THE CUTTING EDGE OF TECHNOLOGY.

Safaricom is seeking to boost its
income from data business by training
engineering students on latest
technology in the sector in
partnership with Chinese
telecommunications equipment
manufacturer, Huawei.
The two firms will collaborate with the
University of Nairobi, Moi University
and Jomo Kenyatta University of
Agriculture and Technology to review
their curriculum to match market
demands.
The three-year deal is expected to
benefit students and lecturers from
the institutions by training them at
Huawei’s facility on Mombasa road in
Nairobi. “African education system
has been criticised in the past for
being too outdated in that there are
gaps between what is learned in class
and what the industry needs to catch
up with the rest of the world” said, Li
Dafeng the Huawei President for
Eastern and Southern Africa.
Safaricom is expected to offer hands
on job training on latest GSM
technologies and provide market for
local mobile software applications
developed by the students as part of
the deal.
Safaricom will market the mobile
software applications through its
portal Safaricom Live and share the
revenue on an agreed ratio.
“We, recognise that Safaricom can’t
remain static as a provider of pure
connectivity; a seller of the dumb pipe.
We have to move up the data value
chain and we shall be coming to you,
the universities, to map out areas we
can further our partnership, especially
in E-learning and E-health,” said Mr
Nzioka Waita, Safaricom director of
corporate affairs.
The local mobile software application
industry is at its nascent stage of
development but has attracted more
than 3,000 developers stationed at
Ihub and M-Lab, an information
technology incubation centre on
Ngong Road, Nairobi. Globally the
mobile application download
currently dominated by Google’s
Android and Apple is valued at more
than $15 billion. It is this market that
technology firms are eyeing.
The Information PS Bitange Ndemo
said such partnerships should be
encouraged. “Technology changes
every day and for students to remain
relevant in the job market or in their
own entrepreneurial endeavours they
require modern training facilities,” said
Dr Ndemo.

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