All girls team wins Kshs 1 million

An all girls team made of two BBIT fourth year students – Lilian Nduati and Linda Kwamboka, and two alumni - Jamila Abass and Susan Eve Ogula and Catherine Kiguru a developer in Tracom , won the top prize of Kshs 1 million in the inaugural  IPO48 software application development competition hosted by SEP (Strathmore Enterprise Program) at the University from 29th to 31st October. The four are members of AkiraChix a group of geek girls.

The winning team developed an application dubbed M-Farm - an information service that focuses on delivering real time information to farmers on current market prices of their products. It also aims to bring farmers together in a collaborative forum.

Essentially, the M-Farm service will help small-scale farmers get price information that will help them know where to get the best deal for their products through their mobile phones. It fills an information gap currently used by middlemen to the detriment of the farmer.

The service will also provide farmers with weather alerts, connect with other farmers, find nearest farm stores and get help from farm experts. M-Farm has simple and easy to use features. It can be accessed in Kiswahili language and integrates an Interactive Voice Response (IVR).

IPO48 is a boot-camp style initiative whose aim is for developers to build new web and mobile services in 48 hours only! It was organized by HumanIPO and Garage48.org. It was the first time the competition was being held in Africa.

Blogger Moses Kemibaro wrote: “the IPO48 was a highly competitive and successful event with many great software applications and business concepts coming to the fore. Its amazing how much creativity and ingenuity was presented there and I found myself thinking more like a venture capitalist, rather than observer. One thing however is for sure – many of the ideas that did not win will still find suitors and in fact it was announced that one already had an Angel Investor in place!” See: http://www.moseskemibaro.com/2010/11/01/akirachix-win-kes-1-million-in-ipo48-with-m-farm/

For a full breakdown of the results, visit this post at Afrinnovator.com  who also covered IPO48 in detail..
Adopted from Strathmore website.

FreeBSD Query....

Hello chix,

My trust that you are all well. I have a problem in installing FreeBSD on a Mecer Computer. I have tried everything with no success. The thing is when i install and enable GNOME on rc.conf file, after restarting it tales me back to the root login after a few seconds. It never takes me to the GUI window :( Anybody knows what the problem might be?

AFCHIX: The Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship: Europe...

AFCHIX: The Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship: Europe...: "“Her capacity to mix technical expertise and a relentless vision inspired, motivated and moved women to embrace technology instea..."

The Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship: Europe, the Middle East and Africa

“Her capacity to mix technical expertise and a relentless vision inspired, motivated and moved women to embrace technology instead of avoiding or ignoring it.”

Dr. Anita Borg (1949–2003)

Anita Borg believed that technology affects all aspects of our economic, political, social and personal lives. A technology rebel with a cause, in her life she fought tirelessly to ensure that technology’s impact would be a positive one. It was this vision that inspired Anita in 1997 to found the Institute for Women and Technology. Today this organization continues on her legacy and bears her name, The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (www.anitaborg.org).

The Scholarship

Dr. Anita Borg devoted her adult life to revolutionising the way we think about technology and dismantling barriers that keep women and minorities from entering computing and technology fields. Her combination of technical expertise and fearless vision continues to inspire and motivate countless women to become active participants and leaders in creating technology.

As part of Google’s ongoing commitment to furthering Anita’s vision, we are pleased to announce The Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship: Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Through the scholarship, we aim to encourage women to excel in computing and technology, and become active role models and leaders.

Multiple scholarships will be awarded based on the strength of candidates’ academic performance, leadership experience and demonstrated passion for computer science. A group of female Bachelor’s, Master’s, and PhD student finalists will be chosen from the applicant pool. The scholarship recipients will each receive a €7,000 (or equivalent) scholarship.

In June 2011, all scholarship recipients and finalists will be invited to visit Google’s Engineering Centre in Zurich for a networking retreat. It will include workshops with a series of speakers, panels, breakout sessions and social activities, and will provide an opportunity for all finalists to meet and share their experiences.

Eligibility requirements

Candidates must:

• Be a female student enrolled in a Bachelor’s, Master’s or PhD programme (or equivalent) in 2011/2012.
• Be enrolled at a University in Europe, the Middle East, or Africa. Citizens, permanent residents, and international students are eligible to apply.
• Be studying Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Informatics, or a closely related technical field.
• Maintain an excellent academic record (e.g. a First Class Honours degree).

How to apply

Please complete the online application and submit all requested documents by 1st February 2011. All application documents must be in English. Scholars and Finalists will be notified in April 2011.

You will be required to submit the following:

• Up-to-date copy of your CV

• Answers to the following short essay questions

  (suggested word count is 400-600 words per question):
  • Describe a significant technical project you have worked on. If you have worked on a major independent research project (such as research for a Master’s or PhD programme), please describe that work here. Give an overview of the problem and your approaches to the key technical challenges. If this was a group effort, be sure to specify your individual role and contributions.
  • Give one or two examples of your leadership abilities. Explain how you were influential and what you were trying to achieve. These need not be demonstrated through formal or traditional leadership roles. Feel free to think broadly and examine the many ways you impact members of your technical community.
  • Suppose someone gave you the funding and resources for a 3- to 12-month project to investigate a technical topic of your choice. Write a short version of a proposal, including a description of the project, your planned methodology, and your expected results. Please pick something other than the project you described for the first question.

• Transcripts

  • Bachelor’s: A copy of your current academic record.
  • Master’s and PhD: A copy of your previous and current academic records.

• Enrollment confirmation for 2011/2012 or confirmation of graduation date

  Please include with your application an official enrollment confirmation or a confirmation of your graduation date issued by an official authority of the university e.g. your departmental administrator or a professor.

• Recommendation letters

  Two strong referral letters from individuals who are qualified to evaluate your academic and leadership accomplishments, e.g. from a professor, adviser or supervisor.

Copied from http://www.google.com/anitaborg/emea/

AFCHIX: Embracing the Digital world... the new era!

AFCHIX: Embracing the Digital world... the new era!: "When we first started out using the Internet a couple of years back, there wasn't a lot out there in terms of information sharing, and netwo..."

Embracing the Digital world... the new era!

When we first started out using the Internet a couple of years back, there wasn't a lot out there in terms of information sharing, and networking.

Today the world has changed so drastically that it is easy to do just about anything in the digital world. Be it start a business, advertise a commodity or constantly keep in touch with friends and family, the Internet has got it all.

I would like to consider myself a Digital native, a person who uses the Internet on a daily basis to bring a special cause to notice, or writing about my personal experiences and thoughts. I thank the Internet for the opportunity.

Am passionate about issues concerning gender inequalities in my field of work, and that is the Technology field. I would love to see as many women take up the spotlight that they deserve to shine in their careers in Information Technology and Engineering and also step up to mentor other women to do so. There are many ways we can achieve this, and I must say we are already in the right direction. With forums where we get together like AfNOG CHIX to study and share technical knowledge, to blogging and tweeting, we are one foot in the right direction.

Ladies on this forum, the AfCHIX as we call ourselves, I would like to encourage us to embrace the Digital world, to learn to communicate and keep the fire burning even after workshops like the just concluded one we had in Nairobi, Kenya. There is power in connections, and I can testify to this. Through these connections we shall be linked to a world full of opportunities, be it a job opening, an opportunity to attend a conference, a community knowledge sharing workshop, mention it.

Lastly, we need to learn to think like business people, you can start your own business initiative and through this connection and many more get it up and running. It all takes passion and having a vision.

I look forward to learning more from all the CHIX on this forum and to share more on my life experiences in this lovely field of Technology that we all embrace.

Welcome.

AFCHIX: Apps for Development by the World Bank

AFCHIX: Apps for Development by the World Bank: "The Apps for Development Competition aims to bring together the best ideas from both the software developer and the development practitio..."

Apps for Development by the World Bank

The Apps for Development Competition aims to bring together the best ideas from both the software developer and the development practitioner communities to create innovative apps using World Bank data.
The Competition challenges participants to develop software applications related to one or more of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Submissions may be any kind of software application, be it for the web, a personal computer, a mobile handheld device, console, SMS, or any software platform broadly available to the public. The only other requirement is that the proposed application use one or more datasets from the World Bank Data Catalog available at data.worldbank.org.
Applications submitted to the Competition should address at least one of the following objectives:

1. Raise awareness of at least one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), or
2. Contribute to progress toward meeting one of the MDGs by 2015.

Applications which best satisfy the competition criteria will receive cash prizes and the opportunity to have their apps featured on the World Bank Open Data website. Competition participants are encouraged to also use other relevant indicators and datasets, and to be creative in exploring approaches for realizing the goals.
About the Millennium Development Goals
The MDGs represent a collective ambition for our world. Simply put, the MDGs express a vision of a world in which extreme poverty and hunger have been eliminated, and the economic and human welfare of poor people worldwide has been tangibly improved. The MDGs articulate specific targets to be reached by 2015 related to poverty and hunger, universal education, child health and other crucial dimensions.

How to enter

Interested participants must register for the contest on this webpage by creating an account between October 7, 2010, and January 10, 2011. Registrants will receive an email, which they must use to verify their account. Once registered, participants may enter their submissions via the Submit Application tab. In order to be considered, each submission must include: a link to the application, a video of the application, a text-based description of the application, and at least one still photograph of the working application.
The Challenge is open to all individuals from member countries of the World Bank (see: worldbank.org) who have attained the age of majority in their individual nations at the time of their entries, as well as companies with fewer than fifty employees. Organizations employing fifty or more employees are eligible for the Large Organization Recognition award.
In order to be considered for prizes, submissions must be original software applications solely owned by the entrant(s), which must use at least one of the World Bank datasets found at http://data.worldbank.org. We encourage you to view the Resources Page to find more information on the data and the MDG's. The text descriptions in the contest submission must accurately describe the functionality of the application, and all submitted materials must be in English, or include an English translation. Submissions must eschew indecency, defamation, violence, pornography, and obvious bad taste.
All entrants will retain all intellectual property ownership in their submissions. All interested applicants must read the complete version of the Official Rules document. The rules listed here provide only a brief introduction and overview, and do not constitute a complete list of all requirements and restrictions that apply to this competition.

Important dates

Submission Period:

Start: Oct 07, 2010 12:00 PM EDT End: Jan 10, 2011 05:00 PM EST

Judging Period:

Start: Jan 31, 2011 12:00 PM EST End: Feb 28, 2011 05:00 PM EST

Public Voting Period:

Start: Jan 31, 2011 12:00 PM EST End: Feb 28, 2011 05:00 PM EST

Winners announced:

April, 2011

Judges

Shaida Badlee

Director, Development Data Group, World Bank

Shanta Devarajan

Chief Economist, Africa Region, World Bank

Jussi Hinkkanen

Head of Government Affairs, Middle East and Africa, Nokia

Homi Kharas

Senior Fellow and Deputy Director, Global Economy and Development, Brookings Institution

Eduardo Lora

Chief Economist (a.i.) and General Manager, Research Department, Inter-American Bank

Craig Newmark

Founder, Craigslist, Inc.

Ory Okolloh

Executive Director and Co-founder, Ushahidi

Kannan Pashupathy

Director, Engineering, Google

Jean-Louis Sarbib

Chief Executive Officer, Development Gateway

Judging criteria

Quality of the Idea

Including creativity and originality

Implementation of the Idea

Including user experience, design, and performance

Potential Impact on the Competition Objectives

Which are 1) raising awareness of, or 2) making progress toward achieving at least one MDG

Prizes

First Prize

$15,000 USD

Second Prize

$10,000 USD

Third Prize

$5,000 USD

Honorable Mentions (5)

$2,000 USD Each

Popular Choice Award

$5,000 USD

mWomen Bottom Of Pyramid App Challenge

The mWomen team yesterday, announced the launch of the mWomen BOP App Challenge sponsored by Vodafone, at the official launch of the mWomen programme at the US State Department hosted by Secretary Hillary Clinton.

This exciting challenge, supported by Frog Design and Carmel Ventures aims to build on the momentum currently in the marketplace for innovative app design and to provide fresh, original app solutions for women in developing countries living on under $2 a day. It also aims to catalyse an increase in the adoption and use of services provided through mobile technology, enhancing and empowering women’s decision making process.

This challenge is in line with the mWomen programme objectives of bringing access and innovative products and services to currently unconnected women in developing countries. It is a two tier challenge: Tier 1 will be an app for a low end device and Tier 2 will be an app for smart phones.

The winner will receive full support for their app to not only help change the lives of millions of women living on less than $2/day, but to also become a global leader in app design with distribution, design and business support.

The prize:

• $10,000.00 to the winner of each tier sponsored by Vodafone
• Entrance to Mobile World Congress 2011 for one team member of each winning tier
• Flight and accommodation to attend MWC 2011 for one team member of each winning tier
• Opportunity to showcase your winning app at the mWomen Seminar at MWC
• Opportunity to showcase your winning app at the next mWomen Working Group (post MWC 2011)
• Exclusive access to a leading venture capitalist to assist in the development of your app
• Exclusive access to a leading innovation and design company

To enter please go to www.mwomen.org/appschallenge

You bet I will participate,will you?