Timbuktu Chronicles

Pure Home Water's AfriClay Filters

2013-05-18T06:00:00.000-04:00

In Ghana:

Pure Home Water is a manufacturer of ceramic pot water filters located in Tamale, Ghana. They provide training and monitoring of correct, consistent and continuous (3Cs) use of the AfriClay filter. In addition, they build and disseminate hand-washing stations and sanitation facilities.

African Manufacturers in Guangzhou

2013-05-17T08:05:00.000-04:00

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 $200,000 and $300,000 of orders at a time.

Established African merchants in Guangzhou like Owusu-Achiaw are increasingly focusing on logistics, and finding Chinese manufacturers for Ghanaian companies. “People come to me and say ‘I want 10,000’ of this, and bring a sample,” he said. He travels the country finding the best factory for the job, a challenge, he said, because there’s no such thing as a deal: you basically get what you pay for.

This shift has meant that instead of just trading with Chinese businesses, African merchants are partnering with them to run factories, warehouses and export operations. There are closer cultural ties too, with a growing number of intermarriages, and groups dedicated to keeping the peace between the African communities and their Chinese hosts.

More here

Inside DEMO Africa 2012

2013-05-16T06:00:00.000-04:00

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]

Creating Digital Jobs

2013-05-15T06:00:00.000-04:00

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

SPARK "we build companies"

2013-05-14T06:00:00.000-04:00

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 is SPARK’s simple mission. There is no social angle. This isn’t me ‘giving back to the ecosystem’. No hippy shit here. SPARK is simply about improving the odds for a selection of ambitious, starving and mostly young Nigerians to create the next class of multi-million dollar internet companies. We are keenly focused on Lagos as the entry point to Africa. Since SPARK launched in February I have learned so much from these guys and it definitely helped me up my game at iROKO. We will learn together. We are 80 today, 3 months in. By 2015 we will be 1,000. We will get to that number if half of the companies are successful.

More here

For further context see the related Bella Naija post

Joyce Ababio College of Creative Design

2013-05-13T06:00:00.000-04:00

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 Design, Graphic Design and Entrepreneurship.
The original school, Vogue Style School of Fashion and Design, began instruction in March 1995 with a class of 5 students offering only a certificate course. It quickly grew to 200 students by the year 2000 and has gained a reputation for innovation and quality education in Ghana. Joyce Ababio College of Creative Design is the first school in Ghana to adopt and blend the liberal arts method of education with design for the majors in Fashion Design, Interior Design, Graphic Design, Product Design in Jewellery and Accessories and Textiles. In 2013, it will commence by running 3 programs – Fashion Design, Graphic Design and Entrepreneurship.

BRCK - your backup generator for the internet | On Kickstarter

2013-05-12T08:25:00.002-04:00

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, or devices that can’t share connections. Seeing this, we set out to redesign connectivity for the world we live in - Africa. As we laid out what such a device would look like -- physically robust, able to connect to multiple networks, a hub for all local devices, enough backup power to survive a blackout -- we realized that the way the entire world is connecting to the web is changing. We no longer only get online via desktops in our office, we have multiple devices, and we are all constantly on the move. So we designed the BRCK for the changing way we connect to the web around the world, from cafe-hoppers in San Francisco to struggling coders in Nairobi .

More here

Innovate with China

2013-05-12T06:00:00.000-04:00

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 crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and partnering with Chinese studios to create manufacturable designs in small batches using technology like 3D printing and open source hardware components.

More here
via Adafruit

New Asset Class | African Art

2013-05-11T06:00:00.000-04:00

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 art from China Brazil, India and other growing economies.

In recent years, African artworks have gained new buyers and top price tags have climbed to six digits. Last year, an annual Bonhams contemporary African art auction into its fourth year garnered a record sale price of £541,250 for a piece from established Ghanaian sculptor El Anatsui. His tapestry, which charts the globe with flattened bottle tops, is named “New World Map”.

Next month, Bonhams will hold its fifth auction of African art. The Tate’s African Art Acquisitions committee – set up last year – will this summer dedicate a wing to two artists from Benin and Sudan. Mr Lee offers pieces for auction in Seoul and hopes African works will attract collectors such as billionaire Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee, who set up Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art.

More here

SkyDrop Drinking Water

2013-05-10T06:00:00.000-04:00

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 in bed, Mwale came up with the idea that would provide his community with access to safe drinking water and put him on the road to becoming one of Africa’s most promising young entrepreneurs.

“I thought that what if this thing keeps on happening, year in, year out. What if next year the same problem happens.” On his release from hospital, Mwale invested his life savings, 10,000 Kenyan Shillings (US$95), in building a borehole in his village. Four years on, and the project has been so successful that it still provides clean water to around 500 households.

Galvanized by his DIY borehole success, Mwale set about planning bigger projects and investigating how he could bring safe and reliable drinking water to the wider Kenyan population.

With the help of a financial loan from a local farmer, Mwale began investing in the necessary equipment and business infrastructure to put his idea of harvesting rainwater into action. Within a matter of months, he had founded Skydrop Enterprises – a company that captures falling rain water in a series of giant tanks, before purifying and bottling it for sale on the commercial market.

More here

Quite Bright Films

2013-05-09T08:24:00.000-04:00

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 money to spend on fast-moving consumer goods and this drives production of high-quality commercials as companies compete for market share. There are currently about five to six companies in Kenya today who can afford very high spend in visual communication. Technology has also changed making it more affordable to produce high-end commercials. The game has also changed; before it was a learning curve. Now people are bringing their A-game to the industry. A lot of players have reached a point where they understand what they are doing and have the skills to make high-end productions.

More here

'Madwa' Accessories and Home Furnishings

2013-05-09T06:00:00.001-04:00

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

Old Technology, Contemporary Art

2013-05-08T06:00:00.000-04:00

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 clean, sustainable domestic lighting solution to Cameroon began. We met with challenges right off the bat: coming up with finances to acquire and distribute our first order; a miscalculated delivery that set us back several months — you name it. But through the support of some silent heroes and the goodwill of the community, we managed to successfully run a pilot market.

An unexpected artistic bounty:

We took a little background information on the people that gave us their old kerosene lanterns, trying to keep a picture of how that lantern had influenced their lives. A few days later, by serendipity again, we stumbled upon a young artist who had grown up at an orphanage a few miles away from Lysoka. We decided to give the old “bush lamps” to him, trusting his appreciation of a kerosene lantern, and hoping he could help us make a statement about clean technology.

Factoring in Key Partners

Several weeks later, the first pieces in the “Ornament of Darkness” art collection were ready. We’re now hoping to identify our key partners interested in this story; in not only bringing clean technology to the world, but taking toxic technology out; in owning contemporary art made out of old technology from the heart of Africa. In our interactions with a variety of partners during the 48 Lamps campaign, we realized that we could do more than sell solar lamps. We could recycle what was once a toxic instrument into a work of art, capturing its essence while destroying its former vices.

More here

Bôhten Eyewear

2013-05-07T06:00:00.000-04:00

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 named for his middle name Boateng, which means prosperity.

His first collection Barklae was launched in December 2012 and included reclaimed materials such as redwood, zebrawood and bamboo, as well as reclaimed acetate for the optical frames. Each design embodies eco-luxury: high-end and environmentally conscious. For Osei, using reclaimed material is a means to an end.

Photo: Julie Oliver

“It’s something that needs to be done that people don’t take seriously enough,” says Osei, who has sold almost 100 glasses since December. “If we’re going to have a sustainable planet, everyone will have to start reusing materials.” Bôhten Eyeglasses, which retail between $179 and $239, are in boutiques and optical retailers in Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, and have also appeared at Ottawa Fashion Week, Black Expo Design in Montreal and various tradeshows around the city.

More here

NapoleonGlove by Lollygig

2013-05-06T06:00:00.000-04:00

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 glove and pull to rotate your device. Or share your ideas with others by simply holding out your hand to face your audience.

A Bitcoin wallet for your Cellphone

2013-05-05T06:00:00.000-04:00

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 the "getting bitcoin into Africa" reddit thread here

Bespoke Jewellery from Anita Quansah

2013-05-04T06:00:00.000-04:00

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 creations.

More here

After the jump, "On The Rise from the show Afrika Rising."

Diva Delicious Accessories

2013-05-03T06:00:00.000-04:00

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 artistic.

Design & Style Our purses reflect a great combination of design, dimensions and color along with street-smart trendiness. The various designs of purses are inspired from the combination of art, fashion and the confluence of modern and traditional cultures. Embroidery, bead work, sequin work, mirror work etc. are used to add beauty to these purses. DD purses are crafted with elegant pattern in incredible, rich colors.

These versatile style fashion clutches are featured in richly dyed straw, raffia, bamboo or African fabric and gets added dimension from cross pattern intricate detailing. Extraordinary purse keeps your daily essentials organized. It has magnetic closures for lightning fast access to your necessities, and embellishments add a little elegance. This delightfully woven straw purse is so sophisticated yet it is simply paired with your everyday ensembles for all seasons. Nevertheless organization and style is easy to achieve with this well-structured clutch bag

Local Innovation and Entrepreneurs

2013-05-02T06:00:00.000-04:00

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 products designed in the West fail in Africa. It’s not that they’re not well designed, they’re just not designed by people who truly understand the needs of the customers in Africa.

It’s why rugged and efficient seed planting devices will be created in rural Ghana. It’s why Ushahidi and Mpesa had to come from a place like Kenya. It’s why South Africa’s Mxit has 35m users.

Finally, it’s why we should continue to invest in local inventors and entrepreneurs – instead of importing foreign solutions, let’s grow our own.

More here

Great Kosa Suaye Technological Centre

2013-05-01T06:00:00.000-04:00

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 the manufacture of transformers for use on the appliances manufactured by the already established Electronics Division. It started manufacturing several related products such as Stabilizers, Uninterrupted Power Supplies (UPS), Induction Motors, Generators, Extension Boards, Solar (tunnel) Drier, Electronic Bill Boards, Lighting Systems and Advertising Bill Boards.[sic]

More here

The Creative Side | A Fashion Incubator

2013-04-30T06:00:00.000-04:00

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 industry in Nigeria.
The incubator is in the process of recruiting partners, designers and companies. Designers are approached to consider the incubator as both a working space, a place to own a small retail store, a place to include their products in a showroom for wholesale, a place to receive additional business training and funding. Interested in partnering with us, funding us or sponsoring a designer, or collaborating, please contact us here.

After the jump the lead instigator of the Creative Side,Atim Oton. asks is:
Africa, the Next Fashion Capital?

David Broadcast Electronics

2013-04-29T06:00:00.000-04:00

David Kwaku a MFA '09 participant is the founder of David Broadcast Electronics,its offerings include:

...electronic radio schematics , simulation and circuit design . In addition We offer sale of Electronics components, Radio Data System (RDS), Broadcast Antennas on reasonable prices and sell custom made Digital FM/TV Transmitters 0.5W up to 1KW of RF Output Power within Ghana and to the rest of the World.

Tool Share Studio - A Makerspace

2013-04-28T06:00:00.000-04:00

A makerspace in Johannesburg:

If you have a magical idea of something to make for your home or a product for your business, but don't have sufficient space or the right tools to make it happen, then tool share is just what you need. With a range of different tools, space, expert assistance and some friendly motivation, you can now make whatever you imagine.

A Foodie Revolution West Africa

2013-04-27T06:00:00.000-04:00

In the Guardian:

Image by Nana Kofi Acquah courtesy of the Guardian

At first glance, Republic, a revolution-themed bar in one of Accra's busiest nightlife districts, could be any of the Ghanaian capital's hotspots. Artsy residents, office workers and expats sit on plastic chairs in front of its wooden façade as dusk turns to night, ordering caipirihnas or snacks such as thick-cut chips and bowls of soup.

But look a little closer and all is not as it seems. The caipirihnas are made from akpeteshie – a traditional Ghanaian palm spirit also known fondly as Kill Me Quick, the chips are deep fried cassava, and the soup is called Fire Go Burn You – a particularly spicy incarnation of Ghanaian pepper soup.

Republic has an ethos of using local ingredients, championing traditional Ghanaian brews and ingredients but serving them up with a twist, and its owners say they are part of a foodie revolution beginning in the region, marking a new dawn in attitudes to eating.

"We are trying to create a new atmosphere here, and to rejuvenate our sense of identity," said Kofi Owusu-Ansah, 39, who founded Republic with his brother Raja last year. "If you look at our spirits, you will find not one single import – the base for all our cocktails is local-made sugar cane spirit akpeteshie".

"We want to empower local industry and local brands," Owusu-Ansah added. "It's kind of a revolution the way I see it. No one in Ghana has ever experimented with these kind of cocktails using our Ghanaian spirits, even though all the ingredients are here. But now people are beginning to turn away from depending on whatever comes from the west, and making our own thing."

More here

Hiyaw Gebreyohannes's 'Taste of Ethiopia'

2013-04-26T06:00:00.000-04:00

In Three to One:

Chef Hiyaw Gebrayohannes doesn’t know if it was a conscious thing to start selling the food he grew up with, but he thinks it was more instinct, probably. The moment of clarity was sitting in his parents restaurant in Michigan and seeing his dad cooking, and his mom trying to convince him to stay in Michigan and run the business and him arguing with them and saying they should “just package the food and sell it like that”, and when he went home that night, he couldn’t get the idea out of his mind. Now Hiyaw runs Taste of Ethopia, which currently has 7 cuisines to go, and if you go to the hot bar at Wholefoods in the North-East region you can pick his food straight up and dine on it at home.

image courtesy of Matthew Cylinde

More here