Category: Technology

Microsoft chairman plots Africa’s tech revolution (video)

In the video featurette below, CNN’s African Voices highlights Cheick Diarra, the Microsoft chairman for Africa who has been trying to make technology more accessible on the continent. In the video Mr. Diarra talks about tech affordability, connectivity, and training in Africa, and also comments on combatting software piracy by developing the local software development…
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Insights on mobile banking & advertising in Africa (videos)

If you’ve been following this website or been engaged in any recent conversation about Africa’s future, you can’t have missed a mention about mobile technology innovation and it’s impact in Africa. For the curious or uninitiated, here are a couple of videos which focus on the trend and give some insight particularly in the banking…
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Bill Gates: Mobiles not PCs for global health in developing markets

via mobihealthnews.com Microsoft Chairman and philanthropist Bill Gates recently sat down at UC Berkeley to discuss the need for personal computers versus cell phones in so-called developing markets.

Africa’s digital revolution (video)

Radio Netherlands Worldwide features a short video on Africa’s digital revolution. The video, highlights the use of digital tools, online and mobile, by young Kenyans to bridge the learning and economic gap. A key observation when watching the video is the underlying shift from formal organized education to informal individual education as a result of…
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African youth and the African brand (presentation)

A few weeks ago, I was honored to be invited to Harvard University to give a short talk and participate in the  Rebranding Africa through the Youth panel as part of their Africa Focus series. The panel was a lively, collaborative one with both panelists and attendees providing perspectives on the topic. As a follow-up, I’ve put…
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Notes from Columbia U’s 2010 Africa Economic Forum

Last week I attended Columbia University’s annual African Economic Forum (AEF). The two-day conference was a diverse and insightful one with discussions ranging from Branding Africa to the growing, sometimes controversial China-Africa relationship. The organizers put together a great program with much discussion during and in-between panels. While I couldn’t attend the full program, I…
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S. Africa Tourism launches URL shortener for World Cup marketing

As part of the marketing around the upcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup, the South African Tourism authority has launched a new branded url shortening service at http://mzan.si. Developed for the government agency by Quirk eMarketing, the Mzan.si service is so named  for the word Mzansi (m-zun-zee), a popular word used to refer to South Africa.…
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Kenya’s first Sci-Fi film hits Sundance

Made by writer/director Wanuri Kahiu, Kenya’s first science fiction film to hit Sundance, Pumzi, takes place “thirty-five years after World War III, the “Water War,” and tells the story of a woman from East Africa who flees an enclosed community in hopes of once again restoring life outside its walls. The film which screened last…
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Top 6 African business and culture trends to watch in 2010

If, like me, you’ve been watching people and events surrounding Africa in mainstream and non-mainstream news, you’ll know that 2009 was a big year for Africa, From President Obama’s visit, to the new fiber-optic cable in Kenya, there was a lot of president-setting efforts going on in Africa. While there were the instances of political…
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Europe’s $774 billion African desert solar power project launches

Investors and industrialists from 14 companies met in Munich, Germany recently to formally launch Desertec Industrial Initiative, a €400 billion ($774 billion) collaborative project to provide 15% of Europe’s energy via solar power from Africa’s Sahara desert by the year 2050. Since it was formally announced earlier this year, the project has gotten mixed responses…
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