The Vim Views & Versions - Blogs of a MIghTy African

Was January 2025 very long for you? I met a nurse this month, after I gave her a free ride from Adenta to Danfa. She said she could not wait for December 2025 to come. This is because she cannot wait to finish her studies. I believe she is in the minority. I want the days to go slowly because I have so much to do. But if there is a good reason for the days to go fast , it is because you are expecting some money to hit your account, and that day should come faster . If you want more money to hit your account, you have to work to achieve more. This is where I introduce you to Achieve, an app by Petra that I have been using to save and invest money. The  Achieve App  was just named as one of the winners of the World Summit Awards 2024, alongside other Ghanaian apps - Chango and Khaya. Shout outs to Kofi, Chris, Seth, Huzaifa, Daniel , and all those involved in Achieve.  In years past, Ghanaian startups like  Leti Arts ,   Bloom Impact ,   Farmerline , an...

I have been working in the tech and digital ecosystem since 2008 in Ghana, thanks to the very first Barcamp in Ghana in December 2008. I yearned for fast, convenient payments in Ghana. I finally found it in 2015 through expressPay . Before this, many people in Ghana complained about Ghanaian built apps that did not work well and were buggy. expressPay came to put paid to that notion. It was not difficult to trust expressPay from day one. It was founded by some MIT Ghanaian buddies of mine including Curtis Vanderpuije , (Visa), Kodjo Hesse (Merrill Lynch) and William Tetteh . It has been awesome seeing its growth in Ghana. I marveled at the simplicity of the service. Paying has and is still simple. With only a few taps on my phone, I select my VISA card (which is tokenized for security) and I am done paying. Best of all, the service is delivered in real time. There are hardly many avenues, trusted that is which also have volumes using these services, to buy and pay online. I have u...

We call +Barcamp Accra the Father Christmas of Barcamps. It normally happens on the Saturday before Christmas but the festive season is not the main driver behind this choice. It is to cater for allowing Ghanaians from all over the world to meet, those in Ghana and in the Diaspora. The Borgas have been arriving and we can see it in the Accra traffic. Or in the dollar-cedi rate? For 2 years, Barcamp Accra has not happened, due to covid and other reasons. Barcamp Accra is back on Saturday, December 17, 2022 ! Join a network of change-makers, doers, and entrepreneurs at an event where you can learn, share, network, and be mentored . If you cannot join in person, join us via the #bcaccra hashtag on social media! Barcamp Accra 2022 is a free networking event to bring people together for a day of learning, sharing, networking and mentoring. It is happening on Saturday, December 17 at the Volta Hall Dining Hall, Legon, Accra. The theme is around Finance, Personal development and Innovati...

Growing up is not easy. It would have been great to have been more prepared through the years. I am accepting that you can't have enough information, especially from experienced people. We must have one eye on the future as we go about conquering the present. As we are growing up, # WeAreEvolving . Things change, become better especially with technology and we get greater responsibilities as part of our careers and even our ages. We must be prepared for the future. Saving is an integral part of this. Secure your & #Ghana 's future. You can make savings on paying taxes. Savings Booster. See https://t.co/Fj9ryNCEfN for info. #WeAreEvolving — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) February 4, 2016 We start to take more responsibility for our communities and countries. We start to understand and pay taxes. I tweeted about three constants. Life, death and taxes. When we were growing up, in mathematics, we learnt about mathematical constants which were signed by 'k'. Now,...

Culled from Diasporacamp.org DiasporaCamp DC 2010 , a Barcamp with a focus on the African Diaspora, took place on July 24th, 2010 at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. The ‘unconference’ run from about from 9am to 6pm. The event brought together about 120 entrepreneurs, investors, students and professionals to find out the ways to access capital to start, fund and grow small and medium enterprises as well as other kinds of ventures. Attendees were excited to find out this diverse community of people interested in Africa and the Diaspora existed in the DC, Maryland, Virginia area. The theme was: Financial innovations for African small & medium-scale enterprises. The event began with some opening remarks by members of the organizing team . Made up of Africans and non-Africans with a passion for the continent, the organizing team was backed by the GhanaThink Foundation which put it together. Ato Ulzen-Appiah, Clare Allenson, Nii Simmonds set the ton...