Hello Firefox OS Community,

This week has been full of hip-happening news for Africa. From our WoMoz highlighted in Ivory Coast to Orange introducing their new projects and GrowthAfrica applications being launched, we can say that our continent is definitely alive and kicking!

WoMoz in Ivory Coast
This week our WoMoz Manuala has been highlighted by “La Chambre de l’Economie Social et Solidaire Ivoirienne”! She’s introducing WoMoz and their activities as well as her passion for tech in an inspiring interview. Have a read here.

Firefox Club in Cairo
On 5^th December, Mozilla Egypt will launch a new Firefox Club in Cairo for Student Ambassadors in Obour Academy.  Join them to learn more about Mozilla and the Egyptian community! Don’t miss this event.

GrowthAfrica applications are open
Great news, applications are now open for GrowthAfrica accelerators in Kenya and Uganda. If you’re an ambitious entrepreneur willing to make a positive impact in society, then this programme is made for you! You have until 17^th January to apply for GrowthAfrica for a chance to be tomorrow’s African leader. Find more info here.

Orange’s projects in Africa
Another great piece of new this week, our partner Orange has unveiled their projects for Africa and they are big! From spreading their presence across the continent to announcing the opening of 2 new centres in Dakar and Abidjan in order to pilot Botswana and the West African network, we really wish Orange all the best for their fantastic projects.

Winners of AppsAfrica Awards
The winners of AppsAfrica Awards have been announced! 10 talented participants have distinguished themselves during this competition. In case you didn’t know, AppsAfrica is a portal dedicated to mobile application developers, startups and the various technological communities across Africa. Discover who the winners are here.

Orange Klif AppChallenge Madagascar
… and the winners of the App Challenge in Madagascar are: BVoka, Ankamantatra and MemoStroop.

#OrangeKlifAppChallenge #OKAC2015 Les gagnants :1er #BVoka 2è #Ankamantatra 3è #MemoStroop https://t.co/7PZB1vuhZX pic.twitter.com/BrWO27vse1

— Orange Madagascar (@orange_mg) November 27, 2015

Lastly, if you’d like to be part of our ‘round up’ crew, tweet us your highlights to@FirefoxOSAfrica and use #FirefoxOSFive – or feel free to drop us an email!

We were delighted to participate in the 18th annual AfricaCom event, taking place at the Cape Town Convention Centre, South Africa from 17-19th November. Over 10,000 attendees, 350+ speakers and 375+ exhibitors from 50+ African countries turned up, gathering senior decision-makers from the entire African digital ecosystem under one roof.

This year’s event featured a full conference and keynote agenda focusing on ‘Innovation, Transformation & Leadership for Digital Africa’ and the challenges and opportunities in this region. AfricaCom is the biggest and most esteemed tech event in Africa that gathers together tech enthusiasts from the entire digital ecosystem; thousands of digital movers and shakers in Africa attended and were supported by the most renowned speakers in the digital industry in Africa and beyond. Enhancing this year’s event participation, delegates were ushered and welcomed by the Minister of Telecommunication and Postal Services; in his opening remarks of the event this is what he said about ICT ecosystem in Africa:

“Much of the ICT revolution is driven by the private sector, but as a government we have realised that we have an important role to play in aligning policies with the possibilities emerging from the private sector. What we’ve struggled with is the digital divide. The cost of communications is unreasonably high in societies where it is needed the most” – The Hon. Prof. Hlengiwe Mkhize, Deputy Minister of South Africa’s Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services

This is indeed an indication that Africa needs support to develop innovation and there is a need for an increased cooperation between industry stakeholders, to offer a platform for regulators, communities and governments to enhance ICT penetration.

It’s hard to believe that just over the past few days, Mozilla took an encouraging step to join other stakeholders and participate in this year’s AfricaCom event. With just a handful of committed individuals, the main goal of participating in this event was to maintain Mozilla’s position within the mobile industry and current key partnerships in Africa, whilst showcasing a Firefox OS experience under the banner of the independent, open OS centred on the User.

Firefox OS success story in Africa is incredible and well worth sharing, just one milestone achieved by Mozilla in its efforts to expand and advocate for an open web through its mobile platform. This is one project that has brought new pathways for engagement by enabling new locales to contribute in many ways, their skills and most personal experiences, as smartphone users, in Africa. 2.0 is the latest version of Firefox OS in Africa and it’s incredible because Mozilla has helped create a worldwide movement of people who believe the Internet is a global public resource that belongs to all of us, not just to a powerful few.

AfricaCom 2015 offered many fundamental participative platforms for individuals and the entire community as a way to foster connection and learning via discussions with partners through conference sessions, breakaways and panel discussions. However, this was another great opportunity for Mozilla, who as keynote panelists, got to discuss “FirefoxOS for emerging mobile market”, lead by John Bernard , Global Marketing Director from Mozilla for Firefox OS.

To keep participants informed about FirefoxOS during roundtable discussions, he mentioned “Community is part of our DNA at Mozilla and that is why we foster for success in what we are doing”: Mozilla is committed to growing the ecosystem and involving various movements across Africa and the global world to better understand FirefoxOS through the help of Mozilla’s Participation Team.

Developing products like FirefoxOS and standing up for the Web are both incredibly important, Mozilla continues to advocate and stand for its mission, by trusting that people need essential skills for understanding and harnessing the potential of the open Internet.

“Solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems are being built on the Web. The more minds we can put on those solutions, the better off we will all be. In 2015, Mozilla invested in projects around the world to help more people harness the power of the Web” – Mark Surman

AfricaCom Awards

The AfricaCom Awards for 2015, attracted more entries than ever before, with some serious heavyweight projects giving the judges some added food for thought. The prestigious award recognizes the outstanding contribution of business leaders in the field of telecoms & ICT within an African listed company. It also celebrates business leaders who contribute towards the expansion, growth and quality of the telecoms, ICT and digital industry, as well as promoting socio-economic growth through access to telecoms and ICT services, most notably to the disadvantaged segments of society.

Winners of the different awards up for grabs at the AfricaCom Awards for 2015, held on the 18th of November in Cape Town, South Africa have emerged. Orange Klif won “Best Device for Africa” after a tough competition for the spot with the likes of Huawei Technologies and MTN SA. Orange Klif runs Firefox OS, making it the first generation of Firefox OS smartphones ever launched by Mozilla in Africa.

Today our Mozillian, Ganesh tells us more about how he started using Free and Open Source Softwares.

My first interaction with open source software
Everything started in 1995 with my first encounter with the Internet which was made accessible in our office by the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie – AUF. My institution is an associate member of this international organisation where one of their main objectives is the promotion of Open Source Software. This collaboration has been an opportunity for me to expand my knowledge in ICT through the usage of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). However, it was a bit hard at the beginning since I have always worked with proprietary software. But now I am able to work with both types of software!

Open Operating System
The very first open source software which I was exposed to, was Linux via the Debian Distribution in 1998 during a Network System Administration training workshop which I chose, by curiosity. It was a very tough experience for me to use a character based software which was challenging to put into practice. During this workshop I was a little lost, but I learned a lot and came out with an alternative software usage. Having acquired a practical knowledge about the how Linux could be implemented, I had enrolled for two additional Linux training workshops where the Linux distribution Ubuntu was used. This time I have been able to learn about how to install and use Linux as an operation system, and now I am confident enough to say that I am a multi-operating system user.

Internet browser and Email application
My new adventure with free and open source software is Firefox, of which I still remember using the very first version. Firefox became my default browser even though I used other browsers. Unknowingly, I have contributed to the Mozilla mission by  the installation and distribution of Firefox in all the computers in my office and to lots of people with whom I have been working with. During ICT awareness training courses where I was involved in my institution in the Noughties, I  have been advising and encouraging people to use Firefox as a reliable Internet browser and have also distributed Firefox to thousands of people. My love for Firefox and Mozilla started in this way and in 2008 I joined the Mozilla Student Campus Reps (now Firefox Student Ambassador) where I participated in the ‘Spread Firefox’ campaign. Thunderbird is the another Mozilla product which I have extensively been using as my preferred email application, especially for office use since its inception in 2004. I have recommended this software for our email purposes and we have been using it for the past 11 years and we are happy with its reliability. As a result, Thunderbird has been installed in all the computers engaged in secretarial duties.

Digital Libraries and Institutional Repositories
Greenstone is a suite of software for building and distributing digital library collections. It provides a way of organizing information and publishing it on the web or on removable media such as DVD and USB flash drives. Greenstone is produced by the New Zealand Digital Library Project at the University of Waikato, and is developed and distributed in cooperation with UNESCO and the Human Info NGO. It is open-source, has multilingual software and is issued under the terms of the GNU General Public License. The aim of the Greenstone software is to empower users, particularly in universities, libraries, and other public service institutions, to build their own digital libraries.

One of my projects in my institution was the creation and development of digital libraries to host a repository of highly valuable documents produced by consultants on the health sector in Mauritius; it’s also to preserve a collection of annual health reports during the colonial era since 1935. Initially, I came across a software called Greenstone and I played around with but unfortunately, I didn’t have a great outcome. However, due to my interest in learning about this software, my name was recommended to the UNESCO Regional Programme Manager by a colleague from University of Mauritius who attended a UNESCO Greenstone training workshop. In 2009, I attended a UNESCO Regional training workshop on Greenstone in Seychelles. This was a real turning point for me, as it helped in the implementation of this software for the creation and development of digital libraries for my institution. Following my proposal to the implementation of my digital libraries project, UNESCO agree to run another Greenstone Regional training workshop but this time it was held in Mauritius where 15 participants from several countries (Mauritius, Madagascar, Rodrigues, Comoros, Seychelles, Tanzania) of the region participated. I was called upon to assist Amos Kujenga from NUST, Zimbabwe, to facilitate this workshop. Consequently, following the interest and needs shown for this software, a second training workshop was held in 2011 at my institution, Mauritius Institute of Health. Another batch of 15 participants from different institutions in Mauritius and Rodrigues attended this workshop. In 2013, in line with the setting up of a digital library to host scientific documents, at the request of my institution, the AUF mounted a training workshop in Greenstone for 15 cadres from different tertiary institutions. I facilitated this workshop.

Author: Ganesh.