Month: April 2015

#CitiTrends Episode 9: Google ranking algorithm and Women in Tech Africa

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Credit: Women in Tech Africa

Credit: Women in Tech Africa

When search giant Google decided to introduce a new ranking system for websites on its search engine, millions panicked. They were right to. Imagine waking up to realise your site’s ranking has been lowered tremendously because your site was not mobile friendly! I caught up with Divine Puplampu, a technology journalist, and asked him for some more details.

Journalist, Emmanuel Dogbevi, Malta, was at the IFA Global Press Conference which is a meeting place of over 360 journalists from more than 50 countries and leading consumer technology companies such as Philips, Grundig, ZTE, and Gibson and Microsoft. New technology that could knock you off your feet was showcased and he shared with me some the things that caught his eye.

I was also one of the lucky guys in the room at the Women in Tech Africa (Ghana Chapter) event at Alisa Hotel. The Women in Tech Africa is a formal Pan-African Network of Women in Technology who organise regular activities to provide effective support to women in technology across the African continent. The theme for the event was Women in technology – the future of Africa. Founder of Women in Tech Ghana, Ethel Cofie; Airtel MD, Lucy Quist; Mobile Web Ghana Director, Florence Toffah and David Hutchful, Director of technology and innovation at Grameen Foundation feature here.

Awo shares the gospel according to CLEAR and Mailbox from Dropbox on the Apps segment on the show while Nathan Quao brings you up to date with the latest technology news.

All this and more on the 9th episode of #CitiTrends.

#CitiTrends Episode 8: Samsung Galaxy S6 & S6 Edge vrs Ghana’s Online bookstores

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Source: Samsung

Source: Samsung

One of the most anticipated phones of the year is here and the 8th edition of #CitiTrends does a breakdown of the phones with Tetteh Akunor who is the Product Manager for the Handheld Department at Samsung. The Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge gets a critical look.

Technology is said to have the potential to transform education by extending the learning space beyond the four walls of a classroom. Although brick-and-mortar schools will continue to play a leading role in education over the coming decades, technology offers a variety of learning opportunities beyond the physical limits of school. #CitiTrends hosts Boadi Owusu Nyametse and Jemima Alemna from Azalia.com, Ghana’s only online bookstore to talk more about the changing trends in Ghana reading culture.

The #CitiTrends 2-minute App Pitch challenge features Beep, an app aimed at connecting people in the most unique of ways. Infinit and Ditty for messenger are the two apps that feature on the show this week.

Enjoy.

#CitiTrends Episode 7: Solving Ghana’s address system and Social Media for Social Good

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citi trends 11As the world marks a year since some 276 girls were abducted from a boarding school in Chibok in northeast Nigeria, #CitiTrends looks at how social media and digital media can be used for social good. Stephen Boadi, Head of Digital Marketing at PZ Cussons for Africa. He joins us on #CitiTrends today to share his experiences from across the continent on how corporations, groups and to some extent countries should be harnessing the power of social media for the good of the communities they operate in.

The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development in Ghana has developed a National Policy Framework and Operational guidelines on street naming and property address systems for the country. By the end of the Project, i can imagine that a whole lot of money will be spent trying to get an address system together for Ghana. Snoocode wants help solve that headache. Ses Flyd is the man behind this innovative bit of technology and he shares his dream on #CitiTrends. 

The folks behind the Osiki app are featured in the App segment of the show as they kickoff the 2-minute App Pitch Challenge on the show. There is also some interesting tech-related news on trending on the show.

Press play and enjoy.

Switch on your pitching power

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credit: tedconfblog

credit: tedconfblog

It is one thing to have a product. It is another thing having a functioning product.

However, the power of pitching your functioning product to the community your product is targeted at, can often be a whole new kettle of gold fish.

That is what i have found anyway.

A month ago, during a round table conversation with some of Accra’s tech minded individuals, i was informed that one of the biggest problems startups face has to do with exposure. It appears people do not know their story. Everyone is caught up with the hype of the few successful ones.

Despite my insistence that most app developers in Ghana i have come across are more interested in the ‘money side’ of the entrepreneurs journey, i was impressed upon to acknowledge the role the media played in shaping that mindset.

In a recent interview with Eric Kumah of NewAccra.com, and Patience Teiko Tetteh, software developer with E4 Solutions, i understood to some extent of the difficulties of app developers in Ghana.

The question that kept popping up was: Who was telling the ‘real stories’ of app developers and young entrepreneurs? How were Ghanaians going to know about applications made to solve their unique problems?

The #CitiTrends 2-Minute App Pitch was thus formed.

The idea is simple.

Ghanaian app developers have two minutes to pitch their applications to a listening public on award winning radio station Citi 97.3 FM. The pitches will be heard on #CitiTrends, a 30-minute technology focused radio show.

The pitches will cover :

1. Name and genesis of app

2. The problem the app seeks to solve in Ghana

3. How people can access the app

4. The future of the app

At the end of every month, one app developer will get an extended interview on #CitiTrends where they can expand on the details of their apps.

App developers can register their interest by sending an email to philipashon@citifmonline.com. 2-minute voice notes of pitches can also be sent via Whatsapp number: +233 505811759.

It is an exciting time in the technology space in Ghana and i can’t wait to see where this pitch challenge leads.

Get pitching!

#CitiTrends Episode 6: OTTs vs Telcos in Ghana and Wikipedia

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Credit: telco-ott.com

Credit: telco-ott.com

Welcome back from the Easter break to another episode of #CitiTrends.

When Facebook purchased the mobile-messaging startup called WhatsApp for $19 billion people thought the company was bonkers. However industry people knew what sort of strategic decision that was. Today mobile phone companies are losing out on lots of cash as apps such as WhatsApp and vibe thrive by giving users the ability to text and chat at no charge. Technology activist and digital marketing strategist, Maximus Ametorgoh shares his understanding on what the situation looks like for Ghanaian telecommunication companies.

Everyone uses Wikipedia. People write long essays with information from there. The English Wikipedia, which most Ghanaians use has over 4 million articles. The number of contributions from Ghana are however, low. Worse off are Ghanaian languages on Wikipedia such as Akan and Ewe. The way to solve the editor deficit is by encouraging and educating people about the fact that Wikipedia is an Internet property and it invites editors from all walks to participate. There are barriers however. Ghanaian representative of Wikipedia and Wikimedia, Sandister Tei shares her views on these barriers and some solutions.

On #Apps this week, Awo presents BriefMe and Office Lens as the two new apps for the week.

There is more great content in the show. Press Play and enjoy.