HISTORY AS KENYAN FIRST LADY HER EXCELLENCY, MARGARET KENYATTA TO ADDRESS AFRICAN CONFERENCE

HISTORY AS KENYAN FIRST LADY HER EXCELLENCY, MARGARET KENYATTA TO ADDRESS AFRICAN CONFERENCE

By Ednah Kiarie

To promote digital accessibility in Africa,

inABLE.org hosted the virtual Inclusive Africa

Conference 2020 on Thursday 08th and Friday

09th at 11:30 am East Africa Time .

And the most Respectable and Great Popular

Personality Globally Her Excellency, Margaret

Kenyatta, The First Lady of the Republic of

Kenya will deliver the keynote address at the

historic online live stream African conference .

According to The Kenyan First Lady: “This

timely event shall illuminate inclusive ways to

make digital services and products accessible

for all people, especially persons with

disabilities.”

Speakers to address the African forum ; Haben

Girma, renown Disability Rights Lawyer, Author,

and Speaker; Rama Gheerawo, Director, The

Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, Royal College

of Art; Ida Jullow, Program Coordinator, ITU

Regional Office for Africa; Christopher Patnoe,

Lead Program Manager, Accessibility Programs,

Google; Yuval Wagner, Founder/ President,

Access Israel; Bernard Chiira, Director, Innovate

Now-AT2030; Nuru Mugambi, Public Affairs

Director and Sustainable Finance Lead, Kenya

Bankers Association, among others.

The Inclusive Africa Conference will bring

together a full slate of global and local

knowledgeable experts from different sectors to

feature panel discussions about accessibility in

ICT Policies in Africa, financial services, mobile

accessibility, inclusive design, social media,

and higher, primary and high-school education.

This virtual event is sponsored by MasterCard

Foundation, Safaricom PLC, Facebook, Ford

Foundation, Uber, Google, FSD Kenya, and

Eclectics International.

Approximately 2,000 participants—from across

Africa and the globe—have registered to attend

the two-day inaugural online conference

organized by inABLE.org.

The purpose of this event is to increase

awareness of the needs and rights of people

with disabilities to access digital information.

At the closing ceremony of the virtual event,

inABLE will launch the inaugural Digital

Accessibility Innovation Award to recognize the

best inclusive African innovations. The winner

will receive a business development award of

KShs 1,000,000.

“inABLE has created the Digital Accessibility

Innovation Award to celebrate the significance

of accessible innovation solutions that improve

the lives of everyone”, explains the inABLE

Executive Director Irene Mbari-Kirika.

Out of the 20 submissions received, the

following developers have been shortlisted for

award consideration:

Oluwatomisin Kolawole from Nigeria created

the Visis by Vinsighte mobile application that

uses Visis Artificial Intelligence to aid the

visually impaired to read printed books and

educational materials

Benjamin Charagu from Kenya created Map

Ability, an accessible map for the visually

impaired and physically challenged people

guiding them to specific areas within public

places and buildings that are more accessible

and easier to navigate

Derrick Omari from Ghana developed an

accessible remote learning solution that

enables blind and visually impaired students to

get access to quality learning.

Gwaliwa Peter Mashaka from Tanzania created

the Rafiki Connect – African Smart

Communication, a transcription software that

bridges the communication barriers for people

with hearing and speech impairment. It also

does not rely on the internet.

Hudson Asiema from Kenya developed the

Fingerspelling Pro for Kids mobile application

that is enables the children with hearing

impairment as well as deaf children to learn

fingerspelling and enjoy quiz game using the

shape of hands to each alphabetical letter.

On Friday 09th speakers will be : Shadi Abou-

Zahra, Accessibility Strategy and Technology

Specialist, W3C Web Accessibility Initiative

(WAI); Fredrick Haga the Director, Special Needs

at the Kenya Ministry of Education; Daniel

Onyango Obam, HSC, CEO/Communications

Secretary at the National Communications

Secretariat (NCS) Clara Aranda, Insights

Manager, GSMA; Paul Kasimu, Chief Human

Resources Officer – Safaricom PLC; Karen

Smit, Principal Specialist: Specific Needs-

Vodacom, South Africa; Ethan Cohen, Sr.

Software Engineer @Twitter; Cezanne Maherali,

Head of Policy for Uber Sub-Saharan Africa;

Sitoyo Lopokoiyit, Chief Financial Services

Officer at Safaricom PLC; Joshua Oigara, CBS,

CEO & MD, KCB Group PLC; and Gerald Warui

Managing Director, Equity Bank Kenya, among

others.

INABLE.ORG envision a world where every

individual has all-inclusive access to the same

educational, technological, and employment

opportunities.

inABLE.org is a nonprofit organization based in

Nairobi, Kenya and Washington, DC with a

mission to empower the blind and visually

impaired through Computer assistive

Technology.