Erik Hersman Articles

Why the African Digerati Can Make a Difference - Click To Read Article
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: It’s Still Dark” from over a year ago. Thank you “Goat Herd”, and thanks to everyone else who enriches all of us by leaving comments and keeping the discussions going here. This comment is worthy of a post entirely to itself, it’s well worth the read:

Why the Internet Matters in Africa - Click To Read Article
If anyone doubts the power of the internet in Africa, they need to look no further than what is happening in Kenya right now. Kenya is balanced on the precarious edge of a cliff that could quickly descend into even more riots, bloodshed and government heavy-handedness. The people I’m talking to via Skype/email tell me that there are gunshots going off as we type… This isn’t Zimbabwe (yet), but it is still bad.

Where the World Sees Junk, Africa Recycles - Click To Read Article
This post is dedicated to Blog Action Day, where thousands of blogs around the world unite to talk about one theme. This year it is the environment.

Wall Street, “Africa is Investing’s Final Frontier” - Click To Read Article
I came across an interesting article in Canada’s Globe & Mail entitled, “Africa - Investing’s Final Frontier?“. The piece talks about how Africa has been overlooked, primarily due to the perceived risks associated with putting money into play in Africa. They quote extensively from Merrill Lynch chief investment strategist Richard Bernstein and his thoughts on what makes Africa a potential big hit in the coming years.

The Undelivered Promise: Rwanda’s Internet - Click To Read Article
The New York Times is running a story on the promised, but undelivered, widespread high-speed internet that Greg Wyler’s Terracom promised 4 years ago.

The Status Quo and Radical Ideas - Click To Read Article
What so many of us discuss about Africa is the desire to see things change. We apply the lenses that color our lives to the problem and come up with solutions that fit our world view. Challenges to that world view are hard for us to deal with, because it likely means a paradigm shift is needed in our own lives.

The Village: Gaming to Overcome Poverty in Africa - Click To Read Article
As you might have realized from past posts here, I enjoy computer gaming. I just recently came across a new game called “The Village” that is being created to simulate a third-world village. Your goal is to use your entrepreneurial spirit to raise this village out of poverty.

The Quandry: Building Web Apps in Africa - Click To Read Article
One of the debates that rages amongst the developers, designers, and strategists across the African blogosphere is what types of web and mobile applications are being built in Africa. When we look at the available web applications and mobile offerings around the continent, we generally ask ourselves two questions:

The $20 Billion African Remittance Market - Click To Read Article
Remittances (money sent back home from Africans living abroad) back to Africa constitute some big numbers for Africa. About $10 billion gets sent to sub-Saharan Africa. That’s the official number of course, a World Bank report stated that it’s likely double that amount, due to Africans using non-traditional means to send capital back home.

Street Meat Heater: A Simple Solution - Click To Read Article
Simon Kasiraba is one of many sausage vendors found in the cities and small towns throughout East Africa. He’s the prototypical micro-entrepreneur trying to make a living by supplying a need (food - conveniently available). He’s on AfriGadget because of the simple innovative solution that he employs to keep his food ready to be eaten at all times of the day - which is very important when you’re set up beside a bus stop.

Quick Hits Around the (African) Web - Click To Read Article
Quick Hits Around the (African) Web

Quick Mobile Hits Around Africa - Click To Read Article
2go Rafiq wrote a review of a new mobile service out of South Africa called 2go. It enters the chat/social network fray with fellow South African competitor Mxit (past with interview Mxit’s Darryn Foster found here).

Mubarak Abdullahi’s home-made helicopter takes Nigeria’s Kano Plains by storm - Click To Read Article
Yahoo! News (among other sources) carries a story from October 21st about Mubarak Muhammad Abdullahi of the Kano Plains of Nigeria who has built a working helicopter over the last 8 months using scrap aluminum and parts from a Honda Civic, an old Toyota and from the remains of a crashed Boeing 747.

Kenya’s Second BarCamp - Click To Read Article
I’ve been impressed to see the developers and bloggers from Kenya and South Africa taking the time to create gatherings where they can pass on knowledge - everyone ends up profiting from the experience. The techies in Nairobi have just concluded their 2nd BarCamp this year (the first was in March).

Ghanian mechanics bring cars back from the dead - Click To Read Article
The BBC Website carries a story about a Ghanaian mechanic called Frank Darko who claims that he can make any car from wrecks and scrap.

Google is Moving in East Africa - Click To Read Article
7 Month old Google Kenya is starting to interact with the local hackers and devs. Just this Tuesday they sponsored the local Tuesday Skunkworks event, giving some of their thoughts on Kenya specifically. My friend, and fellow Kenyan blogger, Bankelele was in attendance and took notes.

But Where Were the Hippos!? - Click To Read Article
A recent article in the Economist about there not being enough hippos at TED Global is pretty interesting. Actually, scratch that, it’s not very interesting at all, in fact it’s disappointing that this is the best article about the recent conference in Tanzania to come out of a magazine like the Economist.

An Open Source Disc-Burning Kiosk - Click To Read Article
Springwise is running a story on Freedom Toaster. Backed by the Shuttleworth Foundation (behind Ubuntu Linux, the popular open source option to Windows) it’s a free kiosk that allows anyone to put a disc in it and burn a copy of Linux, OpenOffice, and some e-books. It’s a very interesting concept, and it fits perfectly into low, or spotty, bandwidth areas like Africa.

Applying the Long-tail to the African Mobile Space - Click To Read Article
The mobile applications space is getting more attention each day. Ken Banks has written up a good piece, in which he applies the long-tail theory to mobile applications in areas like Africa.

Africa at DEMO ‘08 - Click To Read Article
I’ve been sitting on this little nugget of information for the last month, but am happy to finally announce that I’ll be going to the DEMO ‘08 conference in January. DEMO is the leading conference for new technologies to launch. It’s generally packed with a ton of VC’s, startups and some really interesting people. DEMO is one of the very best conferences in the tech space and one that I’ve always wanted to attend.

African Stock Market Opportunities Online - Click To Read Article
The stock markets in Africa have shown incredible growth over the last few years. There are a lot of investors around the world interested in both information and analysis of the stocks, companies and countries where the exchanges are located. Invariably, entrepreneurs flock to where the money is and you start seeing some interesting websites show up.

African Digerati: Emeka Okafor - Click To Read Article
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.

African Digerati: Ethan Zuckerman - Click To Read Article
Ethan Zuckerman is the 5th in the African Digerati series of interviews. Honestly, I’m amazed with what Ethan has done with technology and what he continues to do - so much of which directly benefits Africans. His line-up of web projects is simply amazing. What isn’t mentioned here is that he founded Geekcorps, a non-profit technology volunteer corps, that creates real tangible technology change on the African continent. He’s also on my “required reading” list of African bloggers.

A South African’s Homemade Paraglider - Click To Read Article
Most of the stories on AfriGadget are stories of work-based ingenuity. However, every once in a while you get an incredible story about someone who creates an amazing do-it-yourself “fun” item.

3 Localized Ideas for African Web Developers - Click To Read Article
There is a group of Kenyan techies, called Skunkworks, that talk on a Skype channel regularly. It’s an interesting mix of developers who share news and talk passionately about the potential of the web and mobile market in Kenya. In our conversation last week, the discussion of local content for specific regions kept popping up.


Like this article? Share it with your friends

---

	No article feedback found.
	Leave Your Feedback

---

To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us.