Timbuktu Chronicles

This work studies the development of a waste-to-energy conversion system using the anaerobic digestion of animal waste to produce biogas for cooking, generation of electrical energy and organic fertilizers for households and on farms. The materials employed include galvanized steel sheets which is used for the fabrication of the digester and gasometer body because of its high resistance to biological corrosion, pipes and fittings for the control of the flow of materials, fibre glass for maintaining a constant temperature of the system, a sparkles electric motor which is used to drive the mixer and a 220 V air compressor which is used for compressing the produced biogas into the gasometer. The plant is designed using Solidworks and a monitoring unit is incorporated into the system comprising of an Arduino Uno Microcontroller which is connected to a pressure sensor, pH sensor and a temperature sensor in order to monitor the process parameters of the developed biogas plant. The results obtained validate the direct relationship between organic loading rate and biogas production. It also show the interaction between temperature and pressure, temperature and pH, pH and pressure. The simulation results obtained were statistically analysed to obtain a suitable model for the prediction of biogas yield as a function of the four independent variables. The work provides a suitable means for biogas production with smart and continuous monitoring system.

John Steele Gordon writes:
Before the late 18th century, machine parts were made by hand, and no two were alike. For instance, a bolt was manufactured on a treadle-powered lathe by a workman holding a cutting instrument and moving slowly up the bolt as the lathe turned, forming the thread. Nuts were a challenge, for it was very difficult to get the pitch (the angle of the thread) of both nut and bolt to match exactly. Once a nut was produced that would work on a particular bolt, they were carefully paired...[more]

From the book 'The Spread of Modern Industry to the Periphery since 1871'
This chapter documents the decline and rise of industrial production in India. As the economy integrated into the British Empire’s global network, there was a rapid decline in artisanal and cottage industries in the nineteenth century and a rising share of commodity exports. However, modern industries also developed in cotton textiles, jute, and tea under the entrepreneurship of British and Indian interests and with little support from the state. After independence in 1947, India adopted the planned development of an industrial sector, by regulating foreign trade and investment. Initial attempts succeeded in building a large capital goods sector, but import substitution ran out of steam. Indian industries remained inefficient and failed to match East Asia’s successful entry to the world market in industrial goods. Re-integration into the global economy after 1980 led to efficiency gains, but rising growth in recent years has been led by the services rather than industry...[more]

Lionel Stanbrook writes:
Can emerging industries preserve and protect added value within Africa? Although trade statistics are unable to reveal what originates where, and what is sold at which price, with sometimes unintended and dramatic effects on trade relations, significant commodity value chains originating in Africa have been circumnavigating the world for decades. But Africa benefits the least as their commodities and natural resources are invariably just hoisted out of the earth and immediately exported for onward processing and value enhancement...[more]

via Further Africa: ...As the digital economy emerges in Africa at an unprecedented pace, we sat down with our friend Eric Osiakwan – a man at the forefront of Venture Capital on the continent to learn more about the reality, challenges and rewards of this market...[more]

As an industry leading miller and supplier of rice around Nigeria, Anambra Rice Mills Limited strives to serve our clients as trusted allies, providing them with the loyalty of a true business partner. It is our goal to consistently supply the highest quality of milled rice available, that meets and exceeds our customers’ standards.

Luni Libes writes:
A few times per year I attend conferences full of fellow fund managers, managers of family offices, and big impact investors. The rest of the year I share investment opportunities multiple times per week with other investors.

From all these conversations, I’ve come to realize the power and benefits of running a business accelerator rather than a traditional venture capital fund. A few times per year I attend conferences full of fellow fund managers, managers of family offices, and big impact investors. The rest of the year I share investment opportunities multiple times per week with other investors.

From all these conversations, I’ve come to realize the power and benefits of running a business accelerator rather than a traditional venture capital fund.

From 10,000 feet away, we do the same job. We invest in young companies, providing capital to grow. But from 10 feet away the approaches are vastly different. And those differences boil down to what we do with flawed companies. A common, polite terms for flaws is “yellow flags”, so lets’ stick with that.

At an accelerator we expect yellow flags. We seek them out, and when we find them, we consider how hard they will be to fix...[more]

Geoff Mulgan writes:A paradox of the contemporary knowledge economy is that it is both dispersed and concentrated. Technologies make it possible to organise activity anywhere on the planet. Yet the most advanced knowledge-based industries cluster together, primarily in small areas of big cities...[more]

From Talks at Google:
Craig and Shaun McAnuff, raised in London and of Jamaican descent, are bringing Caribbean food to the masses. In 2016, they launched the Original Flava brand, sharing videos of them cooking simple Caribbean recipes. Now, they have published their second cookbook, "Original Flava: Caribbean Recipes from Home", which is all about meals that are vibrant, lively, exciting, and full of the influences from different cultures that make Jamaica so wonderful.

From TEDxLagos:
Through the story of his journey, Olumide lays out a blueprint for African startups looking for traction through investments. Using some of the success stories of his investments, he draws out some vital lessons for your entrepreneurs and helps model the right attitude to investment for them.

From Wandieville:
Wandie Kazeem interviewing George Kuria, CEO of Agriculture and Climate Risk Enterprise –ACRE Africa. An innovative organization providing access to agricultural insurance and other financial services to smallholder farmers. They partner with different organizations in the agriculture value chain to develop specific insurance products for smallholder farmers.

From UNU:

Why is there so little industry in Africa? Does it matter? What can be done about it? These were questions I put to Finn Tarp and Louis Kasekende, then the Director of UNU-WIDER and Chief Economist of the African Development Bank respectively, at a 2008 meeting of the African Economic Research Consortium in Nairobi. We were talking about the challenges that Africa would facein the 21st century and our greatest worry was that, despite almost two decades of promising economic growth,the structure of Africa’s economies had changed little from the 1970s. While change was taking place, it had a pattern that was distinct from the experience of the industrialized economies and the ‘miracle’ economies of East Asia...[more]

Space in Africa reports:
ConsenSys Space Launches TruSat System Following its acquisition of Planetary Resources, the leader in blockchain development releases open-source, citizen-powered space sustainability system...[more]

A highlight from Google:
...The idea for Truckr came to life for Chiamaka after a conversation with her father. A longstanding importer of goods across Africa, he often complained about the frustrations he faced in shipping. Sometimes his precious cargo made the trip, but too often it got lost along the way. Hearing this sparked a thought in Chiamaka: what if she could solve this problem, and make life for people like her father easier?...[more]

from ALU:

Japan's indispensable workshops:

Tanzania's Gemmological Centre a centre for education which includes gem cutting :
...Tanzania's first ever state-of-the-art gem cutting and polishing plant has been commissioned in Arusha on Tuesday, marking the beginning of the long journey to uplift the northern city into an Africa's gemstone hub.

The 480 million (or $300,000) gemstone processing factory, housed in the newly built National Social Security Fund's Mafao house opposite Kanisa road, will be run as a joint venture-project by the Diamonds International and Signature Gems of Arusha...[more]ArushaFacetingSchool_Bjorn_1322 from Roger Dery on Vimeo.

Totohealth enables organizations and counties to register parents to start receiving Totohealth timely text messages, schedule and send reminders, appointments, surveys and announcements to parents in a convenient and an affordable way.

From Andreessen Horowitz:
We are at the beginning of a new era, where biology has shifted from an empirical science to an engineering discipline. After a millennia of using man-made approaches for controlling or manipulating biology, we have finally begun using nature’s own machinery—through biological engineering—to design, scale, and transform biology...[more]

From Landscape News:
Kennedy Kirui on tailoring the tech world to meet African needs...[more]