Museke - African music site

Museke seeks to have the largest online collection of African music. The site has a variety of different sounds from all over the continent.

From the site:

The Museke project seeks to be the biggest database of African music lyrics and information. It also seeks to encourage discussion and accountability for African music in ways that would benefit society positively. It also involves the use of African languages on the internet to encourage more African language content. This will help us pay attention to the evolution of our culture from an entertainment and literary perspective, while marketing our music, culture in an attractive way.

The project would also allow people who regard Africa as their cultural neighbourhood to get a firm grip on their culture as well as others who will be interested in understanding it. The project combines the best of global technology, the will to market Africa and the love for its ingenious and changing genres of music (culture).

General Electric - Improving Healthcare in Africa and Beyond

GE's signature program in Africa aims to improve healthcare delivery for some of the world's most vulnerable populations by providing valuable expertise and equipment.

Dambisa Moyo, Author Of Dead Aid

Dambisa Moyo is a Global Economist at Goldman Sachs in London. She previously worked at the World Bank in Washington DC. A native of Zambia, Southern Africa, Dambisa holds a Doctorate in Economics from Oxford University and a Masters from Harvard.

Dambisa's new book, Dead Aid illustrates how some aid to Africa has decapitated Africa's growth.

SOVEC - Social Venture Capital

From their site:

SOVEC is an investment fund set up by Dutch entrepreneurs, to invest in small and medium sized companies (SMEs) in Africa.

SOVEC therefore supports local entrepreneurs by investing capital and committing its own network of entrepreneurs who are prepared to invest their time, energy, expertise and business contacts. This helps entrepreneurs in Africa to build their businesses and create job opportunities.

Kenya - Lwala Community Alliance

Witness a remarkable journey of two brothers who used their medical education, wisdom and intellect to build a hospital for their village in Kenya. Journey was made possible by the same village that they are helping...simply remarkable story of giving back to one's community.

Senegal - Locally Produced Biofuel Outboard Motor

Saidou Ba of Mission Goorgoorlu speaks of his winning project which aims at improving living standards of 40 agricultural and fishing communities in Senegal by introducing affordable transportation to deliver their produce, using traditional vessels powered by locally produced biofuel.

Sheabutter Cottage - organic creams and oils from Fair Trade

Sheabutter cottage markets and sells fair trade creams and cosmetics deriving from SheaButter, Palm Oil and other essential organic ingredients.

FARA - Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa

FARA is the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa, an umbrella organization bringing together and forming coalitions of major stakeholders in agricultural research and development in Africa. FARA complements the innovative activities of national, international and sub-regional research institutions to deliver more responsive and effective services to its stakeholders. It plays advocacy and coordination roles for agricultural research for development, while the national agricultural research systems (NARSs), advanced research institutions (ARIs) and international agricultural research centers (IARCs) develop improved technologies along the research-to-development continuum in their respective countries and coverage areas.

Nigeria: Off-Grid Lighting from Animal Manure

Dr. Joseph Adelegan of Global Network for Environment and Economic Development Research talks about his project to stop pollution and mitigate greenhouse gas emission in order to improve the ecosystem and human health.

SEEDA Supporting Entrepreneurs & Enterprise Development in Africa

SEEDA (Supporting Entrepreneurs and Enterprise Development in Africa) programme is harnessing the resources of the African diaspora, to work with grassroots entrepreneurs to expand their businesses and create jobs.

Kofi Ababio & Sons Limited - Ghana conglomerate

Kofi Ababio & Sons Limited is a mid-size conglomerate based in Ghana serving the West African Market. Among the products they make are; powder soap, bleach and household products.

From their site:

Kofi Ababio and Sons is a family owned business which started operation some 50 years ago, since 1975 we have tested and tried different shades of products and services in the area of manufacturing and logistics provision.

From our simple beginnings to our present position as a supplier of complete household detergents, hair, farm and block products, we have always remained focused on key objectives—designing our products and adapting our businesses to serve the changing needs of our customers. Our rich history and strength lies in our innovation, honesty, integrity and concern for our customers.

Sustainable Agriculture - African film about farming for the environment

This film is of a farmer in the rift valley of Kenya, farmer is doing small things on his farm to be environmentally friendly and to benefit his crops.

Solving Africa - Book project about African entrepreneurship

Junior Kanu is among a new breed of African pioneers called the Cheetah Generation. His book project, Solving Africa is aiming to research African entrepreneuship at it's finest. His journey will be thousands of miles through cities, countries and universities to find great stories you and I don't hear much about from the media.

More on Solving Africa

Because it’s hard to love a place you don’t know, I am proposing a trip to seven African cities to get to know, and hopefully, fall in love with, some of the people and places my education in Nigeria failed to address. The final outcome will be a book that I’ve tentatively titled Solving Africa. Part memoir, part travel log and part political commentary, the book will be the voice of young Africans’ dreams for their homeland and an attempt at a new way of telling Africa’s story.

Internet revolution in Africa

Great article on Africa's internet growth prospects. The SAT 3 cable and soon to be built Eassy Cable, will hopefully lower costs of connecting and conducting commerce on the continent.

From Global Advances

Bandwith to Africa is expected to grow dramatically as the continent is gaining internet connectivity faster than any other region in the world.

Africa’s online population now exceeds 50 million, according to an estimate published by Internet World Stats, an internet research and statistics website. This marks a 1000% increase since 2000 and continued exponential growth is expected. Although this figure only represents a 5.3% internet penetration rate on the African continent, compared with nearly 25% worldwide, the actual number of internet users may be six to eight times larger due to the growth of internet cafes and various other multi-person access points.

Nigeria Travel and tourism board - NTDC

Nigeria's travel board has a new site devoted to market the country's tourism sector.

Here is some info from their site:

Besides the many natural features of Nigeria, the cultural assets of the nation are of universal recognition. The richness and diversity of the Nigerian culture is a manifestation of the socio-cultural differences of the over 250 ethnic groups that inhabit the land for ages.

Megaseeds Project for Madagascar - Andriankoto Ratozamanana

The mission of MEGASEEDS™ is to protect Madagascar’s natural resources, add value to agriculture, and produce food for today and generations to come. They strive to conserve, renew, and rejuvenate forests.

Unveiling the TED Fellows program

How it works: four steps

1. Candidates apply to attend one conference in either Long Beach or Oxford. Individuals can apply directly or be nominated by others. We'll also directly recruit potential Fellows and invite them to apply. Applications for TEDGlobal 2009 will open February 23, 2009. Email fellows@ted.com to be reminded when applications open. Please include your name, title, organization, email address, and country.

2. We'll choose 25 people to attend each conference as Fellows (50 per year).

3. In 2010, after the 2009 conferences, we'll choose 20 from 50 of the previous year's participants for the three-year TED Senior Fellows Program, bringing them to five additional conferences (for a total of six).

4. We'll recruit 50 new Fellows each year, resulting in 20 Senior Fellows each following year. By 2012, we'll have 50 TED Fellows annually (split between Long Beach and Oxford) and 60 concurrent Senior Fellows.

TEDIndia

At TEDIndia in Mysore in November 2009, we'll replicate our successful TEDAfrica 2007 program by bringing 100 Fellows together from around the subcontinent and beyond. Working with the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, we plan to establish a follow-up network and Fellows meeting. Complete program details are forthcoming.

To participate, contact fellows@ted.com or call Logan at the TED office in New York at +1 212 346 9333.

Fellows

Benefits to Fellows

• Attendance to one TED or TEDGlobal Conference with all expenses paid (conference, travel, room and board)
• Participation in Fellows pre-conference activities
• Private social networking on TED.com
• Potential to speak on the TED Fellows or TED University stage
• Potential to have that talk posted on TED.com

Responsibilities of Fellows

• Full attendance and participation at the Conference
• Submission of a post-conference report
• Regular posting on the TED Fellows Blog