Apps Let Africans Take Matters Into their Own Hands
My interview with Radio Netherlands about mobile apps, Africa, Abayima, and supporting the continent’s nascent innovators… “A revolution is taking place in Africa,” according to the Fill the Gap organizers. And it’s “driven by mobile technology and rapidly growing access to the mobile which is the key to smart entrepreneurship and citizen participation.” What does … Read more
Mobile Innovation Echo Chamber
Jonathan Gosier, founder of Appfrica speaks about examples of good mobile technology initiatives in Africa at Fill the Gap 9 in NEMO, Amsterdam. Moving ‘beyond the mobile hype’ requires asking different questions about what we do and what we’re trying to accomplish. Moving forward we should consider not just the effects of technology projects but … Read more
Why Investors, Philanthropists, and the Diaspora Fail at African Business
Investors Don’t Get African Opportunities – here’s why. The Business of VCs Very quietly, over the past few weeks the word ‘bubble’ has crept back into the English language as it relates to the investment/silicon valley/tech scene. This is because there have been some staggering valuations, startling exits, and incredible hype for companies that seem … Read more
…to Redistribute the Future
Last week at Tech4Africa in Johannesburg I gave a short talk. It was meant to be much longer but I got confused on how much time I had, so apologies to the T4A people. Anyways, the topic of the presentation was “The 5 Most Disruptive Innovations I’ve Seen” and it discusses industries and concepts which … Read more
Apps4Africa Reboot!
Well, it wasn’t a graceful relaunch. Our site went down, a web app we use called JotNote suffered at DDOS attack, and there were other complications, but after 24 hours of debugging and troubleshooting Apps4Africa 2011 is almost underway! Beginning October 1, 2011 the contest will kick off in 5 countries in West Africa, before … Read more
Nnedi Okorafor: Storyteller
It was through the blog IO9 that I discovered Nnedi Okorafor’s uniquely African take on science-fiction and fantasy last month. Nneddi, a second generation African immigrant to America, is making a name for herself with her novels “Zahrah the Windseeker” and “Who Fears Death” and is helping to redefine two genres of fiction where Africa … Read more
Who's Killing African Entrepreneurship?
There was an interesting discussion over at Megan McArdle’s blog about whether or not NGOs retard entrepreneurship in developing countries. Her post was in response to this from Matt Rognlie… “Africans don’t see a reward system in place for being entrepreneurial. In fact, they view it as a matter of survival, not an opportunity to … Read more
Open Tech Exchange Interview
Last week I spoke with the Open Tech Exchange podcast about a number of projects I’m working on including Apps 4 Africa, SwiftRiver, Appfrica and Hive Colab. Listen to the Podcast
Inception
The most important thing you can do as a mentor is plant ideas.
The White House on Africa's Tech Sector
Last week the White House blog acknowledged a number of individuals who are using technology to nurture local innovation in Africa. Some of the groups mentioned were Hive Colab and Appfrica in Uganda, Ushahidi and the iHub in Kenya, Limbe Labs in Cameroon, and Sodnet, Kenya’s Civil Society Organization.
