Over the weekend I have the privlege to attend AfricaGathering in DC. What I liked most about this conference was its size: very small and intimate. So many conferences are large, made up of niche group, and difficult to really develop strong relationships out of. AfricaGathering really excelled in creating a TED-like format event, focused [...]

Just a few weeks ago — Feb 11-15th — I had the great opportunity to join fellow social innovators from around the world at the 2010 StartingBloc Social Innovation Institute in Boston. I absolutely love attending events such as this (including GES, SOCAP, The Feast, and the upcoming SVC/SE Conferences). It’s a rare opportunity for [...]

Ken Banks posted this video on his site showing the agricultural applications of FrontlineSMS — a technology that allows NGOs in the field to interact across the SMS (text messaging) platform. Find more videos like this on FrontlineSMS

Here’s your Daily Brief for November 4th through November 5th: Nokia Launches 5 New BoP Mobile Phones – Nokia has been one of the most successful companies in the world when it comes to tackling BoP markets. They just announced the upcoming launch of Nokia Life Tools, a “service which gives consumers in small towns [...]

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting Ben Lyon while I was in DC. Ben is an extremely sharp entrepreneur that has taken the FrontlineSMS platform to develop a system whereby SMS, mobile banking, and microfinance can be fused together to, among other things, greatly expand the reach of microfinance to [...]

Here’s your Daily Brief for October 26th: M-commerce and its Impact on Africa (via Africa Business Source) – Mobile banking is one of the fastest growing industries right now, catching the attention of many — with multiple firms vying to be the industry leader. This article by Alex Twinomugisha is one of the best intros [...]

The following is a guest post by Temi Agama, Founder and CEO of Text2Fly 25 Sept 2009, Abuja Leading commentators have predicted that Africa will be a hot bed of mobile innovation. A new mobile service that lets you check Nigerian flight schedules using plain old Sms proves just that. Sms is a difficult medium [...]