CIO East Africa MAY 2020

LET’S MEET ONLINE

DATA

PROTECTION

Getting it Right. From

Policy to Practice.

MALICIOUS

ACTORS

Remote Learning Is

The New Target

DRONE PILOT

ROSE FUNJA STIRS

WOMEN TO STEER DRONES

DISRUPTING

THE USUAL

Why DAVID IGWETA, CIO & Ag. COO,

HF GROUP is revving on the wave of

digital solutions that is this decade’s

biggest disruptor in the financial

services industry.

VOL 12 | ISSUE 04 | MAY 2020 EDITION

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30

CIO EDITORIAL TEAM

PUBLISHER

Harry Hare

OPERATIONS DIRECTOR

Andrew Karanja

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Laura Chite

MANAGING EDITOR

Humphrey Odhiambo

Deputy MANAGING EDITOR

Carol Odero

TECH WRITERS

Molly Wasonga |

Ambrose Gahene |

TECH COLUMNISTS

Francis Mwangi | Robert

Yawe | Michael Michie |

MARKETING MANAGER

Vanessa Obura

SALES MANAGER

Josephine Soi

EVENTS MANAGER

Ellen Magembe

FINANCE MANAGER

Norah Kirumba

EVENT EXECUTIVES

Mellisa Dorsila | Joan

Jepkosgei | Justin

Maganga | Felix Moturi

SUBSCRIPTION MANAGER

Stacey Njeri

PHOTOGRAPHY

Arthur Kintu

BUSINESS CONSULTANT

Njambi Waruhiu

EVENTS PLAN LEAD

Bonface Shikuku

ADMIN STAFF

Videlis Syovata

Priscilla Egehitsa

Daniel Mwaha

TRAINING

Rose Waguthi

CREATIVE DESIGN

Sam Morara | Infobox

Rose Funja Stirs Women

to Steer Drones

E-COMMERCE IN TIMES

OF COVID-19

24

20

42 - 45

07

Editor

Coronavirus Accelerates Everything

Including Teachable Moments

Working From Home

No Longer a Sweetener

Malicious Actors Target

Remote Learners

CIO Webinar

Series Galore

HARD TALK

Guest Editor

Stemming the tide of

cyberbullying

All it might take is

a little virus

08

28

46

4

www.cio.co.ke | MAY 2020 | CIO EAST AFRICA

Molly Wasonga

Tech Writer

Ambrose Gahene

Tech Writer

Humphrey Odhiambo

Managing Editor

Robert Yawe

CEO, SYNAptech

Technologies

MICHAEL MICHIE

Head of IT, TripleOKLaw

CAROL ODERO

Deputy MANAGING Editor

Kendi Nderitu

Country Manager,

Microsoft Kenya

DR. FERNANDO WANGILA

CIO, National Transport &

Safety Authority

Maina Kamau

Field Marketing Lead,

Westcon-Comstor, Africa

Arthur Kuwashima

Lead Photographer

EXECUTIVE TEAM

SALES TEAM

ADMIN

Harry Hare

Chairman & Publisher

Andrew Karanja

Director, CIO EA

Laura Chite

CEO, CIO East Africa

Norah Kirumba

Finance Manager

Vanessa Obura

Marketing Manager

Josephine Soi

Sales Manager

Videlis Syovata

AdmiNstrator

EVENTS TEAM

SUBSCRIPTION

Ellen Magembe

Events Manager

Mellisa Dorsila

Events Assistant

Joan Jepkosgei

Account Executive

Justin Maganga

Account Executive

Felix Moturi

Audience Generation

Executive

Stacey Njeri

Account Executive

6


Coronavirus Accelerates Everything

Including Teachable Moments

When planet earth suddenly felt like a dangerous place to live in, thinkers refused to

budge to the unprecedented crises caused by corona virus disease dubbed: COVID-19

and instead chose to innovate and harness new ways to uphold what are now new norms

to fight the scourge.

With social distancing routed as one of

the major measures to contain the global

pandemic, it prompted slow-downs and

temporary closures of businesses. Under

the circumstance, digital response tinkered

in diverse industries accelerated experience

that both businesses and customers so much

needed.

To keep some semblance of normality soon

after travel banns, schools closures, invocation

of curfews and lockdown by governments and

folks discouraged to gather in large groups

to limit the spread of the virus, many turned

to digital tools. Digital experience could not

have been more relevant. It disaggregated and

displaced a substantial amount of the past

norms to pave new ways of doing old things.

Investing in automation was the sustainable

way out – a promise beyond survival.

Both work and leisure, formerly based on

human-to-human contact went virtual. Even

companies that were resistant to the concept

of a distributed workforce chose the route of

working from home. As working from home

gained credence, webinars were stimulated.

Cash transactions, though still the most

popularly reduced to give room for digital

money transactions.

Movement towards digitised services

increased the demand for communication,

collaboration and messaging. It equally upped

the need for reliable and resilient broadband

connectivity everywhere. By mid-March,

Microsoft Teams had reported an increase

of 37.5 per cent in daily users, while Zoom

embarked on a journey of enhancing its

video-calling infrastructure capacity as well as

hiring more staff to meet the demand for its

services.

E-commerce elevated home delivery services

such as retail and restaurants when food

deliveries realised a massive ramp up as early

adopters jostled for services – a move that is

likely to disrupt restaurant business in a major

way.

Unbundling of offerings and experiences

in schools, social places, shops as well as

various aspects of social life such as weddings,

funerals and entertainment disappeared.

While some companies will eventually

revert to the rigid work-in-office policies,

the expectation that some will realize the

benefits of letting staff work from will be

high. Proven and doable it is. If nothing else,

they will have valuable experience about how

to accommodate work-from-home in the

future when required again owing to another

outbreak or other reasons.

New teachable and exciting moments these

indeed are save for the pain of COVID-19 that

casted the spell of crisis and unmingling.

HUMPHREY ODHIAMBO

Managing Editor

CONTACTS

eDevelopment House

604 Limuru Road Old Muthaiga

P O Box 49475 00100 Nairobi, Kenya

+254 725 855 249

Email: info@cio.co.ke

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

The content of CIO East Africa is protected by copyright law, full

details of which are available from the publisher. While great

care has been taken in the receipt and handling of material,

production and accuracy of content in this magazine, the

publisher will not accept any responsility for any errors, loss or

ommisions which may occur.


7

KENDI NDERITU,

Country Manager,

Microsoft Kenya

STEMMING THE TIDE OF CYBERBULLYING

It’s perhaps one of the great paradoxes of our time – the opportunities that technology presents

come with complexities that can be difficult to navigate. Nowhere is this more evident than in

today’s classrooms. While technology is helping transform the learning experience in profound

ways, it can also leave students exposed to significant online risk if the right measures are not in

place.

Recent survey on online bullying in the Middle

East and North Africa revealed the depth of

the challenge educators and parents face,

highlighting that at least 85 percent of UAE

children are bullied online.

In Kenya, clear guidelines exist under the

Computer Misus and Cybercrimes Act - 2018

around cyberbullying, all of which covers various

offences including unauthorised interference or

interception of computer systems programs or

data, false publication of data, cyber harassment,

cybersquatting, cyber terrorism, identity

theft, impersonation and the like. It further

prescribes penalties for the violation of these

provisions - these include fines, imprisonment

and confiscation. But while these measures are

in place on paper, reality presents an alternate

situation, one where children are left with little to

no supervision.

Educators Intervention

While parents have a role to play in limiting and

supervising access to the internet, educators can

also make a key difference. The more teachers are

equipped themselves to deal with cyberbullying,

the better the chance we have of combatting the

online threat. In fact, we as adults can intervene

in several powerful ways in the cycle of online

bullying.

Helping to prevent cyberbullying begins with

listening to children. Ask them to talk about their

lives. Sit with younger children while they play

and explore online. It is a good idea asking tweens

and teens to show you around the websites

they visit, where they hang out, who with, and

how they talk to each other. This is particularly

important in a school setting, where monitoring

online activities behaviour can be encouraged.

There are also ways of watching out for signs of

online cruelty. This typically involves taking note

when children get upset while online or texting, or

when they have a reluctance to be at school. At

the same time, teachers can keep an eye out for

children being mean to others online.

Help children understand

Greater awareness around the consequences

of bullying can assist in discouraging a culture

of cyberbullying. Help children understand that

cyberbullying can get them into serious trouble.

In some cases, this might even involve legal

ramifications. At the same time, encourage

them to think about the psychological effects

cyberbullying might have on others.

Its important children feel they can report

cyberbullying to you. Microsoft’s recent Digital

Civility Index reveals that while cyberbullying is

frequently listed as one of the most painful online

risks, just 56 percent of teens in Turkey and 46

percent in South Africa ask for help when dealing

with an online threat.

To counteract this, adults need to promise

unconditional support. Part of this involves

reassuring children that you won’t curtail phone,

gaming, or computer privileges because of others’

8


behaviour. In the context of a classroom specifically, this

would also involve providing students with an anonymous

platform from which they can report cyberbullying.

Build strong relationships

One of the most effective ways to prevent online bullying

is social and emotional learning—the process through

which we learn to build strong relationships and develop

healthy boundaries and self-perceptions.

Key to this is promoting empathy and kindness. Actively

teach thoughtfulness. This can help students understand

how small, thoughtful actions can make a huge difference

in others’ lives.

Educators can even advocate for empathy training

at school or start a kindness campaign within their

classrooms. This could be as simple as each student

agreeing to do one kind thing a day, or it could have a

much broader scope, such as developing a programme

to challenge a culture of criticism with the school. Similar

campaigns can be replicated at home or even in a broader

neighbourhood.

As a teacher, you can collaborate with other educators

to create programmes that explicitly address socialemotional

skills. In fact, collaborative learning platforms

can enable students to work together respectfully and

to negotiate as they co-create. For example, by having

students learn how to accommodate the needs of others

when creating worlds in Minecraft, teachers can find

opportunities to develop deeper emotional literacy and

introduce strategies to resolve challenges or understand

perspectives.

Identifying and Stopping Cyberbullying

Like teachers, parents have a critical role in identifying

and stopping cyberbullying. As a parent, you might be

surprised how difficult it can be for a child to admit, even

to you, that they are being bullied.

Well, to help them get past this, create an environment

that allows them to feel safe to tell you the full story.

From there, together, you can come up with a plan of

action. Encourage your child not to retaliate and to rather

ignore or block the bully. Save the online discussions as

evidence just in case it escalates to threats of violence and

the police need to be involved. Approach their teacher or

school counsellor and find out what steps can be taken to

prevent it from happening in the future.

Reassure your child that they always have your support

and shouldn’t feel ashamed. Get them involved in

activities that make them feel good so that they can move

on and heal from the incident.

At the end of the day, combatting online risks like

cyberbullying begins with promoting digital civility and

helping one another to be responsible digital citizens.

A compilation of trends. The quest of networking, forging new

partnerships and inspiring East African IT landscape .

There is a potential danger

in building AI models yet

there is no global regulator

for AI. AI experts MUST

then be taught ethical

standards to avoid horror

stories of misinterpretation

of data. #coronaviruskenya

#CIOWebinarSeries #AIForGood

@ginamukami @laurachite

https://t.co/9DIGdo2Xq5

The drive behind AI is not

to eliminate the human

factor. It is created and

operated by humans. AI is

created to enhance human

capabilities not to eliminate

them. #coronaviruskenya

#CIOWebinarSeries #AIForGood

@ginamukami @laurachite

https://t.co/1CijJ2JBTN

If completely unable to

stabilize as an organization

during a crisis, then leaders

are advised to copy other

leaders’ models that work but

only implement what seems

viable to their organizations.

#CIOWebinarSeries #Webinars

#LeadershipInCrises @lotieno

@laurachite https://t.co/

gf5W226lgw

The new normal

#workingfromhome should

be embraced beyond the

crisis, to help companies save

on space and time spent by

TWITTER

employees on commuting.

#CIOWebinarSeries #Webinars

#LeadershipInCrises @

lotieno @laurachite https://t.

co/8nr99vF5Dm

“Use big data analytics to

understand customer needs

while engaging them digitally

to not loose touch with them

during this lock down period.”

Ben Mann, COO IBM on how to

leverage big data @BenM4nn

@laurachite #LeverageBigData

#CIOWebinarSeries #COVID19

#WorkFromHome @IBMMEA

https://t.co/Zgara2KKgY

Big data can deliver fast

and accurate information to

boost the fight against the

pandemic. Join our webinar

to explore how else Big Data

can be useful in this age of

Coronavirus @BenM4nn @

laurachite #LeverageBigData

#CIOWebinarSeries #COVID19

#WorkFromHome @IBMMEA

https://t.co/UC5Q2AGJ7g

The innovative imperative;

embed innovation and

creativity in your leadership

model. Engage people and

make them part of your

digital leadership model.

#CIOWebinarSeries #4IR

#WorkFromHome #COVID19

https://t.co/hbpWg0ycTI


9

COVID-19 ADVISORY

KENYA APPOINTS COVID-19

ICT ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Following Kenya’s government quest to facilitate

containment of the spread of coronavirus in

the country using information communication

and technology, Joe Mucheru, Cabinet Secretary

for ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs recently

appointed a COVID-19 ICT Advisory Committee.

The Advisory Committee chaired by Mercy

Wanjau, Ag. Director-General and Vice-Chaired by

Peter Njonjo CEO and Co-Founder of Twiga Foods

comprise renowned ICT industry players.

Among the appointees are Ory Okolloh Cofounder,

Ushahidi and a current Non-Executive

Director of Stanbic Bank, Dr Fernando Wangila

Senior Deputy Director (Head of ICT and

Innovation), National Transport and Safety

Authority (NTSA).

The other Advisory Committee members are

Dr. Shikoh Gitau the former Head of Products

at Alpha in Safaricom, Hilda Moraa Founder and

CEO of Pezesha - a Fintech company, Dr. Joseph

Sitienei, Head of National Strategic Programs

at the Ministry of Health and Mahmoud Noor,

Chairman Swahilipot, a tech hub based in

Mombasa. Kevin Atibu is the Head of Innovation

and Incubation at the ICT Authority.

Dr. Shikoh Gitau

Peter Njonjo, Founder & CEO,

Twiga Foods

Mercy Wanjau, Director

General, Communications

Authority of Kenya

Ory Okolloh Co-founder,

Ushahidi

Mahmoud Noor, Chairman,

Swahilipot

Dr Fernando Wangila, Head of

ICT and Innovation, NTSA

Kevin Atibu, Head of Innovation

and Incubation, ICT Authority.

Hilda Moraa, Founder & CEO,

Pezesha

10


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NEW APPOINTMENTS

New Appointments

MOSES KIGANDA

APPOINTED CHECKPOINT’S

COUNTRY MANAGER

Check Point recently appointed Moses

Kiganda at its Country Manager

for East Africa, a move purposed to

ensure Africa has a more cyber secure

space right from enterprises, schools

to homes.

Being a successful ICT professional

with experience spanning over 10

years in various multinationals:

Hewlett-Packard, Oracle and

now Check Point, Moses has

received accolades at HP and

Oracle for delivering several major

transformational projects across East

Africa.

Currently pursuing Masters in

Business Management after

successfully training as an Electrical

& Electronics Engineer his primary

focus at Checkpoint will be to guide

customers to adopt strategies

that enables them transform into

sustainable business models through

various market disruptions. He is

committed to delivering customer

service excellence and customer

satisfaction.

In his broad plan that inclines

towards reducing cyber security skills

gap in East Africa, Moses is assertive

that in this hyper-connected world,

security attacks are a fact of routine

in life and therefore is no longer a

matter of if these attacks will happen,

but when.

Patrick Mweheire is Standard

Bank’s new Regional Chief Executive

Anne Juuko, as Stanbic Bank Uganda’s

new Chief Executive effective 1st

March 2020. Anne brings on board a

wealth of experience in the financial

industry with regionally and global

expertise in banking for 20 years.

Patrick Mweheire was recently

appointed the Regional Chief Executive

at Standard Bank Group in Uganda with

effect from 1st March 2020. Patrick’s

exemplary leadership has steered

the growth and success of Stanbic

Bank as the largest commercial bank

in Uganda and sustained the bank’s

leadership position in the market.

Patrick has been instrumental in the

transformation of the organisation and

remains influential in contributing to

the growth of the financial sector in

Uganda and across the East African

Region. In his new regional position,

Patrick will be responsible for Standard

Bank Group’s growth strategy in East

Africa, which comprises of Kenya,

Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan and

Ethiopia. With the said change, the

Board of Directors, also appointed

Anne Juuko appointed Stanbic Bank Uganda CEO

She has been a part of the Standard

Bank Group for over 8 years, having

joined as Head of Global Markets for

Stanbic Bank Uganda, and was later

appointed Head of Corporate and

Investment Banking at Standard Bank,

Namibia.

Anne holds a Bachelor of Commerce

degree from Makerere University

in Kampala, Uganda and a master’s

degree in Strategic Planning from

the Herriot Watt Business School in

Edinburgh, Scotland.

Anne started her banking career in

2001, worked in various roles before

being appointed Vice President,

Head Fixed Income, Currencies and

Commodities at Citibank Uganda

Limited and was later seconded to

Citibank Kenya as Vice President,

Customer Sales and Derivatives

Marketing. She later joined Stanbic

Bank Uganda in 2012.

12


NEW APPOINTMENTS


13

REGIONAL ROUND-UP

Regional Round-up

IT IS WAR AGAINST COVID-19

As the corona virus disease of 2019 (Covid-19)

continues to take its toll on the globe, many are

the efforts that have been taken by individual

countries to contain the spread of the virus, in a

global campaign dubbed #FlattenTheCurve.

Likewise, philanthropist and benevolent

organisations have taken the responsibility to

lend a hand toward the fight of this common

enemy. The COVID-19 crisis continues to push

organizations deeper into digital transformation.

Technology budgets are according to IT Leaders

in various sector enterprises are taking hits.

However, the tech leaders are equally keeping an

eye on working remotely and collaborative needs.

Here is a regional round up capturing the mitigation measures undertaken to fight the scourge by

various technology players across the region.

Mastercard Increases Contactless Payment

Mastercard has announced its efforts to increase

contact less payment limits across the Middle

East and Africa (MEA) region as people look for

safer ways to pay in the wake of the COVID-19

pandemic.

The initiative is in line with recommendations

from global and regional health authorities

and governments to practice social distancing

that has led a growing number of merchants to

encourage consumers to pay with contactless

over cash to avoid human-to-human contact.

payment technology in an effort to enhance

safety, security, speed and convenience in the

payment experience for cardholders. In 2019,

the MEA region saw 200% growth in contactless

transactions. Before proceeding to press almost

1 in 9 Mastercard transactions at point-of-sale

(POS) terminals in MEA are contactless.

“Mastercard remains committed to offering safe,

secure, and simple payment solutions across

the region. In the current environment, we are

grateful that contactless payments are available

so consumers can follow social distancing

recommendations, and that people are embracing

these safe and hygienic solutions as their

preferred form of payment every day. We will

continue to work with our industry partners to

guide and support them through this effort,” said

Mete Guney, Executive Vice President of Services,

Middle East & Africa at Mastercard.

COMPILED by

Molly Wasonga

Globally, Mastercard has been spearheading

the transition to contactless for over 15 years.

In MEA, the company has worked with various

industry partners and sectors in multiple markets

to increase the use of digital and contactless

14


REGIONAL ROUND-UP

Kenya Launches COVID-19 Innovation Challenge

Courtesy of the Konza Technopolis

Development Authority,

Kenya has launched a COVID-19

innovation challenge primed to

challenge and harness creativity

and innovation of the youth to help

the country fight the COVID-19

pandemic.

By tapping their skills in ICT, Science,

and Engineering to come up with

solutions that will enhance provision

of healthcare, food distribution

KoTDA’s partnership with the

Association of Countrywide Innovation

Hubs, UNDP, Huawei, Oracle, Infornet,

Microsoft and UK Kenya Tech Hubs

to launch the Kenya COVID-19

Innovation Hackathon Challenge

gears towards helping Kenyans find

dignified work opportunities.

According to Eng. John Tanui,

Chief Executive officer KoTDA,

the hackathon which is aimed

at harnessing the creativity and

innovation of Kenyans and Africans

at large in coming up with solutions

on COVID-19, will focus on three

thematic areas namely health, food

and dignified work.

Eng. Tanui further says KoTDA, which

is spearheading the development of

a smart city and an innovation hub,

in collaboration with other agencies

is championing and contributing

to improvement in coordination of

innovation efforts in the country

by supporting establishment of an

innovation ecosystem.

ICT, Youth and Innovation Cabinet

Secretary Joe Mucheru has

underscored the role played by KoTDA

in the innovation space as Kenya

fights the COVID-19 pandemic, noting

that the government has set-up the

national data center managed by

KoTDA that will offer a platform for

hosting applications geared towards

providing solutions to help fight

COVID-19.

Mucheru says among the applications

hosted at the Konza Technopolisbased

national data center is a call

center that will avail key information

to front-line health workers to

empower them make prompt

decisions on managing the COVID-19

pandemic.

The Association of Countryside

Innovation Hubs has hailed the

opportunity and partnership with

KoTDA noting that it will help pool

together a wealth of skills to explore

ways of helping the country tackle the

COVID-19 pandemic.

“This pandemic has proved that

local solutions to a global challenge

are important in ensuring that the

country contains the COVID-19.

Through collaboration, partnership,

we stand a chance of mitigating

the effects of the pandemic. As an

association, we are keen to work with

the government through the Konza

innovation ecosystem initiative to find

solutions that can help the country

overcome the pandemic while offering

solutions to mitigate social and

business impacts”, said David Ogiga,

Chairman, Association of Countrywide

Innovation Hubs.

Since the declaration of COVID -19

as a global pandemic, the world has

moved with speed to find ways of

containing the spread of the virus,

mitigating the effects of the pandemic

as well as provide solutions to

communities who have had to change

their social life and adopt new ways of

working.

Globally, technology and innovation

centers and hubs are at the forefront

of the solution identification. KoTDA

as one such center of technology

advancement in Kenya is collaborating

with other like-minded institutions

to offer solutions that help either to

contain the spread of coronavirus

or empower the populace to tap

opportunities created by the

pandemic to earn some income.

University partners in the innovation

challenge include Dedan Kimathi

University, Meru University,

Strathmore University, Machakos

University, Moi University and

Technical University of Kenya.


15

REGIONAL ROUND-UP

World Bank provides

$82 million to Ethiopia

The World Bank, in its continued fights

against coronavirus, has granted $82

million to the Government of Ethiopia

for the fight.

The World Bank’s Board of Executive

Directors approved a first set of

emergency support operations for

developing countries around the

world, using a dedicated, fast-track

facility for COVID-19 (coronavirus)

response. “The first group of projects,

amounting to $1.9 billion, will assist

25 countries, and new operations are

moving forward in over 40 countries

using the fast-track process,” it said.

Commonwealth Summit

in Rwanda Postponed

This year’s Commonwealth Heads

of Government Meeting (CHOGM)

scheduled in Rwanda was because

of coronavirus pandemic postponed.

More than 10,000 delegates, including

heads of state and the Prince of

Wales, were expected to attend the

26th summit in the capital, Kigali, in

about two months but that has since

been pushed ahead to a new date,

yet to be announced. This would be

the first time for the summit was to

be held in Rwanda after joining the

Commonwealth in 2009.

Raxio in Pact with Uganda Internet Exchange Point

Raxio Data Centre and the Uganda

Internet Exchange Point (UIXP) last

week signed a deal that will expand

the UIXP’s peering network into the

country’s first Tier-III carrier-neutral

data center.

The UIXP currently interconnects 28

networks which exchange over 10

gigabits of Internet traffic on a daily

basis. This deal will make all of them

reachable from the Raxio Data Centre

with a single cross-connect on day one.

It will also enable network operators

to peer at multiple locations within the

country.

Kyle Spencer, Executive Director

of the UIXP said that: “This deal

represents a significant milestone in

the development of Uganda’s Internet

ecosystem. Internet exchange points

have a symbiotic relationship with

carrier-neutral data centers. Our

deployment in Raxio will catalyze a

virtuous cycle of growth that will make

the Internet significantly cheaper,

faster, and more reliable.”

Raxio Data Centre General Manager

James Byaruhanga said: “This

partnership with the UIXP will provide

a scalable, robust, and highly available

alternative location for telco, ISP,

carriers, parastatals, content delivery

networks, and corporate enterprises

to peer with each other and exchange

local Internet traffic/content without

breaking out to the global internet.

Ethiopia Diaspora Trust Fund responds to COVID-19

The Ethiopia Diaspora Trust Fund

(EDTF) Advisory Council recently

established “EDTF Emergency

COVID-19 Mitigation” efforts,

committing $1 million start-up fund

to assist the national COVID-19

mitigation efforts in Ethiopia.

The coronavirus storm needed an

emergency economic stimulus of

$100 billion to bolster preventative

measures and support Ethopia’s

fragile healthcare systems. EDTF’s

commitment targets to addressing

the specific needs for medical

supplies identified by the Ministry

of Health under the coordination of

the COVID-19 Ministerial Committee

chaired by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

16


REGIONAL ROUND-UP

Amole, HelloCash, M-BIRR urges

Ethiopian to use e-payments

As the world grapples with the effects

of the Coronavirus pandemic, three

e-payment platforms in Ethiopia;

Amole, HelloCash and M-BIRR have

put a call on their customers to use

their technology to avoid crowds in

banks and handling of hard cash.

Currently, the three e-payment

platforms with mobile money and

ecommerce applications have over five

million combined customers stand to

benefit from this initiative.

“We have a role to continue supporting

our communities, the economy and

stimulating growth. The best support

we can give to the community as our

economy starts to slow down is to

save our customers money and keep

social distancing using electronic

transaction to protect the spread of

the corona virus. We have been in

crises before, however, this virus does

not discriminate, it’s an attack against

humanity but if we pull together as a

community, even in this environment,

we will win together,” the companies

said in their joint statement.

It stated that Amole’s 2.1 million

customers will benefit from free

transaction fees on all services such

as Person-to-Person (P2P) transfers.

To encourage “Social Distancing” and

online transactions, Amole is offering

5% instant cashback on any purchases

at over 8,000 participating businesses

including ecosystem partners

(eCommerce and Mobile Apps) that

accept Amole.

These measures are additional to

the zero-rating of bank to mobile

wallet and mobile wallet to bank

transactions in order to increase the

usage of Amole digital omni-channels

as opposed to cash in order to reduce

the risk of transmitting the virus.

This announcement represents an

important collaboration between the

financial institutions and technology

providers who offer these services

across Ethiopia. Together, these

parties are co-funding this initiative to

help combat the effects of COVID-19.

May Our AUDIENCE Be Your CUSTOMERS !

Seize the OPPORTUNITY on the

CIO DIGITAL SPACE

cio.co.ke


17

REGIONAL ROUND-UP

Mobile Money Digital

Lenders Waive Fees

Kenya, the digital lenders have waived

late repayment fees for customers

in a move to cushion the customers

who are under distress, following

the slowdown in the economy after

disruptions to their day to day

operations that could have had an

effect on regular income flow.

Members of the Digital Lenders

Association (DLAK), which represents

17 major digital lenders in the country,

have requested that customers should

seek more detailed information on the

specific aspects of the waiver from

their respective providers.

The Association also supports the

President Kenyatta’s directive on the

temporary suspension of the listing

with Credit Reference Bureaus (CRB) of

any person, Micro, Small and Medium

Enterprises (MSMEs) and corporate

entities whose loan account falls

overdue or is in arrears, that effected

on the 1st April 2020.

Rwanda launches online platform

for essential needs

Rwanda recently launched an online

platform for people in need of essential

services to get movement clearance.

Established on the government’s

official website, the platform will

assist people who need vital services

like visiting hospitals, attending to

emergencies, among some other

things like shopping, banking, or

attending funerals in places that are

far from their residences

“Please stay at home to avoid the

spread of COVID-19. However, if you

have an urgent need, please register

for movement clearance and wait

for approval before starting your

movement,” reads a statement on the

platform.

The platform requires the applicants to

feed in their personal details including

names, national ID number, telephone

number; details of the journey (point

of departure and destination), reason

for movement and vehicle number

plate. After submitting the required

details, the applicant is required to

wait for response in form of an SMS

notification from Police for approved or

rejected movement.

Those cleared for movement were

required to present an approval SMS

to officers in case they are stopped by

the police on their journey.

Citizens who do not have smartphones

or computers are advised to dial *127#

for the online service.

Rwanda Courts Starts Trial Via Video

In an effort to uphold social distancing

to limit the spread of coronavirus,

Rwandese courts resolved to conduct

trials through video link-up to avoid

situation that would delay justice.

Courts had closed during the lockdown

but crimes continued prompting the

authorities to shortlist people to await

trial via video. The spokesperson for

Rwanda’s courts, Harrison Mutabazi,

told journalists that they wanted

to reduce the backlog. He said this

technology was the way to go in

courts across the country during the

lockdown.

18


REGIONAL ROUND-UP

FabLab launches automated

COVID-19 Door Frame

Local digital fabrication laboratory

has built a working prototype of a

360-degree sanitizing tunnel, marking

the first-ever of its kind in Rwanda’s

ongoing fight against the coronavirus.

Resembling a door frame metal

detector, the machine is equipped with

motion sensors. It sprays a 360-degree

mist of foggy hydrogen peroxide in

an automated response to human

movement.

The sanitizing tunnel has a total of

7 mist nozzles, 3 at each side and 1

from the ceiling. To reach the nozzle,

the spray flows from a fiber tank,

pressured by an electric pump.

With a 90 percent disinfection effect,

the machine has a sterilization

capacity of 1,000 people per day.

While the prototype can only host one

person at a time, the manufacturer

says a finished product will be able to

spray two people at once.

Inside the tunnel, one needs to turn

around at least two times, with

raised arms for an effective, full-body

disinfection

Palestine donates sanitization tunnel to Tanzania

The government of Palestine has

donated a sanitization tunnel to

Tanzania, to help sanitize masses,

more especially the health workers on

the frontline figting COVID-19.

The Ambassador of the State of

Palestine, Hamdi Mansour Abuali, said

the move targets to fight the virus in

both countries as well as sharing the

technical expertise between the two.

The use of the sanitization tunnels

has proven both effective and efficient

in Palestine, ensuring that citizens

adhere to the sanitization culture in

a safe and secure way to avoid close

human interaction feared to facilitate

the spread of the virus.

The tunnel sanitizes the entire body as

individuals enter inside of it and fog for

about 20 seconds.

Ambassador of the State of Palestine,

Hamdi Mansour Abuali

Tala Pumps Ksh 605M

in Kenya

In an effort to bolster Kenyan

businesses and communities, Tala has

announced the launch of the Ksh 605

Million COVID-19 Rebuild Fund.

The Fund, intended to grow through

additional funding and partnerships,

will prioritize existing Tala customers

as well as Tala businesses that

provide essential services to their

communities. Eligible customers will

be invited to apply for the Fund’s

first new product, a zero percent fee,

6-month Community Support Loan

of Ksh. 30,000, designed to support

businesses that are helping Kenyans

recover and rebuild.

“We believe small businesses are the

backbone of the Kenyan economy.

Businesses, and business owners,

who provide essential goods and

services to their broader communities

will help Kenyans survive this crisis

and will be on the front lines leading

efforts to rebuild,” said Ivan Mbowa,

General Manager, Tala Kenya.

Tala intends to give businesses the

ability to get a head start in helping

communities recover and rebound.

That’s why we are offering select

business owners 0% fee Community

Support Loans with extended tenures.

All Tala customers who run a business

that is providing essential support to

their community are invited to apply

for a Community Support Loan.


19

IT & Leadership

WANDIA GICHURU

CEO and Co-Founder,

Vivo Woman formerly

Vivo Activewear

20


IT & LEADERSHIP

E-COMMERCE IN TIMES OF COVID-19

How do you run an e-commerce business during these unpredictable

times? Especially if you had already planned on launching not one,

but two clothing brands? Carol Odero has a one-on-one with Wandia

Gichuru, CEO and Co-Founder, Vivo Woman formerly Vivo Activewear.

ARTICLE by

Carol Odero

At which point was the

decision to go omnichannel

from multichannel made?

Over the past few years, the demand

for online offerings has been steadily

increasing. Although the bulk of our

sales still comes from our brick and

mortar stores (we have 14 stores

across the country), we realized last

year that we needed to invest in a

solid e-commerce platform and to

reinforce store sales with online sales.

Post COVID-19, I believe omnichannel

will become even more significant.

You are a very democratic

leader, allowing staff to have

their say. How did you prepare

the team?

I am quite a direct person in my

communication, and encourage others to

do the same. It’s not always easy though,

and often is contrary to the organizational

cultures within which people have worked

previously. So even now, I sometimes find

people hesitant to challenge my opinion

or view on something, even when they

disagree. I believe cultures form over time

and they evolve over time as well.

Did you have to change your

business strategy once you

made the switch? As a retail

business, you have stayed open

for business online. What are

some of the strategies and

tools you are using to continue

creating the desired customer

experience?

Our business strategy is a work in

progress, and even though we have

a plan, we are open to modifying it

when the need arises. Right now,

because of COVID-19, we are finding

that it is even more essential to reach

customers virtually and digitally. So

we have invested additional funds

and staff to increase the capacity of

our online team, as well as in new

systems and partnerships to improve

our logistics and delivery processes.

Luckily we had invested in a new

e-commerce platform late last year

when we launched ShopZetu, our

multi-brand website, so we were in

a relatively strong position on that

front.

Customer service is key to succeeding

online, and we have had to improve

our systems for ensuring that we

maintain a good standard.

How was this communicated to

the Vivo community and what

role do the retail outlets play in

the scheme of things?

Right now our stores are being

repositioned as places where people

can come to view our latest offerings

and collections, as well as products

from our partner ShopZetu brands.

They are places where you can pick

up or return your online orders, and

can actually place new online orders

as well. We are also selling reusable

face masks, as part of the response

to COVID-19. Our communication to

our communities is primarily through

social media, as well as face-to-face

through our sales team at the store

level.

You just collaborated with

your brand ambassador to

create a clothing line. What

has been the feedback you

have received from the online

community?

Our Sowairina x Vivo collection with

Grace Msalame launched at the

beginning of March and the response

was amazing. Sales in store and

online have been strong and we look

forward to creating more collections

with her in future.

You recently introduced

Zetu, a brand for the younger

generation, and did so purely

online. What was behind the

decision to start it online? Will

it be an online store or are

there plans to go brick and

mortar?

Zetu is Vivo’s exciting new sister

brand that targets both men and

women. We decided to offer it online

so that we could create a strong

online community as well as keep

the price points low so that we can

compete with other brands that are

popular with this target market.

Being online also allows you to

offer a wider range of products and

quicker introduction of new styles

as you don’t need to produce as

many quantities as when you are

distributing through brick and mortar

stores. That said, we are currently


21

IT & LEADERSHIP

offering a select range of Zetu

products for sale in some of our Vivo

stores.

You have worked with

influencers such as Sharon

Mundia, Caroline Mutoko,

Pauline Cosmetics and Angel.

Have you found that their

online community and Vivo’s

online community play well

together?

Our work and partnerships with the

influencers you mention above has

been incredible. Each one brings with

them their own unique community

– although there are some overlaps –

and that has allowed us to experiment

with how our brand can reach out and

speak to these different groups. A key

element for us has been authenticity.

We always aim to work with people

who we are genuinely excited about,

and in turn people who are excited

about us and what we are trying to

do.

In what ways has social media

been an asset to Vivo and now,

Zetu?

Businesses our size cannot afford

mainstream advertising, so social

media is the channel most accessible

to us. But it is much more than just

advertising. Social media gives us all

a way to communicate and engage

with our communities. It’s a twoway

street though, so you have to be

prepared to listen to the positive and

negative feedback. Going forward,

post COVID-19, I believe that this will

become even more important.

When picking women to

collaborate with, to what

extent does their online power

influence your decision?

I’m not sure that “online power” is our

first criteria when we are thinking of

who to collaborate with. For example,

we regularly showcase our clients

in our newsletters and social media

pages, and are always very excited

to share their stories and highlight

the things they want to talk about.

There are also a number of microinfluencers

that we have worked with,

simply because we love what they are

doing and the creative ways in which

they engage their communities.

What kind of contingency plan

did your Business Continuity

Plan (BCP) have in case of a

crisis and how did you manage

expectations once the directive

to work from home came up?

To be honest, we did not have a strong

contingency plan in place, so we were

not well prepared when COVID-19

hit. The nature of what most of our

team do (designing, manufacturing &

selling in stores) also does not lend

itself to working from home. So for a

couple of weeks when we shut down,

many people were simply on leave.

Staff from a few departments such as

marketing and customer service were

able to work from home though.

How, and through which tools,

do you manage your staff as

remote workers?

We rely heavily on WhatsApp and

Skype for our virtual communication,

as well as email and google drive for

sharing documents.

Who are some of the

businesses you have had to

partner with to facilitate your

retail business and how do you

keep the relationships stable?

Now that we are focused on

strengthening our online retail

business, we are forming new

partnerships with logistics / delivery

companies, tech companies that can

offer relevant systems, as well as with

other brands that might want to sell

off our ShopZetu platform.

Does consumer behaviour

change when they are

shopping online versus when

they come to the stores?

Yes, I believe it does. Obviously there

needs to be a lot more trust involved.

Customers are being asked to pay

for something that they have not yet

received, and how can they be 100%

sure that they will get what you see

in the pictures? This is something

we are trying to address by building a

brand with credibility. We are honest

with our images and try to offer as

much information on the products

as possible, including videos to show

how the products “move”. We are

also quick to receive returns, and to

facilitate refunds when necessary.

There also seems to be a lot more

“window shopping”. Several people

browse websites and put products

into their shopping basket, but then

don’t necessarily follow through on

the purchase.

What has been the role of tech

when it comes to growing your

business over the years? Has

that been affected in any way

by covid-19?

We have invested in technology

wherever and whenever possible

since the business began. But tech

isn’t cheap and we have never had

enough resources to invest as much

as we would have liked. Being in

retail, we have invested in point

of sale and ERP systems, as well

as a solid website. COVID-19 has

definitely reinforced the need for all

businesses to be tech-enabled, and

to be ready to offer their services and

products online. Going forward we

hope to invest in a strong Customer

Relationship Management (CRM)

system as well as applications that

will improve the online experience.

22


We are now

PRODUCT REVIEW

PRODUCT REVIEW

Gadgets to Help You Work From Home

Now that staying and working from home

has become the new normal owing to the

raging coronavirus pandemic, the trend has

precipitated use of digital gadgets that would

improve productivity.

The outbreak has forced organizations into

perhaps the most significant social experiment

of the future of work in action with social

distancing policies has radically changed the way

people work and interact.

However, the impact on work is far more

profound than just changing the workstations.

It is also fundamentally altering what to do and

how.

Well, to help ease work from home environment,

these are some of the essential devices to

consider including Wi-Fi, noise-cancelling

headphones, gadgets ranging from camera

enabled laptops to wearable devices.

AUDIO

Most devices used for

hands-free communication

use Bluetooth as their

wireless technology. So,

they’ll require a smart

transmitter device like a

smartphone, laptop, tablet

or other device to initiate a

call. These devices include

Bluetooth headsets, hands-free car kits (HFCK),

and personal navigation devices (PND). Originally,

these devices were introduced as optional

features connected by a wire to smartphones

or other communication devices, but today, they

use wireless technology. There a whole range of

wireless gadgets out there.

According to the HubSpot, here are four major smart home systems recommended:

ARTICLE by

Arthur Kuwashima

1. AMAZON ALEXA

With more than 20,000 third-party integrations,

Alexa is undoubtedly one of the most

comprehensive smart home ecosystems available

today. While you have likely heard of using Alexa

in Eco-speaker form (“Alexa, what’s the weather

today?”), you might not know that Alexa is now

built into plenty of other smart products, including

thermostats (i.e. Ecobee4) and TVs (i.e. Fire TV).

Alexa makes every aspect of your smart home

easy to access and control. You can use Alexa

to speak to apps like Spotify just as easily as

you can ask her to turn off the lights. Since

Amazon’s ecosystem is one of the most prevalent

in the industry, most smart products integrate

seamlessly with Alexa, including products made by

Philips, Samsung, Nest, and Schlage -- meaning,

Alexa can now close your garage, lock your doors,

and adjust your home’s temperature. To know if

Alexa will work with a certain device, just look for

the ‘Works with Amazon Alexa’ tag.

Ultimately, Alexa’s ability to integrate

and speak to most other smart devices

and apps (Alexa has the

most third-party

integrations of any

smart system) makes

her one of the best

choices for your smart

home.

24


PRODUCT REVIEW

2. GOOGLE ASSISTANT

If there’s any true runner-up to Alexa,

it’s Google Assistant. Even though

Google Assistant has less third-party

integrations, it can often answer

questions and complete commands

Alexa can’t, thanks to Google’s major

ownership of the search engine

space. Research from Dentsu digital

agency 360i found Google Assistant

was five times more likely to give a

correct answer than Alexa. Ultimately,

Assistant wins when it comes to

understanding how people naturally

speak.

For instance, if you tell Assistance “I

don’t like this song” on Spotify, it will

skip to the next one, while Alexa will

simply tell you, “Thumbs up and down

are not supported on Spotify.” Small

differences like this could sway you

towards Assistance, since it’s often

more helpful (and less literal) than

Alexa.

Assistant can also integrate with

products from most major brands,

including Philips, Belkin, August, Nest,

and popular apps such as Spotify and

Uber.

CONCLUSION:

With the given devices, you will well

be covered as you execute the work

from home office tasks including

Video conferencing, regardless of the

numbers and platforms used. The

3. WINK HUB 2

Wink Hub 2 is touted as the “first

smart home hub designed for the

mainstream consumer.” Unlike Alexa

or Assistant, Wink doesn’t have any

brand loyalty, allowing you to pick and

choose different smart product brands

and merge them seamlessly with one

another.

Wink Hub 2 supports smart home

protocols including Bluetooth LE,

Kidde, Lutron ClearConnect, Wi-Fi,

Z-Wave, and more. If you’re looking to

create a fully integrated smart home

with kitchen and wall appliances insync,

this might be your best option.

You can also download the Wink Hub

app and control commands, like light

switches or garage door, from your

phone on-the-go.

most used platforms of late are the

Webinar and Zoom platforms.

In schools, some teachers assign

homework by keeping in touch with

students through online platforms, or

they video-record themselves teaching,

4. SAMSUNG

SMARTTHINGS HUB

This Samsung system unites a wide

variety of smart devices from different

brands including smart thermostats,

Wi-Fi router, lightbulbs, and security

devices. Users with the smart system

get a SmartThings Hub wall mount

and can get full access to the smart

devices connected to the hub through

the SmartThings IOS or Android app.

Samsung’s SmartThings Hub has

been growing its own smart-device

offerings for the past few years.

In fact, the Hub’s product lineup

recently grew with the addition of the

SmartThing Wi-Fi plug, SmartThings

Lightbulb, and a SmartThings Cam.

Through the SmartThings Hub, you

can also set compatible smart devices

to do various actions like turning on or

off when you walk in or out of a room.

While you can give voice commands to

the SmartThings wall hub or app, you

can also integrate and Amazon Alexa

or Google Assistant to the system

and use what seems to be the most

popular method via WhatsApp or

Facebook groups.

Look out for affordable and yet smart

gadgets to get you through the

CONVD19 pandemic in detail.


25

HerNovation

Photos of Rose Funja and a big drone overflying a green farmland.

Rose Funja Stirs Women to Steer Drones

If you ever wondered why there aren’t as many women as there are men

piloting drones, then just remember that boys started early with toy cars

then graduated to remote-controlled cars as opposed to girls. However,

all out to defy this stereotype is Rose Funja, who is arguably pioneering

African women to fly drones writes Molly Wasonga.

While there is no doubt that drone piloting has been a male reserve for the

longest time, the opportunity to digitally steer one and defy the stereotype

Rose Funja, a young Tanzanian lady, following her passion of technology and

inspiration to make a difference speaks volumes of a dream come true.

ARTICLE by

Molly Wasonga

Rose’s passion drive thirst for technology

developed during her old school days, where only

two women dwarfed among men. The experience

of few women at the university was still the

same – few women! Even when she became a

lecturer, she notes that the trend was the same.

In her story of zeal and resilience, Rose says that

though disturbed with women getting fewer

than men in senior classes and up the ladder

gave a push to do something unique that would

demonstrate to other women that they are not

limited. .

As lecturer at a University, she embarked on

a passionate dream that would dramatically

change her career from teaching to agriculture.

Some years down the road she still faces

26


HERNOVATION

very challenges that she hopes to

eradicate with time.

Female done pilot

Currently, the Managing Director at

Social Enterprise (Agrinfo) Rose is a

leading female drone pilot in Tanzania,

and perhaps across the African

continent. She founded Agrinfo as a

social enterprise and a training hub

where she impacts drone piloting

skills to young women and girls in

her home place among other

purposes.

Like most successful

entrepreneurs, she

started by identifying

a perennial challenge in her local area.

The area was agriculture and the lack

was technological advancement and

women participation. She would then

innovate a tailor-made solution that

involved enhancing women’s access

to digital tools and Science Technology

Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)

subjects. She believes that the

inclusion of women in agriculture is

success in the waiting, and especially

when empowered to leverage

technologies like drone in farming.

She recounts having started,

Agrinfo ‘by fluke’, but it would later

see her win the 2013 Agrihack

Competition, what gave her initiative

unprecedented visibility in the

continent and beyond.

From local wins to global awards, even

named as a Mandela Washington

Fellow. She also won a start-up grant

from the US state department after

attending the Young African Leaders

Initiative (YALI) together with the ‘She

Codes for Change’ initiative in 2014.

It’s also an

advantage women

embrace IT even at

a young age so as

to a nurture strong

IT culture.

She thereafter successfully won a

number of other grants, which has

allowed her to develop the ‘She codes

for change’ program targeting young

girls in her locality. Her agriculture

business has fully grown by drone

piloting and data.

Agricultural Innovations

Standing as the only female drone

pilot in her locality, she constantly on

the edge of some nags by the gender

disparity in technical fields that she

says is often arises owing to the

challenges that men are better skilled.

She fully appreciates

the contribution that

agriculture has on

communities and how few

agricultural innovations were

in Tanzania when she decided

to venture into that space. She

notes; ‘I am in a position to gain a

deeper understanding of the best

interventions for agriculture. I

therefore ensure that the community

is engaged and understands the work

that is being done and how it is of

benefit to them.”

She feels it’s also an advantage

women embrace IT even at a young

age so as to a nurture strong IT

culture.

Biggest Hindrances

The challenges, she says, are

numerous and the biggest hindrance

to prosperity in both business and

even growth of women in mainstream

tech. Spanning from reasons of

inaccessibility of some remote areas

to non-interested communities, Rose

has had to rethink her business model

and intent of onboarding women into

drone pilot farming.

She says; “Sometimes vehicles get

stuck with break downs trying to


27

HERNOVATION

access some remote areas! There are

other countless challenges that holds

back the success of the drone project

among women but I am out to help us

overcome those together.”

Reaching both rural and urban

communities and targeting both

young girl students and teachers,

Funja recently extended this training

in STEM within Impact Hubs.

Additionally, she is driving for the

opening the very first impact hub

for girls in Tanzania. Despite many

advances and successful innovations,

Rose is reminded constantly of the

need to develop girls and women’s

competence in this field.

Coming out with the solutions

In addition, she underlines how

challenges can provide opportunities:

“Those who feel the pinch (women)

have a better chance of coming out

with the solutions to challenges that

they face and therefore it’s important

to take part in the discussion take

the front seat in addressing the

challenges while armed with the

knowledge.”

She explained, “Opportunities lie in the

applications development for those

who already have phones so that the

value on phone usage is tremendous

to them. Rural electrification and

renewable energy sources is a huge

opportunity that is being explored but

not to the maximum.”

Rose’s vast experience gives her a

well-rounded understanding of the

challenges and opportunities. She

highlighted that “When I was teaching

I used to advocate for two things, one

is practicality of the knowledge that

is being shared at the university, and

the second is using the knowledge

to solve real-life problems especially

the community around the university.

In my case, I like to think that I have

moved from academics to work on

real-life problems and my focus

has been on agriculture sector

that employs 75% of the Tanzanian

population.”

Currently launching Tanzania’

first Impact Hub for Girls, Rose’s

message for young women in ICTs is

straightforward: “If it has been done

before, you too can do it.”

28


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CIO Webinars

CIO WEBINAR SERIES GALORE

Following the unprecedentedly hard times for businesses - a crisis credited to

COVID-19, organisations, among them CIO East Africa opted for online avenues

as it abided by the social distancing measures purposed to stop the spread of the

deadly global scourge.

With offices shutting down

following the approval policies

by companies for their human

resource to work-from-home to

protect them from the virus threat,

CIO East Africa in conjunction with

various ICT industry players chose

to uphold its usual lively curated

sector forums primed to add value

to the cross-cutting ICT industry

by transitioning the sessions on

digital platform.

As “physical presence” evidently

became a limitation among the IT

enterprise community, which CIO

East Africa, organizes for regional

digital transformation events, it

opted for the digital response that

birthed CIO Webinar Series.

Happening on the heels of forced

premature curtain call to postpone

already planned quaterly summits

and forums in the year, the CIO

Webinar Series gained traction as

delegates registered in droves from

the comfort of their home office

desks to participate.

With clarity that COVID-19

outbreak was already ravaging the

regional economy and had already

doled heavy losses to businesses,

CIO East Africa deliberately chose

to kick-start its premier Webinar

themed How to Leverage The

COVID19 Pandemic As A Digital

Transformation Catalyst.

According to the session keynote

speakers Ben Roberts, the

Regional Chief Technical Officer,

East Africa at Liquid Telecom and

George Njuguna, IT Director (CIO)

at Safaricom PLC there are some

bright spots on the digital space

despite all the despite all the

doom and gloom imprinted by the

pandemic.

The duo were in concurrence to the

indisputable fact that COVID-19

had proven the biggest unforetold

disruptor of the norm, opining

that it could indeed be leveraged

for a catalyst to the digitalisation

journey of businesses globally.

George Njuguna,

IT Director (CIO),

Safaricom PLC

Ben Roberts, Regional

Chief Technical Officer,

Liquid Telecom

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CIO WEBINARS

In yet another session moderatorated by Laura

Chite, CEO, CIO East Africa, Georgina Odhiambo Head

Enterprise Services at National Bank of Kenya, and John

Kamara, the Tech Entrepreneur (AI, Blockchain, IoT)

walked the delegates through the journey of how to

Leverage AI To Curb The Coronavirus Pandemic .

The application of AI has indeed played and will

continue to play an important role in seizing the reins

in this crisis, even safeguarding officers and medical

practitioners from infections. It must, however, be noted

that on its flip side, AI could just open a Pandora box and

must, therefore, be explored with great caution.

Georgina Odhiambo, Head

Enterprise Services, National

Bank of Kenya

John Kamara, the Tech

Entrepreneur (AI, Blockchain,

IoT)

Louis Otieno , Chairman Absa Asset Management flanked

by Lanre Onasanya, Managing Director at Bonum Limited

waded through their insightful keynote

What It Takes To Be A Leader In Times Of A Crisis . Noting

that crisis is a special gift to leaders that shouldn’t be

wasted, the speakers asserted that when faced with

it, leaders are forced to think and behave in ways that

feel unfamiliar whether in a technological position or

otherwise.

Lanre Onasanya, MD, Bonum

Limited, Nigeria

Louis Otieno , Chairman Absa

Asset Management

With reports showing outbreak and fatality curves on a rise worldwide,,

Big Data emerged at the heart of the efforts to comprehend and forecast

the impact that COVID-19 . It is against this premise that Benn Mann, CTO,

IBM walked the delegates on a journey of Leveraging Big Data During The

Covid-19 Pandemic.

Mann was categorical that COVID-19 should be viewed as a call to action to

determine how access to data could be improved in the many sectors of the

global economy going forward .

Professor Louis Fourie known to have trained hundreds of CIOs across

the world graced the CIO WebinarSeries by pronouncing How To Be A Solid

Leader In This Digital Era.

According to Professor Fourie the Fourth Industrial Revolution has brought

about the age of intelligentisation, where intelligence is embedded into

everything from IoT, broadband, cloud, Big Data, with all of them playing

together with a lot of intelligence built into it.”


31

The Lead

DISRUPTING

THE USUAL

As the unprecedented COVID-19

pandemic caused a global crisis,

David Igweta, CIO & Ag. COO,

HF Group talked to Humphrey

Odhiambo about the company’s

self-disruption and accelerated

wave of digital transformation in

the financial services industry.

32


David Igweta

CIO & COO, HF Group


33

THE LEAD

Corona Virus Disease simply dubbed COVID-19 – a global

pandemic that disrupted the “business as usual” as social

distancing became the new norm has accelerated the pace of

digitization in organizations. To safeguard the human resource

from the virus while upholding business continuity plans,

organizations now more than ever embraced remote working

and e-meetings to circumvent the effects of the pandemic on

business.

Various board members could not hold

from having digital transformation

among the top agenda items amid

their business continuity efforts – be

it in public or private averred David

Igweta, CIO & Ag. COO, HF Group as

organizations steadily came into terms

with the magnitude and risks resulting

from COVID-19.

According to Igweta the fast changing

global environment is now dictating

the pace of digital adoption. Granted,

post COVID -19 some job roles are

likely to become extinct whilst new

career opportunities emerge especially

in the digital space.

As the social distancing directive

given by governments to flatten the

curve of COVID-19 gains momentum,

this has led to accelerated digital

transformation as brands adopt to the

new modus operandi.

In the banking industry for instance,

we are seeing the digital banking

channels becoming the main channels

of transactions as opposed to the

hitherto preferred brick and mortar

34


THE LEAD

According to Igweta, HF Group has

embraced the Government directives

and already taken measures to

safeguard the wellbeing of employees

during this period.

Besides the enhanced hygiene

measures and screening of individuals

coming into the business premises,

the Group has embraced a remote

working from home model to avoid

with remote access to the relevant

systems.

The Group has also sustained

momentum of its digital

transformation initiatives with

As the social

distancing directive

given by governments

to flatten the curve

of COVID-19 gains

momentum, this has

led to accelerated

digital transformation

as brands adopt

to the new modus

operandi.

enhancements on its digital platforms

to enhance customer experience and

access at this time when customers

are being encourages to go digital as

part of social distancing.

Here is an excerpt of the

interview.

Considering the disruption and

widespread impact resulting

from COVID-19, what from the

CIO’s standpoint has HF Group

done in terms of response,

workforce, operations and

finance as well as supply chain

to handle the crisis?

We have quickly adopted to the

current pandemic by implementing

a number of initiatives. We have

activated our BCM plans, which

have seen us create the capability of

almost the entire ICT unit supporting

the business from their homes while

offering excellent and seamless

service. We have also adapted our

systems quickly to regulator directives

ensuring we are able to meet

our customers’ needs during this

pandemic.

Availing technology to enable

business continuity for various

business teams is also another key

measure to us. This means that

different business teams are able

to quickly realign their strategic

objectives and use this technology

to ensure the overall organizational

goals are met.

Process reengineering, has also been

done to fit the current situation

and therefore enable us offer our

customers services at the comfort of

their homes and without the need for

physical presence at our branches.

How is HF Group coping with

the government’s measure of

social distancing, a measure

purposed to slow the spread of

COVID-19?

In line with best practice, we ensured

that our core banking systems

and channels adhered to elaborate

Business Continuity Plans in place.

Annually, these plans are interrogated,

tested and updated as is the norm in

most organizations.

Due to the pandemic, we instituted

a people BCP plan. The plan includes

segmentation of staff into two

different teams that work in separate

locations. This will enable continuity in

the event one team is affected by the

virus and put in quarantine.

We have also enabled telecommuting

for the different teams and access to

key systems remotely. Our IT security

team has also increased the level

of monitoring of connections and

exchange of communication.

Interestingly, we have noted that

productivity has improved. Reason?

With remote working, No one wastes

time in traffic. Individuals work

passionately even putting in extra

hours from the comfort of their

homes.


35

THE LEAD

What does such a situation

speak of HF Group’s digital

transformation and by

extension to its partners in

offering convenience and new

customer solutions?

One of the pillars of the Government’s

big four agenda is affordable housing

and as a key private sector player

in mortgage financing, HF has been

at the forefront of easing access of

affordable housing to aspiring home

owners. We have done this through

digitization and optimization of

processes. For instance, the Group’s

first homeowners’ savings plan

dubbed “Nyumba Yangu” creates a

platform for aspiring homeowners.

They save towards this goal while

enjoying tax benefits in line with the

Income Tax Act (Cap 470) of the laws

of Kenya. This package is available via

HF Whizz platform making it easy for

customers to make deposits and track

the progress of their savings directly

from their mobile phones.

In your view, to what extent

have FSIs benefitted from

the currently regulations to

improve financial inclusion

and serve a broader digital

economy?

FSIs have become more innovative

In my opinion,

Internet of Things

(IOT) is one of the

key technologies

that has propagated

owing to the

pandemic.

and this has led to the introduction

of a myriad of customer centric

digital products across different

sectors. These digital products have

significantly improved revenue for

the FSIs. In this regard, adoption

of technologies such as cloud has

seen HF Group manage operational

costs and make significant strides.

Currently, aside from the core banking

system, we are running all other

systems on Azure

What were some of the key

innovations expected to

accelerate growth of FSIs in

2020 but partially slowed-down

COVID-19?

In my opinion, Internet of Things

(IOT) is one of the key technologies

that has propagated owing to the

pandemic. With the adoption of 5G

locally and globally, businesses have

an opportunity to build services

and products that meet customer

expectation through IOT. For example,

last year we saw this adoption by

Burger King in Mexico where they

took orders and made deliveries to

customers in heavy traffic through

use of IOT.

The other major shift will be in

the way we handle customer data

following the need to work remotely

or in unconventional locations.

Solutions for data loss prevention,

Data management & classification

and Mobile device management will

suddenly come to the fore in every

institution and especially FSIs. ICT

executives not thinking in this line

will have a difficult time remaining

relevant in the near future.

What major leaps has

the HF Group made since

accelerating its pace on digital

transformation?

Following the launch of HF Whizz

in April 2018, we have been able

Wambui Mbesa,

CEO, Intrasoft East Africa

FROM CORE BANKING SYSTEMS

As a banking software vendor, what has been the major impact of

INTRASOFT particularly in the East African region?

Since the establishment of its

subsidiary in Nairobi Kenya

in 2015, at INTRASOFT

International we

continued creating value

to our customers. We

have deployed solutions

across 5 countries (Kenya,

Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda,

DRC and Zambia) that range

from core banking systems for Banks and

SACCOs, to channels (Internet banking

& mobile banking), national switching

solutions, business intelligence, risk &

compliance solutions, social security and

health insurance systems.

As African governments and businesses

continue to push for improvements in

their operations and delivery of highquality

services, home grown innovative

36


THE LEAD

to increase our customer base

and strengthen the Bank’s known

narrative as a mortgage house. As we

worked towards this journey, we have

invested in key technology tools that

have enabled us to scale up the use

cases on the platform. These tools

have allowed us to build the microservices

that we reuse to continue

providing our customers functionality

that meets their ever changing

requirements.

In the current season of the pandemic,

the technology investments done

thus far are proving to be vital and

opportune. Our customers are able

to access money transfer services

and other transaction options at the

comfort of their homes in line with the

social distancing measures currently

recommended by the government.

TO INTELLIGENT SOLUTIONS

solutions aimed at solving the

unique challenges are the new

trend. We are proud to actively be

part of East Africa’s ICT innovation,

providing IT solutions to accelerate

growth for our customers, alongside

contributing to the continent’s

financial growth.

Our PROFITS® suite of software

products has enabled banks and

SACCOs in the region to develop

customer-centric financial products

and services leaving behind

traditional and complex products.

PROFITS® Omni Channel layer

solution enables banks serve their

customers through digital channels

(Internet, Mobile & Agency Banking

and other Payment Gateways like

Visa & Mastercard), supporting

an unlimited number of branches.

Other features like Analytics help in

accessing valuable data and backend

information, turning them into

insights for the users.

On the wake of COVID-19

crisis, to what extent would

you attribute the need for

digital transformation in the

financial services industry? Is

there a more compelling case

and demand for INTRASOFT’s

solutions and services?

Social distancing in the “Stay

Home” era made digital

transactions increase and has

become a nightmare for those who

don’t provide them.

On the bright side, COVID-19 can

be a great opportunity for the

banking system to be transformed

into a true 360 digital consumer


37

THE LEAD

One of the key strategies we are

employing is to ensure that the

experience on the Whizz platform

is seamless. This has become a

serious differentiator especially

now that most banks are going for

digital channels. We are using tools

like Firebase to monitor customer

behaviour on the platform, fix arising

issues through platform enhancement

and patches. We continue to design

and implement new propositions

together with our business teams to

ensure maximum value is delivered

to our customers in this season and

beyond.

From your perspective, to

what extent has COVID-19

crisis granted the FSI sector

an opportunity to double-up

digital solutions or has the

sector slow-down to watch

how things will pan-out then

resolve later?

COVID-19 crisis has reinforced the

need to enhance or build digital

solutions. To survive in the current

crisis, it has become necessary for

FSI sector players to ensure that

their digital solutions offered to

their customers are always available

and work as expected. We expect

this trend to extend beyond the

COVID-19 crisis. Our customers have

morphed over the years and are big

on preference and convenience rather

than visiting our brick and mortar

branches to be able to conduct simple

banking transactions.

In addition, we are likely to experience

significant reduction in usage

of physical cash. Mobile money

payment will be the preferred mode

of exchange. FSI sector players must

adapt to this paradigm shift and

develop appropriate digital solutions.

experience. Despite all the Digital

Transformation discussions, most

banking institutions are far behind

customers’ expectations.

INTRASOFT International

continuously invests in its modern,

robust and reliable Core Banking

System, PROFITS®. PROFITS® focuses

on enabling digital interaction,

providing superior and personalized

customer experience, especially on

digital touchpoints.

PROFITS®’ customer-centric nature,

powerful product factory and

exceptional rule-driven engine,

enable rapid adaptation to market

changes. Furthermore, its integrated

omnichannel component attributes

systems with unique digital

characteristics. PROFITS® comes

with a responsive browser-based

frontend, and new digital channels

(mobile app & web banking) providing

unique customer experience and

agency banking, widening the

outreach of financial services for

unbanked and rural population.

Since partnering with HF

Group, what transformation

that relate with customer

experience has INTRASOFT

enhanced in the organization?

INTRASOFT has provided tools and

services to HF to enhance customer

experience.

Automated tools for messaging,

alerting and reporting provide HF

customers with instant information

on their transactions and have

enabled HF respond to customer

enquiries immediately.

INTRASOFT also assisted HF activate

and adjust PROFITS® to serve

their new business model. A key

product driving HF transformation

is HF Whizz, which was setup

and launched in record-time with

PROFITS®:

a. providing full integration with

the mobile app

b. supporting instant loan

38


THE LEAD

Do you think the current

crisis will lead to a significant

reduction of HF Group

branches, now that it is clear

that staff can work from

home?

The current crisis will not have an

impact on the branch network as

these are not densely distributed. Our

focus is not in closing the branches

but rather elevating these to sales

and service centres whilst leveraging

the HF Whizz digital channels for

customer transactions.

In your view, what is the

biggest challenge converting

from a legacy bank to an

efficient customer-centric

‘digital bank’?

My thoughts on this resonate with

Buckminster Fuller an American

futurist who once said, “You never

change things by fighting the existing

reality. To change something, build a

new model that makes the existing

model obsolete.”

Today, one of the biggest

challenges FSIs undergo hinges

on understanding how to leverage

new technologies to scale customer

experience. Once an organization

surmounts this, the sky is the limit!

It is important for an

organization to own

its backend platform

that powers the

different channels

accessed by the

customers.

What in your opinion is better,

to collaborate with a Fintech or

for organization to build digital

solutions from within?

In my opinion, it is important for

an organization to own its backend

platform that powers the different

channels accessed by the customers.

This allows for agility and enables

an organization to manage its costs

of rolling out new products, fixing

application bugs and enhancements

of existing products.

Well, with this background,

partnership with Fintech solution

providers to solve customer needs

becomes easier and faster to go

to market. Organizations should

therefore focus on ensuring that the

middleware has open APIs that power

such partnerships.

We at HF have made it deliberate

that we own and develop what

differentiates us from the rest of the

market.

Since there will definitely

be major winners and some

losers that result from this

unprecedented COVID-19

disruption, what in your view is

the way forward?

There is a new normal. Sounds

cliché but its real! This is a moment

to Learn, Change and Prepare. It is

important for us to adopt to the new

reality brought about by the COVID-19

pandemic. Many of the changes

that forced in the world are likely to

be our new future. It is an exciting

time to experiment with emerging

technologies, create great products

and services for our customers, and

in turn positively change our bottomline!

functionality, enabling HF

provide the fastest instant

loans in Kenya

c. allowing rapid configuration

and launching of new products

to fit HF business needs

INTRASOFT is continuously working

with HF to explore new business

needs in time and deliver the

required.

Considering that INTRASOFT

has wide international reach

with its various IT offerings,

to what extent is its vibrancy

in the telecoms, public sector,

healthcare and transport

sectors in view of the current

COVID-19 crisis within the East

African region?

Since entering East Africa’s market

in 2015, we have experienced great

growth, providing solutions in the

Enterprise and Public Sectors.

INTRASOFT’s brand has been trusted

by organizations in the region

(Banks, SACCOs, Social Security &

Health Insurance organizations and

revenue authorities). Delivering on

time and quality are INTRASOFT’s

trademark and we continue

seamlessly during the COVID-19

pandemic.

COVID-19 pandemic taught us that

intelligent solutions are a must,

whether it is intelligent healthcare,

banking or resource mobilization

etc. At INTRASOFT, we have already

embedded and continue to utilize

the latest technology trends such as

analytics (predictive & prescriptive),

Big Data, IoT, Blockchain, Machine

Learning and Artificial Intelligence in

our solutions.

Quoting our CEO in his recent

message to #IntrasoftPeople, “the IT

market will experience rapid growth

in the aftermath of COVID-19”.

Online servicing and teleworking will

become more prevalent; INTRASOFT

will continue to be at the forefront of

post-COVID19 era!

40


THE LEAD

WHO IS DAVID IGWETA?

David is an astute ICT and operations

expert with an experience spanning

over 20 years in Information

Technology and Banking. Before

joining HF Group as the CIO, he

worked as Head of Technology and

Operations at Spire Bank, GM ICT

at NIC Bank, Soluziona (an entity

affiliated to the Spanish Power

company as a systems consultant)

and Car and General.

At HF Group, David has steered the

revamp of HF Whizz, a trail blazing

mobile solution with additional

enhancements such as WhatsApp

Banking, which heavily relies on AI

to give a fantastic UX to customers.

Additionally, the app now provides

various solutions such as school

fees and merchant payments, the

“Nyumba Yangu” initiative, which,

is a pioneering venture purposed to

avail affordable housing to Kenyans

by collaborating with the likeminded

entities in tandem with the

Agenda4 of the Kenyan Government

digitally avail.

Igweta has also played a critical

role in the transformation of

HF’s Technology and Operations

functions into an agile and efficient

unit churning cost effective and

impactful solutions. His role includes

navigation of complex dynamics

within the organization, and filtering

these into a coherent strategy.

Over time, David has been involved

in policy formulation and best

practice in ICT governance standards

implementation, project and program

management, IT Security and key

strategic road map formulation and

rollout. He is well versed with IT

and operational trends in banking

and payment systems, with deep

involvement in Fintech engagements

and partnerships, system

implementation.

David holds a degree in Mathematics,

Chemistry and Computer Studies

from Kenyatta University (1995)

and various accreditations and

certifications.

“Our digital transformation agenda

is underpinned by the desire to

improve business efficiencies and

deliver world class user experience

to our customers whose journey to

value is pegged on relentless pursuit

to become connected, cognitive

and automated around the infinite

possibilities open to them.” David

Igweta, CIO & Ag. COO, HF Group.


41

Thinking Aloud

DR. FERNANDO WANGILA

CIO, National Transport &

Safety Authority

DATA PROTECTION

FROM POLICY TO PRACTICE

The modern environment is defined by advanced computer technology. The overreliance on

technology in different operations takes the criminals a notch higher as they use the internet

to engage in different forms of cybercrimes.

Unlike in the past, where crime was limited

to the physical actions of the criminals, in the

current situations, the crimes are limitless as the

criminals can engage in them from the comfort

of their homes.

An example of high-tech cybercrime is the US

government data theft from the highly secured

pentagon by the Chinese Hackers (De Hert &

Papakonstantinou, 2016). Such a situation leads

to constant questions on the safety of ordinary

individuals about their online operations.

Apart from data theft crime, cybercriminals may

embark on the deviation of different sites to

unauthorized pieces of information for malicious

gains (Norris, 2018). Several inconveniences

result from the unauthorized access and

tampering with official data in different

organizations and institutions.

Well, in some cases, the hackers go as far as

deleting the pieces of information, and this

affects their general operation. In the quest to

protect these pieces of information, there is a

need for robust cyber laws and efficient cyber

forces to work and appropriately enforce these

laws for compliance.

The need for data protection policy

Globalization has improved the operation of

different countries as they deal with both local

and international clients. The trend is made

possible through the advancement of the IT

sector. Markedly, companies access different

types of sensitive information (Norris, 2018).

For instance, during some transactions, the

clients require to make online payments,

and this makes it mandatory for them to

provide their financial and credit card details.

These pieces of information are kept in the

electronic platforms, and as such, the respective

employees handle them.

Given the sensitive nature of the information, it

remains vulnerable in the hands of the workers

that access it. Even though there have been

privacy directives, they are directed towards

personal Data. The element of personal data

has not been succinctly defined to cater for all

the needs of the clients whose data is at risk of

being misused (De Hert & Papakonstantinou,

2016). Given the modern trends in the

Information Technology (IT) sector, there are

concerns about the element of data privacy.

Data protection bills are directed to the

governments, data collection enterprises,

and data controllers. These parties directly

deal with different pieces of information, and

as such, there is a need to offer guidelines

to ensure that they protect all these pieces

of information (Norris, 2018). Some of these

parties have unlimited access to data, and hence

they are capable of misusing it. Based on the

data protection bills, these parties have the

responsibility of securing sensitive information.

In cases where the criminals get access and alter

the information in question, penal sanctions

are imposed on them (Dimitrova & Brkan,

2018). They are forced to cater to the damages

caused by the individuals in question. Besides,

information technology Acts are crucial in the

constitution as they define the access that

different individuals have with regards to the

stored data.

42


THINKING ALOUD

The handling of data is divided into

different stages, and this means that

several individuals have access to it. It

is crucial to enhance data protection in

all stages of data collection, use, and

disclosure. In cases where the privacy

of individuals is compromised, then

his/her data may fall into the wrong

hands, and in the end, this results in

cyber-crimes like cyberbullying (De

Hert & Papakonstantinou, 2016).

Markedly, this is a complex right that

is related to one’s fundamental rights

like that of life.

Kenya Data Protection Laws

In 2012, the Kenyan government,

through the Commission for the

Implementation of the Constitution

(CIC), presented a revised version of

the Data Protection Bill. Besides this

bill, Kenya belongs to the East African

Community, which required the

members to come up with protection

laws founded on international

standards. Kenya adopted the 2010

constitution, which includes the

element of privacy (Makulilo & Boshe,

2016). The draft Bill indicates that

its requirements are in line with

international standards.

The draft Bill categorizes information

into sensitive and non-sensitive

ones. For instance, in health facilities

issues related to HIV testing and

results, the medical practitioner has

the responsibility of keeping the

information confidential. Besides, the

patient’s consent has to be sought

before carrying out the test. Failure

to observe these requirements risks a

fine of Ksh.100 000 or imprisonment

for two years or both.

Enjoyment of the right

The Kenyan constitution incorporates

the right to privacy. The legislation

was nonexistent until the introduction

of the Data Protection Act in 2019.

After the enactment, the Kenyans

were assured of the enjoyment of

the right in both online and offline

basis (Makulilo & Boshe, 2016). Kenya

The Kenyan constitution

incorporates the right to

privacy. The legislation

was nonexistent until

the introduction of

the Data Protection

Act in 2019. After the

enactment, the Kenyans

were assured of the

enjoyment of the right in

both online and offline

basis (Makulilo & Boshe,

2016)

has various statutes about data

protection, but its implementation is

not sufficient to meet the needs of

the Kenyans.

Back in 2019, Kenya set the standard

for the rest of the African continent

about the data protection laws.

The president approved the data

protection legislation that was in line

with the European Union’s General

Data Protection Regulation. In this

case, the legislation highlighted

the processes followed during the

handling, storage, and sharing of

personal information.

Defaulters as the guilty parties

Given the high level of online

innovation like the Kenyan Safaricom

innovative online money transfer

M-Pesa services, this regulation

comes in handy in protecting the

citizens using such services. The

regulation is attached with harsh

penalties for the defaulters as the

guilty parties’ risk paying a fine of

$29,283 or two years in jail or both

(Banisar, 2019).

The move places Kenya among the

other African countries that recognize

the need for data protection laws and

regulations. Some African countries

like Burundi lack the protection

regulations, and as a result, the

citizens lack where to run to in case

their rights are violated (Makulilo &

Boshe, 2016). Markedly, the Kenyan

progress on the data protection

issue is impressive, and hence the

welfare of the citizens is taken into

consideration.

Kenya protection law borrows various

elements from GDPR. For instance,

like GDPR, the Kenyan protection law

offers guidelines on the collection,

sharing, and storage of consumer

information. The law applies to both

the technology and the hospitality

industries.

Currently, there is the misuse

of consumer data by different

corporations as they seek to

establish the creditworthiness of the

Kenyans (Banisar, 2019). The Kenyan

restrictions protect the citizens from

engaging in their exploitative practices

in connection to these pieces of

information.

Purpose should be legitimate

Additionally, the Kenya Data

Protection Act highlights similar

principles as those of GDPR. For

instance, the data processors and

controllers are required to respect

the citizens’ right to privacy. Besides,

the purpose for which they use or

collect information is limited. In

this case, the purpose should be

legitimate, specified, and explicit. Also,

the principle of data minimization

applies in Kenya. Here, the data

collected should be relevant, limited,

and adequate. Moreover, there is a

scrutiny of the different types of data

to ensure the safety of the Kenyans.

In this case, the element of consent

during transfers is mandatory.

Thus, there are no transfers beyond

Kenya without the authorized

safeguards (Banisar, 2019). These

are the underlying principles behind

the Kenya Data protection act, and

they are in line with the EU GDPR

requirements.

Read more on this on cio.co.ke


43

Thinking Aloud

MAINA KAMAU

Field Marketing Lead,

Westcon-Comstor, Africa

Working From Home No Longer a Sweetener

As global borders shut owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for the remote working tools

is no longer a reward; it is a global imperative. When the first lockdowns started, Cisco saw an

increase of as much as 22 times the number of users on its Webex platform, just from China. As the

rest of the world has followed, so the number has climbed exponentially.

The reality is that if you are looking for tools, like

Webex to do your job, you are one of the fortunate

ones who can continue to work during this time.

According to many vendors, there has been a

phenomenal uptick in scaling existing end-user

computing (EUC), virtual desktop integration (VDI),

and remote meeting and access systems. As a rule

of thumb, many customers had only provided these

tools to an average of 50-75% of their workforce.

These have had to scale to 100% almost overnight.

What does it mean to work from home?

The notion of the remote or virtual worker is by

no means a new one. It is a concept that as an

industry we have been pushing for some time, the

pandemic has however pushed fast forward on the

delivery play button and businesses have had to

scale up instantly.

Conceptually working from home was a tool to

allow people the time they need to get on top of

deadlines and heighten their productivity. It was

the luxury of a few. The few with mobile devices,

loaded with the right software, to take their job

with them wherever they needed to go. Whereas

today it is now an essential business enabler -

ensure business as usual.

Tools to support your business

In short, any work from home tool needs to offer

managers and employees a few vital resources.

Firstly, the ability to connect and collaborate with

teams to check-in, brief individuals, and stay on

top of tasks, projects, and deliverables. Secondly, it

must offer extension mobility. Not all clients have

the mobile device numbers of your employees, so

albeit they are aware that few people will be at

their desks, they may still use an office number to

reach you - your system must support this.

Thirdly, call centres must go on. While people are at

home, they still need access to call centres, whether

it is for support, emergency services, future sales, or

generalised queries they are going to need to call in,

and someone must answer. Ideally, one of the most

challenging business moves enterprises contend

with is this. How do we take a room full of people in

one area in a building, send them home, and expect

them to perform their job function? The answer is

via the use of interconnected softphones that can

be loaded across multiple devices, such as those

offered by Cisco.

Do not stop the momentum

Managing a team that is working from home does

not only require an adjustment in management

techniques, work allocation and task tracking, but

also a new set of tools to assist. Collaboration has

never been more critical.

With collaboration and video-conferencing tools,

you can stay in touch and stay engaged. Depending

on the nature of your business, you may need to

log and track your employee’s movements through

your system, while many organisations are working

on the concept of projects and tasks delivered as

the de facto for knowing “work is done”.

Another trend we have seen a surge is the number

of events and the volume of content delivered

online. As marketing and sales teams are looking at

innovative ways to reach clients, they are starting

to host virtual events, hosting free content online,

and setting up collaborative information sharing

sessions using tools like Webex.

Vendor support

Weston-Comstor has been working closely with

our vendor partner Cisco to address the growing

need for remote working tools. They have assured

us that they are continually monitoring the global

traffic trends and usage of their systems such as

Webex and are continually developing plans and

scaling up servers and services to support our

collective end-user customers.

To enable remote working, Cisco are expanding

their free trials offering for both Collaboration

and Security up to 90 days. Comstor remote

working Essential home kit combines both Cisco

Collaboration and Security solutions that are easy

to implement. Organizations will enjoy a seamless

conferencing experience via Webex Meetings and

Teams and be reassured their data is protected

with Umbrella and AMP for endpoints.

Remote working might be today’s business normal,

but based on its success if we look ahead, it might

well become the future of business as usual.

44


Malicious Actors Target Remote Learners

The continued spread of the COVID-19 virus has brought about unprecedented challenges to

societies, and during this time organisations and individuals have moved to working and learning

from home to play their role in social distancing to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

For one, change has been rapid and, in most

cases owing to the rush cyber security was an

afterthought. Larger organisations and those

with well-prepared business continuity plans may

have had an easier time shifting the work force to

remote and allowing them secure connections to

critical infrastructure held by the organisations.

Smaller organisations and those least prepared

were dashed into panic mode. However, they are

well struggling to ensure the score on public safety

and develop effective ways to allow for remote

work during this rush that security took a back

seat.

Challenge to adopt

While not all industries can work remotely or

continue to sustain the new norm, the challenge

was not a lack of technology but a challenge to

adopt the technology and the value of it. These

industries did not see any real value in such

technology. In particular, one of the industries that

has had the largest change during this pandemic is

the learning industry.

A lot of learning centres have had to resort to

remote learning; somewhere prepared others are

starting for the first time. The unfortunate lesson

we get here is that we put too much emphasis on

supervised learning that remote learning could

not meet the standard of physically supervised

learning centres had become accustomed to. The

pandemic does not allow us to rethink learning as a

whole and hopefully, the right changes can be made

within this space.

New threat on our hands

However, we currently have a new threat on

our hands; the shift to remote learning has

created opportunities for malicious actors to

take advantage of this situation in varying ways,

some common vectors, other new and ingenious

methods. Afterall what attacker ever said “That’s

out of scope”.

What are the malicious actors trying to do and/

or are doing and how can we protect ourselves?

The vast majority of new devices that are now

connected to the internet by virtue of remote

learning and devices waiting to be added to the

fold of large botnets the numbers could aid in the

disruption of critical services in future through

DDOS (distributed denial of service) attacks.

As parents, guardians and students acquire new

devices or existing devices to use for home learning

most of these devices are going to connect to the

internet without any form of malware protection.

Learning centres that have not provided for

devices to their students to use remotely from

home should educate parents, guardians and the

students on how to ensure their devices are not

infected by installing anti malware.

Fake Learning Resources

Some learning centres did not have the resources

to allow for remote learning on their own platforms

so they encouraged learners to go and use various

free resources out there or even paid for a platform

that they then gave the learners access.

Malicious actors could easily create fake learning

resources online that would be capable of fooling

anyone especially during this trying time. They

could use these sites to infect devices with

malware, crypto miners and even just to harvest

data.

High commodity that will sell easily

Data from minors is a high commodity that will

sell easily for various nefarious purposes. Victims

may find that their details register others for

loans, identity, credit cards and more only to find

out when they become of legal age and try to get

a government issued identity or take a loan or a

credit card.

This form of identity theft unlike the more common

one of stealing the identity of someone who is

already in a system is much more favourable as

the impersonator can build the stolen identity of

their choice (social media where minors have also

exposed such information can aid in the ease of

such identity theft).

Vigilance should be applied when signing up for

these online learning platforms ensure that the

information these platforms require is absolutely

necessary to allow you to learn (or use platforms

that don’t require you to sign up to use the free

resource). Use trusted platforms there are a lot

of them out there for all learning brackets. In the

event one must sign in, use an alias to create the

account even temporary email IDs can be of use to

protect the identity of the learner.

The risks are many during this time and practicing

good cyber hygiene can go a long way to ensuring

you do not become a victim of malicious actors.


Thinking Aloud

MICHAEL MICHIE

Head of IT ,TripleOKLaw

45

HardTalk

All it might take is a little virus

Over 10 years ago I penned an article titled “extending the umbilical cord” which looked at

how those running IT infrastructure did not need to be seated in the same room with the

servers. The issue was looking at the slow uptake of collocation and infrastructure as a service

in place of on-premise data centres.

Much earlier I had penned an article, whose title I

can’t seem to remember which I will chalk down

to Covid-19, looked at the need to implement

remote aka distributed working.

ROBERT YAWE

CEO, Synaptech Solutions

Remote working

The ability to work remotely for most whitecollar

workers such as telephone operators,

business analysts and finance staff has been

technologically feasible for over 25 years now,

yet it has been greatly resisted as managers and

supervisors insist on measuring presence rather

than outcome.

With the launch of dial-up connectivity and

ISPs such as Karisi Communications, which

later became AfricaOnline, and FormNet the

ground work for remote working was complete

and all that remained was the paradigm shift in

management practice from the industrial to the

information age. Sadly, almost 30 years later the

mind shift has totally refused to happen.

Critical Office Functions

Many might have felt that dial-up connectivity

was insufficient to carry out critical office

functions such as sending invoices using

remember e-mail to fax, so we can understand

their reservation. But soon after, came DSL

services offering digital leased-line, which were

taken up quickly by the incumbent ISPs to

provide internet connectivity, so why did working

remote not happen at that point?

At the same time, as dedicated leased-lines

based on the KenStream platform was growing

fast with organisations such as Adwest

Telecommunications and ZTE offering cheaper

CPEs with higher bandwidth, VoIP became more

reliable and cost effective but still this wasn’t

enough and organisations still needed staff to

commute 3 hours to and from work.

Scampering Away

Today we have IP PBX systems, cheap enough

softphones, highspeed wireless internet

connectivity meaning no need to pull cables, VDI

as well as conferencing software is literally free,

but still we want to see you in the office, on time.

Now to today and the presence of a little

microscopic virus has sent us scampering away

from the ivory tours we believed were essential

for any productive work, forcing as to distribute

our workforce without any plan or strategy,

even though we had over ten years to test and

implement this business continuity measures.

I wonder what will become of those senior

managers with titles such as Risk and

Compliance when the dust settles. Which

reminds me of one who was more interested in

having us repaint the inside of a data centre yet

the cooling was still not functioning effectively all

because the board were coming to visit.

Remote Connectivity

For those in IT, in the event something goes

wrong after 6 PM in your data centre all you can

do is pray through the night as you opted not to

implement the out of band remote connectivity

features and installed bought the finance

manager a new iPad.

So, you have sent your staff to work from

home, you rerouted the phone numbers to their

personal mobile numbers making them handle

calls with clients in all kinds of environments.

In addition, you opened up your servers to the

internet so that your staff can work remotely and

access the core systems over the internet, the

hackers must be having a field day.

So, it seems that not even the Covid-19 virus has

the power to get us to move from presence to

outcome as many of you are waiting anxiously for

the lifting of the various restriction so as to get

back to business as was usual in the industrial

age.

46


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