Category Archives: tedglobal

TED Idea Search, Nairobi, February 2017

TED Global is returning to Arusha in August 2017 (August 27-30), ten years after initial African TED Global. They were seeking new speakers, so last Wednesday, TED held auditions in Nairobi. After the TED team put up a call, 200 applied and 20 were selected to speak at an audition, before an audience in Nairobi.

(Pic by Africa Knows)

Some of the fascinating new speakers included fresh talks from a diverse group including   storytellers using photography and podcasts, using robotics, stem cells, and mining techniques to rebuild human bodies, and conservation specialists who advocated new ways to create new interest in insects, birds and mammals, such as by getting people to track elephants instead of Pokemon.

Others talks were on facilitating the rise of African development through improving the business climate, anticipating & mitigating urban architecture problems that will come from rapid African urbanization, and using blockchain to tackle land corruption.  Some of the talks will get on the TED online platform and some speakers will be invited to present at TED Global in Arusha.

(Pic from Africa Knows)

The last time they had auditions in Nairobi they discovered young schoolboy Richard Turere who is considered the inventor of the lion light.

TED Global also has a fellows program which is open to enable others to attend at Arusha at reduced prices or even free if they are worthy but genuinely can’t afford to pay the attendance cost. The deadline for applications is February 17.

Idea Exchange: Agri, Bellagio, GSMA, Stanford

New, and ongoing, opportunities to apply for, including..

EDIT Chivas Regal announced  the first Kenyan edition of Chivas, The Venture, a  $1 million global search to find and support the next generation of social enterprise start-ups. 32 countries across 6 continents are taking part and only the most promising from each country will be selected as a global finalist. It is open to any for-profit-start-up that creates both financial value and a positive impact on the lives of others. Deadline for Kenyan social entrepreneurs to make submission is 30th November 2016. Kenya’s very own WEFARM, a farming information platform came 2nd at last year’s finals, securing $200,000 for their social enterprise.

EDIT Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa Executive Training Program: Intake 4 is now open. This prestigious program has been developed for mid-career journalists, financial professionals with an interest in financial journalism; government professionals responsible for public policy, communications and finance portfolios; and development practitioners and civil society professionals with an interest in African development and financial and economic data. The program value is $22, 000 USD, but Bloomberg Philanthropies with support from the Ford Foundation are generously funding each successful candidate on a scholarship basis. Scholarships include tuition, class materials, lunch and refreshments. The deadline for initial applications is 25 November 2016. Applications will be reviewed and places awarded on a first come first served basis. The BMIA Executive Training Program will begin in January 2017 and will be offered in Johannesburg, Lagos and Nairobi.

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EDIT Stanford SEED, which enables East Africa business owners to lead their regions to greater prosperity. The Seed Transformation is a comprehensive year-long program that includes six months of immersive general-management training in Nairobi, Kenya, led by Stanford GSB faculty and supported by trained local facilitators. It is targeted at founders and senior leaders of for-profit companies who want to grow and scale their companies. Deadline 31 October.

Vote in the OLX Social Media Awards  up to September 22.

TED Fellow: Apply to the TED Fellows program, that aims to find a new class of extraordinary thinkers and doers who are aged 21 to 40. The next cycle is from October 4 to November 13.

 EDIT Also  TEDGlobal is returning to Africa at Arusha in August 2017.

YALI Regional Leadership Center East Africa (RLC EA) is merit-based and open to young East African leaders.

EDIT  The Africa Region of the World Bank Group (WBG) is relaunching its fellowship program for Ph.D. students who are Sub-Saharan nationals. The program will increase the diverse workforce that is a priority for the Bank and its clients.

EDIT AIA, one of the world’s largest insurers, has created the AIA Blockchain Challenge, a virtual challenge that concludes with the chance to secure a pilot contract and a sizeable development grant of up to US$50,000.. (in) claims process, customer information and regulation, risk management & treasury efficiency, digital health..Applicable top entries will receive paid pilot opportunities. Submission deadline is November 20 (source)

EDIT  Apply for a 2017 Mandela Washington Fellowship, as the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) is looking for 1,000 African leaders! Applications closes on 26 October. (source)

EDIT Recruiting AkiraChix class of 2017:  Every year for the last 5 years, AkiraChix has the pleasure of welcoming a group of young, hopeful, young girls from all over Kenya for our one-year training program. This program has continued to be offered at no cost to the students with classes in Web Design, Mobile application design, Graphic Design, Hardware design, Life Skills just to mention a few. If you or someone you know is interested in joining next years class please apply

EDIT Apply to join the next MasterCard Start Path Global – #StartPath program.  MasterCard partners with startups from around the world to help scale their businesses. The program enables companies to gain access to MasterCard’s global ecosystem and to break new markets through relationships with MasterCard and our customers. Some key features include: 6 month virtual program (take part from your home location),  2 immersion weeks at different cities and  no upfront equity in exchange for participation. Deadline is October 11.

EDIT  The Chezo Game Jam Competition is here. Chezo Gaming is an initiative to support the creation of games to address local challenges. The competition will take place from the 30th of September 2015 to the 2nd of October 2016. Winning teams (3) will receive a cash award of € 2,000 (US$2,200) and additional mentorship for up-to 3 months. Find out more here.

EDIT  The 5th edition of the  Pillars of Africa celebrates the extra-ordinary achievements of the young people of Africa, and is open for nominations in entrepreneur,  humanitarian, arts & clulture, business icon and sports categories, up to  October 28  (via @pillarsofafrica on twitter; or Facebook page Pillars of Africa).

EDIT The African Leaders of Tomorrow (ALT) Scholarship Program commemorates the late Nelson Mandela’s commitment to social justice and equity. It supports young African professionals to become leaders in public policy and administration. The ALT Scholarship Program grants full scholarships based on merit to women and men from sub-Saharan Africa to pursue a Master’s degree in public administration, public policy or public finances in Canada. Application deadline is October 14 2016

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Adansonia, a unique pan-African opportunity, gives one the tools to be part of a wide network of similarly minded ambitious entrepreneurs from Ghana to Uganda, from Nigeria to South Africa or Kenya through an intense one-week course by  Bocconi Business School, and  international pitching event.

Africa Business Fellowship places talented American professionals within leading African companies for a minimum of 3 and up to 6 months. Through this joint partnership, Econet (founded and led by Strive Masiyiwa, and also the Fellowship’s benefactor), Africa Leadership Network and MLT will offer this unparalleled opportunity for American professionals to gain invaluable insight and hands-on experience in African businesses. Apply by November 1.

Appsafrica Innovation Awards recognise innovation and excellence in African mobile and tech. Supported by Mobile Monday, the Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF), Uber and the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) winners will be announced at the awards party on November 14th, 2016 in Cape Town. Entries will be charged $60 per category that is entered. Start-ups who are less than 12 months old will not be charged subject to approval and can contact us for a discount code. Deadline is September 20.

creative

Africa Tech Challenge has 15 teams from Technical Vocational Education and Training institutions (TVETs) in Kenya, Zambia, Ghana and Uganda competing for Ksh 200,000 ($2,000)  as well as full scholarships to study for their Masters’ in top engineering universities in China. AVIC says the Africa Tech Challenge has armed over 290 students with technical skills.

At the AGRF 2016 in Nairobi in September 2016, commitments were made to fund African agriculture with $30 billion, including $24 billion from the African Development Bank, $5 billion from the Gates Foundation and $3 billion from the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

Advance Africa has several opportunities including British Chevening scholarships for international students to study in UK.

Government of Kenya scholarships to study in the UK, China, India, Mexico, Brazil, Russia, Oman, Hungary, Cuba, Slovakia, Egypt, Korea, Morocco, Ireland etc.

GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator Innovation Fund is now open for applications from start-ups in Africa and selected Asian countries, offering funding: grants of between  £100,000 and  £ 250,000. Applicants must provide a matching of at least 50% of the amount of funding requested Deadline is 18 September.

Heva Fund: HEVA is ready to receiving applications for its investment cycle,  investing between KES 100,000 and 1,000,000 to help creatives grow their businesses.

Advance Africa has several opportunities including Mo Ibrahim Foundation fellowships for young Africans.

Apply to Pitch AgriHack to win investment for your e-agriculture start-up! The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA), in collaboration with the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the support of partners including the Centre for Agricultural Bioscience International (CABI) and m:lab East Africa, is launching the pilot edition of Pitch AgriHack, a new component of its AgriHack Talent Programme. The entrepreneurs should be owners of an already developed e-agriculture/ICT4Ag application or platform. Two categories are available: Early stage platform and Advanced platform. Winning teams will receive a cash prize of up to €15,000, as well as promotional support, additional capacity building and networking opportunities. For More.

Rockefeller – Africa Centre,  Artists In Residence (Bellagio) program is seeking applications from high calibre African artists, in different stages of their career development (from emerging to late career), who are provocative, innovative, and are stretching the boundaries of their artistic practice. The residencies are available to composers, fiction and non-fiction writers, playwrights, poets, video/filmmakers, curators, visual and performance artists. Application deadline is September 30.

$1 = KES 101, £1=133, €=113

What other opportunities are out there? Share in the comments section

Idea Exchange: African Business, Bellagio, County tech, Kenya blog, TED Global

New, and ongoing, opportunities to apply for, including..

The African Media Initiative (AMI)  African Story Challenge  provides grants to support African business reporting and is inviting applications from individual journalists and newsrooms with unique story ideas or projects on business and technology that can only be produced with substantial support. The top twenty multimedia projects that show the best potential for adopting innovative storytelling techniques using data journalism tools, will be shortlisted for the final prize and will be awarded grants of up to $20,000 to produce them for broadcast and publication.

The All Africa Business Leaders Awards [AABLA] awards invite nominees in four categories, business leader of the year, business woman of the year, entrepreneur of the year and the young business leader of the year who through their vision, leadership and commitment make significant contributions, financial impact and/or a considerable differences through their assistance given to the work of voluntary organisations, communities, causes or society.  Deadline is 23 May.

Commonwealth Scholarships The Commonwealth Scholarship Commission has 
scholarships for candidates from developing African and South Asian Commonwealth countries to study for the part-time Masters degrees in International Human Rights Law from September 2014. Deadline is 23 April.

Nominations are now open for the 2014 Kenya Banking Awards by Think Business and categories include best bank in East Africa, and awards for product innovation, mortgage finance, SME, product, agency banking, internet, mobile, customer satisfaction, asset finance, best recovery, fastest growing, CEO, lifetime achievement, among others. 
Vote for the short-listed Kenya Blog Award finalists for the year 2014. This blog is nominated under the best business blog and there are other categories for best blogs in technology, photography, creative writing, food, environmental / agricultural, fashion/beauty, politics, corporate blog, topical blog, sports, entertainment/lifestyle, travel, health, county blog, best new blog and Kenyan Blog of the Year.

Kenya ICT Innovation Awards 2014 celebrate Kenyan companies and organizations that are using ICT in new and interesting ways. Categories this year include agriculture, BPO, education & training, environmental management, financial services, gender youth & vulnerable groups, healthcare delivery, housing & urbanization, manufacturing, social equity & poverty reduction, tourism, water & sanitation, wholesale & retail trade and finally county government issues. The deadline to apply is March 31.

Pivot East The 2014 edition of the most prestigious East African mobile start-up competition is back, and yhis years conference will be held on 24th – 25th June in Nairobi, Kenya. Apply in 5 categories of mobile finance, mobile enterprise, mobile entertainment, mobile society and mobile utility by 11 April. 

The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio residency program offers academics from universities or think tank-based academics or scientists a serene setting conducive to focused, goal-oriented work, and the unparalleled opportunity to establish new connections with fellow residents from a stimulating array of disciplines and geographies. Fiction and non-fiction writers should apply through a separate Arts & Literary Arts Residency competition, and the Foundation does have a limited travel assistance program, based on income level of invited residents. Deadline is May 1.

The Royal Academy of Engineering Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation aims  to reward entrepreneurship and innovation in Africa in disciplines from mechanical, civil and computing to biomedical, oil and gas, mining and electronic engineering.  Every shortlisted entrant will receive six months of extensive mentoring, training and support in commercialising their innovation, as part of the Academy’s commitment to international development. Thereafter, finalists will be invited to present their innovation and a winner will be selected to receive £25,000. The deadline for entries is 30 May.
TED Fellowship. The TED Fellows program is looking for people who have “demonstrated remarkable accomplishment.” Normally, there are two admission cycles per year: one for TED and one for TEDGlobal with 20 Fellowships to each conference. Deadline  is April 18, 2014. 

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Golden Baobab Prizes for Literature are an annual Pan-African award series that recognize and celebrate excellence in stories targeting African children. Deadline is June 29.

The Business Daily Top40Under40 Women series is now open for 2014. Download entry forms from the Business Daily website and submit nominations via email. 

What other opportunities are out there? Share in the comments section

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.

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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.