Category: General

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Wall Street Journal covers African ingenuity

Recently the Wall street Journal’s front page, featured one of the most inspiring stories of African ingenuity today. The front page story, A Young Tinkerer Builds a Windmill, Electrifying a Nation, covers  20-year-old William Kamkwamba, a self-taught Malawian inventor whose make-shift windmills are being used to power his village. Having recently spoken at TED Africa 2007, Mr. Kamkwamba, who also writes a blog, is deservedly getting a lot of attention and hopefully just as much support for his windmill projects. It’s good to see such stories making the front page of such a powerfull business resource.

“I was thinking about electricity,” says Mr. Kamkwamba, explaining how he got hooked on wind. “I was thinking about what I’d like to have at home, and I was thinking, ‘What can I do?’ ”

To meet his family’s growing power needs, he recently hammered in a shiny store-bought windmill next to the big one at his home and installed solar panels. He has another windmill still in its box that he’ll put up at a house 70 miles away in the capital, Lilongwe, where he now goes to school.

Watch the WSJ video report

Watch William Kamkwamba’s speech at TEDAfrica 2007

(via CK)

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Annansi notes: Brangelina buys Ethiopia, Africom, MTV Africa awards begins, (RED)washing at Gap

  • Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie bought Ethiopia. (Not the African country itself, but the island which represents Ethiopia in Dubai’s island phenomenon The World)
  • American general seeks to play down fears over new Africa command. (Uhhh… sure. No worries.)
  • Africa’s nuclear hopes. (Could this be the solution to the electricity shortages?)
  • MTV begins Africa Music Awards (Viacom knows where the money is)
  • More (RED)washing at The Gap (African charity still gets consumers in the retail door)
  • Gucci’s African charity Indy bag drops (holidays + African charity = $$$$)
  • India eyes Africa to meet rising energy needs (African’s need to refine and accelerate our business models)
  • First black (Nigerian) mayor elected in Ireland (A Nigerian Irish mayor. Wow!)
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Cultures collide: Souja Boy African Remix

So far I’ve been very successful at avoiding Soulja Boy‘s “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” song and video. While I always do my best to stay up to date on what is hot and not in pop culture, I find it hard to digest too much throwaway content. Call me judgmental but there’s only so much fast food a brain can take, especially at my age. But when I came across this African remix video of the popular Soulja Boy song, I was struck with the cultural implications. For me the video shown below, while being extremely funny, reflects how African culture, pop culture and technology have come to coexist and open up new avenue for self expression and creativity. We can easily dismiss the Naija (Nigerian) Boy Crank Dat video as another Youtube parody, but if we take a step back we can see that the ease of which the cultures are colliding in the song and video is something to take notice of. The Naija Boy video perfectly captures the way the new Afropolitans see themselves in their native culture and in western culture. From the reference to spraying money, to the dance scenes in traditional Nigerian outfits, to the scenes of the “rapper’s” white “fans”, the nature of the growing Afropolitan demographic is quite evident. While the Naija Boy video is entertaining, it certainly represents a shift in mentality among Africans in the west. The video is a lesson in cultural development as it shows what African youth in the west are willing to participate in and how they are willing to spend their money. (link via YG)

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Thanks to Jamati.com

Jamati logo

I just wanted to say thanks to the good folks at Jamati.com for deciding to interview/feature me on their African entertainment portal. If you haven’t already visited the site, make sure you do. The global staff continues to produce an exciting online news magazine. Talking to the editors was definitely one of the most thought provoking interviews I’ve ever had.

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Why Africa’s oil riches don’t make Africans richer

Here’s an interesting read from Wharton School’s Knowledge network.

But most Africans are seeing little benefit from this influx of oil drillers and investment. In fact, because of an economic paradox known as the “Resource Curse,” they are often hurt by exports of their countries’ oil. “Between 1970 and 1993, countries without oil saw their economies grow four times faster than those of countries with oil,” Ghazvinian notes, adding that oil exports inflate the value of a country’s currency, making its other exports uncompetitive. At the same time, workers flock to booming petroleum businesses, which saps other sectors of the economy. “Your country becomes import-dependent,” he says. “That decimates a country’s agriculture and traditional industries.”

(via CB)

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Making the top 100 lifestyle blog list

I got an email recently from Terry Ng, who writes at Kineda letting me know that Annansi Chronicles is ranked as one of the top 100 lifestyle blogs. To tell the truth I had never realized that this was a sector of the blogosphere this blog even ranked in. But with company like LifeHack, Tim Ferris , and PSFK, I’m pleasantly surprised. Read the full list.

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The REALLY simple celebrity life

As much as we hate to believe it, Africa is still the charity case of choice for celebrities looking to get public sympathy. Time and time again the African brand gives instant credibility and humanizes the privileged and their brand image. With every case in the news I am reminded of how much work we still have to do to get to a point where the African brand means more than charity. As serious as the work may be, humor is always welcome. (via AfricaBeat)

Paris Hilton Rwanda poster
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Reggae star Lucky Dube killed in Johannesburg

Lucky DubeThe BBC reports , one of Africa’s most loved musicians, South African reggae star Lucky Dube, has died from gun shot wounds in Johannesburg. It’s a VERY sad day for world music.

He had been dropping his teenage son and daughter off in the suburb of Rosettenville on Thursday evening. Police say they were already out of the car when three shots were fired through a car window killing their father. Alongside Bob Marley, he was thought of as one of the great reggae artists – singing about social problems. He was also one of the apartheid regime’s most outspoken critics.