Author: David Bogonko Nyokang’i

Huawei technologies is tapping into the burgeoning smart transport sector with its new 5.5G network capability that has been built to drive the accelerated digitalization of vehicles and intelligent traffic management systems.

The firm said in a statement that the 5.5G deterministic network guarantees ultra-high reliability and reduced latency down to 4 milliseconds in a high-concurrency environment. Lower latency refers to a minimal delay in the processing of computer data over a network connection. The lower the processing latency, the closer it approaches real-time access.

Li Peng, Huawei’s Senior Vice President and President of the Carrier BG was quoted saying that 5.5G will help cars sense their surroundings much more clearly, as the market quickly embraces the Internet of Vehicles (IoV), Vehicle to Everything (V2X), and connected intelligence.

“An IoV with advanced sensing is a core component of intelligent traffic light systems, navigation on rainy and foggy days, beyond-line-of-sight sensing, and more. Level-4 autonomous vehicles are expected to hit the commercial market in 2025 and will require massive amounts of computing power and strong networks,” said Li.

Pointing out that constant progress is being made in the areas of connected vehicles, Li stated that autonomous cars generate hundreds of terabytes of data each day that need to be uploaded to the cloud to support AI model training and algorithm updates. Since ICT services are essential for intelligent connected vehicles, Huawei will deepen its partnership with the transport industry to support these huge demands for computing power on clouds and intelligent real-time computing.

He added the industry needs to innovate together with technology firms such as Huawei to meet increasing digital requirements in both the consumer and industrial markets.

“The future is now. New business scenarios for people, homes, businesses, and vehicles are delivering new experiences. This is raising higher requirements for network capabilities. Enhanced network capabilities, like 10 Gbps downlink, 1 Gbps uplink, and 100 billion IoT connections, are creating a vast market space in 5.5G for carriers,” stated Li.

He explained that the pursuit of the ultimate experience by a large number of users is driving the development of innovative content and applications, demanding that network operators deliver a 10 Gbps experience.

This includes access to new frequency bands, such as the 6 GHz and mmWave bands, as well as sub-100 GHz spectrum. Huawei has already worked with multiple carriers to perform technical verification for the 6 GHz band. Field tests show that 10 Gbps downlink can be achieved on the 6 GHz band and that the band can also achieve co-coverage with C-band for a single site.

A new report from the International Data Corporation (IDC) has ranked Trend Micro, a global cybersecurity leader, as the largest vendor in the cloud workload security market, with a share more than twice that of its nearest competitor for the 5th consecutive year. The data appears in the report titled IDC Worldwide Cloud Workload Security Market Shares, 2022: A Shifting Landscape. 

IDC’s report also highlights surging demand for cloud workload security. The overall size of the market increased by nearly 27% annually to reach Ksh 260 billion ($2.6bn) worldwide. While it did not go into specifics, the report expects that Trend Micro’s cloud-specific revenue is predicted to grow bigger than that of the second and third largest vendors combined.

“Trend was early to spot the transformational potential in cloud and the need to secure this growing attack surface,” said Gareth Redelinghuys, Trend Micro Country Managing Director African Cluster. “With a 16% market share today, there’s no vendor out there that comes close to the depth of our threat intelligence and geographic diversity of our customer base. Our focus now is to give our customers what they’re increasingly demanding: a broad set of powerful cloud security capabilities delivered seamlessly to protect data no matter where it is.”

This comes at a time when cloud migration continues its exponential growth in South Africa with 69% of businesses planning to increase their cloud spending in 2023. Seven out of ten chief information and technology officers have said that public cloud applications are key to their organisation’s digital transformation strategy.

Yet as organisations migrate more of their mission-critical applications and workloads to cloud environments, they risk increased exposure to business disruption and data theft. The growing popularity of containers, and the accompanying move from monolithic to microservice architectures, is also highlighted by IDC as a fast-emerging risk factor.

In the context of this increasing complexity, he noted that the firm remains committed to its mission to offer powerful protection, detection and response for data in every environment that can be managed from a centralised platform.

“We also recognise that cloud does not operate in a vacuum. That’s why the cloud-native Vision One platform was built to help SecOps teams prioritize threat signals, increase productivity, and take rapid action to contain threats across email, endpoint, network, server and cloud infrastructure,” he added.

To read an excerpt of the IDC, Worldwide Cloud Workload Security Market Shares, 2022: A Shifting Landscape, report please visit: https://resources.trendmicro.com/IDC-Cloud-Workload-Security-Overview.html

Mwananchi Credit Limited, a leading provider of logbook loans and asset financing, was a big winner at this year’s prestigious Pacesetter Awards Eastern Africa chapter that saw over 150 Leading firms and 10 professionals in Eastern Africa honored. The event gala dinner, held at the Weston Hotel Nairobi, saw Mwananchi Credit honored as a Pacesetter in Asset Financing and the Pacesetter in Enhancing Credit Access. These major international SMEs and Mid-sized firms International Award dubbed Pacesetter Awards recognized Mwananchi Credit’s unwavering commitment to expanding access to credit for individuals across the country. Their unique risk financing model has proven to be a game-changer in providing financial opportunities to a wide range of customers.

The awards are organized by Jubilant Stewards of Africa a Non-Governmental Organization that champions improvement of living standards, social ethics, dignity and empowerment of communities.  It brought together firms from at least 10 countries in the Eastern Africa region including top SMEs and mid-sized top institutions from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania among other countries. Pacesetters Award (PSA) is an annual Industry leadership Recognition program organized by Jubilant Stewards of Africa (JSA), a Non-Governmental Organization, to celebrate key industry leaders for their innovation, quality products and service delivery, job creation, exemplary leadership, growing the economy, and transforming the society. These awards are based on the economic and social impact rather than the balance sheet. Jubilant Stewards of Africa is dedicated to the improvement of living standards, social ethics, dignity, and empowerment of communities. As part of its Corporate Social Investment (CSI), JSA feels the need to encourage firms and individuals to take leadership in their respective industries and get them into pace.

Expressing his elation at the award ceremony, General Manager Muriithi Gitonga expressed his gratitude and enthusiasm for Mwananchi Credit’s achievements.

He said, “These awards hold significant meaning for us, as they symbolize our relentless pursuit of expanding credit access to everyone. Our focus on asset financing is also finally reaping rewards, solidifying our position as the preferred Asset Financing partners in the country. We are immensely grateful to God for our journey thus far.”

The Pacesetter Awards recognized Mwananchi Credit’s exceptional performance and unwavering dedication to providing excellent financial solutions to their clients. With their logbook loans and asset financing options, the company has successfully established itself as a trusted partner for individuals seeking convenient and accessible credit.

As a prominent financial institution, Mwananchi Credit has consistently demonstrated its commitment to meeting the diverse financial needs of their customers. They have continuously strived to offer flexible loan terms, competitive interest rates, and excellent customer service, making them a preferred choice among borrowers.

“Pacesetters Awards considers a range of quantitative and qualitative aspects to determine and honor the winners. A novel survey model was initiated in 2020 for the hyperinflationary environment. The model has since been tested and it demonstrated its functionality, elasticity, and robustness. Furthermore, models in various industries such as the financial sector were remodeled to enhance their significance to the current environment, enhance quality and increase the objectivity of results,” said Jared Oundo, Executive Director of Jubilant Stewards of Africa.

According to Jared Oundo, this year, Jubilant Stewards of Africa in partnership with the United SMEs Association of Kenya are organizing a Tech expo that will take place in Nairobi Kenya from the 3^rd to 5^th of November 2023. In addition, they are organizing a business trip for all award winners set for next year in either Singapore, Dubai, London, or North Carolina.

Some of the new entrants in the 2023 Eastern Africa Chapter of the awards include Westland Laser Eye Hospital, MP Shah Hospital, Pekan Real Estates Ltd , Nyeri based – Modern Furniture Pacific, Tours and Travel firm – Spoton Vacations Ltd, Jambo Freight Tanzania, Pembe Flour Mills, Air Travel and Related Studies, Joy Millers, EM Primelands LtdThe Mimshack Homes Real Estate firm, AMG Realtors, Simpet Kenya Ltd- Creative Graphics design and corporate branding solutions provider,  Brett and Baileys Limited Tanzania, Eng. Martin David from Tanzania, Pekans Real Estates CEO Peter Kariuki as the most Inspiring CEO of the year among others.

Most of the awardees have been conferred with other awards including the Top KPMG 100 Survey and other international awards. Notable firms that have featured in the Pacesetters Awards Eastern Africa Kenyan Chapter include; Telecommunication giant Safaricom, Ena Coach, City Walk, Avantis Insurance Agency, Certified Homes, Gotovate Africa Safaris Group, GMC place Kitengela, Automotive Doctor Motor Garage, Sung Timber, German Institute of Professional Studies and Joy Millers Limited. New entrants include; Jambo Freight Ltd Tanzania, inter consult Tanzania, Spik n Span Tanzania, and Raphael Logistics Ltd Tanzania.

About Mwananchi Credit Limited:

Mwananchi Credit Limited is a leading provider of logbook loans and asset financing solutions in Kenya. With a commitment to accessibility and customer satisfaction, they have established themselves as a reliable financial institution, meeting the diverse credit needs of individuals across the country. Mwananchi Credit is dedicated to expanding credit access and empowering customers with financial opportunities through their innovative risk financing model.

In the latest episode of Connecting Africa, CNN International’s Eleni Giokos visits Nairobi to see the role technology can play in boosting trade opportunities across the continent.

Known by some as the Silicon Savannah, Nairobi is becoming an increasingly important player in the international tech scene. Giokos meets with Irene Kiwia, co-founder of Adanian Labs, who explains what her company does, “We are a technology company, a pan-African technology company, and what founded us was our mission to activate the tech revolution on the continent by making sure that Africans are active participants in the fourth industrial revolution. We invest in tech startups.”

Kiwia says that Africa has a strong advantage because of the number of talented young people on the continent, “The good thing about Africa, Kenya, and sub-Saharan Africa is that it’s a young continent.” She continues, “Technology allows us to leapfrog things in a way that we are not able to do before. If we look at the African history, we missed the industrial revolution. We’ve missed a couple of things, but for the first time ever, we have a technology revolution, where we are able to create impact and change the status quo of this continent. And the young people are the people who are going to do that.”

Looking to the future, Kiwia talks about the need to digitise small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), “Kenya is becoming a hub of tech for the continent. The future is absolutely exciting, we are building the largest tech company on this continent. And by largest, I mean in terms of the impact that we will create across sectors. But also, the fact that our aim is to digitise the SME eco-systems and build a connected Africa, a borderless Africa.”

Next, Giokos sees how trail-blazing technology from Nairobi is helping to alleviate the consequences of climate change in some of the continent’s driest regions. Dr. Guyo Malicha Roba is passionate about data, and he uses it to mitigate the effects of droughts and food shortages across the Horn of Africa. He tells CNN, “Government don’t have enough resources. Neither do they have the right data to act in time. And that time in this question, is still a very big question in that space. The resource question is another question that is up there. So, data and resources are constant issues in this.”

As the head of the Jameel Observatory, Dr. Roba is working on projects to combat drought across Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia. He explains how technology has changed the research, “I think technology is very important, especially when you are looking at the forecasting, building scenarios around the weather and weather patterns. I think that is where our colleagues at the University of Edinburgh, which is the leader of the project, are bringing a huge part of the observation, artificial intelligence, the big data and all these things, especially for Somalia, where collecting data and preparing is difficult.”

He continues, “The observatory is sort of like a research project, what to try, what to call, brokering knowledge, science, and connecting different dots to make sure how do we do this thing early enough before the droughts reach emergency.”

This month’s programme also meets tech leaders at GITEX Africa in Morocco and speaks to the CEO of the Botswana Institute for Technology, Research, and Innovation.