Just a reminder that AITI is holding an Information Session Tuesday, November 24 in 2-105 at 6pm.  Please come to learn more about AITI’s goals, strategies, and opportunities.

Sibasi Droid guys with Denis, originally uploaded by Discover JKUAT.

The JKUAT AITI-x course ended last week with the Mobile Application Competition.  For those who don’t know, this course is an AITI extension course offered at JKUAT (one of Kenya’s top technical universities).  The course uses AITI’s curriculum materials as well as following AITI’s incubator style.

First prize in the competition was shared between two teams that built services to help high school students with college selection and application.  Above is a picture of the 3rd place team, Sibasi Droid with Denis Gikunda, Google Kenya (right). Their entry was a location-based Android service that gives POI (ATMs, banks, store, etc.) that are near the user on a map.

The course was described as a “success” by Samuel Kamochu, the AITI graduate who was one of the facilitators of the course. The facilitators are currently working on a document describing their experience.

Thank you to Google for supporting the competition and the course!  One of AITI’s top priorities is to foster extension courses at its partner African universities.

For more information, including the guest lectures that were given during the competition, please visit the course’s blog.

This past Friday, Gleb and Michael appeared on the MIT radio program Spherio. It was a great opportunity to introduce listeners to AITI. The show developed well, and included 2 “interesting” callers. Gleb handled the questions like a champion. You can listen to the entire broadcast below. The show begins after a few minutes for the end of the previous program.

Tonight at 6pm, Michael and Gleb will be interviewed on Spherio a radio program on MIT Radio (FM 88.1 in the Boston area).  You can tune in on the internet in low quality, medium quality, or high quality.  We will be discussing AITI, and our experiences in the program.  Please tune in!

The Google Africa Team published a blog entry detailing the successes of the AITI/Google collaboration:

http://google-africa.blogspot.com/2009/10/update-on-university-outreach-in-kenya.html

The AITI Extension course at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) has reached the SMS (txt)-based services unit.  They are using AITI’s SMS infrastructure and materials.  You can follow the class by reading their blog:

http://discoverjkuat.wordpress.com/2009/10/02/jkuatmit-aiti-x-sms-applications/#more-80

AITI has posted the followup report for our summer 2009 program in Kenya.  You can find it here.  If you have been following this blog closely, you will find little new in the report

Thanks to Bryant Harrison for sending me this article that describes some of the challenges that mobile entrepreneurs face in Africa due to the closed nature of the mobile networks:

http://venturebeat.com/2009/09/25/africas-sms-crisis-and-how-to-stop-it/

Yesterday I appeared on the TV show “Maximizing Progress” with host Joost Bonsen.  The show runs live every Wednesday at 6pm on Cambridge Community TV.  The show has been on the air for approximately 10 years, and it focuses on technological innovation and entrepreneurship, especially in the context of development.  Each week one guest is interviewed.

Joost is a visiting scientist at the MIT Media Lab, and he seems to have his hand in everything related to developmental entrepreneurship at MIT.  He currently teaches the D-Lab class Development Ventures at the Media Lab.  Previously, he was Program Director at MIT’s Legatum Center.

We discussed AITI, my experiences in East Africa, and the general subject of mobiles in Africa.  Here is the show:

Michael Gordon on Maximizing Progress from MIT AITI on Vimeo.

Simon Ndunda, a distinguished graduate of our Kenyan 2009 program has started a business with 3 colleagues. Simon describes the business as “a software development business where we are focusing on SMS solutions among other IT services”. The name of the company is Equisoft Technologies (please see link).  Simon writes: “My gratitude to AITI, and more so the group that came to Kenya this year, is not measurable.”

AITI wishes Simon and his colleagues success.