Meltwater Start-ups at Launch Conference 2011

The Meltwater Business Incubator officially opened in Sept 2010, and for almost all the start-ups in it, 2011 looked promising and challenging as well. We were excited to learn from management that we had been invited by Jason Calacanis, to be a part of Launch 2011 (formerly TechCrunch 50).

A great part of the Meltwater training program involves preparing the trainees for the global market and the culture of pitching one's idea to investors and other interested individuals either in an 'elevator pitch' style or with more detailed Powerpoint presentation. This opportunity was therefore a good one for us, since it offered us the chance to put into practice what had been learnt in the 2-year MEST training program.

At the Launch Conference that took place in San Francisco on Feb 23rd and 24th, 2011, Streemio, Retailtower and NandiMobile were the tech-companies from Africa rubbing shoulders with other start-ups from US, Europe and Asia. For some of us, that was our very first time in the US, nonetheless, we were prepared to deliver nothing but our very best. All three companies from the Meltwater incubator offered world class software and technologies that targeted different markets and focused on serving different customers;

• Streemio is a mobile music streaming service providing on-demand access to music on the go.

• Retail Tower provides software solutions to online retailers, allowing them to manage their inventory across multiple channels from one platform.

• NandiMobile focuses on delivering technologies that enable businesses to leverage the high mobile penetration in Africa to provide better customer relationships.

At the conference we got the opportunity to present our business ideas to over 1,500 attendees, got very good feedback from experienced and successful software entrepreneurs and of course we didn't miss the opportunity to added more contacts to our every-growing network entrepreneurs.

In the end, NandiMobile got the opportunity to present its Gripeline service on stage after which the grand jury awarded the company with the ''Best Bussiness Award'' in the Launch Pad division. This is a success story we are glad to share with other tech-start-ups, from Africa especially. With this, we hope we have added more credence to what the founder and CEO of Meltwater, Jorn Lyseggen likes to say - ''With the right amount of support, guidance and encouragement, ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary things”.

Barcamp Ghana 2010 - A BarCamp with a difference

After the successes of Barcamp Kumasi, Barcamp Accra and Barcamp Takoradi, the national event Barcamp Ghana 2010 was held on the 18th of December, 2010 at the Ashesi University campus.. Barcamp Ghana was under the theme ‘’Create dreams, work smart and shape the future” and it attracted a lot of entrepreneurs, businessmen, students, amongst others. The event was supported by Ashesi University, the World Bank, Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST), Mobile Web Ghana, Google Ghana, Vodafone Ghana, GhanaThink Foundation, NandiMobile, Busy Internet, Fienipa, TAGH Media, iROKKO Concepts, Imagineers, MyfashionAfrica, etc. The media partners were CitiFm, Radio Universe, ModernGhana, GhanaBlogging and Skyy Digital.

Over 150 participants gathered at the Ashesi University premises to exchange ideas and learn from each other. The event unofficially started at 9:00am with the Start-up Bazaar and registration of participants running concurrently. Start-up Bazaar was premiered at Barcamp Accra held at the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) campus and was popular with attendees there. This was a platform for start-ups to exhibit their products/service to the participants as well as network with other participating start-ups. The start-ups that took part in this session were TAGH Media, etc. There were also stands for Mozilla Firefox and Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST). Breakfast, provided by Imagineers Limited, was served.

At 10:00am, Barcamp Ghana officially commenced with opening remarks given by the Barcamp Ghana organizing team. The emcee was Kweku Anane-Appiah, a team member. Ato Ulzen-Appiah then spoke about the origins of Barcamp and the a brief history, mission and vision for Barcamp Ghana. For Barcamp Ghana 2010, there were no keynote speakers or panels and only breakout sessions. Patrick Awuah, the founder and president of Ashesi University, then gave a welcome address. Some of his soundbites included “There should come a time that citizens in Africa will not desire to migrate to Europe or the USA”. An agenda building session to map out the breakout sessions for the day followed.

The first set of breakout sessions were organized for 90 minutes from 11am. Citizen journalism versus Traditional Journalism was led by Bernard Avle - award-winning host of the CITI FM Breakfast show, Mac-Jordan Degadjor and Oluniyi David Ajao - popular bloggers based in Ghana. Issues discussed included Citizen journalism in its purest form is blogging, community radio as citizen journalism, regulation of blogging, 75% of Ghanaians having radios versus reading the newspapers and being online, local content and bloggers building their credibility, etc. Sherrie Thompson of Solutions Africa and Golda Addo of Energy Solutions Ghana led a session on green power and alternative energy. Biodiesel and biodigestion facilities were discussed as well as various forms of alternative energy.

Farida Bedwei of G-Life Financial Services, Afua Ankomah of Esoko and Daisy Amma Baffoe of MEST led the Women in ICT breakout session. Challenges with getting Ghanaian women to build applications and be in ICT were discussed. Attendees in the session decided to create a a “Women In ICT” Facebook page to take advantage of the many Ghanaian women on Facebook. Patrick Awuah, one of the most respected leaders in Ghana, also organized an impromptu session on leadership. Lunch followed, the food was provided by Imagineers Limited, which also provides food at Ashesi University’s Building 1. During lunch, Nana Manu of Vodafone Ghana gave a speech on e-commerce and building an accepted payment system for Ghana. He also talked about http://theideascout.com/.

The second set of panel sessions started after lunch. Leila Djansi, director of award-winning movies I Sing Of A Well and Sinking Sands, Deborah Ahenkorah of Golden Baobab, and Obed Sarpong of the Writers Project of Ghana led a session called ‘Telling African Stories’ on movies and writing in Ghana. Nana Awere Damoah, writer of Excursions in My Mind, also came by the session. Among issues discussed were defining the African story, animating Ananse stories, amongst others. It was decided upon to start a blog where African stories would be told.

There was a World Bank sponsored session about the Apps For Development Challenge. Richard Murby who is part of the organizers, did a Skype video conference with Barcamp Ghana attendees from Washington, DC. He did a presentation on the competition and attendees asked him questions. DK Osseo-Asare of AnamCity spoke about the Anam New City sustainable building/development project in Nigeria. Anam City is a new model for sustainable development in Africa. Kweku Anane-Appiah led a breakout session on fashion and wear in Africa. Ronke Ampiah and Farida Alabo of Smiles for Christmas led a session on volunteerism. Attendees decided to start a website for finding volunteer opportunities in Ghana.

The third set of breakout sessions rounded out the day at Barcamp Ghana 2010. Oluniyi David Ajao led a breakout session on blogging. Challenges facing bloggers like poor internet connectivity, creativity (presentation) and work schedule were discussed. Charles Odonkor, a medical student at Yale University, organized a breakout session on brain power called “Declaring the decade of the brain”. Farida Bedwei who has cerebral palsy but is a renowned software programmer in Ghana shared her story with participants in this session. Florence Toffa of Mobile Web Ghana and Kwamena Appiah-Kubi of Mozilla Firefox led a session on Mobile Web applications.

The event run smoothly and the attendees relished the Barcamp experience. They praised the good turn out, brainstorming involved and relevance of information shared. It was important for the discussions to be documented. A list of relevant tweets from the Barcamp will be online soon. Various action items and plans were discussed at the Barcamp and as they are implemented, will be publicized. More info from and about Barcamp Ghana 2010 will be available on the Barcamp Ghana website http://barcampghana.org.

Mest is recruiting - Join Global Software Entrepreneurs

Do you want to start your own global software company? The Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) is training and developing the next generation of global software entrepreneurs from Ghana. Our goal is to create wealth and jobs locally in Ghana by training and mentoring graduates to start their own software companies that will compete successfully in the global marketplace. It is our hope that these software entrepreneurs will inspire generations to

follow in their footsteps.

WHAT WE OFFER

• A two year FULL SCHOLARSHIP program focused on market-oriented software development and practical entrepreneurship training. Our goal is to provide you with the practical skills and resources you need to start a company that can compete in the global market space.

• A full time in-house training in commercial software development and entrepreneurship within an international environment; an international faculty with over 20 years experience in software development and international business. Details on the training content are available at: http://www.meltwater.org/program/training/

• Housing, tuition fees, meals and study materials provided to trainees

• Opportunity to join the MEST Incubator, where start-up companies receive seed funding, office space and mentoring to get their companies started.

WHO CAN APPLY?

• Applicants can be university graduates or final year students completing school by July 2011.

• Prior knowledge in computer science or programming is not a requirement.

• Applicants should have a 1st degree / HND / Diploma from any background, but must have the interest and passion to start their own software company.

SELECTION CRITERIA:

Applicants should have the passion to start their own software company, an interest in technology / computers, confidence to take risks, drive / stamina, team player skills, strong communication skills, personality & humour, entrepreneurial spirit.

HOW TO APPLY:

To apply to the MEST program, please follow this link:

http://www.meltwater.org/admissions/submit-application/

You can also forward this message to friends and colleagues who have expressed such interests.

Deadline for application: 17th April 2011

For further questions and comments please contact us at:

Mobile: 020 201 4363

E-mail: info.mest@meltwater.org

Website: www.meltwater.org

Barcamp Ghana 2010

BarCamp Ghana 2010, an ad-hoc gathering where attendees meet for discussions, demos and networking, will take place on December 18 2010 at the Ashesi University campus in Accra. The theme is “Create dreams, work smart and shape the future”. Following the successes of BarCamp Ghana '08 and BarCamp Ghana '09, regional BarCamp events were organized in Kumasi, Accra and Takoradi and Barcamp Ghana 2010 will crown the year as the national event.

BarCamps all over the world have brought together individuals and organizations to collaborate on various projects and businesses. BarCamp Ghana’10 is a FREE event for anyone who is interested in using their skills, talent, and resources to benefit Ghana and Africa as a whole. This year, the focus is on telling stories and discussing ways of how entrepreneurs and businessmen can create wealth in a burgeoning Accra metropolis faced with a myriad of challenges.

Unusually, the pivot of this year’s event revolves around breakout sessions instead of the usual mix of discussions and expert panelist presentations - regardless, experts will be seated in each breakout discussion to facilitate the coherence of relevant facts and knowledge on all respective items for deliberation. This strategy was inspired by the desired outcome of this year’s gathering which is to stimulate an engaging conference between industry stakeholders, consumers and prospective entrepreneurs on the workings and current realities of industries and services in Ghana.

Impressive yet poignant is our bill of facilitating experts, all of which effect the changes and growing definition of their industries worth and direction in this era. Our confirmed list includes

• Bernard Avle of CITI 07.3 FM,
• Leila Djansi of Turning Point Pictures,
• Oluniyi Ajao of Web4Africa,
• Solomon Adu-Atefoe of Agric Development Bank,
• Golda Addo of Energy Solutions Foundation,
• Mohamed Amin Adam of Publish What You Pay,
• Philip Gamey of Web & Software,
• DK Osseo-Asare of Anamcity,
• Paul Tenejou of ROI-MOB-Lang,
• Ronke Ampiah of Smiles for Christmas

Register or RSVP your participation today at the BarCamp Ghana Eventbrite website. You may also contact the BarCamp Ghana team through the Eventbrite website for sponsorship opportunities. Also, If you are interested in proposing a breakout session, let us know, especially if you have special needs.

BarCamp Ghana 2010 is proudly sponsored by the Ashesi University, Vodafone Ghana, Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) , GhanaThink Foundation,Google, Web Foundation, Fie.nipa, NandiMobile. Our media partners are CITI FM, Radio Univers,ModernGhana, GhanaBlogging, Sunlight Radio America, The New Ghanaian, and Skyy Digital. The customer support hotline is 020-1500033. You can send questions, comments, and feedback by SMS and get responses.

See you there!

http://barcampghana10.eventbrite.com/
http://barcampghana.org/

Barcamp Ghana 2010 comes to Ashesi this December

After three successful regional events the Barcamp Ghana organizing team is bringing the long-awaited Barcamp Ghana 2010 under the theme 'Create dreams, work smart and shape the future'. This year's Barcamp Ghana will take place at Ashesi University College on the 18th December 2010.

All Regional Barcamps have been impressive, the national one will be a blast
In 2010, three different regional Barcamp events were organised across the country. This was in response to feedback received after Barcamp Ghana 2009 held at the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST).

The 18th of September, 2010 saw the first ever regional Barcamp event: Barcamp Kumasi at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). Barcamp Kumasi sought to bring together natives and residents of Kumasi to discuss, share ideas and network in the effort to stimulate development in the township. The theme was "Collaboration: The Key for Opportunity and Development".

BarCampAccra 2010, took place on October 2nd, 2010 at the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) campus at 20 Aluguntuguntu Street in East Legon, Accra. The theme is be “Creating wealth and employment in a challenging environment”.

BarCamp Takoradi 2010 was held at the Takoradi Technical Institute (TTI) campus in Takoradi, Ghana on November 27, 2010. The theme will be “Leading & Entreprising in an Oil & Technology Fuelled Economy”. BarCamp Takoradi built on the success of Ghanaian BarCamp events to ignite Sekondi/Takoradi & Western Region's focused discussions and actions in order to bring about much-needed change.

On December 18th Barcamp Ghana will bring on board many of Ghana's industry leaders to open up their sectors from their perspectives. Attendees will have the privilege of sitting in the same break-out sessions with these mentors and discuss issues pertaining to the industries on board. Barcamp Ghana is a free event, you can register on the eventbrite page.

All Barcamps have been organised by GhanaThink, an Africa-focused think-tank that seeks to mobilize and deploy African diasporean talent for the primary benefit of Ghana, and consequently of Africa and the whole world.

Barcamp Takoradi 2010

BarCamp Takoradi 2010, an ad-hoc gathering where attendees will meet for discussions, demos and networking, will take place on November 27, 2010 at the Takoradi Technical Institute campus in Takoradi, Ghana. The theme will be “Leading & Entreprising in an Oil & Technology Fuelled Economy”. BarCamp Takoradi is building on the success of Ghanaian BarCamp events to ignite Sekondi/Takoradi & Western Region's focused discussions and actions in order to bring about much-needed change.

The BarCamp Ghana team which is convened under the GhanaThink Foundation has successfully organized four BarCamps in Ghana. Barcamp Ghana 2008 at the Kofi Annan Centre for Excellence in IT (KACE-AITI) on December 22, 2008; Barcamp Ghana 2009 at the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology in East Legon in Accra on December 21, 2009; Barcamp Kumasi 2010 at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology on September 18, 2010 and BarCamp Accra 2010 at the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology in East Legon in Accra on October 2, 2010. The events have brought together over a thousand leaders and change makers.

Barcamp Takoradi’s goals include facilitating organic networking and help attendees identify business partners for future projects and ventures. It will also offer local businessmen and women the chance to promote and get feedback on their entreprises and ventures. It will also help build a local community and network of entrepreneurs, leaders and businessmen after the Barcamp. The Barcamp will also identify business opportunities in the oil and gas industry and attendant opportunities for a growing local economy.

BarCamps all over the world have brought together individuals and organizations to collaborate on various projects and businesses. BarCamp Takoradi ’10 is a FREE event for anyone who is interested in using their skills, talent, and resources to benefit Ghana and Africa as a whole. This year, the focus is on discussing how important collaboration between different industries, business, academia and public institutions is key for opportunity and development.

The speakers will include Nana Kobina Nketsia, Wilson Arthur, Amos Anyimadu, amongst others. If interested in running a breakout session or promoting a business or venture, contact the organizing team through this website. If you are interested in organizing a breakout session, let us know, especially if you have special needs.

Register/RSVP today at the BarCamp Takoradi eventbrite website. You may also contact the BarCamp Takoradi team through this website for sponsorship opportunities. BarCamp Takoradi 2010 is sponsored by the Takoradi Technical Institute (TTI), Google Ghana,GhanaThink Foundation, Fie.nipa, etc.

See you there!

Barcamp Accra 2010 Press Release

BarCampAccra 2010, ad-hoc gathering where attendees meet for discussions, demos and
networking, will take place on October 2nd, 2010 at the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) campus at 20 Aluguntuguntu Street in East Legon, Accra. The theme is be “Creating wealth and employment in a challenging environment”. Following the successes of BarCamp Ghana '08 and BarCamp Ghana '09, regional BarCamp events will be organized in selected regions in Ghana to enable as many people as possible partake in BarCamps before the main national event in December.

On December 22, 2008, over a hundred young Ghanaians met in Accra for BarCamp Ghana
'08 to exchange ideas on entrepreneurship, innovation and development for a rising
Ghana.BarCamp Ghana '09 followed on December 21, 2009, in Accra, under the theme
"Leadership for our times - cultivating change makers". BarCamp Accra 2010 will bring
together stakeholders in Accra to for a day of dialogue, demos and discussions about how to navigate the challenges of doing business and building ventures in Accra.

BarCamps all over the world have brought together individuals and organizations to
collaborate on various projects and businesses. BarCamp Accra ’10 is a FREE event for
anyone who is interested in using their skills, talent, and resources to benefit Ghana and Africa as a whole. This year, the focus is on telling stories and discussing ways of how entrepreneurs and businessmen can create wealth in a burgeoning Accra metropolis faced with a myriad of challenges.

Panelists and speakers will include Eve Andersson of Google, Esi Ansah of Ashesi
University, Derrydean Dadzie of DreamOval, Shika Acolatse of Enablis, Esi Cleland of
AfroChic, Emmanuel Dogbevi of Ghana Busines News amongst others. There will be
sessions organized by Google representatives and as well as other breakout sessions on various topics and interests as put forth by the attendees.

Register/RSVP today at the BarCamp Accra Eventbrite website. You may also contact the
BarCamp Accra team through this website for sponsorship opportunities. If you are
interested in organizing a breakout session, let us know, especially if you have special
needs.

BarCamp Accra 2010 is sponsored by the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology
(MEST), WorldWideWeb Foundation, Google, GhanaThink Foundation and NandiMobile.
Our media partners are CitiFm, Ghana Business News and Radio Universe. The customer
support hotline is 0543-288099. You can send questions, comments, and feedback by SMS
and get responses.

See you there!

www.barcampghana.org

Education: A view from Ghana - the Ashesi and MEST example

This era requires nothing less than hands-on education and tuition. Anything short of that will obviously make the beneficiaries of such a system not only unemployed, but also unemployable. In Ghana, the main public Universities produce many graduates every year. According to the Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, a big fraction out of this number are unemployable. My objective in this post is to evaluate the underlying factors that cause this dilemma and whether a solution can be found anytime soon.

Our public Universities are under-resourced and yet over populated. Lecturer to student ratios are amazingly unbelievable, yet at the end of the day, the graduates are expected to compete with their counterparts globally. I personally believe it is about time, the private sector came to the government's rescue.

Two main organisations that come to mind are the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) and Ashesi University. These schools have devoted their resources to train the Ghanaian population, one at a time. Ashesi University was founded by Patrick Awuah, former Microsoft executive. Every year the University produces talents in the liberal arts, sciences and engineering.

MEST on the other hand, was a dream conceived by Jorn Lyseggen, the CEO of the Meltwater Group, to train and prepare Ghanaian graduates in the technology and software fields. The trainees after graduation are supported by the Meltwater Foundation to start their own businesses to compete with similar Internet companies on the global market. The talents and skills exhibited by these trainees will undoubtedly go a long way to create wealth and employment for Ghana.

I believe, more of such strategies have to be considered if Ghana would want to compete with other advanced nations.

Ghana gets ready for BarCamp events

Following the successes of BarCamp Ghana '08 and BarCamp Ghana '09, regional BarCamp events will be organized in selected regions in Ghana to enable as many people as possible partake in BarCamps before the main national event in December.

We are lining up BarCamp Accra 2010 which will take place on October 2nd, 2010 at the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) campus at 20 Aluguntuguntu Street in East Legon, Accra. The theme is be “Creating wealth and employment in a challenging environment”.

You can become a fan today on facebook, www.facebook.com/BarCampAccra
Follow us on Twitter - twitter.com/Barcampaccra

BarCamp Kumasi with the theme - Collaboration: The key for opportunity and development
Become a fan today - www.facebook.com/pages/Barcamp-Kumasi/144855548877084
Follow on twitter: twitter.com/barcampkumasi

We'll round up with BarCamp Ghana in December
Become a fan today - www.facebook.com/BarCampGhana
Follow on twitter: twitter.com/barcampGhana

For any inquiries, or suggestion get in touch by sending us an e-mail through barcamp@ghanthink.org. Hope to hear from you soon!

NandiMobile - Empowering Connections!

Very soon, Ghanaians will heave a sigh of relief as they will be provided with an opportunity to get closer to companies that offer products and services in the country. NandiMobile is a technology company that offers channels with its Gripeline and Infoline services for businesses in Africa to offer customer support and business information to their customers via mobile.

With the Gripeline service businesses are now just an SMS away from their customers. Users with mobile phones can complain, comment, give feedback or ask a question and of course obtain a response from the other end.

It is also the company’s objective to make business information and details easily accessible to a majority of the population. NandiMobile through its Infoline service will offer the Ghanaian public the opportunity to access such information via mobile just by sending a keyword to a short code. By leveraging the high mobile penetration in Africa, NandiMobile seeks to become a pan-African company that will re-define global customer service experience by using simple and accessible technologies.

NandiMobile is but one of the many companies in the Meltwater Incubator funded by the Meltwater Foundation. With a strong and dedicated management team, the company will create customer service technologies that will enable businesses connect to their customers through their mobile phones and easily engage, inform and manage their customer relationships. Pay the company a visit on their website and watch out for the launch of the services in September!

BarCamp Ghana 09 - Cultivating Leaders

I would want to share with all readers of my blog where I found my love for blogging. I attended BarCamp Ghana 08 last year and was very privileged to meet top African bloggers like David Ajao and Esi Cleland. I was inspired there and then to start my own blog after the event. So for those who still think BarCamp is another conference for people to talk, take a second look.
What then is BarCamp?

BarCamp is simply an ‘unconference’ - an ad-hoc gathering of people with the simple desire to share and learn in an open environment. Unlike a conference, at a BarCamp everyone is both a speaker and a participant. The content is provided by all attendees based on their interests. So anyone can start a session and get others who are interested to discuss issues concerning that topic. And if possible come up with an action plan. The talkers then become doers.

Focused on human capacity building, BarCamp is also a platform for equipping attendees with new and more acceptable values in business, culture and society.
This brilliant event is organized by GhanaThink and will be hosted at the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology MEST located in East Legon, just about 200 meters from the A&C shopping mall. The team for this year’s Camp is Leadership for Our Times: Cultivating Change Makers. This year’s event seeks to focus on allowing the youth to share ideas on how we can contribute positively to the development of the country.