Recently, MTVU, the university station of MTV, organized a visit by best selling author Malcolm Gladwell (The Tipping Point, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking) and Ethiopian-born American musician Kenna to a University of Pennsylvania sociology class. The class was in the process of studying the chapter “Kenna’s Dilemma” from Gladwell’s book Blinkand the two men made an appearance to discuss the dilemma Kenna faces as an artist who, though heralded by many in the music industry as the next big thing, has yet to connect with a large enough fan base.
Two weeks ago I attended the African Travel Association’s Second Annual Presidential Forum on Tourism at New York University. The forum, organized by the ATA - a global travel trade association promoting tourism to Africa - and hosted by NYU’s Africa House, was put together to provide African leaders from Tanzania, Ghana, Cape Verde, Lesotho, Zambia, Malawi, and Rwanda with the opportunity to “present the continent’s rich travel opportunities to almost 200 leaders from government, non-government and business communities, the tourism industry, travel trade media, and education”. As we waited for the Presidents and representatives to arrive, I spoke to Maria Mmari, Tanzania’s Assistant Director of Tourism Development, who told me about her country’s efforts to encourage tourism. Ms. Mmari informed me that the week prior, Tanzania had launched it’s first ever television campaign “Tanzania: Land of Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar and The Serengeti” with an event at at Tavern on the Green. In line with the ATA’s current theme of promoting “Destination Africa“, Tanzania’s campaign focuses on positioning the nation as the home of some of Africa’s most recognized destinations, Mt. Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar and the Serengeti, Speaking to Ms. Mmari, I got the feeling that the Tanzanian tourism board had the right idea about what steps to take to encourage American tourism. As Ali Velshi, CNN senior business correspondent, said during his presentation at forum, “American tourists are concerned with safety, reliable communications, stable governance, reliable banking, and luxury”, and African countries hoping to attract these high-spending tourists need to find ways of alleviating these fears. Though I haven’t yet seen Tanzania’s television spot on CNN, CNN Headline News, CNN Airport and CNN.com where it is currently running, I applaud the Tanzanian government for taking the steps to create a brand association for their country. I would encourage the tourism board to continue their efforts. It’s good to see that African governments are taking branding and marketing seriously. I’ve long argued that African countries needs to work on their brand image at the same time as it is working on it’s other problems. While everything might not be perfect on the ground, there is no reason not to start the process of repairing the global image and get interested parties involved in our successes early on.
The 4th edition of the The Carnival of African Enterprising has launched at Nii Simmonds’ Nubian Cheetah blog. As with the previous3 installments of ideas, this edition highlights some of the best posts from the African business/entrepreneurship blogosphere. I’m happy to see that as the carnival continues, there are new names and perspectives being added. This edition covers Blogging Trade & Investment Forums, Business in Africa, Entrepreneurship in Africa with posts on:
TED Global 2007: Afterglow (David McQueen)
Idea Exchange: sponsors & links (Bankelele)
TED Global, Africa: The Next Chapter (Jen Brea)
Vote to add Africa 2.0 panel to SXSW festival schedule (G. Kofi Annan)
IBM Thinks Africa (Benin Mwangi)
Hear IBM Vice President’s view on Africa’s present market opportunities (African Path)
Kenyans in the Diaspora Conference Final Thoughts (Joshua Wanyama)
Planting Seeds: TED Global (Emeka)
The Power of a TED Talk (Erik Hersman)
Tanzania diminishes chances of regional integration (Ken Teyie)
In the media: Khartoum, the Dubai of Africa (Africaincorp)
Want Financial Freedom? Start your Own Fashion Business (Uduak Oduok)
Ideas to grow the informal sector in Africa (Nii Simmonds)
Over the past year and a half, I’ve come to love writing about African style and business issues and interacting with the many inspiring people and ideas which I’ve come across through this blog. In my experience, today’s technology has provided us with the most effective vehicles to communicate and has caused an acceleration of African ideas AND actions across borders and even hemispheres. In my first attempt at taking our online conversations offline, I’ve proposed a panel idea for the upcoming South by SouthWest (SXSW) Interactive Festival being held in Austin, Texas March 7-11 2008. The proposed panel, Africa 2.0: Affecting Change Using Technology, will discuss how blogs, social networks, digital media and mobile technology are being used by businesses and citizens — both African and foreign — to affect change in Africa. The group of panelists will discuss adoption of mobile technology, community activism online and offline, and digital media’s effect on African entertainment industry growth. The process of developing the final schedule for the festival relies on a public vote to decide which panels actually get added. Please take a moment to VOTE to add the Africa 2.0 panel to SXSW Interactive schedule. My panel seems to be the ONLY Africa-related panel idea for the interactive festival.
The good folks at TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) have debuted the first videos from the powerful TEDGlobal 2007 conference held in Tanzania earlier this year. Called “Africa: The Next Chapter”, the conference featured talks from many of Africa’s current innovators. The first few uploaded videos include South African investment banker Euvin Nadoo - who I met at the Harvard Club in New York in April - describing a continent poised to light up, Ghanaian economist George Ayittey’s lacerating criticism of Africa’s “hippo generation” to inspiring appeal for the “cheetah generation” to arise, former Finance Minister of Nigeria Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala showing how the different pieces of the aid vs trade argument could be reconciled, and finally 19-year-old Malawian inventor William Kamkwamba who won a standing ovation for his shy 3-minute interview, revealing how as a 14-year-old he solved his parents’ energy needs in a village which had no electricity. These first videos are a window into the minds of Africa’s growing entrepreneural class. I can’t wait for the other speakers’ videos.
YG points to a new exhibit by UK-based Ghanaian star architect David Adjaye opening today at the Studio Museum of Harlem in New York City. The exhibit, Making Public Buildings, introduces Adjaye’s architecture to American audiences by carrying viewers through his working process-from inspiration to completion-through ten projects, both built and uncompleted. Having been awarded an Order of the British Empire by the queen for services to architecture, following several public works including his Idea Stores, which have shaken up the notion of the library, and his Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Mr. Adjaye is set to take on America. With both a New York office for his company Adjaye/Associates and his Museum of Contemporary Art in Denveropening this fall the star architect has his American debut all lined up. About his current work Mr. Adjaye tells New York Magazine:
We are building a house for an amazing art collector [Adam Lindemann and his wife, gallerist Amalia Dayan] on the Upper East Side. It is quite hermetic. In ten years, 50 percent of the world will live in cities; they are becoming massive. The home is something that becomes an emotional incubator and resuscitator. It is not about tricks but about the way in which you reorient a person’s perceptions by focusing on water or on a tree or on a texture of a wall, making the home a meditative space. For this house, the thing the house reflects on will also be art.
If you’re in Washington DC this week check out these special performances by the Franco-Cameroonian sister duo, Les Nubians. If you’re not already familiar with Les Nubians here’s a short lesson.
In 1999 Les Nubians United States debut ‘Princesses Nubiennes’ (Higher Octave/Virgin) became the most successful French-language album in more than a decade of Billboard charts. Les Nubians appeared on fourteen different recordings by an assortment of other artists, spanning the globe and crossing genres-from Towa Tei, Black Eyed Peas and Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek to the acclaimed Fela Kuti tribute album from the Red Hot series,”Red, Hot and Riot”.
Show dates are:
Wednesday July 18th at 10pm at LIV
Thursday, July 19 with two shows at the historic Bohemian Caverns - 8:30pm and 10:30pm.
Nomadic Wax, the crew behind the Democracy in Dakar video series, are taking their global hip-hop on a mini US tour. The Global Underground tour features international hip-hop pioneers Chosan (Sierra Leone), LF and Laylo (Brazil/Dominican Republic), Foundation Movement (Puerto Rico/Liberia), Zuluboy (South Africa), DJ Boo (Philippines) an accomplished group of percussionists including Ernesto Abreau (Antibalas/Ya Esta), Chauncey Yearwood (The Pimps of Joytime/Escort), and Nomadic Wax founder Ben Herson (Nomadic Wax/Escort/Subatomic Sound System). The tour launches at Galapagos Art Space on July 19th in Brooklyn, New York, and will visit clubs in Providence, Rhode Island on the 21st and Boston, MA on the 22nd. If you haven’t seen any of these acts perform yet, do yourself a favor and catch them when they roll into your city.
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If you’re in Washington DC this week check out these special performances by the Franco-Cameroonian sister duo, Les Nubians. If you’re not already familiar with Les Nubians here’s a short lesson.
