CEO's Without Borders

"...CEOs Without Borders brings together businessmen and businesswomen willing to use their leadership positions,know-how and experience to foster the growth of businesses in developing countries..." Promising businesses on their site include:

• George Baidoo's citrus peel company-Gakrosu Enterprise

• Prosper Adabia's sock manufacturing enterprise-Textile Pro

• Leticia Osafo-Ado's food processing company-Sambolec

Kuv Kapital

Kuv Capital an early stage venture fund invests in Appfrica:

Appfrica Labs, the Y-Combinator inspired incubation arm of this company, has been funded! Kuv Capital, a venture capital firm specializing in emerging market investments is now our partner as we move forward in funding and mentoring East Africa’s rising thinkers, entrepreneurs and software developers-Appfrica Blog

Star Africa Rum

Wine Enthusiast reviews Star African Rum an alcoholic beverage:

Star African ultra superior light rum 40% abv $30 . An earthy dry clean and bean and cake like aroma with delicate scents of cocoa bean,vanilla bean and brown sugar.the palate entry is bittersweet,concentrated and beany at midpalate the flavor profile becomes sweeter and more vanilla extract. The bean intensity reaches its bittersweet zenith in the high-flying aftertaste.Chic racy and delicious.

Mkondezi Banana Wine

Biodiversity profiles a Banana Wine maker:

Mkondezi Wine group started by the Development of Malawian Enterprises Trust (DEMAT) in 2002. The trust came up with the wine marketing idea after conducting a survey on the uses of bananas in Nkhata-bay area where the group is based...[continue reading]

Phoenix Capital Management

Founded by Michel Abrogoua Phoenix Capital Management provides a range of investment banking services to Francophone Africa,they include:

-Investment in different financial instruments (stocks, bonds, mutual funds ,..).
-Operations of equity investments and private investments in companies listed or unlisted.
-Diagnostic heritage.
-Assistance in organization and method of portfolio management.
-Development or strengthening of the investment policy.

Informal Solutions

From HP via Stealth of Nations:

"Our research has shown that a solution is at hand and demonstrated some of the incredible entrepreneurial skills we can tap into in the informal sector in Africa," said Project Manager and Empa researcher Mathias Schluep. "By providing tools and training we have removed potential environmental and health problems that can be caused by handling e-waste incorrectly. What’s more, we have created a channel to full employment for creative minds in the informal sector."...[continue reading]

Adaku Okpi Casting

Adaku Okpi Casting is a full-service agency, located in New York City. We provide clients with models, real people and celebrities for ad campaigns, magazine editorials, music videos and more-company website
via IgboPeople
photo courtesy of Adaku Okpi Casting

Automobile Laboratories

Founded by Ugo Eze a car enthusiast, Automobile Laboratories offers the most advanced diagnostics and car repair facilities. To satisfy a need for competent auto technicians the company has launched a Automobile Service Consultant training and franchise road-map:

...graduate engineers and technicians are given adequate practical training to be able to open and run small scale independent service shops.We arrange investors to help suitable trainees start their own outfits and also provide Web presence, Online and Offline Technical Support

Ore-Irele Oil Palm

Ore-Irele Oil Palm is a vertically integrated privatized agricultural processor.The company continues to underline its relationship with NIFOR a leading oil palm research institute.It's products include:
-Palm Oil
-Palm Kernels
-Various Cassava byproducts
-Plantain

Building Pumps

From the BID Network, Desalegne Simachew's:

...project aims to supply Afridev hand pump spare parts initially to around 4, 000 hand pumps in 18 districts of Amhara Region, Ethiopia...[continue reading]

Solar Peanut Roasting

From Solar Food:

...There are several options of roasting peanuts the "traditional" way. In Burkina Faso the women use drums of washing machines and turn them over a flame with the peanuts inside. This method is quite good for higher quantites, but many peanuts burn this way and cannot be sold. In Namibia I saw women roasting peanuts in pots on coal or fire wood. To avoid burning they added sand and stired the nuts and the sand continuously. Both methods consum a lot of fire wood and money.
We were very happy when we tried to roast peanuts in the solar stove. We just wait until they get brown and that's it. Not one single peanut gets burned. It is simple, fast and very efficient...[continue reading]

Quick Hits

LadyBrille profiles conscious fashions.
The mobile web surges.
Focusing on service - Parklande Specialist Hospital.
Romeo Tetteh Jone's "Microbio' Magic" water filter initiative.

Innovative Biotech

Innovative Biotech seeks to provide and enhance better health and life expectancy by eradication of diseases in Africa through innovative production of biotech products and services...it was founded to apply the advances made in the biotech industry toward application of this knowledge in creating the biotech industry in Africa-company website

Sulalanka

In TradeInvestNigeria Upali Karunaratna of Sulanka discusses the country's aquaculture potential:

...the country has all the necessary resources to develop aquaculture and opportunities are very widely available in areas such as cage culture and raceways, in addition to earthen and artificial pond aquaculture. Nigeria has opportunities in fresh and marine water species breeding with either inland based or water based techniques covering species such as eel, sea bass, grouper, Nile perch, carp, croker, mud crabs, tilapia, turtle and milk fish. This breeding can be done on a very small family scale to large corporate scale and the local market is very strong and open as the local food requirements are one the highest in the African continent...[continue reading]

Kyarwakya United Carpentry

TSFR reports:

Kyarwakya United Carpentry received a small joinery kit in 2006 which has helped them achieve their phenomenal growth of 500% since their start. Of the seven men and two women members, three have built commercial houses and two have bought land. Not content with their own success, the group has opened a training centre for young people in the community to ensure the next generation of carpenters. The whole district has benefited from their success because now people can get everything they need locally. Even the leftover sawdust is reused on nearby crops...[continue reading]

Rising Upmarket Demand

Adama Baba in Trade Invest Nigeria reports:

Lagos, Nigeria's financial hub and Abuja, its capital, are vastly different in nature. The former is energy-charged and crowded while the latter is rather laid back. One thing they have in common, however, is a fast-growing number of professionals and entrepreneurs, most of them young. This rise is creating a new kind of consumer in the Nigerian market, an upmarket buyer' if you will. These upmarket buyers are a mix of professionals in the fields of banking, finance, telecoms, energy, marketing and even information technology...[continue reading]

AimTech

Startups Nigeria interviews Ahmed Mukoshy the founder of Aimtech a hosting company.Providing details on their operations, he states:

Aimtech is a hosting service provider with a US based data center. We provide domain name registration, web hosting and site design services to both individuals and corporations across Nigeria even though our main focus are small and medium scale enterprises.

He adds that they are much more techy than most of their competitors:

Unlike other hosting providers, we always stay up to date with new software release. I could remember we were the first to lunch cPanel 11 in Nigeria. As of now, we also run the latest PHP and MySQL software...[continue reading]

Namibian Engineering Corp

NEC is one of the:

...Largest steel fabricating and contracting companies in Namibia. The factory in Okahandja is fully equipped and staffed to carry out the fabrication of all types of major structural and mechanical steelworks to the most stringent specifications and requirements (ISO 9001 of 2000).The facilities include 8,000m2 of covered fabricated bays, served by 10 ton overhead cranes-company website

Grocery's Online-ExceedFoods

ExceedFoods is a Nigerian food store created to bring you a comprehensive selection of quality Nigerian groceries at affordable prices. We are open and accessible 24/7 from the comfort of your home, orders delivered in days anywhere in the continental United States-company website

Camara's little Sack Dress

Ms Camara from Ivory Coast discusses her dress making business:

via African Politics

Lake Turkana Wind Power

Lake Turkana Wind Power consortium (LTWP) is poised to provide 300 MW of clean power to Kenya's national electricity grid by taking advantage of a unique wind resource in Northwest Kenya near Lake Turkana. Using the latest wind turbine technology LTWP can provide reliable and continuous clean power to satisfy up to 30% of Kenya's current total installed power.-company website

Nollywood Babylon

Echoing the work of Franco Sacchi, Nollywood Babylon highlights:

...the explosive popularity of Nigeria's movie industry.The film drops viewers into the chaos of Lagos' Idumota market. Here, among the bustling stalls, films are sold and unlikely stars are born.Unfazed by low budgets, enterprising filmmakers create a brash, inventive and wildly popular form of B-Movie that has Nigerians Nollywood-obsessed. In these films, voodoo and magic infuse urban stories, reflecting the collision of traditional mysticism and modern culture that Nigerians experience every day.

via African Loft

Promoting Chips

New Agriculturist reports:

...Berga Lemaga of the International Potato Center (CIP) believes that there is great potential for an East African chip-making industry. A marketing survey conducted during 2004-2006 found that over 50 per cent of low-income urban households in Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda make their own chips. Corresponding figures for wealthier households in these countries average almost 80 per cent, with the highest (100%) in Rwanda and the lowest (54%) in Tanzania...[continue reading]

Whiz Kids Workshop

Whiz Kids Workshop believes that mass-media can be the most cost-effective and immediate way to make an impact on large educational gaps in the developing world, particularly at the preschool level. We use existing research on mass-media education, new lower-cost technologies for media creation, and booming growth in reach of television to put that belief into practice-company website

Forensic Pathologist-Bennet Omalu

The Washington Post reports on the "breakthrough research" of forensic neuropathologist,Bennet Omalu:

When slides were made of the matter, then magnified 200 times, the telltale red flecks of abnormal protein appeared. The proteins appear when the brain is hit, Omalu said, but disappear as the healthy brain cells devour them, leading to recovery. Yet when the brain suffers too many blows, the brain cells can't keep up with the protein and eventually give up and die, leaving just the red flecks.
"No brain of a 40- or 50-year-old should look like this," Omalu said. The only people who would have such markings, he added, were boxers, very old people with Alzheimer's disease or someone who had suffered a severe head wound. Webster was only 50...[continue reading]

See NYTimes article for added coverage

Propelling Charcoal

ASNS reports from Kenya:

There is a dynamic market for charcoal throughout the country; and although large quantities of the product is consumed annually, the production and transportation of charcoal has remained invisible, unregulated, disorganised and characterised by corrupt practices, giving the industry a semi-illegal status and a negative image, forest stakeholders have said...[continue reading]

Snapp

Snapp magazine showcases thoughtfully selected photography from the African continent by leading and emerging photographers. Emphasizing visual content within an evolving format, each issue features a themed portfolio, current news photo essays by outstanding photojournalists, and in-depth interviews with selected photographers-company website
via Africa Visual Media
photo courtesy of snapp

Microlivestock

Micro-livestock a term coined for species that are inherently small as well as for breeds of cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs that are less than about half the size of the most common breeds. These miniature animals are seldom considered in the broad picture of livestock development, but they seem to have a promising future, especially in developing nations or wherever land is scarce.-Amazon review

The New TED Fellows Program

From the TED website:

The TED Fellows program helps world-changing innovators from around the globe become part of the TED community and, with its help, amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities. Fellows are drawn from many disciplines that reflect the diversity of TED's members: technology, entertainment, design, the sciences, the humanities, the arts, NGOs, business and more...[continue reading]

Quick Hits

The Washing Machine That Ate My Sari - Mistakes in Cross-Cultural Design.
Housewife mobile phone charger designer
Gourmet mushrooms and income generation-ASNAPP
A model for Africa? Anand Pattern