From ICTUpdate:
Using the internet and mobile phones, farmers in East Africa learn to work more efficiently with the traders who buy their goods. The Linking Local Learners method of learning explores how farmers can access market information and get a fairer deal...[continue...
Knowledge@Wharton reports on Global Resolve's smokeless stove system:
The group developed a system that could be deployed in rural Africa using only components and materials available in Ghana, Brad Rogers (professor at ASU) explained. The resulting system consists of four integrated subsystems:
1. Corn is milled and steeped, exposing the starches and converting them into fermentable sugars.
2....
African Renewal reports:
Ann Wanjiku walks up to a green-and-white booth with an “M-Pesa agent” sign on it. There she shows the agent her identity card and her cell phone, which displays a PIN number provided by a client. Using the PIN number, the M-Pesa agent takes just a minute to verify that the client has transferred payment for 1,000 traditional carvings into Ms. Wanjiku’s mobile money...
Watch VNL’s CEO Anil Raj talk about the rural opportunity, the challenges associated with bringing connectivity to rural areas, WorldGSM™ – VNL’s solar GSM system,microtelecom, and the future of rural telecom.
A related report from Russell Southwood of Balancing Act states :
VNL’s business strategy is to tackle the cost base of Africa’s mobile operators in a number of different ways. It will...
Image via WikipediaSean Park at the Park Paradigm writes:One of the most obvious - yet no less powerful or potentially transformational for it - themes is the combination of mobile communications, internet and geo-location technologies to disseminate information and increase connectedness from the bottom up. This emergent collective intelligence is all the more remarkable, given the typical...
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Image via WikipediaSuneor a peanut oil producer handles about 90% of peanut seeds placed on the Senegalese market, equivalent to between 130,000 and 250,000 tons annually.The company is organized around 5 industrial sites with a total crushing capacity of 900,000 tons of peanuts per year. The company exports 50,000 tonnes of crude peanut oil to refineries in Europe, Asia and North...
Marissa Fick Jordan discusses Wire Weavers at......
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...
Image via WikipediaMavuno Capital's Michael Swanich stated that:
Our philosophy is that Africans themselves should develop agriculture in Africa. More than 60% of all economically active people in Africa are employed in the agricultural sector and Africa will never be a successful continent unless people are empowered in agriculture.
The company's strategy is:
based on the BOT (Build, Operate...
A Sierra Eye video outlines the various agro-allied opportunities in Sierra Leone:
via Cheetah...
Palm kernel meal and cassava peel meal as a feed for pig farmers.
Lagos takes page from Sao Paulo with a Heli-Taxi service
The supreme irony of solar powered fuel stations in Mozambique
Handmade cards from...
"...Appropedia is a living library of appropriate technology and open design, also covering sustainability and broader international development issues including public health, water, sanitation, community development, agriculture, renewable energy and urban...
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Image via Wikipedia EarthOil a grower-based production and marketing firm, processes essential oils in Kenya and Zimbabwe.Their website outlines the company's Papain operation:
The papaya fruit (pawpaw) – is not indigenous to Africa, but it has become “naturalised” in that country, and, and is very widely grown by small farmers in many parts of Africa. The project to develop papaya seed oil...
Business Daily reports on the appearance of video halls that cater largely to the Nollywood Film audience and asks the question, can they be monetized and formalized?
“Every African country has the equivalent of a pirate cinema audience that runs into the thousands....The challenge for film-makers, distributors and exhibitors is how to turn this grey market into one that functions at a price...
Mobile Africa reports:
Mi-Pay’s portfolio of mobile payments services is available to African operators to help them further monetise their existing prepaid networks. Mi-Pay also provides a service that enables third parties to buy pre-paid airtime and send that airtime to subscribers in Africa enabling them to make calls, and extend the value of their mobile phones. This service provides added...
The Green Step Off-Grid initiative in Cameroon,will instruct locals on"...how to construct their own wind turbines and hydroelectric plants using local materials...The organization will teach the 7,000-person town of M'muock how to build and operate small renewable energy plants out of wood and old car and radio parts.",Ebono...
Food for Life reports on Working Villages:
A model village is literally rising from the ashes, and include full employment, private ownership of small farms and businesses, zero carbon footprint and 100% recycling. The project is a practical demonstration that it’s possible to profoundly increase living standards in rural Africa without hampering local culture and ingenuity.
The once-abandoned...
CS Monitor reports on David Parker's company Equatorial Biofuels,which :
Has taken over the 36,000-acre Palm Bay plantation and plans to invest up to $10 million initially to rehabilitate the estate and begin producing palm oil industrially again.Their goals are to:
-Begin rehabilitation of the existing palm plantations;
-Identify the optimal locations for developing a nursery and new palm oil...
Spore reports:
At Badara, one of Kinshasa's new districts, not far from the N'djili international airport, young would-be fish farmers have devised a simple and cost-free culture system based on 'fish wells'. They dig 5 x 5 m and 1 m deep holes along the river Ntsangu and link these wells to the river by a small 3 m x 30 cm channel. After a week - the time needed to catch fish - they close off...
Potters Without Borders describes the implementation of a Ceramic Water Filter production facility at the Songhai Centre:
The Songhai Centre in Benin has more then a twenty year history in Benin developing an integrated programme of agriculture production and community development in West Africa. This model is an excellent basis for the development of a ceramic water filter facility with an...
In an interview with Joy Ful of The Farmers Voice, rabbit farmer Wilfred Allo, answers questions about his reasons for building this mini-livestock business:
What is it that prompted you to get into rabbit farming?
The main reason why we went into rabbit farming was because just over a year ago when there was the bird flu scare, we ran into financial problems because we had heavily invested in...
Believe Begin Become covered earlier launches its You Tube......
Founded by Iqbal Quadir, Emergence Bioenergy covered earlier is exploring alternative energy solutions for low-income and developing countries around the world...it seeks to use local resources to create distributed energy production systems in low income...
"...NASFAM is a farmer-directed business system based on the individual participation of close to 100,000 Malawian smallholders, most of them farming on less than a hectare of land...it has been at the forefront in the set up and delivery of expanded financial services to rural areas, allowing smallholders to be active participants in the economic system and able to use their own savings to...
Rural Water Supply Network reviews hand drilling technologies:
Unlike hand digging, which requires a person to be physically below ground to dig the well (of at least one meter in diameter), hand drilling enables the operators to remain above the ground and drill a narrow diameter borehole (50 to 200mm). Hand drilling can provide highly affordable improved groundwater sources for households and...
"...Farm Concern International has developed unique market information feed back systems that primarily rely on the commercial villages / private sector partnerships. The partnerships developed and tested have proven that with sufficient understanding of market dynamics, farmers can be viewed as business partners by the private sector. Private sector players have invested heavily on market...
Practical Action Profile:
From his small workshop Peter makes good quality, inexpensive tools and equipment, very often from scrap metal and using limited resources, that he then sells to the local community. This is the story of how Peter became a jua kali worker to support himself...Practical Action in Kenya were looking for ways to increase employment and income-generation opportunities,...
"...Global Mamas is a cooperative of individually-owned businesses working together to penetrate larger markets while maintaining their independence. Women are provided a "living wage" - over 10 times Ghana’s minimum wage. Members are paid upfront for completed products and receive financial assistance through a raw materials revolving loan fund. This leaves more proceeds to fill the...
Co-founded by Ibrahima Cisse "...Green Caravan a fair trade company focuses on improving the environment through the sale of organic and environmentally friendly products such as organic cashew nuts and organic solar dried...
Businessweek reports:
Offshoring upstarts are making so many inroads, in fact, that by 2012, they'll significantly dilute India's dominance, says consultancy Gartner (IT). The consulting firm says that by 2010 about 30% of Fortune 500 enterprises will outsource to three or more countries, from less than 10% today. "So many governments have realized what an opportunity this is and there's a lot...