Category: For Ghanaians

Its barely 4 days away to the end of the year and Jumia Ghana is giving out goodies to online shoppers during this festivity. Just like Santa, Jumia is spreading the discount love to all shoppers to enjoy up to 70% off on items in their ongoing Christmas store sales.

This year’s Christmas Store have all items ranging from fashion, electronics, gifts, home appliances etc. Jumia says ‘the best place to shop for this festivity is Jumia’s Christmas store’.

Jumia wants its customers to shop right during this holidays to avoid overspending hence it has seized the opportunity to educate shoppers on how to make use of some basic shopping tips to avoid them going broke.

How to Shop Right

Outline your needs

Knowing what you actually need, is a good way to start your shopping. Pen down all items you are sure to need during this festivity. By making a list, you are fixing your gaze on that which is important so to avoid impulse buying.

Shop on Budget

Allocate an approximate amount to each item you have purposed to buy. Try your possible best to reduce the possibility of overspending the allocations in the budget. Plan to bargain on items that are ‘bargain-able’ especially if you are shopping from an offline traditional market.

Stick to your list

Try as much as possible to stick to the list you have created for your shopping. In as much as you might have forgotten to add some items to your shopping list, resist the urge of impulse buying by planning to go without them if possible.

Look for discounts

Discount shops such as Jumia Ghana can help you save a lot of money this season. Look for discount shops with the quality product and get up to 70% discount off on items on your list.

Shop online

For convenience, online shops such as Jumia is ready to reduce your stress by asking you to place an online order for those items you need. Your items will be shipped and delivered to your doorstep wherever you are. Since these items will be going to one location, you might get discounts on the delivery. This helps you avoid the hassle of an offline market and help save money for other equally important stuff.

Shop early, save money

Festivities often affect changes in the price of items. Most times, because items are high in demand, prices tend to shoot up. To avoid its impact on your budget, it is advisable to shop early to save money; because you might not get all the discounts you might be aiming at on all the items you have on your list.

Take advantage of Promotional sales

One way to save big is to take advantage of promotional sales that abound during festivities. Both offline and online shops will be ready to give huge discounts on flash sales and Xmas sales. Prioritize these outlets and get your needs sorted for the season.

Buy a gift for someone

Selflessness is the blueprint of love that Christmas brings. If you aren’t sure what to buy, you can play the ‘guess what I bought for you this Christmas’ game. The person will be eager to know what you bought. Let the person guess and say all that he or she needs for Christmas. Then you have a fair idea what the person wants. Choose from the most affordable and buy for the person.

Budget for uncertainties

Uncertainties are unplanned activities whether pleasant or unpleasant. To be on the safer side, set aside an amount to rely on should there be any unplanned activity. This will go a long way to help you in the next few weeks of the next month if that budget ends up untouched.

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Merry Christmas!

That time of the year is here. Christians and the world at large are celebrating Christmas and the New Year. Here in Ghana, Christmas is never complete without a lot of messages and well wishes. There are also a lot of parties and get-togethers.

During festive times like this, time with Family and Friends is most important. However, you can not leave your technology behind. Mfidie.com brings to you 3 apps you need to have installed on your phone to really enjoy and celebrate the festive season.

If you know of any other app relevant for the season, leave a comment below.

Ride-Hailing apps: Taxify, Uru or Uber

Man must look sharp and with so many ride-hailing apps in Ghana, it is almost difficult to go with just one. I have installed 3 of these apps because, like any rational consumer, I want value for money.

Whenever I am in a fix, and want a ride, especially in this festive season, I just check the prices on all there of them and choose the one that makes more sense.

Keep one or more of these apps close, since the Troski and taxi drivers can start pricing outrageously.

Read and Download Taxify here. Read and Download Uber here. Read and Download Uru here

New Year and Christmas Wishes

This new app has tons of Christmas wishes to send and share with loved ones. Christmas wishes allow you to express love and sincere thoughts in just the right way to anyone you know. However, here in Ghana, there are a lot of Pasco messages that are brought back each year. This app makes life easier by providing special messages that are different and unique.

The app works even if you don’t have internet access. Once downloaded, you can share wishes and greetings with your beloved ones via SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.

Download the New Year and Christmas Wishes App by clicking here.

Christmas and New Year Frames

Christmas and New Year photo frames is a free easy-to-use camera photo frame app which you can download quickly for your use anytime and anywhere.

How about sending photos of yourself or loved ones which are decorated with beautifully designed Christmas photo frames or New Year photo frames, instead? This will surely brighten up their day and would also become some of their most precious greeting cards worthy to be kept in their photo albums.

Different specially designed Christmas frames and New Year frames for you to choose from. Just select any of the wide collection of picture frames and shoot your lovely festival pictures. Photos with frames can be saved, and shared on WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, etc

Download Christmas and New Year Frames here.

Thank you for reading. Don’t forget to share this with your family and friends. For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Mfidie on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
If you want to be part of our team of writers or you want to Guest write, send a WhatsApp Message to 0242022161 or simply call. You can also fill the form here to join our team and we will contact you back.

Sabena steps out the house dressed up for an event. She stands at the edge of the street and points her folded hands down with her thumb or index finger out. This is done to alert a taxi driver of her readiness to board. Sabena makes her destination known to the driver and that is followed by a bargain of the fare. A smooth but sometimes rough ride to the destination and then a drop-off to search for the next passenger while burning fuel/gas.

That was the only narrative on the streets of Accra before the introduction of the world’s biggest taxi company that owns no vehicles somewhere in June 2016. This company uses technology to easily connect passenger to private drivers excluding the hustle of getting private transport. The technology does not give room for bargaining as it quantifies the cost of the journey using distance, time and others parameters.

Uber we all know gains much attraction within a short period after commencement as most of the cars that registered offered more comfort and “swag” than the traditional taxis. Uber with over 2 million drivers globally and valued at $70 billion has had a fair share of technology mishaps this year. From many court cases mostly filed by drivers and unhappy customers to the cyber attack of company data back in 2014 but was exposed this year. Espionage offences levelled against them and most recently, determining whether or not Uber is a transport firm or tech company.

The writer has some many thoughts to share regarding the above cases but the purpose of this write-up is to draw the attention of the particular problems Uber faces in our particular environment, the Uber-Taxi comparison and the way forward.

The issues particularly stem from two sentiments. First, the fact that Uber drivers are perceived to have taken customers from traditional taxis and secondly, the upfront of drivers associations seeking to point out the illegal operations of Uber. The first case of “customers transfer” does not really hold water from my point of view as competitions are bound to happen and thus the preparedness to counter the competitors marketing strategy.

The second which I feel must be addressed by removing all ambiguity is the concern of commercial drivers that Uber is using private cars for commercial purposes and as such the drivers do not pay income tax, commercial driver’s license and the roadworthy fee which is paid quarterly.

Looking forward, what can be done to ensure the smooth running of Uber alongside traditional taxis as they both of have their merits and demerits?

Tell me if you have not sat in an Uber in which the driver has no clue of the destination and is completely oblivious to using the Google map that comes with the application. It is annoying, right? You are expecting to have a quiet ride and concentrate on other matters but rather the driver keeps bordering you about the next route to take. And, some drivers can be so fraudulent that they intentionally take a longer route to increase the fare. This actually pisses me in all seriousness.

Uber should be mindful of the drivers they register on board to avoid scenarios above as well, also, the commercial drivers should make it point to better their services and put a stop to the Ghanaian lackadaisical attitude towards work.

If I can get an Uber to come pick me up at 1 am in the night at a very far and less busy town where I can’t in any way get a Taxi. Also, if I can bargain my way into paying less for a Taxi when I don’t have enough on me as compared to Uber where the price is fixed. Then these two entities must find a common ground to operate before the technologically advantaged Uber spreads its wings to the other major cities in the country.

What is Net Neutrality?

The phrase “net neutrality” refers to the principle that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) should treat all data provided to customers equally and without restriction to block out competitors. In essence, it keeps ISPs from choosing which data gets streamed at a faster rate and which websites are blocked or throttled.

For example, let’s say we have an imaginary internet service provider in Ghana called “NETwork1”. When you are a subscriber onNETwork1, and you access a website like Mfidie.com, the speed at which your ISP (NETwork1) delivers Mfidie.com to you, is the same speed at which NETwork1 will deliver any other site.

This means that on the same ISP, there is virtually no class of Internet Users. Without Net Neutrality, companies or individuals willing to pay more may get a freer, faster Internet service, which could lead to two classes of Internet user: one rich in money and information, the other poor in both.

United States: In 2015, Net neutrality was made official policy through new FCC (Federal Communications Commission) regulatory rules that treated ISPs as a public utility following extensive industry and public debate.

Net Neutrality in Ghana

The heading above is tricky! Has there ever been net neutrality in Ghana, or will there? For starters, it is difficult to pinpoint laws and regulations governing the internet in Ghana. Apart from those that generally govern communications and cybercrime.

Ghana has faced net neutrality crisis in the past, as the NCA considered banning Skype, Viber, WhatsApp, etc with the witless excuse that they were causing telecoms companies to lose revenue. ISPs in Ghana don’t look like they are willing to treat all data provided to customers equally and without restriction. They would gladly wipe out the competition, and the NCA is prepared to consider them.

There are over 9 million Internet users in Ghana. /July 2017.

There is also the issue of “data packages”. Pay GHS 5 and get 400 MB for Facebook, Twitter and Yahoo. While this is not entirely against Net Neutrality, it is still giving some companies or services “more” data, maybe a loophole in net neutrality?

With the FCC voting to kill net neutrality, it is only wise to assume that Telecoms in Ghana will continue to suggest more ways the segregate bandwidth and internet services for Ghanaians, and the NCA will gladly consider all these. It is now the responsibility of us consumers to let them know we are for Net Neutrality!

Thank you for reading. Don’t forget to share this with your family and friends. For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Mfidie on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
If you want to be part of our team of writers or you want to Guest write, send a WhatsApp Message to 0242022161 or simply call. You can also fill the form here to join our team and we will contact you back.

Exactly a year ago, Ghana was at the polls to elect parliamentarians and a President. A lot happened, in the online space before the elections.

Probably one that a lot of people will not forget was the pronouncement by the then Inspector General of Police (IGP) John Kudalor. He announced the Ghana Police Service was considering blocking social media across the country on election day.

His announcement did not go well with a lot of people, and I remember how the BloggingGhana community was not enthused with the move. He later explained in an interview with Joy News, that “If people are churning out the type of information which are quite false then why not? The security of this nation is paramount.”

Given the huge popularity, usage and penetration of the Internet and Social Media in Ghana, it would be totally wrong to assume it did not have any effect on the election. Politicians from the then ruling NDC, as well as their counterparts from the NPP, PPP, etc all harnessed the power and tools of the internet to reach the “masses” and convince them to vote.

Using social media as an effective marketing campaign is not a new thing. In the last US election, multiple releases by Facebook has revealed how much the social media network was used, and the extent to which it had an impact, even leading to offline events in some scenarios.

The last election before the 2016 elections happened in 2012. Yes, there was social media. Yes, there were internet users. Yes, there were blogs. No, they didn’t play many roles. Traditional media and traditional campaign methods still led the way.

That is not to say that the traditional means of doing the business of elections lost their impact. Rather, more emphasis was given to social media.

Now to the big question: Did the internet impact Ghana’s election for the first time in the 2016 election? The answer would be YES!

How so?

First, there was so much social media discussion and information sharing that one would think the elections were going to be won on social media. The seriousness of the discussions and sometimes the heat that attributed them led to the “preaching of peace” on social media too.

Notable among them was Penplusbytes’ “Ghana Elections 2016: Social Media Monitoring for Peaceful Elections” Project. The Project tracked potential elections irregularities on social media for a period before the election in December.

You remember Politicians streaming campaign live on Facebook? Yes, politicians believed so much in social media that there were more campaigns streamed on Facebook than on television stations.

For one, streaming on social media was less expensive and you could provoke actual discussions while the event is in the process, as well as reach electorates faster and more conveniently.

These broadcasts, particularly those of the NDC and NPP were so popular that at the climax of the election campaign season, there were tens of thousands of viewers during such broadcasts.

Social media was often used as a means to keep vigilante one the election day and throughout the counting process. Many people, even before election day, had said they did not want a repeat of the election petition. They, therefore, had to “open their eyes”, and more often than not, they used social media to open the eyes of people who could not be there with them physically.

Did this sort of been vigilante work? To a large extent, I would say it did. It brewed confidence in the electoral process. After all, in Ghana, Seeing is believing!

The internet and social media are here to stay, and the impact in the 2016 Ghana Elections is just the beginning. A year on, and the Internet and Social media continue to harness so much strength that they are been used to tackle national issues and hold very interesting discussions.