Feeds
8971 items (0 unread) in 56 feeds
Welcome to Mashada Blogs! Read all your favourite blogs in one place.
«
Expand/Collapse
-
-
23:43
From: assidous
Read This Entry & More At assidous
 There is absolutely no doubt that the next US government will be formed by the Democrats. Its also in this party that competition is vicious between two candidates in a very historical way. Apart from the fact that Democrats will give Americans either the first BlackPresident in history,they may also shape history if they vote in the First Woman President! So by all means, its an epic and historical election! But some Democrats feel that Obama and Hillary are not the best candidates hence the need to have another candidate and this is where Al Gore comes in. He seems to be the best bet with Obama's traits and Hillary's experience. Whether Gore will go for it or not is yet to be seen in any case,he was denied victory at the last minute by the courts and that left him a badly bruised man. Once beaten very many times shy! Here is more http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1622009,00.html
-
21:30
From: My Life is...Mochalicious!
Read This Entry & More At My Life is...Mochalicious!
I know….this report is a tad bit late. I am still recovering from having too much fun. I don’t think anything at the moment will top the past two weekends.
Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Edinburgh!!! What more can I say……IT ROCKED BIG TIME! The weather wasn’t brilliant, but better than Twickenham the previous weekend. It was at least warmer [...]
-
13:37
From: You Missed This
Read This Entry & More At You Missed This
Just hours after I posted a fascinating story about the rapidly developing [political situation in the country, ahead of the forthcoming general elections, one of our regular commentators confirmed my story with his own additional claims.
His remarks deserve to be repeated here;
Phil said...
Chris, we've heard from the grapevine that the 3rd force have actually taken over the Democractic Party and they have been actively financing it over the last few months. They were actually the 4th force before Kombo betrayed Ngilu over EALA nominees stand-off last week. Many people are not happy with NARK-K politics and ODM-K is just too hot (read too democratic) for some to handle - actually none of them luminaries can beat RO in a fair contest be it delegates or consensus. I am not sure about your line-up for the 3rd force but I am informed principal players are Uhuru, Saitoti and Kalonzo. Mudavadi is out, he has never forgotten the 2002 debacle. The criminals of the last 4 decades cannot just imagine a Raila led government - chances are high that they will be made to pay either through jail or through public apologies and amnesty. Meanwhile Kombo knows FORD-K doesnt stand any realistic chance in the national platform and he knows exactly which side of the bread is buttered. Infact what Kombo is doing might not be illegal, but it is highly immoral. Ngilu is awaiting Kalonzo's defection from ODM before she joins in. She, Bishop Wanjiru and Sally Kosgei are Raila's bet in wooing the women and youth vote. One of them will end up being VP in a Raila led govt. But then again, who is the hidden hand meddling in national politics? Why cant Moi relax and enjoy his retirement? Is he fearing a Charles Taylor-like arrest? I wonder.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is what the wolves are up to now. Tukae chonjo
-
13:11
From: You Missed This
Read This Entry & More At You Missed This
For most of the last 24 hours, Marianne Brinner’s controversial blog Distant Lovers has been unreachable. Actually it emerges that she had deleted it herself. In a brief interview earlier today with this blogger, she said the reason was that she had gotten upset and distressed over the nasty comments being made by persons who generally do not seem to believe her side of the story. So she has decided to take a new approach and tell the whole story from the beginning by publishing the entire set of email exchanges between herself and Jeff without changing a single comma. She hopes that when readers get to read the whole story from beginning to end, they will be able to make a better judgment of where the truth lies. So now the blog is online once again ( use this link) but Marianne says she will start publishing on Friday. From what this blogger knows about Narianne, and without wanting to vouch for a news source, I can say that whatever her weaknesses, she is known for sticking to the facts and never talking about anything that she cannot prove with documents or some other hard evidence. The Sunguh Parliamentary Committee in Kenya that was constituted by parliament to delve into the still unsolved murder of former foreign minister Robert Ouko will remember Marianne as the witness who had documents detailing dates and other facts to back everything she said before the committee.
-
12:43
From: You Missed This
Read This Entry & More At You Missed This
Dancan Muhindi*******Councillor*********Westlands  Fellow Kenyans, Those who have been regularly visiting this blog will see that potential voters are using this forum to engage candidates and I think this can only be a useful thing. For this reason I would like to invite all political contenders to prove to us here that it is not the big alary and perks that have caused them to seek public office. Those standing for any political opffice who are interested can contact me directly using the email address umissedthis at yahoo dot com Also, in answer to criticism about earlier interviews/publicity that I gave another Westlands candidate in this blog, there is no way I can fail to promote the new generation of political leaders in Kenya. This is one of the reasons why I launched this blog in the first place. Today I feature Dancan Muhindi also an aspirant in Westlands but for councilor. Kumekucha: What is your vision for Westlands? My vision is for the country, and it begins in Westlands. I envision by next year, a constituency that will have elected a responsive and professional local government leadership that will be at the forefront of facilitating innovative projects such as well-structured, low-cost housing units to replace the slum settlements in areas such as Kangemi, Waruku and Ruaka. I have a vision for an enlightened professional leadership at the civic level. Just the fact that residents will have a councillor they know, can meet and discuss their problems regularly, will be a very big first step. For more on this vision and other local government issues, please visit my interactive online campaign at [nairobicouncillor.blogspot.com]Kumekucha: Why did you choose to stand in Westlands? I have lived and worked in the constituency over the last ten years. It was only natural that I would want to serve at the local level where I reside. Kumekucha: Younger candidates have often been accused of not being in touch with the needs of the people. Please comment. That is quite a sweeping statement that does not have any validity. I think the exact opposite is in fact the truth. Young Kenyans have suffered greatly through unemployment and rising crime as a result of bad leadership and corruption in our country. How can young and emerging candidates not be aware of this? Kumekucha: Who is your preferred Presidential candidate? Please give reasons My preferred candidate would ideally be a person that is ready to tackle head-on, the ills bedeviling this country as a result of gross mismanagement and corruption over the last four decades. He or she should demonstrate through word and deed that they are not willing to sweep under the carpet past misdeeds. Unfortunately, the candidates I see today are busy hob-nobbing and getting cosy with personalities said to have greatly benefited from corruption to the detriment of Kenyans. Kumekucha: Tell us a little about your background (including professional experience). I was born on 26th September 1973. A first born in a family of five children, I grew up mostly in Nairobi, though I've lived in different parts of Kenya through diverse experiences which have shaped me into the person that I am today. I attended Harambee primary school, situated in Eastlands, Nairobi, before moving to Arya primary school in Kisumu where I completed my primary education in 1987. I was fortunate to attend Lenana school in Nairobi, from 1988 to 1991. In 1993, I joined the University of Nairobi to pursue a Bachelors degree in design, graduating in 1997. In 2006, I enrolled for a Masters degree at the University of Nairobi's school of Journalism. Over the last ten years, I've been fortunate to work with leading organisations in the country as an ICT professional, such as the Kenya Literature Bureau and the Nation Media Group. Am currently working with an International NGO supporting small-scale agricultural development in the East African region. Kumekucha: Westlands is a constituency where there is a lot of racism targeted at ordinary Kenyans. How do you plan to help fight this? I am not certain whether this statement is true...the issue is more complex than race but...perceived racism, though not commonplace, is usually exhibited at the workplace where employees feel exploited because of their skin color. This arises due to lack of knowledge about their rights and lack of government support and education through the Labour Ministry. I plan to use my position as an elected City Hall official to initiate programmes within the council aimed at tackling this issue once and for all, rather than waiting for the central government to act. Kumekucha: How are you funding your campaign? The campaign is being funded by friends, family, well wishers and myself. Kumekucha: What word of encouragement would you give to other young candidates? I would like to urge them to hang in there, reach out to other like-minded candidates who have a selfless vision for this country and support each other to persevere through the challenges of electioneering. Above all else, let them not adopt the violent and crude ways of campaigning exhibited by many of our Kenyan politicians. If just one Kenyan was to die for you to get elected, then it's not worth it. Kumekucha: What have you done for Westlands constituents so far? Through board membership to a volunteer international youth exchange organisation, www.cisv.org, I've been working with children from diverse community backgrounds in initiatives to foster cultural understanding through experiential learning. Among these initiatives is a chess clinic am running at the Shangilia Mtoto wa Africa orphanage in Kangemi. This is aimed at nurturing the children's intellectual development. This follows a successful relationship established between our youth volunteers and Kibera Olympics primary school last year, which saw a number of children participating in international youth camps in Europe. A chess clinic is also planned to start this term at the school with an aim of establishing a thriving club. It's important for me to clarify that this volunteer work is done over the weekends because am otherwise fully employed. I would love to give much more of my time to such initiatives, especially as an elected Councillor. At the moment, that's the little I can give at my local level, with the resources that I have. Kumekucha: Any other comments/message you have. Over the last three multi-party elections that we've had in Kenya, it's unfortunate to note that our City Council, and many of our local authorities have ended up being managed by people best known for heckling, fighting and bizarre outbursts. This happens because we as voters, have not taken the time to scrutinise aspiring candidates and their backgrounds as thoroughly as we should. I would like to urge Nairobi voters to reject the culture of the "three-piece" voting pattern in this year's elections and vote in professionals such as myself, irrespective of party affiliations. Let us identify selfless individuals capable of tackling modern metropolitan challenges to vie as Councillors. I was inspired to note that voters in Embakasi recently elected a Councillor from the little known Kenya People's Party (KPP) despite serious campaigns from the two main parties. Clearly, they must have made an informed choice. I firmly believe that our dream of reforming Parliament and hence the country, will not be achieved unless we start at the grass roots, in our local authorities. Let us lift the cloak of ambiguity from the current Councillors and other aspirants, so that we have a City Council that we can all be proud of next year. Feel free to engage me on these issues at my blog [nairobicouncillor.blogspot.com]
-
10:08
From: Afromusing
Read This Entry & More At Afromusing
Solar is the future of Africa: Simon Mwacharo gave a wonderful talk today at TED. His company is Craftskills.
He pointed out the challenges of getting power to rural areas, these being
- Cost of transmission
- Virtually no government acknowledgment and participation in encouraging renewable energy in the last few years.
- Previous erroneous pairing of low rpm batteries with solar panels that resulted in a failed system. This made people skeptical of wind and solar systems for awhile.
For example, it takes about Ksh 100 for a rural person to go to a place that has power in order to charge their cellphone. This need not be the case at all, because battery charging stations can be set up in close proximity to most people in rural areas. His company has set up systems in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Cameroon and in the near future ivory coast. (White African asked the question about which countries his companies have been working in).
He had a powerful graph showing how 85% of Kenya (africa?) is not connected to the grid. The striking thing about Mr. Mwacharo’s company is the use of locally available materials and labor to create the systems. The inverters are made at a local university, the wiring and set up of the systems is done in his backyard. The fiberglass is locally cast though he imports the solar panels and magnets from China. His is a company that completely localizes renewable energy to provide power in a simple yet elegant way. Use of wind, complemented by solar and higher efficiency LED lights make this a very nimble system for off grid power provision.
During the q and a session, A gentleman asked a question whether netmetering is possible such that a hygrid (Grid tied solar sys) is possible, where excess energy generate by the homes can be sold back to the power company. Mwacharo answered by pointing out that the systems his company has deployed so far are not necessarily grid tied at this time, they are still off grid and not integrated.
I think that Mr. Mwacharo’s talk is very important for Africa, because it exemplifies that solutions to the ‘dark continent’ lie in the backyard of Africa’s homes and the universities in Africa. Bridging the ‘lighting gap’ is possible without continuing reliance on fossil fuels but with african ingenuity such as what he has shown us today.
Note that Yidris Mohammed has pointed out the the next big opportunity in Africa is the generation of power. Can we as Africans be so bold as to aspire for a grid tied system that can light up our continent in a clean, efficient and economically enhancing way? I firmly and resolutely believe so. It makes sense, and yes, Africa deserves to be brilliant. Not just light, but brilliant.
Thank you Mr. Mwacharo! For writing the first chapter in the energy transformation of Africa.
-
10:05
From: My Africa Today
Read This Entry & More At My Africa Today
Blount (1973:p325)[2]: “Young Luo boys begin to experiment with sex when they are four to six years of age, but their behaviour is severely criticized and restricted. As mobility is limited, boys are first interested in girls who reside in the immediate vicinity, and due to residential patterns, these girls are close relatives. Sexual relations with them are incestuous and although this concept is not immediately understood by a young boy, he quickly learns that they are not “available sex playmates”. If need be, a young boy will be sent to stay with a relative to remove him from temptation of nearby female cousins or sisters. Only after a boy becomes a youth, at the approximate age of 13 to 15 years, is there opportunity for considerable contact with members of the opposite sex”. Luo boys are said to practice a preputial conditioning at the age of 10 to 12 (Parkin, 1973:p335-6)[3]. Schoolgirls begin to take a great interest in romantic aspirations, and eagerly await thelarche (Ominde, 1952)[4]. The marital cycle “proceeding” to the act of childbearing, is imitated (p31). Genitals are compared, and “something approaching a crude sexual intercourse” takes place when older members of the family are absent.  During the period when the crops are ripening these older children, sometimes accompanied by younger ones who act as sentries, disappear into the cornfields to carry out this practice”. The parental reaction is one of reproach and restriction. Before age eleven, restrictions of exogamy are suggested to the girls. The girls learn from the coquetry and customs of more mature girls with whom they sleep. Sexual instruction for girls took place within the swindhe, a form of communal living (Cohen and Odhiambo, 1989)[5]. Child betrothal (p92) or marriage (p117) may take place (Wilson, 1961)[6], but this seems a peripheral custom. Child marriage (nyar osiep) includes marriage ceremonies without consummation (cf., Kyewalyanga, 1977:p24)[7]. Customize your mobile with your Complimentary Ringtone!
-
10:00
From: My Africa Today
Read This Entry & More At My Africa Today
Africa may seem an unlikely investment opportunity, but with its markets growing at a clip, the continent looks increasinly attractive, says Simon Wilson. Isn’t Africa a mess? Yes. Much of sub-Saharan Africa has got poorer in recent decades, thanks to wars, corrupt or weak governments, lack of education and healthcare, and crippling debt most of the world¹s poorest 30 countries are African. And its share of world exports fell from about 6% in 1980 to 2% in 2002. The contrast with Asia is striking. Malaysia and Ghana are broadly similar countries: both achieved independence in 1957, both lie just north of the equator, and both had similar levels of income dependent on commodities. At the time of independence, Malaysia¹s income per capita was roughly equal to Ghana¹s. Today it is ten times Ghana¹s yet Ghana is a success story in African terms. So why invest there? To help Africa help itself and make profits in the process. Despite the continent’s structural problems and the relentless focus on aid and debt relief, Ghana’s stockmarket was the world¹s  third-best performer last year, while Egypt topped the global table and is soaring this year too. In the long term, Africa¹s best chance for prosperity and stability is not from dependency on foreign aid, but from sustained private investment and enterprise. Currently, only about 1% of the private capital in the world is invested in sub-Saharan Africa. As the continent becomes gradually more prosperous, levels of private investment are set to increase significantly, especially since (according to World Bank figures) Africa currently offers ‘the highest returns on foreign direct investment of any region in the world’. How are Africa’s economies doing? Currently, they are doing pretty well. Sub-Saharan Africa is experiencing its ‘best economic performance in years’, according to Goldman Sachs economists, who reckon ‘gross domestic product growth could average 5% over the next decade, compared to less than 3% over the past 30 years’. They also point to dramatic differences in outlook between countries, with Botswana near the top and Zimbabwe near the bottom. The big growth areas for the continent are infrastructure, agribusiness, vehicles, tourism, finance and natural resources. But is it safe to invest? Investing in Africa is high risk for many reasons, including currency fluctuations, poorly developed markets and political risk. (Although in Transparency International’s most recent survey, Botswana is rated less corrupt than Italy or Greece.) Yes, there are still some poorly run and unstable countries, but the number of African democracies has jumped from just four in 1990 to 17 today. At the same time, many countries have begun liberalising their economies and developing their capital markets. A good example is Uganda, whose GDP grew an impressive 7% a year from 1993 to 2002. So how are stockmarkets doing? Extremely well and not just in Ghana and Egypt. African markets easily outperformed the world averages last year and over the past three years. Moreover, the number of stock exchanges has jumped from ten to 18 in the past decade. In the best-case scenario, Africa could be right at the start of a virtuous circle of investment, in which the growing size of the markets and the growth in foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows boosts credibility in Africa¹s exchanges, making it easier to raise capital and encouraging Africans to invest in them. What about South Africa? The picture there is pretty rosy too crucially, as it accounts for a quarter of Africa¹s entire GDP. The economy is growing strongly predicted annualised growth of 6% in the second quarter together with a strengthening rand, employment levels are up, and government debt down. In spite of a solidly performing stockmarket (up 9% this year), assets are still cheap compared to the developed world. Most significantly, FDI is buoyant. The return of Barclays last month is widely seen as a major boost to investor confidence in the region. This is the latest in a line of big FDI deals in the country, including General Motors¹ decision to build Hummer H3s in Port Elizabeth. So how do I invest in Africa? It’s not easy. As yet, low demand means that none of the mainstream UK fund managers offer African funds, although investors can get good exposure to South African mining stocks through popular funds such as Merrill Lynch Gold & General, or JPMF Natural Resources. Some emerging-market funds do offer exposure to Africa, in particular the successful Genesis fund, which is 10% invested in South Africa and 5% in Egypt, with smaller holdings in Ghana, Kenya, and other African states. Elsewhere, the boutique private-client investment firm Blakeney has a strong track record of investing in Africa. Alternatively, investors could consider investing directly in South African plays such as Investec, the Anglo-South African bank, or European-listed colonial’ firms with significant African assets, such as Belgium’s SIPEF. Customize your mobile with your Complimentary Ringtone!
-
9:34
From: For Love and Money
Read This Entry & More At For Love and Money
 Sometime last year, Safaricom, Kenya's largest wireless phone operator sought to recruit Kenyans in living in the UK and US to work for the company in Kenya. This move was widely welcomed and a lot of Kenyans showed interest in the jobs. As it turned out to be, the exercise was a holiday trip abroad for the Safaricon recruiters and not a recruitment exercise as it was meant to be. Even for a successful company like Safaricom which won the 2004 and 2005 'Company of the Year Award', recruitment is not such a straight forward exercise. Anyone who has ever sought a job in Kenya can attest to the fact that nepotism, sexual favours and to a large extent tribalism, determine one's chances of getting a job. While recruitment discrimination was started in the civil service and parastatals (quasi-government agencies) as a political tool by the KANU government, it has now spread into various sectors of the Kenyan economy. Not even Kenya's largest and most successful companies, including Kenya Airways, have been spared of these woes and cannot claim that they carry out recruitment on merit. Despite advertising for jobs in the media, one's success in being recruited by KQ depends on who forwards your job application to the airline. As it is with recruitment in government offices, high government officials, well connected politicians and senior Kenya Airways managers are known to forward their lists of preferred applicants who end up getting the advertised jobs. While many of the successful applicants may be qualified for these positions, the fact remains that there is no integrity when it comes to recruitment in Kenya Airways. The same can be said of staff training opportunities carried out abroad. The more connected the employee, the higher their chances of being selected to attend training overseas. With reports indicating that the 2 major plane crashes to have hit KQ were a result of pilot error, one is left wondering whether these crashes have anything to do with the way the airline recruits and trains its employees. If anything, the loud silence by the airline and it's accomplices, the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority and the Ministry of Transport, goes to shows that they are all in bed together. The fact that KQ has not been held accountable by the government or the aviation regulators is worrisome considering that travellers are beginning to question the safety record of the airline in light of these fatal crashes. Though Shareholders may be satisfied with the performance of the airline, the company needs to address the root cause of these plane crashes because at this rate air travellers will shun the airline especially now that their are a number of airlines flying to and through Nairobi. Shareholders can only hope that the CEO, Titus Naikuni, and the airline's board of directors are doing something behind the scenes to straighten up the corporate culture of the airline.
-
9:14
From: White African
Read This Entry & More At White African
.flickr-photo { border: solid 0px #000000; }
.flickr-yourcomment { }
.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }
.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }
Bono and George Ayittey, originally uploaded by whiteafrican.
This picture sums up TEDGlobal to me.
Two of the most famous people, with somewhat differing views on how to reach Africa’s future. Bono represents the part that states development aid is needed. Ayittey represents the side that claims private equity is the answer to Africa’s problem.
Why it sums up TEDGlobal so well, is because these two individuals with differing views were laughing and talking with eachother. That’s what this is all about; ideas and discussions.
 
-
9:10
From: White African
Read This Entry & More At White African
Joseph Mucheru has been named the new site lead for Google Kenya. This was whispered to be happening, but at today’s Google lunch at TEDGlobal the position was made official by Francoise Brougher, Director of Google Business Opportunities.
This is great news for East Africa and Google. They’re getting one of the true leaders in the ISP space, and someone who has a great deal of experience navigating the many difficult situations that arise in the African IT sector.
Below is a picture of Joseph talking with Russell Southwood (who writes the excellent Balancing Act emails)
(more pictures on Flickr)
Congratulations Joseph!
(Note: This is Google’s first sub-Saharan Africa employee, not counting a couple sales guys in SA)
 
-
8:15
From: My part of the world.......
Read This Entry & More At My part of the world.......
When I was in Campus there was this chic I used to know who was really cute, had a great figure and a nice personality to cap things off. Well there was one thing that used to put me off....her fuzz! You see this chic had a light but noticeable fuzz covering her. Not Chewbacca kind of fuzz but the kind that becomes very visible when you come very close to her. It didn't help that she was light skinned so the hairs were very visible when you got close and there is nothing as disheartening as a good pair of C cups covered by a layer of fuzz, I used to shudder at the thought of wanting to give them some oral attention only to end up with a hairball in my stomach. The thought of me kissing her with my eyes closed would bring up some horrific gay images due to the light layer of fuzz on her upper lip. But on the other hand I always did have thoughts of waking up in post coital bliss warmly snuggled in her fuzz without blankets, and on rainy days sitting with her on the couch combing her fuzz with her favourite brush. I thought I was the only one who had examined her fuzz and thought she would be far stunning without it until I conferred with my boys and we decided that what we should do (which we never got to doing), would be to put a sleeping pill in her drink and carry her to a farm so the following could be done:  Anyway on a serious note, let it be known that I support fuzzy chics' rights to live free without the fear of being sheared like a sheep in New Zealand come knitting season. I just realised something else today. I have become that employee who hates his job but comes to work everyday, putting in just enough so as not to be seen as lazy and staying under the radar so that they can get a steady pay check as they search for a better job. Have a productive and fuzzy day!
-
7:34
From: bankelele
Read This Entry & More At bankelele
Chatting with Hash at TED this morning about the entrepreneurship and I got to talking about a book I had recently read. Before long, we agreed that it was a good story that would be worth repeating here this week. Kumeckucha [Blog] had posted on this a while ago)A few weeks ago, I had read the autobiography of the late Mandatally Manji, an Asian-Kenyan who who founded House of Manji which he built into the largest regional biscuit company. He was encouraged by his family to put his life's' story together and it's a fascinating story for any budding entrepreneur to read on. He details how; - From being a clerk transporting commodities around Central Kenya he came up with his plan to start a bakery. - After hard work and sweat many years later, he achieved his dream when through a partnership he was able to buy and run a bakery with a perfect location and healthy customer base in Nairobi. - How he chose to walk away from the bakery in frustration at his his dead weight partner who contributed little to the success of the bakery. - Having to start all over again with even less, as his former partner was slow in paying him for his shares - Dealing with macro economic problems - and having to produce biscuits even as basics commodities like sugar and wheat were rationed and diverted to the war (WWII)effort. - Dealing with discriminatory/political barriers – and winning customers and contracts away from European bakeries through unmatched service and delivery. - Ingenuity to keep producing bread and biscuits by observing and experimenting. This he did by adapting the the cooking habits of his employees who used grains not known (or rationed) by the Colonial Government. His competitors accused of him of souring from the black market as they could not imagine how his bakery was able to keep producing. It's a great book that's less than 200 pages long, but very hard to find. More: - Earlier post on Manji by Kumeckucha. - Wikipedia entryThe book can found at amazon (though pricey)
-
7:20
From: bankelele
Read This Entry & More At bankelele
 Dr. Ken Vickery of North Carolina State University gave a talk on past leaders in Africa and their engagement in entrepreneurial zeal and partnerships on their own terms to benefit their people. - Nzinga Mbemba the Manikongo (leader) of the Kongo in the 16th century who entered into a joint venture with the Portuguese where his people would receive education and Christianity in exchange for ivory and slaves. His son was eventually consecrated by the pope as the first African roman catholic bishop. But Portuguese did not fulfill their end of the deal, negotiating around him to get greater even greater numbers of slaves and corrupting his court. His relationship with the Portuguese is chronicled in 22 letters that are now widely published. - Ja Ja, King of the Opobo Kingdom, in the 1880's. Got into a partnership with the English for ship palm oil. When he felt he was not getting a fair deal from shipping companies so he set out to establish his own shipping line. For this he was captured and exiled by the British. - Third was African counties in the post independence area (early 1960's to mid 70') their economies GNP's grew post independence and they delivered services such as education and health care and largely performed as governments. They were not basket cases until the oil crisis and collapse of raw material market shocks destabilized their growth patterns. So even as we stand at the dawn of a new era of partnerships of trade, development, debt, aid, etc., remember that history rhymes.
-
7:15
From: Afromusing
Read This Entry & More At Afromusing
Florence Seriki: An African woman in computing. Omatek is the first African computing company.
She switched from Chemical engineering to computing where she started by selling hardware and training professionals in Nigeria. Keep doing what you are doing she says. In 1988 Omatek was incorporated and soon her company became a premier partner with Compaq and IBM [>$7mil in sales]. In 1991, she visited Asia she saw the supply chain and noticed the Chinese tech was developed in house. She came back to Nigeria, started Omatek Computers. Despite the ‘clone’ tag attached to her company, she ploughed on. People used to call the Chinese copy cats, see where those companies are now.
The idea of ‘designing down’ does not sit well with Florence, she believes that African computers can be made locally and at high quality. Buying computers for resale can get challenging because of minimum orders to the tune of $700,000. This is a major stumbling block and thus the imperative is for Africans to create their own supply chains.
Challenge 2: Financing from banks who do not see the opportunity.
Challenge 3: Electricity problem in Nigeria. This ties back to the talk by Idris Mohammed that the next big opportunity is in providing power in Africa.
Needed.
- Lots of SME’s can help with bridging the digital divide.
- Continued Govt support for locally made products.
She took the risk of starting the business and well…what a trailblazer for all women!
ALIEUH CONTEH - Founder of Vodafone Congo
–govt was not helpful at all when it comes to licensing, it was a challenge. besides the lack of infrastructure, it cost so much in capital expenditure. The metaphor would be ‘getting stuck in the mud’ figuratively and literally since the trucks would get stuck in the mud and things were just harder to get going.
He put forth all his savings and built the network over the years, even as the war continued. He had to negotiate with the govt and the rebels. CWN Started out with 30,000 subscribers and grew to 3 million subscribers growing by 1.5 to 2 million a year. Current valuation of the company is $1.5 Billion.
Ainea Kinaro - 3 minute talk on Organic Waste - The ignored Resource. He showed pictures of the Human waste is being collected into huge systems to produce methane gas. The other by product is fertilizer which is used in rwandan coffee farms. He reviewed the benefits of using renewable energy, especially something as abundant as human waste.
You can find more over at Ethans’ my battery is done for.
Opinion: Spoke shortly with Tom Rielly the Director of TED partnerships. “TEDGlobal is the kind of conference Africa deserves” Indeed!
-
6:43
From: Afromusing
Read This Entry & More At Afromusing
The founder of Mama Mikes will be speaking shortly, a few links to get acclimatized to the energy whirlwind that is Segeni.
1. KP’s interview of Segeni about challenges faced by young entrepreneurs in Kenya.
2. Cool You tube ad of Mama mikes
** He just started with the ad, he mentioned that in his company, the idea is to have fun doing what you love, and that is what they continue to do.
-
4:52
From: Afromusing
Read This Entry & More At Afromusing
I am attempting the live-blog thing, but i do have to point your mice to the Long haired king of live blogging events ‘My Heart is in Accra’
Fractals, Design and Africa
!! Indeed !!
Design cornrows using transformational geometry. Click here.
Ron Eglash spoke on looking at fractals in African architecture and design. For non comp sci people, fractals make for some of the most beautiful designs. For African geeks, egm and mathematicians, get the book.
TED Global 2007 feels like a seminal moment in Africa.
Russell Southwood: Balancing Act Africa
Looking at cities and ‘real news’ about Africa, he sees an affluent Africa emerging. A picture of modern looking Abuja and cultural expression in Nollywood.
Favourite quote - “What is an Ipod? Its a hard disk with hot pants.”
Chris Anderson to African designers “Please do not copy the west”. I like that. Could we have the kenyan rappers heed his call please?
-
4:20
From: Afromusing
Read This Entry & More At Afromusing
Early monday morning I was among a group of TEDsters for the DATA morning field trip before the conference. DATA is the organization founded by Bono of U2 to raise awareness about the issues facing Africa, namely Debt, Aids, Trade and Africa. DATA is mostly associated with the lobbying for debt forgiveness for the developing countries such as Tanzania. It was an incredible day, started out at the Artemisia farm of Mr. and Mrs Loshie of Sambasha in Arumeru district.
Artemisia is a plant with a sweet smell that provides raw material for malaria treatment drugs like cotexcin (also marketed in french countries as cotexa). It is a plant that is indigenous to china but grows very well in East Africa. I had not heard of Artemisia before but had seen the cotexin drugs at the pharmacies in kenya. The tour was very informative and eye opening. We began with visiting the nursery which was in the valley. It had rich dark loam soil that is perfect for Artemisia growth The small plant pictured here is an artemisia seedling, the leaves look like those of carrots or cilantro.
Mr and Mrs Loshie told us about how they irrigate the seed beds and ensure that the seedlings get enough water by having pipes utilize gravity to get the water close to the seedbeds. Mr. Loshie pointed out that he had to hire some manual labour to do the work as he and his wife cannot do it all themselves. In April they had about 400,000 seedlings. They supply the seedlings to other farmers in the area who pay after selling their leaves. As you can already tell, cultivation of this crop generates employment in the community and other farmers also intercrop it into their fields (planting artemisia between other plants like bananas and coffee)
Mr Loshie was asked about the benefit of planting Artemisia vs Maize, he said that he makes 4X more by planting artemisia, and can earn Tsh 15000 from 5 bags. It does take alot of manual labor to harvest, dry and bag the leaves. Once the leaves are bagged and ready, they are bought at he price of 750 Tsh per kilo and transported to Athi River processing plant in Kenya where the ingredient arteminisin is extracted into a crystal form.It takes 1 tonne of artemisia leaves to extract 10kg of crystals. This goes to Novartis in Switzerland where the final product of Cotexcin tabs are made. The TZ country director Tom Lennox explained that the arteminisin content of leaves from EA is very high, and EA can compete with China and Vietnam which have approx 70% of market share processing artemisia. The EA region currently commands 20% of that market. I asked Bruce McNamer the CEO of Technoserve (The company that set up this business in East Africa) if there are any plans to have the tablets made in Kenya or TZ instead of switzerland, especially since the tabs are used in Africa for malaria treatment. He said that the process for certification from the WHO in order to make this a reality is a stumbling block to making this happen. It takes a really long time to get the certification for drug processing.
Artemisia cultivation is a real market opportunity with room for growth and better yet, a platform for EA to compete with China on a cash crop.
More Pics posted here…[Bono was there. He is a sweetheart, a rock star one at that]
I am sitting next to Jen Brea, she blogs about China’s involvement in Africa.
Ndesanjo is liveblogging TED in swahili here.
-
3:25
From: White African
Read This Entry & More At White African
George Ayittey is a large thought leader in the field of change in Africa. His book, Africa Unchained, has been a seminal book for many. Opening his talk, he named and talked about two generations in Africa:
The Cheetah Generation - made up of the youth, specifically the TED Fellows present here, the saviors of Africa who are not going to wait for government and aid organizations to do things for them.
The Hippo Generation - the current political and business leaders who are happy to wallow in their water holes, complaining about colonialism and poverty, but doing nothing about it.
Ayittey pulls no punches. He compares well-meaning international aid organizations who don’t understand Africa as the “Blind leading the clueless.”
Here are some of my notes:
He reminds us that 40% of the wealth crated in Africa is taken out of Africa, that “Africa’s begging bowl is leaking horribly”. Examples:
- Africa loses $148 billion to corruption each year
- Africa loses $80 billion to capital flight each year
- Africa loses $20 billion to food imports each year (when it used to be a food exporter)
Since 1960 we’ve had 204 African heads of state - name me just 20 good leaders! Most can’t even get 15. Even 20 out of 204 is still a failure of government. The slate of post-colonial leaders is a far cry from the leaders Africa had known for centuries.
Sometimes we think there is something called a government in Africa that cares about the people, and represents the people. What you and I understand as the government doesn’t exist in any African country. They suck the economic vitality out of the people. It’s a vampire state. The richest people in Africa are politicians - the chief bandits are the presidents.
An American says, “I am because I am”. An African says, “I am because we are”.
 
-
2:36
From: White African
Read This Entry & More At White African
Idris Mohammed talks about the wealth creation party that everyone is invited to. African marketplaces are providing some of the highest return on investment in the world, and it’s open to the world.
There’s a big issue that Idris brought up, he askes, “Why is it so difficult to raise private equity in Africa, yet we have billions of dollars going towards aid?” He suggests that maybe the G8 should divert some of those funds towards private equity markets in Africa.
I agree. I understand that the perception of risk is what holds many foreign investors back. However, the reality of the situation on the ground in Africa is a far cry from what is generally talked about in the media. In my travels, talking to technologists and entrepreneurs in South and East Africa, I’m continually struck by how much opportunity and growth potential there is here. While many investors sleep on these opportunities, a few will become millionaires and billionaires.
George Ayittey, author of Africa Unchained, has just walked on the stage… Wow!
 
-
2:17
From: Kenya Imagine
Read This Entry & More At Kenya Imagine
Read President Kibaki's Madaraka Day speech here.
-
1:27
From: Kenya Imagine
Read This Entry & More At Kenya Imagine
With all the promises that the Ministry of Health has made to the Kenyan public one would think that the ministry is providing well-deserved services. Far from it, the health dons at Afya House have many reasons why they are not delivering. Elijah Marangu highlights the problems that plague Afya House in Kenya. He also offers some recommendations. More here.
-
1:24
From: Kenya Imagine
Read This Entry & More At Kenya Imagine
It happens all the time, sometimes innocent, often not, still its capacity to cause offence and alienation is constant. I am talking about that bad habit; we all know some of its practitioners, those among us who are so in love with their ethnic languages that they feel inclined, maybe even compelled to use them to communicate in public places and offices. These people are oblivious to the discomfort felt by those cannot help but hear what they are talking with their mates, even as they cannot understand it. These friends of ours find it very easy to gossip about people in and around the office by using their vernacular tongues instead of the standard Kiswahili or English that is supposed to be used in offices and public places. Richard Mbuthia warns against tribalism. Read the rest here.
Read the complete article at
|
|
