Comments on: But, Where Were the Hippos!?

By: The 2nd Edition of Africa Enterprising Blog Carnival Opens | AfricanLoft

The 2nd Edition of Africa Enterprising Blog Carnival Opens | AfricanLoft — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 15:08:36 +0000

[...] Hersman presents But, Where Were the Hippos!? posted at White African. saying, “The backstory here is from George Ayittey’s brilliant [...]

By: Szavanna_blog | The cheetah and the hippo - I am because I am or I am because we are

Sun, 19 Aug 2007 07:54:19 +0000

[...] Read ‘but where were the hippos’ from White Africa [...]

By: The Power of a TED Talk | White African

The Power of a TED Talk | White African — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 15:03:51 +0000

[...] know not everyone agrees with my sentiments about George Ayittey’s explanation describing the differences between the [...]

By: How a Malawian went from almost illiteracy to blogging in under a couple of weeks. « Aussie

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 09:54:29 +0000

[...] por todo”. Es lo que el periodista Andrew Stevens, desde Jartúm,-otros lo atribuyen a George Ayittey- llama la generación “chita” (cheetah generation, en contraposición a los hippos, [...]

By: HASH

HASH — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 03:41:33 +0000

Heh. Great story MeerKatje.

By: MeerKatje

MeerKatje — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 18:44:00 +0000

Thanks for a brilliant entry… It makes me think of the book by Ernesto Sirolli, called “Ripples in the Zambezi”: It tells the true story of an Italian development agency working next to the Zambezi, and investing heavily in agriculture infrastructure and equipment to plant vegetables. The local people laughed at them saying it will never work! They continue until harvest time, and wake one morning to see the ripples in the Zambezi, and nothing remaining in the fields….

Hippos!

The point being: Always trust local intelligence!

By: Jennifer Brea

Jennifer Brea — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 17:21:55 +0000

I missed this article and just saw it now…I’ll blog my bit, but let me just say that the Economist correspondent was rarely seen in the main hall or talking with any of the TED Fellows. I think perhaps he went to a different conference that also happened to take place in Arusha. Or at least that is how the Economist piece reads.

By: Patrick Gathara

Patrick Gathara — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 00:35:02 +0000

Hash,
I think you underestimate the role “hippos” play. They set up the rules of the playing field. That is huge. And since “hippo” is definitive of a mindset, and not age, I would argue that the “hippo” generation will be with us for a long time. Just look at the Kenyan election circus for a current example.

Activities such as TED have their place and are to be commended. However, till we actually rope in those who lay claim to power, I think it will still be a long hard slog.

The Economist writer was just trying to point that out that technology can never be a panacea for the ills on our continent.

By: David McQueen

David McQueen — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 13:35:56 +0000

One of the things George made clear off stage was that hippos killed a lot in water. The analogy here was of ideas, progress, etc.

Whilst on land the cheetahs saw opportunities chased them and made sure of them.

I think at this speech he made it clear that cheetahs were needed to take us forward on land, rather than lumbering along like hippos do at the moment.

By: JA BORD

JA BORD — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 13:12:25 +0000

Hi all,
I would say Cheetah need either clever or hand-off Hippos, but a Hippos still can be a nuisance, like it is in Zimbabwe right now.
And I truly agree with all of you: innovation, rupture come with young people and they need some support for that.
Very soon, Venture Capital will provide such a support for great ideas all around Africa!
Jean