The Vim Views & Versions - Blogs of a MIghTy African

I sit in my father's home office in Kumasi as I type this blog post. +Barcamp Kasoa  is tomorrow morning. I won't be there. I'll be in Kumasi like I was today for my sister +Stacey Mensah 's engagement. She gets married tomorrow and aside collecting 'akonta sekan' amongst other things, I have to emcee the reception. Just like I did for Tracey Mensah's wedding which fell on the same day as Barcamp Ashesi . I trust the  +Barcamp Kasoa  organizing team, ably supported by the  +Barcamp Ghana  team, to hold a successful Barcamp tomorrow. This will be our 41st Barcamp, after  +Barcamp Sunyani  last weekend, which was the 40th. Go,  +GhanaThink Foundation , go! Barcamp Kasoa was born out of the initiative of  +Elorm Billy-Awittor  &  +Mawuli Tsikata  who wanted to bring the Barcamp goodness to Kasoa. The first event faced a number of challenges, including the serious thought of considering having it at Methodist University Coll...

I first learnt about Jumia via a billboard in Lagos (on the main bridge connecting the island and the mainlands) sometime in 2013. I was in Las Gidi working with external and internal clients for Rancard. Given what we know about putting billboards and their costs, I was giddy about seeing these - for an ecommerce website nonetheless. I later found out it was a ‘popular’ website for Nigerians to buy items online. Amazon for Nigeria . This month, still Africa’s leading online retailer, Jumia , launched in Ghana. Ghana is the latest African country Jumia is operating in. Akwaaba, Jumia . Jumia first launched in 2012 and has already successfully brought e-commerce to Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Morocco, Kenya, Uganda and Cameroon . If you know more about Jumia, you know it’s actually managed by Rocket Internet , one of the most aggressive tech companies worldwide. With German type efficiency and American type aggression and African type resourcefulness, Jumia is growing...

Next year, the +GhanaThink Foundation  will break the buck of having +Barcamp Takoradi  only in even years - 2010, 2012, 2014. This year's Barcamp Takoradi will focus on building a neworked community which can be leveraged for more special things to happen in the Twin-Cities of Ghana. Let's welcome the 3rd Barcamp in Takoradi (arguably the 3rd biggest city in Ghana). I missed the first one though in 2010, when +Mac-Jordan Degadjor  led a team alongside +Donald Ward   +Teresa Lemaire   +Kwamena Appiah-Kubi  and co to organize it. The event was held at the Takoradi Technical Institute. Saturday's Barcamp Takoradi will be at +Takoradi Polytechic  just like in 2012, but in a different venue. Barcamp Takoradi 2010 was the first Barcamp +Kobe Subramaniam  attended. Today, he's part of the +Barcamp Ghana  team alongside +kofi yeboah , +Senam Aseye Bridget   +Rachel Hormeku  and Takoradi native +Leonard Hagan . +Nana Fynn Class-Pe...

Have an app you've developed that you want more people to know about? Want to win GHC10,000 to support monetizing your app and work? Want to pit yourself against developers from other countries? Want to have your app highlighted and featured in an appstore to be accessed by millions of users? Then participate in the Vodafone Ghana App Star Contest. Deadline is November 21, 2014 ! It's a mobile app competition to uncover creative and innovative app developers in Ghana and to offer them an opportunity to compete internationally with other developers. Let me save you the fine print details.  Rights to your app remain with you, and you can have your app marketed to millions of Vodafone users. Imagine what getting a 1% conversion on that would mean for your efforts? The AppStar competition is the latest signal of intent by +Vodafone Ghana  to engage the tech community further. They've already organized meetups in various communities in Ghana (including t...

Sometime at the end of September, #appstargh was trending in Ghana on Twitter. Many got curious. We wouldn't have gotten to this point if Ghanaians hadn't applied their creativity. Recent times have shown that Ghanaians are comedians and will make fun of many things. In fact, you could say Ghanaians are jokers - in positive and negative ways. There was one huge beneficiary either you looked at this particular issue - AppStar GH . Turned out it's about Vodafone's App Star mobile app competition . Now, this competition is not a joke. It has some great incentives tied to it in unearthing more great Ghanaian built mobile applications. But before we delve further, you'll want to read these tweets An app to detect False Prophets Appostle #AppStarGH — SKU Boye (@skuboye) September 26, 2014 An app that shows Ghana's physical geography- Ghana mAPP ... #AppStarGH @VodafoneGhana — Raise My Flag (@KojoAgyei_A) September 25, 2014 An app that can actuall...