Straight Talk with Chukwudi Obi

Nigeria joined the rest of the world to mark International Internet Day on October 29. Since 2005, the International Internet Day has been celebrated to commemorate a momentous day in the history of telecommunications and technology. The event commemorated is the sending of the first message, first electronic message which was transferred from one computer to another in 1969. This was situated in California, in the USA. At that time, internet was known as ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network). This was in 1969 when Charley Kline, a student programmer at the UCLA transmitted the first ever message on October 29, 1969. Charley Kline, whose supervisor was Professor Leonard Kleinrock, transmitted a message from the computer housed at the UCLA to a computer positioned at the Stanford Research Institute's computer. The two computers, one at the UCLA was the SDS Sigma 7 Host computer and the receiver was the SDS 940 Host at the Stanford Research Institute. Int...

Dear Theodore, On various social media platforms, your profile and image as governor of Abia state has suffered the most. At the moment, it is in an all time low. From Facebook to twitter and other social networks people, nay, Abians and concerned Nigerians vent their ire on your person and your administration. In fact, many justify their comments and rage with pictures. I have childhood friends from Aba and Umuahia who follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Google + .   Each morning, their sign of the cross is to take a picture with their smartphones, post it on Facebook and other platforms and tag it “This is Umuahia this morning”, “Good morning friends, Aba today”, “This is Aba, God help your people”, “This is Aba, God we are in your hands” and many others. The pictures they post range from dilapidated roads and streets with long range potholes filled dirty water and garbage. The lengths of these roads are so much that one begins to wonder the last time Aba motorists ...

Mara One On One Business session in full swing No fewer than 40 young start-ups have been selected for six-month mentorship placements courtesy of Mara Mentor’s One-on-One session held at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja recently. The Mara Mentor One-on-One event, a session organized for ambitious entrepreneurs to engage experienced business leaders, provided over 60 budding entrepreneurs (mentees) with the opportunity to pitch their business ideas to 25 industry experts (mentors) and a compete for a six-month mentorship period during which the experts would act as mentors, providing guidance and direction as they venture into the entrepreneurship space. One of the Business Pitch sessions  According to a statement by Mara Foundation’s Media officer, Douglas Imaralu, the selected entrepreneurs will now proceed for the mentorship period under the tutelage of a cross section of business leaders including: General Manager, Regional Operations MTN Nigeria, Adek...

Mara Foundation has said plans are underway to ensure a hassle free successful One-on-One Business Pitch in Abuja come October 14. This is coming as former military president Ibrahim Babangida’s daughter  and  chairperson, Better Life Program for Rural Woman Africa, Aisha Babangida  and Country representative, Bill and Mellinda Gates Foundation, Dr. Mairo Mandara have joined over  25 business leaders who confirmed  their attendance of the A list Mentor program. According to Mara Foundation’s media officer, Douglas Imaralu, Mara Mentor program, an initiative of Mara Foundation, will offer a lifetime opportunity for young entrepreneurs to access expert business mentorship from top Nigerian business leaders and a platform to win six-month business mentorship program under the business leaders. “The Mara Mentor  One-on-One  business pitch session has seen over 26 top business leaders in Abuja including: Dr. Mairo Mandara (Country Repres...

Zimbabwean startup Informstion Technology (IT) company Saisai was awarded the SWELL Innovation award at the just concluded DEMO Africa 2014 conference held in Lagos.  The prize for Saisai is an all-expense paid trip to Silicon Valley, USA as part of the SWELL Innovation Tour, which includes the exclusive participation in SWELL’s intensive soft landing programme in Silicon Valley. A t the Microsoft sponsored exhibition, Irofit and VOTO took the first and second runners up positions respectively. SWELL’s Founder Mike Chen, expressed his excitement to be holding the inaugural SWELL Innovation awards in Africa and partnering with DEMO Africa adding that the SWELL Awards in Africa will represent an important element of the Global Startup Engagement platform to accelerate disruption and invoke corporate participation. Executive Producer DEMO Africa, Harry Hare, commended participants for showing such great enthusiasm towards finding much needed solutions for Africa...

United States Secretary of state, Senator John Kerry has said that the 40 new start-ups who participated in the 2014 edition of the Microsoft sponsored Demo Africa exhibition were developing real world solutions worthy of real investment and global attention. This is coming as he stressed that both research and evidence support the case for Africa’s emergence into the global economic landscape. Senator Kerry who spoke through a recorded video message  at the 2014 edition of Demo Africa exhibition in Lagos recently said the US Department of State supports inspiring and challenging African innovators and entrepreneurs through various initiatives, including Demo Africa, observed that a great number f African countries are demonstrating real promise toward a market led economic system. “By promoting entrepreneurship, especially among students and young professionals – in other words, the next generation of innovators and inventors – and harnessing their energy and cre...