Since Dana Air announced their commencement of commercial flight operations on November 10, 2008, following the award of its Air Operator Certificate (AOC) by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authorities, the new airline has proved that they can become Nigeria’s first new world carrier.

Dana Air was recently awarded Best ICT-Driven Airline of the year 2009 at the National ICT Merit Award (NIMA) held at the prestigious Eko Hotel & Suites on Thursday, April 9, 2009. NIMA is an annual ICT award organised by Technology Africa in recognition of individuals and organisations that are at the forefront of technology deployment and adoption in the country.

Why Was Dana Air Awarded Best ICT-Driven Airline?

According to Mr. Don Pedro Aganbi, Managing Consultant of Technology Africa:

Dana Air was chosen as the recipient of the Best ICT Driven Airline award, despite being a new entrant in the aviation industry, because of its early deployment of ICT solutions. The introduction of e-booking and payment services by the airline is proof of the airline’s commitment to passenger convenience and comfort, and deserves to be complimented.

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We are pleased to announce that StartupsNigeria.com, the leading technology blog about web startups, innovations and entrepreneurship in Nigeria is sponsoring the 1st BarCamp in Nigeria, along with Afrigator and Sturvs.

BarCamp Nigeria will bring technology enthusiasts, IT specialists and social media players from Nigeria and around the world together to exchange ideas, build connections, re-frame perceptions and catalyze action of realizing the potentials of technology in Nigeria.

In case you don’t know, BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from participants.

The event will be held at the Tom Associates Training Centre and Conference Hall, Lagos, Nigeria on Saturday, April 25, 2009.

You can find keep up with the event updates via @barcampnigeria

Some weeks back, Erik Hersman at WhiteAfrican.com compiled an interesting list of African tech blogs he follows. In that post, Startups Nigeria was listed as one of the 30 Great African Tech Blogs.

What’s more?

Erik thinks a country-specific tech blog, such as StartupsNigeria.com would help Africans generally to know what’s happening in the tech scene in each country/region. That way, we can read about tech (if possible) from every country in Africa. Even from Chad, Botswana and Zambia.

I agree with him and look forward to seeing startups sites for startups from all the 52 countries in Africa. Is that possible?

Update: StartupIvoire reviews tech startups from Cote d’Ivoire.

“There is no substitute to deep-rooted knowledge in your field of endeavour. Therefore, learning is crucial. Do not assume that business is simple especially web-based business. Get the fundamentals right and take your audience/customers seriously. You will gain experience along the way. Adjust your business based on experience, to suit your market audience.” Oluniyi David Ajao,

Those are the words of the Oluniyi David Ajao. Oluniyi is a Ghana-based Nigerian young entrepreneur and runs a web host, Web4Africa, as well as Africa’s leading website about mobile telecoms, “Mobile Africa“. He is a professional web developer who supports the open-source platforms and web programming languages. Linux, PHP, MySQL, CSS, XHTML and web standards are amongst his favourites.

I had this interview with him yesterday. Happy reading…..

SN: Please tell us about yourself, your background and interests?

Oluniyi: I am Oluniyi David Ajao, an Internet entrepreneur and Managing Director of a leading web hosting company, Web4Africa Ltd. I also have strong interests in mobile communications technology and a background in Computer Science.

SN: What is the name of your blog/start-up/company?

Oluniyi: My personal blog is self-named: “Oluniyi David Ajao” and is located at http://www.davidajao.com/blog/ while my company’s website is located at www.web4africa.net/

SN: Please tell us about your blog/start-up/company?

Oluniyi: Web4Africa Ltd. offers affordable and reliable web-related services to clients in Nigeria and other parts of the world. Services offered include: domain name registration, web hosting, website design and e-commerce solutions.

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We are happy to announce that Startups Nigeria is now partnering with Qubestreet in order to promote Social Media and Web 2.0 events in Nigeria and Africa.

Qubestreet is a pan-African media & entertainment start-up based in Lagos and Johannesburg, with the goal of uniting Africans through interactive solutions, events, publications and new media interactive projects across different niche markets.

Founded by Francis Oghuma, Qubestreet is an emerging media empire with several brands such as 1709 Media (digital & new media technology), Street Press (publishing), Mahsive Promotions (events production and branding), Naijaborn (social networking), Ilueko (connecting and sharing sites & sounds of the new lagos mega city), and lots more.

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