G|Days Uganda 2013

This Year, Google communities in Uganda Organised the first every biggest Community event, organized by Community Volunteers and supported by Google. By now i know what you are thinking, well.. I was thinking the same thing "How is this different from g|Uganda events that happened the previous years??" Huh!

Well here is your answer...In my opinion Google believes by now we have grown to a level where we can be able to empower our communities, by ourselves. Which is why GDGs(Google Developer Groups) GBG(Google Business Groups) and GSAs(Google Student Ambassadors ) teamed up this year and pulled off a one Day Gdays Uganda Event that happened at  The Hub Oasis Nakumatt Mall in Kampala, on the 22nd Nov, with a total turn up of 297 people.

This Event was focused at "Bridging the Gap between the Developers and Business world". Taking you to the gist of this event and how far i think our local communities have grown with the help of Google, here are some stats 30% of the Speakers were Googlers(From Google) and the remaining 70% were local speakers. We had 2 different Tracks that is, the Business and Developer Tracks, and not to my surprise 100% of the Speakers in the Developer side were local speakers, i think we deserve a round for that. Well enough of the numbers, lets get some highlights.

The day was kicked of by +Simon Kaheru who gave a keynote around developer-business relationship and how this can be related to marriage in terms of looking for the right partners for a team, growing your relationship and celebrating your success to mention but a few. This opened up the floor for other speakers like +Nicholas Kamanzi talking about what Google communities have to offer, +Nsubuga Hassan talking about Google Maps Api, +Abdu Hanan Ssekalala who talked about Using Google Apps Script in Education, +Terry Karungi from Kola Studio talked about using Google Apps for Business which was a practical session, +Okalany Daniel demonstrated how to Build Audience engagement using YouTube APIs and +Jasper Onono with Monetizing your Android Apps.

From the Google Side, our very own +Elijah Kitaka engaged the Business people in a 2 hour practical Session on Lean Startup 101, and so far according to feedback this was the most exciting session, well... its Elijah, what do you expect? The other Googler of the day was +Jeremiah Kamau who flew in just for this awesome day to give a Google Maps Workshop. The Day ended on a high note as +Kai Wulff the Access Field Director Google talked about Project Link. Kai highlighted what Project Link is all about and being a high speed internet Junkie, i just can't wait to be connected.

To wrap it up, I believe we did a great Job with this event, there were some few flaws but we are taking baby steps, we got the right tools, both on the business and developer side and all we have to do is work with these tools and see ourselves benefiting from both ends.

I will end by thanking the people behind the curtains who made sure this event goes as planned +Emily Karungi , +Richard Zulu , +Joyce Tonda, +Nsubuga Hassan and +Nicholas Kamanzi for the work well done. I will also thank The GSAs who Volunteered in organizing this event i thank you so much. The biggest round will go to Google without which we couldn't pull this off. +Chukwuemeka Afigbo , +Marie PATRIARCHE, +Elijah Kitaka and everyone at Google behind G|dayx, we are truly grateful for you belief in our communities.

Please take a look at some of the event Photos.

I will end this by a quote from Sergey Brin:

 "It's Clear there is a lot of room for Improvement, there is no inherent ceiling we're hitting up on."

Thank you.

DevFest Busitema 2013

Friday 20th September started with a rather slow note as the decorators were finalising with their work,

we were all trying to do final touches before 8:00am in the Morning.

Everything seemed really set but the participants were no where to be seen, things were getting complicated for the organisers and the ushers but we had faith. One by One the people begun to pull in and we were ready to roll.

+Nicholas Kamanzi  the organiser kicked off with the keynote and the first session which was an Android CodeLab, it was to take people through different design principles. We then followed this with different brain teasers and tongue twisters to keep our audience engaged.

+Nsubuga Hassan  our Guest Speaker took the stage and talked to us about the ongoing Google Cloud Developer Challenge. He also took us through an intro of the App Engine to quick start our developers to the cloud computing challenge. There was a question and answer session thereafter which was followed by break tea and snacks.

After break Tea, +Emily Karungi from GDG Makerere took us through another exciting session about Women in Tech, giving us reasons why there are very few women involved in Tech and how we can beat the  gap. She encouraged ladies at GDG Busitema, not to be bullied by guys who throw the typing course works to them so that they boys focus on the code but to also get involved and do actual coding.

After Emily's talk we headed out for a nice lunch that was served to more than 100 developers who attended our Devfest. there was alot of networking going on over lunch but we had to go in for what was the most exciting part of the evening.

We kicked off by getting a small talk from +Ssesanga Dennis Ernest who has been an intern at Google Local office in Kampala talking to us about to stand out as a student doing whatever course you are doing and how to become a Google Student Ambassador. He also talked about his experience as a Google Intern which inspired alot of students in Busitema.

Our Final pitch of the evening was delivered by +Elijah Kitaka a Googler from our Local office who is in charge of Google Business Groups across Africa. He talked to us about "How he would Build a Successful Start-up . He started by defining a Start-up as a temporary organisation used to search for a scalable business model. He went on to explain the 4 things Needed to improve on a Start-up. These were:

1. Need a good problem
2. Structured Methodology 
3. Access to Talent(People with Skill)
4. Enough Runway.

He took us through what he believes are the most important  steps for a start-up  and he tended to a lot of questions from the soon to be start up founders. 

We later had some evening Tea and a snack as some of the developers were showcasing their app to the guests.

We are very grateful to the team at GDG Busitema that was working in the background to see everything moving according to plan. We appreciate the efforts of +Atukunda Edgar the Co- Organizer of +GDG Busitema. We are forever in debt to the local Google office for the Swagg they sent us on a short notice. We thank +Evolution events for the decorations of our Venue.

We also appreciate our Guest Speaker who travelled from their home towns to come to the forest in Busitema just for this DevFest. +Emily Karungi , +Nsubuga Hassan and +Elijah Kitaka we appreciate the love.

To the sponsors and mentors of our DevFest +Google Developer Groups , +Chukwuemeka Afigbo , +Uttam Tripathi , +Adriana Cerundolo and +Van Riper we thank you so much and we are glad to have been part of this exciting DevFest Season and our DevFest would not have succeeded without you.   

GDG Busitema at the Orange Community Innovation Awards.

Over the last few month, some of the developers from GDG Busitema have been participating in the Orange community Innovation Awards. The Awards are aimed at getting Applications which solve some of the problems that are faced in the Agriculture, Health and Education Sectors in Uganda.

This year, 4 application were presented by developers from GDG Busitema and all of them made it to the final round. We also would like to congraturate Lunda Lite an Android App which won the Bronze title and 2.5 Million Uganda Shillings.

The finalist presented their apps to a great audience of people which also included the Prime Minister of Uganda. 

Carrer Guidance team Presenting to the Uganda Premier.

Below is a brief description of the Apps and some of the pictorial.1.       +CareerGThis is a mobile application that aims at providing career guidance to students who are high school and universities.It has six modules major modules that accomplish the task as far as career guidance is concerned. They include;

• Career Guidance:

This gives guidance to O’level, A’ level and university students through guiding them on professions and courses to be offered so that they can attain certain profession. This involves success quotes and education tips that help to motivates students as they are reading.Calculate weightsHelps students calculate university entry weights and lists the possible courses that can be offered with those weights.

2.       Luunda Lite Version·

        This is an agriculture mobile application that solves the problem of poultry farmers in Uganda and abroad.·         It provides custom and general diagnosis of chicken to determine the disease the chicken is suffering from.·         It also shows the location of feed stores, markets and drug stores using Google Maps.·         It also has a chat server where farmers can share information, comment and exchange ideas.

3.       UgFirstAid·      

   Provides first aid tips for the most common accidents and information of these accidents.  It also gives the tips on first aid.

4.       Noisy Gates·         This application reads noise levels and sends them to the concerned organization to regulate the noise.·         It also shows the location on the maps using the Google maps the location of the noisy place using geocoding.

Congrats to the Bronze Winners.

GDG Busitema Journey so far.

GDG Busitema was incubated on the 19th of February 2013, and it's based in Busitema University in Uganda. The core developers of this GDG are computer Engineering Students.
One of the reasons this GDG was formed was to motivate more students to develop using Google Technologies like Android,  Chrome, and tools like App Engine and other. Most developers liked to develop for Mobile and the web. So as Organisers we arranged a few code labs for Android.
We have worked closely with the developers and when an opportunity of the Africa Android Challenge came up,  7 Android Apps were submitted for the challenge from GDG Busitema. I think we deserve around of applause for that.
We have also done some serious collaborations with GDGs around us,  with GDG Mbale we attended the DevFestW and the #aac Barcamp. We are grateful to the team in Mbale lead by +Nsubuga Hassan for the support. We are also working on something with GDG Makerere you will here about it soon.
We have had some other events like a  Mapping Conference and the recent #io13 extended event that was done through the night and was a great experience.
We have had a few challenges as organiser and a group but we are grateful to the Google Team in Uganda and Africa who closely work with us.
Special thanks to +Van Riper , +Adriana , +Daniel Franc and +Max Bonbhel  for the great work for our GDGs.

GDG Busitema 3 months a growing stronger 
Nicholas Kamanzi
GDG Organiser

Google I/O Extended Busitema

Google I/O is an event every year that happens in San Francisco where Google unveils improvements and new technologies. For those who are not able to be in San Francisco, viewing parties across the world and this year for the first time GDGs Busitema hosted developers to its viewing party which last a good 10hours.
We started on 16th at 6:00 pm and ended it on 17th at 4:00am.
Developers were intrigued by the talks about Android and from the reviews we got most people liked Geo fencing,  Android talks and glass.
Snacks and soda  kept the developers going through the night and coffee was also served when the night became so cold.  We had our form of after hour by sharing cake and having breakfast together.
We thank Google for making all this happen   

Africa Android Challenge Experience.

The Africa Android Challenge is a challenge which is aimed at getting the best Android developer from the African continent.
In my country Uganda we celebrated this challenge like the rest of Africa by doing Barcamps for Developer to get a winner.
There was a mini Barcamp in Mbale at Maisha Africa Hotel.
We had a Demo of all the apps from the eastern part of Uganda which was  successful.
Alcatel who are one   the sponsors of this challenge provided test devices to both GDG Busitema and GDG Mbale. This was a big step to building test centers for the GDGs in Africa. This event took on the 27th April 2013.

On the 10th of May there was a main event for Uganda at Outbox Hub in Kampala which was aimed at getting a winner from Uganda and BodaPay emerged winner. We had some talks from the various developer about what was cool about their apps.
We also had a best practices talk on Android development. The winner walked away with an Evo7 HD  Tablet From Alcatel and the 2nd  walked away with an Alcatel phone.

Am personally truly grateful to Google, Alcatel OneTouch and other sponsors for sponsoring the Africa Android Challenge. It was really a great experience for me.

To the Organizing team lead by +Max Bonbhel it has been an honour working with you,  I believe we are going to get the best app from Africa.

Till the #aac next year,
Nicholas Kamanzi
GDG Busitema