Category Archives: Startup

StartupBus hackcelerates Sterio.Me, a new edu platform for Africa.

Sterio.Me

One of the startup initiatives launched on the StartupBus Africa 2013 is this nifty audio over GSM teacher/student bridge called Sterio.me. The founders Chris Pruijsen, Danielle Reid and Dean Rotherham figured that the issue of teachers engaging their students and tracking their students outside of the classroom in rural Africa without the added benefits of feature gadgets like laptops and smartphones could be addressed through providing a simple audio platform which both teacher and students could access through GSM. Continue reading “StartupBus hackcelerates Sterio.Me, a new edu platform for Africa.”

Startup Bus Africa! Help us get ready for next year!

StartupBus is an annual entrepreneurial road trip, during which the ‘buspreneurs’ conceive, build, and launch their startup. This November, for the first time, it will run in Southern Africa, bringing together 15 African and 15 International entrepreneurs for a truly unforgettable journey… Continue reading “Startup Bus Africa! Help us get ready for next year!”

Namibia sets out to be most competitive tech economy in SADC by 2017

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Namibia has set itself a target in the Fourth National Development Plan (NDP4) of becoming the most competitive economy in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region by 2017. This was the message of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Minister Joel Kaapanda at the Polytechnic of Namibia’s first annual Technology Day here on Wednesday. His special advisor, Mvula ya Nangolo, read the Minister’s speech on his behalf at the day being hosted under the theme “Innovative technologies for enhanced teaching, learning and assessment in Universities of Science and Technology”. “You will all agree with me that without proper investment in education, and especially higher education, this will not be possible. Knowledge and intellectual property are key to achieving national development,” Kaapanda said.
For the country to achieve Vision 2030 and become a knowledge-based society, it is vital that its citizens engage in continuous lifelong learning to acquire knowledge and remain relevant and competitive. He added that monitoring and evaluation reports of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have also shown that some progress has been made in increasing enrolments in primary, secondary and tertiary education.

Continue reading “Namibia sets out to be most competitive tech economy in SADC by 2017”

A Look at Mutlipath TCP


Multipath Router is an example of a device in development that uses the mutlipath TCP.

Multipath TCP is is an effort towards enabling the simultaneous use of several IP-addresses/interfaces by a modification of the TCP protocol that presents a regular TCP interface to applications, while in fact spreading data across several subflows. Benefits of this include better resource utilization, better throughput and smoother reaction to failures. This means, for example, that your mobile device which up to now would utilize each of its connection methods (3g, 4g, Wi Fi) in isolation could potentially use each connection simultaneously making full use of multipath TCP’s intelligent load balancing algorithms to ensure the most stable and efficient connection.

This has big implications for the retail broadband/mobile market as now devices could be developed that manage to link all of the currently isolated methods of internet access and give customers a vastly more reliable, faster and efficient internet connection than current TCP methods.It was developed by Sébastien Barré in 2009 and has now seen adoption by major companies such as Apple in small but interesting ways.

What could this mean for Africa?: Continue reading “A Look at Mutlipath TCP”

Namibian government amends regulations to give entrepreneurs access to venture capital

THE Namibian Government is injecting huge stimulus into the Namibian economy in order to accelerate the growth of local enterprises. The recent promulgation of the amended Regulation 28 and 29 of the Pension Funds Act has the potential to unlock capital and channel its flow towards entrepreneurial businesses.Amended Regulation 28, which limits the extent to which retirement funds can invest in specific asset categories, stipulates that of the 35% compulsory investment in Namibian assets, the exposure in dual listed shares is required to reduce to 10% over the next 4 years. Amended Regulation 29 requires Pension and Provident Funds to invest a minimum of 1,75% of total assets under management in unlisted investments by 2017. This could lead to a massive boost for entrepreneurship in Namibia, as the availability of capital for private enterprises will surge and the Namibian Stock Exchange could see a gradual increase in listing activity of local companies.Nothing ventured, nothing gained

Continue reading “Namibian government amends regulations to give entrepreneurs access to venture capital”

African inventor makes a functioning 3D printer from scrap!

Kodjo Afate Gnikou has imagination, talent and ambition. Using rails and belts from old scanners, the case of a discarded desktop computer and even bits of a diskette drive, he has created what is believed to be the first 3D printer made from e-waste. It has taken him several months to put together his experimental device. Lifting designs off a computer, the 3D printer produces physical objects. He shows us by “printing” a small round container.

And it doesn’t stop there – the 33-year old says he believes this model is only the prototype for something much larger. His aim is to one day transport e-waste to Mars to create homes for mankind. Continue reading “African inventor makes a functioning 3D printer from scrap!”