Timbuktu Chronicles

Yepoka Yeebo writing in Quartz: Image courtesy of Yepoka Yeebo Owusu-Achiaw moved to China 10 years ago, and started exporting clothes. Because he picked up the language quickly, he often found himself acting as a middleman between Chinese manufacturers and African traders. He started off with a few thousand dollars, and now handles...

From AppAfrica: “Inside DEMO Africa 2012″ offers a look at the activity behind the scenes at last year’s DEMO Africa 2012 Conference. All of the footage was shot on location at DEMO Africa in Nairobi, Kenya on October 24th and 25th, 2012...[continue reading] ...

From the Rockefeller Foundation: Digital Jobs Africa aims to impact 1 million lives in six countries in Africa by catalyzing sustainable Information Communication Technology-enabled (ICT) employment opportunities and skills training for high potential but disadvantaged African youth, thereby generating social and economic opportunities for those employed, their families and communities. More here ...

From Jason Njoku co-founder of SPARK: ...We are making the most systematic and wide ranging bet on the early stage Nigerian internet space. I don’t care to be an investor. I don’t want anything to do with ‘incubation’. I just want to have a company which builds fucking awesome companies. That...

In Ghana: courtesy of jaccd Joyce Ababio College of Creative Design is a creative design institution launched by designer Joyce Ababio who created and ran Vogue Style School of Fashion and Design for 17 years. Building on that history, JACCD is a new design and an independent private institution with programs in Fashion...

The Ushahidi folks move into hardware: The easiest, most reliable way to connect to the internet, anywhere in the world, even when you don’t have electricity The idea behind BRCK is that all kinds of jobs require steady connectivity, even when infrastructure is spotty due to wireless connections that come and go, intermittent power,...

In Hackthings: We’re changing “Made in China” to “Innovate with China” on our labels, what do you think? -Eric Pan of Seeed Studio on our visit Sunday Eric Pan and his company, Seeed Studio, are showing the future of hardware development: hackers around the world innovating on open prototyping platforms, raising funds through...

Katrina Manson writing in the FT: courtesy of Beatrice Wanjiku ...Cognoscenti have for years sought out works from collectable African artists, particularly those from west Africa, South Africa and the diaspora. But there are signs that as African economies grow, art from the continent is becoming an emerging asset class in the tradition of...

MakingIt features the prize winning Joel Mwale, founder of SkyDrop: When Joel Mwale was hospitalized with dysentery, his doctors advised him to focus his energies on making a full recovery. The 18-year-old Kenyan student had caught the illness after consuming contaminated water during the country’s annual dry season. As he lay...

How We Made It speaks with Daniel Prior co-founder of Quite Bright Films: The set of a commercial for Kenyan mobile operator Safaricom. We are seeing brands spending much more in the production of high-quality commercials. What is driving this? We have a growing middle class that has expendable income. They have the...

An Afri Love profile: Madwa works with artisans in Madagascar, Mozambique, Swaziland and South Africa, providing them with access to international markets. Along with helping to facilitate economic stability and independence for the artisans, the organisation is concerned with helping to preserve craft traditions and the natural environment...[more] Images courtesy of Madwa ...

Over at ActivSpaces: Our journey with WakaWaka Light started months ago when we came across the innovative solar lamp by serendipity in the small mountain town of Buea. It was immediately clear how much this device could impact our community socially, economically and environmentally. Thus the campaign to bring in a...

Ottawa Citizen Style highlights Bôhten Eyeglasses, founded by Nana Osei: Osei is in his third year of environmental studies at Carleton University. He credits his educational background and creative mind for helping him launch Bôhten Eyeglasses, which features high-quality sunglasses and opticals made from reclaimed materials from Ghana. The company is...

Lollygig founded by maker, Laate Olukotun just launched their signature product: NapoleonGlove I which offers a more versatile, more flexible and more secure experience for you and your iPad. The unique NapoleonGlove pocket allows you to hold your tablet securely while using only one hand. Simply grab the bottom corner of the...

Bitcoin comes to cellphones in Africa: Sarafu is a Bitcoin wallet for feature phones.There's no need to sign up. Opening Sarafu on your phone creates a wallet which you can bookmark. Sarafu was created to help the unbanked, and open buying and selling to those let down by the traditional financial system. Follow...

In London: Anita Quansah creates unique and stylish one-off pieces of clothing with matching neck pieces using vintage and recycled materials which beautifully meld into a look of classic sophistication. After she graduated, she developed and promoted the use of recycled textiles and has since been incorporating such materials into her...

In the accessory space: Diva Delicious is a fashion brand that currently deals with accessories with raw materials made in Ghana and a touch of glam. Diva because everything in the Accessories line is top quality and loud (in a good way) and Delicious, because it's craving, eye candy, colorful and...

Hash on innovation: It’s hard to look through another set of lenses and appreciate the inventiveness that got something so far. It’s a challenge to understand the needs of a culture that you don’t share and then create a product for it. This is why so many of the platforms and...

Founded by Kwadwo Safo casting in foundry workshop ...the Great Kosa Suaye Technology Centre has embarked on a lot of technological innovativeness. Call it engineering or re-engineering, designing or redesigning, invention or re-invention, there is still enough reason to buttress this course.[sic] In the Electrical and Electronic fields: fabricated electrical equipment ...initial research was in...

Coming soon: The Creative Side Fashion Incubator is a fashion incubator opening in Lagos in 2013 and will be made up of a loose consortium of small scale fashion designers, companies and producers. The main goal is to develop a prototypical “Pop-Up Incubator” as an integral part of developing the fashion...