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Not everyone is happy about the advancement of technology and the emotions its evokes in people’s lives but as Albert Einstein said; “It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.”

In that regard welcome to the new month and the first #PKTechWeekly covering 30th May to 5th June.

Let’s drive in;

Africa Next Frontier for Nuclear Technology

Did you know that our Africa, this black people ‘infected’ continent is the next frontier for nuclear technology, considering  many countries have signed in this regard?  Did you also know that South Africa is the only country here in Africa that generates nuclear power, but has been facing opposition in its aims to boost its capacity?

Now Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia signed separate deals with Rosatom, a Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation, at a three-day AtomExpo in Moscow, citing the need to diversify their energy sources and tap into the various uses of nuclear technology. Namibia, Egypt and Ghana also said they would continue with their plans. (Read more about this here)

I am hoping Uganda will be added on that list very soon, our president the visionary must have it somewhere on his agenda…

But for now there is

Innovate for Justice call

The Justice Accelerator is looking for top justice innovations that will empower and strengthen both families and SMEs across Africa, the Middle East and Ukraine. In order to make the best solutions more impactful, they have up to €160,000 in acceleration funding available in 2016. The funding is to be divided among the winners, who will continue to receive intensive expert support from them.

I know of Barefoot Lawyers as one of the beneficiaries of this accelerator and I hoping we have more developers and innovators developing or innovating for justice, we surely need some more disruption in that sector. With these disruptive technology we can have some justice served to those are being oppressed because of lack of knowledge about their rights.

The criteria for selection of these innovations says they must be strictly justice related with an expected impact over the areas of focus. Innovations that are general legal tech solutions can also be submitted for  review but may not qualify for the Challenge-competitions. The innovations must also have sustainability, scalability, create impact and be unique. Read how it works on their website.

In the same regard

Startup Battlefield Kampala.

Are you a startup? Would you love  to exhibit and showcase your innovations and ground breaking tech to thousands of users and Vc’s at the biggest startup event this year, 2016 ? Register at www.startupbattlefield.org and get a chance to showcase.

Surely you can’t miss this!

Wear your battle idea, your weapon of mass coding and  go kill a giant problem, while at show off your skills, they might win you something

As

Airtel Africa Won GTB’s Telecoms Innovation & Technology Award.

In collaboration with Nokia, Airtel won the Global Telecommunication Business (GTB) award for a digital backbone that is driving mobile economy in Africa.

Airtel emerged the winner in Voice over internet Protocol (VoiP) App within the Exceptional Emerging Market category. The awards celebrate the collaboration and partnership between operators and vendors whilst recognizing the industry’s commitment to deliver exciting and innovative services to its customers worldwide. These awards were given out in London and in attendance were 300 telecoms leaders from across the globe.

And then

Standard Bank went Digital

The bank’s strategy of using digital technology to deliver the future of banking to clients in Africa announced last year that it will invest $1.5bn in technology globally over three years.

With in mind, the bank launched Standard Chartered Mobile, a mobile banking application in Botswana, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe for the first time. Through the app the bank’s clients can check balances, transfer money and pay bills securely, all through their smartphones. In Nigeria and Ghana, mobile banking clients will move to the Bank’s standard global platform.

Standard Chartered is also upgrading its online banking platform in these eight markets, so clients will benefit from improved navigation and user-friendly interfaces on the Bank’s websites. Clients will soon be able to use a new self-service option for wealth management that lets them set up their investment profiles online and find out which products are most suitable by answering a series of questions on their financial position, investment objectives and risk tolerance.

Overall, clients will enjoy a consistent mobile and online banking experience: usernames and passwords, beneficiaries, standing instructions and bill payees are replicated across both channels. Paying bills is easier too as the revamp comes with an expanded list of utility companies, cable TV and internet providers.

While we are at that, there is a

Pan-Africa Contest Seeking to Capture Fast-Changing Cities, Industry, Technology

The competition seeks to highlight the progress and development of the continent with contrasts, documenting an African booming with youthful consumers, new technology, urbanizing populations and promising economic prospects.

The competition is organised by Agility Africa and it will take place from June 1 (has already started) to Sept. 1, 2016. Agility will award a US$2,000 cash prize to the winner of each of the three categories: cities, industry and technology. A further US$2,000 grand cash prize will go to the photographer who shoots the overall winning image, deemed to best illustrate development and growth across Africa; giving photographers a chance to win up to $4,000.

The winning photographs will be shown on a CNBC Africa telecast and published in Forbes Africa and be featured in Agility social media, promotions and advertising.

The competition will be judged by an independent panel consisting of Sneha Shah, Managing Director, Thomson Reuters Africa; Bronwyn Nielsen, Executive Director of the Africa Business News Group and Editor-in-Chief of CNBC Africa; and Salim Amin, photographer, filmmaker and chairman of Africa 24 Media and Camerapix.

The Africa 2015 Photo Competition drew 700 entries submitted by photographers in 33 countries. Winning entries were dramatic images that captured the capital city of Luanda, Angola; wheat fields in Kenya; and a child holding a smartphone in Uganda.

For more on this read here.

Uber Launched in Uganda

I think we all saw and read the news. They are here and have started operating, though there is a number of problems being stated by the first users. Problem like internet connectivity to make payments, time spent in jams, the drivers not knowing the places they are dropping customers or the use of google maps.

Let me end this with this quote;

“It is not about the technology; it’s about sharing knowledge and information, communicating efficiently, building learning communities and creating a culture of professionalism in schools. These are the key responsibilities of all educational leaders.” – Marion Ginapolis

Patricia Kahill

Patricia Kahill is a multipotentialite Christian entrepreneur, Content Marketing Coach and founder of the Content Marketing agency, Kahill Insights that helps business owners create engaging and interactive content items for digital platforms with a focus on returning a desired outcome. Patricia was the producer of SlamDunk Basketball Talk a show on House of Talent online TV, a former fellow at Harvest Institute for leadership and now an assessor there, and an alumnus of the YELP class of 2017. A member of the BNI Integrity chapter and African Women Entrepreneur Cooperative. She is driven by passion and curiosity, been taking every opportunity that has been given to her with an ambition of stamping her footprint on the world.

3 thoughts on “#PKTechWeekly; Africa Next Frontier for Nuclear Technology, Innovate for Justice, StartUp BattleField & more”

  1. Ummm, I’d like to share some things about this nuclear power subject.

    I’m aware that Europeans who advise Africans against nuclear power are often viewed as colonials who wish to deny Africa something good which we ourselves have, and want to keep for ourselves.

    I can’t do anything against this image except sharing my own view: I think it colonial to spread this technology, in Africa and anywhere.
    To build these plants is very expensive, but to keep nuclear waste safe is unbelievably expensive, with the reservation that it can be done at all, over a period of a few *million*years.

    If the same persons or corporations who get the money from selling nuclear power, would have to pay all the costs, nuclear energy would not exist, anywhere, because it would be madly expensive.
    So the costs get diverted to states, and in the end, to the people, and the profits stay in the hand of a few, who, again, wouldn’t do it if they had to cover all the costs.

    So, those who profit by nuclear power colonize those who pay for it in my opinion, and the Europan people want to shake it off instead of spreading it.

    And those who make a profit from nuclear energy may dram of using these profits to keep themselves safe from the risks of nuclear power, or maybe they just don’t think about the risks. But there is no limiting these risks, everyone has to carry them, no matter whether they paid through their nose or made a profit.

    The people in Eurpoe, normal people, have opposed nuclear energy for decades. In Germany, we finally have laws in place which do not allow new plants to be built, and which do allow old plants to run on only for a certain time.
    But the problem of nuclear waste is still with us, and will continue, like, forever.

    One of very many different forms of political action has been to collect arguments and reasons against the use of nuclear power, and I learned that this collection has been translated to english, so I can show it to you.
    I am a little dismayed that the very first argument in the list is totally from a purely European perspective, please don’t let this distract you.

    Here is the document:

    http://www.ews-schoenau.de/fileadmin/content/documents/100GG/100_good_reasons.pdf

    Here you see a video of german police trying to stop people protesting nuclear power. There are many of these on youtube. The setting: Railroad tracks in a forest. On these tracks a transport of nuclear waste is to take place.

    Millions of people have opposed nuclear power in Europe over the years, and there is massive knowledge about it.

    I do not think it is colonialism if we try to share this knowledge, and also the reasoning around it.

    1. This is much appreciated, I am going to post as a follow up for this blog and quote you all through it. And maybe I will dig deep into nuclear technology to learn more and share with my readers.

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