Watch the flash video below and see how the world religions have grown, ebbed and spread over thousands of years.
This wonderful graphic, and more maps like “Who has controlled the Middle East” at Mapsofwar.com.
WhiteAfrican
Where Africa and Technology Collide!
Author: HASH (page 76 of 106)
I just got off the phone with Joshua Wanyama – the Kenyan entrepreneur and founder of Spectrum Interactive based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was talking to me about their newest venture, African Path, a website that aggregates news on Africa.
The interesting thing about African Path is that he has also set up a blogger’s section. So far, 7 bloggers have committed to writing for African Path with another 7 possible. That’s a fairly significant number of people to add to the team, and I think it could be pretty big. What it will need is a steady increase in the amount of bloggers using African Path as a platform.
From the press release email:
A lot of African bloggers are discussing issues relevant to the continent but online exposure to these blogs is limited. African Path aims to provide this much needed exposure. We aim to fill the void left by big media in covering information on Africa and providing a forum in which Africans can discuss issues concerning themselves both within and outside the continent.
The African News Demographic
One of the most interesting points that Joshua mentioned was that they are seeing most of their traffic come from the African diaspora, not from Africa itself. Only about 5-10% in fact. Granted, this is a new website and it will take time to make a name for itself and its brand. However, those statistics are pretty interesting.
I asked Neville to run the numbers on Muti as well, and got a snapshot estimate of around 15%. So, the trend is that a great deal of African news readers are actually NOT in Africa. What does that mean?
I think it means that there are two great opportunities for business development. African Path is headed towards being a source of news and information for the African Diaspora. There is still the opportunity to be the digital news outlet for Africans in Africa. If you’ve read any of my stuff, you know that I think the winner of this race will go to the best mobile platform.
Doing Something
Since I’m in web application development myself, it’s always interesting to talk to my counterparts. Joshua was no exception. He’s obviously a very intelligent person with big ideas and he made a comment that made me realize that he truly does understand what web application is all about.
“There is thinking and there is talking and there is actually doing something.”
I couldn’t agree more. There are so many people standing on the sidelines with their great ideas and wonderful conversations. I want to see more people like Joshua who actually get stuff done. A web application is never done – push that baby live at 80%, at least you’ll start getting some exposure and feedback to help you improve it.
I, like many I’m sure, tend to remember the negative things that have happened throughout the preceding year. I was having a discussion with my wife about the last year and realized that overall this year has been very good, and God is to thank for that. Here are just a couple of the things that I am thankful for:
- I had a healthy daughter born, who is also the most well-behaved and happiest baby we’ve had yet (out of 3)
- I’ve enjoyed immensely putting out two great web apps: listd.com and eppraisal.com and am fortunate to work with some really talented people
- This blog has been chugging along well and it’s allowed me to meet people I never would have otherwise
- My trip to Kenya this summer was both fun and successful
- Started AfriGadget and have had a great time with it and the other authors who write on it – it got picked up by BoingBoing and MAKE Magazine
- I wrote a paper on mobile web apps in Africa and doors are opening to put that together (Zangu.com)
- I met and have been working with one of the best developers in the African Digerati – Neville Newey who is behind Muti
I’d also like to thank you, the readers of White African, for being open-minded, passionate, insightful and most of all for having provided me with a reason to keep writing. Thank you for a wonderful year, and God bless in 2007.
eBay decides to leave China – arguably one of the biggest eCommerce markets of the future. Why? Why, would you do that after having spent over $100 million?
Corporations are generally pragmatic entities that will cut off non-profitable departments, locations and/or people after giving them time to prove themselves – or not. eBay is no different, they were soundly drubbed by a local company named TaoBao.
The lesson learned here surrounds the keyword “local“, and it’s one that Africa, region and continent-wide would do well to remember. The tech giants can do incredible things with all the money and experience that they have. They are, on top of the web world because they are good at what they do. However, that position brings with it a level of arrogance that makes them believe that they can recreate their Western successes in non-Western settings.
Unrealized by many is that an understanding of the local marketplace, the nuances of the culture and business practices, always trumps money and technical experience. That’s what the African Digerati need to remember and start working towards. Why not build the next eBay in Africa, then be “partnered” with for $40 million? Why not build the next PayPal, Google, YouTube or MySpace, when the success of such a venture is sure to realize millions of dollars?
“Advertising is a tax for having an unremarkable product.â€
– Robert Stephens, Founder and “Chief Inspector†of the Geek Squad
Agreed.
[Note: if you’re not from Kenya, and/or didn’t play rugby growing up there, you will likely find this post random and tedious. Please come back tomorrow and I’ll get back to the usual fair.]
Okay, my Schools Rugby in Kenya post from February is proving to have a life of it’s own. In fact, it gets 5-10 comments every month still – 105 as of today, amazing. Yani, we’re crazy and passionate about our ruge, eh?
A special shout out to Joe for almost single-handedly keeping this conversation rolling – he’s got my vote for biggest Patch fan on the web and is a bloody genius at getting people riled up. Also, here’s my favorite comment, by Meneja (obviously a Saints guy):
AMA SPEAK THE TRUTH
- BEST RUGBY SCHOOL – ST MARY’S NAIROBI (thats why they are most hated)
- OTHERS WHO CAN CLAIM TITLE LENANA AND RVA FULLSTOP.
- ANYONE ELSE IS SECOND RATE STARTING WITH PATCH…(your track record in prescott speaks heaps…why? it was the hardest most challenging tournament. history says you were no where to be seen.)
- BEST FIELDS RVA AND SAINTS (any arguments???)
- MOST ENTERTAINING LENANA PATCH AND SAINTS (fantastic runners high scores and high intensity and never say die attitudes)
- BEST DEFENCE SAINTS (conceded less in 96,97 cumulatively then the second team conceded in 96 or 97)
- BEST BACKLINE LENANA SAINTS (powerfull runners well organised)
- BEST ORGANISED RVA (they knew there opponents inside out before every game…sometimes it didnt make a difference though)
- BEST FORWARDS SAINTS (not the fastest pack but easily the most effective and efficient)
- BEST FANS LENANA AND PATCH (any arguments)
- BEST ANTHEM PATCH (the whole school sang loud and together with feeling)
- MOST COMPLETE AND BALANCED SAINTS
Kenyan Schools Rugby Archive
I feel we need to flesh this whole argument out a little bit more. Much like any good bar will have copy of the Guiness Book of World Records behind the counter to solve arguments, I think we need the same for ruge in Kenya.
I would like nothing better than to compile a report of all the schools rugby records since 1950. That should prove to go back far enough that everyone is happy, and it will give us a way to search and prove points that we so dearly wish we could remember.
Send your statistics to me and I will put it all up on the web. All pretty and packaged, sortable and user-friendly. I’m fairly sure I can come up with RVA’s records, but I’ll need help on the others. Give me a hand on this, put me in contact with the right people if you don’t have the stats yourselves. Go ahead and send me your pictures as well, I’ll throw those up in a gallery or something – do me a favor and state the team, year and contest if you can remember it.
Email me at Hash [at] thisdomain [dot] com.
As a bonus, here’s a picture of your “white African” passing the ball out of a maul at the “Kenya Combined Schools” game in 1993. I’m not sure if they still do this, but it was a lot of fun for us guys. We got to play on the same team as some of our favorite competitors. In this game it was primarily RVA and Lenana vs Nairobi School and Saints.
Max and Kevin recently tagged me with the “5 Strange/Interesting Things About You” meme. I actually haven’t ever participated in one of these before, but thought it might be fun to try. Maybe I’ll give myself a limit of 1 per year. 🙂
1. I’m a rugby and soccer referee
I’ve actually coached high school soccer as well, and truly love the game. I got my license for soccer shortly after my coaching stint, due to my frustration with the referees in Kenya. I got my rugby referee license because I wanted to stay involved when I lived to far away from any club to play consistently – this way I could still make it to tournaments and get a free t-shirt.
2. My first pet was a duiker
Growing up in Southern Sudan was a little different than the norm. When we first moved there we were given a baby duiker, an antelope about the size of a small dog, that had been orphaned from it’s mother. She was a great pet, very friendly and gentle. She slept in the outhouse or the storeroom – where she was unfortunately stung by a scorpion and died.
3. Music is anathema to me.
I like listening to music, but I can’t play or sing for my life. I tried picking up the harmonica for a while, but after realizing that it sounded like I was trying to strangle a cat, I decided to focus on other things. I guess we each should be thankful for what we can do well.
4. I like to win
I’m competitive and enjoy a good game. Usually I get teamed up against, but enjoy winning anyway. (my wife told me to put this one in). 🙂
5. I love books
Besides collecting Africana books, I enjoy reading good business books. However, my real joy is found in reading the kind of literature that brings nothing more to my life than a tickle of the imagination – fantasy. You’ll often find me reading something from an author like Tolkien, George RR Martin, Neal Stephenson, Steven Erikson or Robert Jordan (those are my top-5 authors, to stick with the theme).
Alright, hope you enjoyed that. Now it’s my turn to tag:
David Seruyange – there’s a small chance he might participate…
Sokari – just because she always has something interesting to say anyway
Cedric – one of my white african friends from Germany
John Powers – one of my favorite commentors
I received an email a couple days ago by a reporter from the U.S. BBC radio program “The World”, about international news and culture (www.theworld.org). She wanted to know if I would be willing to do an interview about my thoughts on the movie “Blood Diamond”.
She found my blog and reference to the movie from the short heads-up piece I wrote about Blood Diamond a while ago. I did mention that I’m only one voice from the blogosphere, and that she should speak to a few more people about what their views are on it and how it portrays Africa.
Anyway, here is the piece – it’s an audio stream. (doesn’t work on a Mac)
Now, after my 20 seconds of fame and a few thoughts on social issues, I go back to what I’m actually comfortable talking about: Technology. 🙂 — Oh, one small correction, I’m not in Sudan at the moment, I grew up there and in Kenya and I might not have communicated that clearly.
I’m really excited to see a bunch of names of friends and contacts on the speaker list for TED Global in Arusha, Tanzania next year. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design, and is a very well known and respected conference that has been happening in the US since 1984. The TED blog has the full story.
It’s good to see that this is primarily African speakers, and that those who aren’t African by birth are real players in Africa. Emeka Okafor, one of the top African bloggers on technology through Timbuktu Chronicles, is the one to congratulate for this. I personally look forward to watching the videos from the event – they always do such a phenomenal job of coverage in this medium.
Psst, Emeka, throw me one of those extra invites you have and I’ll stop sending you those nasty emails. (joking) 🙂
© 2025 WhiteAfrican
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑