Wrap-Up: Our pick of main stories, Wednesday October 14th, 2015

Kisumu County partners with World Bank, UK’s DfID to automate construction permits

The County Government of Kisumu, with the support of the World Bank Group’s Kenya Investment Climate Program 2 (KICP 2) and the Dutch government- designed, developed, tested and deployed the online system for construction permits. The e-Construction Permit system automates the construction permit application process working in an entirely paperless manner and eliminating physical documents.

Street kids bag Kalasha nominations

Two former street children have bagged nominations in this year’s Kalasha Film and TV Awards. Patrick Macharia and Elizabeth Sande, both aged 12, have been nominated as Best Lead Actor and Best Lead Actress in a film, respectively. The two budding thespians starred in the made for TV mini-series, Child4Hire, produced by the Amref Dagoretti Film School in 2014.

Huduma Kenya bags its seventh award

Huduma Kenya has bagged its seventh award in less than a year for public service excellence in the 2015 OLX SOMA Awards. Huduma emerged the winner of the Social State Corporate Award in the Government Category, beating other government organisations. Huduma Kenya is under the Ministry of Devolution and Planning and is headed by Cabinet Secretary Ann Waiguru.

Popular Kenyan actors audition for BET show

Last weekend, Kenya’s top acting talents converged at the Kenya National Theatre for the auditions for the BET hit reality show, Top Actor Africa. More than 150 eager participants were auditioned. Actors from Kenya, Uganda and as far as Nigeria tried their luck.

Safaricom to adopt smart technology aimed at reducing carbon emission

Safaricom says it will embark on a major network upgrade to replace carbon emitting base stations and improve on energy consumption. Speaking during the fourth Safaricom annual sustainability report, Safaricom head of corporate responsibility Sanda Ojiambo says the telecommunications company will adopt smart technology with the aim of reducing carbon emission.

Adelle Onyango to use her new post at Intel to empower women

Intel Corp will for a couple of months collaborate with radio host and poet Ms. Adelle Onyango to champion the Intel She Will Connect Program, which seeks to recruit more women into using the Internet as an empowerment tool. Speaking on the collaboration, Intel Marketing and PR Manager for East Africa Ms. Lavinniah Muthoni said Adelle’s passion for women empowerment puts her at a convenient position to champion the Intel agenda for women and technology in Africa.

Climate Smart-Tech improving livelihoods of Kenyan women farmers

Equator Kenya, a food-processing company that produces African Bird’s Eye Chilies for export, has joined the Business Call to Action (BCtA) with a commitment to provide climate-smart technologies, training and market linkages to 8,000 smallholder farmers along the Kenyan coast. This business is designed to reduce the crop risks posed by climate change, which will help increase incomes among the farmers — 6,000 of whom are women — as well as improve crop yields and quality.