The Vim Views & Versions - Blogs of a MIghTy African

I asked my Kenyan friends to name their top 5 songs ever, from Kenya . My Kenyan alter-ego, David Ochieng Mwangi , also contributed, thanks to all he has learnt around Museke . I also asked Google Gemini (yes, not Meta AI, Chat GPT, Grok, Deepseek, or POE - because, I asked it through Google Sheets). You know it is my friend these days right? I also contributed my top 5, while reminiscing this list from 2009 . My first time in Kenya was in 2011. But prior to that, since 2002, I had been learning about Kenyan music from my Kenyan friends at MIT . I got to know more about this when me, Edward Mabonga and others started Museke in 2006. It was great to see some of my friends suggest songs that we were jamming to back in the day. I wanted to do a list of top 5, but there are too many songs. So I have aggregated 11 , to represent Kenya in the World Cup of #MusicWeDeyFeel . The starting eleven . Drop your opinions, props, suggestions in the comments section . Here we go, in no part...

In 2017, in partnership with Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT) , the GhanaThink Foundation organized the Ghana Youth Social Entrepreneurship Competition (GYSEC) —  #GYSEC2017 . 20 budding social entrepreneurs were chosen to learn, be trained, and compete. 6 winners represented Ghana at the DOT Unconference in Rwanda. They were —  Ivy Barley   — Developers in Vogue , Princess Allotey   — ArithOut (Kids And Math) , Enam Agbozo   — Y-TIDE(now Radix Nest) , Justica Anima   — Green Arts Culture , Lamisi Atinga   — Savana Oils , Mawuli Amenyedor   — Ho Node Hub . They benefited a lot from being in Rwanda and they hvae continued to enjoy a lot of support from DOT, GhanaThink, etc. In 2018 , GYSEC has become a 4th program for GhanaThink after Barcamp Ghana , Junior Camp Ghana , Ghana Volunteer Program and was renamed the Ghana Youth Social Entrepreneurship Program (GYSEP) . 24 budding social entrepreneurs were chosen out of 220 applications to learn and be trained. As part of the ...

I really got to know a lot more about Kenya when I first went to MIT. Two of my best friends during my time there were Kenyan,  +Eric Mibuari  &  +Edward Mabonga . We used to do homework together. We were not concerned about competing, we were concerned about succeeding. We'd help each other, together with other African students, with our homework. The Kenyan students were together a lot too, they'd have their Kenyan shindigs with their Harvard friends and they had their own mailing list. Many of the Kenyan students were studying computer science and electrical engineering while the Ghanaian students were studying different majors. Today, Kenya's ICT industry is ahead of Ghana's and is seeming to stay so. The very first concert I ever went to in my life was by Kenyan musicians.  +Samuel Gikandi ,  +Chilongo Mulanda  and co were going to a Nameless-Wahu-Mr.Lenny concert in Worcester and I tagged along. By the end of the night, I was saying wha-who! ...

Today is the 50th anniversary of Kenya's independence. #KenyaAt50 has been trending on Twitter today. Kenyans on Twitter can get it. #KOT ! I've changed my name on Twitter to David Ochieng Mwangi, my Kenyan alter-ego in honour of Kenya's big day.I wish Happy Jamhuri Day to all Kenyans! #Twende ! Here is a selection of great tweets which capture the day! 10 minutes past 2:54pm in #Ghana . Joining my #Kenya friends to celebrate 50 years of independence & growth. #Twende ! #kenyaat50 #254moments — David Ochieng Mwangi (@mightyafrican) December 12, 2013 "I'm coming home, home where I belong! . Narudi nyumbani!" #KenyaAt50 #Twende ! David Ochieng Mwangi loves Kenya! http://t.co/ASOecZP4kN — David Ochieng Mwangi (@mightyafrican) December 12, 2013 2:33pm in #Ghana . #Kenyaat50 is trending. #Kenya is already pretty awesome. Kudos to all making it a better #African country. #233moments — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) December 12, 2013 ...

It's a glaring fact that African women are not as much involved in the tech space as much as their male counterparts. In this #VimTechList , I'd like to recognize some African women who are doing a lot to drum up interest in technology locally and elsewhere on the continent. They are developers, content creators, and thought leaders. These are a few I know about. Let me say I am disappointed in myself that there's no one in this list from Lusophone Africa. I need that Angola trip. Anyway, on to the people who must be celebrated. Tech Needs Girls in Africa. And it's just because we want more women at tech events in Africa. We need to embrace & create more technological solutions on the continent. We need influential women across the board. Here are the bubbling  +Ory Okolloh s,  +Estelle Akofio-Sowah s, and  +Nnenna Nwakanma s. Doris Anson-Yevu - Ghana : I've known  +Doris Anson-Yevu  for a long time, I am not sure I remember where and how I met her. Sh...

What the heck does this title mean? Chill, don't get so hot. I wanted to make an alliteration. If you want to get hot, go find some steam room and burn enjoy yasef. So I arrived at Sarova Stanley in Nairobi at 7am ready to take a nap because I had hardly slept the night before watching a nameless movie on Kenya Airways and generally not having the best flight. I had never heard of this 5-Star Hotel until a room was booked for me there. The 3 previous times I was in Nairobi, I stayed at Hotel Sankara . Best hotel I've been to ever, anywhere. The hotel wouldn't check me in to a room until 12 noon, as per hotel policy. But I wanted an exception to be made for me because (a) I needed to sleep, (b) I needed to use the wi-fi, (c) Sankara has done it before :-) I hadn't booked my room, someone else had, and I was not about to pay extra money to get this. We arrived at a good compromise though. The receptionist said I could go to the health club and wait there, take a n...

I arrived in Nairobi yesterday morning. It's my 4th time being here. As always when I visit an African country, I try to be observant and learn different things. Here are a few thoughts below and some concluding thoughts. Kenya does a good job on tourism. But then again, with all the Lion King memories and the safaris, it shouldn't be that difficult. I do love how much Safaricom does to support Kenya too. At the Jomo Kenyatta Airport, there are several boards teaching visitors how to say popular phrases in Swahili. That is such a good move! Love the welcome to #Kenya wallboards at JKIA's immigration walkway. Reps Kenya's ethnicities and #KiSwahili . Great work by #Safaricom . — Mighty African (@mightyafrican) June 28, 2013 Kenya Airways, on the other hand, has to do more. I missed my flight to Nairobi because my ticket was never issued as per a rejected payment. The Kenya Airways offices in Accra don't take debit or credit cards and online booking via third-...

Before I get into this blog post proper, let me declare that South African Airways is my favorite airline. I really looked forward to flying it earlier this month from Accra to Johannesburg because I expected to watch some great African movies. This time, I got to watch the much acclaimed Nairobi Half-Life . Relelased in 2012, Nairobi Half-Life was directed by David Tosh Gitonga and features many rather unknown actors and actresses like Joseph Wairimu, Olwenya Maina and Nancy Wanjiku Karanja . I knew I wanted to blog about and review the movie once I began to watch it and took some notes. I loved the movie and would recommend it as a collectible. It's been billed as the most successful Kenyan movie ever. Sometimes, great movies give birth to great actors. In many places like Ghana, good actors sell good or not so good movies. The notion that you always need bankable actors and actresses to produce successful movies is not always true. This movie was the very first Kenyan ...

After having South African president Jacob Zuma on the opening plenary on 9th May, Kenya's new president Uhuru Kenyatta joined the morning plenary on 10th May. The session discussed how African economies can transform over the next 50 years and how political and geopolitical tensions in the region will be managed. In essence -> Africa 2063: From Fragility to Stability. President Uhuru Kenyatta was joined on the panel by Bineta Diop the Chair of the Executive Board, Femmes Africa Solidarité, Switzerland, Frannie Léautier who is Executive Secretary, The African Capacity Building Foundation, Zimbabwe, Arif M. Naqvi the Founder and Group Chief Executive, The Abraaj Group, United Arab Emirates and Abdelkader Bensalah the President, Council of the Nation, Algeria. The session was chaired by Børge Brende Managing Director and Member of the Managing Board, World Economic Forum. As usual, I was tweeting away. Here are some tweets I sent in, together with some others I saved...

Can't wait till Christmas. Can wait to see the year move a little slower so I achieve a lot more in 2013 though. But when the holiday season does come, here are a number of ways you can send and say holiday greetings :-) Bronya o! Afe hyia pa o! #MerryChristmas in #Akan #Twi . — Mighty African (@mightyafrican) December 25, 2012 Ni ti yum palli! #MerryChristmas in #Dagbani . #Ghana — Mighty African (@mightyafrican) December 25, 2012 Blonya fe dzorgbenyuie na mi! Blonya fedzorgbenui! #MerryChristmas in #Ewe . #Ghana — Mighty African (@mightyafrican) December 25, 2012 Afi o afi! Afi aya ni e ba nina wɔ! #MerryChristmas in #Ga . #Ghana — Mighty African (@mightyafrican) December 25, 2012 "Heri ya Krismasi" "Krismasi Njema!" #MerryChristmas in #Swahili . #Kenya #Tanzania #Uganda — Mighty African (@mightyafrican) December 25, 2012 "Khisimusi Lomuhle". #MerryChristmas in #Zulu and #Siswati . #Mzansi #SouthAfrica #Swa...

Ever since I went to Kenya for the first time, I have been imagining what my Kenyan alter-ego would be like. I have many Kenyan friends, most of which I met in the USA. I actually have more Kenyan friends who've returned to Kenya after sojourns abroad than for all other African countries. Like one friend said, "As for Kenyans, we move back". " I'm coming home, narudi nyumbani ". So a fter Ayooluwaato Eze from Nigeria and Richard Nshuti Mayanja from Uganda , I introduce to you all David Ochieng Mwangi. Yes, you heard it right. What a strange set of names? Kweli. Lakini kuona. My father is from the biggest tribe in Kenya, the Kikuyu. During my time abroad, most of the Kenyans I met were Kikuyu too. We're a proud people but you will always see us speak Sheng to feel as Kenyan as possible (instead of Kikuyu). Mwangi is a popular name you say. Yes, I am related to every popular Kenyan Mwangi you might know. We run deep mabibi na mabwana. My moth...