This week at the African Union Heads of State Summit in Addis Ababa leaders from the continent are meeting on the theme of: “Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Africa: challenges and prospects for development.” Growing out of an increased recognition that technology is a critical element...

Starting today, until November 24 th we’ll be announcing the 7 winners of the 7 Ways to Change the World competition with one winner being announced each working day. We are delighted to announce our first winning entry, submitted by Stephanie Hood on behalf of the More than Me Foundation . The...

This week the annual Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) meeting is taking place in New York. The CGI website describes this event as a meeting that “brings together a diverse group of the world’s most distinguished leaders from government, business, and civil society to examine today's most pressing global...

We’ve blogged a fair bit on the launch of OneApp , but I wanted to give some insight into how I’m actually using the local service, called mibli , here in South Africa, where we signed up our first partner, Blue Label Telecoms. My day goes something like this: I use my (quite old, actually...

Today in Johannesburg, our first OneApp partner, Blue Label Telecoms, officially launched its mibli powered by OneApp service. This new service provides customers with basic feature phones in South Africa with over a dozen new mobile apps, including a Mobile Wallet. Visit the website below to learn more...

Of all of the work we do on the Unlimited Potential team, our efforts in the mobile space probably excite me the most. Why? Well, the last decade has seen mobile phone adoption skyrocket – over 50% of the world’s population owns a mobile device – and it is exhilarating to think that the mobile solutions...

At the Centre Africain d'Etudes Supérieures en Gestion (CESAG), a prestigious regional school of management for West and Central Africa, Microsoft introduced an ICT training program for government leaders and decision makers. CESAG is located in Senegal, a country making headway in the ICT...

They might not be updating their Facebook pages or Twittering about local restaurants with the best vegan menu, but thanks to a new software application from Kenyan mobile solutions company Virtual City, you can now find livestock in East Africa grazing by SMS. Dubbed the Livestock Identification...

The Unlimited Potential Group in the Middle East & Africa has been hard at work for more than 6 months to introduce ICT for the first time to a rural school in the village of Ha-Tumo, 30 kilometers outside Lesotho’s capital city, Maseru. Working with the Lesotho Ministry of Education &...

A year ago, the Microsoft Unlimited Potential Group in the Middle East & Africa started a series of pilots in Francophone West Africa, to introduce small-notebook PCs into schools in Burkina Faso, Senegal and Mali. Each pilot used Microsoft software running on 50 low-cost, low energy-consumption...

Those of you that follow Microsoft might be familiar with Imagine Cup – an annual student technology competition that Microsoft sponsors. This year Unlimited Potential has worked with Imagine Cup to add a new category -- the Rural Innovation Award . At its core, Imagine Cup is about capturing...

Over the past two weeks, I’ve been in Africa to participate in a variety of activities supporting Microsoft Unlimited Potential’s efforts to bring the benefits of technology to the next 5 billion people. The continent continues to show strong economic progress. In fact, Africa has seen the highest...

Last week, I had the opportunity to travel throughout West Africa to represent Microsoft Unlimited Potential, meeting with our partners across the public and private sectors to further discuss how Microsoft can best contribute to help create new economic opportunities in Africa. I began my journeys in...

After the Connect Africa Summit concluded in Rwanda, I was able to continue my African travels in Kenya and Nigeria. It was a great chance to see more of the region and visit some programs and businesses that are starting to enjoy new social and economic growth as a result of technology access. ...

Last week, I had the unique opportunity to attend the Connect Africa Summit in Kigali, Rwanda. The summit was organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the African Union, the World Bank Group and UN GAID, in partnership with the African Development Bank, the African Telecommunication...

It’s been great to be here in Burkina Faso for the ICT Best Practices Forum for West and Central Africa. I’ve been working in Africa and IT for over ten years now, and as a native of Ivory Coast it’s energizing and exciting to see the changes that have been taking place recently. From Nigeria to Senegal...

Hello - I feel that the initiative on refurbished computers that we signed with Microsoft today at the ICT Best Practices Forum is a symbol of our partnership and steadfast commitment to uplift entrepreneurs in Africa. The vision is to establish a pilot refurbishment centre in Uganda that will...

The first ICT Best Practices Forum will be held the 7th through the 9th of June, 2007 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. In Africa, the level of interest in technology solutions to critical development challenges is high. At the same time, there is an essential need to accelerate the penetration and application...