Argan Oil | Morocco

From the Slow Food foundation:

Image courtesy of thankgodimnatural

Argan oil is a deep golden yellow in color and the flavor is unmistakable and intense, with notes of hazelnut and toast. A few drops can be added to a freshly cooked pot of couscous or to a fish or meat tajine or crudités. It can also be consumed alone on a simple piece of bread. Mixed with almonds and honey, argan oil is used for amlou beldi, the traditional creamy spread that is offered to visitors together with bread and mint tea as a sign of welcome. In the countryside, a few drops of this oil are used to feed newborns. Argan oil can also act as a skin-moisturizer, pomade or healing ointment.

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Open Source Hardware. What is it good for?

In Screaming Circuits:

courtesy of Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories

What does it do for innovation?

History is rife with stories of great inventions that were not commercially successful because the inventor was a good inventor but was a lousy business person, didn't have access to funding or just didn't have the drive to build, promote and sell the product.

With OSHW, companies that do have the drive, funding and know-how can pick up an open source project from a developer that doesn't. There are none of the IP concerns that sometimes keep big companies from taking on product from independent inventors. Great products that otherwise would stay hidden can make it out in the world.

Some OSHW companies, like Adafruit compensate the designers who's product they sell. No marketing or selling expense for the designer and yet money comes in to them. Much reduced design expense for the seller, yet they can build a business.

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The Innovators

From Adafruit:

The Innovators from SPARKHOUSE on Vimeo.

Investing in Health - Avenue Healthcare (Kenya) receives a $2.5m investment

In African Capital Markets News:

Aureos Africa Health Fund invested $2.5 million in a Kenyan hospital and health insurance company, the Avenue Group , which offers affordable healthcare cover, integrated with quality healthcare provision. It has a 70-bed full-purpose hospital in Nairobi, 7 clinics through Kenya as well as in-house clinics for corporate clients, a home-based care service for elderly, terminally ill or otherwise dependent patients, rental and sale of wheelchairs and other rehabilitation equipment for home use, and First Aid training schemes. It combines healthcare cover with quality, affordable outpatient and inpatient medical services. The group’s corporate medical schemes are designed to be accessible to businesses with as few as 10 employees and around 70% of the staff covered are in non-managerial roles. With Aureos investment, Avenue Group will expand into other regions in Kenya, building 2 more clinics in smaller towns and expanding existing in-patient facilities in Kisumu and Mombasa. The funding will ensure the group can continue non-profit activities, such as free medical camps across Kenya and public health screening days at Avenue clinics...[continue reading]

Quick Hits

Ethiopia broadens its wine making abilities.
Meet Progenics Nigeria a financial services application and solution provider

IPP Media is one of East Africa's largest media conglomerates
Founded by Edward Ndububa SGNT technologies services include outsourcing services

Prosono - Quality African Timbers

Prosono was founded "with the purpose of adding value to the export of indigenous timber specie from Southern Africa and Madagascar. We presently employ a team of qualified and trained specialists in forestry, wood processing, and ecosystem protection."

The Power of Open-Source Cancer Research

From TEDx Boston via the Guardian:

How does cancer know it's cancer?
This is the question that cancer researcher, Jay Bradner and his colleagues have focused on in their research, and they think they may have found the answer: a molecule, which they call JQ1. But unlike the corporatocracy and its minions, which operate in secrecy, Dr Bradner and his colleagues chose to do something different. Engaging in an enlightened social experiment, they shared the news of this molecule by publishing their findings -- and they mailed samples to 40 other labs to work with. In short, they open-sourced the information about this molecule and they crowd-sourced the testing and research.

Francis Kéré on the need for Traditional Building Techniques

Francis Kere at Design Indaba:

Looking at the housing situation in West Africa, architect Francis Kéré says that Africans should stop copying the Western way of building but adapt it to their own needs, the needs of the community and to cope with the weather patterns in the region. He also talks about his dream to make things better in his home country of Burkina Faso, uses traditional techniques and low-cost and environmentally friendly materials.

Build a Concrete Lathe

In Hackaday:

At the 2009 Maker Faire Africa, [Pat Delany] met a young carpentry student that saved for three months to buy a cheap Chinese wood plane. He was confounded by this distribution of resources, so [Pat] created the Concrete Lathe project that aims to get useful machine tools out to where they’re needed most.

The idea for concrete machine tools came out of the US involvement in World War I. America had been staunchly isolationist before committing to the war, and production of arms did not match the needed output. A man named L.I. Yeomans came up with the idea of building concrete lathes to produce artillery shells for the war effort.

More here
Update: Engineering for Change publishes a construction manual for an open-source, low-cost screw-cutting lathe

Rebuilding Communities with Livestock

Worldwatch reports:

Matt Styslinger explains how small scale livestock can not only help to improve diets, livelihoods, and the environment, but also how they can help to maintain and rebuild communities. Livestock have the ability to not only provide milk and meat, which generates income, but they also provide manure, which can be used as fertilizer as well as biogas for cooking.

Crowdsourcing and Crowdfunding at Innovestment

Mass-Customization reports:

A group of entrepreneurs from RWTH Aachen university have developed an interesting model of crowdfunding in the early / seed financing sector -- and one of their first projects is a mass customization start-up in the game market.

The start-up, Innovestment, is a crowdinvesting platform for startup-investments. It is not a micro-financing site, but more one that allows people with a real demand for investing money the opportunity to participate in innovative conceots with low risk.

The model is based on "silent partnerships" (a well established legal form in Europe), and the pricing/valuation will be done through an innovative auction mechanism.

More here

Makerere University’s Kiira-EV Electric Car

TreeHugger reports on the Kiira-EV an electric car designed and built by students from Makerere University:

A group of 25 Ugandan students from Makerere University’s College of Engineering, Art and Design have built Uganda’s first electric car, the Kiira EV. Initially designed in 2009, the fabricated car was taken for a public test drive last week. Most of the parts of the two-seater, including the core body and combustion system, were designed and built locally.

Open Source Induction Furnace

From Open Source Ecology:

Metal is the basis of advanced civilization. Scrap metal in refined form can be mined in abundance from heaps of industrial detritus in junkyards and fence rows. This can help us produce new metal in case of any unanticipated global supply chain disruptions. This will have to do until we can take mineral resources directly and smelt them to pure metal.

I look forward to the day when our induction furnace chews up our broken tractors and cars – and spits them out in fluid form. This leads to casting useful parts, using molds printed by open source ceramic printers – these exist. This also leads to hot metal processing, the simplest of which is bashing upon an anvil – and the more refined of which is rolling. Can we do this to generate metal bar and sheet in a 4000 square foot workshop planned for Factor e Farm? We better. Technology makes that practical, though this is undeard-of outside of centralized steel mills. We see the induction furnace, hot rolling, forging, casting, and other processes critical to the fabrication component of the Global Village Construction Set.

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Growing Monkey Oranges

Matt Styslinger writing in Worldwatch:

Monkey orange trees—similar in shape and size to apple, pear, and orange trees—are a highly coveted African wild fruit tree, and farmers will often leave them standing when clearing land for cultivation of field crops. The fruit is difficult to find and in short supply because it is in such high demand, a demand which is typically unmet in African markets.

The grapefruit-sized fruit tends to be yellow, orange, or brown, and emits a sweet scent with a touch of clove. They are known for their delicious sweet and sour flavor and are rich in vitamin C and in B vitamins. It is traditionally eaten raw, or made into jam, juice, or fruit wine.

The trees bear abundant fruit, which sell at very high prices in local markets. A mature tree can bear 300 to 400 fruits per year. Indigenous to tropical and subtropical Africa, they are capable of growing in arid and semi-arid areas and in poor and rocky soils. Their tough outer shells make them resistant to fungi and fruit flies and protect them from being easily damaged in transport and storage. They have an exceptional ability to remain edible in tropical heat for months after fruit maturity. Monkey oranges could be used to produce juices and dry fruit rolls commercially, and the fruit tree has been introduced into Israel for potential commercial crop development.

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Open Source Scanning Tunneling Microscope

In Chemhacker:

STM system is a non-optical, high-resolution, microscopy technique that is often used to obtain images of a conductive surface at the atomic scale. A sharp metal tip is placed only a few nano-meters from surface, a current is applied between the two (Tunneling Current). The amount of current produced is exponentially dependent on the distance between the tip and the surface. Scanned points relative to the Z-position of the tunneling tip will produce a topographical image of the sample surface. If the resolution is high enough, the resulting image will show individual atoms.

via Make

Zvishavane Water Project (ZWP)

In March 2000 Changemakers reported on the work of visionary and award winning Zepheniah Phiri Maseko (The Water Harvester) and his Zvishavane Water Project :

...in rural Zimbabwe, in a region prone to drought, such an Edenic garden seems to exist. At the farm of Zepheniah Phiri Maseko, crops grow quickly and bountifully, even in drought years, and the abundance on a modest three-hectare homestead is enough to support a family of 15 and raise cash for other expenses...

in his fields, this water can be "harvested" to supply enough water to all his crops, trees, and vegetable beds without the need for conventional irrigation. Tiers of stonewall terraces catch and funnel the water from the ruware so that it seeps into the soil, replenishing the ground store.

The terraces trap grass seeds as well creating patches of protective vegetation that also slow and draw water into the soil. Silt traps catch the sand that would otherwise fill the terraces, preventing water absorption.

These rock walls are positioned beneath the ruware or rocky outcrop at the highest point in Phiri's property. They serve to slow down and force the seepage of water into the soil, preventing erosion and runoff.

Some of the water that flows through these terraces is stored in a tank that Phiri built of plaster and brick, which also receives rainwater from gutters that Phiri has built along the roof of his home. After Phiri built the tank, he reconsidered his approach.

"This tank only helps me," he said, "but what I build should help the nation." Now, most of the rain that falls goes into an underground sealed reservoir, where it accumulates throughout the rainy season, adding to the available store of water for Phiri and neighboring farmers.

Along contour lines, which are pegged by agricultural extensionists from the government, ridges must be built by all farmers to harness water and reduce soil erosion. But Phiri has taken this idea much further. Along these ridges he has built what he calls "infiltration pits" that will fill with water before runoff can flow horizontally across the fields.

Once filled, these pits slowly drain water into the soil. During the rainy season these pits often reveal that the water table has risen to less than a meter below the surface. Plants with supporting roots line each pit, protecting them from collapse.

More here

Quick Hits

Liberty Health a multi-dimensional provider of health solutions in South Africa and other emerging markets.
Cedez a purveyor of Eco-equipped property in Ghana
River Zoo Farm a Wildlife Breeding Farm & Fauna Sanctuary
Ecotourism Kenya aims "to effectively link communities, tourism and conservation for sustainable tourism development"
Kenyamoto's mission is to be the premier provider of current and topical digital media of interest to Kenyans.
In Ghana, Fidelity Capital Partners a venture capital and private equity funds management company
Rural fish farming with Tilapiana
Tropicana Airlines Ghana offers point-to-point delivery of goods across West Africa and beyond

Moroccan Bow Lathe

From MAKE magazine:

Stewert King shot this video of a talented woodworker in the streets of Marrakech using a bow lathe to turn out a chess piece. This simple hand-powered tool, in the right hands (and in this case feet), can produce intricately carved items in a matter of minutes. The show of skill and dexterity is truly mesmerizing.

Lasersaur | Open Source Laser Cutter

"...The Lasersaur project's goal is to create an open source laser cutter. We hope to provide a cheap, safe, and highly-capable machine that will increase the proliferation of laser cutters and make a significant contribution to the personal fabrication movement. As part of this movement we hope to simplify the creation and sharing (building instructions thereof) of tangible objects. We hope to help make open source hardware mainstream...'-website

The Role of Making, Tinkering, Remixing in Next-Generation Learning

Mitch Resnick on learning:

One thing we’ve seen is that the best learning experiences come when people are actively engaged in designing things, creating things, and inventing things - expressing themselves.

It’s not just a matter of giving people opportunities to interact with technologies or using technologies, but if we want people to really be fluent with new technologies and learn through their activities, it requires people to get involved as makers - to create things.


Mitch Resnick: Making, Tinkering, and Remixing in Learning Innovation from DML Research Hub on Vimeo.
A lot of the best experiences come when you are making use of the materials in the world around you, tinkering with the things around you, and coming up with a prototype, getting feedback, and iteratively changing it, and making new ideas, over and over, and adapting to the current situation and the new situations that arise.

In our after school programs, we see many kids who have been unsuccessful in traditional educational settings become incredibly successful when they are given the opportunity to make, tinker, and remix.

I think there are lessons for schools from the ways that kids learn outside of schools, and we want to be able to support that type of learning both inside and outside of schools.

Over time, I do think we need to rethink educational institutions as a place that embraces playful experimentation.

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A Bounty of 'Wild Fruits'

From the Fresh Fruit Portal:

Commercialization of wild fruits has increased in Kenya with entrepreneurs selling baobab, marula, tamarinds and African plum seeds to growers

Tamarind Fruit

...fruits had become ’serious crops’ and were supporting hundreds of farmers in arid and semi-arid areas, from the lower end of the Eastern Province to the Kieni district in Central Kenya.

The different fruit varieties are often used during ‘hungry months’, while baobab fruit was grounded into a flour and mixed with water and sugar as a meal.

the tamarind, otherwise known as the ‘tree grape’ or ‘afrocado’, was rich in proteins, calcium, carbohydrates, iron and phosphorous...[continue reading]

Djoss.tv – Live TV Chatter

Over at Active Spaces:

...the term “djoss” is often used to describe chatter or small talk. Last week, a few Douala-based Cameroonian techies launched a web application designed specifically for the purpose of chit-chat around television programs – Djoss.tv.

Djoss.tv stands out because it joins the ranks of the daring minority of African projects that are focusing on pop culture and entertainment (Afrinolly, Kmerblagues & Rumors to name a few) as opposed to non-profit or problem-oriented ventures.We caught up with Patrick Ndjientcheu of Djoss.tv to give us a little more insight into the startup.

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Jewel by Lisa

The BBC speaks with Lisa Folawiyo founder of Jewel by Lisa:

"Our mothers, grandmothers and probably great-grandmothers have worn this fabric," Ms Folawiyo told the BBC series African Dream. But, as though they were not already bright enough, she decided to embellish them with beads, sequins and crystals, all sewn by hand, and the chic combination became an instant success.

"I can confidently say that Jewel by Lisa was the originator of the embellished Ankara which we see today everywhere," the designer said.

"I have a huge clientele and I have been able to hire a showroom in New York, for instance, and from that showroom we have been able to be stocked in about two stores in New York. Also, I am stocked in a store in South Africa," she added.

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NigeriaSat-X

From Onorbit:

The Nigerian-built satellite, NigeriaSat-X, has acquired its first satellite image just three days after the successful launch on 17th August.

Revealing buildings and the landscape surrounding the city of Auckland, New Zealand, this image demonstrates that the satellite’s enhanced 22m wide-area multi-spectral imagery for mapping, agricultural monitoring and disaster relief programmes works well.

NigeriaSat-X was built by engineers from Nigeria’s National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) under the supervision of Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL). The new generation of Nigerian scientists and engineers trained up under the NigeriaSat-X project will continue to support Nigeria’s space programme, ensuring its continued success and sustainability. In total, 26 Nigerian engineers were located at SSTL’s facilities in Guildford for 18 months throughout the design and test phases.

Mass Production for the Masses

Shapeways CEO Peter Weijmarshausen in an interview with Forbes:

Shapeways is part of a larger movement of technology-driven DIY culture. Beyond manufacturing, what’s next?

What’s happening with the democratization of production is game changing. With this at your fingertips, the world is a different place. Having access to this kind of technology will change the way products are consumed and developed. Think of the fact that you can mix materials on an almost molecular level. Next, you’ll be able to create new materials that we’ve never had before. You can mix strong and soft materials. You can engineer how a product will break if you put too much stress on it. Mix electronics into it, and we’ll see things you can’t even imagine now. Look at the Shapeways products in my office—you could make them all in traditional ways. But the next level will be things that are exclusively producible through new technology. With 3D printing you can get feedback and improve design after producing just one object. Your minimum run is one. So products can evolve much quicker. Mix this with the opening up of design—what open-source did for software, 3D printing can do for product design. I don’t know what we’re going to create, but it will be amazing.

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iFixit: Welcome to Repair 2.0

From iFixit:

You know us as the folks who take apart new hardware and show people how to fix Apple products. We're not going to stop doing any of that, but starting today we are going to massively expand our scope: We are relaunching iFixit as the free repair manual that anyone can edit.

Making Passion Fruit Juice | africaJUICE

How We Made it Africa reports:

africaJUICE was started as a result of global supply problems in passion fruit production. O’Halloran says that globally passion fruit suffers from boom-bust cycles. Most growers are not involved in the processing. When prices for passion fruit go too low because of over-planting, growers simply stop planting, which causes a shortage of supply and prices to rise again. “Imagine if you are a fruit juice manufacturer and you don’t know whether your passion fruit concentrate is going to cost US$3,000 a ton or $14,000 a ton. You are going to be reluctant to commit to passion fruit as part of your blends,” explains O’Halloran. africaJUICE rehabilitated and expanded an existing fruit farm in Ethiopia and constructed a new processing facility that enables the company to supply fruit juice to Europe, the Middle East as well as serve the growing local market. “We want to move away from this boom-bust cycle by being involved in the growing as well as the processing of fruit. We are one of the few players in the world that can enter into long-term supply agreements with the main traders, blenders of juice and finished product manufacturers.”

Arduino & RepRap – Creating Wealth by Giving it Away

At ICED 11:

Is it possible to grow wealth independently of money? This talk will be from Adrian Bowyer – creator of RepRap, the open-source replicating 3D printer – and from David Cuartielles – creator of Arduino, the open-source microcontroller. Both projects have founded significant and growing industries – and hence significant and growing wealth – by giving away all the data required to build RepRaps and Arduinos completely free. They have also short-circuited most conventional industrial infrastructure by placing the ability to create wealth directly in the hands of private individuals. The presenters contend that this is the way of the future: companies, and – more importantly – those private individuals will be giving away their primary products and making a living on the sideline activities that such donations attract. Software has been heading in that direction for decades. Now hardware is following.

Mini-Livestock Farming in Kibera

Kibera TV reports on subsistence urban livestock keepers.Folks who deserve our support:

FilmWalker Productions

Tamarat Makonnen producer of Dreams & Shadows founded Filmwalker productions whose goal is to:

...develop and produce independent films of all genres that appeal to a wide and varied audience. This aim will allow us the freedom to deliver captivating feature-length films with a focus on striking visuals and strong story structure.

Kijamii Social Media

Co-founded by Bahy Abo El-Ezz of Maker Faire Africa, Cairo:

KIJAMII is a social media agency that aims at realizing social experiences for our partners,we customize creative solutions and strategies for our partners presence on social media, implement and execute & finally monitor and measure to ensure the best ROI.