Why You Should Vote for Africa, Tech & Women SXSW Panel

I decided to write this blog post as a way to help prospective voters and supporters to understand the thinking and passion behind our Africa, Tech & Women: The New Faces of Development SXSW panel submission.  We believe this panel will help to change the conversation on Africa, about whom most people have a limited negative perception; its women, who are often depicted as helpless, uneducated and unproductive; and dispel the myth that there isn’t much technological development taking place in Africa.

When TMS Ruge and I embarked upon this SXSW journey together, we decided we would create a panel building upon his successful SXSW 2009 presentation, Africa 3.0.  We knew that with the 2012 panel, we wanted to add a new dimension and feature multiple voices.  After a lot of research and brainstorming, we discovered that the African Union declared 2010-2020: The African Woman Decade and decided it would be a source of inspiration for us.  Additionally, we’re both very passionate about gender rights issues, publicizing the greatness of Africa and its Diaspora and are tech enthusiasts — and as such, we decided on the title: Africa, Tech & Women.

The subtitle: The New Faces of Development came about after lots of trial and error.  We finally agreed to it, given that it encompasses the areas we want to cover and from a new perspective: (1) Economic, (2) Technological, (3) Philanthropic, and (4) Community.

We then decided we should showcase the different ways in which a cross-section of African women based in the Diaspora and on the continent are impacting Africa’s development through technology.  We were able to identify three incredible African women who leverage use technology in very significant ways to affect change on the continent and beyond.  They also helped us to flesh out the panel topics, so that the description you read below is representative of what we all want to share, in the limited time available on a panel.  Additionally,

Africa, Tech & Women SXSW Panelists

1. Isis Nyong’o – InMobi (Kenya)

Isis joined InMobi in February 2011 to lead business expansion in Africa. With over nine years of business development, marketing and sales experience, Isis is responsible for the overall growth on the continent.  Isis joins InMobi from Google where she led the company’s business development efforts in Africa. She specialized in mobile partnerships and developed Google’s content strategy to bring more African content online. She brings extensive media and tech experience to InMobi and drove the launch of MTV Networks in Africa where she was responsible for commercial relationships including distribution and sales. She developed the marketing strategy for Kenya’s first online recruitment service, MyJobsEye and holds degrees from Stanford University and Harvard Business School where she was president of the Africa Business Club. Isis has been named by Forbes as one of The 20 Youngest Power Women in Africa, is one of the ‘Top 40 Women under 40″ in Kenya, and is frequently featured by the Africa media including, Al Jazeera, BBC, Nation Newspaper, NTV, Standard Newspaper and UP Magazine, among others.

2. Ebele Okobi-Harris – Yahoo! (USA)

Ebele Okobi-Harris is Director of Yahoo!’s Business and Human Rights Program, leading Yahoo!’s efforts to promote privacy and free expression on the Internet. Before joining Yahoo!, Ebele was a corporate securities and mergers & acquisitions attorney at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York, Paris and London, an attorney fellow at Consumers Union (a consumer rights advocacy non-profit) in San Francisco, a director of Advisory Services at Catalyst (a non-profit with the mission of advancing women in business) in San Jose and Amsterdam and at Nike’s EMEA headquarters as an MDP focused on marketing and business development in Africa.

Ms. Okobi-Harris earned a BA in Psychology from the University of Southern California, a JD from Columbia Law School and an MBA Certificat des Études from Hautes Études Commerciales de Paris.

3. Milly Businge – Kikuube Village Council (Uganda)

Milly Businge is a respected village elder and mother of eight children in the small village of Kikuube. She serves as the Local Chairperson (LC1) of her village, representing a population of nearly 1000 residents. She has been unanimously re-elected to this position by the residents of Kikuube because her work representing them at the government level. She has often wanted to retire and refused to stand for the position during elections, but the villagers always rally and vote for her anyway. That’s the mark of a great leader.  Mrs. Businge was also recently officially ordained as a minister and serves as the pastor of the small but growing community church.

In November 2010, Mrs. Businge delivered the keynote speech during the “Villages in Action” conference that was hosted in Kikuube.  The conference was broadcast live over the internet and proved to be a very successful initiative — giving the poor an opportunity to be heard in the global conversation about the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

When she is not managing domestic disputes, land wrangles, and community health awareness campaigns in her community, she spends her time reading. She is also an enthusiastic user of mobile technologies as they help her connect with her constituency and connect globally to her son (TMS Ruge) in America.

4. Liz Ngonzi – New York University Heyman Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising (USA)

Born in Uganda and “raised” at the United Nations, Liz Ngonzi is an international educator, speaker and consultant, who has since 2009, been on Adjunct Faculty at New York University’s Heyman Center for Philanthropy & Fundraising – for which she has developed and taught courses on online and mobile fundraising, and where she is one of four noted social media experts.

Liz is a recognized authority on ICT for development, the African Diaspora market, hospitality / service management, women in business, and social entrepreneurship.  She’s a frequent conference speaker, including as a panelist during the Entrepreneurship@Cornell Celebration, in the spring of 2007; as a featured international speaker at the May 2011 Southern Africa Institute of Fundraising’s 10th Biennial Convention in South Africa; and as a panelist for New York University’s Philanthropy 3.0 Speaker Series: Mobile in Advocacy The Next Frontier.  In September, she will speak in the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 41^st Annual Legislative Conference and will chair the 2^nd Annual ICT Women Empowerment Africa Summit in South Africa.

A committed volunteer, Liz has held several board positions, including currently serving as a member of the President’s Council of Cornell Women (for which she is a Vice Chair of its Communications Committee); the Advisory Board to the Cornell University Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship; and the United Nations International School’s Council for Alumni Affairs.

Media outlets in which Liz has been featured, include: CBS’ The Early Show, Crain’s New York Business, New Jersey Jewish News, Successful Meetings Magazine, The New York Times, The Nonprofit Times and ZambiaBlogTalkRadio.

Liz founded and runs Amazing Taste, LLC., a values-led boutique consulting firm that connects NGOs with philanthropists and corporations, to achieve strategic objectives through fundraising events, marketing campaigns, along with educational activities.   Amazing Taste has worked with or advised domestic and international educational institutions, gender rights organizations, healthcare foundations, political campaigns, and youth development organizations.

Liz spent her 10-year corporate career in marketing, sales and business consulting at Digital Equipment Corporation, MICROS Systems, Inc. and Arthur Andersen, respectively.  She obtained her Master of Management in Hospitality degree from Cornell University and a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems degree (with a concentration in Telecommunications Systems) from Syracuse University.  Additionally, she graduated from the United Nations International School.

5. TMS Ruge (moderator and “token male”) – Project Diaspora (USA)

TMS Ruge was born in Masindi, Uganda and grew up in Uganda, Kenya and the United States. Capitalizing on his understanding of different cultures and markets, Ruge has become a successful global social entrepreneur.

In 2007 he co-founded Project Diaspora — to motivate, engage and mobilize the African Diaspora to take an active role in Africa’s development. Following his passion to engage the continent, he has invested his time and money in a number of development initiatives including Uganda Medicinal Plants Grower’s ltd. – an indigenous farmers’ business specializing in the export of value-added medicinal plants, and Women of Kireka – a women’s jewelry making cooperative.

A technology enthusiast, Ruge writes and speaks extensively on Africa’s current renaissance driven by technology, youth and the Diaspora. He is a frequent contributor to several online publications including CNN, PopTech, The Globe and Mail, and The Guardian, and the Project Diaspora blog. He is also the host of The Digital Continent Podcast, a weekly technology podcast for people who believe that Africa is full of innovation and opportunity. Ruge is also a founding board member of Hive Colab – an open, collaborative, community-owned, work environment for young Ugandan tech entrepreneurs to focus on projects..

Ruge also serves as an advisor for ?OpenAction.org – an online platform that allows development organizations to richly engage their online audience.

He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Design from the University of North Texas.

Description of the Proposed SXSW Africa, Tech Women: The New Faces of Development Panel:

This panel provides a rare glimpse into the multitude of ways African women are applying technology to advance Africa’s development. The panel aims to dispel the myths about African women as breeders and victims — incapable of participating in their own continent’s development, by: (1) showcasing contributions they are making in the technology field – through entrepreneurship, philanthropy, and community leadership; and (2) providing insights into how they are using technology to raise awareness about, mobilize campaigns against and address human rights violations.

The panel will specifically explore how African women are using technology to make an impact through: – Digital advocacy to protect people’s rights – Social media to help grassroots organizations engage new supporters worldwide – Mobile advertising to enable small businesses to access new markets – Internet connectivity to integrate the often unheard community voices into the global conversation on development

Throughout the discussion, panelists will provide anecdotes on how the resulting increased access to information, is altering the role of women in African society.

Questions our panel aims to answer are:

1. What is the role of women in Africa’s fast emerging digital landscape and what types of contributions are they making?
2. How is technology improving the everyday lives of women on the continent?
3. What is the negative impact of increased access to information, on the role of the African woman in her society?
4. What are the opportunities and connections technology is facilitating between women in the Diaspora and on the continent?
5. Given the increased adoption of mobile phones in Africa and the rise of its middle class, what opportunities exist for marketers interested in targeting African women?

Please help us to amplify the voices of African women in the global discussion on development.

Vote for Africa, Tech & Women: The New Faces of Development and tell your friends to do the same.

Thank you

Follow us on Twitter: Liz Ngonzi @LizNgonzi | Isis  Nyongy’o @Inyongyo | TMS Ruge @TMSruge

Britain’s Brainiest Family is Black and Has 9-Year-Old High School-Bound Twins — what a catchy title for a compelling story about the British-based offspring of Nigerian immigrants — Chris and Ann Imafidon — blessed with what is seen as extraordinary brains.  I discovered this and another related compelling article, during my routine search for blog post content and was quite inspired, given that the last time I had conducted such a search, I had come across many dis-empowering images of Africa and its people, sparking my piece entitled: Rebranding Africa: Let’s Simply Start by Connecting the Dots for a Kid in Podunk! The basic premise of that piece was that Africans and those in the diaspora need to work towards helping shape a full picture of who we are — beyond images of “primitive” and helpless people — through the sharing of the plethora of existing success stories of those in the diaspora who are making their marks on their respective spheres and who consequently serve as ambassadors for a more inclusive dialogue about the African continent.

Paula & Peter Imafidon (Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2553538/Twins-youngest-to-sit-A-level-maths.html)

One of the compelling articles I cite above, penned by Jack Malvern in The UK Times on March 1, 2010, characterizes the Imafidon children as prodigies, including the main subjects of the piece, Paula and Peter, who at the time of its printing, the author noted as nine-year-old “Wonder Twins” bound for high school.  This family included the oldest sibling, Anne-Marie — at the time 20 — and who at the time held “the world record for being  the youngest girl to pass A-level computing, at 13,” while at the same age, she won a British government scholarship to pursue undergraduate studies at the prestigious Johns Hopkins University in the United States; the next sibling, Christiana (who at the time of the article was 17), at the age of 11, became the youngest student to pursue an undergraduate education in any British University; and Samantha (at the time 12), who at the age of six, passed two rigorous high school–level mathematics and statistics exams, and whose feat was further emulated by her “Wonder Twin” siblings, Paula and Peter.

While I sincerely applaud Mr. Malvern and other journalists who  took it upon themselves to spotlight the Imafidon children, the undertones I read are that the family members are a collective anomaly – a notion which their father dispelled in an interview with Black Voices’ blogger, Ruth Manuel-Logan, in which he attributed their success not to any innate super powers, but simply to an Excellence in Education program for disadvantaged inner-city youth, in which they had all participated and as I inferred – active parenting and great genes.  He  stated further that “Every child is a genius…Once you identify the talent of a child and put them in the environment that will nurture that talent, then the sky is the limit,”  citing examples such as Tiger Woods and the Williams sisters, whose talents he believes were also nurtured.

Given the aforementioned and many other examples I have personally witnessed of highly intelligent and accomplished Africans, achieving great success in all spheres around the world (some of whom I included in my earlier cited piece) — I wonder why Africans still accept to be depicted as” (1) people who are seemingly too inept to effectively participate in their own development, (2) have low levels of education attainment, (3) need to be constantly saved by others, and (3) presumably have contributed nothing to this world, beyond breeding too many children who drain the globe’s resources.  The overwhelming majority of images I see in the media about the continent, are those of Africa’s natural resources that are fodder for the picking and its animals and landscape that are the source of enjoyment for tourists.

I was further compelled to write this piece, based on a heart wrenching Twitter message I received in response to my earlier cited piece on the need to re-brand Africa from the nonprofit group Youth Advocacy Network (YAN), which teaches kids in Buea, Cameroon, about video production, social media and computer literacy, as a means to share their stories with the world.   The message was: “Our students researched Africa & the flood of neg stats/media was hard to take in. Esp 4 kids using the web for the 1st time…” – which I interpreted as: their children were negatively affected by the negative images they found in the search results for Africa, most likely because the images failed to reflect the reality they see on a daily basis and the aspirations they each have.  It is for them, and other future leaders of the African continent and other parts of the world, that I plead that we seriously consider changing the image of Africa.  I fear that if we fail to provide an inclusive depiction of Africa, we fail those current and future generations that could potentially benefit fully from all that Africa has to offer.

For a more balanced picture, I refer to my own personal experiences.  In the early 1990’s, I was fortunate to meet a young Cameroonian, Dr. Acha Leke (a native francophone), while he was an undergraduate electrical engineering student at Georgia Institute of Technology in the United States — from which he eventually graduated at the age of 21 as its first black valedictorian — enrolled in a five-year program from which other would have graduated at the age of 23.  He eventually went on to obtain his PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University; became a partner at the prestigious management consulting firm, McKinsey and Company; was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum; and in his very valuable spare time, co-founded the inpiring African Leadership Academy – an institution aimed at developing the next generation of ethical and well-trained African leaders.

African Leadership Academy Crest

Dr. Leke is but one of many highly intelligent and committed Africans I have been privileged to meet along my journey.  Other examples include the visionary students with whom I had an opportunity to work during the early 1990’s, as a volunteer publicist for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology-based, African Technology Forum (ATF) — a journal chronicling scientific and technological advances within and without Africa — furthering the continent’s development.  Most of these students had at the time, moved from Africa to attain degrees from top universities in the United States, including:

1. Karanja Gakio, ATF co-founder who went on to co-found Africa Online with fellow Kenyan and MIT classmate Ayisi Makatiani (named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum) – the continent’s first Internet Service Provider– which was eventually sold to Prodigy Services Corporation.
2. Mawuli Tse, a Ghanaian national, who at the time was an MIT student and ATF co-founder, who has since become the Director of International Sales for iBasis, a global leader in international voice, mobile data and prepaid services that turns the challenges of international telecommunications into new opportunities.
3. Dr. John Ofori-Tenkorang (born to forward-thinking illiterate Ghanaian parents), who conducted his MIT doctoral research on a hybrid engine for a leading American automobile manufacturer.
4. Nigerian-born, Dayo Ogunyemi, at the time an undergraduate MIT student (and fellow UNIS alumnus), who subsequently went on to attain his JD/MBA degrees from Columbia University, and following two decades as an entrepreneur, financier, strategy consultant and attorney is now the CEO of 234 Media — a firm that makes principal investments in the media, entertainment and technology sectors in Africa.
5. Fellow Ugandan, Dr. Khaitsa Wasiyo, who at the time was an undergraduate student at Tufts University — eventually going on to complete her Ed.D at Columbia University’s famed Teachers College, and subsequently founded Elgon Project Management – “a turnkey, one-stop solution for building open source interactive websites for learning, collaboration, and performance.”

So given all of the aforementioned, what’s my point?  The “Wonder Twins” and their siblings are not an anomaly — they are but examples (as stated by their own father) of what dedicated parenting, focus, and enrichment programs aimed at developing youth…can accomplish.

The examples of some of the very intelligent and accomplished Africans I have been blessed to meet along my journey should help to solidify the notion that Africa has highly intelligent people who have made and continue to make contributions worthy of note, on the continent and beyond.  They also are also helping to move the continent toward Africa3.0.

Note: I also recently learned about 15-year-old American teenager, Saheela Ibraheem — born to Nigerian immigrants — admitted into 13 prestigious American universities, from which she has just accepted an offer from Harvard University to pursue studies in neuroscience and neurobiology.

Please feel free to connect with me: About.me || Twitter

My last couple of blog posts on Project Diaspora have focused on best practices to improve service delivery on the continent and mobile solutions to potentially improve visitors’ experiences when they travel to Africa.

San Bushman man from Botswana. Photo Credit: Ian Beatty from Amherst, MA, USA

As I contemplated this current blog post, I looked through my notes to find an inspiring idea. I wasn’t inspired by any of them. So I revisited a Wikipedia search for Africa, which I recently conducted.  What I found was seemingly pretty basic: history, geography, politics, etc.  What struck me, however, was that the overall entries about contemporary Africa were quite negative in general, supported by images of a San bushman from Botswana, Beja Bedouins from Northeast Africa, a rural woman from Benin and a street musician from South Africa.

Beja Bedouins from Northeast Africa. Photo Credit: I, Jpereira

While none of these photos are particularly derogatory, they fail to accurately reflect what the continent has to offer, in terms of its educated urban population and its market potential.

As a diasporan born in Uganda and raised in New York, this all stirred up negative emotions within.  I grew up in New York during a time when it wasn’t cool to be African and I struggled with my identity, despite having gone to the United Nations International School – a very inclusive and empowering academic institution — and living in a community of mostly multicultural families.  At the time, it was much easier for me to assimilate as an African American (a group with which I still very heavily identify having grown up in the US) trying to bury my “Africanness”.  It’s only when I got to Syracuse University as an undergrad and took a few Africana studies courses that I began to develop pride for my heritage and to seek out additional sources to reinforce that feeling. So while the title of this post is about the kid in Podunk, I believe that what I’m proposing below is important also for the African kid (a) living in the diaspora, (b) who is fortunate enough to access the internet in Africa and even (c) whose friend and can teach him/her about who he/she can become as a result of hearing about his/her fortunate friend’s discovery online.

I must stress that my issue in post isn’t actually with Wikipedia — “a nonprofit charitable organization dedicated to encouraging the growth, development and distribution of free, multilingual content, and to providing the full content of these wiki-based projects to the public free of charge.” The question then is “who should bear the responsibility for the inaccurate portrayal of Africa?”  Is it an individual, an organization or African governments?  Who stands to benefits most from a more inclusive and therefore positive branding of Africa?  You may in turn ask “why this is important?”  Well here are my two cents:

Children, the future leaders of the world, are generally quite impressionable.  So what they’re taught as children influences the decisions they make as adults.  Exposure to correct information about Africa would therefore lead them to recognize Africa and Africans are valuable partners in the global economy rather than the current perception of Africa and its people as a lost cause.

Liya Kebede, Ethiopian model, maternal health advocate, clothing designer and actress who has appeared three times on the cover of US Vogue. Photo Credit: Ed Kavishe, Fashion Wire Press

It’s imperative therefore that Africa and Africans amend the Wikipedia pages on Africa and the African Diaspora, to reflect more inclusive images of Africa and the African Diaspora, given the intrinsic value of the latter both to the continent and the countries where they reside.

Below is a very SMALL sample of diasporans of note who could potentially be spotlighted.  I used the following methodology to find them:

1. I searched Wikipedia for diasporans with whom I am familiar and then used links from their profiles to identify others. I was mindful about the need to reflect talent from the whole continent.
2. I excluded people on the continent making their mark, purely as a means to remain focused on Project Diaspora’s mission: to promote African diaspora engagement in sustainable economic activities within Africa.
3. For simplicity sake, I narrowly defined Diasporans as those who currently reside outside of Africa and who were born in or have parents from Africa.
4. I linked to the Diasporans’ existing Wikipedia pages and grouped each sample according to primary industry.
5. Finally, I used photos from diasporans whose Wikipedia pages had rights-free photographs.

African Diasporans of Note

Arts / Entertainment	Akon || Johannes Anyuru || Michael Blackson || Chiwetel Ejiofor || Idris Elba || Safi Faye || Edi Gathegi || Haile Gerima || Namugenyi Kiwanuka || Boris Kodjoe || Sal Masekela || Peter Mensah || Tom Morello || Ntare Mwine || Thandi Newton       Photo: Thandi Newton, English actress born to Zimbabwean mother and British father. Photo Credit: gdcgraphics”
Education	Ilesanmi Adesida || Kwame Anthony Appiah || Patricia McFadden
Fashion	Amsale Aberra || Ozwald Boateng || Iman || Kiara Kabukuru || Liya Kebede
Financial Services	Mo Ibrahim || Dambisa Moyo || Adebayo Ogunlesi
Journalism	Sade Baderinwa || Ron Mwangaguhunga || Hoda Kotb || Dinaw Mengestu || Adaora Udoji
Politics	Peter Bossman || David Soares
Hospitality Management/Travel	Dorinda Hafner || Marcus Samuelsson         Photo: Marcus Samuelsson, Ethiopian-born Swedish chef and co-owner of Aquavit and Red Rooster restaurants in New York City and C-House Restaurant, located in the Affinia Hotel in Chicago. Photo Credit: Tduk Alex Lozupone”
Religion	Rev. Peter Gomes* || Archbishop John Sentamu
Science & Technology	Kwatsi Alubaruho || Cheick Modibo Diarra || Chinedu Echeruo || Gebisa Ejeta || Ave Kludze || Noah Samara || Window Snyder
Sports	John Amaechi || Kelenna Azubuike || Yinka Dare || Obinna Ekezie || James Ihedigbo || Ruth Kasirye || Mathias Kiwanuka || Dikembe Mutombo || Emeka Okafor || Hakeem Olajuwon || Betty Okino       Photo: Dikembe Mutombo, retired Congolese American professional basketball player, who last played for the Houston Rockets of the NBA. Photo Credit: Keith Allison”

In conclusion, while Wikipedia is a great tool for cataloguing a part of Africa’s reality through its Africa and African Diaspora pages, they need to project the other side of the story.  The basis for this is currently available as individual dots on the Wikipedia site.  What’s needed is for these dots to be connected and given a little bit of context to make it easy for a kid anywhere in the world to access a more inclusive picture about Africa.  I am pleased to note that individual Africans including: Mo Ibrahim, G. Kofi Annan, Sophie Bekele, Ida Horner, Mariéme Jamme, Sheila Ochugboju, Emeka Okafor, Alex Okosi and Joshua Wanyama , are some of the many already working towards the rebranding of the continent.

My hope is that this post will inspire others to join this vital effort.  I welcome any feedback or suggestions for other Diasporans or Diaspora-related items to feature.

Please feel free to connect with me:
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*Rev. Peter Gomes passed away on February 28, 2011

Back in 2007 when I attended the first East Africa Investment Conference in Kigali, Rwanda, I had the distinct pleasure of hearing Dr. Mo Ibrahim speak. I remember then being in awe of his vision for East Africa’s business potential. Even then he was preaching the benefits of businesses building socially conscious business models. I didn’t know much about him and in fact had never heard of him. I’d just started blogging for PD and hadn’t really caught on to the impending technology boom. I am quite sure he has no recollection of me handing him my business card and him promising to keep in touch.

Bah. Bygones.

So it came as a pleasure when I actually opened up my email this morning to find that one of my favorite newsletters to receive, Business Call to Action, had the featured interview above.

The discussions on aid vs trade have been raging for a while now in the aid blogosphere. I’ve chimed in here and there and debated the issue on Twitter (the world’s new discussion board). But I think the Dr. Ibrahim puts it quite succinctly here that, in essence, business is a form of aid. For all that ills that aid tries to eliminate. Business can achieve with just a shift in business model. Dr. Ibrahim states that businesses shouldn’t be afraid to make a profit.

According to Dr. Ibrahim, there’s progress being made. “Business people are realizing more and more that we cannot succeed when our societies are failing. We are part of society.” He also states that

“the main objective of business is profit. Businesses are not charities. Let’s not confuse the two. We expect business to really work for profit. The fact that they are investing and creating jobs, they are creating wealth and that’s important for development. We say thank you very much. Do that ethically. Continue to do that ethically. We don’t ask you to turn from business to charity.”

I couldn’t agree more here. I think the debate over aid vs trade shouldn’t be centered around one or the other as the de facto mode operandi for eliminating poverty. I think the debate should be how aid and trade can coexist more effectively.

Elevating society shouldn’t be a divisive responsibility. It should be a collective effort. Let trade create wealth, but do so ethically so as to enhance the efforts of the aid community, who’s responsibilities should be more focused on filling the gap in civil services. Put another way, both should compliment each other instead of canceling or ignoring each other.

One more thing that Dr. Ibrahim touched is one that I think we as members of the Diaspora need to continue to embrace. Continued investment in Africa needs to be powered by real-time information. Dr. Ibrahim’s recounting of his American counterpart who was wholly ignorant about Uganda’s leader is what I am talking about. We need to continually speak up and represent our continent. Idi Amin is not longer Uganda’s president and hasn’t been for more than 2 decades. Yet, there isn’t a year that goes by where I don’t run into several people asking about him. For once I’d like them to me about mobile internet penetration, or how Diaspora remittances are fast outpacing bilateral aid and what that means to our economies. That’s the story we should be talking about and selling. Because doing so, creates an appetite for investment. Investment begets wealth creation, wealth creation begets a middle class. And I am sure you know what happens when we have an empowered, educated middle class? Change happens.

HOPSTOP Logo Superimposed on Google Map of Kampala, Uganda

One of my favorite iPhone apps is HOPSTOP, founded in 2005 by US-based and Nigerian-born entrepreneur, Chinedu Echeruo.  Why I love this app is that it enables me to easily map out my travel route (by foot, rail or bus) when I’m visiting places across the US, with which I’m unfamiliar and provides me with access to services located around my destination, such as a Starbucks, I can visit prior to a meeting to have a warm beverage, check my email or  freshen up.

I was reminded of why I love HOPSTOP so much, during my recent vacation to Uganda.  It was a great trip during which I visited many parts of the country, dined in fantastic places, stayed in great resorts and as a constantly-engaged entrepreneur…even snuck in a few meetings.  One of the only challenges I faced however, was that despite having born in Uganda and traveled there quite often, I needed to have guides with me throughout the trip, because the country — as with others on the African Continent — have limited numbers of street names.  This is not only a challenge for visitors, it’s also an issue for locals who are forced to use landmarks to find destinations.  The aforementioned challenge limited my experience to those places I researched online prior to my visit, those which friends recommended to me and those with which my various guides were familiar.

I wonder,  if had I been able to access a HOPSTOP app to find destinations on my own,  would I have been comfortable trying out new places and possibly venturing out on my own?  Why this is significant is that when I put myself in the shoes of someone visiting a country such as Uganda, for the first time, I can imagine that navigating through the many wonderful places to experiecne might be a challenge, particularly given the aforementioned lack of street names.  To be fair, there are many sources, one of which is The Eye Magazine, which does provide listings of destinations and maps of their corresponding locations.  However, for folks like me who are used to being able to access information easily on a PDA, we definitely need more.

Ideally, I would love to see an app that enables visitors to:

• Map out their routes by various available modes of transportation with cost and risk estimates for each (a trip on a boda boda can be quite a harrowing experience, yet is the most affordable option in East Africa, besides walking)
• Access location-based services that are generated based on the user’s location, personal preferences and purchasing history
• Retrieve a time-limited coupon for access to services, such as those of the Groupon app
• Post reviews of their experience of local services (a la TripAdvisor)
• Monitor traffic updates that enable them to avoid “jam” centers

Having presence on an app such as the one proposed above would be great for owners of small businesses in Uganda (and other African countries),  in that it would potentially provide them access to consumers they might not otherwise have been able to attract, enable them to receive feedback about their services that could help them improve delivery, create more needed jobs and generally stimulate economic growth.  Google has already embarked on a project to map various countries throughout Africa — an endeavor which should help to facilitate the aforementioned.

Mr. Echeruo, I ask you to seriously consider creating the app I’ve proposed above…if you’re not already doing so.  You’re a terrific example of the great minds to which Africa has given birth and from which it should benefit…as it develops.  You have successfully scaled HopStop across North America and it’s now time to take your talents and resources to Africa — a continent that relies heavily on tourism and and increasingly on international commerce, both of which would be more easily facilitated by a disruptive app that ultimately furthers the development of the Continent.   In addition to all of the aforementioned, there is a growing community of trail-blazing tech savvy wiz kids on the Continent (that I learned about 140 characters at a time on Twitter) with whom you could potentially collaborate to work towards Africa 3.0 – an aspiration that a tech visionary such as you, has the wherewithal to achieve.

Here’s how you can connect with me:

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Amazing Taste Website

Murchison Falls on the Nile in Uganda

As I write my first blog posting for Project Diaspora, I do so with the backdrop of change being fueled in Northern Africa by various social media, at the core of which are the 140 characters at a time on Twitter that have enabled those affecting and directly affected by the change to mobilize support from many around the globe who otherwise would never have known, cared about, nor even tried to further their plight.   The aforementioned is but one example of the viral nature of information exchange in our ever shrinking global village — enabling individuals to collectively voice their opinions — leading to dramatic change politically, economically, socially and spiritually.

With that background, I begin my sharing of thoughts and analyses with you, as they relate to the change I see happening across the African Continent.   I’ve been online for 20 years, when the Internet as we currently know it, was in its infancy and I was a student in Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies, learning to email my homework assignments on my first PC and struggling to find information online to complete my final senior paper on the importance of Africa leapfrogging the then-available and cost-prohibitive fixed-line infrastructure, to embrace the emerging telecoms technology at the time…satellite.

Today, I struggle to filter the plethora of information available through my multiple social media networks that I access on mostly on my iPhone.  Fortunately, the increased connectivity has enabled me to keep current on the goings-on around the world and to find those who are geographically dispersed, yet thinking and expressing themselves on topics about which we are mutually passionate – stories about Africans on the Continent and  in the Diaspora, currently working on and looking to participate in the future development of Africa.  The “place” where I have found most of those people is on Twitter – where I met @TMSRuge, visionary founder of Project Diaspora.   While we originate from the same country — Uganda — in the past that would not have been sufficient enough for he and I to connect, in that our families are from opposite parts of the country, we are from different ethnic groups, grew up at different times and in separate places around the world.   The beauty of 140 characters is that despite the aforementioned artificial boundaries, @TMSRuge and I are now connected based on our shared interests and ideals, have subsequently engaged in email exchanges and conversations — all of which have led to my current blog posting and hopefully, future collaborations.

My connection to @TMSRuge, through 140 characters, has paved the way for me to access a vehicle — Project Diaspora — to highlight Africans who are moving back to the Continent and effectively reversing the brain-drain by either working as local representatives for multinational/domestic corporations, international development organizations, joining their respective governments or pursuing their own entrepreneurial dreams.  The 140 characters have also led the way for me to showcase those companies, organizations and individuals who, despite originating from outside of the African continent, are partnering with Africans, to assist in its development.

The themes of my blog postings moving forward, will focus on how Africans in the Diaspora, on the Continent and friends of Africa, are contributing to its development in innovative ways and how their efforts are helping to give birth to Africa 3.0…possibly 140 characters at time!

Here’s how you can connect with me:

Twitter

LinkedIn

Facebook

Amazing Taste Website

I penned an opinion text for CNN that’s been published. I was asked to comment on the state of the new reality in Africa in light of this year’s WTO Doha round of talks in Davos.

(CNN) — While the developed nations drag their feet on inclusive trade agreements with emerging markets, Africa is busy redefining itself. Most of the continent’s countries — remnants of colonial rule — are barely 50 years old, infant nations on the path to democratic maturity.

Nonetheless, the world is impatient to see a matured Africa unencumbered by battle scars emblematic of the march to democracy. This year, the continent is on the verge of birthing a new nation in Southern Sudan. In Tunisia, the “jasmine revolution” has gone a long way towards shrugging off the shackles of dictatorial rule. The world need not worry; this isn’t prescient to a new wave of unrest for the world’s youngest continent. This is the beginning of a renaissance.

Africa is rising, and not because global summits such as Davos are delivering results, but because the continent itself is awakening at the behest of half a billion people yet to experience their 20th birthday.

You can read the rest on the CNN site.

We got in touch with Loren Treisman, Trust Executive of the Indigo Trust in London. The Indo Trust is looking to support ICT4D projects on the continent championed by members of the Diaspora. Of course we are giddy as these are two of the biggest ingredients in our daily meal here at PD – the Diaspora and technology. So if you are working on something that matches the description below, then you need to get in contact with Loren, like pronto. We encourage you to spread the word about this fabulous opportunity. If you know anyone or group working in this arena, please do pass along the information.

If you’d like to comment, or have questions that you think would benefit everyone, please do leave them in the comments for Loren and he’ll be more than happy to reply for clarification.

The Indigo Trust is a charitable trust.  We are currently exploring ways of promoting information equality and democratic transparency among disadvantaged people and communities in Africa. We are also interested in supporting innovative ICT4D projects in any field including health and adult literacy. Recent grant recipients include My Society, the democracy and transparency charity.

We are interested in the role that Diaspora communities can play in this process, generally and particularly in countries where people’s safety may be put at risk through engagement in this sort of work.  If you are a member of a Diaspora community and have projects/ideas of how to use ICT in a way that can aid democratic transparency or development, we would love to hear from you.

In the meantime, to find out more about us, check out our blog:, which is currently under construction or follow us on twitter: @indigotrust.  You can also contact me directly:

Dr. Loren Treisman, Trust Executive
The Indigo Trust
The Sainsbury Family of Charitable Trusts

Allington House (First Floor)
150 Victoria Street
London, SW1E 5AE, UK
T: 020 7410 0330
M: 07809702920
F: 020 74100332
E: loren.treisman@sfct.org.uk

We look forward to hearing from you!

In June 2010, I had the pleasure of presenting at Grantmakers in Film + Electronic Media (GFEM)’s first Conversation. My task was to comment on the state of/ future of media, technology, and access to information on the continent. A fairly sizable task to accomplish in a 10-minute presentation.

The best part about the opportunity was that not only was I able to talk about the state of technology on the continent, but I was able to actually demonstrate it. I was fortunate enough to be in Kampala and have access the Appfrica Labs/Hive Colab working spaces. There was adequate bandwidth for me to do the presentation over Skype using screen share.

In June 2010, I had the pleasure of presenting at Grantmakers in Film + Electronic Media (GFEM)’s first Conversation. My task was to comment on the state of/ future of media, technology, and access to information on the continent. A fairly sizable task to accomplish in a 10-minute presentation.

The best part about the opportunity was that not only was I able to talk about the state of technology on the continent, but I was able to actually demonstrate it. I was fortunate enough to be in Kampala and have access the Appfrica Labs/Hive Colab working spaces.  There was adequate bandwidth for me to do the presentation over Skype using screen share.

I think I speak for a majority of Africa’s diaspora when I say that the mobile phone in Africa has made life away from our homes of origin much more bearable. The ability to instantly connect and have a conversation with family members allows us to maintain those family bonds that are so important to many of us. Unless your entire family migrated out of Africa, many of us still have loved ones on the ground that we are now able to connect to with ever increasing immediacy.

In a sense, the world has shrunk for us. It used to be that separation for the African diaspora meant vast distances marked by snail mail and connecting flights. Now that distance is reduced to the time it takes you to dial a number or send a text, or compose an email.

I am very close to my family in Uganda. So close in fact that i rarely make decisions without consulting them and vice versa. We operate like a well-oiled organization. We routinely check on each other’s progress with family meetings. As the older sibling, I am chided (in good fun of course) for still being single. We constantly fuss about the future of our younger siblings and their education, a unified effort to make sure that our family is well-equipped to survive in this world. We take a “no-sibling left behind” policy in our family. I Facebook chat with my sister Pam on a daily basis. It is the new, “after-tea conversation.”

This week, I had a Skype conference call with my brother Isaiah (an administrator at the local college, my sister Pam (general manager of UMPG), and my mother (a pastor and local councilwoman for her village). There wasn’t anything special about the call really, in fact, I had done it several times before. This time though, I had a huge smile on my face. Perhaps in retrospect, I was reliving my talk at SXSW. This is what I was talking about. I was living the future of a connected Africa, in real time. I was having the same out of body experience as one would have walking through a déja vu episode (I am always freaked out by those!).

At the SXSW presentation, I demonstrated the collaborative possibilities of a connected Africa with a live Skype interview with Appfrica Labs in Uganda, iHub in Kenya, and Limbe Labs in Cameroon (I am still saddened that I didn’t get to talk to Banta Labs in Senegal because of time constraints). I had also planned on making a call to my mom in the village so she could tell the audience what a difference having a mobile phone has made in her life. I failed to connect due to a bad network connection. Instead I did the next best thing. I called my mum a few days after the presentation and interviewed her for this post. You can listen to her interview below.

With 450 million mobile subscriptions on the continent, one can’t help but think of the possibilities, and what all this connectivity could mean for us. Milly lists some of the benefits (and challenges) of owning a mobile phone in the village. The greatest of which was the joy that she could talk to her son at any time (provided I called more often of course) without her having to take a 3 hour bus ride to Kampala so I can reach her on a land line. The accelerated penetration of mobiles predicted over the next three year is even more exciting. Stats point to nearly 50% of Africa’s population as under the age of 15; coming of age just as Africa gets ready to tap into over 18 terabytes of designed broadband capacity available to the continent by 2012.

The possibilities for the continent are endless, but to me, they are very real and personal.

If you have been following the on-going #Africa3d0 discussions on Twitter from my talk at SxSW in Austin, TX, then you have noticed that @OLPCnews challenged me to a debate. The challenge was stoked by my comment during the Q&A session that “…OLPC was dead in the water.” I have kept a skeptical eye on Nicholas Negroponte’s pet project since its initial announcement. This is not the first time that I have spoken out against OLPC. I had the same skeptical point of view last year at Ars Electronica’s Cloud Intelligence Symposium round table.

First things first. There are a couple things that I think the XO accomplishes and I applaud Negroponte for his efforts in these areas.

1. OLPC makes an effort to introduce technology to children.
   I can’t argue with this effort at all. Fundamentally, it is right up there with my views that Africa’s future will ride largely on a digital renaissance.
2. As @OLPCnews put it, “OLPC begat netbooks.”
   The form factor proved that you can make a portable, cheap laptop. This has had the effect of reducing the barrier to entry in many markets.

Now, let me admit that @OLPCnews has it right, I am no MARK WARSCHAUER, (who articulates the many structural failures of OLPC from a learned professional’s view point). Nor am I Jon Camfield, whom I have had the pleasure of meeting and discussing the many angles of OLPC. You can find his excellent posts on the subject here, here and here. I will address this from a Ugandan perspective, and as an ever-curious African futurist in terms of the connected learning and cultural experience in Africa.

With that in mind, let me address some of my points in greater detail (and hopefully greater clarity than offered in 140 characters). That being said, here are my reasons for declaring OLPC a failed strategy for Africa.

Failure to Address Failed Education Systems
I applaud OLPC’s attempt to have the governments pay for the laptops and distribute them to the children, but I do not see this going very far beyond a few progressive governments like Kagame’s Rwanda. If the government does not acknowledge and address its poor education system, and put massive weight behind making sure that the cornerstones of their country’s education system are overhauled to be inline with 21st century educational best practices, then OLPC is dead in the water.

Pointing out the successes of individual schools is analogous to putting a bandage on a patient with thousands of festering wounds and maladies and then proclaiming in the loudest voice capable, “see, see, it does work and you are an idiot for saying it doesn’t!!” What Africa’s education system needs is a massive injection of reform from within. In particular, Uganda’s education system stopped progressing at the end of British colonial rule over 40 years ago. It is the same “stuff and regurgitate” method of instruction that doesn’t inspire individual exploration. The teacher is the gate keeper of information. Don’t question authority. A system like this leaves very little room for outside-the-box education systems like OLPC. Injecting XO in just a chosen few schools does not address the problems inherently wrong with the system. XO’s are not a panacea for fundamentally flawed education systems.

Why not go the distance by making sure you have teachers that can leverage the power of such a platform so they can educate better and more effectively.

1. “Train the trainer” first, by empowering teachers to believe in the tool. Additionally, provide on-going, practical training for every teacher involved in the program.
2. Pay and certify the teachers to use this tool so they feel the inherent value instead of adding another thing they have to do for the same measly pay
3. Ensure a supportive political environment that values digital learning tools. Therefore, an ecosystem of governance that simply “gets it,” that the whole educational value chain has to be supported and sustained in order to gain maximum value.
4. Build the infrastructure that will continue to support e-learning initiatives beyond the involvement of one vendor.
5. More precisely, diversify the electronic teaching tools so that you have a hybrid electronic ecosystem that can respond to the particular needs of the environment. A hybrid learning system that resembles real-world atmosphere is better than limiting students to sugar OS. Add in mobile learning initiatives so they can also interact with the real world.

With nearly 50% of Africa’s population under the age of 15, we are at a critical cross roads in preparing for their future. We need forward-thinking governments that can take the helm and man up to their institutional responsibility of educating their country’s future leaders, innovators, and change makers. This is not Nick Negroponte’s responsibility. No matter how hard he tries to stuff the XO into children’s hands, the war will still be lost, save for a few anecdotal battle successes.

African governments are not equipped to purchase, distribute, maintain 450 million XOs in Africa while simultaneously overhauling failed infrastructures. Let  us also remember, that a majority of these African countries function on donor capital. How is this good for us again?

Wrong Platform

As of 2009, there were approximately 450 million phone subscriptions across Africa.  A few countries on the continent have an estimated 90% rate of penetration. To many, this is the first introduction to a piece of technology, the first introduction to a computing device, and if you count SMS and MMS services, the first introduction to electronic communication.

The mobile phone in Africa does something that the OLPC will never do, it integrates itself into the rhythm of life in Africa. Its use flows with the pace of life: it augments ones life experience when it needs to; it plays rescuer when the need arises, it creates incomes where none were possible previously; it makes the world smaller where previously distances were vast. Most importantly, it educates everyone. Try doing that with an XO. Anyone that comes across a mobile phone instantly experiences the benefits of a mobile simply by accomplishing a necessary task; call someone, text someone, calculate a price difference, set an alarm, tell time, research a particular crop disease. Even the dumbest of phones provide immeasurable exposure to technology to the greatest number of people in Africa. If this isn’t a prime example of educating a nation, I don’t know what is.

The rise of smart phones far outpaced the OLPC.  A majority of Africa’s half-billion children will come of age on smart phones more suited to their traditional lifestyles than OLPC and they will learn real-world experiences. Phones are not getting dumber with features being stripped away. They are getting smarter, ubiquitous and cheaper. @OLPCnews should educate itself on the potential to educate on a mobile by visiting my good friend Steve Vosloo’s Innovating Education project in South Africa. The project is proving success even without the use of smartphones. If they can the mobile phone as a viable pedagogical tool without the use of smart phones, how much more successful will they be with smart phones? OLPC is not the only way, nor is it the best way to introduce technology to children, nor is it the best. Defending OLPC’s relevance is analogous to defending either Blueray or HD-DVD when prevailing data shows digital downloads are the way to go. That whole race was lost the minute Steve Jobs introduced the iTunes Music Store.

Cultural Disruption

My third point addresses something that is dear to me. I am not sure how many people will agree with me so mileage may vary depending on your cultural experiences. As I said above, the mobile phone goes about educating and enriching lives in rhythm with Africa’s variety of cultural norms. Outside forces empowering children with their very own laptop (however well-meaning the altruistic gesture might be), puts a majority of children at odds with their place in the family structure. In some cultures, children have their place in the social order, with responsibilities to perform accordingly—be it washing dishes, collecting water and firewood, or cooking. In this structure, children learn social responsibilities to one another and how family functions. They learn things you can’t teach in a classroom.

Throwing something as complex as a laptop into the ownership of a child disrupts this social knowledge transfer mechanisms. Examples were given of successes in Kenya where parents learned from children because of the presence of the laptops. This is by no means a cultural norm. Exceptions are going to happen but the overall effect will be the loosening of the traditional family bond when the child knows more than the parent.

The crux of my argument here is the ability for children to take these laptops home. These laptops should be left at the schools, perhaps to serve as the community computer library. This accomplishes two things, it gives open access to the community, and preserves cultural family orders.

I will posit that mobile phones provide a parallel learning experience where both parent and child can interact with the technology without upsetting the social balance. Both can talk on it with fair ease, they can both text on it with equal aplomb and both are able to use it to enrich their respective worlds. Parents can use the technology to run the family, while the children can interact with the games, stay in touch with their friends, or complete simple tasks designed to introduce them to how their world functions.

Finally, I will address some of Wayan’s comments from his rebuttal to my remarks. I won’t address them all, lest this dialog fall into a disappointing discourse of “Does to! Does not!!”

Wayan: “…And with the low attendance already prevalent in Africa, it makes sense to give out XO’s there, as a rationale for sending children to school, rather than charging poor parents who cannot afford much.”

TMS: I am really tired of this argument that we are poor so incidentally everything should be given to us for free. Stop treating us like your indigent dependents. If there is a value proposition for us to own a cell phone, we will find a way to pay for it. Clam-shelled arguments that we “cannot afford much” is insulting. The West is not responsible for saving us. Please shelve the “white man’s burden” argument. It is not Africa’s responsibility to reinvent America’s declining public education systems, except for America.

Wayan: … “The mobile phone vs. computer argument is an old one, and the results are always the same: there is a place for both. You’ll not read (or write) a textbook on your mobile phone, but it is handy for short text, and for voice, its the killer app…”

TMS: See my point above on regarding Steve Volsoo’s mobile learning projects at Shuttleworth Foundation in South Africa. Also, see my points on a hybrid system, (I think we agree).

To conclude, I am no Mark Warschauer, for sure. But then again, while he is accomplished, he is not me. I am an educated Ugandan with the ability to speak for myself and my continent. Many of my original points were concurred by the @OLPCNews crew. So, it was disappointed that they descended to a level of being catty and condescending. Call me what you may, but accepting yet another Western-driven top-down solution unchallenged, is not going to be my cup of tea. Threatening me with the OLPC fanboy army doesn’t exactly inspire respect either. Thanks for playing.

There’s been a dearth of posts on this site, not because there’s nothing to write about, rather we’ve been consumed with growing pains behind the scenes. That’s always a good thing but doesn’t excuse a lack of content.

On March 14th, my long-awaited presentation at SXSW will be up on stage bright and early at 9 am in room 12AB. I’ve been looking forward to this presentation ever since it was accepted. I am in the throws of working on my slides for the presentation and I think I am putting something together worthy of opening up the conversation even farther on the future of Africa in the tech space.

After all, we know the past all too well. Sometimes I think too much of the past is written into the fibre of how we view Africa today, that it makes it hard to see through the forest of bad news. But when you stop and think about all the excitement going on the digital space over Africa—from cellphone penetration, innovation & incubation centers springing up across the continent, the Apple iTunes store launching in several countries across the continent—you get a sense that there is a whole lot of new just beyond the forest, just beyond the current “single story” on Africa.

That’s why I am excited. When you add up all the little bits of news and information in the digital space, it points to what could possibly be a great opportunity for Africa’s growth. Of course, I will have to caution myself from using the blanket “Africa” in this sense, because it would be amateurish of me to expect that ALL 53 nation states will seize the opportunity the way Rwanda is pushing ICT (not that it wouldn’t be a whole bucket of awesome!!) This would not be reality. Truth is, we have a whole mess of problems continent wide, and ICT is not going to fix them all, but it will make it easier to tackle many of our most pressing issues.

Last year at the Ars Electronica Cloud Intelligence Symposium, I had a chat with Danish Radio Broadcasting on the opportunities offered by, and the challenges we still face with mobile penetration.
PD Podcast: TMS Ruge on Danish Broadcasting Corporation
Cloud Intelligence: Africa’s Digital Divide

Mobile medicine, mobile money, mobile education, mobile as an employment industry and the entire ecosystem surrounding this booming industry all offer opportunities for growth. However they [currently] do little to address systemic abnormalities within governance. Actually “systemic abnormalities” is a nice way of saying “abject failures” in leadership. As an example, the lack of leadership foresight in countries like Angola, Sudan, et al in making disastrous deals with the Chinese is abhorring. Undertaking massive infrastructure projects completely built by the Chinese does nothing to address poverty. You will just have shiny streets that poor, starving, people walk on instead of being able to drive on.

Sure, we have oodles of broadband capacity landing on our shores in the next 18 months, but what does it all mean for us really? Allow me to inject a bit of skepticism into all this connectivity hoopla. How does this address all the genocidal maniacs on the continent? How does this address HIV/AIDS? How does this address the continued presence of leather-faced dictators drinking too much of their own Kool-Aid? Will aid dependency all of a sudden go away? Will Rob Crilly write a follow up book on Darfur praising the role of ICT in ending the conflict there?

Clearly, we have a host of problems to deal with that can not directly be addressed with connectivity. What increased connectivity offers, I think, is the ability to communicate faster to these issues. We get to collaborate faster, and with anyone on the continent and the globe. We get answers to simple questions on the internet. We get to tell our stories. We get to tap into global intelligence at the click of the mouse. Knowledge transfer on demand. The continent also gets to tighten its bond with its diaspora population. It will take time, but eventually, we will see the benefits of Africa 3.0 playing a roll in every development sector on the continent.

The BarCampUK team

Yesterday I got a chance to talk to the team behind the upcoming BarCampAfricaUK [ SOLD OUT ]. BarCampAfricaUK is just another town hall meeting spurred by social media conversations and the subjects of ICT, development and Africa. The gathering is the next step in the long process of getting to the center of many issues around development in Africa. Ethel D. Cofie hopes that this gathering, like the many before, becomes a launching platform of collaborative ideas that will go beyond passing conversation and into reality.

Technology allows for an environment where multiple developmental goals can be achieved more efficiently.

Development in Africa is one of those subjects that you can discuss ad nauseum because it’s simply that complicated and there are so many solutions to so many problems. It’s a wonder that no one can agree on what is the most important thing to tackle first. The truth is all of it is important.

BarCampAfricaUK

The take away from this discussion was that while a concentration on ICT in Africa’s development is essential, the sector shouldn’t be viewed as the answer to all of Africa’s ills. Technology is going to be an enabler for all the development sectors, allowing for more efficient environment. We also have to broaden the definition of technology; careful not to simply limit it to telecommunications. Technology can enable better infrastructure, more efficient agricultural methods and educational systems.

Joining me on the call were Ethel D. Cofie (@etheldcofie), Tony Burkson (@TonyStark1), Conrad Taylor (@ConradTaylor, and Richard Tandoh. A live stream will be available during the event if you are not one of the lucky 200 participants at the sold out event. We’ll publish a link to that stream when it becomes available.

PD Podcast: BarCampAfricaUK [ Audio | 45:44 | MP3 ] [ Music: Disco Science by Mirwais ]
PD talks to the organizers of BarCampAfricaUK

UPDATE:

Looks like the event went off superbly. If you were unable to attend last week, the team has put together a wiki space full of content from the BarCamp. You can also peruse numerous articles written about the event here and here.

This weekend Cameroon will host the country’s first BarCamp in Douala on November 7, 2009 at Le Meridien Hotel. Be sure to check out their blog and Twitter streams for live updates on the nearly sold out event. Corporate support has really shown up big to help support the event with the likes of Google, Microsoft, Open Solutions Cameroun, Africa 2.0, Africa Startup Challenge and Limbe Labs as a sampling of some of the major sponsors.

The event is heavily tech-centered, judging by the caliber of sponsors. Considering it is a “unconference” format, I am pretty sure anything goes and those lucky enough to attend will get a full plate of exciting presentations.

I managed to catch up with Jean-Francis Ahanda, the main organizer behind this gathering, for a short Q & A over Skype. Ironically, due to bandwidth limitations, we were limited to an interview over IM. Even more ironic is the connection kept dropping out, so it took quite a few tries just to get the questions below answered.

BarCampCameroon is lining up to be very tech-centered, even though your internet speeds are still very much in need of an upgrade, how is the tech sector innovating with this limitation?
I think innovation is good but of course could be better if we had better infrastructure, better formation in school and of course one of the purpose of the barcamp is push inovation by sharing experience and ideas.

What motivated you to organize this BarCamp in Cameroon and tell me how this event came about?
The first motivation was the lack of tech events in Cameroon , the second was to put Cameroonian web community in the same room to share ideas, experiences, create connections between projects. I would like to add that this was not my idea alone. It was a group decision to make a BarCamp happen. To name just a few: Jeremy Brown and Bill Zimmerman from Limbelabs, Joel Nlepe from Africa 2.0, Fritz Ekwoge from http://kerawa.com  and Leslie Tita from Ringo.

I see we are suffering from connection issues, is that due to lack of power or bad internet connection. Can you describe your typical internet connection setup and costs associated with being online? It’s true that we have some power issues. Now regarding the internet access I think Cameroon made a lot of progress in last 18 months, we have multiple internet providers and due to that, cost has fallen. One of the major internet providers, RINGO is actually a major sponsor for barcamp and will provide us high speed internet acces during the event. In my case i’m using a WIMAX connection , the monthly cost is less than 30 USD for 256K. The’re also some providers that are using CDMA or DSL. We need more competion to bring the cost down and push providers to improve the quality of the service.

True, competition is always good in such a young market. What would you say is the percentage of the population able to afford a personal internet connection? Computer are much cheaper than a few year ago but i’m don’t think we will see the same numbers as for mobile phone users for sure.

In that case, do you see much of a future need for desktop computing in the country if the mobile is the lowest common technology accesible to the masses? Are we looking at yet another case of leap-frogging as smart phones get smarter, more powerful and cheaper? We will still need desktops, anyway most of computers that are sold here are secondhand coming from Europe or the US, this the only way to get cheap one. I don’t think the smartphone is an option especially because [they] can be more expensive than most of the computer sold here. And smartphone would mean 3G or HSPA or even LTE which is something we can’t dream about here for the moment as we are still hopping to have nationwide EDGE.

WOW! So truly Cameroon is just now getting its foot in the connectivity pool. What other kinds of technology sectors are beginning to emerge in Cameroon. Clearly telecommunications can’t be the only growing sector? We have innovation in every sector, [for example] Customs are now using GPS to track container in transit as an example of innovation. For me ICT innovation is the one driving the others sectors such as education.

So in terms of the BarCamp itself, what do you hope to be the knock on effect of so many sponsors and presenters gathering for the first time in Cameroon’s tech history? It’s going to be the biggest tech event ever in Cameroon and also in central africa ! we have more than 200 attendees, and around 20 journalist. All operators (mobile, fixed, internet) are represented. This is for me the birth certificate of the web community in Cameroon.

Of course you know I am going to ask if there’s a vibrant Cameroon Diaspora involved in your event this weekend? Is there a vocal Diapora in the Cameroon tech sector at all? Oh Yeah! The diaspora has taken an active part in the organization of this first edtion, we even have guys coming from the US and France.

Will you have enough bandwidth for a live-stream of some kind? Is there a Twitter hashtag for the event? “Internet Independence for Cameroon” is a Must Attend!

Will you have enough bandwidth for a live-stream of some kind? Is there a Twitter hashtag for the event? Yes our internet provider and sponsor will provide WIFI connection with full bandwith for the event. The hashtag we have been using so far is #barcampcameroon.

Diaspora and the Cloud – Cloud Intelligence Symposium at Ars Electronica from TMS Ruge on Vimeo.

No longer is Africa’s rich cultural heritage, development and identity championed and hijacked by those from outside and treated as a footnote to human history.

Social Media tools are allowing Africa’s Neo Diaspora an opportunity to tell their stories, share their culture, collaborate, and engage in Africa’s development.

For the first time, Africa is contributing it’s collective intelligence to the collective human cloud of knowledge.

Africa’s story is increasingly being told by Africans.

This past week I was in Linz, Austria for Ars Electronica Festival. The theme of this year’s festival was ‘Human Nature.’ As such the Cloud Intelligence Symposium explored mankind’s collective human intelligence and it’s migration to the cloud the subsequent benefits and consequences of this impending migration. More in-depth primers on ‘Cloud Intelligence’ and ‘cloud computing’ can be perused here.

Along with other far more accomplished luminaries and thinkers than myself, we spent a day exploring various aspects of human nature and mankind’s collective intelligence through the use of tools that deliver location independent collaborative solutions and services. In particular, we wanted to explore the use of social media as the new platform for collaboration, integration and communication from various perspectives that ranged from the cloud and Environmentalism the the effects of the cloud and scientific study.

If you were to look at the list of speakers, you will no doubt agree that I was there mainly to learn from their extensive knowledge and perspectives. And learn I did.

Within my capacity of understanding, I shared a bit of knowledge on how the African diaspora is using modern communication tools—web 2.0 tools—like blogs, Twitter, and social networks as a platform for spurring development in Africa. Social Media tools are allowing Africa’s Neo Diaspora an opportunity to tell their stories, share their culture, collaborate, and engage in Africa’s development. No longer is Africa’s rich cultural heritage, development and identity championed and hijacked by those from outside and treated as a footnote to human history. For the first time, Africa is contributing it’s intelligence to the collective human cloud of knowledge. Africa’s story is increasingly being told by Africans. A look at the growing number of Africans that are connected to the internet, albeit nascent by global standards, paints a promising picture that soon a large part of the 900,000,000 Africans on the continent will be online. Until that happens however, a lion’s share of Africa’s cloud participation will be led by it’s very connected and vocal diaspora.

I published my slides to Slideshare if you’d like to take a look at the slide decks.

Update:
There was a round table discussion after the afternoon speakers had finished their individual talks.
A photo gallery of all the shots I took while in Linz is also available here:

Dr. Adebayo Discusses the partnership between Kennesaw State University and 2nd Kenyan Diaspora International Conference & Investment Forum

Akanmu G. Adebayo, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Institute for Global Initiatives
Kennesaw State University
Interviewed by Benin Brown

Benin: Can you tell us a little bit about the background of the KSU Institute for Global Initiatives?

Adebayo: The Institue for Global Initiatives was established to be Kennesaw State University‘s office to coordinate all of the university’s global learning initiatives. The institute was established in 2003 by merging a number of autonomous global learning units. So it was created with the idea of creating an international programs one stop shop for faculty and students where they can go for any international program related issues. So the Institute for Global Initiatives is the coordinator of both grants and programs that promote international learning amongst students and faculty alike.

Additionally, it has become the place where several regional centers are all housed. Those regional centers help KSU coordinate degree programs/to bring services to university that help to promote univesity’s involvement in those regions of the world. i.e. the center for African & African Diaspora Studies where we coordinate programs for Africa and the African Diaspora.

Also, we have the Center for Hispanic Studies where we coordinate programs about Hispanics in the US and also about Spain and Latin America. And last year we added the Confucious Institute, which is fully funded by Chinese Government, as place where Chinese culture and language will be learned by members of the KSU community. In nutshell the institute helps KSU and surrounding commuyntity become more aware of whats happening around the world.

Benin: Very true, Atlanta has been the international city of the South. One of the interesting things about Kennesaw State University is that although it is situated in Kennesaw, Ga; which is a suburb of Metro Atlanta it is not in actually located within the city limits of Atlanta. So my question is how was KSU able to do what it did, in terms of becoming an international city, outside of inner city limits of Atlanta?

Adebayo: You hit the nail on the head about location. In Business School we hear the adage that talks about location being a key element in marketing. Such is the case with KSU. The location is good because Kennesaw is a suburb of Atlanta, but also because it is within a short distance to the interstate, so you can get there very easily. And we have also heard from some of our students who are from the greater Atlanta metropolitan area that they like the campus because they consider it to be more convenient and safe than the Atlanta city limits. So what this means is that some of our students are provincial in their thinking and this gives us the opportunity to make an impact by bringing the world to Kennesaw.

In addition to location Kennesaw has foresight of a strong administration. They have taken internationalization as a top priority for the university. This is part of the reason that we have over 1500 international students from 140 countries and are able to send over 500 students per year abroad. In these harsh economic times, this is quite significant.

Benin: Why do you think that the first Kenya Diaspora Investment Forum was so successful?

Adebayo: In the 1990′s Kenya was the top country for sending intl students to KSU. And this is one of the reasons that the first conference was so successful-KSU’s large Kenyan student community. Interestingly, at that time, we were not doing any recruiting in Kenya. But I think that what happened is that the first group of Kenyan students to arrive were treated so well that those students told their brothers, sisters, and other members of their families-who upon hearing became students at KSU also. And these initial students increased our interest in KE.

Another reason is that each year at KSU we choose one country to highlight through lectures, cultural shows, classes, and etc. We had selected the 2006-2007 school year to be the Year of Kenya. The entire year we continued to feature activities about Kenya and soon enough the entire community became accustomed to the fact that every Thurs there was something special going on that focused on Kenya.

Additionally, the level of participation from the Kenya community all over the US was tremendous. And the Atlanta Kenyan Professionals Association (AKPA) worked with us to help plan the conference. Likewise, the majority of the attendees attended because they had been invited by friends or family.

Benin: So how do you explain affinity on the part of Kenyans for KSU ?

Adebayo: Well in the academic world we know that you get international students through many ways-recruitment, public awareness, and etc. But nothing is as assured as having students from the country that you want to recruit. That person becomes your biggest exposure to that particular market that they represent. Word of mouth even from just one student is very powerful. And we treat our students very well. Even as far back in the 90′s we’d already established an international center and today we now have an office of international student retention. So KSU does not leave anything to chance. We were very intent on creating programs to take care of students welfare. KSU is one of few Atlanta univeristys that makes health care insurance available and mandatory for its intl students. The Institute Global Initiatives continues to promote the academic welfar of its students.

Benin: What can you say about this years focus on ICT?

Adebayo: Well this year with the 2nd Diaspora conference on Kenya, we chose to focus on building the knowledge community. And this is because we’d like to have some impact on the way in which policies are determind in Kenya. Having a positive impact on the processes of economic development in Kenya is something that is important to us.

The focus on ICT is very timely. Kenya is just completing its fiber optic program, which will allow millions in KE affordable access to the internet. Kenya’s strategy is to be Africa’s main ICT center outside of South Africa.

What it also means is that we are able to dicuss these things and propose ideas about what needs to be done from a policy standpoint; we are able to propose ideas in a way that means we arent just talking about general business in Kenya. But we also view this as an awareness opportunity to expose American business people to Kenya as well. And what we are saying is that as a result of new technological developments there are new business opportunities that represent amazing potential for business people and investors.

You see…I often hear many of my counterparts in America referencing the potential for call center operators in Kenya, but the opportunity is so much larger than call centers. In fact, one could say that centers are just the tip of the iceberg. One of the areas that we see really huge potential in KE is in software development and distribution. You see, Kenya can derive revenue from sources outside of tourism. And again, with the economic climate that we are facing right now it is very important that this happens.

Benin: What do you think is the impact of Kenya’s Diaspora population on business in Kenya?

Adebayo: The Diaspora population increases the awareness of Kenya abroad. And with President Obama’s roots in Kenya, he has also done a lot to increase global awareness of Kenya. I think that the Diaspora community also provides Kenya with a unique opportunity to look beyond tourism. Because although tourism is great and there is nothing wrong with it, it does allow many opportunities to corrupt the local environment through pollution. Finally, the diaspora community also contributes to Kenya’s economic development as a source of funding.

Benin: I see and how does the partnership between KSU and The Kenya Diaspora Forum work?

KSU donates the entire venue to the forum which includes world class rooms, facilities, conference equipment and a safe environment. The Computer Science department takes the lead in helping with the presentation & etc. Likewise, KSU benefits because it allows the school to increase its awareness in Kenya to potential students

Benin: Is there anything else that you’d like to add?

Adebayo: We are looking forward to the conference and are very excited about the investment opportunities that will be discussed there, as well as the busines people that will be able to take part in this event. We are also excited because we have the chance to meet Kenyans who are planning to go back to Kenya for retirement because we know that we might be able to make an impact on what businesses they might be able to pursue once back in Kenya.

For more information on the upcoming conference, readers are encouraged to visit the official site-kenyaopen4business.com.

Not too long ago we covered the fact that the first ever WherecampAfrica was being held in Nairobi. Well, I neglected to follow up and there are some cool things that have come out of that event.

Firstly…. WHERECAMP KAMPALA!!!

WhereCamp Africa: Kampala is tentatively planned for Friday October 30th at the same venue as the Africa GIS 2009 conference. (I had to look it up, GIS= Geographic Information System) The event will occur on the final day of the conference and should allow plenty of opportunity for traditional GIS folks to interact with local developers.

A little about the GIS Conference:

AFRICAGIS is the premier conference and exhibition focusing on geo-information technologies and applications in Africa. The principal objective of AFRICAGIS is to provide a platform for geo-information professionals from Africa to learn about geo-information technology and its applications. It provides a forum for geo-information professionals to meet, interact, and be updated on new developments, products and emerging trends and issues.

There is more information coming, so stay tuned and well let you know about all the WhereCamp developments.

And if that is not enough mapping fun for you…. also in the works:
WhereCampAfrica Bamako!
In the planning stages for April 2010 during the 2nd annual African Geospatial week. During which the annual CGIAR-CSI (The Consultative Group for International Agriculture Research- Consortium for Spatial Information) meeting will take place. Keep your eyes peeled!

Along with all the camps the team at WhereCampAfrica in conjunction with Open Street Map and Development Seed is also planning a potential Open Source Mapping Project in East Africa: AfricaGIS Participatory Mapping Project.

From their Prospectus

The opportunity is immediately available to leapfrog the African mapping community into the latest accessible practices of the GeoWeb, utilizing open data, open standards and open source software for application and systems development.
This project aims to catalyze a dormant but otherwise very motivated African geo community through local, community based, but scalable participatory mapping

With four ambitious phases, this project works hard to get the participatory part right:
We have already told you about phase 1:
WhereKampala – An informal un-conference focused on mapping and spatial technology where participants set the agenda.

The rest of the phases include:
Map Kibera – Mapping the Kibera slum area of Nairobi to raise awareness, catalyze a community and test open data licensing with major vendors and initiatives

Mapping Parties – Expand on mapping Kibera and hold mapping parties in and around East African capitols including Nairobi, Kampala, Lilongwe and Kigali.

Open Source Geo Workshop - Train in the use of Open Source Geo technologies, including PostGIS, GeoServer, GeoWebCache, GeoNetwork and Open Layers immediately before or After the AfricaGIS conference.

This all volunteer project is looking for funding to get off the ground… so contact them if you are interested in giving this important project a helping-hand.

Find Jubal Harpster:
via e-mail: jharpster@wherecampafrica.org
Jubal on Twitter

WherecampAfrica on Twitter

For those of you looking for more information on the first WhereCamp:
One of the main objectives of the original camp was to showcase the opportunities that rapidly changing Information and communication technologies offer. The hope was to really leverage the media to raise awareness especially in the area of agricultural production and productivity. Media represented at the event included BBC, IPS, UN IRIN, Nation TV and Newspaper as well as the Africa Science News Service. The complete list of media outlets that covered the event is impressive. WhereCampAfrica Coverage Report_June2009

Ken Banks, the one-man team behind kiwanja.net, is a powerhouse. His output of interviews, blog posts, Twitter updates and other social media tricks speaks to his determination to contribute to the emerging realm of information and communication technology for development or ICT4D.

Inspired by over a decade of work in Africa, Banks launched kiwanja.net in 2003. The website is a space where “technology meets anthropology, conservation and development.” Attentive to the need for easy communication between NGOs and their rural partners, the website also serves as a launching point for Banks’ creations.

In 2005, Banks rolled out of the organization’s first big coup, an open source software called Frontline SMS. Five weeks, a summer in Finland, and a crash course in programming produced a mobile phone tool now widely acclaimed by both IT experts and grassroots users.

Let’s talk about inspiration. What pushed you to launch Kiwanja.net and Frontline SMS?

kiwanja.net started in late 2003. The first contract I had happened to be dealing with mobiles. It became very clear to me that the knowledge and information I was building up with this charity was clearly of wider value. There were lots of organizations who were also thinking about mobile technology and thinking about how they might apply it. They were also struggling.

Through kiwanja.net, I decided to really focus on trying to help organizations understand what mobile technology can do for them … Frontline SMS came out of a need for there to be a solution to get on the [ICT] ladder, the first rung in many cases. It’s all very well to read about mobile phones [and their use in development] in the popular press, but the first thing NGOs ask is, ‘What can we do?’ ‘What can we use to do that?’ In 2005, when I wrote Frontline SMS, there didn’t seem to be any tools that were specifically written to work in the kinds of environments that these NGOs found themselves in.

So, when they were asking the question, ‘What can we use to start delivering mobile services?,’ the answer was, well, unless you have the internet and a bunch of money and a certain degree of technical skills, there isn’t actually very much. That seemed crazy. So, Frontline SMS was developed out of that need. I felt that there was a big gap in the market, so to speak, of mainly grassroots non-profits with little money, no internet and very, very, very low technical skills to actually start to deliver SMS services.

What does “Kiwanja” mean? How does it represent your vision?

In 2003, when I started it off, there was a lot of “tech365″ style names. It was all very high tech. And for me, it wasn’t really about the technology. It never really was about the technology. It’s about how people interact with technology. It’s about building things that work for people. And technology is the thing you consider right at the end when you are looking to trying to solve a problem. So, I wanted a name which didn’t convey anything technology-based, didn’t sound like technology was the main thrust. Kiwanja can mean a lot of different things in [Kiswahili], but I think “a place to meet” is my favorite one.

Can you explain the basic function of Frontline SMS?

You basically turn a laptop or desktop computer with a mobile phone into a two-way group messaging hub. So, you download the software onto the computer, you plug in a phone, you enter the cell numbers of your farmers, health care workers, and then you can send messages to those people and they can respond. Basically, you coordinate two-way messaging through a lap top. There is no need for the internet since it runs off the mobile phone network.

How is Frontline SMS being used?

I think the most surprising thing for me was that within a week of launching the software in the fall of 2005, the activist community jumped straight onto it. The first user was in Zimbabwe. Within a week, they had started using it to send and receive messages to and from rural communities that were being badly treated by Mugabe and his regime. Since then, it has become a lot more solid in other areas. It has been used in a lot of election monitoring projects … We [also] have a lot of activity in health [and] agriculture.

[Frontline SMS] is moving into other areas which I did not actually anticipate. But, I think the beauty of the software is that it does not try to solve any specific problem in any specific place. I really wanted to avoid doing that – although the idea came from a specific place and a specific problem – I didn’t build in anything that would restrict it in any way.

Does empowerment play a key role in Frontline SMS?

The logo of Frontline SMS is those arms stretched up in the air. So, we have decided that empowerment is a key message. I think that [empowerment] is a word that is overused a lot in this space, there’s a lot of different ways of defining empowerment. I think for me the purest form is that you [give people the tools] that they need to do their job better and then you let them decide whether or not they want [it]. Then you provide the tool and you don’t try to be controlling in any way. You say, ‘Hey, if you want to use it, the software is free, we’ll support you for free, we’ll connect you with other users, we’ll do all we can. But, at the end of the day, it’s your project and you do it your way.’ And if it works, please tell us.

How is the growing buzz around social media and ICT influencing your work?

… I still think there is a general misunderstanding or lack of knowledge over how empowering technology can be. When I speak at conferences about what Frontline SMS is doing, and mobiles are doing in general, people generally say “Wow!”. Even operators and technical people working in the industry. So, I think the fact that [now] there’s a lot of focus now on Twitter’s use in Iran and social media and Ushahidi, a lot of people are really [getting] quite onto this. I think what I do tends to fit quite neatly into that bucket … When Frontline SMS first started in 2005, there wasn’t anything else like it, and no one was really building tools like that in developing countries for users. Now there’s a lot more activitiy, I guess it gives it a home. When you speak to people, they can see it in the wider picture of ICT4D.

I think some of the challenges are that you get to the point where there are too many tools and people are reinventing wheels too often and people aren’t really building things that people can use, [instead] they are building ‘sexy’ stuff. I think donors are always looking to fund the next big thing, but quite often the next big thing isn’t going to be of use to a rural farmer in Uganda because it will be using a technology that isn’t available to them. So, I think we have a slight tension now in ICT4D. It’s become a very serious discipline, people are trying to build smart sexy things that actually don’t work in the environments they think they should work in.

What can you say about the rise of ICT innovators in developing countries?

… We’re finding an increasing number of programmers emerging in developing countries who are finally getting access to the world through the Internet and are being taught relevant skills at university. This has come at the exact same time as the open source [movement]. It’s perfect timing. You can imagine ten years ago if African developers had all of this [training] and yet couldn’t get their hands on any open source code to do any of the work. Finally, we have people in the country where [ICT] tools are useful and who have the ability and skills to take these projects and adapt them. Ushahidi coming out of the election crisis is a fabulous example of Kenyans reacting to a particular problem.

Part of the challenge now, once these services are developed, is how they are rolled out and marketed. There’s a guy in Kenya who built a car tracking system by SMS, he wrote it all himself, but he couldn’t get any funding to develop it as a product. So, innovating is one thing. If you’re then stuck with nothing to do with that product, that’s another problem that hasn’t quite been solved yet.

Where are you planning on taking Kiwanja.net?

I think for me it’s about continually pushing the boundaries, continually trying to lower the barrier as much as possible so that grassroots NGOs can use my technology. So how low can we go? Frontline SMS is a great example of lowering it to a point where NGOs can do things. But, if you think about what it requires, a PC, that’s a barrier. So, can we build a version that runs off a USB stick? You could go to an internet café and plug it in and do a bunch of messaging and leave. We are currently working on that at the moment and it could be very exciting.

Also, hopefully within the next three months, we’re going to launch a picture messaging version, Frontline Multimedia Messaging Service or MMS. That will allow NGOs working in areas where there is actually web access through the cell network to transmit audio, video, pictures and sound to and from handsets and to and from the internet. That’s potentially quite interesting: farmers could take a picture of a pest on their crop and send it to an agricultural expert to get advice or a health care worker could take a picture of something on a patient and get advice on what to do. Once again, let’s see how far we can lower the barrier of entry to that.

I am also thinking about how we can allow NGOs to get cheaper messaging using internet related services. So, I’m looking to build a sort of SMS gateway on the internet which non-profits can gather around and get cheap messaging through. We can build a database of users, leverage all the value of all messages being sent and get the best price. People, right now, are buying a hundred messages here and ten there and twenty there and they’re paying the highest rate. So, if all those people are buying a million a week, let’s buy a million a week together and all get the cheapest price.

Ken’s work – and the work of the many other tech developers out there in this field – is incredibly inspiring. If you happen to be one of them, please give us a shout – we’d love to hear more. If the above was a bunch of garble to you (or interesting!), check out kiwanja.net and keep track of Ken’s blog.

Inspired by Barcamp Ghana, the first technology Barcamp in the last monarchy in Africa, will take place June 27th, 2009 in Mbabane, Swaziland. Organizers include Sabelo Dlamini of YouthAssets, and Wandile Nxumalo, CEO of Maestro IT. Stay tuned for interviews with them coming up on www.barcampswaziland.org. Follow them on twitter @barcampswaz

As part of our mission here at Project Diaspora, we are collecting data on the African Diaspora and its activities with regard to development and support. This survey will take less than 10 minutes and will help us get a better picture of the African Diaspora. Thank you very much for your time!

One of the cornerstones of our mission here at PD is to encourage the African Diaspora to do more with their remittances. Annually, it is estimated that Diaspora remittances to Africa are inching north of $40 billion. That’s money put directly in the hands of those who need it. Increasingly, remittance investments are becoming the economic driver for development projects across Africa, but the process of remitting money is so far a bit cumbersome, expensive and in some instances, laborious. The whole institution of sending money overseas is in need of an overhaul.

My remittance scenario usually looks like this: I have sibling in Kampala, the capital of Uganda. The rest of the family is split between Masindi town (a 4-hour ride from Kampala) and surrounding villages. My sibling in Kampala uses one of my Visa® ATM cards I supplied to withdrawal money directly from my account for her school fees. This has proven to be cheaper than, say, Western Union or Money Gram.

But if money needs to go all the way to the village, where my parents are, then the whole process starts to look like a financial relay race. Money is withdrawn from my account in Kampala, deposited into a bank account that has a branch in Masindi. Someone in Masindi withdraws from that account, puts it on a local matatu traveling to the village where my mom lives and delivers the money. That whole process can take up to 24 hours. At a total cost of about $6-10 US. While laborious, it’s a lot cheaper than a direct bank wire transfer ($40 US + fees) or Western Union (based on percentage of transfer, plus manipulated exchange rate). Now, why an automated bank transfer costs $40 is beyond me.

What is needed is an innovative way to get money directly into the hands of the recipients faster and cheaper. There are handful mobile wallet & mobile payments initiatives in Africa by the likes of MTN, Vodafone, and others in the mobile phone space, but they primarily concern with moving money within Africa. None of them currently connect to the Diaspora. It’s astounding that in the era of mobile everything, not a single African banking institution has taken the reigns of the mobile wallet. In fact, Africa is leading the global rollout of mobile banking! It’s been entrepreneurs and cellular communications giants that are pushing the envelope in this space. Banks meanwhile are pulling out the stops by fighting to protect their tuff instead of seizing this as an opportunity to capture market share and innovate in this space. If anyone should be looking to capitalize on $40 billion dollars-worth of annual Diaspora dollars, you’d think it would be banking institutions, instead they are thumbing their noses at the Diaspora and sitting on their hands.

IFAD: CALL FOR PROPOSALS (Financing Facility for Remittances)
This week, The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is looking to simplify the Diaspora remittances process by announcing the availability of funds for any organization working on remittance technologies and solutions:

The objectives of the 2009 call for proposals are to:
1. Improve remittance transmission and access to remittance services in rural areas
2. Link remittances to financial services and products in rural areas
3. Develop innovative and productive rural investment channels and opportunities for
migrants and community-based organizations

Here’s some information about what will be funded and how much:

Through a four-phase competitive process, the FFR will award grant financing of up to
US$250,000 per project to eligible institutions, to be implemented within a two-year period.
Applicants must provide a minimum counterpart contribution of 20 per cent of the amount
requested (or 30 per cent for projects in the Latin America and the Caribbean region), of
which at least half should be in cash.

Here the dates and deadlines for the 2009 proposals:

Deadline for online application of Concept proposals 29 May 2009
Finalist pre-selection and request for Full proposals 17 Jul 2009
Deadline for submission of Full proposals 14 Aug 2009
Selection of finalists 24 Sep 2009

You can download the full Executive summary and general conditions document (PDF).

It is important to note that Africa’s true middle class is it’s Diaspora. So any technologies or aggressively proactive policies that make it easier for investment remittances to reach their destination, cheaper and faster will be a boon to development. I will certainly be cheering for any Diaspora or indigenous institutions that receive funding to tackle this issue. African-crafted innovations for African problems indeed.

#Afridev panelist at South by Southwest: (L to R) David Kobia - Ushahidi & Mashada; Rose Shuman - Question Box; Erik Hersman - Afrigadget; Jon Gosier - AppAfrica Labs

This past weekend, I had the honor of being invited to be on a panel discussion at South by Southwest (SXSW), “Appfrica: How Web Applications are Helping Emerging Markets Grow” The panel was moderated by one of my favorite techies who’s single-handedly birthing Uganda’s “tech sphere,” John Jon Gosier. Jon is the founder of AppAfrica Labs, an incubator based in Kampala, Uganda. Joining me on the panel were David Kobier and Erik Hersman from Ushahidi and Rose Shuman, founder of Question Box. You can watch the video (bad audio feed) or read a recap of the discussion by ALEX DE CARVALHO or Jon Gossier.

While the topic of discussion centered mainly around the road blocks inherit in writing apps for developing regions like Africa, the underlying hurdle to the growth (and commercial viability of products in this space) is connectivity. Wether you are an African or a Westerner developing applications and technologies with global ambition, connectivity is going to affect how you build and roll out your product. This is not to say that all of Africa should be looked at as holistically unconnected. Certainly, there are markets in Africa where connectivity is vastly better;  South Africa and the Mediterranean North African countries, for example. The opposite holds of areas that have abysmal broadband infrastructure, like the DRC, Southern Sudan, etc.

But this patchwork service availability is a “now” problem, let’s look at Africa 24 months from now. Of the 5 serious broadband initiatives slated for completion in the next 5 2 years, SEACOM is in the process of landing this in Kenya and will be operational by this summer. The rest, including Google’s O3b Networks, go live within the next 18 months. In order to develop and succeed in Africa’s emerging “tech scape,” you have to have the ability to look around the corner and quickly predict what the environment will look like. Actually, that’s not even true, you have to have the vision to paint a picture of what you want it to look like! Look at the current conditions, spotty as they are, as gaping holes in market opportunities. Think outside the box. You have to think mobile, and mobile web. Africa isn’t a laptop destination, it’s a mobile-based application destination. What market solutions will you have ready to hit critical mass once this major stumbling block to market access is alleviated? You have to be able to finish the African Proverb, “When the cable arrives…”

SEEING THE BIG PICTURE AROUND THE CORNER

An article arrived in my inbox this morning that commented on Google’s acquisition of a startup video conferencing company. On the surface, Google acquiring another company is nothing earth-shattering. If fact, I am rather disappointed when a month goes by without Google swallowing investing in yet another upstart. But the landscape changes completely when you look around the corner and see what’s coming. Google is a major investor in O3B Networks (O3b), the nemesis to the uncoordinated consortium of highspeed undersea cable initiatives. Instead of laying fibre, O3b is betting on a constellation of 16-Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites to the tune of $650 million. LEO Satellite access would be more beneficial for landlocked countries because [satellites] would provide landlocked countries direct access to broadband backhaul without having to traverse and negotiate rights of access to undersea cables with coastal nations. This also relieves land-locked nations from costly and wrangle-some partnerships like EASSy—instead, allowing them the ability to independently deploy high-speed networks countrywide and worldwide.

Lets look closer.

Google pretty much offers a host of very good services for free: mail, calendaring, photo-management, video, etc. What is/was lacking from it’s vast portfolio of products, was realtime collaboration tools. Enter Marratech, a video conferencing and collaboration company, that Google just snapped up. Marry that acquisition and a successful launch of O3b, and you’ve got yourself uninhibited, real-time, global collaboration that includes developing markets. (Pssst! Tech-savvy, entrepreneurial Diasporans! This is where the light goes off in your head, I am just saying). All of a sudden, the playing field is leveled. Access is ubiquitous. African software engineers think globally, not regionally. The sky, as they say, is the limit.

All this, of course, is assuming that O3b can negotiate country-level spectrum rights. Steve Song, a Shuttleworth Foundation fellow in South Africa and general telecommunications enthusiast had this to say about the many challenges facing O3b’s impending launch via email last fall:

If O3b works out, it will be very good news for Africa. However, I see a few challenges in the way:

1) regulatory challenges. 03b will have to negotiate a spectrum license for every country they land in. Regulatory frameworks in
Africa are evolving but there is still a lot of undue influence by incumbent telcos who may or may not be interested in seeing o3b
succeed.

2) LEO satellites. Previous attempts to establish connectivity via a web of LEO satellite have both failed. Iridium and Teledesic sucked up a ton of money and both failed. Launching a satellite involved a certain amount of risk. Just look at the last Intelsat launch attempt. O3b multiplies that risk by 16. Also, these are non-geostationary orbit satellites which mean that a) they don’t stay
up as long as other satellites and b) they need to manage constant hand-off of bandwidth connections as the satellite pass over.

3) Greg Wyler. Founder of Terracom, then Rwantel. Stories differ about what happened there but I tend to take the side of the
Rwandans…. in the words of Minister Albert Butare…. “Promises were made…”

True on all three counts, but I am putting my money on Google. No, I am putting my money on all the broadband initiatives headed to Africa’s digital shores to succeed. If it’s true that competition is good for the consumer, then the existence of these ventures is a good sign. O3b Networks builds out it’s satellite network, and EASSy, NEPAD, et al lay down down some mean fibre. All of a sudden the cost of Africa merging onto the information super highway drops through the Serengeti floor.

THE TAKE AWAY

A digital highway is being built not to Africa, but out of Africa. From business processes outsourcing to next-generation technology and incubation hubs, Africa is ripe for technology investments. It’s still early enough in the game to engage Africa. In fact, the time is right to ask @afridev where the market opportunities are. The time is right to look around the corner and see the big picture. “Africa is rising.”

UPDATE (March 21, 07:51)
Made spelling correction and added additional links for reference.

The first time I saw Juliana Rotich was at OR Tambo International Airport, in Johannesburg, South Africa this past October. We had (apparently) gotten off of the same inbound KLM flight from Amsterdam. I noticed her at the bureaux de change—minutes after we’d picked up our respective checked bags from the slow-as-molasses-luggage carousel—getting pointers from the exchange agent on how to negotiate with the local taxi drivers en route to her hotel. I craned my neck slightly and tried to listen in from the back of the line, so I wouldn’t be “that guy”-you know, the hundredth guy asking the same question, as if I expected the words “tour guide” to be written on the exchange agent’s forehead.

I didn’t think much of the encounter until a few days later when I walked into her and David Sasaki‘s session on mobiles in citizen media at MobileActive08. It was here that I learned about the birth of Ushahidi and Juliana’s role in launching the oft-applauded online crisis mapping application during Kenya’s tumultuous post-election violence in early 2008. We later waxed poetic on all things techy, African development,  and music while club-hopping in Jo’burg’s Melville enclave of restaurants and bars.

Two weeks after MobileActive08, I flew out to Chicago for an extended one-on-one with the multi-faceted Juliana. It quickly became clear that our paths were destined to cross, as we shared a mutual geekery for all things tech. We also shared an interesting factoid relating to our primary education. You see, Juliana and I attended primary school a stone’s throw away from each other in the highlands of Chavakali, in the Western Province of Kenya. I day-schooled at Chavakali Primary while she was boarding nearby at Mukumu Girls. We retraced her path from Chavakali to Kansas City, to windy Chicago.

Juliana also has a love for the latest in smart mobility, and is a connected media enthusiast. But wait, there’s more. Juliana makes her mark on the world as an environmental editor, and staunch supporter of green technology at Global Voices. If she isn’t glued to her Blackberry, she is complaining about and/or complimenting some new feature or application on her iPhone, or drooling over the latest addition to the N-series of phones from Nokia. I had to confiscate her Blackberry in a Johannesburg night club in order to get her to relax and enjoy Jo’burg’s emerging and surprisingly good House music scene. Needless to say, she’s very much open as to which tools she uses to accomplish her many tasks, as long as the story is told accurately.

Ushahidi launched out of a need for accurate, “verifiable” information during Kenya’s regrettable post-election crisis, and the tool of choice was the mobile phone. The project was a successful hybrid partnership between Kenya’s Diaspora community and Kenya’s blogosphere.

“It was sort of manual and intensive at the beginning,” she said, and emphasized the team effort it took to bring the Ushahidi platform to life, “but it was very much a collaborative, collaborative, collaborative, project.”

Ushahidi’s success indeed has been due to it’s collaborative team of heavy hitters. It’s a veritable mash-up soup of Africa’s finest bloggers, technocrats, and social watchdogs – African blogoshpere stars like Erik Hersman at White African, David Kobia of Mashada fame and the one and only, highly-decorated Kenyan Pundit, Ory Okolloh to name a few. Consider that these are outstanding members of Kenya’s Diaspora and reaspora communities. 

Jiliana added, “we came together. Ory, Daudi, and I were in Kenya at various times [during the crisis]. In the early days it was the three of us who were in Kenya…the programming and the setup was done by the guys overseas. What we did was enter content, and blogged on our own blogs and told other people about the [Ushahidi] platform.” The election violence put Kenya’s future in a very precarious position. ”If you would have asked me earlier this year if we would survive, I would have said no. But, now, it’s a maybe,” Juliana added.

The result is a poster-child for what successful participatory citizen media initiatives should look like, Diaspora-led or not. With over 132 contributors to the platform at the height of the crisis, the immediate adaption of the mobile reporting tool catapulted it to a platform. 

Ushahidi has since open-sourced the platform’s code and localized the reporting tool to recent conflict zones in Africa including South Africa’s xenophobic flare and most recently, to cover DRC’s rebel insurgency.

I finally got access to some decent bandwidth to upload photos of this month’s Facebook Developer Garage that was held in Kampala, Uganda. Follow the link to see all the action hi-rez glory.

Check it out!

Samasource’s Leila Chirayath Janar: Facebook Developer Garage Uganda (mp3)