Stories from and

Why the Start-Up Pitch in Zimbabwe Is a ‘Waste of Time’

  15 September 2015

Chief K.Masimba Biriwasha, a communications officer for HIVOS (full disclosure: HIVOS is one of Global Voices’ sponsors) explains why Zimbabwe must ditch the start-up pitch: The start-up pitch, which involves making a rapid fire presentation of an idea followed by a question and answer session involving selected judges, is increasingly a...

Meet Sam Wakoba of TechMoran Blog

  14 August 2015

Bloggers Association of Kenya profiles Sam Wakoba who runs Techmoran blog. Techmoran won the award for the Best Technology Blog in Kenya this year: We caught up with Sam to get some insights into his blogging journey. Who is Sam Wakoba, in a few words? Sam Wakoba is a humble...

Zambian Businessman’s Lawyers Petition GoDaddy To Pull Down News Site

  7 August 2015

Zambian citizen media website Zambia Reports is facing legal threats from a local businessman, Rajan Mahtani, is petitioning GoDaddy, the website’s hosting company, to kick Zambia Reports off of its servers. According to the Zambian Watchdog, a rival website, Zambia Reports has been accused of publishing defamatory articles on Dr. Mahtani, who is the founder...

Scroll Through Madagascar History Via Vintage Photographs

  27 July 2015

Access to the visual history of most former colonial countries in Africa is usually a challenging proposition because former colonial powers restrict access to historical archives. Helihanta RAJAONARISON and Tsiry Fy-Tia SOLOFOMIHANTA in Madagascar sought to solve this issue and make the history of Madagascar more palatable to the general...

African Startups Win FinTech for Agriculture 2015 Competition

  7 July 2015

Two African startups have emerged winners of a regional competition organised by Village Capital: Village Capital today announced the first winners of its innovative program, East Africa: FinTech for Agriculture 2015. The program supports entrepreneurs in making financial services more affordable and accessible for smallholder farmers and other underbanked individuals...

Here is Why Nairobi is Africa's Most Successful ICT Hub

  7 July 2015

Elvans Kidero explains the secrets behind Nairobi's success in ICT sector in Africa: Where is Africa’s ICT hub? Is it South Africa, Nigeria or Nairobi, the capital of Kenya? By growth, it would have to be Nairobi, with my county’s ICT sector expected to grow by 15 per cent this...

53 Echoes of Zaire: Popular Painting From Lubumbashi

  6 July 2015

Liese Van Der Watt, a South African art writer based in London, writes about 53 Echoes of Zaire, exhibition of popular painting from Zaire that is going on in London: The exhibition was curated by Salimata Diop from the Africa Centre in London in cooperation with the Sulger-Buel Lovell gallery....

Documentary ‘Too Black To Be French’ Wants to Start an Honest Conversation on Race in France

  2 July 2015

“Too Black to Be French” is a documentary made by Isabelle Boni-Claverie, a French-Ivorian writer and filmmaker. Boni-Claverie's goal is to provide unexplored ideas and start a conversation on French society's inequalities and discrimination. The documentary includes commentary and analyses from renowned Francophone thinkers such as Eric Fassin, Pap Ndiaye, Achille Mbembe, Patrick...

Storipot: A News Aggregator for Ugandan Blogs

  30 June 2015

Keep up to date with news and conversations on Ugandan blogosphere through Storipot, a news aggregator created by Dignited: Storipot is a News aggregator that provides you with headlines of the latest stories (“Feeds”) curated from websites and blogs by or about Uganda. Storipot helps you filter through the noise...

How a Young Kenyan Doctor Fell in Love With Medicine

  30 June 2015

Dr. Claire Kinuthia, a Kenyan doctor and blogger, writes about how she fell in love with medicine: How it all began. Medicine found me when I was about 6 or 7 years old. I have a particularly vivid memory of hearing my dad get up in the middle of the...

Kenyan Blogger Defamation Case Highlights the Need for Education

  30 June 2015

Shitemi Khamadi argues that a case where a telecommunication provider, Safaricom, has sued a Kenyan blogger Cyprian Nyakundi for defamation highlights the need for education on the law and Internet in Kenya: The Bloggers Association of Kenya (BAKE) in whose mandate is to promote online local content has been running...

Introducing Swaziland’s Most Prominent Poetry Movement

  21 June 2015

Sabelo Mkhabela blogs about Swaziland's growing poetry movement: Swazi poet and visionary Themba Mavuso speaks with a humble, unrehearsed tone. He looks nothing like a poet – his hair is neatly combed and he spots a corporate office-ready white shirt and black chinos. Adding street to his attire is a...

Candlelight Vigil for the 23 Victims of Boko Haram Suicide Bombings in Chad

  16 June 2015

Two suicide bombings killed at least 23 people Monday (June 15) in Chad's capital N'djamena. Chad government stated that four attackers belonged to extremist group Boko Haram and were killed by the blast which targeted police. More than 100 people were also injured in the incidents. Chad has committed his...

Will Topless Women Save Kenya's Tourism Industry?

  13 June 2015

Is going topless an effective strategy for reviving the Kenyan tourism industry following attacks from militant group Al Shabaab?: Nominated Senator, Mbura allegedly asked women in the coastal region to go topless so that more tourists can visit the region. This has raised questions as to what the value of...

Trials of Being an African Musician in New York

  4 June 2015

Osekre, the leader of New York based Afro-punk band Osekre and The Lucky Bastards, reveals the trials and tribulations of being an African musician in New York: I wish I received a heads up by friends in the real world about the reality of being a musician in New York City....

On Assisted Dying Ruling By a South African Court

  4 June 2015

Professor Pierre de Vos weighs in on the debate about assisted dying in South Africa after a South African High Court ruled that a dying person is entitled to be assisted by a qualified medical doctor to end his or her life: It is important to note that the ruling...

Second Most Spoken Languages in Africa

  20 May 2015

Don Osborne discusses a news feature on the Olivet Nazarene University website showing a map of “The Second Most Spoken Languages Around the World.” He points out key problems from the map: The first issue is assuming that “The most spoken language in any country is often obvious; usually, it’s...