Category Archives: kwani

Idea Exchange: Bank, Literature, Journalism, Opportunities, and Win a Free Phone

The Africa AgriBusiness Challenge from Enactus Kenya and Syngenta seeks out youth to generate creative business ideas to improve the agricultural productivity of certain crop value chains. Deadline is June 10.

The 2014 Africa Awards for Entrepreneurship will have five awards to celebrate entrepreneurs at different stages of the entrepreneurial life cycle; lifetime achievement, transformational business, outstanding mature business, outstanding growing business and outstanding social entrepreneur.

The Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation. Details here .. via @calestous.

@AfriCOG Investigative Journalism Fellowship Programme 2014. Deadline is 30 May. 

Anthemis Fellowship seeks out entrepreneurs, executives and thought leaders who are passionate about building an improved financial services industry fit for the digital age. The Anthemis Fellowship program includes 4 months at the Anthemis London office, 4 months with one of their portfolio companies and 4 months with a major financial services firm. It also comes with a monthly stipend of EUR2000 and an invitation to attend the Anthemis #HackingFinance Retreat from July 10-13, 2014 in Meribel, France. Deadline is June 1. 

@APO_Source has had a scholarship for an African journalist to to attend the 2014 annual meetings of the African Development Bank.

Bloomberg Africa ‏@BBGAfrica – seeks Swaziland, Eritrea, Djibouti, G.Bissau, Cape Verde, Eq. Guinea, Sao Tome stringers – Please e-mail asguazzin@bloomberg.net

Citi Africa Management Associate Programme Citi in Africa is  looking for ambitious graduates with strong academic backgrounds, maximum of two years’ work experience, leadership, teamwork, and excellent communication skills.

The 2014 CNN/MultiChoice African Journalist Awards will recognise excellence in culture, economics & business (NEW), energy & infrastructure (NEW), environment, health & medical, news impact (NEW), photography, press freedom, sports, language general news, Francophone news and also Portuguese news. Details here and the deadline is 30 May.

EABL Foundation scholarships for needy students who have gained admission to Kenya public universities. Deadline is June 6. 

Etisalat Prize 2014 for African literature is now open with a top prize of £15,000 and a fellowship at the University of East Anglia, while winner and shortlisted writers also receive a sponsored two city tour promoting their books. Details here and the deadline is 8 August.

The Golden Baobab Prizes for Literature include awards for a picture Book (targeting readers aged 6 – 8 years), early chapter (targeting readers aged 9 -11) and rising writers (for a young African author under the age of 18 who demonstrates the talent and drive to become the next great African author for children). Details here and the deadline is June 29.

Jalada / @KwaniTrust seek 3 best Afrofuture submissions for a second anthology. Deadline is D/L 15

Japan Government scholarships  in research, teacher training, technology, and specialized training .. via @njathika

Want to be a Jameson brand ambassador? Here’s how to apply (via @uqweli ) oops – deadline also passed.

KCB: The region’s largest bank has ongoing internships, management trainee and management exchange programs. Sourced from @RookieKE blog.
 
Kenya Revenue Authority –  KRA graduate trainee program 2014

The Kenya StartUp Cup is open to all Kenyan youth entrepreneurs who can apply to win Kshs 1 million (~$11,500). Details from the @prepaid_africa blog and the deadline is May 20.

KenyaTop100 seeks successful companies with turnover of Kshs 70 million to Kshs 1 billion (~$12,000)  with 3 years audited accounts to compete and be among @kenyastop100 

Kijabe Forest Trust @KijabeForest  is seeking a new logo design.

Kuona Trust has internship opportunities for students at their offices in Hurlingham, Nairobi. 


The Kwani Trust 2014 fiction workshop seeks to develop new contemporary fiction writers between the ages of 18 and 24 and from outside of Nairobi. To apply, check the website, and send email to submissions_at_kwani.org by May 26.

Orange  has launched the 4th edition of the Orange African Social Venture Prize which will award prizes to four projects; three with grants of 10,000 EUR, 15,000 EUR and 25,000 EUR, and a new special prize of 10,000 EUR. It’s open to all entrepreneurs or legal entities that has been in existence for fewer than three years at the time of the competition and the deadline is 19 September.

Power Africa Off Grid Energy Challenge from @USADF and @GeneralElectric Africa offers up to $100,000 to 100% African owned and African managed firms that seek to power up under-served parts of rural Kenya. Deadline is June 20.  

School of Data: Become a School of Data Fellow as they are currently broadening their efforts to spread data skills around the world, and are seeking people who are data savvy, understand the role of NGO’s, are interested or experienced in working with journalism and/or civil society, or enjoy community-building.  Deadline is 1 June.


Standard Chartered Bank Fast Track Program: The bank is looking for young graduates to join their management trainee program in several African countries, including Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Uganda, and several international locations. Sourced from @RookieKE blog

 
The Stanford University Africa MBA Fellowship Program pays for tuition and associated fees (approximately US $145,000) for citizens of African countries with financial need who wish to obtain an MBA at Stanford GSB. Stanford will award up to eight Stanford Africa MBA Fellowships annually. Details here and the deadline is 13 June.

Strathmore University @StrathU scholarships from @imbankke for 10 needy students pursuing various Finance related degree programmes.

Swedish Institute Management Programme‏ The Swedish Institute is launching a new leadership programme for progressive leaders from Kenya,Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Zambia – offering a combination of theory and practice in the area of responsible leadership and sustainable business.  Details here and the deadline is June 6.

Total Kenya Graduate Management Trainee Program. The company was is looking for young dynamic graduates.  Also sourced from @RookieKE blog but the deadline was 7 May  
The Wall Street Journal @WSJ looking for entrepreneurial reporter to cover the most entrepreneurial of Africa beats–business, from Nairobi. Apply to @pwonacott

Submit your wikimedia proposals to be included at Wiki Indaba 2014 in Johannesburg. Details here and the deadline is 15 May.
The World Bank Young Professionals Program 2014 seeks highly qualified and motivated individuals skilled in areas relevant to the World Bank’s operations such as, economics, finance, education, public health, social sciences, engineering, urban planning, and natural resource management. Details here and the deadline is 30 June.
 
Win a Nokia Lumia 1320: There are very few comments on the blog here despite the number of daily readers, and many of the comments are from spammers promoting products from far off countries. To stimulate comments, I’m giving away a brand new Nokia Lumia 1320 phone (worth about $400/Kshs 35,000) to the person who engages the most on the site. The phone was an excellent, but unexpected, prize awarded to the winner of the best business blog at the recent 2014 Kenya Blog Awards ceremony. During the month of May, readers to the blog and it’s archives, can make as many comments as they want, and I’ll respond on some. 
Rules 
1. There are no rules about winning.
2. It’s about serious comments, not volume – and blog comments only, not tweets/tags
3. This is personal, and the promo has nothing to do with Nokia  or Nokia East Africa.
4. @Coldtusker is excluded 🙁
5. An announcement will be made on June 14, and there may not be a winner  if no one is deemed to be worthy.

Idea Exchange: AppStars, Crowdsourcing, Maker Faire, Manuscripts

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The winners of the 2012 Africa Awards will be announced in October 2012, in Accra, Ghana. 
Also read about the young winners of the Anzisha Prize for young African entrepreneurs between the ages of 16 to 22.
Crowdsourced Journalism Awards for Africa deadline has passed, but it will be interesting to see the outcome of the big picture journalism contest  that had a prize grant a 15,000 Euros to be shared by three winners. The project is backed by Internews Europe and funded by the International Press Institute and – ..the goal is to strengthen African journalists’ capacities through training in the use of crowdsourced journalism techniques which aim to leverage citizen participation and increase the representation of local voices and perspectives through both traditional and new media channels.
Forbes Africa Ad Awards deadline is 14 September.
 
Google  RISE (Roots in Science and Engineering) Awards are now open. They promote and support education initiatives in two key areas: Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) and Computer Science (CS) and will award grants of $5,000 – $25,000 to organizations working with primary and secondary school students in these fields around the world.

Deadline is September 30.
#Kenya365 Instagram Project collects interesting photos on daily life in Kenya. Simply tag your instagram shots from Kenya with #kenya365 and it ends on August 31, 2013.

 The Kenya Film Festivalis a celebration of film in Kenya and the deadline for entries to the seventh edition of the festival is September 17.
 The Kwani? Manuscript Project is a literary prize for African writing and they are seeking unpublished fiction manuscripts from African writers across the continent and in the Diaspora. The top 3 manuscripts will be awarded cash prizes of Kshs 300,000 (~$3,500) for 1st place, and Kshs 150,000 and  Kshs 75,000 for 2nd and 3rd place. Kwani? will also publish the manuscripts and market the authors globally. Deadline is 17 September. 
Kwani? also has a Majuu offer to Kenya’s who live or have been in the diaspora (huko Majuu) and will pay people for photos, party flyers, job applications, tickets, recipes and other mementos of their time in the diaspora. Deadline is September 23
Make Faire Africa apply now to exhibit creative inventions, designs & fabrications at the 2012 edition in Lagos in November.
ONE The 2012 ONE Africa Award has a $100,000 prize that rewards innovation and initiatives in line with the millennium development goals. Deadline is September 23.

Orange African Social Venture is aimed at young entrepreneurs and start-ups across Africa that promote social development through ICT. Three winners will receive prizes of between 10,000 and 25,000 euros and the deadline for applications is September 30 
Safaricom, in conjunction with Vodafone, has the Safaricom Appstar challenge with a grand prize for Kenya of  Kshs 1,000,000 (~$11,800) , and a runner up prize of Kshs 500,000, and will also reward one winner from each of the six categories of games & entertainment, agriculture, health, education, utilities and financial inclusion with a Kshs 100,000 prize. The winner and runner up will also travel to South Africa to take part in the Vodafone round of the challenge, competing against winners from Tanzania, Qatar, Egypt, South Africa, and Lesotho.
The deadline is November 2, and during that time people will be able to build new apps whether in Java, Symbian, Blackberry, or Android, but apps that already appear in other stores are not eligible. Safaricom will also be launching an app store in Kenya next month in developers will own the intellectual property to their apps and there will be a revenue sharing model that favours the developers.

EDIT

Apply for the Amazon Web Services start up challenge in categories of big data & high performance computing, gaming, consumer, and business – with grand prizes of $50,000. Deadline is November 9. 

Green Card:  The US DV-2014 (diversity visa) Program runs from October 2, to November 3, 2012.
 

The 2013  Innovation Prize for Africa – has three prizes totaling $150,000 for African innovations in any of  these categories – Agriculture/agribusiness, 2 Environment/Energy/Water, Health/Wellbeing, ICT and Manufacturing/Service industries. The first prize is $100,000 and $25,000 for the second with an additional special prize for a social impact innovation of $25,000.  Entries close on 31 October 2012.

Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2013. Deadline is 31 October. 
SOMA Kenya Nominations are open for the Kenya Social Media Awards.    

TED Global 2013 is now accepting applications.

The Unreasonable Institute is now accepting applications for the year 2013 and they seeking world-changing entrepreneurs – for who they will help scale their impact through mentorship, funding, and networking opportunities.

Idea Exchange: Global Voices, TED Fellows, Journalist & Travel Opportunities


The  African News Innovation Challenge designed to promote the development of digital media products and innovations is now accepting applications and winners will receive grants from $12,500 to $100,000 for the best projects aimed at strengthening and transforming African news media.  It is Sponsored by the Omidyar Network, Google, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Knight Foundation, U.S. State Department, the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA). More and entries must be submitted online by July 10, 2012.
The Big Picture Digital Journalism Project is an innovative new project that aims to strengthen African journalists’ capacities through training in the use of crowdsourced journalism techniques which aim to leverage citizen participation and increase the representation of local voices and perspectives through both traditional and new media channels. Apply here.
Global Voices Citizen Media Summit  will be in Nairobi on July 2-3, 2012 and a  couple of local blogger are invited to attend for free by  writing a blog post of 500 words or less on the How citizen media can help ensure peaceful elections in Kenya in 2012-13.  More and the deadline is  June 11.
Google Europe, Middle East, and Africa  (EMEA) Travel and Conference grants to encourage women to excel in computing and technology. These can include free registration to selected conferences and up to 1000 euros towards travel costs. More
   
The Prince Claus Fund welcomes project proposals for cultural initiatives in the fields of digital culture and new media. Apply by the Deadline of 17 June 2012 (via @itsbuddhablaze)
Rockefeller Foundation- 2012 Innovation Challenges Competition. Details
  
TED  
  • Apply to be a TED2013 Fellow, opening on  May 28.
  •  Share your idea for the City 2.0 — and  apply  for a $10,000 award to make it happen.
The Thomson Reuters Foundation  is sponsoring a Financial & Economic Reporting traning course in Kampala in June 2012 to help journalists in Africa to strengthen their reporting on financial and economic topics. More  and the application deadline is 31 May 2012 (via @uginsomniac) 
Young Innovators Competition – Your Innovation on a World Stage:  ITU, the leading United Nations Agency for information and communication technology is looking for the next generation of young visionaries for its Young Innovators Competition.  Details here

EDIT – UPDATES

East African media awards (site is down) open to practicing journalists in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda in reporting categories of  higher education, health, agriculture/food security, political, financing, environmental, and business reporting. Deadline is June 22.

Global Film Initiative: Grants of up to $10,000 for feature film projects in all stages of production.  More  and the deadline is July 16.
 
Hivos and VC4Africa:  Have a incubator award for 2012 with a top prize of $15,000 for the chosen  entrepreneur. 
 
Kwani? Trust:  The Kwani? Manuscript Project is a literary prize for unpublished fiction manuscripts from African writers across the continent and in the Diaspora with a top prize of  $3,500. More and the deadline is 20 August. 
 
Orange: The Orange African Social Venture Prize is meant to promote social ICT innovation with three prizes of ~$12,500.  More and the deadline is September 21.

Qatar Airways: Upload inspiring pictures and win return trip tickets as prizes. Deadline is June 30.

Foreign Correspondents in Africa

– “We went into the heart of Africa self-invited — therein lies our fault.” (Henry Morton Stanley)
– How to write about Africa (Binyavanga Wainaina)

The 2008 Kwani Lit Fest kicked off on Wednesday night with a talk on How foreign correspondents have formed the literary image of Africa with a panel consisting of Steve Bloomfield (The Independent/Monocle), Binyavanga Wainana (Kwani), Jonathan Ledgard (The Economist) and Mary Anne Fitzgerald (London Times)

excerpts

For
– Foreign correspondents write for a foreign audience
– African newspapers who can (Daily Nation, Mail & Guardian) don’t use local correspondents. They pay Reuters to cover other African countries yet local expertise is plenty
– While it’s not appropriate for a news organization to have one person cover the entire continent called Africa, there is only room for two stories a week from Africa in many organizations. And they are often about misery
– Kenyans are as ignorant about Somalia as Americans
– Africa is still the place where young journalists are sent to the vast continent to cut their teeth in journalism. It is where many careers are made
– African countries should not be treated with kid gloves, and foreign reporters should not shy away from writing about the ills of Africa in the interest of positivity or pan Africanism. E.g. Kenya went through a violent period this year and it was a much more advanced society than Yugoslavia a decade ago

Against
– Many Africans grew up with images of the rest of Africa shaped by foreign correspondents and authors. These images are not necessarily the true Africa
– Foreign correspondents inhabit and write about a world alien to most Africans – so how can they write about Africa? They are not encouraged to deviate from the formula
– East Africa was romanticized by the pioneers of foreign journalism and Hollywood. The history of West Africa which was more complex (slavery, trade) and is still not widely understood or covered by the foreign press.
– Unfortunately, foreign correspondents sometimes become the story e.g. I couldn’t leave my house because of the genocide outside.

Even

On Keith Richburg and his controversial book Out of Africa: For black American correspondents there are advantages (sense of community) and disadvantages (danger as you may resemble one warring tribe) to working in Africa.