Firebase – A big deal! - A Blog post compiled by Harris Mwashalo

On Wednesday, 19^th March 2014, a group of Mombasa Tech Community members met with Mr. Connor Leech to have a discussion on the latest developments regarding the ever evolving Web Applications. We started off by recapping the well-known programming languages used by today’s web developers. These being HTML, JavaScript, CSS for the front-end (Client-side languages) and PHP, Python and Node.js for the back-end (Server-side Languages).

Africa Android Challenge #aac2014 is a competition that allows us to groom the next generation of successful developers and Android experts on the African continent. These developers will create innovative Android applications with a focus on #design.

Ahead of the international women’s day, I would like to make a commendation to all the women. Let me start by quoting

“In politics if you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman.” (Margaret Thatcher)  and “As a woman I have no country. As a woman my country is the whole world.” (Virginia Woolf).

​On 8th February 2014, The Mombasa Tech Community hosted a UI/UX Workshop at JKUAT CBD. The turn-out was quite impressive with a total of over 60 attendees. Musa Alfan handled registration and the event kicked off at 9.00am. The guest speakers were Mr. Olivier Vernin and Mr. Zaheer Mamujee; both IT professionals with over 10 years’ experience. They started by talking about their life experiences, how they ended up being in the IT field and their job experiences. Such interesting, capturing and motivating stories they both told!

Great things have happened in Mombasa. But, there is still more to come.

I would like to formally announce my move back to Mombasa. It is without a doubt that Mombasa to me is a dear place, I grew up in Mombasa. However, it is up to poeple like us to disrupt and bring changes to our communities and impact our lives and create empowered communities able to access opportunities and grow their networks and make best use of their talents. My major focus shall be bringing to life the technology sector in not only Mombasa, but the greater coast. I envision greater things to come through collaboration, partnerships, dedication, and last but not least, my own presence to make the change happened.

- Ahmed Maawy

Mombasa Tech Community also took part in the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Regional Meeting. Our community Leads, Alifiyah Ganijee and Said Fuad were present for the meeting. A huge part of this blog post explains their observations during the meeting, great things lying ahead for Mombasa Tech Community

The Open Government Partnership Africa Regional Meeting is currently underway at the Serena Beach Hotel, Mombasa, with representatives from 16 countries in attendance. This is the first OGP Africa Regional Meeting that has attracted a wide variety of Participants and Speakers who include OGP participating governments, Civil society activists, Academia, Multilateral institutions and other interested actors and the Media.