RTGS coming soon in the Gambia

For the developing economies of Africa, the main benefit of an RTGS system is the reduction of settlement risk by ensuring finality of payment. A sound payment system leads to confidence in the system and improved business conditions, with the aim of attracting foreign investment. Payments that usually take several days to settle will only take less than a minute with the RTGS system.

Since the creation of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) in 1994 which is a group of eight West African countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo and Guinea-Bissau), which share a common currency, the "CFA Franc". The English speaking countries of West Africa came together and form the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) which consists of five countries - Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. WAMZ expects to launch a common currency, named "Eco", by 2015.

Large-value transfer systems supporting the interbank markets are the main arteries of a nation’s payment and financial system. They provide the ultimate settlement vehicle for important cross-border markets in multiple currencies, and are key infrastructural requirements for implementing a single monetary policy. They permit monetary policy impulses to be transferred quickly and widely throughout the union.
In a bid to launch a strong and stable Monetary Union, West African Monetary Institute (WAMI) in collaboration with the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) member countries on July 3, 2008, secured a grant of US$23 million from the African Development Fund (ADF) for the modernization of the payment systems in The Gambia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. This is not only to bring them to the same level as those in Ghana and Nigeria in order to facilitate the harmonization of the payment systems in all the five member countries, but also to develop an integrated payments system in the WAMZ for the implementation of a single monetary policy and cross-border funds transfer.

In collaboration with the commercial banks, the Central Bank of Ghana and Nigeria has set up a national switch to promote the usage of Electronic purse and network ATMs among the banks. The Gambia will follow suit hopefully by the end of the year 2010.
The contract for the implementation of The Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system for the Gambia has been won by Unique Solutions and implementation of the project will start later this year. Unique Solutions is an IT Solution company that have just launched a groundbreaking Broadband Internet and Data services via a robust network infrastructure using the latest Motorola Broadband Wireless Technology. The network coverage is from Banjul all the way to Basse, which makes them the fist providers to bring internet and data connectivity to the rural areas meeting the Gambia’s universal service objectives in ensuring people in the hinterland have access to cheap and life changing technology in their daily lives.

Live From The Gambia: Independence Day

Live From The Gambia: Independence Day

3G arrives in the Gambia

There is a new mobile phone company coming to the Gambia called Qcell. It is the 4th GSM mobile phone service provider to join the likes of Africell, Comium and Gamcel.

It was issued with a licence on the 14th August, 2008 by the Gambia's department of communication and IT to be an operator for multi-media 3G mobile telephone services .

The company is owned by a Gambian named Mr. Muhammed Jah who also owns the QuantumNet Group.

Website www.qcell.gm

Show Hidden Files and Folders not working?

Sometimes due to a virus on you windows machine, the show hidden files and folder radio option refuses to work no matter how many times you select it.

There is a couple of tricks you can use to resolve this issue, both require you to make changes on your registry so please use extreme caution.

Method 1:

Go to registry editor by running regedit in the run box.
Go to this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

In the right hand area, double click hidden and change the value to 1.

Now you’re all set to go. Check it in your tools menu if the changes have taken effect.

Method 2: (By Random Hajile)

1. Click “Start” -> “Run…” (or press Windows key + R)
2. Type “regedit” and click “Ok”.
3. Find the key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
Advanced\Folder\Hidden\SHOWALL
4. Look at the “CheckedValue” key… This should be a DWORD key. If it isn’t, delete the key.
5. Create a new key called “CheckedValue” as a DWORD (hexadecimal) with a value of 1.
6. The “Show hidden files & folders” check box should now work normally. 

Enjoy!

How to choose a Web Designer/developer

Choosing an individual or company to design and develop you companys website can be tricky,  Follow these few basic steps to increase your odds of hiring a creative, technically savvy, and cost-effective designer.

1. Assess your needs. You can hire contractors to create, implement and maintain your site. If your site will serve only as an online brochure, consider outsourcing the creation and implementation, while handling future maintenance - like fixing broken links - in-house. Be realistic about your own goals and growth plans so you know whether to hire a long-term or a short-term contractor.

2. Research each candidate's work. It's essential that you research a Web developer's work so you can evaluate their potential. Once you've found a few developers you like - through recommendations, Web directories or competitors' sites - evaluate their online portfolios and fees. A site doesn't have to be flashy to do its job, but you must appreciate the developer's design sense. Also, consider hiring a firm familiar with your particular industry.

3. Evaluate their services. Decide if the developer meets your needs. If you want to sell your products online, look for proven e-commerce experience. If you're considering a one-person firm, does the developer have the skills necessary to create everything you need? On the other hand, will you get lost in the shuffle at a larger firm with lots of other clients? Determine what extras the firms offer, such as copywriting, marketing, and other services.

4. Meet face-to-face. Your Web design firm, whether a one-person shop or a multinational company, is going to present your Web persona to the world. You must be able to work collaboratively. Ask yourself these questions and rely on your gut reaction:

• Do they listen to my needs?
• Do they explain issues in ways I can understand?
• Do they know my industry?
• Do they share my vision for the site?

5. Check references. Browsing a company's work is helpful, but you also want to know how they work. A Web design firm can be the most creative in the world, but if it never finishes your site, it won't do you much good. Call past clients and ask if the design firm:

• Adhered to deadlines
• Met their requests
• Was responsive to suggestions and questions
• Fixed problems promptly
• Worked within the original budget

6. Think ahead. Over the past year, hundreds of Web design firms of all sizes have merged, cut back their operations, or simply closed. Although it's impossible to know for sure whether or not a firm will be around in the future, you have a right to ask questions if you expect to build a long-term relationship. You should also ask whether a design firm will accept payment in stages or whether they'll demand most of their payment up front. Firms that aren't willing to link payment to their own ability to deliver might not be worth the risk you'll take to deal with them.

Slow Internet with Leopard

After upgrading to Leopard, plenty of Mac OS X users have complained of “slow internet” when browsing the web, yet Windows PCs or Macs with Tiger (10.4) on the same network are much faster.

A domain name lookup or DNS lookup is done every time you visit a web page, say “apple.com”, as you’re actually visiting “17.149.160.49″. A DNS Resolver on your computer sends a request to a DNS Server that handles this lookup or translation from names (easy to remember) to numbers (hard to remember). Once your browser has this numerical IP address it can start loading the web pages at that server location.

With Leopard, a major change occurred in DNS lookups. Any program in Leopard that can use version 6 IP addresses will send out a new type of DNS lookup request - the SRV Record. In Tiger and previous OS X versions, DNS lookups were A record requests.

SRV records are fairly new, provide more information than A records, but have terrible support in terms of hardware (your router or cable modem) and DNS servers that answer with SRV information. For every SRV request that Leopard sends it must wait for a valid reply. If the request fails, Leopard must try again. If it fails again, Leopard will finally ask for an A record. This is one reason why Mac users are experiencing slow Internet on new Macs with Leopard or after upgrading to Leopard from Tiger.

Solutions

Add DNS servers to current Network Configuration

This is the quickest & easiest way to use new DNS servers, which is to simply add them to the DNS tab found in System Preferences => Network => Advanced => click on DNS tab.

Click on the + sign at the bottom left hand corner near IPv6 or IPv6 addresses and type in the addresses of the DNS servers you wish, in reverse priority order. (Recommended: OpenDNS servers at 208.67.220.220 and 208.67.222.222). I.e. the server that you want to use first, enter it last. Afterwards, click Ok. Then in the Network pane, click Apply to make your changes active. If you’re using an AirPort wireless connection, wait a few moments for the connection to be re-established

Or You Could

Disable IPV6 DNS lookup

Firefox and Camino by default do DNS lookups using IPv6 addresses by default, reverting to IPv4 if that fails. This can be a problem when the router that we are using to connect to the Internet doesn’t work with IPv6 DNS requests properly, if at all.

To disable IPv6 DNS lookups in Firefox and Camino, type the following into the browser address bar:
about:config
If you see a large “Be Careful” warning, simply click on “I understand and I wish to continue”. Next, you will see a long list of Preference Name, Status, Type and Value columns. Above all that is a bar in which you can filter which preferences to view. In the Filter bar type: ipv6

To change the value for this preference simply double-click the name “network.dns.disableIPv6″. The value you want is “true”, which means that IPv6 DNS requests are disabled. If this value is already “true”, don’t double-click this preference.

To make the preference change active, close the browser and Quit Firefox completely (Apple Key + Q), then restart Firefox. You may have to repeat this Quitting and Restarting to have the change take effect.

After making this change, Firefox (or Camino if that’s what you’re using) will use IPv4 only when performing DNS requests.

Improve your connection speed

If you have a broadband connection on a windows XP machine. If you are using applications that are QoS aware or running a server, this is one way to hug some bandwidth, not useful if you’re not. You could improve your connection speed by adjusting a few settings on your machine. Note this tip I’m about to show you does not work with windows XP Home.

Quality of Service packet scheduler or QoS is a method of network bandwidth management that monitor the packets to and from your machine and depending on the importance of the packet give it higher bandwidth or lower bandwidth.

- Make sure you're logged on as actually "Administrator". Do not log on with any account that just has administrator privileges.

- Start > Run > type gpedit.msc (not available in home version).

- Expand the Local Computer Policy branch.

- Expand the Administrative Templates branch.

- Expand the Network branch.

- Highlight the "QoS Packet Scheduler" in left window.

- In right window double click the "limit reservable bandwidth" setting.

- On setting tab check the ENABLED item.

- Where it says "Bandwidth limit %" change it to read 0 (ZERO).

- Close gpedit.msc.

Some systems will require you to reboot before it takes effect. Others don’t, the effect is immediate