Development Blogs.com


Digital Designers Rediscover Their Hands via Timbuktu Chronicles August 17th, 2008 at 20:19

The Make Philosophy continues to blossom,G. Paschal Zachary writes in the NYTimes: “A lot of people get lost in the world of computer simulation,” says Bill Burnett, executive director of the product design program at Stanford. “You can’t simulate everything.” Using computers to model the physical world has become increasingly common; products as diverse as cars and planes, pharmaceuticals and...

Kenya Stories via Timbuktu Chronicles August 13th, 2008 at 15:21

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...

Making a Brain In Silicon:Kwabena Boahen via Timbuktu Chronicles July 30th, 2008 at 16:37

From the TED Website: Stanford researcher Kwabena Boahen is looking for ways to mimic the brain's supercomputing powers in silicon -- because the messy, redundant processes inside our heads actually make for a small, light, superfast......

NextEinstein recruiting via Timbuktu Chronicles July 30th, 2008 at 15:10

From the TED Blog: The Next Einstein Initiative (NEI) is building a network of postgraduate centres of excellence for teaching and research in the mathematical sciences, throughout Africa. NEI is now recruiting a Chief Executive Officer, to manage all aspects of the development and implementation of the NEI programme. The successful applicant will be strongly committed to African development and...

Africa: the new new (new?) thing. via Timbuktu Chronicles July 26th, 2008 at 13:31

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...

Wire Weavers:Marissa Fick-Jordan via Timbuktu Chronicles July 25th, 2008 at 17:06

Marissa Fick Jordan discusses Wire Weavers at......

Culinary Entrepreneurship contd via Timbuktu Chronicles June 27th, 2008 at 13:06

BetumiBlog reports on Culinary Entrepreneurship in Ghana: What delights me and my senses is some of the emerging “made in Ghana” foods featuring Ghanaian products. A sampling is included here. There's Takai, a liqueur “made from natural cocoa and coffee blended with other natural aromas” produced and bottled in Ghana by Gihoc Distilleries. The name “Takai” comes from a traditional dance and...

David Kobia of Mashada via Timbuktu Chronicles June 26th, 2008 at 14:23

Mwangi of Displaced African has a conversation with David Kobia creator of Mashada and co-founder of the award winning...

Sustainable Refrigeration via Timbuktu Chronicles June 23rd, 2008 at 19:22

From the TED website: Adam Grosser talks about a project to build a refrigerator that works without electricity -- to bring the vital tool to villages and clinics......

Kenya’s (Unofficial) Ironworks Industry via Timbuktu Chronicles June 18th, 2008 at 14:00

TED fellow Erik Hersman reports at Afrigadget: Gikomba is a part of Nairobi that is well known for metal working. I had been meaning to come this way for a while, and today afforded me the perfect opportunity to drop down into Gikomba and see what kind of enterprising activities Kenyans were up to...I ran into a George Odhiambo, a bulk fabricator of everything from wheelbarrows to chisels. The...

What the hell does Africa have to do with it? via Timbuktu Chronicles June 17th, 2008 at 14:01

Sean Park discusses opportunity at the Park Paradigm: In a nutshell, it really comes down to the power of looking at the industry from a completely different perspective: understanding how markets and financial services can be made to work in the context of sub-saharan Africa, necessarily forces you to see the industry through a radically different prism: infrastructure, distribution, price...

Ipo’s beyond the Finance Sector-Omatek & Tantalizer’s via Timbuktu Chronicles June 3rd, 2008 at 22:59

Stock Market Nigeria reports on two impending IPO's from non-financial sector companies, Florence Seriki's Omatek Ventures and Tantalizers both covered previously: The management of the Nigerian Stock Exchange at a recent Quotation Committee Council Meeting (QCCM), held at the exchange, gave a nod to Omatek Ventures and Tantalizers Plc’s bid to list on the Exchange. Omatek Ventures Plc would be...

Off Grid Health Care-Seyi Oyesola via Timbuktu Chronicles May 28th, 2008 at 13:50

Seyi Oyesola co-inventor of the Hospital-in-the-Box discusses Off-Grid healthcare at TED......

NextEinstein.org via Timbuktu Chronicles May 13th, 2008 at 05:07

"...The African Institute of Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) in collaboration with the TED (technology, entertainment design) Prize today announced the launch of NextEinstein.org, a website in support of the global campaign to unlock and nurture scientific talent across Africa. NextEinstein is a program that provides the opportunity for Africans to develop as independent, creative problem solvers...

Africa Investment Horizons via Timbuktu Chronicles April 30th, 2008 at 04:06

Africa Investment Horizons, Carol Pineau's latest film which premiered today at the NYSE "...is about money, and lots of it. Investors – one after another – talk about astounding returns, doubling their money, even tripling. But at its heart, the film is the story of people working to create a new economic future for Africa, from two ivy-league educated Ghanaians who left top jobs on Wall...

Abenaa Launches Gwyneth Shoes via Timbuktu Chronicles April 23rd, 2008 at 17:04

Singer Songwriter,TED Global performer Abenaa Frempong-Boadu , reveals another one of her hats with the launch of Gwyneth Shoes a company in which she is a co-founder: Gwyneth is a line of sophisticated, comfortable shoes for real women. At Gwyneth we believe that we should not have to compromise fashion for comfort. Our patented sock cushions and flexible soles on every shoe make sure that we...

World Class Health Care-Ernest Madu via Timbuktu Chronicles April 17th, 2008 at 16:44

Ernest Madu founder of the Heart Institute of the Carribean covered earlier,discusses Health Care at TED Global......

Neil Turok’s TED Prize wish via Timbuktu Chronicles April 8th, 2008 at 02:20

From the TED Blog, at TED 2008 in Monterey Neil Turok announced his TED Prize wish. He calls for the unlocking and nurturing of the continent's creative......

“An African Einstein” via Timbuktu Chronicles February 29th, 2008 at 16:41

Neil Turok founder The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) whose winning of a TED prize was posted earlier, announced his prize wish.From the TED prize site: My wish is that you help us unlock and nurture scientific talent across Africa, so that within our lifetimes we are celebrating an African Einstein.” Continue reading...

TED Africa 2008 team introduced at TED 2008 via Timbuktu Chronicles February 28th, 2008 at 20:29

Chris Anderson at TED 2008 introduces the TED Africa team led by TED Global fellow, Kelo Kubu to the TED audience. The conferences theme poses the question: What If the smartest thinkers greatest visionaries and most inspired teachers from Africa and the world came together to share,spread and nurture groundbreaking ideas that could help propel the continent beyond the tipping point into a new...

Black Star Line Global via Timbuktu Chronicles February 25th, 2008 at 03:07

Herman Chinery-Hess, a TED Global speaker covered earlier, is the founder of BSL which has just introduced a SMS/Internet Scratch Card- Global Electronic Payment Solution: It allows the average African to enter into remote and electronic business transactions...Permit the average, small, rural African business operator to easily engage in global transactions for the first time...It will enable...

Chris Anderson of TED Conferences on Charlie Rose via Timbuktu Chronicles February 20th, 2008 at 13:45

Charlie Rose interviews Chris Anderson,curator of TED......

BelieveBeginBecome’s You Tube Channel via Timbuktu Chronicles February 3rd, 2008 at 05:17

Believe Begin Become covered earlier launches its You Tube......

Bagazo via Timbuktu Chronicles December 10th, 2007 at 02:50

Showcased as "a big idea to watch"and founded by Jules Walter,"...Bagazo creates low-cost clean-burning cooking fuels for people in developing countries. In collaboration with the MIT Development Lab, they developed a unique process to create charcoal from agricultural waste..." via AIDG...

Announcing TEDAfrica 2008! via Timbuktu Chronicles November 27th, 2007 at 14:15

From the TED Blog Chris Anderson and Emeka Okafor write: We're delighted to tell you that there will be another TED conference in Africa next year, and that we hope to make it an annual event on the continent! TEDAfrica will be held in Cape Town, South Africa, September 29-October 1, 2008 (save the date!), and will follow the format of this year's TEDGlobal conference in Arusha, Tanzania....

African Institute for Mathematical Sciences founder wins TED prize via Timbuktu Chronicles November 21st, 2007 at 16:03

The founder of the African Academy of Mathematical sciences covered earlier, Neil Turok is one of the TED prize winners for 2008.See announcement on the TED Blog...

Echoing Green Fellowships via Timbuktu Chronicles November 18th, 2007 at 17:53

Echoing Green is accepting applications for their fellowship program(Fred Swaniker a TED Global fellow and subject of a previous posting was a past recipient). Go here for further......

Aachron via Timbuktu Chronicles October 7th, 2007 at 23:53

Co-founded by TED Fellow Sylvester Okwunodu Ogbechie a co-founder of the Nollywood foundation, Aachron is "...a cultural brokerage firm that educates clients about the equity value of different forms of global African arts and cultural knowledge. Aachron provides art management and art-equity consultancy to art collectors, creates mainline and online (e-knowledge) content for international...

Culinary Entrepreneurs via Timbuktu Chronicles September 29th, 2007 at 15:52

Betumi Blog profiles Culinary Entrepreneurs: Everywhere I turn, there are enterprising African culinary innovators from Africa like Yeti. I often feature them in this blog (like chemical engineer Yaw Adusei and his fufu flour or Cameroonian Julie Ndjee and her husband Albert and their "Neilly's Ultimate Seasoning".) There's also Tomilola Awoniyi, a woman I learned about through Bola Olabisi,...

The Carnival of African Enterprising (3rd Edition) via Timbuktu Chronicles August 6th, 2007 at 14:32

WhiteAfrican hosts the 3rd Carnival of African Enterprising.The first one was held at African Path,while African Loft presented the second edition: John Wesonga on the importance of African technologists to be innovators not imitators.Ken Teyie claims that the United States of Africa is already here in practice, using technology and banking to show how business dictates change. Joshua Goldstein...