Thursday , March 27, 2014

The solutions offered by the Google Africa Connected success stories competition finalists are viable in all developing societies. Adopt them. (Part 1) 

The web is changing lives every day. If you visit You Tube quite frequently then you have most probably seen an advert with that tag from the team at Google. As at the time I am beginning to write this article, it is exactly 4 days 14 hours to the time when five winners from the ten finalists in the Africa Connected Competition will be announced. In organizing the competition, Google called on entrepreneurs, creators, innovators and web-lovers across Africa to share their stories of how the web has transformed their lives and work. 

Each winner will receive a $25,000 Africa Connected prize, as well as, expert assistance from Google to help make their success even greater. What is of more importance to me is that with the competition, more solutions to everyday African problems were shared. I have always insisted that the world only moves forward when good ideas meet other good ideas to form a more coherent resolution to a certain problem.

In each of the ten finalist’s success stories, there is an element of originality in the identification of a problem and seeking a solution to it and an attempt towards being part of a network that will reach more people. From Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Senegal, Zimbabwe, Uganda to South Africa, the solutions offered can apply anywhere in the continent. 

The development that African countries like Kenya are experiencing at the moment are as a result of innovations in different fields ranging from entertainment, arts, sports, technology, business and private sector efforts. These innovations converge within our societies to mold development that is proportionate to the efforts we have put in. In this same light, the development that developing societies achieve is dependent on the extent to which members of those societies go to innovate solutions to problems that emerged in the post-independent period but we still haven’t got viable solutions to  up to now.

Any attempt to seek development without courting such efforts with technology and the internet are bound to fail. The internet is the single biggest source of information on just about everything from sex to the most serious bureaucratic techniques and jargon in business and politics. It is the easiest way to communicate to the largest number of people in the world - just a post, sometimes restricted to 140 characters. 

With that in mind, Google took up an initiative to invite innovative solutions to problems in African societies and to share these stories with the world in an unrestricted manner through You Tube. Why don’t we just get serious already and apply these solutions to our different societal settings?

Our very own Sitawa Wafula and Steve Kyenze have to win of course. See the stories of other finalists from across Africa below:

Mayowa, Eric  and Eseoghene from Nigeria. Nqobizitha from Zimbawe. Lamine from Senegal. Eunice from Uganda. Timothy from South Africa. Christopher from Ghana.