On September 21, 2018, the Estonian think tank and company, the E-Governance Academy Foundation Company ranked Uganda number 1 in Africa in the National Cyber Security Index, with an index of 49.35.

The index is a global study covering up to 109 states that are included in the study. Uganda globally took the 40 positions, ahead of Mauritius that came in number 43 globally, and 2 in Africa, Nigeria at 45, 3 in Africa. Uganda was ahead of a number of other developed countries including Israel at number 42, Iceland 44, China 62 and South Africa at number 75.

The study revealed areas where Uganda has performed very well with 50% and above earned, while other areas revealed underperformance where the Ugandans and government should respond in order to improve the cybersecurity of the nation.
Good performance was recorded in cyber threat analysis and information at 80%, protection of digital services stood 80%, the education and professional development at 78%, de-identification and trust services 67%, cyber incident response, fight against cybercrime, and protection of essential services all standing at 50%.

Worst performance that led to decline in global rankings was in the development of cybersecurity policy at 29%, protection of personal data 25%, contribution to global security stood at 17%, cyber crisis management and military cyber operations all standing at 0%. The rankings somewhat indicate how to secure internet usage is in the country, building more trust in the endeavours of the government to improve cybersecurity in the country.

The National Social Security Fund has upgraded their Mobile Application dubbed NSSFGO App to include access to more self – services and improve customer experience. Some of the new features added include contributions payments for voluntary savers and employers whose payments are less than shs4m monthly, member contacts update, retirement benefits projections, employment history, e-statement and direct contact to Relationship Manager.

Addressing media and selected members at Café Javas, Patrick Ayota, the Deputy Managing Director, said that the app was an affirmation of the Fund’s commitment to transparency to its members by giving them access to monitor their NSSF accounts anytime, anywhere.

“Our plan is to improve our business processes to make them more efficient & convenient to members through innovations by 2025. The new app not only increases efficiency and service delivery to our customers but also puts the power and control of their money in their hands” he said.

The upgraded app also gives members an opportunity to track their savings in a more detailed way and hold their employers accountable regarding their contributions.

“We expect to increase the compliance levels now that members are able to access more details of their account statement easily, like when last contributions were made, how much they received in a particular month, total contributions made by each of their employers including the first and current ones,” Ayota said.

In the future, more features will be added to the app to include both member and employer registrations without having to NSSF offices. This will be through partnerships with the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) and Uganda Registration Services Bureau. In addition, eligible members will be able to initiate their benefits claims and track progress using the NSSF Go app.

The NSSF Go App is part of a variety of electronic channels the Fund introduced to improve its service delivery. Other e-services channels include; The E-collections portal that allows employers to remit their employees’ contributions directly to their NSSF accounts through the Bank, within 24 hours, Mobile money payment platform, NSSF Payway and SMS alerts.

This is a Press Release From NSSF Uganda

WhatsApp has dropped support for a great number of smartphones on the market after the company raised the threshold operating software that would support the service. The company has released a new update version 2.18.90 which has introduced all these changes and made the software not supportable on a number of devices.

On its website, WhatsApp updated its FAQ page mentioning that “WhatsApp for iPhone requires iOS 8 or later.”

This leaves out all iPhones that are running a lower iOS 7, and 6. The affected devices that run the iOS 7 include iPhone 4. Devices running a lower iOS are no longer supported too.

The world’s most popular messaging service, however, gives a grace period, until which the affected devices will support WhatsApp. This grace period is not available for iOS 6 gadgets that are completely no longer supported.

“If WhatsApp is currently active on your iOS 7.1.2 device, you will be able to use it until February 1, 2020” reads the update.  This means that only those who have the application installed and are using the service with iOS 7, can continue to use the service. However, you cannot create new WhatsApp accounts or reverify an existing account.

The company encourages iPhone users to upgrade to the later version of iOS. However, Apple itself no longer updates iPhone 4 software, implying that those using the devices are condemned to purchase a later version of iPhones.

It seems iPhone 5 that uses iOS 7 can still is upgradable to iOS. Users can, therefore, seize the moment, and upgrade to iOS 8. iPhone 4S is also upgradable to iOS 8. For the android phones, all phones with Android 2.3.7 are no longer supported starting 1st February 2020.

A taxi-hailing app specially designed for women called An-Nisa has been unveiled in Nairobi, Kenya. An-Nisa was launched to empower women taxi drivers, with the company taking only a 10 per cent share from a trip.

Founder, Mehnaz Sarwar noted that the platform is for female drivers in a male-dominated area and that they were launching with 60 female drivers who would operate everywhere in the major towns.

“It is a source of empowerment for those ladies and at the same time, it makes a safer option for women who are not comfortable being driven by men, maybe for religious reasons or safety concerns,” she said.

An-Nisa is an Arabic word which means; for women, Mehnaz Sarwar did not rule out extending the services to men in the future. “As we go along, we will put in the option if the need arises.

For now, it is women and children,” she said. “We are only taking ten per cent. The benefit has to purely go to women. These are single mothers,” Sarwar said. 

According to her, she has that invested a capital of about Sh1 million into the venture, noting that bringing together all the female drivers was a key challenge.

Original Blog via Tech Gist Africa

IPA 2018 keenly contested with 3 000+ applicants from over 52 countries; This year’s innovations address critical challenges in ICT, agri-business, public health and the environment/ energy sectors; The top 10 nominees reflect Pan African flavour of IPA with representation from north, west, east, central and southern Africa, including Madagascar.

The African Innovation Foundation recently announced its top 10 nominees for its prestigious Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA) 2018 awards. This year’s Call for Applications with its theme “African innovation: Investing in Inclusive Innovation Ecosystems” attracted more than 3 000 applications from 52 African countries. Building on the AIF mandate, submissions this year demonstrate significant breakthroughs in ICT, agri-business, public health and the environment/ energy sectors to improve the lives and economic prospects of Africans.

Says Walter Fust, AIF Chairman: “Now in its seventh year running, we have witnessed multi-million-dollar businesses emerging from the IPA initiative, with health, environment/energy and agricultural innovations leaving imprints across the African continent and beyond. Our theme this year prompts the need for increased collaboration between government, business, industry, innovation enablers and the community to further realise African prosperity and economic freedom.”

The IPA initiative has grown from strength to strength mobilizing, rewarding and honouring top African innovators whilst also building strategic partnerships with innovation enablers to strengthen innovation ecosystems in Africa. To date, AIF has supported 55 IPA winners/nominees with US$ 1 million+ and mobilized 9 400+ innovators from all 55 African countries. AIF endorsement and exposure generated through IPA have seen past winners securing over US$135 million worth of investments to grow and scale their businesses. IPA past winners and nominee company valuations amount to US$200 million+.

Managing Director of AIF, Pauline Mujawamariya Koelbl who has steered the IPA program since its establishment in 2011, said: “We are proud of the impressive innovations that made it to the top 10 this year. They are evident examples of African ingenuity and each innovation is solving a real challenge in a key sector. Africa, and indeed the rest of the world, must keep an eye out – these innovations are ready to propel our continent’s global competitiveness in the market! Furthermore, these top 10 nominees are a great reminder that if given access to capital, Africans are capable of solving African challenges whilst also contributing to the rest of the world.”

Meet the top 10 IPA nominees whose innovations are in the sectors of agri-business, public health and well-being, ICT, energy, environment and water as follows:

Biodegradable seed tray for rice farming (Madagascar) – Juslain Nomenjanahary Raharinaivo: Rice is a staple food in many African countries, constituting a major part of the diet. With an ongoing demand for increased rice production, some African countries are not self-sufficient. In Madagascar, seeds are therefore sowed in innovative pots made of paper, called BG or biodegradable germination. Growers transplant seedlings into easy-to-transplant clumps with a very high tilling capacity which also increases rice yields and allow possibilities to expand the area under cultivation.

Buried Diffuser (Tunisia) – Mr. Wassim Chahbani: Irrigated systems play a major role in sustaining livelihoods in Africa and the world over. Water in agricultural use is critical for crop yields, and reducing consumption is necessary to increase the amount of available water for other uses. The Buried Diffuser saves irrigation water, energy, and use of fertilizers, reducing zero water waste through evaporation. Water is injected directly to the roots, radically reducing water consumption levels used for irrigation.

Efficient detection of TB and Hepatitis C (Morocco) – Professor Abdeladim Moumen and Dr. Hassan Ait Benhassou: Hepatitis C and Tuberculosis (TB) are critical health burdens in Africa. Besides lack of available treatment, access to accurate and cost-effective diagnostic tests remains a challenge across the continent. This innovation comprises two molecular tests for the rapid, accurate and effective detection and load quantification of both diseases. The technology allows specific detection of the hepatitis C or TB genome in blood or sputum samples; tests are clinically validated, simple, accurate and low cost.

eNose sensor for tea processing (Uganda) – Abraham Natukunda: This innovation applies an “eNose” and analytics platform to supplement current tea processing procedures using low power sensor devices to determine optimum levels of tea fermentation. An analytics platform receives and analyses the sensor data, providing real-time monitoring of key reactive elements and compounds during the tea-processing period, ensuring efficient traceability, prediction, and motion. This innovation will lead to improved control results in better tea quality, boosting marketability and increased revenue for tea processors from each bushel of tea harvested.

Incas Vaginal Discharge Kit (Ghana) – Dr. Laud Anthony Basing: Incas Vagkit is a 3-in-1 urine-based test kit that examines vaginal infections. Linked to a mobile application, it offers a convenient and fast solution for women experiencing vaginal infections. The Vagkit simply requires a urine sample and can be used at home; results are available within 10 minutes. This innovation drastically reduces testing time for vaginal infections in Africa, leading to the efficient and quick detection and management of vaginitis.

“iThrone” portable toilet (Egypt) – Dr. Diana Yousef: “We shrink it” is a revolutionary approach to removing un-piped sewage. This technology innovation is a disruptive yet low-cost composite polymer membrane that essentially “shrink-wraps crap” aggressively evaporating or “flushing” away from the full water content of daily sewage output without the need for added heat, energy or flush water. This innovation responds to the problem of poor sanitation and health conditions, as well as pollution caused by sewerage. iThrone cuts off a significant amount of methane emissions that are generated by unmanaged/uncollected sewage.

Mobile Shiriki Network (Rwanda) – Henri Nyakarundi: The Shiriki Hub is a Smart Solar Kiosk, powered by strong solar panels and equipped with large capacity batteries, Internet of things (IoT) sensors, and a custom designed router, offering device charging, virtual top-ups, and low-cost connectivity. Designed as a business-in-a-box and distributed on a micro-franchise basis, this is an ideal solution for digital connectivity to rural populations and temporal settlements such as refugee camps.

Natural solutions for skeletal regeneration and repair (South Africa) – Prof. Keolebogile Shirley Motaung: A multi-method approach using natural products for skeletal regeneration and repair. La-Africa Soother (LAS) is a topical paste ointment for sportspeople as a natural anti-inflammatory cream to treat pain and inflammation. The second product which is Plant-Based Morphogenetic Factor Implant (PBMF) induces bone and cartilage formation. Treatment of fractures has been a continuous challenge for orthopaedic surgeons. The latter product differs from knee replacement, autografts and allografts, offering quick results with no waiting period and no harvesting of tissue, with relief and safety for patients.

Reducing pollution in an eco-friendly way using GKSORB! (Benin) – Dr Fohla Mouftaou: Water hyacinth is an environmental threat in many African countries, invading lakes, rivers, and agricultural fields. The threat affects agriculture, the fishing industry, health and livelihoods. GKSORB is 100% organic and biodegradable fibre with the potential to absorb up to 17 times its weight. Made from water hyacinth, it can be used as a separator for hydrocarbons or as a cleaning agent for surfaces contaminated by various pollutants such as hydrocarbons, acids and paints.

Waxy II Technology (Tanzania) – Christian Mwijage: His company recycles and transforms post-consumer waste plastic into durable and environmentally friendly plastic lumber using a chemical-free and energy conserving technology called “Waxy ӀӀ technology” for building, construction and furniture production. Every year, more than nine million tonnes of plastic garbage ends up in the ocean causing a major threat to marine life and people. Plastic timber is an affordable alternative to wood timber and reduces the need for building material manufactured from wood, preserving forests, cutting down on deforestation and mitigating the effects of climate change.

During the celebration of their anniversary, Jumia rolled out a campaign giving their customers and the general public mind blowing discounts and deals but most importantly, they sampled their ‘Jumia Express’ service. The service was aimed at giving their customers in Kampala the Jumia express promise, which is delivery of items in 24 hours plus the added bonus of the deliveries being free.

Jumia Express is now their latest service that is giving customers a fast and seamless experience while using the e-commerce platform for shopping. With Jumia Express, orders get delivered to you as fast the next business day on thousands of items, unlike the previous times where you had to wait for more than 48 hours until you get your items.

Speaking to the Jumia Chief Marketing Officer, Mr Neville Igasira, he revealed that they have two models known as Marketplace and Jumia Express. “For the vendors that give us consignment with the products in our warehouse, we add them on to the Jumia express list because with these we handle the whole process and hence can guarantee the 1-2 days of delivery or even 24 hours depending on the product.”

When you take a look at the Jumia Website, there is a page for Jumia Express and in this category lies items that will be under the express model of 1-2 days delivery. However, for goods that they don’t have in their warehouse fall under the Marketplace. These ones are simply gotten from vendors and are delivered to the customers which bring about delays.

“For Marketplace when we get the orders we inform the vendors who then bring the items to us to take to the clients or sometimes deliver them straight to the customers, which makes it a little prolonged”, he added.

Jumia Express comes at a time when customers are continuously yearning for quick delivery and this is a move to make online shopping as seamless as possible for customers. The items under Jumia Express include; Groceries, fashion, smartphones, TVs & home appliances. They can be viewed in the Jumia Shopping Portal