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International Greening Education Event 2011 – Submit Your Paper

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We usually do not post this type of event since it is not taking place in Africa. Yet, we like the theme and if you got your works, try to send your papers. This is a document we received in an email minus the personal information from the organizers.

 

A three-day International Greening Education Event will be held from 19th to 21st of October, 2011 in the green city of Karlsruhe, Germany. This event will take academia, education, environmental and sustainable development policy makers, senior members of academic institutions, representatives of government and non-governmental organisations and international development agencies, administrators and teachers, sustainable development practitioners and environmental management professionals through the need for greening education and then discuss effective initiatives that educational institutions need to take to make sustainability an integral part of teaching and learning.

 

The event provides an exclusive forum to examine how global warming, climate change and other environmental concerns are reshaping education globally, deliberate on the role of academia in making world cleaner, greener and more sustainable, discuss cutting-edge issues in greening education and share best practices from around the world in respect to education for sustainability.

 

Further to the knowledge sharing on greening education including topics such as ecologizing curriculum (incorporating sustainability), greening of courses and creating low carbon education institutions; the upcoming event also provides an excellent networking opportunity with academia, sustainable development practitioners and other stakeholders in Europe and beyond. An excursion (optional) on Saturday the 22nd of October, 2011 is planned which will also provide an additional and informal networking opportunity.

 

You are cordially invited to attend this international event and/ or nominate the member(s) of your institution.

 

For further information, please see the event details.

Click to access IGEE2011.pdf

Or contact via email: mail@etechgermany.com

ResultsSMS Brings Order in Health Management in Developing World – Patients and Providers Synced

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ResultsSMS is a Short Message Service (SMS)-based results delivery system that builds on existing electronic medical record systems to automatically send test results to patients (via SMS) as well as healthcare providers and researchers (via SMS or email) as they became available. The system includes features to allow for patient confidentiality through password protection and results compilation for healthcare providers and researchers. It is built in the platform of the popular OpenMRS which is an electronic medical record platform.

 

This was developed on the basis of  health crises in the developing world which the developers brilliantly captured:

 

Many medical test results in the developing world are never received by patients and not acted on by healthcare providers. This negatively impacts both patient care and research efforts that rely on effective data collection to draw meaningful conclusions. A system that could significantly increase the rate of test result delivery and follow-up could therefore improve both patient outcomes and the quality of research performed in developing countries.

 

 

Many medical test results in the developing world are never received by patients and not acted on by healthcare providers. This negatively impacts both patient care and research efforts that rely on effective data collection to draw meaningful conclusions. A system that could significantly increase the rate of test result delivery and follow-up could therefore improve both patient outcomes and the quality of research performed in developing countries. This is what ResultSMS  hopes to achieve.


How to Penetrate African Markets – Partnership And Freemium Models Make Sense

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Many western companies design their business models based on high profit margins. It pays very well to be differentiated and pursue vertical markets. Horizontal markets are commoditized and a strategy to dominate within it is not always seen as a smart move by analysts. Increasingly firms try to innovate and differentiate in order to carve a niche where they can make hefty margins.

That is very good if your business is domiciled in the saturated Western Europe and U.S markets. There is growth inertia in these two markets with their ultra-competitions and intense regulations. Especially in the Pharmaceutical industry, there seems to be no way to expect growth in these matured economies.

 

So what do you do? You have to expand out of Europe and U.S to Africa, Latin America and Asia. They are the future. They have the population with enormous growth potentials. Despite the downturn in the global economy, they remain promising, especially Asia and Latin America (in this case, Brazil).

 

Having worked in Lagos (Nigeria) as a banker and traveled to many Africa nations, the high margin structure will not always work in Africa, especially in pharmaceutical industry. Many are still very poor; yet, they have the same needs as those in the developed world. From entertainment to drugs, they want to enjoy the western products. They want the new cars for their bad roads; they want the best drugs to manage diabetes; the new video games to relax; and so on. Any sense of high cost, people will abandon the product. It is very common to see people die slowly because they cannot afford drugs for treatable diseases.

 

Arguably, these drugs and cars are available in many parts of Africa. But the problem is that only few can afford them. With no insurance scheme to finance healthcare delivery, patients must pay themselves. What worked in Boston will not work in Botswana because the patient in Boston is being helped by the insurance firm while the one in southern Africa must pay cash. That is the major difference in marketing drugs between U.S and Africa.

 

Another example is in the telecommunication industry. Cellular handsets are very expensive in Africa when compared to the U.S. Understandably, a simple reason is lack of competition since not many firms have gotten into the markets. Another is the obvious fact that none of those gadgets are made in Africa. So, there are associated transportation and handling costs in selling them in Africa.

 

Nonetheless, the truth is that by not using price based model, many MNCs are undermining their potentials in developing, emerging or transitional economies like Africa and Asia. You have to offer what the customers can afford and do away with the cost based strategy. In the U.S, you can ask for any price; in Africa, you need sales volume and lower price makes it happen.

For Pharma industry, they have to rethink their strategies. It is time they cut down the prices of their drugs. Drug prices are patient problems, unlike in U.S where it is the insurance firms’ (for those that have, anyway). Many more people can give you sales volume and you will make more profits than sticking to your present pricing model and serving only less than 5% of the African market.

 

If you focus on pushing volume at good prices, more customers will come in. That alone will help you stay profitable. And they will be better off themselves by using your great products. Drugs, video games, etc must not be overly expensive in Asia and Africa compared to U.S and Western Europe.

 

Change your model and you will be happier doing business in Africa. Cut the prices and use sales volume to help people and improve your bottom line. It could be that simple.

Pandora Media Goes Wall Street – But Google Music, Apple and Microsoft Coming To Spoil The Party

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Pandora radio is the personalized internet radio service that helps you find new music based on your old and current favorites. This is what they have in their about page:

 

With Pandora you can explore this vast trove of music to your heart’s content. Just drop the name of one of your favorite songs, artists or genres into Pandora and let the Music Genome Project go. It will quickly scan its entire world of analyzed music, almost a century of popular recordings – new and old, well known and completely obscure – to find songs with interesting musical similarities to your choice. Then sit back and enjoy as it creates a listening experience full of current and soon-to-be favorite songs for you.

 

This company has followed the path of Linkedin and got listed in the US stock market. The online music service priced its initial public offer  above $16. Tekedia has maintained that while Linkedin is a good buy, Pandora could be over priced because of the competition from Apple, Google and Microsoft that will offer similar services in the near future. The Google Music could cripple this small company.

 

Recall that when Linkedin was $90+, Tekedia gave it a share value of $50. It is around $65 now and we think it will still go down. Our six months target price of Pandora is $8. It is around $13.40 now.

 

 

Apple Settles with Nokia On Patent Infringement in iPhone

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Apple has settled a patent dispute with Nokia. Nokia had demanded royalties for the use of its technologies and intellectual properties in the iPhone. Apple will pay Nokia one off fee to Nokia and henceforth royalties.  The two companies are also embarking on patent-licensing agreement that will solve all pending patent quarrels between them. This will include the countersuits that Apple brought againt Nokia.

 

Meanwhile, HP continues to challenge Oracle to honor its part in a deal to make software for Intel microprocessor for its server business. HP has maintained that Oracle entered into the agreement and must honor it because HP has already lined up customers for the servers.

 

Recently HP and Oracle have escalated legal tussles after HP fired Mr. Mark Hurd and Oracle hired him as a senior executive. Many analysts believe that Oracle reluctance to develop software for this server business of HP is to weaken HP market position. The legal problems continue even as HP continues to lose market capitalization.