HiPipo Money

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Over the last three days, children from 10 schools in Kampala were able to create various exciting and innovative robotics projects in the fields of programming, mechanics and electronics. 

This was part of a 3-day Juniors Robotics camp organized by MTN Uganda in partnership with FundiBots, a Ugandan based organization that focuses on robotics training in schools aiming to change that mind-set. The camp aimed at equipping juniors aged between 9-12 years with skills that can enable them solve real-world problems through digital design.

The event dubbed the ‘MTN Juniors’ Robotics Camp’ brought together 50 children from 10 schools in Kampala with each school being represented by five children. The training commenced on Friday the 11th of September 2015.

While the camp was intended to be just introductory, covering the basics of robotics under three aspects, Electronics, Programming and Mechanics, participating children were able develop functional projects despite the very limited time available.

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“What surprised me most is that even though we had limited time, pupils were able to create more than we taught,” said FundiBots’ Solomon King Benge, who was also the camp’s main facilitator. “We taught them to use mortars but some went ahead and have made some moving cars.”

He added; “What we’ve done is set them off on a journey that challenges them, their schools and parents to create better learning opportunities. For the children, it is the beginning of changing how they see the world, and the solutions that they can create for the problems around them.”

According to Ms. Mapula Bodibe, MTN Uganda’s Chief Marketing Officer, the goal of the camp was to introduce and teach the children, digital skills used in the building of robots from a more practical, fun and open environment and in the process, expose them to new ways of thinking.

“MTN is proud to partner with Fundi Bots, which is a pioneer provider of robotics design training in Ugandan schools. Our intention is to create and inspire a new generation of Ugandan children to be the future problem solvers, innovators and change makers,” Ms. Bodibe said.

“We hope the children will leave the program with a new love and passion for design facilitated by innovations in the digital space. We also want them to know that anyone, regardless of age, gender or background can use digital platforms in a creative and innovative ways,” she added.

 “During the construction of the robot, they learn electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, computer programming, biology and soft skills like leadership, teamwork and project management. Such will help them in future, regardless of their eventual careers,” concluded Ms Bodibe.

Susan Kayemba, MTN Uganda’s Senior Manager for Retention and Social Media said that, “By guiding students through problem identification, brainstorming, collaboration, construction, programming, final deployment and system feedback, we will show them how life’s challenges can be solved using digital and technological tools.”

“We were also overwhelmingly encouraged by the feedback we received from some parents, especially those whose children did not participate this time, asking when we’ll organize the next camp so they can also send their children participate,” Kayemba added.

The closing ceremony was also attended by Florence Muhumuza, KCCA’s Director of Educational Services, who thanked MTN for its commitment to supporting ICT education in schools.

“We recognize the various projects that MTN is doing in our schools, including the MTN Internet Bus which goes and spends time at different schools from time to time. Some of these initiatives may look small but they have a significant impact,” she said.

The children received a certificate of participation at the end of the event.

Primary schools participating:

1. Lohana Academy
2. Vine Academy
3. Ntinda Primary School
4. Nakasero Primary School
5. Buganda Road Primary School
6. Kiswa Primary School
7. Kitante Primary School
8. Daffodils Academy
9. Kampala Parents School
10. St. Kizito Primary School

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Finalists in the prestigious CNN MultiChoice African Journalist 2015 Competition were announced today by Ferial Haffajee, Chair of the independent judging panel. The competition is now in a landmark 20th year.

This year the competition received entries from 39 countries across the continent, including French and Portuguese speaking Africa.

There are 31 finalists from 15 countries: 

1. Fiifi Essilfie Anaman, Freelance for zonalsports.com, Ghana
2. Benedicta Asiimwe, Freelance for Daily Monitor, Uganda
3. Femi Asu, Punch Newspaper, Nigeria
4. Domingos Bento, redeangola.info, Angola
5. Thomas Naadi Bitlegma, Viasat1, Ghana
6. Sheriff Bojang Jnr, Freelance for West Africa Democracy Radio, Senegal
7. Ruth Butaumocho, The Herald, Zimbabwe
8. Ibrahima Diallo, Radiodiffusion Télévision Sénégalaise (RTS), Senegal
9. Adewale Olugbenga Emosu, tribuneonlineng.com, Nigeria
10. Chahinaz Samir Gheith, Freelance for Al-Ahram Hebdo, Egypt
11. Carla Gonçalves, A Nação, Cape Verde
12. Boldwill Hungwe, Zimbabwe Independent, Zimbabwe
13. Ibanga Isine, Premium Times Newspaper, Nigeria
14. Paul Kelemba, Freelance for The Standard on Saturday, Kenya
15. Deo Gratias Tchédé Kindoho, Radio Bénin, Benin
16. Julie Laurenz & Jacqueline Jayamaha, Freelance for e.tv, South Africa
17. Petride Mudoola, Freelance for Sunday Vision, Uganda
18. Abubakari Akida Mussa, Mtanzania Newspaper, Tanzania
19. Pedro Paxi Pereira Ndoma, TV Zimbo, Angola
20. George Oduor Otieno, Baraka FM, Kenya
21. Hyacinthe Boowurosigue Sanou, L’Observateur Paalga, Burkina Faso
22. Enock Sikolia & Charles Kariuki, NTV, Kenya
23. Arison Tamfu, Cameroon Journal, Cameroon
24. Kọ́lá Túbọ̀sún, Blogger at ktravula.com, Nigeria
25. Arukaino Umukoro, Punch Newspaper, Nigeria
26. Bento Venâncio, Jornal Domingo, Mozambique
27. Herman Verwey, Beeld, South Africa
28. Kiundu Waweru, The Standard on Saturday, Kenya
29. Sarah Wild, Mail & Guardian, South Africa

The independent judging panel, chaired by Ferial Haffajee, Editor-in-Chief, City Press, South Africa, includes: Debo Adesina, Editor-in-Chief, Guardian Newspapers, Nigeria; Nima Elbagir, Senior International Correspondent, CNN; Jean-Paul Gérouard, Editor-in-Chief, France Télévisions ; Fernando Gonçalves, Editor, Savana, Mozambique; Anton Harber, Caxton Professor of Journalism, University of the Witwatersrand; Joel Kibazo, Director of Communications and External Relations, African Development Bank Group; Amadou Mahtar Ba, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, AllAfrica Global Media; Wanja Njuguna, Senior Lecturer, Polytechnic of Namibia & CNN Journalist of the year 2000; José Sebastião Paulo, Professor of Journalism, University Agostinho Neto, Angola; and, David Ohito, Digital Editor, The Standard Media Group, Kenya.

The competition is once again supported by the following sponsors, who continue to lend their valuable support to the awards: A24 Media, African Development Bank, Dow, Ecobank, GE, IPP Media and MSD (MSD is known as Merck in the U.S. and Canada).

The finalists will enjoy an all-expense paid four day programme of workshops, media forums and networking in Nairobi, Kenya, culminating in a Gala Award Ceremony in October 2015. In addition, winners from previous years will join this year’s finalists for a special evening to celebrate 20 years of the awards. 

Tony Maddox, Executive Vice-President and Managing Director of CNN International said: “The quality and breadth of entries in this, its 20th, year is testament to the CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards’ position as the most prestigious recognition for journalism across the continent. CNN is privileged to be involved in this important initiative to honor the outstanding work across multiple platforms, topics and journalistic disciplines. I salute the finalists for the great work that they have done and look forward to seeing their future achievements.”

Greg Beitchman, Vice President, Content Sales and Partnerships, CNN International: “This year’s ceremony promises to be a stellar moment in the long history of the CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards. A combination of the strong body of work to be showcased at the 2015 awards, the presence of a number of former winners, and the backdrop of the vibrant city of Nairobi will make for an evening that celebrates the very best of African journalism.”

Tim Jacobs, CEO MultiChoice Africa: “We continue to be amazed by the resourcefulness and growth of journalists in the complexity and immediacy of the digital and online age of news and information. That is why we remain committed to nurturing and growing African journalists who have a huge responsibility and role to play and where tech-savvy readers have the ability to follow breaking stories and are not shy to engage in dialogue on a number of different platforms.  The CNN MultiChoice African Journalist of the Year Awards have for the past 20 years provided a voice for credible journalism. As we celebrate this remarkable milestone, we can only commend the journalists for leaving no stone unturned in telling the important stories.”

Imtiaz Patel, Group CEO, MultiChoice: “MultiChoice is delighted to once again be associated with these prestigious awards that give respect to the work done by journalists across the African continent. We congratulate all the finalists on their achievements and look forward to celebrating with the winners in Nairobi in October.”

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·         Transmission and distribution grid to serve all principle settlements on Bugala Island

Residents on Bugala Island can now officially enjoy unlimited power supply following the launch of a solar thermal power plant constructed by Kalangala Infrastructure Services (KIS), a company contracted by the government of Uganda through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) to develop infrastructure on the Island. 

The 1.6MW plant that uses a solar thermal hybrid system to generate, transmit and distribute power throughout Bugala Island was officially launched by President Yoweri Museveni at Bukuzindu, Mugoye sub-county, Kalangala district.  

In his speech, President Museveni commended KIS for spearheading and developing infrastructure on Bugala Island. He noted the power plant was part of a quadruple project that started about 10 years ago, earmarked at $50 million dollars to improve infrastructure on the island to provide more opportunities for economic – social development.   

Speaking at the ceremony, John Opiro the Managing Director KIS noted that the company had delivered on all the four components of infrastructure development agreed upon with the government of Uganda. “The ferry service which consists of the MV Ssese and the MV Pearl was delivered, the water project is up and running, the road works making considerable progress and soon to be completed, and now we are launching the power project which was completed early this year.”  

He continued, “The power plant, one of the most crucial projects has so far brought about change on Bugala Island. We are witnessing industrial development through the various companies that have been scouting for apt locations to favour their factories on the Island and Kalangala as a whole. We are confident that with the capacity to produce 1.6MWs, the power plant can accommodate these factories and even more different business ventures which will consequently lead to more benefits such as job opportunities, an increase in tourism, eventually putting Bugala Island on a wider scope of recognition.”   

The $50 million Project was only made possible through a mix of debt and equity funding from:

InfraCo UK ( PIDG facility largely funded by DFID)

Uganda Development Corporation (UDC)

Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa

Nedbank

Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF)

USAID

GuarantCo

The President urged the people of Bugala Island especially the local and large business community to take advantage of the new infrastructure the government has put in place to yield economic growth.   He confirmed that the road will be upgraded further to tarmac immediately.

Construction of the hybrid power plant is among the four components KIS undertook under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) with the Government of Uganda to develop infrastructure on Bugala Island. KIS has so delivered on the four components with power installation, ferry services and water supply complete, expansion and upgrade of the main road on Bugala Island now at 90% completion.

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In yet another exciting development in mobile money innovation, MTN Uganda announced the launch of cross-border mobile money transfer services between Rwanda and Uganda.

This new Mobile Money service will allow customers in both countries to transact via Mobile Money without having to change currencies.

The service enables an MTN customer in Rwanda to send money in Rwandese Francs to a recipient in Uganda who will receive it in Uganda Shillings. The recipient has to be a customer of MTN Uganda to receive the transfer.

Currently, the service only allows customers in Uganda to receive money from Rwanda.

“Technology is helping us eliminate national borders, enabling a unified digital and mobile financial services world. We are delighted to offer a solution that further enhances this agenda. We also trust that our customers will find it easy, fast and a more convenient means of transferring funds internationally,” said Mr. Phrase Lubega, MTN Uganda’s General Manager in charge of Mobile Financial Services.

This year, the MTN Mobile Money ecosystem has expanded extensively, with the launch of a number of innovative solutions that integrate Mobile Money into the fabric of our society, making it an integral part of our customer’s lives.

They include the payment of fees and taxes to the Kampala Capital City Authority, payment of fuel to Shell petrol stations nationwide to the transfer of bank transactions from one’s bank account to the mobile money wallet as well as online purchases, through the ‘Hellofood’ and ‘Jumia’ online shops. Mobile Money is changing the day-to-day lives of MTN customers for the better.

By June 30th 2015, MTN Uganda had recorded a 12.8 percent increase in Mobile Money subscribers, from 7.3 million (at the end of 2014) to 8.2 million.

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New mobile app for both smart and feature phones offers new way to use mobile money and other MTN services

MTN Uganda today launched a new mobile app for all smartphone users. MyMTN has been designed to work on most smartphones in the market, including Android, Blackberry, iPhone and Windows phone. The MyMTN mobile app has been designed to offer a better user experience to high value customers who already enjoy a seamless user experience across various service applications

Smartphone users can download the MyMTN App free of charge from all major App stores, including Google Play, Blackberry, Windows Phone Store and iOS App Store. The good news is that users do not need to have an active data bundle to use the app.

The MyMTN app is yet another step in MTN’s journey to enable world class digital innovations to its customers to offer a seamless customer experience.

The MyMTN app supports two major service categories; MTN Mobile Money and MySelfService which gives users absolute control to manage all their MTN services. Through the app, MTN customers can buy airtime, data bundles, check their balances and access various promotional offers currently accessed via USSD. With an improved experience offered through the MyMTN app, customers no longer need to remember a wide range of USSD codes to use MTN services.

“The upsurge in data consumption and Internet usage across all customer segments has necessitated a substantial investment in our network infrastructure to guarantee that our subscribers enjoy a consistent network experience across the country”.

“We understand that the customers’ needs are varied and wide ranging, and that is one of the key reasons we are always coming up with innovations that meet the customers’ needs.” said Chief Marketing Officer, Mapula Bodibe.

We are confident and pleased that our subscribers will reap the full benefits. We encourage both new and existing MTN customers to download the MyMTN app and we’re confident that our customers will enjoy the benefits of managing their services. We have no doubt that our world class infrastructure will ensure an improved experience for our customers; what better way to enjoy access to the internet than on MTN’s a World-Class Network”.

Access to either Mobile Money or MySelfService requires the user to input a password, guaranteeing security for both service subscriptions, airtime purchases and mobile money transactions.

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PHOTO: MTN’s Chief Marketing Officer, Mapula Bodibe (1st Left), MTN’s Chief Executive officer Brian Gouldie (2nd Right) and Vivo Energy’s Managing Director Hans Paulsen (3rd Right) address media at the launch of the new payment service of Vivo Energy Services using MTN Mobile Money. This happened at Shell Bukoto on 26th August 2015.

Mobile Money will be used to transact at Shell service stations across Uganda, starting with 51 stations.  

“The Mobile Money experience is simple, easy to use, secure and reliable, affording MTN and Shell customers’ the convenience of paying for their fuel or purchases, without having to worry about carrying enough cash. Our vision for Mobile Money is for a solution that drives efficiency, productivity and enhances the lifestyles of our customers through a cashless way of living” said MTN’s General Manager for Mobile Financial Services, Phrase Lubega.

By June 30^th 2015, MTN had recorded a 12.8 percent increase in Mobile Money subscribers, from 7.3 million (at the end of 2014) to 8.2 million.

“Vivo Energy is currently running 120 services stations in Uganda and operates across 16 African markets, distributing and marketing Shell branded products. This alliance with MTN affirms Vivo Energy’s commitment to continuously bring innovative solutions to our growing number of customers,” noted Hans Paulsen, the Managing Director, Vivo Energy Uganda.

To use the service, a customer will simply have to talk to a Shell attendant, who will the guide the customer through the steps to complete the transaction.

Currently Supported Stations

1.       Shell Bukoto

2.       Shell Gulu

3.       Shell Kasese

4.       Shell Kyambogo

5.       Shell Rock

6.       Shell Ankole

7.       Shell Bugolobi

8.       Shell Capital

9.       Shell Ndeeba

10.    Shell Clock Tower

11.    Shell Jinja Road

12.    Shell Kajjansi

13.    Shell Kawempe

14.    Shell Makindye Mobutu road

15.    Shell Malindi Mbarara

16.    Shell Mulago

17.    Shell Nalya

18.    Shell Namirembe road

19.    Shell Namugongo

20.    Shell Rukungiri

21.    Shell Viral

22.    Shell Kireka

23.    Shell Gayaza

24.    Shell Kiboga service station

25.    Shell Ibanda

26.    Shell Ishaka

27.    Shell Malindi Lukaya

28.    Shell Kitovu

29.    Shell Buddu

30.    Shell Malindi Lubowa

31.    Shell Kyotera

32.    Shell Kalisizo

33.    Shell Fortportal

34.    Shell Kabarole

35.    Shell Lugogo

36.    Shell Busega

37.    Shell Mukono

38.    Shell Kira road

39.    Shell Wobulenzi

40.    Shell Old Kampala

41.    Shell Kagoma

42.    Shell Bunga

43.    Shell Kabalagala

44.    Shell Bombo road

45.    Shell Mubende Highway

46.    Shell Mubende

47.    Shell Kakumiro road

48.    Shell Kibuye

49.    Shell Nakivubo

50.    Shell Najjera

51.    Shell Bushenyi