Inventive, innovative and entrepreneurial in Africa

Stories featuring the growing number of tech hubs, start-ups and co-working spaces in Africa are very prominent across international media at the moment.

Below is a round up of recent articles. But first here’s something visual to get a picture of this trend.

This map from Africa Hubs, (built very appropriately on the Ushahidi platform that has gone far to establish Nairobi on the African tech and mobile app scene) shows the location of some 59 technology hubs on the continent.

Let’s hope that Africa Hubs continues to evolve and charts the progress of tech hubs in Africa. For journalists this can be a good resource for story ideas and contacts – the “reports” include addresses, Facebook pages and Twitter handles.

If technology or business is on your beat, follow the Twitter search hashtag #africahubs – another potential source for story ideas and contacts.

Hubs that support a tech-savvy, innovative and creative environment can also be good for media and journalists. If you’re working in a city where one of these new tech hubs have sprung up, let us know if you or your broadcaster 0r newspaper are collaborating on local projects.

BBC: From Kenya to Madagascar: The African tech-hub boom
Eric Hersman,  the co-founder of Ushahidi, offers his insight into a new African generation ” trying new ideas and taking to technology”.

BBC: The workplaces building Africa’s business future
C0-working spaces such as the Mara Launchpad in Kampala offers the right location and facilities for start ups not only to work in but to be taken seriously by investors or clients.

Guardian: West Africa’s technological revolution driven by mobile phones
Innovation is not just happening in East – Google has an office in Lagos, Nigeria. And, “a new breed of home-grown entrepreneurs is adapting technology to local challenges” such as mobile phone innovator SlimTrader.

CNN: How ‘Afropreneurs’ will shape Africa’s future
Idris Ayodeji Bello calls himself an “Afropreneur”. The 33 year old Nigerian co-founded the tech hub Wennovation in Lagos. Bello says his mission is to “enable access to information so that people can tap into their own creativity to solve their problems without having to rely on government”.

Economist: Upwardly mobile – Kenya’s technology start-up scene is about to take off
“Investors are not the only people putting money into Nairobi’s start-ups. The city is brimming with aid agencies, development funds and foreign NGOs eager to shell out shillings.”

Author: Guy Degen