I was at an event the other night that featured Jay Naidoo as the guest speaker. In his talk he told the story of Grameen Bank — a bank in Bangladesh that focuses on micro-loans to the poorest and most destitute members of society. The bank, jointly with its founder Muhammad Yunus, was awarded the […]
Business
Posted inBusiness, Tech
Department of Crony Capitalism
Chris Barron of the Sunday Times went in search of meaningful answers from the director-general in the Deparment of Communications. He found none, but published what he heard anyway.
Posted inBusiness, Media, News/Politics, Tech
Can convergence serve democracy?
After attending a few sessions at the Highway Africa conference in Grahamstown last week, I struggled to find an answer to the question: How will convergence make our democracy better? Discussion about digital media and convergence tends to focus on the medium rather than the message; on the technology of communication rather than the content. […]
Posted inBusiness, Tech
On Second Life, sushi projects and ideas cities: Japanese innovation
Last week I talked about how openness is driving innovation to new levels in the digital world. This week, fresh off the boat from a one-month stint in Japan, I’ll tell you how the Japanese have gotten innovation right on the button in so many ways. Firstly, the City of Sapporo. Ever heard of it? […]
Posted inBusiness
VCs, developers, dilemmas and wine: Where to next?
What happens when you mix online entrepreneurs, VCs and a couple of good bottles of wine over dinner, with no agenda but to discuss “the space”? A heated discussion, some bruised (and some inflated) egos and hard realities for online innovation in South Africa. The setting was perfect: a round table, in a secluded area […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics, Tech
Just abolish the Dept of Communications
ITWeb reports that a letter has been sent to the police, half the government oversight committees and the presidency, in which fraud and kickback accusations related to the hiring of staff in South Africa’s Department of Communications are alleged.
Posted inBusiness, Media, Tech
Internet-savvy employees affect the bottom line
My company, Creative Rides, currently has four employees, including my partner and I. Although we’re a “workshop” focused on altering all types of cars in different ways, I’m doing the opposite of large corporations … I’m encouraging use of the internet and it’s certainly affecting on my bottom line each day that goes by. Here’s […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
Stuff the poor, they’re happy
I was about to write a scathing piece about rich environmentalists named in an editorial about a proposed gold mine in a poor town in Romania, when a Ghanaian teacher wrote, in essence, a far more eloquent rebuttal.
Posted inBusiness
No interest in VC funding
South African entrepreneurs are obviously loaded. How else can you explain the fact that the next First Tuesday, which was meant to be a “panel discussion to determine the state of VC funding in South Africa, what funders are looking for and how you can go about gaining access to the funds available” has been […]
Posted inBusiness, Tech
Managing your identity
People through the ages have always had a requirement to prove in a credible and trustworthy manner that they are indeed who they say they are. Given the power that comes with a person authenticating their identity, it follows naturally that the art of identity fraud has become prevalent in areas where a lot of […]
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle
What do you do?
The Dalai Lama answers: “Nothing.” Great answer. Personally, I dread this question. First, because there is no all-encompassing answer. What I do almost depends on what day of the week it is. Second, the complexity of the answer also depends on who is asking it. If you are my hairdresser, the chances are you don’t […]
Posted inBusiness
The scourge of PowerPoint
If you ever have to do presentations to groups of people, you may find this useful. I’m a big fan of Edward Tufte — he’s a man who has made a career out of teaching people how to represent their thoughts and arguments in an elegant and useful manner. Wikipedia notes that the New York […]