SA behind other African states in Internet access

Internet penetration in South Africa, the continent's economic powerhouse, is low compared to other leading economies in Africa due to high broadband cost and a lack of infrastructure, a study has said.

According to the study commissioned by Google South Africa, the country had 8.5 million internet users in 2011, compared to 6.8 million people in 2010.

"This growth brings internet penetration in South Africa to approximately 17 percent," said the report.

"Despite rapid growth, however, it lags significantly behind the biggest internet user bases in Africa".

Oil-rich Nigeria, which is also Africa's most populous nation, has the highest internet penetration at 29 percent, followed by Egypt, Morocco and Kenya.

Growth in South Africa, the continent's largest economy was attributed to the propagation of smartphones to access the internet, which took off in 2008.

"It should also be borne in mind that access and cost remains the biggest obstacle to internet connectivity, particularly in less developed areas," said Luke Mckend, Google SA country manager.

This year's arrival of an undersea fibre-optic cable, which connects large parts of Africa with the world was expected to improve broadband connectivity across the continent.

The cable has landing points in 10 other countries along Africa's western coast and its arrival promises an Internet boost for Africa, where only 9.6 percent of people are web users, compared to 65 percent of Europeans.

By AFP

Payment platform to boost online buys

Paysure Ltd has unveiled a payment platform that could see increased options for online shopping, as it cuts down on time retailers have to wait to access payments made by buyers.

The firm in partnership with Kenswitch and Chase Bank has launched the first locally administered online payments platform.

The new platform will allow merchants to access funds within a span of two days after the initial online transaction.

According to the Kenya Bank Association (KBA), online transactions usually take up to a week to conclude.
"With many of the products in the market, merchants have to wait up to a week to access their money… Reducing this time to a day is a positive development," said KBA CEO, Mr Habil Olaka.

The week delays normally translate to extra costs for retailers as they need more money to finance restocking.

The platform will cater to Kenswitch member bank card holders making online purchases using their debit or prepaid cards. Chase Bank will process the payments.

Kenswitch has a network of 30 financial institutions including 26 banks. Merchants using the platform will have to open accounts with Chase Bank.

Through Paysure's structure, merchants without websites will also be able to use the payment platform for online transactions.

Large merchants

The charges for using the platform will be Sh5,000 to Sh15,000 for  large merchants, a maximum of five per cent of the transaction for small merchants and free of charge for individual users.

Speaking in Nairobi during the launch of the service, Kenswitch MD, George Wainaina, said the model will provide an opportunity for businesses to receive payment for their goods and services from anywhere across the country.

Website for voters to check status unveiled

An online platform for voters to check their registration status with political parties has been established by the Registrar of Political Parties.

Voters can now confirm the party they are registered with by visiting http://www.iebc.or.ke/rpp/ and entering their ID numbers.

Plans are underway to provide an SMS query channel for the convenience of voters.

The move follows complaints by people of having been registered without their consent into the different parties.

The Registrar of Political Parties, Ms Lucy Ndung'u, said it is an offence punishable by law for any political party to register a member without his or her knowledge. Any party doing so could be de-registered and penalised.

In a letter to the parties, Ms Ndung'u, warned those who may have registered members in a fraudulent manner or have falsified information presented to her to remedy the breach immediately or be de-registered and fined not less than Sh1 million.

"We urge anybody with complaints regarding their registration status to write to the political party they have been registered with and forward a copy to the RPP on registrar@iebc.or.ke," said Ms Ndung'u.

"We had some complaints that some parties enlisted members from mobile money transfer records and various other sources, RPP only checked if all names submitted were indeed those of registered voters, our mandate was not to check whether they were registered with their consent," said the registrar.

By NATION REPORTER

Strathmore MBA classes go virtual with tablets

The student who diligently cleans the chalkboard at Nairobi's Strathmore Business School's lecture theatre is looking forward to a future without this daily task.

Once more technology has come to the rescue.

Kenya's top ranked business school has signed a deal with Samsung Electronics that enables the university's executive MBA students to attend lectures through their Samsung Galaxy 10.1 tablets.

Under the partnership agreement signed mid last month, the Korean electronics giant is to supply every executive MBA student with a tablet that is loaded with e-books and lecture time schedules.

The tablets also give students access to an online portal where they can access live videos of lecture sessions they may have missed.

The videos are transmitted from an electronic board to the tablets through a Wi-Fi connection – creating virtual lecture halls that can be accessed from any corner of the world.

Paul Ouma, the director of MBA programmes at Strathmore Business School says use of technology to deliver quality education is one of the many actions that the university is taking as it deepens its leadership position in Kenya.

Strathmore is convinced that use of electronic platforms to deliver knowledge will free its students from the burden of dealing with huge amounts of paperwork during the lectures, increase interactivity among them as well as revisit lecture sessions they may have missed.

Ability to retrieve and attend live sessions of missed lectures is particularly critical for many of Strathmore Business School's part time students who juggle between classes and strenuous work demands that often make it difficult for them to attend all classes.

"The tablets enable one to enjoy flexibility in terms of when and where you have access to class material," says Ms Vivian Ogutu, the president of the first year MBA students who started their classes in January.

"Students in these courses usually do not have so much time in their hands so on-demand access to lectures is very critical," she says.

Besides, the e-learning platform enables the students to have their semester notes in advance meaning they attend classes with some good understanding of the subject matter.

To deepen use of technology in its teaching, Strathmore is training its lecturers on use of Classroom Management (CRM) functionality that enables them to send what's on the e-board to students' tablets and its use.

The e-learning platform designed by Samsung also comes with a Mobile Learning Management System (m-LMS) that is backed by multiple learning features such as facilitation of resource sharing among students and an application that facilitates remote submission of assignments.

"Our aim is to raise coursework delivery efficiencies for better use of learning time," said Robert Ngeru, the Samsung Electronics East Africa Business Leader.

Samsung's plan is to offer Strathmore Business School students the tablets and digital learning materials at a discounted price.

All these costs are included in the MBA fees structure – meaning everyone who gets admission to the MBA programme will own a Samsung tablet.

Strathmore has picked on technology as one of the pillars that will set it apart from its rivals in the higher education market.

MBA courses have become exceptionally popular with working Kenyans partly because of the premium that many corporations have placed on especially in the hiring of new top managers as well as in promotions.

Executive MBAs have been a preserve of foreign universities with local branches but Kenyan schools have recently jumped onto the bandwagon opening a new front in the battle for control of the booming market.

"E-learning should also give us regional reach as well as support our drive to transform leadership in Africa through a world class learning environment," Mr Ouma, said adding that Strathmore intends to extend the module to other business courses.

Samsung is looking at selling the idea to other universities as it seeks to grow the sales of its tablet computers in the Kenyan market where Apple — through its iPad brand — and Huawei are also fighting to grow market share.

Kenyan universities including JKUAT, KCA and Moi have been growing their MBA programmes, opening huge opportunity for the global e-device companies to compete.

Thousands of Kenyans in active employment have gone back to school in the past decade to sharpen their knowledge and skills with business courses as the most popular.

Over the past three years, they have been churning out an average of 2,500 MBA graduates annually up from an average of 400 in 2003, statistics from the institutions show.

With corporate governance issues facing many companies, the executive MBA emphasises integrity among these business leaders.

By MUGAMBI MUTEGI