Posted inConnectivity

All set for the Broadband Forum

On Friday 10 May all things Broadband will blend into a giant cauldron of dialogue, knowledge sharing and networking. After a long wait and even longer days of preparation, we look forward to your active participation.
Posted inConnectivity Social Media

Social media lessons from Zimbabwe’s mobile operators (Updated)

A lot can change in a year - especially in Zimbabwe. In 2011 very few of Zimbabwe’s established brands seemed to have a presence on Facebook (Twitter “didn’t exist” yet). Today’s marketing landscape has significantly changed as a number of savvy brands finally understand how and why social media matters to their marketing mix.
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Posted inConnectivity Startups

Iroko Partners pumps up the volume with $8 million in fresh funding

Jason Njoku’s one and a half year old outfit has raised the bar for Sub Saharan African startups. Iroko Partners is charging ahead with its vision to put Nigerian entertainment online. Pando Daily published a post yesterday, revealing that the Lagos based startup had bolstered its war chest by way of two $4 million rounds. The funding came from Silicon Valley and emerging market stalwarts, Tiger Global.
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Posted inConnectivity

LinkedIn Africa Stats: Zimbabwe sitting in 11th position

According to statistics published by zoomsphere, a social media analytics platform ,Africa has 5 772 194 registered users on LinkedIn. The information is as of February 27 2012 and digs into each African country’s most active companies by members and activity. Zimbabwe is understood to have 103 400 registered members, making it the 11th biggest Linkedin user base in Africa. The top twenty countries on the continent are as follows:
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Posted inConnectivity

Why Africa needs more home grown brands

Every year, Interbrand undertakes an extensive probe to determine the world’s top 100 brands. The branding consultancy is among the world’s frontline experts in its field. Along with a parallel ranking conducted by Brand Finance, Interbrand’s top 100 brands survey has become a global standard.
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Posted inConnectivity Startups

Perspective: Africa’s top 20 startups as ranked by Forbes

The February edition of Forbes Africa has a feature profiling the top 20 startups from the African continent. As expected, mobile played a dominant role with Mxit coming up tops as the most promising startup. In the truest sense of the word startup, Mxit might not qualify as it went through institutional investors and is more than seven years old. Definitions and valuations aside, the geographical origins of the startups profiled serves as yet another call to action for those of us in Zimbabwe.
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Posted inConnectivity

Africa: The era of collaborative consumption has arrived

A new wave is sweeping across developed countries and can make a big impact in Africa. For those who thought group buying was the last big goldmine in ecommerce, collaborative consumption has triggered a new and sustainable rush. In a world struggling to recover from a rough economic patch and more importantly with waste and global warming; collaborative consumption has come to the rescue.
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Posted inConnectivity

A vote of confidence for Telecel

Orascom Telecom have ceased their fence sitting ways with Telecel Zimbabwe in a big way. The Independent reported on Friday that the company will pump in $70 million into Telecel Zimbabwe. This move is very significant for the company beyond monetary value as Vimpelcom (Orascom’s parent) has made a commitment to channel its global resources for the benefit of the local unit.
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Posted inBroadband

Econet Broadband unleashes Huawei Ideos pair

After we announced the launch of Huawei’s Ideos S7 Tablet in South Africa a few months ago and the company’s stated intentions to conquer Africa with affordable Android devices, Econet Wireless has come out with a double punch. The company has introduced the Huawei Ideos S7 tablet and the Ideos Google phone at $450 and $165 respectively.
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Posted inConnectivity

Harare City Council suspends fibre optic trenching

Like us, you probably woke up to the news that Tendai Mahachi (Harare’s Town Clerk) announced that the City Council has suspended all fibre optic trenching activities in the city. The reason for this was attributed to a breach of agreement on the part of some telecommunications operators and their contractors.
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