Tech Review: Galaxy Note 5the stylus­driven smartphoneBy BRIAN YATICH

Samsung has released a new galaxyS5 phone on the Kenyan Marketthe Galaxy Note line has sincebeen one of Samsung's greatestassets in the mobile market.

You may be thinking of getting thisgadget but as with buying any product, youmay be unsure if buying this phone is worthit.

Meet Samsung's Galaxy Note 5, thenewest addition to the market of extra­largesmartphones, and the most elegant phablet­style device you've ever seen.The device mainly targets the

professional artist who love jotting down

points/ideas on the screen during meetingsor whichever the situation as it offers a

unique tool; The S stylus pen.Well unlike its previous generation of

the Note family, the galaxy note 5 is light andeasy to carry around much like this year'sSamsung Galaxy edge+; the sleek phoneweighs a light 171g and measuring 153.2 by76.1 cm by 7.6 mm, making it ultra­slim. Thesim card supported is a nano­sim, it has thenetwork technology which comes with threeoptions; GSM, HSPA and LTE.

An attractive feature about this phoneis the huge screen size, at 5.7 inches, givingthe phone an approximate screen­to­body

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Dunga Beach in Kisumu

members has grown its number to150 and is now an affiliate memberof the Cooperative Alliance of Kenya(CAK) and the National CooperativeMovement in Kenya."We've had steady growth since we

were operationalized. We started outwith low numbers but we have nowdeveloped into a big group. The societyhas even won an award certificate as thebest managed fish cooperative societyin Kisumu District," notes MauriceOngowe, the society's secretary.It now has the General members'

council as its supreme organ and elects aboard of 11 directors as the managementcommittee which comprises of chairmanand the deputy, honorary secretary andtreasurer.

"Membership is voluntary withlegibility of 18 years and above fromboth genders," he states.The 150 registered members are

charged with, among other services,lobbying and advocating for betterfish market for members, providingloans, dividend and bonuses, buyingmembers' produce and selling tofactories or fishmongers, supportingorphaned and vulnerable children withbursaries and feeding programs, linkingfishermen with government institutionsand assisting members on how to spendtheir savings.So far, Mr. Ongowe notes that

the society has recorded significantmilestones.

"Within the last five years, we haveintroduced cage fish aquaculture,purchased about 217,921kilogrammesof fish from our members, disbursedSh3.6million loans to help memberssought out their domestic expenditure,secured fishermen's safety byintroducing a motorboat to serve asrescue boat when accidents occur andwe are now trading our shares in thecooperative Bank of Kenya and othertwo corporations."The registered members include

stakeholders within the business. Forinstance, it registers boat owners andtheir crew, fishermen, boat makers, fishmongers, those in the water transportbusiness and those intending to investin fishing."Once you are licensed by the

government and wants to operate aboat, you register with a membership

to fee of Sh400 including Sh200 per crewwhich is renewable annually."Mr. Ongowe says that the society is

financed by 10 per cent commissions itreceives from selling stocked fish thatit buys from members. To facilitatethis, it buys them at a slightly lowerrate and sells them 10 percent higher tomiddlemen who later on sell them out tocompanies and various markets."When we get these commissions,

they are disbursed to members in formof loans and dividends. We also takethem to education tours so as to boosttheir innovativeness."In January for instance, the society's

records state that it sold l,101kilogramsof fish and disbursed Sh286, 440 to itsmembers earning Sh31,460 in revenues.The secretary however says that

Dunga Fishermen CooperativeSociety is now overseen by the newlycreated Beach Management Unit, anadministrative body formed in 2013 toprovide security both at the shore and inthe lake, collect revenues from visitorsand fish traders, ensure hygiene within

to the beaches and safeguard members'interests.

"We now work closely with theBeach Management Unit. It offersadministrative roles as we marketmembers' produce," he says.

Challenges and prospectsDespite the achievements recorded bythe society, Mr. Ongowe cites depletingand decline of fish stock in water bodies,water hyacinth which causes difficultyto access fishing areas, loans of aboutSh764,962 defaulted by some membersand high competition between privatetraders and the society as some of thechallenges affecting them.

as To mitigate some of these challenges,the management is working towardspromoting cage fish farming in all otherbeaches in Kisumu County to increaseproduction, establishing a simple fishprocessing plant to enable the societydirectly export members' produce toeliminate exploitative middlemen,developing commercial fish hatchery toimprove quality supply of fingerlingsand it is lobbying for a tarmac roadto be constructed to Dunga beach foreasy transportation of fish to variousmarkets.

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