TIGblogs - Richwell Phinias's TIGBlog http://Mutapa.tigblog.org/ What's on the minds of young leaders from around the globe? en-us Theme for World Aids Day 2008 set http://Mutapa.tigblog.org/post/543567
This year’s theme was adopted following consultations, and seeks to acknowledge the positive gains the country has achieved in the area of HIV and Aids. Zimbabwe registered a significant decline in the HIV prevalence rate from 33 percent in 1999 to the current 15,6 percent.

At a Press briefing in Harare recently, the chairperson of the World Aids Day planning committee, Pastor Maxwell Kapachawo, said while acknowledging Zimbabwe’s proven leadership in HIV prevention there were still gaps in the provision of treatment, care and support for those infected and affected."Our call for action is for all stakeholders to take the lead in issues of treatment, care and support," he said.This year’s main event will be held at Chipadze Stadium in Bindura where about 5 000 people are expected to witness various activities to mark World Aids Day.

Meanwhile, Power FM presenter, Leander Kandiero, will tomorrow take the lead in line with the global HIV and Aids leadership, as he embarks on a non-stop 24-hour broadcast in solidarity with all those infected and affected by the virus.Kandiero — who will be fasting throughout the day — said he hoped that the information carried throughout the day-long broadcast would help counter the stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV.His initiative is the first of its kind and demonstrates how being innovative can significantly contribute towards addressing HIV and Aids.

The broadcast which will start at midnight, will feature interviews with people living with HIV, officials in Aids service organisations, phone-ins by members of the public, and highlights on key facts on HIV in Zimbabwe. ]]> Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:01:00 EST http://Mutapa.tigblog.org/post/543567 One-Man 24-Hour Marathon Broadcast on HIV AIDS - WAD 2008: Take the Lead http://Mutapa.tigblog.org/post/543441
The brainchild of POWER FM, a musical station wholly owned by the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings, the 24-Hour marathon broadcast to be aired on Power FM presents Zimbabweans with an opportunity to reflect, talk about, question as well as map the way forward regarding the country's responses to HIV and AIDS.

Twenty four years since the first HIV case was detected in Zimbabwe, Power FM and SAfAIDS have partnered on this initiative due to their firm belief that, despite the progress Zimbabwe has made in the past 10 years, there is need to constantly go back to the drawing table and come up with new ways of dealing with the epidemic, still one of the leading causes of death in Zimbabwe, and the whole of southern Africa.

Zimbabwe has managed to record a decline in HIV prevalence from over 30 percent, 10 years ago, to the current 15,6 percent.

"This One-Man 24-Hour marathon broadcast is a brilliant and innovative way of keeping HIV and AIDS issues on the agenda. We can only applaud POWER FM and Leander Kandiero, the 24-Hour man show presenter, for coming up with such an excellent idea said SAfAIDS deputy director, Ms Sara Page. "As SAfAIDS, we are proud to be associated with the whole idea and look forward to providing accurate and relevant information on HIV and AIDS and TB during the broadcast."

"What this shows is that each and every one of us can do something to make a difference. We can all take the lead to make a difference in our homes, workplaces, communities and even in our country," she added.

This year, World AIDS Day is being commemorated under the theme of leadership, which Kandiero says was one of the reasons he decided to take the lead and commit himself to being on air throughout the 1st of December with the aim of raising the profile of HIV and AIDS issues and providing a platform for people living with HIV and AIDS to have their voices heard.

"It is just about using your talent and your space to make a difference. If each and every one of us in this country contributes something, be it time, or money, or even knowledge and information, Zimbabwe can only continue to record declines in HIV incidence while people living with HIV can also become more positive about themselves and as a result, live longer," he said.

It is hoped that corporates, individuals, opinion leaders and all Zimbabweans will tune in to the broadcast and participate in various ways, even if it is to buy medicines for those in need of them.

POWER FM says it firmly believes in its moral obligation to give back to the communities that make up its listenership by supporting such innovative and worthwhile initiatives like the One-Man 24 Hour Marathon Broadcast.

So come World AIDS Day on the 1st of December 2008, you are advised to "Take the Lead and be the first to tune in to Power FM."

For more information please contact:
Beatrice Tonhodzayi
SAfAIDS
Tel: + 263-4- 336193/4 or 307898
Email: beatrice@safaids.org.zw

Or

Tinashe Chiname
POWER FM
Tel: + 263- 54- 226000
Posted by 24/7 Marathon Broadcast-Leander Kandiero at 5:51 AM ]]> Mon, 01 Dec 2008 10:45:00 EST http://Mutapa.tigblog.org/post/543441 MDG Contest http://Mutapa.tigblog.org/post/37985 Thu, 27 Apr 2006 15:24:00 EDT http://Mutapa.tigblog.org/post/37985 Blogging News in Zimbabwe http://Mutapa.tigblog.org/post/171049 I met a photographer this morning and he told me about a Blogging Conference he attended in Zimbabwe redcently. Hey how tech is moving so fast. Hope to install a blog on Dariro.co.zw, maybe i will have my entry there RichwellPhinias.dariro.co.zw

just thinking loud

]]> Mon, 20 Feb 2006 06:02:00 EST http://Mutapa.tigblog.org/post/171049 Kuda Welcome http://Mutapa.tigblog.org/post/171051 i welcome my friend and business partner kuda to the blog world

http://kudac.blogsome.com

]]> Mon, 20 Feb 2006 06:02:00 EST http://Mutapa.tigblog.org/post/171051 zimbabwe on the internet http://Mutapa.tigblog.org/post/171053 kool to realise the many efforts zim guys are doing on the internet. but one eyesaw for zimbo sites is the ldquo;UNDER CONSTRUCTIONrdquo; banner. imagine i went over 15 websites 2day by zimbos and look , most sections are still under construction.i wonder!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

]]> Fri, 20 Jan 2006 06:01:00 EST http://Mutapa.tigblog.org/post/171053 Digital Africa http://Mutapa.tigblog.org/post/171055 Africa is really turning digital, in the last edition of Africa Cup of Nations finals there was just one website detailing the events. But this yearrsquo;s edition is just but digital, so far i have come websites like Egypt2006.com and many sites from Nigeria and the Diaspora chronicling events there. Its really wonderful, thats moving ahead uuuh!

]]> Tue, 17 Jan 2006 02:01:00 EST http://Mutapa.tigblog.org/post/171055 The Reinvented World of Richwell Phinias http://Mutapa.tigblog.org/post/171057 This year 2006, i have made resolutions. Itrsquo;s not strange, it something that i always do. Fun enough at the end of the year i sit down to see that 99% of the resolutions are achieved. With that background this year i have decided to come up with difficult resolutions.


More like planning to go to Mars uuuhhellip;Imagine it takes five years to go there. So if i go now, i will return in 2016hellip;Yeah but anyway thats not my resolution for this year , its just an example of the the kind of resolutions i have for this year. Ohh but i think its worth pursuing.


Its just your money and determination then you are done. I remember last reading a story of SpaceX a space company by an African x-internet entreprenuier (Paypal founder) who will be allowing flights to space at US$20 milhellip;More on my resolutions 2mrwo

]]> Mon, 16 Jan 2006 08:01:00 EST http://Mutapa.tigblog.org/post/171057 Africa in the digital Age Black History http://Mutapa.tigblog.org/post/32837 ]]> Tue, 06 Dec 2005 07:37:00 EST http://Mutapa.tigblog.org/post/32837 Social Networks and Merry Xmas http://Mutapa.tigblog.org/post/32820
It is now those websites with the greatest potential of connecting people of similar needs that are leading in hits and use.

I was amazed by the power of hi5.com. Imagine how i got connected to people i last saw in pre-school. It's really a wonderful experience.

Merry Xmas to you all and have a Prosperous 2006.
My vision in the coming year is "AFRICA IN THE DIGITAL AGE"]]> Tue, 06 Dec 2005 00:58:00 EST http://Mutapa.tigblog.org/post/32820 Bridging the information divide in Africa http://Mutapa.tigblog.org/post/32021
The origins of the VW Beetle car date back to 1930s Nazi Germany. Adolf Hitler's desire that almost anybody should be able to afford a car fit with a proposal by car designer Ferdinand Porsche, although Hitler himself played some role in the car's shape and, possibly, nickname. Dissatisfied with the initial design of the car's front end (and perhaps caught up in the 30's mania for all things streamlined) Hitler penned a more rounded shape on a napkin and handed it to Porsche with the instructions, "it should look like a beetle, you only have to look to nature to find out what true streamlining is." The intention was that ordinary working Germans would buy the car by means of a savings scheme.

In Zimbabwe today and the expanse of Africa and thus the major part of the third world defined, we are so called because of where we are today. In such countries, typically we have a massive foreign debt, frequently exceeding the NDP (National Domestic Product). The economy is frequently controlled by the IMF (International Monetary Fund), which orients production away from sustainable local growth towards large-scale cash crop production for export to foreign countries.

Under such management education and health are slashed to a fraction of expenditure before IMF control, and social welfare is non-existent. The majority of people struggle to earn enough to eat, and still frequently cannot meet the high cost of basic sustenance (food, shelter and clothing).

The reality we currently live in Africa today is that of poverty, HIV/AIDS, illiteracy, civil wars, failure to contain natural disasters and unemployment. The picture that the western world who obviously dominate the world press or information dissemination is that of a wanting Africa. Many motivatational speakers talk about the fact that: we become what we always listen to. Reading through one online collection of African news articles on Allafrica.com you realize emphasis is on the negative side of things in Africa.

If there is any headline positive, it is about some NGO pledging to donate money to a western nation endorsed country. The other news in pictures and compassion stories all depict a doomed Africa.

This article is not an all out hate statement but what I want to make clear dear reader is that Africa is looking for inspired individuals who can collectively bargain for its rightful position in the world.
Like the heroism of particular individuals in history, sometimes looking at history their way will create a need within Africa and its people to aspire to be better. Quoting Henry Ford famed for the Ford Motor Company he says,” History is more or less bunk. It's tradition. We don't want tradition. We want to live in the present, and the only history that is worth a tinker's damn is the history we make today."

Like the need for a car for the majority during Ford’s time and the same in Nazi Germany today Africa we are at a position, which gives us, access to make history. Our plethora of damaging accolades is an opportunity to make the present history.

To move from our present scenario men and women with visions of a brighter Africa are what we need. It is somewhat scary to say positive things about the future when you are in a perceived dark present. Many theorists and pessimists will call for your neck. Experiences of Joseph, the dreamer and David the king shows us the bad side of saying you are going to make it.

The car industry was once a platform for America and Europe’s growth and today the IT world is a springboard for Africa’s development. It is only as such when it is done by Africans with an African perspective focusing on global satisfaction.
Africans in Diaspora like Professor Philip Emeagwali have done Africa proud technology wise. Africans locally are doing great things especially in the software field. Such young companies like Venekera Works Technologies, Adept Systems and a plethora of software programmers are doing well.

Today to take Africa to the other side I believe we have to embrace technology, look out for the new opportunities it offers in such areas as software development, website development, biotechnology and even computer hardware. In Nigeria we have Zinox Technologies producing computers the same way as Dell or any other international computer manufacturing companies.

The Asian tigers have moved ahead of us by embracing information communications technologies and it has only happened in so short a time. In America itself the only industries that has created billionaires in two decades is the information technology industry. Names like Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Steve Jobs, Paul Allen, George Bezos, and Larry Page adorn such magnificent corporates like Microsoft, Oracle, Apple and Amazon these and other big elephants of the American corporate world come the information technology sector.

In the following articles we shall be looking at a sectorial perspective on what the information communications are going to do for Africa. For it is not what we can do but what we are going to do.

By Richwell Phinias]]> Thu, 17 Nov 2005 01:56:00 EST http://Mutapa.tigblog.org/post/32021 Websites : Technology for Development http://Mutapa.tigblog.org/post/11065
Many a times African companies and organizations tend to turn a blind eye on building websites for their companies. Experiences have shown them they cannot get any direct profits through their websites. To some extend they are right about this because when the Internet hype was in its hey days they just felt having their brochures online would sale for them.

What they did not see is that the way they built websites only helped the visibility of their companies but the nature of the sites did not allow sales to be directly linked to their web presence. The main issue accelerating first African companies to build websites was as a global marketing tool. One thing these companies did not realize was the way in which global orders would be handled.

From the first brochure sites build in Africa they were just like print and radio/TV media adverts where sales and orders are done through available physical set ups. To this end we find African businessman now giving second thoughts about joining e-commerce initiatives.

Most of them have developed a negative attitude towards including websites for their companies. The message they are missing and which is getting popular with the young, inspired and well-informed entrepreneurs is that the INTERNET is not a marketing media.

The Internet is not a tool were you can market your products. In fact the Internet cannot be compared to print, radio and television medias. The Internet the whole concept of the World Wide Web is a society joining together all people of the world together.

All the services that are offered by radio are also offered more conveniently over the Internet. The internet even surpasses the radio because it allows broadcasting that is confined to the small coverage to be listened live over the world from anywhere to everywhere including on the top of Mt Everest.

You can read daily newspapers online but you cannot read the Internet from daily newspapers. Newspapers can be for reading, television for watching and listening the same way radio is listened but with the internet you got this and many more services all in once.

So African business man are now realizing the opportunities that lie in investing in e-commerce initiatives like Ecosandals.com they can sell their products online over the world. Imagine how that would have costed in telephone, fax and transport bills. Everything is found online that supports any business operation.

If there is something you think cannot be done online then that will be an opportunity for the emerging inspired programmers of third world countries like India. Africa we are now realizing that we need impossibities to prove our creativeness and innovative nature.

Imagine before the western world came to colonise we just lived well but without things that are called basics in the western world. Only because we were less informed then we have to wait for other people to come and discover us. Scientists in Germany knew what developments were happening in Britain and through that knowledge they could on similar adventures and once well informed always come out with brilliant discoveries.

We have some scientists who even chose to leave Germany for America or the United where their talents were appreciated and they could mix and mingle with people of the same mindset. Now for Africa and its people we have been put at a similar platform for doing business on the world.

With the internet you also see and know projects of importants being done by our counterparts anywhere over the world. With the Internet we are able to recognize and realize opportunities that matter to the world. We are able to check if someone else is working on our dreams or to asses if they were really raw and fresh.

Over the years our picture have been depicted to us by the world. Now with the Internet we can send out our own picture and the way we view our selves to the world. At times because some of us we live for information and actually see a lot of possibilities that can change people’s lives we are bound to want to place blame those in authority for not doing anything. Look long back western well wishers would bring in their concepts here after they have made a debut abroad.

Then when we start knowing what is going on around the world. Now with the Internet we are even able to know which ideas have been worked on or not, which ones are in pilot phase or not. So at the end of the day we are able to work on ideas from concepts at the same time they being implemented oversees.

So for now why should we website developers, media houses and marketing companies not come up with plans that will provide transparency and openness in the areas in which e-commerce, websites and online marketing can benefit local companies.

This of course is a concept that is already working oversees, we have companies like yahoo and google that depend on online adverts for their revenue. The question here is not only online adverts on junk portals but also we need to initiate creation of value on our portals. We need to come up with convincing ways of showing advertisers how online adverts would really work.

Remember advertisers s do not pay just for placing a banner on your portal, they are things like pay-per-click and feedbacks which actually shows how many people are actually visiting websites and also making orders after that.

We need our governments to look into legislation in as much as online payments are concerned on a local pespective. With a mind to go and surely go we will rise above standards set by the digital divide and come to realize that the Internet is a force to reckon with.

]]> Sat, 20 Sep 2003 12:14:00 EDT http://Mutapa.tigblog.org/post/11065 Time To Act : Building An Informed Africa http://Mutapa.tigblog.org/post/11028
“Information technology has created avenues for development which are not affected by distance or geography. Africa rise and show the world that you are worth it. Speak out loud AFRICA, silence is betrayal”

In any set up the most informed individuals remains the most dominant and powerful over their counter parts. Being more informed give them a mandate to dictate terms to the less informed, to the extend of undermining their abilities in all aspects of life. That’s where Africa today is pegged, we have been called third world countries, under developed and we appreciate that naming. Would not there be anything superior coming from Africa and telling the world that we are equal.

Because we are less informed and we do not even give a damn about that condition I fear we might remain like that forever. We have been so brainwashed by the most informed and got to an unguided understanding that prosperity depends on where you are other than on who you are and what you can do in which ever environment you are.

Africans we have come to the belief that our countries are dry lands infested with poverty, HIV/AIDS, unemployment and all the inhuman forms that we can imagine. Imagine an African leaving his country for the western world assumes he is going for greener pastures. After having acquired a decent education in Africa on government loans and grants the African child still feel the Government investment was done for the western world.

The key issue here is: there is a gap that needs to be closed in Africa. The opening is so big that it needs many forces to conquer it. Since dynamite comes in small packages I still believe a few inspired hands will make a difference. I hope and believe that since Africans in Diaspora have access to information they will also play a pivotal role in closing the information gap. The story line here is not to be fussy about ICTs, computers and all that follows it. The ICT initiatives have just come at the right time as Africa’s savior.

There is talk all over the NGO network in the western world about setting up ICT initiatives in Africa. African governments are also talking about the same phenomena, e-commerce, e-government, legislation e.t.c.Though I salute those who are making efforts to establish telecenters, cyber cafes, business centers, internet connections and other supporting services, I have a strong feeling that this will not be the overall solution to Africa’s problems.

What is important here which we are keeping a blind eye on is the I in ICT, IT. The naming of this technology has been branded again and again but the one word that has remained is INFORMATION.

Now what is information and why should it matter at the moment, why all this hype about ICT projects? For the past few years I have seen more ICT centered business proposals more than any other business ventures. Along the way I have also written my ICT business proposal that have worked fine. All the Internet cafes I have worked for were new hubs and still more and more are being opened.

From my introduction above you can see how information is a very important part of our sustenance. The reason why Africans are leaving their roots in droves is they have HEARD (they are well informed of course) of greener pastures. That same voice which delivered the greener pastures message should also have preached to Africans that these pastures are in our heads not anyway outside that.

As Africans we seem to lack inspiration on what ever we do. That is why when a family member becomes rich we try to link his fortune to some long dead grandpa who was a landlord of some sort.

Take a look how information inspires people, oral tradition told along the Shona people about a spirit medium’s predictions inspired Zimbabweans to go to war against the Rhodesian regime.

Now because in the western world there is lots of information on inventors, innovators and explorers, people there have lots of information to inspire them. You would obviously venture into something because you have seen or heard it from somewhere else. So today our Africa needs to be inspired and motivated, the only way is to feed them with the befitting information.

For inspiration we also have our brothers and sisters who have made it here and some abroad, and such information should reach the minds of the African child now. If you want to see how information is a key factor look at how many countries survive without information ministries. Information is power and should be respected as such. A generation well informed is the generation needed to usher Africa into this emerging knowledge economy.

I believe with Internet access getting across the whole plains of sub Saharan Africa and the whole continent. This is the right time for African intellectuals to start building online content/information banks for Africa. The challenge is both to Africans in Diaspora (who by now know that we can not live without information) and those geniuses around to aggressively pioneer information dissemination over the Internet.

The more people are informed, the more they become confident on whatever they are doing. Being well informed breeds confidence and there by knowledge and obviously knowledge is power as we are all aware (the few informed know this). Those who have knowledge have power and that number is very small really.

African people let us be cultured believe in our selves and dominate the Knowledge driven economy. Our natural resources have not yet been exhausted by the multimedia and we need to showcase that to the world. We need to show the world that we can improve the world other than die trying to impress anyone. Its high time Africa we realize that we can no longer feed from the floor but we take our position on the table.

How are we going to control our destiny at world conferences when all we can do is go begging for the reduction of our debts and even crying for more help out there? Why can we not use the advantage of these ICT initiatives to develop our own products and stop fattening western pockets. One writer concluded that there were more Mercedes-Benz cars in Africa than in Germany itself. Imagine every minister in an African government is supposed to have the latest model of a Mercedes-Benz.

It seems Africa we are the market for the western world when in effect the same donor money we use on their goods is the same they give to us for poverty and HIV/AIDS driven initiatives. By the way have you ever tried to check on what cars our NGO brothers drive? They just plough back donor money to the western powers.

In other words the most lucrative business to own and run in Africa today is an NGO.We have the scapegoat to use for that matter to drain money from western well wishers. Tell them about our politics, HIV/AIDS, poverty and obviously you will siphon a lot of money and resources that side.

African how long are we going to survive by other people’s pockets. How long are going to be dumping grounds for used western clothes, dumping grounds for used cars? Information Technology creates a way for us to develop and license our intellectual rights and Africa this is your chance.

Look at what all the well-cultured nations are doing. Maybe Africa it is because we have allowed ourselves to be a religious dumping ground? Malaysians believe in themselves and are so devoted to their religions and that has ushered them well into building a large knowledge based economy base. The same applies also to India and other Asian states who are making it.

Be informed Africa, be informed sons and daughters of Africa. Arise and shine Africa for thy light is come, arise with one voice and tell the world that it is your turn now. Imagine how the western world prides themselves in discovering the Victoria Falls when in essence there were already people in Africa knowing about it all along.

It is good that we are to realizing we need information. So the ball is in our court whether to remain servants or to create hubs of information consumable online for our fellow Africans. I advise you that when you find time to chat away on a western chat room why can you not make that time conducive for indexing information on Africa over the internet.

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who matter don’t mind and those mind don’t matter.”

Richwell Phinias

caprph@yahoo.com, richwell@mutapa.co.zw

]]> Fri, 19 Sep 2003 04:07:00 EDT http://Mutapa.tigblog.org/post/11028