African Digerati: Emeka Okafor
African Digerati: Emeka Okafor
Blog and/or website:
The Blogs I publish are Timbuktu Chronicles and Africa Unchained.
What do you do:
I am an entrepreneur, one of my current endeavors is Caranda Teas and Coffee in which I am a partner. The company is repositioning itself as a Fine Foods company.
What inspires you?
Innovation, Creativity, Resourcefulness and Resilience in face of odds.
Who are some of your biggest influences?
My Parents, Internalist thinkers like George Ayittey
If you weren’t involved with technology, what would you do instead?
Technology couldn’t really be separated from daily existence, its woven into the fabric of contemporary human endeavor. If it were however I would be drawn to the creative pursuits of business and idea implementation…this would always draw me in.
Name one book that you would label “required reading” for those in the African technology sphere:
Kevin Kelly’s Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems and the Economic World
What emerging technologies are you most excited about?
Distributed computing and communication systems such as:
Wireless mesh networks
Open Source everything
Distributed and Renewable energy systems:
Biogas, Biofuels
Solar energy
Nanotechnology, Robotics, Unconventional computing, Fabbing
What do you see as the biggest advantage or opportunity for African technology development?
Moving local research from the Labs & Universities into businesses and Agriculture and the wider world. Adapting existing and emerging technologies to enable leapfrogging. Adopting non-hierarchical technologies that are less susceptible to non-functioning centralised control
What do you see as the biggest challenge for African technology development?
Repositioning technology in the eyes of policy makers as being absolutely critical to the continents survival and its continued relevance. Evolving a home grown culture of ingenuity and resourcefulness, that is self-sustaining replicable and scalable.
What are your thoughts on the impact of blogging in Africa?
Blogging will continue to open up vistas of the continent that hitherto remained out of view. From food to finance, technology to tourism a million untold stories are waiting to be told…and we have begun to tell them.
African Digerati Emeka Okafor - To learn more about this author, visit Erik Hersman's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
Emeka Okafor is the first in the African Digerati series of interviews. He is a well established member of the African blogosphere, a leading thinker, and a doer. Not mentioned in this interview is the fact that he is also managing and coordinating one of the world’s top technology conferences that will be in Africa for the first time this year: TED Global. He has made a huge impact on me, and I believe his blogs should be considered regular reading for anyone interested in technological development in Africa.
Blog and/or website:
The Blogs I publish are Timbuktu Chronicles and Africa Unchained.
What do you do:
I am an entrepreneur, one of my current endeavors is Caranda Teas and Coffee in which I am a partner. The company is repositioning itself as a Fine Foods company.
What inspires you?
Innovation, Creativity, Resourcefulness and Resilience in face of odds.
Who are some of your biggest influences?
My Parents, Internalist thinkers like George Ayittey
If you weren’t involved with technology, what would you do instead?
Technology couldn’t really be separated from daily existence, its woven into the fabric of contemporary human endeavor. If it were however I would be drawn to the creative pursuits of business and idea implementation…this would always draw me in.
Name one book that you would label “required reading” for those in the African technology sphere:
Kevin Kelly’s Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems and the Economic World
What emerging technologies are you most excited about?
Distributed computing and communication systems such as:
Wireless mesh networks
Open Source everything
Distributed and Renewable energy systems:
Biogas, Biofuels
Solar energy
Nanotechnology, Robotics, Unconventional computing, Fabbing
What do you see as the biggest advantage or opportunity for African technology development?
Moving local research from the Labs & Universities into businesses and Agriculture and the wider world. Adapting existing and emerging technologies to enable leapfrogging. Adopting non-hierarchical technologies that are less susceptible to non-functioning centralised control
What do you see as the biggest challenge for African technology development?
Repositioning technology in the eyes of policy makers as being absolutely critical to the continents survival and its continued relevance. Evolving a home grown culture of ingenuity and resourcefulness, that is self-sustaining replicable and scalable.
What are your thoughts on the impact of blogging in Africa?
Blogging will continue to open up vistas of the continent that hitherto remained out of view. From food to finance, technology to tourism a million untold stories are waiting to be told…and we have begun to tell them.
African Digerati Emeka Okafor - To learn more about this author, visit Erik Hersman's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
| |||
 |
No article feedback found. | ||
|
Leave Your Feedback | ||
|
|||
 African Digerati: Emeka Okafor
| |||
| Emeka Okafor is the first in the African Digerati series of interviews. He is a well established member of the African blogosphere, a leading thinker, and a doer. Not mentioned in this interview is the fact that he ... |
|||
|
Quick Hits Around the (African) Web
| |||
| Quick Hits Around the (African) Web |
|||
|
African countries on 2007 list of 50 most desirable outsourcing destinations
| |||
| BusinessWeek’s recent article on rising outsourcing destinations highlights what many African entrepreneurs have proposed for years. Outsourcing to parts of Africa can be a win-win situation. |
|||
|
Why the African Digerati Can Make a Difference
| |||
| Some of the greatest insights on this site have come from the individuals leaving comments. Someone by the name of “Goat Herd” left one of those comments today, on one of my favorite blog posts “The Dark Continent: ... |
|||
|
18.0 Conclusion: Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship in Africa
| |||
| Ultimately, the future of entrepreneurship in Africa must be in the hands of the Africans themselves. |
|||
| |||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
 |
|
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
 |
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
 |
 | ||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
|
| ||
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
|
 |
 Leadership 2.0 A Clean Desk What’s Wrong With Your Site? The $1000 Show Increasing Coaching Effectiveness |
|
 | ||
 |
Top 50 Geek Business Blogs
Top 50 Geek Business Blogs | |
 |
Choose A PR Topic
Press Release Builder | |
| ||
 |
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||
