African Tech Roundup

This is the second episode of the African Creative Business, Today (ACBT) capsule mini-series, which explores in-trench personal and professional realities at the intersection of creativity, business, and technological change. In this podcast, Nigerian visual artist Ayanfe Olarinde talks about how her art journey emanated from personal scribbles grappling with imperfection and a quest for acceptance. In her art, Ayanfe exploits several mediums, including ink, paint, wire, and discarded objects. Her scribbles, doodles, sculptures, paintings, digital art, upcycled artworks explore a broad range of social issues and matters of self-exploration. Her work has evolved to include photography and mixed media collages. More recently, she's started leaning into the global NFT art trend, which has helped grow her already impressive international profile. Ayanfe's career highlights include being nominated for the Future Awards Prize for Arts in 2019, exhibiting solo at the 25th Bamako Encounters exhibition, being part of group exhibitions at SMO Contemporary Arts at the Wheatbaker, Retro Africa, AAF Lagos, Rele Gallery, Moeshen Art Gallery and Thoughts Pyramid, and having her work featured by Vogue, Konbini, RADR Africa, Reuters, CNN, NowThis News, Euro News, MSN among other outlets. Editorial Disclaimer: African Creative Business, Today (ACBT) is a collaboration between African Tech Roundup and Ahmed Amine Azouzi's media production imprint, Qlam. This project's inaugural four-part capsule series is kindly supported by the BMW Foundation and the Segal Family Foundation. SUPPORT US: Support African Tech Roundup's independent media-making efforts by becoming a Patreon ( https://www.africantechroundup.com/patreon/).

Mwihaki Mundia gives a perspective of how brachiaria grass is exceptionally suited for the Sub-Saharan African livestock farmers especially looking at what climate and soil type does it thrive in. She further weighs in on the dynamic “rivalry” with fodder options such as the popular Napier and Brachiaria grass. On this instalment, Mwihaki Mundia argues that Brachiaria grass is well-suited for Sub-Saharan African livestock farming and unpacks which climates and soil types are best suited to grow the indigenous fodder. Mwihaki Mundia is a Communications Specialist currently working at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) Nairobi where she advocates for different technologies that improve smallholder farmers’ livelihoods in the Africa region. HAVE YOUR SAY: Click on the UNAJUA tab at AfricanTechRoundup.com (www.africantechroundup.com/unajua/) and leave us a 60-second voice note with your reaction to this episode. (We will include some of your audio takes in future follow-up episodes.) PROMO: African Tech Roundup has partnered with Socialstack to launch the $ATRU social token on the Celo blockchain. Listen in to hear African Tech Roundup Co-founder Andile Masuku and Socialstack Co-founder and CEO Andrew Berkowitz unpack the rationale underpinning the token (https://www.africantechroundup.com/unpacking-the-atru-token-part-1/) SUPPORT US: Support our independent media-making efforts by becoming a Patreon. (https://www.africantechroundup.com/patreon/) Image credit: Clara Beukes https://unsplash.com/@clarabeukes

This UNAJUA Series - presented by Kenyan die-hard environment advocate and comms pro, Mwihaki Mundia - offers a minimum actionable response to the question: "Could the adoption of Brachiaria grass be a game-changer for livestock farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa?" As part of her Communications Specialist role at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) Nairobi, Mwihaki distils expert research into technologies that improve smallholder farmers' livelihoods in Sub-Saharan Africa. Her advocacy work helps farmers utilise limited space to grow crops and rear animals for sustenance. In this episode, Mwihaki outlines the state of play in Sub-Saharan African subsistence farming and explains why she and the research scientists at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) Nairobi are bullish about the climate change-resistant potential of indigenous brachiaria grass. *pun intended* HAVE YOUR SAY: Click on the UNAJUA tab at AfricanTechRoundup.com (www.africantechroundup.com/unajua/) and leave us a 60-second voice note with your reaction to this episode. (We will include some of your audio takes in future follow-up episodes.) PROMO: African Tech Roundup has partnered with Socialstack to launch the $ATRU social token on the Celo blockchain. Listen in to hear African Tech Roundup Co-founder Andile Masuku and Socialstack Co-founder and CEO Andrew Berkowitz unpack the rationale underpinning the token (www.africantechroundup.com/unpacking-t...ken-part-1/). In case you missed it, check out the press release (www.africantechroundup.com/atru-token/) SUPPORT US: Back our independent media-making efforts by becoming a Patreon (www.africantechroundup.com/patreon/). Image credit: Gio's Studio

This is the third and final instalment of our three-part Web3-themed UNAJUA series featuring Kenyan blockchain enthusiast, data wrangler and entrepreneur Michael Kimani. On this podcast, Michael will draw on his live industry experience to offer examples of Web3 plays in Africa worth keeping an eye on, and he'll hint at trends in the space that he's backing with his own time, effort and money. Michael is a Kenyan blockchain enthusiast, data wrangler and entrepreneur based in Nairobi. Michael has advised numerous Africa-focused blockchain projects and is currently co-founder at airtime digital money marketplace, Fonbnk, where he spearheads growth for African markets. Editorial Disclaimer: While this UNAJUA Series is kindly supported by the Celo Community Fund, African Tech Roundup maintains complete editorial oversight. Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the African Tech Roundup or the presenting sponsor, Celo Community Fund.

This is the first episode of a three-part UNAJUA Series dealing with investing in African blockchain tech. And we're stoked because it's the first to feature two voices. The first voice you'll hear is that of Hope Ditlhakanyane. Hope is a venture capital pro helping African tech founders land the resources and support they need to build and scale their startups. Hope is particularly committed to backing woman founders, and to that end, she's an active woman-focussed angel investor. She currently serves as Head of Venture Sourcing at the Pan-African investor, venture builder and accelerator company, Founders Factory Africa. Joining Hope on the mic is her work colleague and friend, Nzwisisa Chidembo. Nzwi is the Head of Engineering at Founders Factory Africa, and over the last few years, he's helped build and scale numerous tech-enabled ventures across the continent. He's also an entrepreneur with more than 15 years of experience across various industries such as telecoms, e-commerce, biotechnology, retail and, more recently, blockchain tech. In their respective roles at Founders Factory Africa, Hope and Nzwi have recently collaborated to facilitate VC investment in two promising African blockchain tech startups. Nzwi was an early adopter of Bitcoin and other blockchain applications on the private investment side of things. He now has a growing personal portfolio of blockchain investments. Meanwhile, Hope is a confessed late-joiner to the space both as a private and corporate investor. But, she's keenly making up for the lost time by finessing smart blockchain investments in her personal capacity while refining her playbook for backing the space as an institutional VC. In this episode, Hope and Nzwi reflect on how Africa's VC industry currently frames blockchain tech as a viable investment opportunity. OP-ED: Taking art onto a global stage through digital technology by Andile Masuku for Business Report - IOL News (https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/entrepreneurs/taking-art-onto-a-global-stage-through-digital-technology-41dcb280-a61a-4b77-a6b9-53e65c367a1c) EDITORIAL DISCLAIMER: While the Celo Community Fund supports this UNAJUA Series, African Tech Roundup maintains complete editorial oversight. Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of the African Tech Roundup or the presenting sponsor, Celo Community Fund. SUPPORT US: Value our work? Then, join our Patreon Community (www.africantechroundup.com/patreon/) and help the African Tech Roundup platform remain single-mindedly focused on serving Africa's tech and innovation ecosystem with robust independent insight and learning content.