Mobile Entrepreneurs in Africa

Mobile Entrepreneurs in Africa is a project initiated by the Mobile Web Ghana. From February 2011 Mobile Web Ghana will recruit and train local entrepreneurs to develop mobile phone applications that would be relevant to the local communities in Ghana. Mobile Web Ghana is an organisation founded by the World Wide Web Foundation, created by Tim Berners-Lee, the man who invented the web twenty years ago. Vodafone has committed to fund 3 years of initial work. Any institution willing to support this project can get involved by contacting the Web Foundation.

Photo from web Foundation website

I was at a the Foundation's event on Saturday 27th November at the Kofi Annan Center of Excellence where Max Froumentin the Program Manager demonstrated how the training program will be and some of the applications that would be developed. Together with the Project Cordinator, Florence Toffa, he answered questions posed by the attendees. The training programme will be in two parts; the Business aspect and the Technical aspect. Prospective applicants are encouraged to apply in teams and must have some proficiency in technology and programming. Business knowledge is however not required for the Business Module.

This is an initiative that seeks to empower software entrepreneurs in mobile development as well as provide them with the necessary skills that will help such individuals monetize the value the provide.

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