Nokia E7- Now Available in Kenya

Nokia has just announced the availability of the  new range smart phone the Nokia E7(see the press release and YouTube Video below).That bids good news but !!!!Will the E7 Nokia phone have the wow effect in Kenya (the Likes of the N8), that's a question that the market will determine,sincerely i hope there is an upgrade to the Symbian 3 Software system otherwise you may just have a cool phone but with serious software issues.However on a scale of 1-10 , i would give Nokia a nine anytime...the phones have cool features thats why i find this press release amazing!

All-in-one business smartphone, the Nokia E7, now available in Kenya 

Nairobi, Kenya, 21 April 2011– Nokia has today announced the launch of the highly-anticipated business smartphone, Nokia E7, in the Kenyan market.

 The Nokia E7 is an optimal business phone with great connectivity to work and personal email on a 4-inch touch display and QWERTY keyboard enabling users create, edit and share office documents on a fast, secure intranet access. Nokia E7 users will also be able to easily set up their calendar and sync it with Microsoft Outlook.

 “People are continuing to look for solutions that suit both their work and personal life; in business circles this is known as the ‘consumerisation’ of IT. The Nokia E7 gives people the confidence to bring their own smartphones to the workplace to connect securely to corporate messaging servers,” said Kenneth Oyolla, General Manager for Nokia East and Southern Africa.

 He added: “On the other hand, whether you are an artist, entrepreneur, university student or aspiring world traveller, the Nokia E7 is the only smartphone you will need to get the world’s best mobile navigation and mapping application, thousands of apps, millions of music, and a rich messaging experience.”

 With its tilting, 4-inch ClearBlack display, full keyboard and a fast access to a wide variety of apps directly on the homescreen, the Nokia E7 is the key to having a successful day in or out of the office. Importantly, the device supports business applications from leading enterprise technology partners including Microsoft and IBM.

 For business users, Nokia E7 provides direct, secure and real-time access to email, calendar, contacts, tasks and the corporate directory through Microsoft Exchange servers, as well as Office Communicator Mobile, developed by Microsoft for Nokia smartphones, which brings presence and corporate instant messaging.

 The WhatsApp Messenger is a smartphone messenger available for Nokia, iPhone, Blackberry and Android phones. WhatsApp uses your 3G or Wi-Fi (when available) to message with friends and family. This is a switch from SMS to WhatsApp to enable consumers send and receive messages at no cost. The app can be downloaded from http://www.whatsapp.com/nokia/ 

 Additionally, a wide range of entertainment and social services available on the Nokia E7 make it the perfect off-duty companion, and the Ovi Store offers a wealth of local apps. These include   “Daily Nation” for Kenyan News, Business, Sport and Entertainment and the application gives access to in depth coverage and analysis of issues and breaking news and “Rich”, an application that keeps you updated with the Nairobi Stock Exchange. The Nokia E7 users will be able to use “AroundMe”, an app that allows one to easily and quickly find important businesses and services in your surrounding or any other location. For example, one can find restaurants, banks, gas stations, and other local services with ease. It enables you to view maps, directions, routes, street view, read reviews and even call the business.

The new arrival offers drive or walk navigation in 80 countries. The latest commercial version of Ovi Maps, available immediately via Ovi Store or Ovi Suite, adds visibility to subways, trams and trains, real-time traffic, safety alerts, visibility to parking and petrol stations, speed limit warnings, and improved search and location sharing capabilities.  The Nokia E7 will be selling in retail between 52,000 -54,000 Kenya Shillings.

Here are more reasons why the Nokia E7 is the all-in-one business smartphone:

• Easy access to private and business email
• Create, edit and share office documents and view PDF files with Adobe Reader
• Fast, secure intranet access with the built-in VPN
• High-resolution photos and HD video with the 8 megapixel camera and dual LED flash
• HDMI connectivity to project files, videos and images onto large screens

·         16 gigabytes of on-board flash memory

·         USB-On-The-Go, enabling easy file sharing by connecting a USB stick to the smartphone

Enablis Network of Entrepreneurs Soars, Creates More Jobs

Nairobi: April 13^th , 2011 – Enablis East Africa network of entrepreneurs created a total of 3,700 jobs in 2010, up from 1,659 in 2009 an annual independent member survey has revealed.

 The Independent Annual Survey, conducted in February 2011, for the third consecutive year by research company Research in Action across Enablis’ 500-strong membership indicated that each entrepreneur in the network created an average of 7.4 jobs up 6.5 jobs the previous year, across all sectors of the economy.

 Commenting at the launch of the survey, Mr. Ali Mufuruki, Chairman of Enablis East Africa said: “We are delighted at the positive results that we are seeing through this annual survey. Our membership has grown to the 500 member milestone from 222 entrepreneurs in 2009. This is a huge achievement for a young organization such as ours, but more importantly, is that our members are creating more jobs year on year.”

“These results demonstrated that great things are possible when entrepreneurs receive the necessary support such as skills, knowledge and networking opportunities such as the once provided by Enablis. We believe that entrepreneurs can have a tremendous impact on socio-economic development of the East Africa region.”

The Enablis’ package of services for entrepreneurs is based largely on the Chase Bank Enablis Annual Business Launchpad Competition, which draws members to Enablis as a platform for networking, capacity building and financing. 

Enablis Africa Chief Operating Officer, Moses Mwaura, said, “We are very happy to see the membership across our country chapters growing so quickly in Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda. Additionally, the results of annual survey help to confirm that our programmes add value to entrepreneurs in our network. We continue to strive to best serve the needs of our members and provide them with necessary access to skills development and networking.” 

Mrs. Christine Dusabe is Enablis East Africa’s 500^th member. Mrs. Dusabe is the owner of Rwanda Processing Lumen, a cassava food processing business in Kigali, Rwanda. Rwanda Processing Lumen specializes in purchasing cassava produce from farmer’s cooperatives in the region and processing it into starch and high quality cassava flour, the staple food in the region. In addition, the company also grows its own cassava for processing. Mrs. Dusabe came to Enablis which helped her to build critical business skills, knowledge and gave her networking opportunities with other entrepreneurs.

Demographics

The 2010 Survey included a sample of 122 Enablis East Africa members in Kenya and Tanzania. In this sample, 62% of respondents were male and 38% female, 62% were over 35 years of age and 38% were under 35. Participants come from a range of sectors, the largest including Services (49%), ICT (18%), Agriculture (16%) and Manufacturing (15%).

Job Creation

The 122 entrepreneurs included in the Survey sample have a total of 1105 employees, for an average of 9 employees per member. They created 246 full-time jobs and 659 part-time jobs in 2010, which equates to an average of 7.4 new jobs per member in 2010. Projected across the 500 members, this equates to an estimated total of 3,700 new jobs over a year.  Since the first survey results conducted in East Africa, Enablis member entrepreneurs have created an estimated 9,700-time and part-time jobs.

Business performance

Eighty- seven percent (87%) of survey respondents indicated that they had steady or increased turnover over the past year.  In terms of profits, 83% of respondents experienced steady or increased profits in 2010. Seventy-four percent (74%) of entrepreneurs surveyed have improved, extended or introduced new products or services in the past year and 28% added new businesses.  

Improvement in business skills and knowledge

Ninety-five percent  (95%) of respondents indicated that Enablis has helped them grow their businesses, and an impressive 98% report that they have improved their business skills and knowledge since joining Enablis with networking skills, business strategy and communications toping the list of skills developed.

Ebenise Bester, CEO Enablis Africa, explains, “We are grateful to have the opportunity of working with forward-thinking partners prepared to invest in entrepreneurs. The Canadian International Development Agency, Accenture, Chase Bank, Safaricom, NMB Bank and Microsoft have made these benefits possible to the members in our network.”

The BOBs Deutsche Welle Blog Awards Winners 2011

Deutsche Welle have just announced the 2011 Best of the Blogs(BOB' s) Awards at their website. Among the Jury Award winners from the African Continent  is the African Blog dubbed "A Tunisian Girl" published by Lina Ben Mhenni a professor at the University of Tunis.In Social Activism a Facebook Page dubbed "We are Khaled Said" created in honor of a young Egyptian man named Khaled Saeed carried the day.Khaled was killed by Egyptian police in unclear circumstances in June 2010 sparking the January 25 revolution in Egypt that saw the ousting of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

This year's Bob Awards saw 90,808 votes cast .Its good to see two items from Africa feature among the notable award winners !Last year the Kenyan site Ushahidi was voted the best Weblog .Congrats to all the new winners.