Ndiho Media,LLC.

By Paul Ndiho, Malabo, Equatorial Guinea

August 26, 2012

As the information age continues to gather pace, fiber optic cables connecting Africa with the rest of the world are making high speed internet access more widely available on the continent. Chatting on Facebook , Twitting or using Skype over the internet is something taken for granted in the United States and other western countries, but in here in Equatorial Guinea, like in most Africa countries it has not been possible because of slow and patchy internet services, relying heavily on limited and expensive satellite links.

Here in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea’s Capital , this public park has become a Hot Spot.  Teenagers from different parts of the city frequent the park to surf the net because of free WiFi. They say that  its cheaper to use  and faster  and that its transforming their way of life and how they communicate with each other and the rest of the world. Santos and other young people say this free WIFI access is making a difference.
“This is the first I’ve come here but usually children from all over the place come here for free WiFi.”
“There are very few places where you go and there is free WiFi or Internet access. I was actually shocked, I came to this public park and i saw quite a number of young people with there laptops, ipads, tablets trying to take advantage of the free internet.”

“This is the first I’ve come here but usually children from all over the place come here for free WiFi.”
“There are very few places where you go and there is free WiFi or Internet access. I was actually shocked, I came to this public park and i saw quite a number of young people with there laptops, ipads, tablets trying to take advantage of the free internet.”
According to research commissioned by ESET, almost half of internet users worldwide connect to the web using portable devices as the primary connection device: notebooks or laptops are the most popular 41 percent, followed by notebooks – three percent, smart phones, two percent, and tablets -one percent. This is indicative of the demand for wi-fi hotspots.
Technology experts note that Wireless technology may be convenient, especially for travelers since wi-fi hot spots are plentiful, but users should guard against criminals prowling networks. For these teenagers, the sky is the limit.

By Paul Ndiho, Malabo, Equatorial Guinea

August 26, 2012

As the information age continues to gather pace, fiber optic cables connecting Africa with the rest of the world are making high speed internet access more widely available on the continent. Chatting on Facebook , Twitting or using Skype over the internet is something taken for granted in the United States and other western countries, but in here in Equatorial Guinea, like in most Africa countries it has not been possible because of slow and patchy internet services, relying heavily on limited and expensive satellite links.

Here in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea’s Capital , this public park has become a Hot Spot.  Teenagers from different parts of the city frequent the park to surf the net because of free WiFi. They say that  its cheaper to use  and faster  and that its transforming their way of life and how they communicate with each other and the rest of the world. Santos and other young people say this free WIFI access is making a difference.
“This is the first I’ve come here but usually children from all over the place come here for free WiFi.”
“There are very few places where you go and there is free WiFi or Internet access. I was actually shocked, I came to this public park and i saw quite a number of young people with there laptops, ipads, tablets trying to take advantage of the free internet.”

“This is the first I’ve come here but usually children from all over the place come here for free WiFi.”
“There are very few places where you go and there is free WiFi or Internet access. I was actually shocked, I came to this public park and i saw quite a number of young people with there laptops, ipads, tablets trying to take advantage of the free internet.”
According to research commissioned by ESET, almost half of internet users worldwide connect to the web using portable devices as the primary connection device: notebooks or laptops are the most popular 41 percent, followed by notebooks – three percent, smart phones, two percent, and tablets -one percent. This is indicative of the demand for wi-fi hotspots.
Technology experts note that Wireless technology may be convenient, especially for travelers since wi-fi hot spots are plentiful, but users should guard against criminals prowling networks. For these teenagers, the sky is the limit.

By Paul Ndiho

August 16, 2012

Ugandan fashion designer Gloria Wavamunno has always been a fashion fanatic. She is the founder and artistic director of her own label, Gloria.  And today, her use of the “African kitenge fabric” has made her one of the Africa’s top young designers, as she makes her mark in the fashion industry.

Gloria Wavamunno launched her clothing label in 2009, since then, she has stirred up quite a buzz on the global fashion scene.  Wavamunno has participated in the London, New York and Johannesburg fashion weeks, showcasing innovative, unique and cutting edge fashion designs.  Her works have also been featured in the prestigious arise magazine.  Wavamunno’s fascination with fashion and love for raw african fabric started when she was a young girl– and now she competes with some of the biggest names in the african fashion industry.

“Probably from age thirteen I’d make little tank tops or little dresses from Africa fabrics. So it carried on with me to where i started to use it in my own brand — because it’s beautiful fabric and i also love anything that has a story to it.

Arise magazine says the rising designer’s collections are known for their uniqueness and amazingly and sharp cuts.  But wavamunno also manages to maintain the eccentric, romantic feel of the garment.  She accomplishes this with a smooth mesh, between the use of African fabrics, transformed into stylish pieces of contemporary african wear.

“I do hope that my brand does evolve and it changes with the time. Because i think we are in a period in the world that everything is changing and evolving at a rapid speed for the good and i just hope that my brand is able kind of tap into that whole change and be able to evolve.”

Wavamunno attributes her success to her parents and other supporters who pushed her to pursue her dream in the fashion industry.

“I’ve had wonderful role models in my life with very encouraging words as I was growing up. And the one thing that my mom said to me, when I was very young, that stuck through and kind of embodies a lot of what my brand if based on is that “if it doesn’t start with you, then who will it start with.”

Since the creation of Gloria, wavamunno has worked tirelessly to release a new collection every season, showcasing her best work in a very tough environment.  Like other African fashion entrepreneurs that are based on the continent, she uses local, regional and continental expos to highlight and sell her brands.

“I do want my brand to be seen like any other big international brand that people from other parts of the world can embrace, wear it, and just hope for growth really so that i can continue doing what i love to do.

Fashion analysts say the industry has tremendous potential to meet the growing demand for high-end products in the global market– including Africa’s growing middle class.  Wavamunno notes that young African designers can play a significant role, and be part of the change, that will boost development and growth on the continent.

“It’s extremely important that we’ll be part of the movement and the change that comes within Africa because as much as we know, we can always educate other people abroad on what really is happening here because we live here we are part of it and its part of our culture.”

As the Gloria label expands and makes its mark in the fashion world, other African designers are looking forward to expressing their creativity in the marketplace as well.

Paul Ndiho

August 16, 2012

U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton met with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan last week during her multimillion tour of Africa.  Her talks with President Jonathan in Abuja focused on oil and security.   The security discussion focused on Nigeria’s fight against Boko Haram.

Since 2009, the Islamist sect known as Boko Haram has escalated its attacks across Nigeria, targeting the country’s security forces, politicians and civilians – both Muslims and Christians.  Hundreds of people have been killed.  The AL-Qaeda linked militant group wants to establish a strict Islamic state in the country’s northern territory.

Insecurity in Nigeria’s oil-producing Niger delta region has long dominated American concerns about the stability of the West African nation.  Now, the emergence of the Boko Haram, in the predominantly Muslim north, is sparking even more concern in Washington.  The U.S has pledged to help Nigeria with forensics, tracking suspects and “fusing” dissimilar strands of police and military intelligence.

“We intend to remain very supportive on your reform efforts. Thank you for mentioning the work we did together on the elections. We are also very supportive of the anti-corruption reform efforts, more transparency in the work you and your team is also championing because we really believe that the future for Nigeria is limitless.” Secretary Clinton said.

In the early stages of its rise, Boko Haram was not taken seriously by some in the international community– even though U.S intelligence and the United Nations confirmed their links to AL-Qaeda.  But, when Boko haram bombed the u-n headquarters in Abuja last august, Washington began to pay more attention to the group as an emerging threat to U.S. national security. Peter Pham, director of the Atlantic council’s Michael s. Ansari Africa center, has written extensively on the rise of Boko haram and he says that the Islamic militant group is a security threat– and that some elements within the opposition are trying to use the group to undermine President Goodluck Jonathan’s government.

“We’ve seen the group evolve from a rather idiosyncratic localized group of trouble makers in the far northeast to a national level group with clear ties to transnational terrorist organizations both for ideology and for tactics and were seeing right now an ongoing evolution that may take it version 3.0 which will make it even more dangerous.  So there’s clearly a security threat behind the security threat there’s also a political threat.”

In November 2011, the sub-committee on counter-terrorism and intelligence of the house homeland security committee, chaired by Congressman Patrick Meehan, released a report on Boko Haram’s threat to America.  The report noted that Boko haram had evolved from a locally focused group to a transitional and trans-national organization capable of conducting coordinated truck bombings against western targets.

Both critics and sympathizers have accused the Nigerian government of not doing enough to halt the violence. Jennifer Cooke, director, of the Africa program at the center for strategic & international studies says the government’s approach has been slow in past and that it’s incumbent on the leaders of all the political parties to be part of the solution.

“There are various factions some much more criminal in nature some may have political supporters who are giving resources to them and that raises very tricky delicate questions.  I’m not sure that the government has a handle on this i think it’s losing the confidence of many in Nigeria.  It’s weakening the government politically, at the end of the day though this isn’t just about a government responses there are communities there are state governments there are political leaders from all the parties who have some responsibility  in coming up with a solution.”

Security experts believe Boko Haram’s bombing campaign has raised fears that the group is trying to ignite a religious conflict inside Nigeria which is evenly divided between Christians and Muslims.

By Paul Ndiho and Rush Perez

August 9, 2012

A United Nations report has implicated the Rwandan government in supporting the M-23 rebels in eastern Congo.  The fighting has caused hundreds of thousands of people to flee.  In response to the report, some western nations have cut aid to Rwanda.

Since April, the Congolese army, supported by the UN Peace Keeping Mission, has been battling the M-23 rebels.  The violence began when several hundred disgruntled government soldiers deserted the army and joined the rebels, led by Bosco Ntaganda– nicknamed the terminator.  Ntaganda has been indicted by the international criminal court and just last month the I-C-C issued a new warrant for his arrest for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Last month, in a major policy shift, the U.S State department announced it would be cutting 200-thousand dollars in military aid to Rwanda, and several other western nations followed suit, and also trimmed their aid.  Jennifer Cooke, head of the Africa program at the center for strategic and international studies – CSIS Says since 1994 Rwanda has enjoyed immense support from the west.

“I think perceptions of Rwanda are definitely changing there’s been a lot of hesitance by the us to be too critical of Kagame there’s the overhang of guilt from the genocide and not taking actions soon enough, there’s the idea that Kagame did restore stability after a terrible situation. Rwanda ‘s been seen as a model aid recipient using the assistance well transparently speaking a language of the west on the development side, so there’s been a hesitance to critique him on whether its domestic policies in terms of authoritarian rule or the narrowing of political space or for his external engagement.”

In Eastern Congo last week, hundreds of people demonstrated against Rwanda’s support of the rebels.  Meanwhile, here in Washington, some members of the Congolese diaspora camped out in front of the Rwandan embassy.  Kambale Musavuli, a spokesman for friends of the Congo, explained why.

“Yes it’s definitely a symbolic move, but we do think it’s very encouraging for the past decades over a decade Rwanda has acted with total impunity for sections in the Congo. With the U.S actually taking steps to end the culture of impunity by withholding aid it sends a signal to the international community that Rwanda’s image is not that clean.”

Another protester shares Musavuli’s sentiment.

“we’ve been treated unfairly in the eyes of the creator every human being is accounted for there were six million eight million Congolese killed, 4 million women raped, ethnocide genocide the world has forgotten about us and we are very disappointed with the leaders of the world, the media of the world, and the people of the world everybody knows what’s going on.”

Felicity Nkudo, a Congolese native who traveled from New York to Washington to voice her concern about the issue of sexual violence in eastern Congo:

“As a woman i am deeply moved by the fate of my sisters back in the Congo there is a phenomenon that’s been created in the Congo by the Rwandese attackers, and the European Union spoke about it that it started in 1996 when Rwandese attacked the Congo it’s called rev that means rape of extreme violence.  And in the Congo women are being raped they’re being stabbed in the womb the children are being raped that is unacceptable that is a total violation of human rights.”

Despite the violence, Jennifer Cooke believes there is hope for a diplomatic solution through dialogue:

“Ultimately there’s going to be needed a strong diplomatic push that involves the government in the DRC so Kabila and Kagame to come to some kind of agreement on security architecture for that region.”

According to the u-n, violence began gripping the eastern Congo in 1999– and has since caused more than 5 million deaths and forced hundreds of thousands of citizens to flee from their homes.  Analysts say the conflict has been termed “Africa’s great war” and at one time or another, involved of at least eight countries.  VOA tried to contact the Rwandan embassy in Washington for comment– but they declined.

By Paul Ndiho

July 12, 2012

Mobile phones are revolutionizing the way people communicate. They are also giving entrepreneurs an opportunity to create applications for the technology just like the big software companies.

Twenty two-year-old Abdu Sekalala is a college student in Uganda and also a successful businessman. He creates mobile applications that compete with some of the biggest names in mobile software.

So far the young entrepreneur has developed nine internationally recognized applications including Wordbook — a dictionary app with a “word of the day” function that includes definitions and synonyms.

Sekalala earns just over one US dollar for each download from Nokia’s Ovi store and his applications have been downloaded over 300,000 times so far.

“I have about four themes and five applications or the other way around five applications, four themes. Now the themes are basically to customize the UL of your phone, the way your phone appears, the screens, the transitions, the colors and the apps. We have Wordbook, which is a dictionary, and the Tutu Translate which is basically a translator and then there is World Sports which is a sports application for soccer fans.”

Sekalala caught his big break when mobile phone company Nokia held a training session in Uganda last year to help software developers expand their skills in building applications.

He quickly learned how to develop his own application and Nokia was willing to adapt it for their online applications store.

Nokia plan an aggressive growth strategy focusing on outing their productions in the hands of millions of new customers. This gives developers like Sekalala a wider market at a time when the demand for applications to access the internet is at an all-time high.

Nokia’s Agatha Gikunda says developers like Sekalala have a unique opportunity to access an international market and make money.

“So one of the ways that they can actually make money is they put it on the store for free so that consumers around the world can download it for free but they make money through advertisements, so one of the apps that Abdu created, that’s what he incorporated so he put in advertising. So advertisers around the world pop up their ads within that application so he makes money from that and that money is entirely his.”

Africa has the world’s fastest growing telecom markets and analysts say internet based mobile solutions are helping boost development and growth on the continent.

Gikunda said there is great potential for mobile app businesses in Africa because companies are looking for new ideas to engage consumers.

“So Africa is definitely the next frontier, developers here have a huge opportunity that they have never ever had before to create businesses that require very little startup capital.

Sekalala and other African entrepreneurs see great opportunities in mobile technology and look forward to continued growth in the future. He makes over 100 US dollars a day from his apps. He says he will not be looking for job soon but instead he will continue developing applications.

By Paul Ndiho

June 30, 2012

At the second African diaspora marketplace competition, seventeen African entrepreneurs in agribusiness, information technology and renewable energy were awarded grants to start or expand their business– and promote economic growth in north and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Nearly 500 entrepreneurs’ submitted business plans to compete for a grant to invest in their business as part of the Africa diaspora marketplace ii competition. The event featured forty-four finalists who competed for one million dollars in prizes.  Seventeen were selected and walked away with fifty thousand dollar matching grants. A-d-m ii is jointly funded by US-AID, and the western union company.

Jeffery Jackson, senior private sector adviser at US-AID says the finalists’ initiatives ranged from software development in Ghana, to palm kernel processing in Nigeria, to poultry production in Kenya.

“The African diaspora market place is a very innovative business plan competition where we are targeting members of the African diaspora and others who are interested in African development.”

Alden zecha, C.F.O, of Spoxel, a previous winner of an ADM award.  He was also one of the judges tasked with selecting the top twenty ventures, he explains the criteria.

“One was incredible passion, to see that they really believe in their idea and that they feel very strongly about it. Another aspect is commitment: Are they really committed to make sure that their project succeeds and are they willing to invest not just their time and energy but potentially some of their funds. Also looking at their knowledge and the research they’ve done.”

David Kiambati, a Nairobi-based agribusiness entrepreneur says he is looking to expand his business and become a regional player.

“zero waste-based farming and essentially what you do is you take those organic fertilizers and put it right back in the land, you improve the yield from the land and you have more food crops for people to eat and also what you do is you can use those same organic food crops to feed the pigs have better quality pigs.”

Western union is a leader in global payment services and one of the partners who say they are constantly looking for creative ideas.

“We’re looking for innovative ideas. First of all, ideas in agribusiness, ICT or renewable energy that target really high growth, potential high growth areas on the continent of Africa. Really things that change, are new, really make agribusiness more efficient.”

Seyi Adeyinka of Riol farms, a Nigeria based livestock and crop production farm located in Ogun state, about 50 miles outside of Lagos, was one of the winners of a $50 thousand dollar grant. She says that Riol farms are committed to its customers, workers and its community.

“the $50,000 will enable us to do all of that right away and start embarking on the poultry production unit which will be very beneficial to us and also to the community because we will be employing more people in the local area.”

VOA’s Ndimyake Mwakalyelye, host of the event told the aspiring entrepreneurs that they should identify themselves as vehicles of change and that they could help put Africa on a very different path.  To expand upon previous successes, the organizers invited tony elumelu of the Tony Elumelu foundation and award winning actor, Jeffery wright, and founder of the Taia foundation. Elumelu, whose foundation is dedicated to the promotion and celebration of excellence in business leadership and entrepreneurship across Africa, says that Africans in the diaspora need to team up with those on the continent to develop Africa.

“I’ve said many times that no one is going to develop Africa but ourselves, so Africans in diaspora should see it as a learning phase, a phase to amass knowledge, expertise, experience exposure and take it that all these human capital acquisitions and assists would be nothing if they don’t play a role in the development of Africa.”

Last year’s ADM grantees are at the forefront of number innovative business enterprises Sub-Saharan Africa.

By Paul Ndiho
June 27th 2012
Internet connectivity is spurring the growth of many African economies, but investment in building the infrastructure to help meet the rising demand for fast and reliable broadband — especially in poorer countries needs to catch up.
The arrival of the fiber-optic cable brought with it promises of faster more reliable internet service.  Some analysts say the days of slow speeds and hours wasted staring at computer screens waiting for e-mails to download are over.
Africa’s internet connectivity through satellite is nearly a thing of the past, except in a few countries, as new terrestrial and submarine cables link the continent to the rest of the world.  Sub-Saharan Africa alone has nine submarine cables, with a total capacity of 22 terabytes– the volume of traffic that can be transmitted via fiber-optic cable.
Aidian Baigrie, a representative of Seacom, a submarine fiber-optic cable networking company says undersea cables mean that internet service is getting cheaper and its usage is set to rise.
“Three years ago, the pricing was vastly different to what is it is today. To give an example, in Africa the cost of a megabyte in some of the more advanced countries or for 10 megabytes was about a dollar and half. What we are seeing today to get 10 megabytes is probably an equivalent of 20 us cents, so we have seen huge and vast change in pricing over the last three years, and that is reflected in this massive growth in subscriber numbers. We are expecting about 150 million more internet users in Africa to come on in the next three years.”

A World Bank study shows a ten percent rise in broadband penetration is linked to a 1.3 percent increase in economic growth and that small internet based businesses are also feeling the positive effects of speedy and affordable connectivity.
Keabetswe Modise owns a graphic design company that operates in South Africa’s commercial capital Johannesburg.
“it is cheap and it’s reliable and your documents get kept there, so you cannot lose your documents, if you misplace or something happens to your system or you have to repair or reformat your system, you know that you got your information backed up in emails,”
Duncan Mcleod, an internet and innovations expert observes that massive investment and focus on growing the infrastructure is still needed for even better access to broadband.  But South Africa, the continent’s biggest economy is steps ahead of other parts of Africa.
“There is a massive over-investment in undersea cables, we have eight or ten of these things coming down our shoreline, more investments are coming. The other day we heard about brics cables to link Brazil, Russia, India, china and South Africa to the us, there is also wacs cable across Atlantic ocean which is going to bring massive amounts of capacity in the next two years.
Africa’s limited internet infrastructure means that mobile phones are becoming the point-of-entry for high-speed internet.
Industry giants such as South African group MTN, Indian operator Bharti Airtel and France telecom’s orange unit, as well as smaller firms like South Africa’s unlisted cell c, are ramping up investments to win the new battleground of high-speed internet via mobile phones.
Kenya’s mobile service provider, Safaricom, expects a surge in demand for data services in the east African nation of 40 million people, thanks to an explosion of internet-ready, hand-held devices– and an increase in the number of relevant applications and content.
In West Africa, the number of people in Nigeria with internet access could triple over the next two years, mirroring the explosion in MOBI.  But          Goldstuck cautions that the growth in mobile internet availability comes at the cost of quality.
“unfortunately what we see often in the market service providers don’t want to give up very healthy margins that they are enjoying. So in the past for example the excuse they gave for not bringing down the cost of bandwidth was that international bandwidth was so expensive, with the undersea cables the cost of international bandwidths has plummeted, but now the excuse is “oh no it was not the international bandwidth, it was the cost of local infrastructure. So the local a access cost and infrastructure cost it is actually what it dictates cost of our bandwidth, so we can only bring it down so much or we can’t bring it down at all.”
The international telecommunication union says several African countries are still wholly dependent on satellite internet. With Sierra Leone and Liberia recently welcoming the undersea Africa coast to Europe fiber-optic cabling.  Other african nations including the central african republic, chad, the democratic republic of Congo, Eritrea and Liberia, all lack fiber-optic connections to the wider world.