The Vim Views & Versions - Blogs of a MIghTy African

Ever since we started organizing our +Barcamp Ghana  events, I've wanted the numbers of women attending these events to increase. We started with a huge tech focus, the theme for the first event was "The Business and Tech Renaissance". We had only 2 female resource personnel - +Estelle Akofio-Sowah  who was with Busy Internet at the time and  +Esi Cleland-Yankson  of Afrochic. I believe tech and forward-thinking events held with a focus on women are really important in increasing the network and net work of both interlocking communities. Enter the  First Pan-African Women in Tech Meetup .  It's happening on Wednesday August 2. Some of my friends are involved as organizers or speakers - all awesome young women - +Ethel Cofie   +Enyo Kumahor   +Ella Ethel Mbewe   +Chisenga Muyoya  and  +Barbara Birungi  who I am still yet to meet. Check out this VimTechList post on  #VimTechList: 11 young female African technology leader...

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...

It's been a long time since I did regular posts on things related to technology. Thanks to a recent Facebook post and some comments from friends, I am expecting to birth a series. We're calling it the "Vim Tech List". Yup, it has a hashtag too #VimTechList . You know what Vim is already from regularly reading this blog or from here. Tech is tech, list is list. For the first instalment, I want to delve into games. I'd list 5 great games you can get from the Google Play Store which are all built by Africans. Say #morevim to that. I've always used an Android phone since December 2010. Once I joined Google, I became more interested in using apps that were African. Thankfully, the Android Developer Challenge  (ADC) was concluding and many great African Android apps had been built. The Android Africa Challenge  (AAC), led by tech community leaders on the continent, also followed. When I got my recent Nexus 4, I wanted to download even more new African Android a...

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...

GH Developers, Programmers and coders? Where you dey? Come show the world what you fit build. Hello Ghanaian developers! After the successful Hackathons in South Africa and Kenya which saw some amazing applications built, we want to continue spreading the love! A hackathon is an event when programmers meet to do collaborative computer programming. Hackathons focus on either a technology tool/product or a topic to collaboratively build programs and applications. Hackathons are typically between a few hours and multiple days. There will be a one full day Google+ API Hackathon with the support of the Google Technology User Group (GTUGs) in Accra (Ghana). If you are ready to wow us with your application, please apply for the event using this form: Accra for the event on the March 21 from 9 to 6 pm at the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST). The deadline to sign-up is March 3! Remember to start today on getting those creative juices flowing! Familiarize yourself w...

Ever since I went to Uganda for the first time, I have been imagining what my Ugandan alter-ego would be like. You might already know about my Nigerian alter-ego, Ayooluwaato Eze . No one has really told me I look like a Ugandan but given the similarities between Ghanaians and Ugandans, I could really pass for one. But then again, all Africans aren't the same so let me introduce you to Richard Nshuti Mayanja. My father is from the famous Buganda kingdom. We speak Luganda and we are part of the proud Mayanja family. Yes, the same one the famous Ugandan musician Chameleon aka Joseph Mayanja is from. The name 'Mayanja' is as Ugandan as you can get. Unless you have a name that starts with two s's like Sserugo. My middle name is Nshuti because my mother is from Rwanda. Uganda and Rwanda have some really good relations as there are Kinyarwandas living in Uganda. Now why am I called Richard? Because there are 256 Richards in Kampala alone. I must have met 10 of them w...

I never imagined that the first ever African country I would spend a night in would be Uganda. Yes, the Mighty African had never even been to Togo or Burkina Faso or found himself in Nigeria. Thanks to my job, I was able to finally show off the few Luganda words I had learnt from Ugandan friends while stationed in the USA. I visited Kampala for four days in September. Before I went to Kampala, I didn't know anyone there that I had met. All the folks I had been in touch with were musicians and a couple of journalists. I left Kampala with 25 new phone numbers! I asked my Ugandan friends et al on Facebook what I should do before I left Uganda (Kampala) and I tried to go through with some of their suggestions. I had every intention of getting stories to tell so let's recount the Mighty African experiences. I must preface the Ugandan debut by saying I had a little stop over at the Nairobi airport. I arrived at the Entebbe airport September 6th and we were driven to Kampala. The airp...

The 2010 Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) winners have been announced. I got to know about the winners through the AMAA's Facebook page while discussing it with another friend. How cute? Social networking all the way! Ghanaian movies did quite well but I think the Nigerian movie, Figurine, stole the show. Someone please get me that movie. You know I'll write a good review :-) Ghanaian movies did well. Perfect Picture picked up a bunch of awards as well as I Sing Of a Well (ISOAW) which took home two. " A Sting In a Tale" (ASIAT) also won one. Here is the full list of winners; and in bold is who I predicted would/should win since I haven't seen all the movies. BEST DOCUMENTARY - 3. Bariga Boys(Nigeria) Not sure what this is about but it's a must see. BEST SHORT FILM - 2. The Abbys Boys -(South Africa) I guess this makes up for the few South African nominations. Lekker. BEST ANIMATION - 1. Hanayns Shoe (Egypt) It's nice to see an Egyptian movie win some...