Education
@iLabAfrica unveils the 2nd Global Data Science and AI Summit.
Data science and AI enthusiasts during the 2nd Global Data Science and AI Summit at Strathmore University, Nairobi.
@iLabAfrica launched the 2nd Global Data Science and AI Summit (GDSAI) at Strathmore University on November 9, showcasing Kenya’s advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) implementation.
The summit was graced by distinguished guests, including: H.E. Dr. William Ruto, President of the Republic of Kenya; Mene Wamkele, Secretary General at African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA); and Dr. Joseph Sevilla, Director of @iLabAfrica. Many prominent figures from various industries also attended the summit, which marked a significant milestone in Kenya’s journey towards embracing and advancing AI.
Under the theme dubbed ‘Unlocking the Power of Big Data and AI, the summit provided valuable insights into data science and AI for individuals and organizations alike.
During a precursor pre-launch of the GDSAI summit on November 7, H.E. Dr. William Ruto, President of the Republic of Kenya, said, “I welcome all of you to put forward your best ideas, perspectives, and insights in making sure that we utilize AI in the trade sector, not just for Kenya but for our continent and the world at large.”
In his opening remarks, Dr. Joseph Sevilla, Director of @iLabAfrica, expressed his enthusiasm for hosting the 2023 GDSAI Summit, focusing on emerging technology. He highlighted the collaborative efforts between local initiatives and global tech giants like Google, Amazon, and Apple, emphasizing the potential for positive change and technological advancements that benefit Kenya and the world at large.
“The 2nd GDSAI Summit has brought together over 150 key industry stakeholders from diverse sectors to demonstrate the transformative power of data science and AI in revolutionizing lives,” Dr. John Olukuru, Head of Data Science and Analytics at @iLabAfrica.
The summit’s first panel discussion, ‘Inclusivity, Digital Transformation, and Analytics in Financial Institutions,’ featured: Ezekiel Macharia, Managing Director and Chief Actuary at Kenbright; Hartnell Ndungi, Chief Data Officer at Absa Kenya; and Satyajit Turumella, IT Advisory Director at Grant Thornton Advisory East Africa.
During the discussion, Mr Macharia emphasized the importance of actively seeking efficient methods for data storage and exploring approaches to aggregate data. This, he stated, would facilitate communication for everyone, contribute to fostering inclusivity, drive digital transformation, and enhance analytics within financial institutions.
Mr Ndungi explored the diverse applications of AI in various business sectors, highlighting its versatility and potential in practical use cases.
- identifying potential customers and recommending suitable products, which not only boosts sales but also enhances customer satisfaction by adjusting products to individual preferences.
- collecting and analyzing feedback, hence enhancing customer interactions.
- creating scorecards that help in understanding and predicting customer behavior, allowing organizations to anticipate the needs of their customers more effectively.
Some of the other topics discussed during the panel discussions included:
- Use of Data to Improve Health Services and Analysis, and AI in Health. This panel featured: Samuel Oti, Senior Program Specialist at International Development Research Centre (IDRC); Dr. Ngure Nganga, Founder at Savannah Health Informatics and Dep. Sec. – Gen Kenya Health Informatics Information; Dr. Vinita Saini, CEO at Saadani Healthcare; and Jonathan Friedman, Director Data Science at Palladium.
- How AI and big data are driving forward the climate change agenda, emphasizing the pivotal role of data science and AI in forging a sustainable and resilient future. This panel featured: Dr. Angela Ndaka, Executive Director and Co-Founder at CAE Justice; Dr. Samuel Chege, Senior Research Scientist and Manager at Microsoft Africa Research Institute; Zeph Kivungi, Senior Associate at Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet; and Brian Nyangema, Managing Partner at Bayes Consulting.
- Adopting modern technologies such as precision agriculture, IoT devices, and AI driven analytics to optimize resource use, increase yields, and enhance farm efficiency. The panel featured: Chris Orwa, Head of Data Science at Brave Venture Labs; Alex Karanja, Head of Digital Transformation at Naivas Supermarket; and Sajni Malde, Data Scientist at World Data Labs.
- AI for development- use of data to improve development. This panel featured: Mariam Ibrahim, Senior Manager at Development Initiatives; Odanga Madung, Senior Researcher for Elections and Platform Integrity at Mozilla Foundation; Philomena Mbura, Data Scientist and WID Lead; and Rositsa Zaimova, co-founder at Dalberg Data Insights.
Notably, Kenya actively applies AI across agriculture, health, education, fintech, and transport, strategically positioning itself to harness Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies like AI.
Mene Wamkele, Secretary General at African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA), said, “As the world is becoming more African, we need to move aggressively to integrate the market and the continent by creating opportunities for young Africans.”
According to a recent global survey, Kenya has been ranked fifth in Africa in terms of government preparedness to implement AI for public service delivery. The 2022 Government AI Readiness Index, published by Oxford Insights, assigns Kenya an overall score of 40.36 percent, positioning it behind Egypt, South Africa, Tunisia, and Morocco. Globally, Kenya is ranked 90th as nations brace for the expected disruptions from this emerging technology.
The summit attracted over 150 professionals, CEOs, and other senior managers, a representation of over 20 countries across the world, and offered networking with our various sponsors, speakers, and partners.
The 2nd GDSAI Summit serves as a testament to Kenya’s commitment to technological advancement and global collaboration in the ever-evolving landscape of data science and artificial intelligence. As the nation strives to unlock the power of big data and AI, these initiatives pave the way for a brighter and technologically empowered future.
By Wachira Kevin
Digital Platform To Aid In Disposing Plastic Waste
Environmental pollution is one of the most serious global challenges facing humanity today and the leading causes of medical conditions and mortality. Human activities through urbanization, industrialization, mining, and exploration are at the forefront of global environmental pollution. Both developed and developing nations share this burden, though awareness and stricter laws in developed countries have contributed to a larger extent in protecting their environment. Despite the global attention towards pollution, the impacts are still being felt due to its severe long-term consequences.
Africa is blessed with natural and mineral resources, exploitation of these resources has led to extreme pollution of the environment in many of the countries, population growth and urbanization due to developments have also contributed immensely to the current pollution in Africa.
In recent decades, poor plastic products disposal has led to the accumulation of plastic waste in the environment, majorly polythene bags, plastic bottles among other plastic products, leading to a rising state of plastic pollution. Plastics can be categorized in primary plastics, such as cigarette butts and bottle caps, or secondary plastics, resulting from the degradation of the primary ones.
According to the United Nations (UN, 2019), more than eight million tons of plastic waste end up in the oceans annually, leading to negative effects on marine wildlife, fisheries, and tourism. This pollution comes mainly from household waste, which is poorly recycled, dumped in landfills, or abandoned in nature, the waste is carried by the winds, pushed by the rains into sewers, streams, rivers, and finally in the oceans. Natural disasters such as floods can be considered as other causes of plastic pollution as well.
United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) Nairobi in collaboration with @iLabAfrica Research and Innovation Centre of Strathmore University has come up with a digital platform to aid in the education and sensitization of people on the effects of environmental pollution while also highlighting the best ways of waste disposal.
Through the project, the Digital Learning Unit at @iLabAfrica has developed a mobile application that offers the general public animations detailing the simple acts of improper waste disposal and how far they go towards affecting humans, wildlife, and marine life, creating a public health concern because diseases become more common.
Victor Malombe, Digital Learning Assistant at @iLabAfrica says that the platform is available for both android and apple phones and seeks to fill a knowledge gap while also supporting the ban on plastic bags in the country. “The UNEP project application is basically in support of plastic ban in the country by creating relevant content that showcases dangers posed by plastic products to the environment. Some
of the animations detail how a locally dumped plastic ends up in the ocean, affecting fish which are later consumed by people thus endangering their health and well-being” says Mr. Malombe.
Data from UNEP indicates that environmental pollution has been on a steady increase in many African countries, demonstrating the need for efficient and sustainable solutions to help control the situation. One solution is the development and mobilization of technologies that either offer education to the masses or provide alternatives to plastics as demonstrated by the collaboration between @iLabAfrica and UNEP.
With the rise in mobile penetration across Africa, mobile applications and emerging technologies will be powerful tools in the dissemination of content, messages aimed at educating the masses on various environmental issues which are negatively affecting human life and other important ecosystems.
Plastic waste pollution, aggravated by inefficient waste collection and limited recycling capabilities, has been prevalent across Africa. However, the continent has a growing, youthful population that values improving the quality of life and readily adopts technologies aimed at controlling this menace.
This makes Africa suitable as a testing ground to investigate the effectiveness of new technologies for solving environmental challenges. In addition to consumers pushing brands to be more environmentally responsible, a business case also exists in Africa that enables brands to invest in technologies that promote a circular economy. As such, a trend for plastic waste remediation efforts in Africa that relies principally on consumer engagement to create a plastics circular economy has emerged.
A healthy environment plays a key role in realizing many of the Sustainable Development Goals, with less than 10 years left to 2030, the world needs to pick up the pace and put greater efforts into finding better solutions to pollution and climate change to truly transform societies and economies.
To know more about this project visit www.ilabafrica.ac.ke
Israeli Centre to work with Strathmore on Agriculture, Finance innovations
The Milken Innovation Center in Israel has entered into an agreement with Strathmore University’s Research and Innovation Centre, @iLabAfrica to develop, monitor, review and implement a Kenyan Development Lab that will offer training, student fellowships and jointly secure fundable projects that address existing gaps in agriculture and finance sectors.
Milken center is based at the Jerusalem Institute and focuses on developing market-based solutions to Israel’s greatest challenges as it transitions from a startup nation to a global nation. It seeks to accelerate economic growth, build human capital while addressing global challenges in water, food, education, health, and energy with solutions that others can replicate.
The partnership between the two Innovation Centers is expected to benefit students & scholars from both institutions through capacity building and knowledge exchange. Students from Strathmore University will be enrolled into Milken Innovation Center’s 3-credit graduate course on Financial Innovations for Economic Development taught at the Hebrew University’s School of Business, the course will nurture the learners with relevant knowledge and prepare them for development projects in the country. The students will also have an opportunity to enroll for the Global Development Practice Fellowship Program which will impart them with relevant skills to steer development activities beyond their home countries.
Speaking during the event, the Director and Senior Fellow/Founder at Milken Innovation Center- Professor Glenn Yego said that the center remains committed to working with leading institutions across the world for mutual benefits in addressing societal problems.
“I am delighted to sign a partnership agreement between Milken Innovation Center and @iLabAfrica Research Centre, partnerships between research centers are fundamental, and that is why our institution strives to work in cooperation with leading organizations around the world. We look forward to a productive relationship with the @iLabAfrica Research Centre, and with the Strathmore University Network,” said Prof. Glenn.
Milken Innovation Center will further support Strathmore University in the Co-designing and implementation of project development labs in Kenya on pressing issues such as agricultural innovations, water solutions among other challenges as identified by local country stakeholders.
@iLabAfrica Director Dr. Joseph Sevilla said that the agreement was good for staff and students at both institutions and that it was instrumental in promoting research and innovation.
“It is important to identify that the agreement we are signing today is built on the confidence springing from the efforts of colleagues at both our centers. These early steps have focused on the development of interdisciplinary research, student commitment and association with Industry” said Dr. Sevilla.
The deal is aimed at accelerating economic growth, growing skills and cementing Israel’s role as a pioneer in addressing global challenges in water, food, education, health, and energy with solutions that other countries can adopt and implement.
This new agreement builds on @iLabAfrica’s decade-old commitment to Information Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) of ecosystems towards the attainment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals with the deal set to stimulate growth in the areas of agriculture and finance.
About Jerusalem Institute Milken Innovation Center
The Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research, Milken Innovation Center focuses on developing market-based solutions to Israel’s greatest challenges as it transitions from a startup nation to a global nation. Our work leads to innovative policies and programs and financial technology transfer that democratize capital, finance ideas, create jobs, and accelerate economic growth.
The Blum Lab for Developing Economies is part of the global network of Blum Centers for Developing Economies based at the University of California (UC-Berkeley) enabling interdisciplinary problem-solving in key areas of energy, health, technology, food, water, health, and other challenges to sustainable development.
WOMEN IN TECH 2020 INTAKE OPEN
The Search for Women led businesses is back! @iBizAfrica-Strathmore University in Partnership with Standard Chartered Bank Kenya is excited to Launch the Fourth Cohort of the Women in Tech 2020 program. The call for applicants is now open for women led small and medium businesses leveraging on technology and new business models to drive change and grow communities.
Globally, studies show that sub-Saharan Africa boasts the world’s highest rates of women entrepreneurs, at 27%. But female-led tech startups still have some of the lowest numbers across the continent, despite technology firms led by women experiencing a 35% higher return on investment.
The program theme for this year, “Accelerating the Digital Economy through Women Owned Businesses” reinforces the importance of scaling the gains of female focused entrepreneurial programs and expanding their mandate in bridging financing and industry gaps for early stage ventures.
The Top five participants will win Kes 1 million in seed funding. The teams will be taken through a 12week incubation mentorship and training through the Bank’s Employee Volunteering program. Through the incubation, all the entrepreneurs are offered expert training in the areas of idea conceptualization, strategy formulation and marketing which is key in moving the businesses from incubation to sustainable ventures.
Eligibility Criteria
- The business must be based in Kenya i.e. be aligned with the needs of Kenyans and operating in Kenya
- The company must be a tech-enabled and/or leveraging on emerging technologies, including but not limited to; Internet of Things (IoT); Artificial Intelligence; Robotics; Augmented & Virtual Reality; 3D & 4D Printing; Cloud Computing; Big Data; Blockchain; Drone Technology and Biometrics.
- The company must be founded or cofounded by a woman with an equal or majority stake.
- The founder or co founder must be over 18 years old and Kenyan
- Business models must have a clear focus on sustainability and alignment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
- 3 months to less than 2 years of operations.
- Seeking support for proof of concept, customer, product and business model development.
- Pre-revenue with early traction (users).
- Post revenue is an added advantage, with the creation of a new business module.
Program Thematic Areas
Companies solving for any of the 17 SDGs with operations within, but not limited to the following sectors are eligible to apply for the programme;
- Agriculture
- Healthcare
- Education
- Manufacturing
- Information Technology
- Financial Services
- Logistics
Programme Benefits
- 12 weeks of an immersive learning experience
- Access to a leading network of coaching experts
- Access to B2B networking opportunities
- Personalized mentorship sessions to address your unique business needs
- Opportunity to join a supportive Women in Tech Alumni Network
- KES 1,000,000 equity-free grant seed funding for the top five finalists
- 9 months ongoing support from Standard Chartered and @iBizAfrica to assist with the go-to market and scale for the top five finalists.
The Women in Technology Incubator program is Africa’s leading women in tech incubator, that supports local tech businesses and calls for more diversity in the Information technology landscape by providing opportunities for women to develop entrepreneurial skills and leadership excellence.
To register Click here
Know more about the program Click >> https://www.womenintech.co.ke/
Women in tech – Last call
WIN KSH 1,000,000 FOR YOUR BUSINESS!
Standard Chartered in partnership with @iLabAfrica has launched a search for the third cohort of women-led technology startups which will see five entrepreneurs win Sh1 million each.
The program combines world class startup support with local and international experience to provide Africa’s most competitive and attractive startup incubation program focusing on immersive learning, mentorship, building and growing Africa’s next iconic startups taking on the continent’s most relevant challenges and opportunities
- be a woman
- be the CEO with equal or majority ownership in the company
- 18 and above
- of Kenyan nationality
- Agribusiness
- Education
- ICT
- E-Commerce
- E-Health
- Fintech
- Three months incubation at Strathmore University’s leading business and innovation incubator- @iBizAfrica
- Mentorship from world class mentors
- Coaching by top business, technology and legal professionals
- Immersive, world-class entrepreneurship curriculum
- Networking and exposure to expand your business networks
- USD 10,000 or KES 1,000,000 equity-free grant seed funding for the top 5 winners
- 9 months ongoing support from Standard Chartered and @iBizAfrica to assist with go-to market and scale.
- Participants must be physically available to attend the program over the three months incubation
- Participant accommodation costs are not catered for
| Application deadline | 4th November 2019 |
For more information Click here
To Apply click here
Register to be Part of Startup Weekend Education, Nairobi
We’re are overly delighted that we,@iBizAfrica, shall be hosting the 1st ever Edition of Startup Weekend Education, Nairobi that will run from 10th to 12th July.
What is Startup Weekend?
Startup Weekend is a local grassroots movement of active and empowered entrepreneurs who are learning the basics of founding and launching successful ventures. Startup Weekend “Education” was founded on the belief that entrepreneurship is a powerful force to positively impart education outcomes. Through design thinking, innovative business strategies, relentless hacking and designing, this weekend will produce new ventures that are poised to create high caliber outcomes for local Education entrepreneurs.
What is in it for you?
Our event transcends the traditional Startup Weekend style; we will focus on bridging the entrepreneurial startup spirit with youth and educator informed issues. Through design thinking, innovative business strategies, relentless hacking and designing, this weekend will produce new ventures that are poised to create high caliber outcomes for local education entrepreneurs,” the organizers’ said. Groups will work together over 54 hours to create tech tools addressing a concern either in a school or in a student’s community, with solutions ranging from a mobile apps to online learning tools. “We believe that a wide range of diverse perspectives, backgrounds, passion, talents, technical knowledge and skills are needed to create ventures that have the highest potential for lasting impact,” the organizers said. Startup Weekend Education is seeking innovators, developers, designers, teachers, students, and other educational stakeholders to come together to form teams to develop solutions at the event. Areas of focus include using education technology to increase access to and distribute quality learning materials, taking advantage of open education technologies to improve education, how to use education data and education technology to measure impact, and how to ensure education technology and education initiatives lead to youth empowerment and development.
Go Ahead, Get the TICKETS
Tickets for event are Ksh. 1,000 and currently available on Ticketsasa . Kindly share with your friends and everyone about this great event. Looking forward to hosting you to a great, Fun Event!
What’s More, All participants will get 2 free rides per day courtesy of UBER.
@iLabAfrica 