Blue Skies - Agribusiness in Africa and other emerging markets

Blues Skies employs 2000 people in Ghana, Egypt, South Africa and Brazil and supplies to a variety of customers including some of the biggest supermarket chains in the UK, Europe and South Africa. Their business includes producing and packaging fruits into juices and other by-products to the global markets.

Kelele - African bloggers conference

What is Kelele?

Kelele is an annual African bloggers’ conference held in a different African city each year and run by an organising committee in that city. Kelele will be held for the first time in October 2009 in Nairobi, Kenya.

Why Kelele?
Kelele is the Kiswahili word for noise.

We are organising a gathering of African bloggers in the tradition of historical African societies where everyone has a voice. With too many voices marginalised or simply ignored in African society today for a variety of reasons, we believe that the internet in general and grassroots media tools such as blogs in particular represent the most powerful way in which to give Africans back their voice. We are gathering to make a powerful, positive, inspirational noise that will be heard across the continent and beyond. KELELE!

The specific theme of Kelele ’09 Nairobi is Beat Your Drum – which connects the traditional African method of getting your message across vast distances – the talking drums – to the 21st century and the tools we use today, blogs and the Internet. We anticipate that this conference will continue to be called Kelele wherever it is held. For example Kelele Nairobi ’09, Kelele Accra ’10, Kelele Cairo ’11 and so on.

We Care Solar - Dr. Laura Stachel

From site:

Our Mission

WE CARE SOLAR promotes safe motherhood and reduces maternal mortality in developing regions by providing health workers with reliable lighting, blood bank refrigeration and mobile communication using solar electricity.

Solutions

We originally designed a photovoltaic system to power lighting, medical equipment, a blood bank refrigerator, and communication equipment in a major municipal hospital in Northern Nigeria. We installed this system in early 2009.

Our emergency obstetric PV system powers the following:

• Overhead surgical lighting in areas of critical need such as the operating room and labor and delivery
• Mobile telecommunications between hospital staff and on-call physicians
• Existing on-site surgical equipment that is currently underutilized
• A blood bank refrigerator that utilizes DC electricity
• Battery chargers that power LED headlamps for night duty workers

Spaceloon - Africa consortium for near space communication

From site:

Spaceloon was created as the common face of a consortium of companies operating in Africa that seeks a cheaper than satellite approach to communication. Our target is to provide ubiquitous wireless coverage to Africa at the cheapest price possible. We believe the time is now to deploy such spacial technology to enable the continent to leap frog into the 21st century.

Mecene investment - socially responsible investments in Africa

Mecene Investment is a Private Equity Advisory Firm that specializes in socially responsible investments in Africa.

The company draws on its successful private equity experience in African microfinance industry to promote equity and debt investments in industries that provide high social, environmental and developmental impact.

Advans - acccess to finance in emerging markets

Advans SA's mission is to build a network of financial institutions in developing and emerging countries offering loans, deposits and other standard financial services to MSMEs which have limited or no access to formal banking services. These institutions are commonly known as microfinance institutions (MFIs) or microbanks when they are licensed as banks.

Building Zambikes in Zambia - Video

Zambikes

Mission: To provide high quality bicycles and educational training to underprivileged and service based Zambians.

Aqua Port - easy transportation of Water

From Site

The Aquaport is a modular design that allows the user to attach and detach different parts of the device depending upon the amount the user can pull. Each part can be filled individually, and has a handle attached for easy carrying. The device will be pushed like the Hippo Roller. Due to its modular nature it can be broke into smaller pieces for storage and distribution.

Capri Capital Partners

Capri Capital Partners focuses on real estate and infrastructure investments in Emerging Markets. They have a portfolio of $4 billion for investments.

Africa Sustainable Energy - Solarix launches Sustainer

The Sustainer is a unique solution to produce fuel and electricity in remote rural areas, for example in the African countryside where only 5 to 20 percent of the population have electricity. In many of these situations, access to energy would facilitate development, higher productivity and better education. Moreover, locally available resources can be used instead of expensive imports.

Bikes made out of Bamboo & Carbon Fiber

Calfee Design is working towards assisting entrepreneurs in the developing world to make their own bicycles out of locally sourced bamboo. The reasons to do this are so strong that it would be foolish not to try:

1. Bicycles are in great demand as a major labor savings device. Transporting water, people, food and other items is six times more efficient.
2. Bamboo bikes cost less than inferior imported steel bikes.
3. Bamboo is plentiful and does not need to be imported as a raw material. Bamboo is easy to grow and can be cultivated in dry areas with minimal irrigation.
4. Bamboo bikes require a significant amount of labor to produce, providing skilled employment and an apprenticeship model that helps youth find opportunity.
5. Bamboo bicycle production is not easily done in large factories. This keeps large industrialized countries from getting into the business and competing on an unfair level.
6. Making Bamboo bikes does not require electricity or a large investment in equipment.

Solar cooker in use Maasai Mara via Afrigadget blog

Maasai using a solar cooker via Afrigadget blog

Solar cooker in use Maasai Mara

I didn’t believe it possible but I found this lady actually using a solar cooker in the Masai Mara!

Mama solar cooker

Made only of cardboard and tin foil this cooker fold up into a neat little package. It apparently cooks potatoes and cabbage in just 1 hour!

She told me that she got it as part of a study - one solar cooker was given to every manyatta. She couldn’t rememer which organization was handing them out but she has adapted hers by putting her pot into a plastic bag which she says retains the heat better. She says she’ll continue using the solar cooker after the study and will even buy one at Ksh 1,000.

She still has a 3 stone wood fire to cook meat.

I wonder what happens to this device when it rains…does the cardboard become a sodden mess?

Zeep Travel - Nigerian Online Travel portal

From Site:

Our portal provides direct access to one of the broadest selections of travel deals and services. Zeeptravel.com features airline tickets, hotel reservations, private transfers and many other travel services from a broad selection of partners addressing different consumer needs like families and individuals booking a summer vacation to corporates arranging a business trip.

Zeeptravel.com partners include major International and Local Airlines operating in Nigeria like British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Emirates Airlines, Lufthansa Airlines, Air France/KLM, Qatar Airlines, South African Airlines, Virgin Nigeria, Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airlines and more. Zeeptravel.com also provides over 45000 hotels globally at discounted rates.

African Agricultural Capital - AAC

From Site:

African Agricultural Capital (AAC) is a leading agribusiness-focused investment fund in Africa that delivers positive financial returns to its investors, supports its investees through the provision of affordable and flexible capital, and has a high social and development impact on smallholder farmers and rural economies, thereby encouraging greater investment in the agriculture sector.

TeleMed Africa

TeleMed Africa will be the first low cost medical service enabling millions of sub-Saharan Africans to access timely, affordable, and professional diagnosis and advice. By leveraging existing mobile technologies and infrastructure, TeleMed Africa is advancing the front lines of healthcare.

AQUADA DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

Aquada Development Corporation is in the business of developing and managing property and communities for residential, commercial, and recreational use. They undertake large developments as well as small individual projects.

Txteagle - transcription service via SMS

Digital Planet

Alka Marwaha
BBC World Service

A new scheme that distributes simple tasks via text messages is being used to target a potential untapped work force in developing countries.

Txteagle is making it possible for many people in countries like Kenya to earn small amounts of money by completing simple tasks like translations or transcriptions.

Amazon's "Mechanical Turk" similarly divides up tasks but Txteagle differs in that it distributes them via text messages over mobile phones, which have a higher penetration rate - particularly in the developing world.

SHE - Sustainable Health Enterprises

SHE intends to fulfill girls’ and women’s unmet need by helping local women in developing countries jump-start their own businesses to manufacture and distribute affordable, quality, and eco-friendly sanitary pads. SHE will look to use local raw materials, instead of all imported materials, to ensure affordability and accessibility.

SHE will couple its product innovation with a financially sustainable business model operated and owned by women in the community that can be replicated wherever the need exists. SHE will instigate the launch of a local business by

• Partnering with existing local women’s networks;
• Ensuring a microfinance loan for women who will share start-up costs;
• Training local group in necessary business skills and health and hygiene.

African Digital Art

African Digital Art is an online collective, a creative space, where digital artist, enthusiasts and professionals can seek inspiration, showcase their artistry and connect with emerging artists.

Wired Magazine - Students Build a Nano For Africa

Photos: Dr. Yasin Naku Ziraba

From Wired Magazine:

Eleven Ugandan college students believe they can bring affordable transportation to rural Africa with a home-grown, dirt-cheap car assembled from farm equipment.

The prototype of the "Poor Man’s Car" isn’t much to look at, fashioned as it is from sheet metal, wood seats and a diesel engine pulled from a corn mill, but the design and materials would be refined should the car ever see production. Moses Sebulime and his classmates at Makerere University believe the utilitarian runabout could bring mobility to the masses, much like the Tata Nano.

Zambeef - Zambia agribusiness

Zambeef Products PLC is one of the largest agri-businesses in Zambia and the region, involved in the production, processing, distribution and retailing of beef, chickens, eggs, milk and dairy products throughout Zambia and Nigeria.

The company is also one of the largest cropping operations in Africa with 2,700 hectares under irrigation and a further 1,500 hectares of dry land crops.

Pen + Bytes - promoting journalism through ICT

From Site:

International Institute for Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) Journalism (PenPlusBytes) is a registered company limited by guarantee since 18th July 2001. PenPlusBytes seeks to empower the media through the use of ICTs to advance the work of journalism. It consists of a network of media organizations and journalists interested in using ICTs effectively to advance the course of journalism. We have trained over 100 journalists from various parts of Africa and across the globe in cutting edge new media technologies and contemporary ICT issues.

Thomro Investments - Zambia Biofuel production

Thomro Investments Limited is among the few pioneer companies in Zambia promoting and engaging in the development of biofuels industry in Zambia. The main plant for biofuel production comes from Jathropa. Thomro also offers consultancy services and training in order to improve the performance of operations in the industry.

Advertfarm - African mobile content network

From Site:

Advertfarm is a mobile content provider that helps businesses, organisations and institutions deliver their mobile contents to their targeted audience:

We provide premium mobile services on our permission based mobile network.

Our services include but are not limited to:

SMS marketing and loyalty programs

SMS Recruitment

Events Broadcasting

Sponsored Mobile Services

Referral campaigns

Targeted Mobile Advertisements

PowerMundo - Improving lives, conserving nature

PowerMundo builds and manages a network of customers, retailers, and suppliers to design, develop, and disseminate a suite of appropriate technology products for people in emerging markets.

PowerMundo first listens to the needs of people and then displays a suite of products that may fit their needs.

Movirtu - innovative mobile technology solutions

Movirtu works with mobile service providers located in Sub-Sahara Africa and South Asia deploying network infrastructure solutions and implementing sustainable business models that realise basic voice access and connectivity for people earning less than two dollars a day. We work closely with our clients, the mobile phone operators, to identify the most suitable solutions that fit the particular market needs.

Rwanda Rising - Fast Company article

Photograph by Marcus Bleasdale

From Site:

Fifteen years after the genocide, the small African country has embraced a new model of economic development. Its strategy: Build a global network of powerful friends to lure private investment -- and market the brand of Rwanda.

Read More

Fablab Kenya - small scale workshop manufacturing

About Fablab Kenya

A Fab Lab (fabrication laboratory) is a small scale workshop with the tools to make almost anything. This includes technology-enabled products generally perceived as limited to mass production.

Fab Lab will empower individuals to create smart devices for themselves. These devices can be tailored to local or personal needs in ways that are practical and economical.

The Fab Lab program is part of the MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA) which broadly explores how the content of information relates to its physical representation.

ARO Fablab Kenya West will finally be launched in September 2008. Three students: Vigdis, Apondi and Tom, all from ARC Kenya are now studying at the Fablab Norway to learn the basics and the tools in the lab that will easen their work when ARO Fablab Kenya West is finally lauched.

ARO Fablab Kenya West will mainly be an educational center and anybody who feels like using the lab will do that without restrictions unless otherwise.

PointCare - Diagnostics for the people

About PointCare

PointCare designs 21^st century, biotechnology-based solutions from the ground up. These products address the challenges of both the northern and southern hemispheres. They bring diagnostic capabilities to resource-limited urban and rural regions, enabling immediate identification and treatment of infectious diseases by healthcare professionals.

AccessPoint Africa - African Internet access company

From site:

ACCESSPOINT Africa (APA®) is an innovative Telecommunications company that provides high speed Internet connections and Voice services to East, South and West Africa via Internet Cafés, Telecenters and Wireless Internet connections to commercial, government and residential sectors. Utilizing wired and wireless technology, APA® serves a large numbers of users with voice and broadband data communication services. The company's target market for Internet café and Telecenter services consists of the millions of customer's within major Southern and Western African cities that have a need to communicate via email or telephones but have limited or no access to such media from their jobs or residences respectively. APA®'s aim is to be the premier provider of voice and data connectivity services to customers throughout sub-saharan Africa.

Essential Interiors - Nigerian interior design house

Essential Interior is a Nigerian interior design house. They design and implement interior designs in the Nigerian market. They use the latest trends and innovative ideas for all their clientele.

Obolo Films

From Obolo site:

I’m another man with a movie camera, making my contribution to this world’s cinema experience. I did not grow up wanting to be a filmmaker. It just happened. I started film-making and and editing at the age of 18, then kinda left it alone for a few years, pursuing other goals. Now I’m fully submerged in it. I eat, drink, sleep and love making films. I can’t name any directors that I can honestly say “I dig their work” other than Spike Lee and Kar Wai Wong. All the others seem to mesh and blend, making some goulosh shit I ain’t trying to taste.

Obolo

Constructs LLC - African affordable housing construction

Constructs LLC

Constructs LLC is a company that synergizes architecture, urban planning, landscaping, and building technology into a single unit geared towards bringing modern architecture and building techniques to Africa.

Adlevo Capital - Mauritius based Private Equity Fund

Adleveo Capital is a Mauritius based Private Equity fund. It's main mission is to establish and capitalize on the growing demand for infrastructure and services in sub-Saharan Africa.

WAASPS - Aviation for Development in Ghana

Aviation for Development

WAASPS offers flight training, light manufacturing, maintainence, and operations of small aircraft (ultralights). WAASPS is located at Kpong airfield in Eastern Region, 50km north of Tema. Kpong Field is a private airfield.

Inviragen - Better Vaccines for a Better World

From site:

Inviragen, Inc. is committed to developing life-saving vaccines to protect against emerging infectious diseases worldwide. These vaccines will take advantage of new trends in the global vaccine marketplace including:

• Economic growth of developing countries
• New global vaccine initiatives by non-profit organizations
• A growing public awareness of the value of vaccines for existing and emerging infectious diseases
• The need for vaccines as protection against potential bioweapon threats

Investment Fund for Health from Timbuktu Chronicles

Emeka Okafor has profiled Investment Fund for Health on his blog Timbuktu Chronicles.

Investment Fund for Health in Africa

The Investment Fund for Health in Africa (IFHA) is a venture capital fund dedicated to small to medium size (equity) investments in private healthcare companies in (sub-Saharan) Africa. At IFHA, we invest in private healthcare

Kuv Capital

Kuv Capital is a small-stage venture capital firm investing in small to early-stage startup companies. Most recently, they have been looking at early stage investments on the African continent.

Maisha Film Labs

From site:

MAISHA(meaning "life" in Kiswahili) provides new screenwriters and film directors from East Africa (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda) and South Asia (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh) with access to the professional training and production resources necessary to articulate their visions. Maisha aims to preserve, cultivate and unleash local voices from these regions, and to become one of the first targeted programs to offer structured and accessible resources to these emerging filmmakers. MAISHA is motivated by the belief that a film which explores the truths and idiosyncrasies of the specifically local often has the power to cross over and become significantly universal.

The African Seed Trade Association - AFSTA

From Site:

The African Seed Trade Association arose out of a need to have a regional representative body for the seed industry, which could also serve to promote the development of private seed enterprises.

Objectives

• To promote the use of improved quality seed,
• To strengthen communication with African seed industries and with the world,
• To facilitate establishment of national seed trade associations in Africa,
• To provide information to members,
• To interact with regional governments and NGO's involved in seed activities in order to promote the interests of the seed industry,
• To promote activities that lead to regulatory harmonization throughout Africa to facilitate movement of seed, and
• To develop a statistical database on African seed production and trade.

Uganda: Renewable Energy-Powered Milk Coolers

William Kisaalita of the University of Georgia discusses his project to test a new milk cooling system with a pilot group of 50 small-scale farmers to keep milk fresh overnight so it can be safely transported.

African Economic Forum (AEF) - 2009

AEF 2009 will be held on Friday, March 27th and Saturday, March 28th at Columbia University in the City of New York.

AATF - African Agricultural Technology Foundation

From site:

The African Agriculture Technology Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation designed to facilitate and promote public/private partnerships for the access and delivery of appropriate proprietary agricultural technologies for use by resource-poor smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Foundation is a one-stop-shop that provides expertise and know-how that facilitates the identification, access, development, delivery and utilisation of proprietary agricultural technologies.

The Boma Fund - fund for nomadic communities in Northern Kenya

The Boma Fund works with pastoral nomadic communities in Northern Kenya who recognize that their traditional way of life is no longer sustainable due to the change in the cycle of droughts and their increasing severity.

CRB Africa - African credit ratings

From site:

Credit Reference Bureau Limited (CRB) is an information solutions company. It uses the power of information to assist its subscribers to target prospective customers, manage existing trade relationships and identify opportunities for profitable growth.

CRB also provides factual credit, identity and location information to businesses – for example banks, credit card companies, finance institutions and commercial enterprise.- to assist them in making accurate and responsible decisions when companies or individuals apply for cash or goods and services on credit. CRB also helps creditors guard against fraud, which is a growing and serious problem that ultimately affects all consumers.

CC Africa - African Ecotourism

CC Africa is one of Africa’s leading ecotourism company, committed to providing world-class experiences for discerning travellers, and to ongoing investment in sustainable conservation development and community empowerment.

The own and operate 40 different properties in East and Central Africa.

Africa in Demand - African television show

About African in Demand

From Site:

Africa In Demand™ the Televsion show was launched in June 2008 along with the Internet distribution network. Produced by Co Host Bisi Fagbohun along with Mavis Kubi bring issues ranging from entertainment, the arts, culture and current affairs affecting Africans on the continent and diaspora.

Q drum - easy transportation of H2O

From site:

The Q Drum is a durable, donut shaped plastic container which when full holds 50 litres of water. Its uniqueness lies in the design of the longitudinal shaft or central hole, through which a rope is tied, to pull or roll the drum along all terrain types. Due to the low-density polyethylene it is made from, it is also practically indestructible and has no removable handles or other metal attachments that could detract from its intended purpose if lost or broken.

The rope can be repaired on the spot or easily replaced by a leather thong, woven plant substance or any other appropriate material. In many rural areas around the world, even a hammer and nail are scarce commodities.