http://www.AfricaUpdates.com AfricaUpdates EN-US www.AfricaUpdates.com AfricaUpdates http://www.AfricaUpdates.com/ 2010-08-06 03:16 In this, its second year, Maker Faire Africa is excited to bring its celebration of the “African Inventor” to Kenya, at the University of Nairobi, to feature the creative talents & business acumen of Africa’s most innovative young inventors. When this educational & inspiring 2-day event is over, these “makers” will have reimagined and reorganized themselves into a vibrant network of entrepreneurs that recognize they have the knowledge, the resources and the opportunities to forge a unique foundation for a modern African manufacturing space. Who are our makers? A compendium of handcrafters that hail from Africa’s tiniest of villages to her most expansive urban burgs. What they have in common is an unwavering commitment to origin & authenticity. They are a fellowship of creators who believe making is the most efficient form of manufacturing, and that manufacturing is the route to establishing an African middle class. They’re original. Audacious. Quirky. At times, downright genius. Their inventions have largely gone unnoticed or ignored. Until now. Coming together at Maker Faire Africa, they’re taking the first steps toward recovering what they believe will redefine their future; relentless ingenuity. Call For Makers If you are interested to show your work at Maker Faire Africa 2010 see the call for Makers. Faire Logistics The Faire will be held at the University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya on August the 27th to 28th. AfricaTeam http://www.AfricaUpdates.com/ 2010-08-06 01:56 20 to 22 September 2010 Cairo, Egypt Now in its 8th Year, the Maghreb Oil Week 2010 is a landmark event for North Africa and the entire Mediterranean basin, with its focus on exploration and development, oil and gas-LNG, new ventures, corporate strategies Organized by: Global Pacific & Partners Deadline for abstracts/proposals: Not available. Check the event website for latest details. AfricaTeam http://www.AfricaUpdates.com/ 2010-08-06 01:15 11 to 13 August 2010 Nairobi, Kenya The World Youth Alliance Africa will hold a continental youth conference from 11th-13th August 2010 in Nairobi,Kenya.The conference will seek to create solidarity between African youth on challenges facing the continent. Organized by: The World Youth Alliance Africa Deadline for abstracts/proposals: 23 July 2010 Check the event website for latest details. AfricaTeam http://www.AfricaUpdates.com/ 2010-08-06 01:08 16 to 20 August 2010 Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa AfricaTeam http://www.AfricaUpdates.com/ 2010-08-01 15:49 An international Forum on Africa Peering and Inter-connection runs from August 11-12, 2010 in Nairobi, Kenya. To be attended by top industry players and regulators, the conference aims to spur and facilitate greater interconnections and reduce communication among African States. TESPOK acting Chief Executive Officer and Board Secretary Fiona Asonga says the event is a partnership between Telecommunications Service Providers Association of Kenya (TESPOK) and Internet Security (ISOC). Established in 1999, TESPOK is professional nonprofit body representing Kenyan telecommunication players.Through print and audiovisual media, TESPOK champions issues affecting members and consumers, influencing several government and public policies. Regionally, it works with other initiatives such as East Africa Backhaul Carriers. AfricaTeam http://www.AfricaUpdates.com/ 2010-03-08 12:04 Just under half of the countries in Africa have liberalised their broadcast markets and there has been a considerable growth in the number of new television and radio stations. The final opening up by the rest of the countries on the continent promises the kind of growth that the mobile market has experienced over the next five years. Whereas broadcast media used to be simply a small number of TV and radio channels, there is now a proliferation of ways in which broadcast programming can be received by its audiences including satellite, IP-TV, PC and mobile. Taken together, the number of channels and the many different ways of receiving programming has begun to fragment the traditional market. African broadcasters need to find new ways to sustain their audiences and attract new advertising. African government broadcasters are particularly threatened by the new media landscape. Largely without funding they have to deliver public service obligations like coverage and at the same time, compete ever more fiercely in the market for premium rights, audiences and advertisers. Broadcast & Film Africa 2010 will bring together senior broadcast executives, producers, advertising agency executives, regulators and policy-makers to discuss the challenges faced by the industry over the next five years. AfricaTeam http://www.AfricaUpdates.com/ 2010-03-08 11:14 Mobile Commerce World Africa 2010 is your best chance to find out the latest strategies in Africa’s mobile arena and discover how to cut costs and enhance your mobile strategy. This is where key executives will share strategies and evaluate the latest mobile technology available today. Conference Mobile Money World Africa will examine and discuss current trends and strategies driving the uptake of mobile technology in Africa Conference themes include: M-commerce for Africa Banking & Mobile Prospects Alternative Business Models Technology Uptake Innovation » Reserve your seat now » Download the brochure » View full programme Who should attend? Retail & commercial banks Micro-financiers Mobile telecom operators Mobile payment providers Mobile transfer remittance companies Shopping centres AfricaTeam http://www.AfricaUpdates.com/ 2010-03-08 11:11 Cards Africa 2010 is your ultimate card and payment event. It is where executives in Africa’s card industry share strategies for increasing cash flow, source the latest technology. minimise risk and expand their portfolio. It is Africa’s ultimate Cards event.For delegates Why Cards Africa 2010? Industry leaders across the continent will share insight on how to get smart and evolve our payment strategies. This is the only event bringing the relevant stakeholders together to discuss the changes, challenges and map the future of the payment methods on offer! Get smart and reserve your place now! Who should attend? AfricaTeam http://www.AfricaUpdates.com/ 2010-03-08 09:15 ICANN is currently meeting in Nairobi Kenya. Message From ICANN President To Our Meeting Attendees— Welcome to Nairobi and ICANN’s 37th international public meeting. We are delighted to be in the East Africa subregion for the first time, and we look forward to coming back again in the future. We are happy to be here at a time when connectivity via undersea cables is transforming Internet access in this important region. Over the past decade, Internet use in Africa grew at 1,392%, but that still represents only 7% penetration in the entire continent. So there is a huge unanswered need, a huge unmet hunger for information and access that will challenge us for the years ahead. Yet the ICANN community has grown considerably in just the pastyear. For example, the At-Large community added roughly 20 individual Internet user groups, or At-Large Structures, sending the total worldwide past 120. That means individual users and user groups are able to participate more fully in ICANN’s policy and decision-making. And Africa’s At- Large community is becoming increasingly active, as it should. Adding to the richness of the ICANN community, at least seven new fellows attending this meeting come from Burkina Faso, Liberia, Rwanda, Senegal, Sudan, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, countries never before represented by our Fellowship program. It is especially fitting then that ICANN comes to Nairobi more ready than ever to provide cultures and languages with full domain name access. Already, four applicants for IDN ccTLDs—Egypt, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates—have passed the string evaluation and can now apply for their Internationalized Domain Name to be entered into the root zone. A further 17 applications representing ten languages have been completed and are awaiting string evaluation and delegation. Egypt will prospectively have the first new IDN in Africa. The introduction of Internationalized Domain Names has taken many years of hard work, and that will continue this week as our community progresses the policy development process on the long term introduction of IDN ccTLDs. The implementation of new gTLDs has also made progress since our last meeting in Seoul. Several sessions have been scheduled here on major outstanding issues that remain, such as expressions of interest and preregistration, rights protection mechanisms, the vertical integration study, and the root scaling study. The fourth draft version of the Applicant Guidebook also will be posted for public comment before our next meeting in Brussels. Of course, there will be a session that will help everyone understand what’s new with the signing of the Affirmation of Commitments, and another one on the Transparency and Accountability review which is to take place before the end of 2010. Your participation in this and other exciting developments at ICANN’s Nairobi meeting is essential and your contribution is always welcome. So enjoy the meeting and enjoy ”the place of cool waters.” Most of all, share your knowledge and passion with the global Internet community. Asante! Rod Beckstrom CEO and President AfricaTeam http://www.AfricaUpdates.com/ 2009-12-17 14:23 Mobile Web East Africa takes place between 3rd and 4th February 2010 in Nairobi, Kenya. From the organizers: The venue for Mobile Web East Africa is the 5 star Intercontinental Hotel in Nairobi which is situated just across from Uhuru Park. Following the unrivalled success of Mobile Web Africa, which was a true “sell-out” conference held in South Africa in October, Mobile Web East Africa is the next in a series of progressive and innovative events to focus on one of the most important technological advances of the 21st century. Again utilising the exceptionally interactive roundtable format, Mobile Web East Africa promises to be one of the leading events of 2010 in Africa. It is through these roundtable interactions, panel discussions and presentations that the future development of the mobile internet, mobile applications and mobile ecosystem in the region will be discussed and mapped. The only down side of the roundtable format is that it limits the number of attendees that can come – for Mobile Web East Africa the room is limited to just 120 people so to guarantee your place please register early! THE KEY THEMES @ MOBILE WEB EAST AFRICA Mobile Web East Africa will focus on a range of topics relating to the core areas in the development of the mobile ecosystem and how the potential of the mobile device can truly be realised. These are probably easiest illustrated as a range of key questions as opposed to themes: How will the industry evolve to a point where the vast majority of people have access to the mobile web and the content they want to view? How will the industry fully exploit existing and future opportunities? How can PC or mobile based developers and start-ups monetise their innovation and creativity to grow in to companies that will drive the expansion of the ecosystem? How can Operators, Original Equipment Manufacturers, global associations and other mobile powerhouses assist their smaller partners? How can societal and economic problems be tackled by the development of the capabilities of the mobile device? What handsets, standards, networks and designs will allow consumers to successfully access the content and consume it? How will the consumer be able to discover that content – through a Portal, Application, Browser, Search Engine, Advert, Social Network? Through a series of presentations, extended panel discussions and networking opportunities these questions will be tackled. You, alongside 120 of the individuals who are leading the development of the sector in East Africa, will make real progress towards discovering the answers. Visit http://www.mobileeastafrica.com/ for more details. kunlun