Timbuktu Chronicles

Awarri is derived from “Awari”, which means ‘seek and find’ in Yoruba (one of Africa's popular languages). Our mission is to enable the development and adoption of advanced AI & Robotics technology on the African continent...[more]

Dawn Dickson writes: How leveraging the power of small checks can make a big impact to build companies and create generational wealth...[more]

Krystal Ice is a Ugandan company that makes frozen snacks from real fruit. The business was started in 2017...[more]

Reggie Rockstone's Waakye In A Jar...[more]

From the Sowetan: The coronavirus pandemic is going to drive people to small businesses and keep them there.

"There's going to be a focus and shift onto our products," says handbag manufacturer Thobekile Mkhize.

She's the owner and creative director of Mabotho, a leather handbag brand for women, based in Durban. The name of the business is a mash up of her name and her late father Sibongiseni Mkhize's, nickname Mabo.

"I wanted to honour my father's entrepreneurial spirit. Though he was a teacher by profession he was really great at consulting for his friends businesses and before he passed, he was just really getting into it."...[more] View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Mabotho Africa (@mabotho_africa) on Dec 28, 2017 at 12:57am PST

Sage Valley is a Zambian company which produces spices and pastes from locally sourced ingredients...[more]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Wachira Wines (@wachirawines) on Apr 15, 2020 at 11:36am PDT

Wachira Wines is a family owned Urban Winery delivering high-end, every-day wines borne of a passion for pairing fine Californian varietals with African cuisine.

Sierra Leone Telegraph: 30 July 2020:Last Friday, the Sierra Leone Investment and Export Promotion Agency (SLIEPA) and other Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) visited one of Sierra Leone’s newest farm produce exporting companies – Fresh Salone (SL) Ltd in Kobbaya, Kaffu Bollum Chiefdom, in the Port Loko district, as the business prepares and get ready to start vegetable exporting to the European Union Market.

Mr. Jonathan Rosenfeld – Managing Director (MD) of Fresh Salone, said his farm is certified to produce vegetables for export, and that he is aiming to export about 10 tons of fresh vegetables and frozen leaves every week to the European Union market through clients in Belgium, who will subsequently distribute the produce to other European countries...[more]

Alexander O. Onukwue reports on DRC's early stage tech ecosystem.

From Space in Africa: According to the Government Artificial Intelligence Readiness Index 2019, a research conducted by Oxford Insights and the International Development Research Centre, lack of systemic study on artificial intelligence (AI) and associated dearth of contextual data on Africa are significant challenges to the progress of AI applications in Africa.

“This means that applications of AI developed in other regions will likely lack contextual relevance, particularly in regards to cultural and infrastructural factors, and will not be fit for purpose in Africa. For example, a lorry in the United States or Europe encounters substantially different challenges to a lorry in most of Africa. A self-driving lorry developed for the roads of developed countries is unlikely to be successful on the roads of developing countries without substantial adaptation,” the report says in its synopsis on Africa.

To address this challenge, Kenya-based Fastagger, a startup offering artificial intelligence as a service (AlaaS), has set out to accelerate the adoption of AI applications in Africa by providing contextual data on the continent and helping entities develop bespoke AI application use cases...[more]

Start.coop accelerates the growth and development of the next generation of co-operative entrepreneurs with the knowledge, tools, and financing necessary to build businesses that share prosperity among the many, not just the few.

Stears Business reports: "Honoris United, an education network owned by Actis (@ActisLLP) , a private equity firm, has acquired Nile University of Nigeria. The network currently owns 11 tertiary institutions across 10 African countries" - 

Over at Curbed:The future Olalekan Jeyifous is imagining for New York City probably won’t happen in his lifetime, and he’s okay with that. The “implausible architecture,” as the Brooklyn-based visual artist calls his work, is about the creative excitement of an alternative story line.

“Architecture is my medium, but I’m really a storyteller,” Jeyifous says...[more] View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Olalekan Jeyifous (@kidcadaver) on Jun 14, 2020 at 5:20am PDT

Tareian King founder of Nolafrique writes:The African diaspora sends more money to Africa than U.S. foreign aid and foreign direct investment. In 2018, sub-Saharan Africa received $25 billion in development assistance. In that same year, immigrants in the United States sent $46 billion in remittances to their home countries in Africa, out of a total of $150 billion sent from the United States globally. In 2017, $85 million in remittances were sent from the United States to Senegal, the seventh-most of any country (France topped the list with almost $650 million). Remittances are the transfer of money, often by a foreign worker, to an individual in their home country. A closer look at a diaspora neighborhood in New York City helps explain that remittances are not only a form of familial aid but also an important investment vehicle that builds wealth...[more]

A special mentoring accelerator programme is being launched by the Ethical Fashion Initiative to support African fashion brands in Kenya whose work demonstrate credibility in terms of responsible sourcing and have commercial viability...[more]

From cuoredicioccolato:

Dan Kleinbaum writes:Last month, we signed the paperwork to sell Beyonic to MFS Africa. An eight-year journey ends this phase of the company and I can’t help but feel victorious. Building things is hard. Doing it early, in markets where traditional venture investments hadn’t yet paid off, and being constantly hamstrung by a lack of resources is ludicrously difficult...[more]

Another first for the African fashion scene. Made - A digital magazine by Tongoro! Such an exciting space and so timely as we deal with "the new normal"! 3D Fashion!

From Stilt:

Gezawa Commodity Market & Exchange joins the growing commodity exchange space in Nigeria: