the girls had made a mark on their Housemates.

Asked about her relationship with Seydou, Zainab said they don’t really hate each other but they just didn’t get along.

Dalphin said she enjoyed every moment in the House but she didn’t like how some people took advantage of each other.

Liberia’s Luke and Yadel were next in line and Luke couldn’t hold back his tears.

On stage, Yadel was asked if she’s still in a relationship and she said “I was and I hope I still am.” Dalphin was the first to be evicted followed by Yadel then Luke. At that point, Zainab was already in tears

Zainab welcome to the classy Upville, we hope you will keep up to the standards.

During the year 2004 as I searched for internship with one of the Telecom companies, in Uganda, I visited a Network Management Centers (NMC) of the Telecom Company. On my visit, I expected to find engineers and not marketing models. Well to my surprise I found this stunningly fashionable lady who could pass as a model or someone more fit for front end roles. She was an engineer and doing her job diligently. Latter when I learnt this model-engineer’s background; I discovered she had transitioned into a tech job from another discipline.    With or without a tech degree, you can get a tech job if you are committed to get one.   Of course most employers’ preference will first be for trained engineers of IT specialist but even someone coming from a typical arts background or marketing can transition into a tech job. HOW?

In a Mashable piece, 6 Ways to Get a Tech Job without a Tech Degree, Aaron Shapiro  CEO of Huge, gives some tips of how to get a tech job without a tech degree.  He advices, that you learn how the web works starting with HTML and JavaScript. He further advises that you start with a digital job in your current company by offering yourself to help where there is need for an internal company project.  He also encourages those interested in tech jobs to position themselves as innovators by creating or initiating new products, and become industry thought leaders though engaging in technical forums online and offline.

With time and commitment, following some of these tips, your chances of getting a tech job will be much brighter and soon it will happen just like the model-engineer I met at one of Uganda telecom operators NMC. Full Article, 6 Ways to Get a Tech Job without a Tech Degree

One of these days while having a chat with a friend, I learnt how he lost 18 dollars while attempting to make an online book purchase. He paid to a website that never existed as the actual book selling store! Following his loss and the skepticism with which he views online transactions now, he may not use this mode of buying sooner.   There are many Ugandans and other people around the world who view online transactions as a straight way for innocent unsuspecting citizens to loose their money.

The fear of losing money online is also coupled with other fears; In economies with weak consumer protection laws, online shoppers have little recourse if they’ve been sold a faulty good. So when they buy something, people prefer to deal with the seller face-to-face, to judge whether or not they are credible.  Despite of these fears, if we go by the MasterCard Mobile Readiness Index, that ranked Kenya among the top 5 countries whose populations are ready to make mobile payments for person to person , point of sale, and mcommerce, we can reliably assume that the population in Africa, is slowly getting comfortable with using a phone to make payment and hence we are not far from the  true ecommerce and mcomerce era.  

As we embrace ecommerce and mcommerce in Uganda and the rest of Africa, security is still a major challenge whether in the developed world on in developing countries. Ecommerce and Mcommerce security will increasing be areas of concern in Uganda and the rest of Africa.

There have been some kind of horror stories of people getting ripped off online or worse yet, having their identity stolen due to an online transaction. In order to protect yourself, here are some of the tips to consider.

• Use your home computer or you own phone when shopping online. Equip this computer/phone with the latest web browser and have a good anti-virus and spy ware program. This is much safer than using a computer at an Internet cafe or the local library.
• Check the connection. If you have a secure connection you should not see an open padlock or broken key symbol on your Internet connection browser. If you see one of these symbols then you should not be entering any financial information because you are not on a secure site. Someone else could intercept your information. Always verify that you have a secure connection.
• When you are going to a site to shop then go there directly by typing in the address. Do not click on an web address that is linked on a message. It doesn’t matter if you know the person who sent you the message, manually type that address in.
• Do you use a third-party payment company such as Pay Pal? This is something to consider. You could also have a low limit credit/debit card that you use for your online transactions. If something does happen then you will limit your losses.
• Buyer beware! If you are browsing auction sites or unauthorized retail sites then be careful of the too good to be true sales. If it is a true designer item or highly popular electronic device then a huge drop in price is not likely. Be aware that there are a lot of people out there prepared to pay close to full price for the real item so what you are looking at is likely a fake.
• Your emails are not private. Others can intercept your email. Do not send financial, personal or confidential information by un encrypted email.
• Check your statements. Your bank statement can be viewed immediately, you do not have to wait for a print out at the end of the month. The same can be said for credit card transactions.

So sad, so soon , before the end of week 2 in Big Brother Africa StarGame house, Nigerian duo Ola and Chris has quit the house today, 18^th May.

Ola and Chris will miss the chance to compete for the StarGame USD 300 000 prize!

In their Diary Session today, Ola and Chris sat with heavy hearts, prompting Big Brother to ask them what was wrong with them.

Ola broke the news by telling Biggie that after consultation with the House Doctor, he would like to Voluntarily Exit the Big Brother House. He said that he has thought about it and since the medication he is on does not seem to be working effectively, would like to seek medical attention outside of the Big Brother House. His health problem relate to high blood pressure.

An agreeing Chris added that he understands Ola’s problem completely. Saying, “Yes, this is a game. However, we can’t play with our lives.” “Health is wealth”, Ola added.

The two were instructed by Biggie to leave the Diary Room and speak to their fellow Housemates, to explain the situation.

The two Nigerian Housemates have to leave the House with immediate effect, seeing as their Voluntary Exit has been prompted by a serious medical condition that needs urgent attention.

This is definitely sad news for the Ola, Chris, Friends, fans and the Entire Nigerian fraternity as they will not compete for BBA7 title anymore. However, given the fact that Nigeria has always been one of the highly competing sides in the previous seasons. This might give hope for other representatives to compete favorably.

We wish you well Ola and Chris.

Ola Bakare is Lagos resident and interior designer, he is 6’9” tall.

Chris is a single Fashion designer and has a degree in Human Kinetics.

Stay right on HiPipo 5Star for the latest updates about Big Brother Africa StarGame.

From the days when one had to hand-code HTML and PHP scripts in order to get a slick, fully functional website, Content Management Systems (CMS) over the last decade have improved and eased website building. The most popular CMS are Joomla, Drupal and WordPress that come with tens of thousands of add-on tools created by very active developer communities.  

These CSM applications have a lot of similarities. They are all written in the PHP programming language, are licensed under the free GNU General Public License (GPL), and all depend on the MySQL database to hold and manage the actual content within a website.

With almost the same platform requirements (PHP, MySQL, Apache) to use, the challenge comes in making a choice of which CMS is appropriate for your website’s purpose.  Below are some of the aspects to ponder upon as you make that choice.

Conclusions

All of the CMSes are very good and play to different strengths. If one is a beginner, WordPress is the simplest to jump into the CMS world. The themes and plug-ins are diverse and numerous, and this is a very good starter CMS that can scale quite well into a more a complex site.

Joomla is good for sites that are a bit more complex and are going to be managed by someone with stronger technical skills. For this type of situation, Joomla is perfect: plenty of extensions, easier to learn and enough templates to make site design worries moot.

If you are considering building a much more complex site that needs much flexibility, Drupal is the KING. Though it’s harder to learn, it has much more flexibility to scale a site in terms of complexity. It also has the ability to scale up into very complex sites to be used for a variety of business needs.

Despite the existence of these strong CMSes, that reduce the cost to own a website, many companies and brands in Uganda have not yet made use of this as an opportunity to set up an online presence.   For consultancy with any of the CMSes and for setting up your website, check out HiPipo Digital Media Services. 

It has long been a challenge for Ugandans without bank accounts to transact online and also those that do travel aboard have faced several risks related with carrying cash. The process of acquiring and maintaining a bank account has for long had little attraction to many average Ugandans.  With so much lacking in the Uganda banking sector, Mobile Money has come and has been embraced pretty fast.  Banks have been challenged to come up with solutions that cater for the unbanked.  Prepaid Debit Cards are here as one of the solutions. Though the idea of Prepaid Debit Cards is not founded in Uganda, United Bank of Africa (UBA) Uganda is one of the banks that have brought Prepaid Debit Cards.

In the USA, the primary market for prepaid debit cards are unbanked people who typically may have poor credit ratings, who do not use banks or credit unions for their financial transactions or people that are not yet permitted to transact with credit cards such as those less that 18yrs.

In Uganda, it is less a question of credit standing but a question of a big number of unbanked population which at one time or the other would need the service of a VISA branded card to transact online or as they travel.

The advantages of prepaid debit cards include being safer than carrying cash, worldwide functionality due to Visa and MasterCard merchant acceptance, not having to worry about paying some bank account charges, the ability for anyone over the age of 18 to apply and be accepted without regard to credit quality and the ability to directly deposit paychecks and government benefits onto the card for a free.

It is been typical in our largely cash economy that for someone to pay you with a cheque you will have the burden of opening a bank account. This will change with prepaid debit cards. All you need is go to the bank with the cheque, arrange this card and your money will be deposited on this card. For several months after your cheque is cashed through your prepaid debit card, you possibly may not need to use the card and won’t be burdened with some charges such as the monthly bank account charges.

The cards such as what UBA is offering typically come with features such as ability to Purchase at Point of Sell, Purchase on WEB, ATM Cash withdrawal and Point of Sale cash Advance.

Despite of the seaming ease to get and use the prepaid debit cards, there still will be some bank charges which a customer will have to weigh with what they need the card for in comparison to the charges of maintaining a bank account.

A Job has never been anything and no one should lie to you. When you apply for a Job it’s because you need it and through it you will have personal satisfaction. First and most commonly you will be able to meet your needs, pay your bills because you earn something from that job.

In most cases, for one to acquire a job, they must first go through a Test(s)/Interview(s) in order for the employer to certify that you are actually the right individual to take on the job.

There is really no secret to getting a job if the following things are at play:

i) You’re qualified for the position.

ii) You’re confident that you could do the job.

iii) You are comfortable talking to strangers.

For most people with common sense, ‘i’ and ‘ii’ are must hold qualities.  Much as many might luck the confidence, but they know it by common sense that the first 2 are a must.  This does not rule out the fact that you can apply for a job ahead of your qualifications though these are rare cases. Unfortunately, for confidence, many people run into trouble.

Keeping that in mind, here are three very simple things anyone can do to impress an interviewer;

1. Be memorable, say or do something memorable — in a good way

If it were a technical interview, do something out the range of your interviewer expectations in a good way. Something that I rarely done by people of your qualification. It might be out of profession but clearly in line of your understanding and reasoning. You might say something about the company you applied to that the interviewer(s) don’t know about and would need to know even more. They will wonder how you got to know something they must know but don’t and will most probably want to know more things that you know and they don’t know and you’ll stand out.

2. Pay attention to every little Detail on your way in to the interview

Right from the main entrance of the interview venue, this will most probably be the company premises, apart from employers that hire interviewer agencies which carry out interview exercises wherever they wish. But look here, take notice of everything you see and the little details will help you understand the place and people you meet at the interview better.

They might be art paintings, flowers , company rules , motto, mission and vision pinned somewhere, read and look at them critically , get to know their colors , architecture  etc , you will get into the interview in a better position to answer as required. Make sure you don’t fear what you see.

Right in the middle of the interview , you can speak about a few of those details you saw on your way, make sure you don’t take much time on this and never talk about that amazing story you told your friends the previous night!

3. Research

How will you convince me when you know nothing about my life, character, likes and dislikes? You must be able to carry out extensive research about the company, your job requirements and any other important facts that will help you look different at the interview.

If you have the opportunity to know about the person to interview you, as well take some time to know more about them, their interests, career, when they think you know them and you truly know something good about them, they will be more comfortable with you and you will thus be at a leveled ground.

This is the most important tip you should follow before going for any interview. Research will help kill a lot of fear and you will have knowledge plus confidence to respond to all questions as asked.

Wish YOU the best.

According to the Inmobi report for the quarter ending February 2012, Nokia still leads in the mobile ad impression across Africa though it is important to observe that  Nokia’s market share of the ad impression declined from what it was for the previous quarter that ended November 2011.

Inmobi reports that it received 35 billion mobile adverts impression across Africa during the quarter.  Growth in Smartphone impressions saw an increase of 66% whereas overall growth was an increase of 45%.

The RIM BlackBerry 8520 was the handset with the larger share of impression, 7.7%.  RIM Market share of impression increased during the quarter.

The Manufacturer’s share of impressions was

1.       Nokia – 58%

2.       Samsung – 17%

3.       RIM – 12%

4.       Sony Ericson – 5%

5.       LG – 3%

6.     Other – 4%

We think the inmobi figures(see image) that show a decline in impression on Nokia devices signals the bigger problem that Nokia is about to face in the market it has lead for over a decade. What do you think? 

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