The Vim Views & Versions - Blogs of a MIghTy African

Wow, so this is going to be the 5th +Barcamp Kumasi ! I missed the first one though in 2010, when +Nana Kwabena Owusu   +Teresa Lemaire   +Kwamena Appiah-Kubi   +Kofi Ulzen-Appiah   +Carl Nutsugah  and co were premiering it. We've come far. It's sad Eli Aidam won't be here with us for this event - the Ho & Volta region champion I've known - he passed away earlier this year in Kumasi. We'll have a minute of silence for him. He's a hero, like the many others we'll be celebrating this Saturday at +Barcamp Kumasi . Register and join us for Barcamp Kumasi at the College of Science Auditorium at KNUST on November 1st. This follows two Kumasi Konnect events. The organizing team behind that +kofi yeboah   +priscilla sarfo-frimpong   +Rasheeda Yehuza   +Prince Boadu   +joseph osei  have been joined the ringleader +sampson deklu   +Watson Bedzrah  and co. Kumasi is buzzing as a result of many +GhanaThink Foundation  led i...

The time has come to host my profile somewhere on the web. There's no better place to start than here. :-) Profile of Ato Ulzen-Appiah Ato Ulzen-Appiah is a consultant, (social) entrepreneur, manager, social media champion and blogger . He hails from Elmina, grew up in Kumasi and lives in Accra . A notable alumni of Presec , he studied at MIT for his Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering and had his Master's degree at Stanford in construction and engineering management.  He's the director at the  GhanaThink Foundation which mobilizes and organizes talent for the primary benefit of Ghana . GhanaThink, since its inception, has given birth to Kasahorow and Museke . It currently runs the Barcamp Ghana program (111 events since 2008) from which the Junior Camp Ghana program was created (40 events since 2013). Through GhanaThink, he also initiated National Volunteer Day in 2013, which is now part of the Ghana Volunteer Program . He also led the training o...

Barcamp Ho is always epic! This year, we celebrate the living memory of the biggest Ho & Volta region champion I've known - the late Eli Aidam. He was a strong coordinator for Barcamp Ho and the centre aorund which many other great initiatives in the Volta region revolved. The 4th Barcamp in Ho is happening this Saturday, in a new location. The University of Health & Allied Sciences. This is one of the freshest public universities in Ghana and the +GhanaThink Foundation  is happy to host +Barcamp Ho  there as it grows. This will be our 37th +Barcamp Ghana  event we grow a network of changemakers, doers and entrepreneurs. The team has grown and is ably led by +Courage Christson Tetteh .  +Gameli Adzaho  is back in Ghana after his Masters in the UK and contributing a lot. +Ousman Saidy  who is a community IT leader in Ho is part of the team, alongside +Elvis Bomasah  who is shining in his online role. +Shika Brown  was a volunteer last...

The first time I heard about the LifeBuoy Global Handwashing Day was through +Vanessa Kavi , a +Unilever  employee contacted me about getting volunteers. We were neck deep in planning the second edition of the yearly National Volunteer Day . Unilever was interested in supporting and wanted the +Ghana Volunteer Program to help them meet a goal. Connecting volunteers to volunteer activities is GVP’s mandate so this partnership was set. A couple of weeks later, on October 15th to be precise, on Global Handwashing Day , over 233 Ghanaians will be contributing their time and effort to help a child reach 5 . Kudos to +Felix Nartey   +Ela Asare   +Gerald Sowah   +William Osilaja Boampong   +Enock Seth Nyamador  and +krystabel vorsah  for leading this charge. A couple of people have successfully made me feel guilty every time I visit the loo to do the do and leave it without washing my hands. It’s become second nature for me to wash my hands as oft...

“ Barcamp Bolga is happening because a number of people attended Barcamps around Ghana and want Bolgatanga to be a part of building this network”. People like +Frank Bruce  has been asking to be part of the team that organizes this event since last year. +Barcamp Tema  team member +Leonard Hagan  moved to the Upper East region for his national service and has grown into handling more responsibility with the +Barcamp Ghana  team. He's really spearheading this due to his drive and knowledge of the area. +Enoch Robot Boy Appiah Junior  attended UDS in Navrongo and has supported this from day one. +Joachim Danbo  has great passion for the Northern parts of Ghana and he brought on +Yussuf Bouda  into the team. Once the ball was rolling, +Jon Mydaz  & +Daniel Yakuba  joined after attending +Barcamp Tamale  this year. A few more calls for team members brought us Razak Dimbie. Unfortunately, there is no lady in the team. Bu...

This weekend I will be in Koforidua for the 2nd +Barcamp Koforidua . It took us a while to build this team. It started with the lone ranger +Nkansah Rexford  who I knew as the main brain behind  +Planning Wikimedia Ghana  who was joined by  +Samuel Tinagyei  while leveraging Facebook.  +Billy James Dega  supported us by introducing us to the  +All Nations University College  NSBE leaders.  +Eric Amonoo  and  +Samuel Mari Twum  emerged out of that. While we were promoting the National Volunteer Day on Facebook,  +duncan qwame  and later  +Jemima Abochie  joined us, repping  +koforidua polytechnic . This year, another mighty lady has joined the team,  +Selorm Djaba . Last year, we focused on growing a community of change makers, This year, we focus on helping people engage their passions and monetize their opportunities. A side note for me, I'll be trying to find out in Koftown proper what the ...