Hi guys,
Welcome to another edition of the Big 5 Daily.
Let’s dive in!
We have news that, Rwanda and OneWeb have partnered to launch the first constellation of six satellites that will provide broadband internet to rural schools in Rwanda. OneWeb had launched its satellite in West London, Uk, Virginia and the US. The satellite was nicknamed Icyerekezo by the students of Groupe Secondaire St Pierre in Nkombo Island. Icyerekezo means vision. The satellite launched on the 26th of February in lake Kivu at Nkombo Island. We think this is absolutely great news!
Google Cloud and SAP have launched a global sustainability contest for social entrepreneurs that have innovative ideas involving data analytics and machine learning. After the close of the submission widow, five selected finalists will be announced at the Google Cloud Next Conference on the April 9th to 11th, where they will compete in a hackathon taking place in San Francisco on April 12th. Proposals must include; Viable business model, 12 visions for advancing Sustainable Development Goal (responsible consumption and production) and SAP and Google Cloud solutions must be used to enable idea at the scale. Their will be a cash prize of $100,00 for the winner amongst other things and $25000 cash prize for the other 4 finalists. The submission deadline is March 17th.
Interested? Click here
Moving on, South Africa’s first instant restaurant booking app, Dineplan has won the Most Innovative Tech Solution in the Food and Beverage industry at the Cape Town Experience Magazine Award 2019. Launched in February 2018, the free mobile app allows users to explore over 2000 restaurants across the country by; name, area, or available tables at the last minute for effortless bookings. Way to go DinePlan!
Next on the Big 5, Blackboard announced that the University of the Free State, the University of Johannesburg and the University of Pretoria are now grasping Saas (Software as a Service) distribution of Blackboard Learn and their flagship Learning Management System (LMS). The three universities will gain from many enhancements like; zero downtime updates, continuous delivery of new features and reduction of costs. Blackboard Learn is a virtual learning environment and learning management system.
Finally on the Big 5, Paratus Africa has announced its activation of additional capacity between the West Africa Undersea Cable System (WACS) and Lusaka, Zambia. This is in conjunction with the Paratus Trans Kalahari Fiber project that was built between WACS landing station in Swakopmund and Zambia Sesheke border. Paratus Africa is the fastest growing and also the largest privately owned Pan African telecoms operator.
That’s it’s for the Big 5 Daily.
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