Wrap-Up: Our pick of main stories, Thursday September 17th, 2015

Free computer training to commence in Lari Business operators in Lari Sub-County are set to benefit from free computer training courtesy of Directorate of Adult and Continuing Education (DACE). Speaking at Lari on Thursday 17, Timothy Kathurima, Lari Sub-County DACE officer, said the training is being offered by Kenya ICT Training Program (KICTTP) and is sponsored by World Life Research and International Expedition (WLRIE). The training which is aimed at reducing computer illiteracy is expected to kick off early in October and will last three months. Equity Group to acquire ProCredit Bank as DRC approves its M-banking infrastructure Equity’s bid to acquire ProCredit bank Congo was given a boost by the DRC government’s approval of their M-banking infrastructure. The announcement was made by Dr. James Mwangi, Group CEO Equity Group Holdings Limited during the bank’s Investor Briefing, where he said that this move would see Equity achieve exponential growth in a short time. Fuzu online portal launched in Kenya Fuzu has been launched in Kenya which enables job seekers to sharpen their skills and find the right job. The portal allows jobseekers to create their profile on the system and get to develop their skills through virtual coaching. Through the platform, employers also get to identify and recruit qualified candidates. Fuzu analyses their skills, giving them scores making it easier for employers to pick suitable candidates. Kenya Film Commission to host inaugural International festival The Kenya Film Commission is set to host its first ever first ever Kalasha international film and TV festival and market. This was announced by Lizzie Chongoti CEO Kenya Film Commission, during the launch of the 2015 Beijing TV Dramas & Movies Broadcasting Exhibition in Kenya, she informed attendees of the Exhibition that the festival would be taking place from the 26th-30th of October. Tackling neo-natal hypothermia in Uganda and Kenya That new technology, the Embrace Baby Wrap, is a low-cost baby warmer developed as a class project at Stanford University. A group of graduate students created it as part of a challenge to design an intervention for neonatal hypothermia that costs less than 1 percent of the price of a state-of-the-art incubator. It is now being implemented in health facilities in low-resource areas of the world. I am training approximately 100 health-facility workers on the use of a technology to reduce neonatal hypothermia in Ugandan and Kenyan villages. Kenya, S. Africa’s common ground: Tech and innovation, and why multinationals want a piece of the pie ONE of the sectors in which Kenya and South Africa enjoy some degree of parity is in information and communication technology. Kenya easily leads the pack in East Africa as a nation supporting tech startups, while South Africa has established and advanced technology providers. In pure innovation terms, it could also be argued that Kenya trumps South Africa given its comparative lack of access to capital and the pace at which truly ground-breaking services have thrived.