The FT profiles Wellington Baiden founder of Portal Wood Processing:
Growing timber requires decades of patience, so Mr Baiden has developed a range of schemes aimed at harnessing a cornucopia of forest products to generate income before the trunks are felled. Apart from the oils extracted from ylang ylang, black pepper, patchouli and lemongrass growing in the shade, he plans to build up...
In an interview with the Cheetah Index, founder of Accents Telecom Douglas Kimani, outlines services offered by the company:
Accents uses technology for the customers' convenience. An example is their pin less calling cards whereby the Accents system recognizes their customers telephone numbers whenever they call from the number on their profile and automatically knows which account to make...
"...Santa Yalla, is a homegrown women’s loan association which means “praise God,” brings together clients of a small loans program in the country’s Casamance region. The female entrepreneurs make sure all loans are repaid. They have to be prudent – there’s simply too much at stake..."-USAID. Kiva is presently assisting the organization with fund...
Spring Mortgage aims to provide innovative and affordable mortgage solutions.
New Farm discusses livestock fattening.
Spore reports on grafting Shea trees.
Bruno Gilbert outlines his inventions which include the Counter Collision Gadget...
Coast Coconut Farms manufactures coconut oil using the "...Direct Micro Expelling (DME) method which gives you a 100% natural, unrefined oil. Our cold press process preserves the nutritional value and healing properties of virgin coconut oil. We use a small batch process which allows us to focus on consistent quality. We collect mature coconuts from both wild areas and from organic farmers...
Bankelele writes:
I'll begin by saying that, apart from Enablis, I haven't found a true venture capital firm anywhere in Nairobi. Although many firms describe themselves as 'investment banks', 'development banks', xyz Funds, or venture capitalists, for better or for worse, they absolutely do not fund start-up companies. They like real-life balance sheets rather than projected balance...
Nyakio Kamoche Grieco founder of Nyakio covered earlier launches Safi her perfume line. In an interview with LadyBrille she states:
Safi carries base notes that represent Africa including bamboo, papyrus, and muhuhu wood. At the heart you find fresh cut freesia, stargazer lily, and neroli (orange blossom), and at the top rests fresh pineapple, black currant and fresh lychee, notes that I've...
African Loft profiles Pamela Wu founder of Big Treat, a bakery and confectionery business in Nigeria. :
When she started Big Treat many years ago, there was only store in Opebi, Lagos but now she is working on expanding the Big Treat brand via a strategic partnership with Oando, a Nigerian petroleum company that owns filling stations nationwide.Pamela’s story is a demonstration that one’s...
Academy Press a printing pioneer, started "...with four-unit Web-offset presses..." the company has since grown to include subsidiaries such as West African book publishers, Lithotec,Academy Press Business Forms.Their product range includes:
-Periodicals
-Unit Set Forms
-Instructional...
The Innovation Hub covered earlier co-launches a pre-incubation initiative "for young online entrepreneurs."-Startup Africa,HatTip Sean Park!
Buy into Africa says the Investors Chronicle
Juhel, a growing Pharmaceutical manufacturer founded by Ifeanyi Okoye
Green Wifi covered earlier in...
Empretec profiles Nyaya Industries founded by Emelda Nyasha Nyamupingidza:
Nyaya Industries is the largest candle maker and second largest polish maker in Zimbabwe. While other companies concentrated on urban customers, Nyaya began producing a smaller and cheaper candle for the four-fifths of Zimbabweans who live in the countryside. The company continues to provide significant employment...
From GWINN covered earlier:
Tomilola Awoniyi from Nigeria was recognised and applauded for her infant and child 'LIZVIC formula food' which includes ingredients and spices of high nutritional value.Tomilola developed this formula after the birth of her first child when she discovered that most of the available infant formula could not produce the desired effect on the growth and wellbeing of her...
Founded by alumni of Ashesi University, DreamOval's "...products include Outreach, i-Wallet, and Global Virtual Stock Exchange (GVSX). Outreach is a communications solution that enables enterprises to utilize SMS and Email for business-critical communication and relationship management(CRM)..."-Ashesi...
Corine Hazoume is the founder of the porcelain and ceramic manufacturer Cera Afrique,
which is described as a "...A laboratory of creation and design which defines new lines of creativity, directs trends..."In an interview with 100% culture(Fr) she stated:
Only work generates wealth. The use of our materials and science can help us to free ourselves from dependency...foster boundless...
From the website of the Carol Pineau's project Kenya Stories:
They are young, ambitious and want to win. 100 potential businesses. 100 great ideas. Imagine what these Kenyan youth could do for a nation plagued by unemployment. But sadly, this is the story of thwarted dreams. Six weeks after Kenya's national business plan competition, a disputed election set off the worst violence Kenya has seen...
Fusion Capital offers SME focused financial solutions.
Derrick Ashong launches Ashong Ventures.
The Economist applauds Endeavor's success in spreading the gospel of entrepreneurship.
CopperNet leads in the provision of information technology services.
Founded by Baba Jibrin Adamu, Inetworks Canada believes strongly in the provision of low-cost communications and...
In
Broadband,
entertainment,
hardware,
Technology,
Media,
culture,
ict,
SME's,
Finance,
services,
entrepreneurship
Led by Karanja Macharia, Mobile Planet "...develops voice and data applications for mobile devices. Their applications enable networks and corporate clients entertain, interact and transact via SMS, MMS and WAP with the growing mobile market in Africa..."In a related story White African discusses an equity stock investment in the company by Google, and wonders whether this is the start of a...
A review of Mourou Outta's Farah Olivia Restaurant:
The crossing of French, American, and African cooking makes for offbeat flavors and textures that often soar. And the chocolate brown space with striking white "branches" on the walls and a giraffe motif behind the bar are just as stunning. Shocked tuna with red wine and spicy peach accompaniments and pork with tandoori pork rinds are the sort...
Omatek covered earlier, raises N6bln ($51mln) in their recently concluded IPO.
A $100 Million Legacy Africa Alpha Hedge Fund Launched By INTL Consilium and First City Monument Bank.- HedgCo
Oson Chemist describes itself as "...a leader in pharmaceutical distribution and supply chain management..."
Emmanuel Banza a mechanic, describes his mill for crushing cassava leaves,a necessary food...
In
fabrication,
hardware,
Health,
manufacturing,
markets,
food,
invention,
Finance,
funds,
Innovation,
entrepreneurship
Ahmed Mohamed founder of Zebra Ng'Arisha discusses the lime production business a critical component of the chemical industry supply chain:
via...
Founded by the award winning Ibrahim Abouleish, Sekem group pioneered Biodynamic agriculture in Egypt.The National reports:
It’s not supposed to be like this. The desert does not give up its grip lightly. Yet some 60 kilometres north-east of Cairo, what should have been (and was 30 years ago) a parched dry scrubland of desert and rock is now a place of vivid green, a patchwork of fields rich in...
Founded by the award winning Felicia Twumasi, Homefoods processes,packages produces all-natural red palm oil, high-quality African spices, cassava flour, shito hot sauce and traditional fruit jams.
via Specialty...
Nigeria,hot bed for mobile banking?
SAGE 2008 world cup won by Nigerian team.
Umbele, A variation of the Kiva model?
Acits exits Nigerian telecoms...
Storm Media Group founded by Obi Asika is a multimedia,film production and broadcast facilitation company. The groups components include:
-StormInteractive
-IBST Media
-Storm Records
Read related LadyBrille interview with Obi Asika...
Emmanuel Mbulu founder of Tone-a-Matic a muscle stimulator manufacturer, discusses entrepreneurship.
New Scientist profiles rugged wheelchair prototypes for the developing world.
Reuters reports that currency traders and investors are increasingly drawn to African currencies. via Cheetah Index
"Ndume Little Pick-up" a solution to waste...
Mintek a mineral research organisation "...supports the small-scale mining (SSM) sector through research and development of appropriate technologies, and by providing training and support so that development can be as sustainable as possible even though based on limited...
From the PSD Blog:
Business Partners specializes in providing small businesses with risk capital,and at reaching large numbers of small companies. Over the past few years BPI has provided thousands of SMEs with equity, quasi-equity and - crucially - hands-on advice.
One of the key products which BPI offers is the so-called "royalty loans" whereby the entrepreneur is provided with a low interest...
G. Paschal Zachary writes in the NYTimes:
While engineers in the United States lavish attention on expensive phones that boast laptoplike features, in Kenya there are 10 million low-end phones. Millions more are used elsewhere in Africa. Enhancements to such basic phones can be experimented with cheaply in Nairobi, and because designers are weaned on narrow bandwidth, they are comfortable...
NaijaCar reports on the Innoson automotive initiative.
Nubia Estates offers private residence owners' Club.
Food crisis a boom for small farmers?
More on the opportunity in Africa's frontier markets.
Using oil palm crops to heal Lake Victoria
Burundian Ashura Kisesa, wins a young entrepreneur...
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aquaculture,
transportation,
commodities,
construction,
Education,
food,
property,
Finance,
funds,
Agriculture,
entrepreneurship
From the X-prize Foundation website:
The X PRIZE Foundation is researching prizes structured around entrepreneurial solutions to global poverty. The focus is to find methods that catalyze profit-generating firms both in terms of financial as well as human development metrics that address major development challenges in agriculture, capital, education, health and water. The goal of these...