KUMASI WELCOMES PYTHON AFRICAN TOUR

Advancing Open Source Technologies for Development

Python African Tour (PAT) is an exciting African open source technology initiative aimed at promoting agile programming languages, mainly Python, among Africa's tech communities. Through the efforts of various developers, organizers, activists and volunteers, the programme has successfully trained interested people in Senegal, Nigeria, Morocco and Ghana to develop computer software using Python-based technologies. Similar efforts are currently underway to bring the Python African Tour experience to Kenya.

The first PAT workshop in Ghana was held from 18^th to 22^nd January 2011 at African University College of Communications (AUCC) and Ghana Telecom University College (GTUC) in Accra. PAT Ghana was sponsored by Google, BECATEC, Ageliaco and the Python Software Foundation (PSF), while Ghana Google Technology User Group (Ghana GTUG), Fedora Linux Project and Hutspace were partners. The Accra event birthed many avid Python programmers, a mailing list and the call to spread Python to other parts of Ghana.

Therefore, the Python African Tour team in Ghana is organizing a follow-up Python training workshop specially targeted at students at Kwame Nkrumah University of Scienceand Technology (KNUST), Kumasi Polytechnic (K-Poly) and other tertiary institutions in the Kumasi area. Other technology enthusiasts in the Ashanti region are also welcome to attend. This makes Ghana the first country to have a second PAT event organized.

Kumasi city centre. Picture credit: travelblog.org

The overall goal is to boost development in Africa through Python and allied technologies; this will be achieved by empowering young Ghanaian students, developers and entrepreneurs with quality skills to tackle local problems. It is also the objective of the Tour to inspire and build conversations among local developers, creating an ecosystem of cooperation, idea-sharing, collaboration and creativity.

Python African Tour takes a different approach from other tech-related conferences that have been held in Ghana due to its focus on hands-on Python training and skills transfer, opportunity local developers have been yearning for. The schedule for the Kumasi event is as follows:

•  19th September to 25th September, 2011: Online course – “Introduction to Python" at School of Webcraft
•    29th September to 30th September, 2011: Introduction to Python
•   1st October, 2011: Introduction to Django web framework/Sprints

The emphasis of the training regimen is on developing a problem-solving and practical approach to programming. The training team consists of volunteers from PAT Ghana team, PAT Ghana participants, KNUST GTUG members and well-established software developers.

British Council, Google Ghana/Africa, BECATEC, Ageliaco, PSF, Ghana GTUG and KNUST GTUG are supporting this event to come to fruition. Sponsorship opportunites are still available for the workshops or hackathon. Contact the PAT team via email and get your organisation to be part of this exciting initiative.

To participate in the Python African Tour (PAT) Kumasi workshop, please fill out the registration form at the PAT website now. If you are interested in sponsoring, supporting the training team or helping out in any way, please send an email to patghana(at)gmail.com.

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Connect with Python African Tour:

Register: http://www.pythonafricantour.com/participate

Twitter: @PATGhana

Facebook: Python African Tour Ghana Leg

[Press Release]: Celebrating Software Freedom Day 2011 in Ghana!

The Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT (AITI-KACE) in collaboration with the Linux User Group, Accra(LUGA) will again be hosting a special event on Saturday, September 17^th under the theme “Open Source a viable option for achieving MDGs”. The venue for this year's celebrations is the AITI-KACE premises and the time is 9:00 – 16:00. This is the biggest international celebration and outreach event for Software Freedom globally involving 500 volunteer groups all around the world.

In an increasingly digital age, more and more of our everyday experiences depend upon software. Software influences how we interact with each other, enjoy different media, get paid, and even navigate our roads. Software underpins our very way of life, our basic freedoms such as freedom of association, freedom of thought, freedom of choice and much more, yet many people do not realize the importance and influence of software and other technologies on their lives. What is even much more important is that open source is proven to be a viable technology option capable to aid achieving the Millennium Development Goals(MDG's).

Software Freedom Day (SFD) is a worldwide celebration of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). Over 500 volunteer groups in over 120 countries all around the world are celebrating the sixth SFD this year on September 17. SFD is an annual grass roots effort to educate the public on the virtues of Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) and also to encourage its use. The goal in this celebration is to educate the worldwide public about the benefits of using high quality FOSS in education, in government, at home, and in business - in short, everywhere!

The AITI-KACE and its partners have been celebrating Software Freedom Day for a number of years and with support from the general public and the IT Community. We would like those that have attended or are attending for the first time to bring a friend along. Come and see demonstrations of open source software to suit just about every usage that you might think of. Take home some ideas, and CDs/DVDs full of software that you can use straight away.

People in Ashanti Region of Ghana can also join the Ashanti Linux User Group to celebrate the day at the University of Education, Kumasi Campus, Tanoso.

AITI-KACE is located near Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), adjacent to the Council of State Building on 2nd Avenue, Ridge, Accra. Contacts : Fred Yeboah - Tel 0302 679542-4 or e-mail: fredericky(at)aiti-kace.com.gh

Finding Business Information Ghana Style, The Nandimobile Way

Ghanaian software startup Nandimobile, previously written about here, has stepped up gear in its quest to empower connections between businesses and their customers through mobile technology. Meet the brilliant minds behind Nandimobile:

L to R: Edward Tagoe, Anne Amuzu and Michael Dakwa

Since my last post on them, they have been up to many interesting things, including winning the best business award, for their Gripeline product, at the launch conference held in San Francisco, USA last February. Team Nandimobile is at it again. This time they've come out with one of Ghana's biggest mobile business directories dubbed Infoline Business Directory. What does this entail?

Business Information for End-Customers

With over 18,000 listings, the Infoline Business Directory enables mobile users to search through listed businesses, via SMS, with their mobile phones. The system returns results that contains the business' name, contact details, address or directions and the business sector. All it takes to receive info on a particular business in Ghana is to text ‘’FIND [Name of Company]’’ to short code 1945. Eg text "FIND Esoko" to 1945 to obtain available information on Esoko. The platform delivers results within seconds of sending in the request and also provides more results if there is more than one entry on a particular company. One thing, the service works on all mobile networks in Ghana and goes for only 10p per SMS (charged by the customer's network).

Business Listing and Back-End Analytics for Companies

Unlisted businesses can input their details freely at Nandimobile's website after which they will be listed in the directory. An Infoline dashboard service is available for businesses interested in tracking who is viewing or requesting for their information and other important business analytics. Companies with Infoline dashboard can easily edit or update their business information in the directory anytime such changes occur.

Nandimobile's Infoline tool effectively bring businesses closer to customers and customers closer to businesses, using simple SMS technology that everyone uses.

Python African Tour Ghana (Day1)

Picture Credit: @Nnenna

Python African Tour (PAT) Ghana started yesterday, 18th January, at African University College of Communications, Adabraka. The week-long Python programming workshop attracted a handful of students, developers and tech entrepreneurs in Ghana.

Day 1 commenced behind schedule with a brief welcome address by Mr Kwabena Mantey of African University College of Communications. Mr Mantey stressed in his delivery that technology plays a key role in communication and AUCC's mission; that is why the university is supportive of initiatives aimed at improving technology in Africa. Next, Gameli Adzaho of the PAT Ghana team explained what PAT was all about and how Ghana is excited to be the fourth stop of the continental tour. Day 1's training was handled by the Hutspace team composed of Emmanuel Okyere and Kweku Danso. They took participants, mainly programming newbies, through:

1. What is programming?
2. Computer languages-interpreted versus compiled
3. Intro to Python-General overview of features
4. Installation of Python interpreter on windows machines
5. Python versus Java
6. Playing with Python in interaction mode
7. Different types of errors
8. Value, expression, variables, functions
9. Making a simple function to evaluate the area of a circle

Attendees were engaged throughout the day and were enthusiastic about attending subsequent days of training.

Python African Tour Ghana runs from 18th January to 22nd January, from 9 am to 5 pm. It has been put together by the Python African Tour (Ghana) team supported by Hutspace, Ghana Google Technology User Group (Ghana GTUG) and Fedora Linux Project. The tour is generously sponsored by Google, BECATEC, Ageliaco and Python Software Foundation/Python Sprints.

Latest Updates on Python African Tour Ghana

Python African Tour is just three days away from stopping in Accra, Ghana. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to learn about one of the most versatile modern programming languages, and what it can do in terms of science and development in Africa. Here are some quick updates relating to the Ghana leg of the tour.

AUCC and GTUC Will Jointly Host PAT Ghana
PAT Ghana will take place from 18th to 22nd January 2011. The schedule is as follows:

• Day 1: Introduction to Python


• Day 2: Introduction to Python (cont.)


• Day 3: Introduction to Web Development with Python (particularly with Django)


• Day 4: Python Sprint/Hackathon


• Day 5: Python Sprint/Hackathon (cont.)

African University College of Communications (Google Map) will host the workshops/tutorials while the Sprints/Hackathon will be held at Ghana Telecom University College (Google Map)

More Partners and Sponsors on Board
Fedora Linux Project has joined forces with the PAT Ghana team and other organisations/groups such as Ghana Google Technology User Group (Ghana GTUG) and Hutspace to run the training workshop.

PAT Ghana is sponsored by Google, BECATEC, Ageliaco and Python Software Foundation/ Python Sprints. Their kind donation is making this possible. Check out the sponsorship options available and contribute to this worthy cause.

Connect with PAT
You can email any inquiries to the PAT Ghana team via PATGhana@gmail.com or connect through their Facebook page or Twitter.

To participate in the workshop, register using the form available at the PAT website. Spread the word!

Python African Tour Official Press Release

Contact: PAT(Ghana) Organising Team
Email:patghana@gmail.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PYTHON AFRICAN TOUR COMES TO GHANA

Advancing Open Source Technologies for Development

Python African Tour (PAT) is an exciting African open source technology initiative aimed at promoting agile programming languages, mainly Python, among Africa's tech communities. The Tour, which has successfully been executed in Senegal, Nigeria and Morocco is run by a group of nomadic volunteer Python developers and evangelists, backed by the generous contributions of various organisations and individuals. With the support of Ashesi University College, Ghana Google Technology User Group (Ghana GTUG), local developers, entrepreneurs, bloggers and open source fans, the PAT train will make a stop in Accra Ghana from 18th to 22nd January, 2011 at the Ashesi University College Campus.

The tour was highly successful in the three countries where it has been held so far, and this has greatly increased interest in Python as a programming language to be reckoned with. The overall goal is to boost development in Africa through Python and allied technologies; this will be achieved by empowering young Ghanaian students, developers and entrepreneurs with quality skills to tackle local problems. It is also the objective of the Tour to inspire and build conversations among local developers, creating an ecosystem of cooperation, idea-sharing, collaboration and creativity.

Python African Tour takes a different approach from other tech-related conferences that have been held in Ghana due to its focus on hands-on Python training and skills transfer, an opportunity local developers have been yearning for. The training format adopted is particularly suited for people who have already started Python programming or at least know how to program in another language. The tentative agenda is as follows:

• Day 1: Introduction to Python

• Day 2: Introduction to Django Web Framework

• Day 3: Python for scientists (based on demand)

• Day 4: Python Sprint/Hackathon

• Day 5: Python Sprint/Hackathon

Such a well-orchestrated training regimen is focused on developing a problem-solving approach to programming among attendees. The experience and expertise of the international team of trainers drawn from the PAT, Ghana GTUG and Hutspace will guide the participants to come out more quality and useful apps, some of which would have business potential.

Ashesi University College, Python Software Foundation and Hutspace are proud sponsors of the tour. There are sponsorship opportunites available for workshop sponsorship, hackathon sponsorship and individual sponsorship. Contact the PAT team and get your organisation to be part of this exciting initiative.

To participate in the Python African Tour (PAT) Ghana workshop, please fill out the registration form at the PAT website now. If you are interested in sponsoring, supporting the training team or helping out in any way, please send an email to patghana@gmail.com.

See you there!

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Connect with Python African Tour:

http://www.pythonafricantour.com/countries/ghana

Register: http://www.pythonafricantour.com/countries/ghana/participate

Twitter(@patghana): http://twitter.com/patghana

Facebook: http://facebook.com/PythonGhana

Retail Tower: Ghana Web Start-up Offering Product Distribution and Monitoring

The availability of tons of e-commerce sites means that on-line merchants would like to explore business opportunities available on multiple platforms/websites. However,managing product information distribution and retail monitoring proves to be a daunting task for small to middle-scale merchants as they lack online tools to manage their multi-channel transactions. Enter Ghana software start-up RetailTower, previously written about by Emeka Okafor.

RetailTower is an online multi-channel management service built for online merchants. The service offers seamless integration with existing ecommerce solutions, shopping comparison engines, and online transactional marketplaces to provide a cost-effective and one-stop platform for online merchants to submit product feed, optimize and manage their products on shopping destination platforms such as; Google base, Shopzilla, Pricerunner, and pricegrabber.

Deploying a web application with well-tailored features, the RetailTower team aims to craft a solution that is simple, comprehensive and has seamless integration with shopping cart software.

RetailTower is still in development and is an exciting initiative for a West African start-up whose eyes are on the USA market. The start-up team emerges from MEST just like NandiMobile and Leti Games, which were previously covered.

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• Retail Tower (timbuktuchronicles.blogspot.com)
• Meltwater Foundation Announces the Opening of a Non-Profit Incubator in Ghana, Africa (eon.businesswire.com)

Press Release for Software Freedom Day 2010

This press release below is from AITI-KACE concerning the upcoming Software Freedom Day Celebrations in Ghana


Celebrating Software Freedom Day 2010 in Ghana!

We are proud to announce that the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT (AITI-KACE) in collaboration with the FLOSSInclude Project will again be hosting a special event on Saturday, September 18th under the theme “Knowing the alternative software solutions”. The venue for this year's celebrations is the AITI-KACE premises and the time is 9:30 – 15:00. This is the biggest international celebration and outreach event for Software Freedom globally involving hundreds of teams from all around the world.

In an increasingly digital age, more and more of our everyday experiences depend upon software. Software influences how we interact with each other, enjoy different media, get paid, and even navigate our roads. Software underpins our very way of life, our basic freedoms such as freedom of association, freedom of thought, freedom of choice and much more, yet many people do not realize the importance and influence of software and other technologies on their lives.

What do we mean by Software Freedom? Software Freedom is about a technology future that we can trust, that is sustainable, and that doesn't negatively impact on the basic human freedoms we take for granted. For instance, spyware is a software that monitors what we listen to, our banking details and who we email. This software can be installed on our computers without our knowledge. Proprietary data formats can mean lockout to accessing your own information! Software Freedom can be maintained by transparent systems (such as Free and Open Source Software - FOSS) that are based on open, secure and sustainable standards including data formats and communications protocols.

Software Freedom Day is a yearly celebration of Software Freedom and why it is important; our purpose is public education about these important issues which we believe will eventually ensure that all barriers to the use and deployment of software are eliminated.

The AITI-KACE and its partners have been celebrating Software Freedom Day for a number of year and we have had many members of the general public and IT Community participate through the doors. We would like those that have attended or are attending for the first time to bring a friend along. Share with us the possibilities. Come and see demonstrations of open source software to suit just about every usage that you might think of. Take home some ideas, and CDs/DVDs full of software that you can use straight away.


People in the Eastern Region of Ghana can also join the Computer Science Department at the Koforidua Polytechnic to celebrate the day.

AITI-KACE is located near Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), adjacent to the Council of State Building on 2nd Avenue, Ridge, Accra.

Members of the media are invited to cover the event.

Contacts : Fred Yeboah - Tel 0302 679542-4 or e-mail: fredericky@aiti-kace.com.gh

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• Chuck Frain: Software Freedom Day In The Free State! (chuckfrain.net)
• Ralph Janke: Ubuntu Hour in Waterloo, Ontario on September 1, 2010 (txwikinger.me.uk)
• Links 31/8/2010: Linux Developer Community From Wind River, Multitouch Tablet (techrights.org)

Google to Host Days for Ghana's Tech Community

Since deciding to set up office in Ghana, Google has been actively supporting tech-related events and groups in Ghana. Mention can be made of BarCamp Ghana and TEDxYouthInspire. Google Ghana also recently teamed up with Citi Fm to organise a conference on Internet bandwidth in Ghana.

Google is announcing its own event, dubbed G-Ghana, to be held at Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT. The Internet giant hopes to engage Ghanaian software developers, marketing professionals and technology entrepreneurs. The G-Ghana site does not mention technology writers and bloggers, but I'm pretty sure Google would love to have us as well. :).

On the G-Ghana website, Google states that the event is consistent with their core mission:

In alignment with our core mission, "to organize all the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful" we would like to provide training on localized and global tools to spur economic development and entrepreneur opportunities for people in Ghana.

The event will held from 3rd June to 4th June 2010. Day 1 is for software developers and computer science students, who must have some technical programming skills while day two is targeted at technology entrepreneurs and marketing professionals.
Google has lined up wonderful agenda for both days. This event is a must-attend for anyone who is part of the technology community in Ghana. Prospective G-Ghana attendees must register their interest in either of the days on the G-Ghana website. I'm expecting a lot of exciting things to happen during G-Ghana.

GhanaGTUG Holds First Meeting

I was privileged to be part of the very first meeting of Ghana Google Technology Users Group (GhanaGTUG) held last Friday, 5th March, at the yet-to-be-inaugurated offices of Google Ghana. GhanaGTUG is a group of Ghanaian software developers and technology enthusiasts who actively use Google products. Present at the meet-up were the founding members of GhanaGTUG and staff of the new Google Ghana office. The programme lasted for approximately one hour and was excellent in terms of its educative and social value.

The meeting was kick started by Jojoo Imbeah, organiser of the event, who informed the gathering that the idea of forming a GTUG in Ghana was conceived during Google technology breakout sessions at BarCamp Ghana 2009. He also went on to mention the advantages of using Google technology, pointing out that Google technology helps developers and users to make and save money.

Google Ghana's Office Lead, Estelle Akofio-Sowah was the next to speak. In her submission Estelle said that Google's main goal in Sub-Saharan Africa, consistent with its mission of acquiring, reorganizing and presenting all of the world's information, is to get as many people as possible online. She explained further that the company intends to achieve its objective by ensuring the availability or relevant content, easy access to gadgets and the Internet and the development of a wide array of products that are useful in every facet of daily life and business. She stressed that the company does not have any immediate financial intention in relation to its operations in this part of the world. Estelle, who was very excited about the formation of GhanaGTUG, called for the formation of more GTUGs throughout the country and promised to work in close collaboration with the group and other stakeholders in Ghana's Internet industry. She stated that the Google Ghana office is open to ideas from GhanaGTUG, and other groups , and called for their support, feedback and ideas so that Google can deliver more to meet their technology needs.

There were also few demonstrations and technical presentations to round up activities for the day. A short video that explained what GTUGs do was shown. This was followed by a presentation on mobile development for the Android platform by Ushahidi developer Henry Addo. Finally, Richard Ngamita, a Googler originally from the Nairobi office, gave a detailed presentation on various Google products and developer resources such as Map Maker, App Engine, API and Local Business Center (LBC). Richard emphasised the obvious advantages of these products to Africa as they are free or very affordable.

After Richard's presentation, there were presentations of Google souvenirs to lucky attendees. This was followed by refreshment which was kindly sponsored by Google. Participants took the opportunity to meet new people, discuss projects they are working on and to generally interact among themselves.

Overall, the event was a great success thanks to the efforts of the organising team , coordinated by the tireless Joojo Imbeah, all those who attended and Google Ghana. Please also check out tweets from various attendees.

My11: The New Twist to Fantasy Football League

Theydon International Limited recently released a new fantasy football league game called My11. According to their website, "My11.com is an exciting online fantasy football games community. We aim to enhance the way football is enjoyed by offering an extensive range of online fantasy football games; live football news and results; and a thrilling live football challenge."

They have this exciting video campaign, also reported by the Keta Sandlanders FC blog, going on:

The My11 package features three free games: My African 11, My Premier 11 and My Champions 11. The unique thing about these manager-based games is their focus on African players based in Europe. The company also has My11 Football Challenge in the pipeline.

This is quite interesting considering the recent release of iWarrior, Africa's first iPhone game. There's also a facebook application called My Ghanaian name. In general, it looks like the number of software applications made by Africans or targeted at Africans is increasing. The continent is becoming more and more tech savvy. I'd give this game a try, I hope you do too. Choose your 11 and lets get down to action!

Africa Too Has a Story to Tell

In many fields of human endeavour, African names are missing on the list of top achievers. This often creates the impression that the African has nothing, or at best very little, to offer to the world. The above misconception has continually been perpetuated such that anything that is good must necessarily be of western or eastern origin -or at least so they say. In the world of software development, on the global landscape, hardly are African names mentioned as active participants.

Does this mean that there are no African participants in this industry? Answer, NO! Although there are relatively few African players at the global level, there is a significant number of them out there worth mentioning. These people are playing key trendsetting roles and therefore demonstrating to aspiring African software industry players that indeed their dream is a feasible one.

There are three reasons why the stories of successful African software entrepreneurs do not catch fire. One is the fact that the very nature of most African cultures has restrained them from projecting their images in the public domain, lest they appear to be showing off. Secondly, the level of technology on the mother continent is so low that there are few African praise singers who will bring the stories of these heroes of ours to the fore. The third reason, which is the one that holds more weight, is that global media organisations are so preoccupied with reporting killings, wars, diseases and poverty in Africa that the speedy pace of technological advancements on the continent has been left uncommented on.

During the last few weeks I and my colleagues at MEST were tasked to investigate the success stories of successful African software entrepreneurs. The many names that came up were amazing and most revealing to me. This is because i had no idea that there were so many Africans making giant strides in the global software space. These were no Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, but they were Vinny Lingham, Joe Jackson, Harriet Somuah and Mark Shuttleworth in their own rights. I and my former group mates, Edward and Nii Nai, had a date with Mr Joe Jackson, CEO of theSOFTtribe, Nigeria, and this was really exciting.

My encounter with Mr Jackson was not only educative, as it allowed me to learn first hand the goings on of an industry in which i intend to become an active player, but also very deep in the sense that it afforded me the opportunity to reflect on the realities of the global software industry. I discovered that the internet was far more powerful than i thought and that to become successful in the web industry one must aim global.

But what was more intriguing about our interaction was the story Mr Jackson had to tell. The story was about how he and his partner, Mr Chinery-Hesse, started theSOFTtribe from a bedroom. It was about how the organisation grew to become a leader in West Africa and to have about 30% penetration into Ghana Club 100(group of 100 most successful Ghanaian companies). His story painted a vivid picture of the ingenuity of SOFT as they tasked themselves with the duty of providing African businesses with "tropically tolerant" software. Through the interaction we also discovered the difficulties SOFT is facing in the advent of the globalised world and the strategies that they are employing to overcome these challenges. Specifically, the company had to change its business model because the cascading effects of globalisation ensured that the world became a smaller place. Therefore major business decisions that were hitherto localised, such as decision to purchase software, were now shifted to USA, Europe or South Africa. The end result is that local software companies started losing out on business because the mother branches of most multinational firms were calling the shots. This situation was aggravated by the fact that Ghanaian companies that had foreign partners sarted shunning SOFT's products, even though they agree that they were of superior quality in the Ghanaian environment.

So the company had to give up its long term vision of building Enterprise Resource Planning Applications (ERPs) for West-African businesses. Instead they entered into a strategic partnership with Microsoft, where the software giant allowed them access to the source code of their Dynamics NAV software(formerly known as navision). This way the company brought knowledge of the local terrain to the table while microsoft brought international credibility. This ground-breaking deal turned out to be a win-win situation for both parties. The good news is that this has gone a long way to boost the business standing of theSOFTtribe.

To put everything together, there is massive evidence that Africans are active participants in the global order, specifically the software industry. The story of Mr Joe Jackson and theSOFTtribe is testimony that African companies experience the same forces that shape the business of organsations worldwide. It is also very important for young Africans to draw inspiration from these trailblazers and take a massive shot at their destinies by engaging in entrepreneurial pursuits. Finally, we can all acknowledge that indeed the african too has a story to tell!