Erik Hersman asks us to shed outdated notions of Africa as a unified place plagued by starvation and war. Between mobile phone innovations like M-PESA, social networking like MXit and entrepreneurial spaces like Maker Faire Africa, Hersman sees innovation and entrepreneurship exploding within some of Africa’s—and the world’s—fastest growing economies.
From October 6 – 8, 2011; Inventors, Developer, Makers, Idealist, Entrepreneurs and Bloggers will meet-up on the campus of American University in Cairo for Maker Faire Africa 2011 under the hash-tag: #MFA11. As was the case in Accra, Ghana (‘09) and Nairobi, Kenya (’10); MFA 2011 will present and spotlight the vibrant & endless creative individuals that have come to represent the spirit of ‘making’ throughout our dear continent. According to Emeka Okafor; these innovators, artists and tinkerers will be [...]
Categories: Africa, Entrepreneurship, Events, Social Media, Technology
When it comes to promoting African Technology & Innovation (African Ingenuity) focused initiatives in Africa, one organization/group stands out. The Maker Faire Africa crew deserves a standing ovation for the good jobs they started in Accra, Ghana during Maker Faire Africa 2009, MFA ’10 in Nairobi, Kenya and MFA ‘11 which is scheduled in Cairo, Egypt. From August 5 – 7, 2011; the International Development Design Summit (IDDS) is hosting a mini Maker Faire Kumasi event which will bring developers, [...]
Categories: Africa, Events, Technology
From the Maker Faire Africa Blog: Maker Faire Africa is pleased to announce our 3rd event, ‘Maker Faire Africa 2011 : Cairo‘ which will take place in Egypt, October 6-8th, 2011. Join us once again as we continue to cultivate new and existing maker communities across Africa. As was the case in Accra (‘09) and Nairobi (’10), MFA 2011 will present and spotlight the vibrant and endlessly creative individuals that have come to represent the spirit of ‘making’ throughout the [...]
Categories: Accra, Africa, Events, Opportunities, Social Media, Technology
Re-blogged via Timbuktu Chronicles 5 spectacular individuals with Africa related connections are part of the recently announced TED Global 2011 Fellows class. They are: Femi Akinde – Founder of SlimTrader(covered earlier) , the first platform in Africa allowing consumers to shop for goods and services via their mobile phones through text. Jodie Wu – Founder of Global Cycle Solutions, an organization developing and selling appropriate tech in the form of bicycle add-ons. Alex Odira Odundo (Maker Faire Africa exhibitor covered earlier) [...]
Categories: Africa, Events, Social Media, Technology
Over 500 Inventors, Makers, Designers & Artists from all over Africa especially, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana, South Africa & Burundi convened at the fore-court of the University of Nairobi, Kenya for the 2-day African ingenuity event which actually showed case a cross section of latest and most creative innovations in Africa and by Africans. MFA10 was in its 2nd year and was organized by volunteers that included Erik Hersman (AfriGadget) together with TED Africa producer Emeka Okafor, Mark Grimes [...]
In two weeks time, I’ll be traveling to Nairobi, Kenya to attend Maker Faire Africa. This is an event which is bringing together inventors, ingenious craftsmen/women, artisans and innovators under one roof to showcase their latest inventions & products, dialogue between experts and non-experts and also network in promoting their works. Maker Faire Africa is a celebration of African ingenuity, innovation and invention and will take place in from 27th – 28th, Aug 2010. Last year, I volunteered at the very [...]
Growing up in a small trading-town of Keta in the Volta Region, my grand-mother; Madam Doris Degadjor-Deha; a Cereal/Grains Seller in the Keta Market paid so much attention to Education as the only key to eradicating poverty in our family. Back in the day, she always makes me write letters to my father by normal dictation of whatever she wants to say and I also try as much as possible to express them on the foolscap sheet from my notebooks…! [...]
Image by AdamCohn via Flickr Yesterday, I had a call from a friend who’s been job-hunting from the middle of last year till now. He’s been lucky to be short-listed for a few interviews but none ever worked out due to the “university degree” menace rocking the nation. This guy in question is a very practical person when it comes to the field of information technology. He’s just curious to know about the latest IT trends, new software usage, troubleshooting [...]
Categories: Accra, Blogging, Random Thoughts
TEDxYouthInspire has joined the rungs of the increasing number of African youth-focused development programmes to be hosted in Ghana. Other events recently hosted here that immediately come to mind are BarCamp Ghana and Maker Faire Africa. The brilliant thing about TEDxYouthInspire, and other programmes like it, is that it is the initiative of private individuals and youth groups who are determined to inspire positive change on the African continent. In addition, local start-ups, corporate organizations and academic institutions have been [...]
Categories: Accra, Africa, Blogging, Random Thoughts
