Student leaders have in the past been accused of corruption, hooliganism, violence and puppets of the administration and national political leaders. But one student leader has promised to change that. Zack Kinuthia, the incoming chairman of the Students Organization of Nairobi University is determined to transform the image of the biggest and probably the most infamous student organization in the country.

The 3^rd year Economics and Political Science major is confident that he is up to the task thanks to his beliefs anchored in his Christian faith. The new chairman is probably the first ever ‘born-again’ Christian to hold the post at UoN.

Zack, who is also an usher at Main Campus Christian union fellowship, believes that his entry in politics is God-ordained and that he is there to fulfill God’s purpose in politics and governance.

The fact that he emerged the winner in the recent highly competitive and controversial student elections says a lot of Zack. The elections are usually marred by bribery allegations, intimidation and under-hand tactics.

Zack carried the day by employing a convincing publicity campaign, meeting students in churches and one-on-one campaign. But he maintains he was elected simply because it was God who anointed him by clearing all the hurdles.

“God’s will prevail at the end of the day and as you know as the good book says ‘when God is on your side who can be against you?’ Students also believed in my potential to end mediocre in students’ leadership,” says Zack.

Born and bred in Muranga county, Zack is no first timer in the world of politics. He was the Chairman of Faculty of Arts in his first year and also vied unsuccessfully for SONU chair in his 2^nd year,

On top of his agenda is to clean the image of Sonu that is now tainted with allegations of corruption and violent strikes. Many drivers have suffered the rage of students when they go on the rampage smashing windows along museum hill and Uhuru highway, sometimes on flimsy grounds.

Zack hopes to team up with philanthropy organizations to help the neediest students by providing them with scholarships and sponsorships while ensuring that the drug abuse menace in the university is solved.

“Drug abuse is very real in our universities today and I won’t just sit down and watch dreams of our youths go down the drain. I will join hands with NACADA and other similar organizations to create awareness and break the drug-abuse cycle.”

But knowing how ‘dirty’ politics can be in student politics, one wonders how a staunch Christian navigated through the murky waters of bribery, corruption, intimidation and mudslinging that is the mark of both national and local politics.

Love is in the hair not the air as many people claim. A woman’s hair is at the very core of her femininity. Imagine a lady looking like Jim Cramer? creepy. I remember culture week 2011 at KU. Students had gathered at the KU Bishop Square to witness the likes of Eric Omondi doing their thing. All of sudden, rain came down like a tornado and all the tents were carried away by strong winds. By the time I had reached the nearest shelter, I was soaked and so was everyone else

Hell hath no fury like a woman rained on. A certain girl came towards the building that I was sheltering under. She was all wet, cursing and crying. By wet I mean wet not ‘wet’. Except for her hair which had been completely messed by the rain, she was super-hot. Drops of rain water trickled down her fine supple golden brown skin and I felt touched. I felt like the Holy Spirit was within me and the more I stared at her, the more the raindrops seemed to trickle down her skin in slow motion. Funny enough a guy with an umbrella had walked past her, minding his own business. It seems the last gentleman died in a movie. It’s amazing how people let opportunities go.

I convinced my friend David who was also sheltering on the building’s veranda to offer her his jacket since mine was soaked up. He did so, though unwillingly and by that, I managed to get an opportunity to talk to the lady. She was so hot that I almost considered cheating. She told me she was crying because she had just been at the salon the previous day and now her hair had been messed up. She didn’t have any money to redo her hair. She didn’t have a boyfriend or reliable friend who could help her either.

As soon as the rain stopped I asked her for her number and promised to help her out the next day. Her name was Sandra.  Since I lived outside school and she stayed at Nyayo Hostels, I bid her farewell. I wasn’t willing to walk all over the campus with wet clothes. David offered to escort her to her hostel since he was also heading to Nyayo. I shouldn’t have let her out of my sight. It was a mistake, because when I tried calling her the next day, she never picked.

The next time I saw Sandra was on Friday night. I was in the company of my girlfriend. Friday nights of every culture week are usually the most hyped. I didn’t like what I saw.  A man gets jealous sometimes. She and David were holding each other tight, squeezing each other and cuddling. The same friend I had trusted to innocently offer her a jacket and escort her to her hostel. He was also busy rumpling her hair. Her hair looked fabulous and well plaited compared to the way it was a few days earlier. LOVE WAS IN THE HAIR between those two.

I kept staring in disbelief and rage. I was lost in another world until my girlfriend shoved me. She was angry after realizing who I had been looking at. I apologized but still went ahead to holla at the two. I pulled David out of his comfort zone in order to talk to him privately. The girl was surprised to see me but I acted normal. I was no longer angry. I understood. I just wanted to understand how the magic happened.

David claimed that he believed he wouldn’t offend me by hitting on the girl since I already had a girlfriend. His claim made sense.  It turned out he had taken her to an expensive salon the day after she had been rained on and even paid for her manicure and pedicure. As a result, he had hit it like a hammer on a nail that same night. I was amazed. I told David that he qualifies to be a character in a movie and one of my future novels. We were cool, fist bump and all.

The problem is Sandra was later signed up by a modeling company which wanted their models to shave their hair completely like the all-time famous Sudanese supermodel Ajuma. David dumped her. He said everything that has a beginning must come to an end and hairless isn’t his style. And it’s sad that it had to end that way. Truly, love is in the hair- maybe. It’s debatable.

19 year old student Aftab Aslam

There are many ways to handle failing exam. In Kenya, we just repeat a class or at worst, commit suicide. But one student in the US who got an F in English couldn’t face his parents with another ‘fail’ report.

According to Time.com, quoting John Creek Patch, Aftab Aslam faked his own kidnapping. Police say the 19 year old student at Gwinnett College. Aftab bought a cheap mobile phone and texted his parents pretending to be kidnappers. The message informed the Aftab’s parents that their son has been kidnapped and that they should not contact the police or else they would not see Aftab alive.

This is the point the saga went downhill, fast. The parents reported the ‘kidnapping’ to the local police who roped in turn roped in the FBI, who launched an extensive investigation.

Meanwhile, Aftab was hiding in some field near their house. Cold and hungry. The FBI found the cheap handset and traced Aftab as the buyer. Seeing that it was obvious that it wasn’t a kidnap case, the FBI pulled out and left the local police to handle it.

After eight days, bad weather forced Aftab to go home but stuck to his story that he had been drugged and kidnapped by a gang. But he caved after cross-examination, he confessed to faking his own kidnapping.

Though he was expecting sympathy from his parents, the police would hear nothing of his silly explanations. They have charged Aftab with obstruction of justice, falsely reporting a crime, making false statements, tampering with evidence and making terroristic threats. According to Time.com, he has been released on a  $9,000 bail

A tuba, for the less informed or refined people out there, is a musical instrument that resembles a big saxophone. You would ask, “who would want to play such an instrument?” But one Catholic University of Eastern of Africa (CUEA) student has gone places as a result of his skills. Shelmith Maureen tells us about Paul.

He is known as Paul Asiyo commonly but his true identity is Paul Sitnam Asiyo. He is just 20 years and currently a criminology student at CUEA. His course choice is interesting considering his musical talents. He started his music love affair not long ago while still in high school, Nairobi School. He specialized in playing the tuba.

After high school, he became a member of the National Youth Orchestra and also  dedicated considerable time in community work as well as teaching music during his free time.
Despite his tight schedule, there is something noticeable about Paul. He is a charmer for sure, but deeply in love with his girlfriend. But what caught my attention is his deep love for his family especially his old folks. He once told me in a conversation jokingly, that he bought a radio for his granny Just as a gift, (those are his awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwh moments!)

Paul still claims that he owes everything to God and his loving support from family and friends. He also added that he is still not there yet. He looks up to a lady known as Jennie Moore (I guess a renowned tuba player as well).

However, he is a typical guy and an ardent fan of Liverpool FC and Japanese animation character anime and manga.

He ended by this quote: “God does not give you people you want but people you need, those who love you, hate you, despise you, those who support you too and others who look down upon you. So that by the end of the day these people will really make you the true person you are destined to be.

The tournament has received massive backing after East Africa Pay TV provider; Zuku injected KSh50 Million to run the league countrywide that includes coach and referee clinics and a basketball magazine show ‘Baqe’ airing on Zuku Sports. The sponsorship is further evidence of Zuku’s commitment to supporting and nurturing local talent. As a homegrown East African brand, Zuku is perfectly positioned to provide a platform that supports local sport in the region.

Zuku CEO Richard Bell said a basketball tournament is an ideal platform to engage the youth right from university in a bid to nature their talent; “The youth are very energetic and require an engaging forum to grow their talents even as they compete and enjoy themselves.”

The launch event also featured a game pitting journalists and celebrities against each other, providing good action and entertainment in addition to starring performances from local artists and dance group.

In addition, Samsung Electronics will support the league through a $100,000 sponsorship in the tournament that will bring together over 33 universities countrywide.

Samsung Electronics East Africa Chief Operating Officer Mr. Ngeru said, “We, at Samsung, are very passionate about supporting young sporting talent in the country. Through Kenya University Basketball league, we are delighted to be able to provide young promising basket ballers’ a chance to hone their inherent capabilities”.

“Basketball has a wide audience among youth, and we hope that our partnership with Zuku will inspire the players to give their best performance and reach accomplishments, aiming to create a new generation of professional players.” He added.

The day’s highlight was the game between Masinde Muliro University (MMUST) and USIU Tigers that marked the beginning of the 2012/13 season; set to take place for a period of 6-7 months. Other university male and female basketball teams played through the evening in the league that will run across the Nairobi, Western, Coast and Central regions.

Bell said that the university league has a lot of untapped potential and will be a force to be reckoned with, as it progresses.

Audiences across Africa will be able to catch the action on Zuku Sports, Channel 301 and Zuku Sports HD.

Zuku Sports has been entrenching into various sports territory in the pay-tv sector. Recently, Zuku launched a football show dubbed ‘Ingwe TV’ designed to inform and entertain AFC Leopard fans across the country.

Results

USIU FLAMES 28/84    VS     UON DYNAMITES 20/30

12/16/29/27                 09/11/06/04

22 pts Hilda Indasi         09 pts Marsha Owiti

13 pts Emma Nyakweba

 JKUAT   39/74       VS       MASENO 19/59

17/22/17/18                  10/09/17/23

16 pts Guyton Kijuba         17 pts  Basil Ogembo

13 pts Richard Adega

 DJS 20          VS          MEDIA STARS 21

USIU TIGERS 29/81   VS       MASINDE MULIRU 23/54

16/13/22/30                  10/13/13/18

18 pts  Jamal Mustafa        33 pts  Alex Lugasi

12 pts Dennis Shamala

According to a 2012 survey by small business online community Manta, small businesses have caught the bug: 90% of owners are now networking online, with 74% believing it to be equal to or greater than in-person networking.

The infographic below will look at the marketing wizards behind the curtain of this virtual world, possible pathways toward a career in social media marketing, and what the real-world outlook may be for these virtual marketers.

While the channels for promoting a company’s products may have changed—from a print-based environment to one that is becoming increasingly digital-based—the fundamentals of a marketing and public relations position have not.

Courtesy of: Schools.com

Students have been invited to participate in a global challenge aimed at coming up with an innovative solution to improve data collection and management in the dairy sector. Scientists Without Borders and The Sackler Institute for Nutrition Science in collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are offering $7,500 to the winning student.

Scientists Without Borders recently outlined the challenges associated with smallholder dairy production in low-resource settings at the G-8 International Conference Open Data for Agriculture.

While the milk from these farms provides an important source of essential nutrients, only limited and fragmented data is available to the milk producers, researchers, and policymakers about the inputs farmers use, the breed and health of the animals, the quantity and quality of the milk produced, and the details, methods, and conditions under which the milk is consumed, transported, and sold.

The sponsoring partners are addressing this critical gap in data collection and sharing by holding this challenge to harness the creative insights of student solvers from around the world to help bridge the disciplinary silos between the fields of human nutrition science, animal science, and veterinary science.

Specifically, this challenge seeks bold, innovative, feasible, and scalable ideas to leapfrog existing approaches and significantly improve the collection, reporting, aggregation, and sharing of data associated with dairy production and consumption all along the smallholder dairy production value chain in, but not limited to, Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

The challenge will run for 60 days, concluding on July 11, 2013.  Student solvers (from the middle school to post-doctoral level) are invited to submit their ideas via the Scientists Without Borders website (www.scientistswithoutborders.org). An independent panel of leading experts will be convened by Scientists Without Borders to select the challenge winners.

American teenagers are sharing more information about themselves on social media sites, but taking steps to protect their privacy online, a study showed Tuesday.

The new survey showed 91 percent of those surveyed posted a photo of themselves, up from 79 percent in 2006; 71 percent post the city or town where they live; and 53 percent posted their email address.

But the survey of youth aged 12 to 17 also found 60 percent of Facebook users set their profiles to “private,” which limits who can view their data.

And 56 percent said it was “not difficult at all” to manage the privacy controls on their Facebook profile, according to the survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project in collaboration with Harvard’s Berkman Center.

A relatively small percentage expressed concern about third-party access to their data: just nine percent were “very concerned.”

The researchers said focus group discussions with teens showed “waning enthusiasm for Facebook.”

“They dislike the increasing number of adults on the site, get annoyed when their Facebook friends share inane details, and are drained by the ‘drama’ that they described as happening frequently on the site,” the report said.

“The stress of needing to manage their reputation on Facebook also contributes to the lack of enthusiasm. Nevertheless, the site is still where a large amount of socializing takes place, and teens feel they need to stay on Facebook in order to not miss out.”

At the same time, teens are becoming more interested in Twitter: the study found 24 percent of online teens use Twitter, up from 16 percent in 2011.

The typical teen Facebook user has 300 friends, compared with 79 followers for those using Twitter.

Girls and older teens tend to have substantially larger Facebook friend networks compared with boys and younger teens, it found.

Source: AFP

It is approximated that the vibrant community micro-saving groups have collectively saved up over a billion shillings through the merry-go-round system. Obviously, without proper systems, financial management and accountability is a challenge. But one student has identified the gap and has come up with a software that manages chama money and contributions.

Barry Songa, a University of Nairobi Electrical Engineering student, has created Aynek Chama Software. The software enables you to organize chama records and perform basic accounting on the financial transactions.

“When you look at the structure of our micro-investing groups or chama, as we call them here in Kenya, you realize that a lot of them lack the necessary managerial expertise to handle the funds and operations,” says Songa.

Songa explains that although chama activities basically operate by collecting money from members and investing in land, property or other ventures, they operate more on trust rather than reliable systems hence the need for a reliable system. “We are going digital after all,” he chides with a laugh.

The budding software developer was spurred to develop the system after a member of his family had a bad experience with a chama she was in when funds were mismanaged leading to a collapse of the group.

Songa teamed up with another software enthusiast Eric Omollo, a KCA University Information Systems graduate, to form Aynek Info-Systems Ltd. The two conceptualized the idea into the now fully function software after extensive research on chama operations. They are targeting women groups, youth groups and other micro investment groups.

He says that Aynek Chama (premium edition) software can only manage one group at a time but is quick to point out that they are in the final stages of developing Aynek Chama (enterprise edition) software, that would be used by organizations to manage multiple groups.

“The premium edition software has been broken down into different components and modules in order to achieve a simple design and also to increase its functionality,” explains Songa

He enumerates the module and their functions as; – User manager, Contribution Manager,   Loans Manager, Asset & Expense Manager and Accounting component and reporting which performs basic accounting on all financial transactions. This is done to ensure that all cash transactions are tracked and accounted for at any given time. This module also generates statements and saves them. These statements/reports entail financial report, members list, contributions and cash flow among others.

“The good thing about our software is that it is installed on a personal computer enhancing privacy and data security,” assure Songa.

The software can be downloaded on Aynek store (www.aynek.co.ke ) at a fee of Shs 7,000 though they are in talks with multiple organizations to have the price pushed down to Shs 4,500.

“We invested more than Shs 470,000 from the company resources so we have to charge a little to at least achieve break even point.”

He explains that the cost could run up to 1.3 million if other add-on costs are factored in.

According to Mr. Songa, they didn’t have any sponsors and hope to make money by selling the software licenses.

Once is a while you stumble on gems of wisdom like this article originally published on elitedaily.com. If you are in your 20′s, you definitely need to read this and act on it.  Your 20s are undoubtedly the most pivotal time in your life. While there are plenty of  temptations and distractions, the decisions you make will definitely shape your future, as the weak fall and only the strong survive.

Do you have what it takes to become a monumental success? Or will you live out a life of mediocrity? Its up to you. While many think they have all the answers and the keys to success, we have seen too many times before those people make the same pitfalls.
This is the time for you to hustle, scrap and fight for the life that you want for yourself. You manifest your own destiny during these crucial years.
Every move you make is a test. Don’t F it up.
These are the 20 Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make in Your 20s;

20) Working for money, not building your career/dreams
Never do anything just because it’s convenient for you. Look for a challenge and build your own dream instead of building someone else’s. Even if it doesn’t exactly make sense now, create something with great value so you can cash out big. Always look to the future and never for immediate compensation. What are you going to do with those weekly wages anyways? Stop being so entitled and pretending like you deserve cash, prizes and vacations just yet. You will soon realize once you’ve made it making money doesn’t make you happy. It’s the journey.
19) Thinking that this is the right time to fall in love
While all of your friends might be doing it and even getting married, don’t fall into the trap of getting into a relationship if you are not ready. Sure it seems like the right thing to do, but your 20s should be reserved for your personal growth and chasing your dreams before you can focus on fulfilling the wishes of another individual. Not only does it make you complacent with where you are in life, but it makes your boring. When your business is at stake and your future is resting on your shoulders, the last thing you need is to be bogged down by an insecure lover rushing you home. Although Mama may be asking the same old question “when” or even setting you up with “good” partners, get out there, meet new people, make friends, test the limits and have fun. It will take you to the places you haven’t dreamed of going.

18) Trying to act like a man/woman rather than learning how to become one
Instead of going overboard on the Gucci monogram and bottles in the club, as if you just signed to the rock-n-roll hall of fame, spend the time focusing on your career. Every second counts and if more time is spent pretending to be the person you want to be instead of becoming that man, then you’ll sink in quick sand without even knowing it. A real man/woman is willing to make sacrifices. If you aren’t down to put in the work, then please don’t act like you are. You can enjoy the success when you actually attain it.

17) Making friends instead of earning trust
The in-crowd may be tempting, but you’ll probably fall victim to surrounding yourself with social climbers and bottle whores. We know you feel entitled to celebrate, but please relax. It’s never attractive when you act as though this is the last time you’ll ever see this in life. Make connections with people based on trial and error, not presuppositions and drunk ranting about what they can do for your business. If you ever want people to take you seriously, then you have to take them seriously. Just because you think you trust someone doesn’t always mean you can. Heed any red flags in the past before jumping into any kind of venture with them.

16) Not caring because…YOLO
We all are guilty of irrational decision-making in our 20s. Fast people and fan times with money in your pocket always lead to over-extending yourself. A life of partying, heavy drugs and pretty much having that YOLO attitude will leave you flat on your ass. Get focused and lock into what you’re supposed to be doing. If you don’t know what that is, then you better figure it out ASAP.
15) Making all you want, needs
Expensive women and cheap thrills coupled with the expensive sneakers should not be on the list of your needs. Setting the foundation for your business and career is far more important than updating your wardrobe and chasing take-aways for sex. Distinguish between what you want and what you actually need. Make sure your priorities are intact or you will lose your track.