MOBILE APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT GAP BRIDGED IN LIBERIA BY MWETANA

One of former United States President Bill Clinton’s famous quotes reads, “The price of doing the same old thing is far higher than the price of change.”  Technology continues to evolve rapidly and it is only a matter of time before we realize that nothing can be achieved in the absence of technology.  According to the Public Consultation Document on the Definition of Relevant Telecommunications Markets research published July 1, 2016 by the Liberia Telecommunications Authority, it states that “Mobile penetration stands at approximately 75 percent while Internet penetration is at 21 percent.” Although this assessment was not based on mobile applications; however, it gives an approximation of the number of people with mobile phones or knowledge of mobile phones. This data is eye-catching to those who are interested in seeing Liberia move forward technologically.

Given that mobile devices have one of the fastest device penetration rates in Liberia, MWETANA as a company decided to invest heavily by sending two of its staff members (Mr. Henry F. Wilson and Mr. Francis Delamou) to Koenig Solutions located in Delhi, India for training in Mobile Application Development. The trainees attended and participated in an intensive hands-on Mobile Application Development training with emphasis on Android SDK tools and Activity Class, Fragments, Views and List View, Android Resources, Themes and Material Design, Android UI-Dialogs, Menus and Web View, Android Storage: SQLITES and Content provider, Android Notifications, etc.

The intensive hands-on training took place at the Koenig Solutions training facility. Koenig specializes in providing state-of-the-art technical training and certifications on all popular IT technologies available globally. The world class training at Koenig is offered through several innovative learning methods and delivery models to cater to the unique requirements of a global customer base. Koenig is home to more than 350 certified trainers who are subject matter experts in their respective domains. Koenig has 30+ authorizations including that of Microsoft, Cisco, Oracle, VMware, Red Hat, Novell, EC Council, Adobe, among others.

MWETANA’s decision to invest in Mobile Application Development is research driven and based on where the IT market is headed globally.    The research suggested that Liberia lacks the capacity to develop native mobile applications.  A native mobile application, by definition, is an application that resides on a mobile device (phone, tablet, phablet, etc.) and accessed through icons on the device’s home screen. Native applications are installed through an application store (such as Google Play or Apple’s App Store). They are developed specifically for one platform, and can take full advantage of all the device’s features. Native applications can use the camera, the GPS, the accelerometer, the compass, the list of contacts, and so on. Most importantly, a native mobile application can use the device’s notification system and work offline.

MWETANA has identified the urgent need for native mobile applications for the health, educational, telecommunications, security, agriculture and NGO sectors.  These sectors will benefit tremendously from the use of mobile applications which can be put in the hands of a large number of people with minimum deployment and on-going administrative/maintenance costs. MWETANA also believes that all stakeholders in the upcoming elections (NEC, political parties, NGO’s, etc.) can benefit immensely as well from mobile applications.

Realizing that capacity building is critical to nation building, MWETANA keeps its pulse on the industry and will continue to make the investement to ensure that both employee and corporation benefit.  This is not the first time for MWETANA, nor will it be the last for the company when it comes to investing in its most valuable resource.  During the inception of Fiber Optic in Liberia, MWETANA sent one of its employee to Nairobi, Kenya for training in Fiber Optic design, installation, deployment & maintenance.  As the recipient of the 2016 National Excellence Award (Most Outstanding ICT Firm) and leader in provision of technology solutions and services in Liberia, MWETANA has identified that continuous staff development is key to the organization’s success.

MWETANA is Liberia’s oldest and largest ICT firm in Liberia, and is 100% owned and operated by Liberians. MWETANA provides Custom Software Development, Database Design, Mobile/SMS Applications, IT Infrastructure/Data Centers, LAN/WAN Networking, Business Consulting, Project Management, Disaster Recovery, Vehicle Tracking/Telemetrics, Integrated Biometric Solutions, and Managed Services.

For further information and a free mobile application consultation, call 0886578453 or 07706578453 or email us at mobile@mwetana.com.lr.

March 2017