14092022

12 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022
By Juliet Umeh
Broadband assessment
provider, Enextgen, says
its locally produced
product; Emetric can help
Nigerians monitor the level of
internet penetration in an area
independently.
According to the company,
Nigerians should not just rely on
self-serving quality reports from
network operators.
Business Development
Director at the company, Mr.
How Emetrics helps Nigerians monitor quality of internet penetration
Gbadega Adeyeye said it is not
sufficient to accept what the
service providers say about the
quality of their networks when
users can independently verify
that quality.
He said people can use
Emetrics to find the quality of
mobile broadband, LTE or 5G
at a particular location.
“Emetrics
takes
measurements of the end-user
experience’s quality. These
include the quality of their
browsing experience and then
project it. We rank it in different
colours for instance; excellent is
green, blue is good, yellow is fair
while red is poor.
He said: “Let your service
provider know you would like
them to provide measurement
data to Enextgen or use our
measurement tool (Enextlog), if
there is no data for your location
or area.
"Share with us any observed
lack of correlation between our
ranking and your experience at
your location.
“The more users, the more
areas covered and the more
areas covered, the higher the
incentive for the operators to pay
attention to the quality of their
mobile broadband networks.
“Understand that quality of
service rating should flow from
those receiving the service to
those offering it, not the other
way around.”
Usage guide
According to Adeyeye, in
mapping the broadband
deployment, one has LTE
coverage if the Emetrics rank
is not red, red means not to
expect reliable LTE coverage.
“The other codes-saddle
brown, yellow, blue and green
are for use in optimizing radio
frequency, RF, quality.
*Zipline drone
Nigeria joins Ghana, Rwanda
others s to deliver health services
via drones
.. As Zipline kicks off commercial delivery in
Kaduna
By Prince Osuagwu, Hi-Tech Editor
Nigeria has made history,
joining other countries
of the world like Ghana
and Rwanda to easily and timely
ferry needed medical
commodities, including vaccines
and blood across difficult
terrains with drones.
This is as instant logistics drone
services operator, Zipline, has
just commenced commercial
deliveries of medical
commodities through drones, to
health facilities in Kaduna
State.
The company announced that
initial deliveries have been
successfully made to
Galadimawa HC, Kauru LGA
among other facilities.
The health facilities are among
several medical centres in
Kaduna earmarked to be rolled
onto Zipline’s logistics platform
for the speedy dispensing of
healthcare.
The distribution centre,
located in Pambegua, Kaduna
state, is the first hub to be
opened in Nigeria to support
the government’s effort to send
medical logistics to health
facilities within the state.
Speaking after the scheduled
delivery of vaccines to the
facility, Chongfilawos Irimiya,
a medical staff at Galadimawa
PHC, said: “We thank God for
Zipline. We are in the bush and
cut off from urban facilities. We
used to go very far to the Apex
centres to get our vaccine, which
is very stressful and
uncomfortable, but with
Zipline, all that is now in the
past.”
General Manager of Zipline
Nigeria, Ms. Catherine Odiase,
said since Zipline
commissioned the distribution
hub in June 2022, it has been
working with the aviation
regulatory authority to finalise
the required approvals to
operate these autonomous
aerial vehicles in Kaduna.
She stated that the successful
completion of the approval
Interswitch@20, flags off #NeverStop brand campaign
By Prince Osuagwu
E-payment service provider,
Interswitch has flagged off a new brand
campaign, #NeverStop, to project itself as a
pioneer and enabler of growth and
development of fintech and payments across
Africa.
Interswitch has helped in driving payments
and e-commerce growth across Africa since it
opened shop in the country 20 years ago.
So, while the new brand campaign is to
amplify the brand’s progressive outlook as a
frontier-driving company which keeps pushing
boundaries and facilitating the creation of new
ecosystems that help businesses and individuals
scale and thrive, it is also to commemorate its
20th year anniversary.
Founder & Group CEO of the company,
Mitchell Elegbe, said: “As we mark 20, there is
quite a lot of excitement within Interswitch, but
also some deep reflection as we look back on
the journey of the last two decades.
processes paved
the way for the
start of
commercial
flights.
O d i a s e
commended the
regulatory
authorities for
the fruitful
engagements
leading to the
commencement
of flight
operations,
adding that “the
company is
pleased to have
received the
necessary
regulatory
approval to be
able to support
the health needs
of
the
community.” She
added that “our
technology has
proven to be a
great resource in
h e l p i n g
government achieve access to
universal healthcare.
“By this, we remain committed
to ensuring that we support the
government of Kaduna in
meeting this target by way of
efficient delivery of medical
commodities and other products
as will be agreed, to all parts of
the state within 40 minutes or less
from our distribution hub”.
She pledged the readiness of
Zipline to continue to partner with
governments to ensure no one in
the country is left behind in
access to the basic healthcare
delivery services.
The first of three distribution
hubs of Zipline to be sited in
Kaduna has the capacity of
delivering medical supplies to
over 500 health facilities within
an 80km radius at a speed of
110km/hr rain/shine: day/night.
Zipline also has the capacity to
deliver other products including
animal health vaccines and e-
commerce products.
"It’s been 20 years of transforming Africa’s digital
economy. Interswitch was founded to solve a social
problem – to make people’s lives easier when it came
to payments, transactions and accessing funds. We
saw a way to do this by developing products and
services with the consumer at the heart, leading with
technology and innovation.
Why 11 1 African social Innovat
ator
ors, got
Sahara Foundation’s recognition at SIPA
By Juliet Umeh
The personal and corporate
social responsibility
vehicle for Sahara Group,
Sahara Foundation, in
collaboration with other
organisations like LEAP Africa,
Ford Foundation, and Impact
Investors Foundation has
honoured 11 fellows whose
businesses are set to promote
sustainable development across
Africa.
The beneficiaries selected
from seven African countries
were recognised when the
foundation celebrated its 2021-
2022 Sahara Impact Fund, SIF,
at the LEAP Africa Social
Innovators Programme and
Awards, SIPA.
The three-month Fellowship
programme which combines
virtual learning and in-class
experiences, through its
‘governance unusual
curriculum’ challenges the
Fellows to be the measure ‘’for
doing the right thing” against all
odds. This inspiring mindset has
the potential to turn them into
impactful business leaders with
the potential to influence a
positive cultural paradigm shift
and promote a movement of
people who willingly and
consistently choose to do the
right thing.
The event was with the theme:
‘’Reawaken, Redesign and Reemerge:
Africa beyond Potential.’
Executive Director at Sahara
Foundation, Mr. Pearl Uzokwe,
lauded the Fellows for their
efforts in creating innovations
that promote social impact.
Uzokwe said: “We are excited
to be part of this transformative
partnership that is committed to
bringing sustainable change to
the African continent. We are
also proud of our Fellows who
have risen above the structural
limitations and social barriers to
solve societal problems. I urge
you to put your training to good
use, think beyond the profit and
focus on doing well.”
Also, Founder, LEAP Africa,
Ndidi Nwuneli, commended the
partners for supporting the
initiative and reiterated the need
for impact investments for social
entrepreneurs to scale
sustainably.
Carbon‘s roadmap to making banking more flexible for consumers
By Juliet Umeh
Financial technology, Fintech, company, Carbon
Finance, has promised to transform the banking
experience for Nigerians by making it more accessible
and flexible.
The Fintech company made the promise as it marks
its 10th anniversary.
Originally set up as a lending company, Carbon has
established itself as one of the continent’s leading and
fastest-growing digital banks, with over a million users
across the federation and operations in two African
countries.
Spring of Life links New Horizons to
produce 20 Microsof
osoft t Technology
Associates
By Sunrise Oladokun
No fewer than 20 students
of Spring of Life and
Fountain of Wisdom School,
Enugu recently sat for and
passed the globally recognised
Microsoft Technology
Associate, MTA, certification
exams.
A Microsoft Technology
Associate is a trained
professional whose skills are
used in a variety of business
functions across many different
industries, for example,
Database, IT Security, Mobile
App Developer, Network
Administrator, Project Manager,
Software Developer, among
others.
The programme was powered
by information and technology,
IT training company, New
Horizons, IT consultant and
partner to the school.
The co-founder and CEO of
the firm, Chijioke Dozie said: “At
Carbon, we are very proud of
what we have built, thanks to our
customers and the humans at
Carbon. When we look at the last
10 years and the future ahead,
we want to focus more on our
customers’ needs and ensure we
are adapting to the market
demands and changing the way
Nigerians make payments.”
The Founder and the Director
of the School, Mrs. Stella Adibe,
expressed her joy that Spring of
Life and Fountain of Wisdom has
been living up to its billing as topquality
and front-row IT-driven
School in Enugu for many years.
She reiterated her delight at
the productive strategic
International ICT Partnership
that her school established with
New Horizons, a US-based,
world’s largest International IT
Skills and Certification Training
Organisation that has a presence
in 80 countries of the world.
Also, the MD/CEO of New
Horizons Nigeria, Mr. Tim
Akano, said he was proud of the
first set of 20 MTA-certified
students from the Spring of Life
schools.
He also promised that New
Horizons Nigeria will
continually support the school to
make it the epitome of an ITdriven
school in this 21st
century.
He explained that the
company began operations in
2012 as One Credit, a brickand-mortar
consumer lender
focused on the Nigerian
market, the company then
pivoted in 2016 to become a
digital lender via its Paylater
App and was focused on
providing access to consumer
credit services.