The Vim Views & Versions - Blogs of a MIghTy African

Living in the USA for 10 years, I became quite used to paying for many goods and services online. I’ve been living in Ghana for 4 years now and I’ve become used to not doing so. Spending cash has become part and parcel of my lifestyle that I’ve become numb to the conveniences of online transactions, in Ghana. I’ve not had as many opportunities to transact online, fair enough. I’m not as worried about online payment security because I believe I can spot an insecure transaction if I saw one. Many others can’t and trust in online payments bedevils the e-commerce industry here. It will take time, but Canaan couldn’t reach here faster. There’ve been many local innovations around the online transaction problem but I’ve found most of them too cumbersome. At Rancard , I worked on our payment gateway- PayApp , and one of our biggest features was to ensure quick steps to completing payment. In this current environment, many people forget passwords so giving them a familiar way to log in is...

I've done what people will call emceeing at many Barcamps in Ghana. I'm the default  +Barcamp Ghana  emcee, but am trying to change that. I won't be emceeing +Barcamp Accra  this Saturday. This year, I've emceed the weddings of my two sisters. I'm not sure I did a great job but I will do this better and better. Who knows? I should get  +Kafui Dey MC 's "How to MC any event" book. Maybe I'll become a professional emcee.  On December 3, 2014, I emceed the Vodafone Ghana AppStar Awards and Exhibition at the Fiesta Royale Hotel . This was the first I had emceed a professional event. I wasn't able to experience the event like an attendee because I was a different kind of participant. But that's why there is Twitter and hashtags :-) I announced the day on Twitter. 2:33pm in #Accra , #Ghana . The @VodafoneGhana Appstar winners will be announced tonight. Stay tuned to #AppStarGH for more. #233moments — Ato #bcaccra Dec 20 (@Abocco) Decembe...

I was invited to host the #MomoAccra ( Mobile Monday ) end-of-year party at +233 Jazz Bar & Grill together with Dorothy Gordon, the Director-General at the KACE-AITI . The main organizer,  +Nana Fosu  directed me, to talk through some major developments that happened on the tech scene in Ghana. I loved the positive energy during the event and the positive news people left the venue with. A celebration of our achievements and accomplishments. Proof that we are succeeding and making things happen. Music to my ears. I led the discussion to bring out many things that happened in Ghana's tech industry this year. There's more to come, with an eye on the over-subscribed  +Barcamp Accra  happening on  December 23rd  at the  World Bank office , but let's recap some of what has happened in this year. Ghana had been crying for iHub type spaces and then after  +mFriday 's Tech Hub was launched last year, 2013 saw the launch and opening of 2 com...

Today at the #MomoAccra end-of-year party at +233 Jazz Bar & Grill,  +Nana Fosu  directed me, the host, to talk through some major developments that happened on the tech scene in Ghana. Lovely idea. A chance to celebrate accolades chalked, accomplishments met and good news lived. I haven't been as present on the tech scene in Ghana due to work commitments at  +Rancard  but I've followed many of what has happened. I led the discussion to bring out many things that happened in Ghana's tech industry this year. There's more to come, with an eye on the over-subscribed  +Barcamp Accra  happening on December 23rd at the World Bank office , but let's recap some of what has happened in this year. The Wireless Application Service Providers Association of Ghana (WASPAG) was formed to unify the voices of players in the tech (especially mobile) industry and help shape policy and regulate the industry. It's also to support local tech innovation. Companies th...

I am sure you have all heard about the Blackberry Craze sweeping Africa. Blackberry Messenger (BBM) is all the rage . Nollywood has already documented this. Learn about it here and watch the movie BlackBerry babes there. African musicians are doing the same too. Museke.com already gave you lyrics and introduced you to Liquideep's popular song called BBM . The South African group won the song of the year at the MTV Africa Music Awards with Fairytale . Well, thanks to my friend Ade, there are other Blackberry songs I want to introduce you to. BB PIN (all star remix) - Misturr Montana ft Eva, Dee Splash, Reminisce, Cartiar & Cee Jay http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDAX70QLO0A&feature=related JAHBORNE - Let's Make a Video Ft Muno (OFFICIAL VIDEO) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESq3R0IQxkw&feature=related Riz - PING!!! Me Baby http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12QpZP0qtOg BBM by Liquideep http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2x4R91IVFA What's your BB Pin? :-) I don't h...

By now you should have heard there is a Blackberry Craze sweeping West Africa. Blackberry Messenger (BBM) is all the rage . BBM is the new sms and guess what, if you have a Blackberry, it's free. BBM and smart phones may spell the death of sms messaging in Africa. Just watch. What better way to document the Blackberry craze than to do a Nollywood movie about it? Yup, get ready for some cultural education . With many laughs to boot. If dull moments do not exist in Ghana, the word dull is a Tagalog word to Nigerians . I just got a Blackberry for my brother last weekend. With it, he can communicate with his friends for free, at anytime. All he needs is 'data' and BBM . After getting to Ghana last December, I realised I may have faulted in buying an Android phone instead of a Blackberry. I thought hard and long about it, but really went for the Android cos the phone was cooler and it runs on Google technology . Uh huh. Another friend of mine who lives in Boston has been encoura...

So the last time I was in Ghana, I succeeded in not using an MTN chip. Good riddance. With number portability coming to GH this summer, perfect timing. I switched to Vodafone. I won't lie. I chose Vodafone for two reasons. 1: They sponsored Barcamp Ghana . 2: They bought Ghana Telecom and my mother used Vodafone too. I enjoyed their services for the most part and moving forward, I think I'll be sticking with them. Besides, their marketing tagline is 'Power to You'. Doesn't that shout VIM to you? I was encouraged by how Vodafone was marketing itself while I was in Ghana. It seemed they had realised they needed to push the envelope with reaching the Blackberry and texting-crazy Ghanaian youth in order to increase their market share. I saw a friend get a Vodafone Blackberry phone locally for an affordable price. By the way, have you seen their new ultra modern headquarters located in Airport City? See some ads - Power to You http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g-ZgmJxDb...

News broke Friday of NandiMobile , a Ghana-made start-up from the MEST Incubator winning a“Best Business” award at the LAUNCH conference in San Francisco. I was so excited about this, especially from my friends Edward Tagoe Twitter: @ttaaggooee , Anne Amuzu and Kwame Pocho. Edward had told me he was coming for a conference in San Francisco earlier this month, turns out it was a conference aligned with a competition of almost 100 Silicon Valley start-ups! For a Ghanaian-made product to win this international award in the Bay Area of all places, it is a monumental achievement. Mind you, this is not Ghanaians living the US or Ghanaian-Americans, these are Ghanaians who've been schooled in Ghana, worked and learnt in Ghana and built their products/software in Ghana. Like Jorn Lyseggen (CEO of the Meltwater Group) said, "software can be made ANYWHERE!" Congrats to @Nandimobile group. I have already blogged about the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) ...

This weekend, a friend of mine who I really respect, Ashifi Gogo, sent me an email saying " President Clinton recently commented on the challenges of counterfeiting in front of several world leaders in business and politics attending the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting ." Ashifi, the famous Kwabeef man, was being introduced by the former US president, Bill Clinton. Level! That was all I needed to see to do this blog entry. I am so proud of Ashifi, he's under 30 and he's doing big things. A revered odadee.org ! He is behind the website anyway :-) Ashifi Gogo has been working on a start-up Sproxil , which is a service that fights counterfeit drugs. For his work, he is winning awards and going into high places. He was also the featured speaker at BarCamp Diaspora . He was also a panelist at BarCamp Ghana 08 . I also blogged about his story earlier . Bill had this to say about Ashifi's work. "This is a genuinely remarkable accomplishment...(it's) e...

OMG! It works. Do something cool today. Find the meaning of words by simply sending SMS or Chat using your Mobile Phone or Gtalk. I just sent good to the English to Swahili number and had a number of translations sent to me. Next time, I want to impress my East African friends and Swahili speaking confidantes, I'll text all I want to say to the number and 'show off'. You can do the same for Twi/Fante/Akuapem and Yoruba too. :-) This is brought to you by the lovely people at Kasahorow and Fienipa . Via Chat Send invitation to chat with any of the email addresses associated with a particular language listed below. Receive live response to any word or words requested. Via SMS Send text to the phone numbers of any language of your choice listed below to get a dictionary translation sent back to you. English to Swahili fienipa4en2sw@bot.im (Google Talk) +1 713 487-6941 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +1 713 487-6941 end_of_the_skype_highlighting (...