This has to be one of the most interesting podcast so far. Crystal Kigoni (@VOA_Crystal) is a social entrepreneur/innovator in Kenya. She is the founder of Voices of Africa for Sustaniable Development through Information Empowerment (VOA4SD).

Voices of Africa for Sustainable Development (VOA) is registered as a non-governmental organization in Kenya.

Voices of Africa for Sustainable Development

Our vision is to live in just world without abject poverty. To this end, Voices of Africa will foster sustainable development in Sub Saharan through information empowerment and fair trade.

Crystal’s organization in conjunction with Intersat Africa have been working on a project that aims to take the internet to rural areas in a way that is fitting culturally and sustainable economically, environmentally and socially. NTV (a local Kenyan TV broadcaster) recently did a short feature on the project:

Crystal talks to us about this very interesting project, we also go on to discuss social innovation and social entrepreneurship and especially how projects aimed at ‘saving the poor Africans’ fail many times due to a lack of that cultural fit. Crystal herself has actually lived the rural life in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania and this really sets her apart and drives her passion for the rural youth and empowering them to be productive in the information economy.

Very recently we did an article surveying some prominent startups/projects in/from Africa built around a crowdsourcing model.

One of these was IdeaBounty from South Africa which is using crowdsourcing to get ideas for creative work (such as advertising and marketing campaigns) for big brands. They’ve done work for brands such as FNB, Capitec (both are prominent brands in South Africa), Levi jeans, BMW, Red Bull and many more. What’s even more interesting is that not only are they doing great work for international brands, but they also have over 11,000 creatives from 168 countries from whom they crowdsource for ideas for marketing campaigns, TV and print ads etc etc. Basically, they put up a ‘brief’ (like a problem statement) and their a monetary bounty for the best idea solving the problem and anyone from anywhere on the globe can pitch their idea and earn several thousand $$$ for their great idea if it turns out to be the best idea.

[Some sections in the conversation are a bit broken due to a not very good internet link when we did the Skype call -  I will restrain myself from ranting about the specific internet provider in Kenya]

Daniel, the IdeaBounty Captain talks about IdeaBounty, their success, and the future of businesses built around a similar model in Africa.

I must say, IdeaBounty have one of the best designed sites I have seen around. Check out their blog too. Check out some of the winning ‘bounty hunters’

We had an impromptu discussion about innovation, creativity, technology and the future of Africa with 3 great minds recently.

Jasper Grosskurth: Is from Germany and lives in the Netherlands. He has spent the last few years doing future studies on Africa for http://www.stt.nl/. Basically, he travels around Africa observing the current trends in technology, energy etc and talking to relevant people in those areas about their thoughts on the future of the continent.

Jessica Colaco: Is the ihub office manager. She is also a former TED Fellow and mobile evangelist.

Chris Mikkelsen: Founded www.refunite.org an organization that helps displaced families (due to war or some natural disaster or other crisis) re-unite by using technology to help them find each other.

We talked with Sheraan Amod from South Africa for the latest edition of AfrinCast.

Sheraan Amod is the Co-Founder and CEO of Personera, a global personalized publishing service offering useful print products integrated with Facebook content. He is a winner of the FNB Enablis Launchpad- the biggest small business competition in Africa- and Curator of the Startup Digest [Cape Town]. Sheraan holds a degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Cape Town.

Sheraan is also the curator for the Cape Town Startup Digest. We talk about this as well as his experience as a startup founder in Africa, the startup scene in South Africa and much more:

For the 5th episode of AfrinCast we talked with Raquel Wilson, the event curator for the upcoming TEDxYouthInspire. Raquel is a youth and gender programming consultant who serves the African Diaspora. If you’ve not yet heard about TEDxYI:

Never in the history of the planet has the sharing and distribution of ideas from young leaders and thinkers been so relevant or urgent as it is now. Around the world, youth are leading the social revolution and sparking innovation across all industries.

In 2010, TEDxYouthInspire will champion these young people to share their stories and experiences, while inspiring them to move their ideas beyond local communities and out into the world.

Taking place in Accra, Ghana, TEDxYouthInspire is an open space for the continent’s youngest visionaries to collaborate and reevaluate the possibilities of creating a better global community.

A one-day, participatory event, TEDxYouthInspire will use the theme “A Good Head & A Good Heart“, taken from a quote by former South African President Nelson Mandela, to exhibit how extraordinary youth leaders combine radical thought and integrity of spirit to set in motion unlimited possibilities for a brighter future. [Read more]

Enjoy the conversation

In the fourth episode of AfrinCast, we caught up with TMS Ruge (listen to find out what ‘TMS’ is in full) for a discussion on Africa, the ‘renaissance’ of Africa and the emerging new face of Africa. We also talked about how new technology is helping level the playing field for Africa and giving us a chance to write a new story and paint a different picture of our continent. TMS Ruge is in the diaspora and shared with us his passion for connecting change agents in the African diaspora through Project Diaspora.

About a month from now at SXSW (South by South West), Teddy will be doing a talk on the new/emerging face of Africa (what he calls ‘Africa 3.0′). We also talk about this in our discussion and he tells us more about what theme his talk will be following.

This is our very first podcast done over skype. You may find every now and then there are skype notification sounds going off during the discussion, and some faint mouse clicks as I (frantically) try to shut them off. However, it’s still a great discussion and a very insightful on. So… listen in!

About TMS Ruge

Teddy is a budding social entrepreneur, he’s currently assisting several indigenous farmer organizations in Uganda move from subsistence farming to large-scale commercial farming of aloe vera and moringa. Teddy is also a mobile technology enthusiast and blogs frequently about the African ICT sectors and it’s effects on development. He has also served on several panel discussions related to Africa, the role of the African Diaspora and Africa’s emerging technology space.

Teddy received a bachelors in Communication Design from the University of North Texas; when he isn’t trying to mobilize the African Diaspora, works as a professional photographer and web designer.

Teddy is a Ugandan record-holder in the decathlon and pole vault and, formerly, the high jump. He was also a one-time Ugandan Olympic hopeful in the decathlon. Teddy was born in Masindi, Uganda to a Sudanese father and a Ugandan mother. He grew up in Uganda, Kenya and Dallas, TX.

For third episode of AfrinCast we caught up with one of the volunteers at the iHub, Rebecca Wanjiku. She tells us more about what what she does at iHub, the current state of iHub is and what to expect. Enjoy.

In the second episode of the AfrinCast podcast we introduce you to the iLab (NOT ihub this time).

The iLab is an ‘incubation laboratory’. The whole idea is basically a y-combinator like setting whereby innovators with young startups can find a conducive environment to grow their ideas into full fledged businesses.

Now, the iLab has not been ‘formerly’ announced (we’ll definitely bring you that story when the announcement is made) but we managed to get to chat with two of the people leading up the efforts with it.

Interestingly the guys at the iLab managed to get a space right next to the ihub. This opens up great collaboration opportunities for both. Tonee and Maria explain it all:

Blogging (and social media by extension) is a pretty popular topic on Afrinnovator.com.

Recently I had the opportunity to sit and chat with two of Kenya’s top bloggers: Daudi Were (Mentalacrobatics) and Rebecca Wanjiku about blogging in Africa: Where we’ve come from, what the current blogging environment is like and what their thoughts are on the future of blogging in Africa. We also touch on their personal experiences in blogging and more.