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Showing posts from March, 2014

Overcoming Tanzania's mineral resource challenge

According to a report published last year titled: Tanzania Quest for Sustainable Utilization of oil and Gas Resources by a friend of mine John Jingu, lecturer, department of political science and public administration and his fellow researcher Ian Shanghvi, the Tanzania economy as a whole is experiencing economic growth of more that 6 per cent each year and at the same time, the number of people living in cities is set to rise from current 15 million to 45 million by 2050 with much of that rise happening in cities of Dar es salaam, Mbeya, Kigoma, Arusha, Mwanza and Dodoma.Their argument is that the Tanzanian government, business and civil society should embrace a new model of cross-sector,public-private, transnational partnership in management of country’s vast mineral wealth that has not benefitted the common Tanzanian as has been the case in other African countries. According to authors, the government needs to focus on what is happening within mineral industry and shou

Gaming with Smartphones

For a moment forget about the stereotype of gamers being baby faced hooded blokes in dark rooms. This is the age of the "thirty plus", like me who plays games on their mobile while standing in the supermarket queue or waiting for coffee in a restaurant. “ Contador Harrison love playing games on his phone because it's an easy way to fill in small pockets of time that crop up from my tight schedule. If nothing's going on with Twitter then I reach for a game while sipping coffee which unfortunately I am naturally addicted." Smartphones have become an essential gadget that allows busy individuals like me to keep pace with the present dynamic environment. Smart devices have become affordable and now almost everyone has a smartphone that fits their varied lifestyles. Having an iPhone or Android powered devices is now considered basic gadgets and few would argue that smart devices are one of the most revolutionary gadgets ever invented with their purpose

African women in technology

International Women's Day  2014 theme is 'inspiring change' and celebrates the social, political and economic achievements of women and the same time focusing world attention on areas that require collective action. Tech giant Google's Doodle has marked the day by showing over 100 women from all corners of the globe in a 80 second video.Over the years, International Women's Day is a day when we are supposed to reflect on the ways in which various developments have changed the lives of our women. As a techie, I will focus on how technology has been transformed women across Africa and specifically East African region.  A decade ago, more than 95% of African women had no basic access to technology and the Internet but as of 2013 it is estimated more than 30% had access in urban areas and 9% in rural areas compared to 39% in urban and 14% in rural areas. Statistics shows that digital gender gap is narrowing across both sub Saharan African and even in North