The Vim Views & Versions - Blogs of a MIghTy African

  My journey didn’t begin in a living room with a famous or successful business man or politician in Ghana . It traces back to the vibrant, intellectually charged environment of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology ( KNUST ) campus in Kumasi , Ghana. Growing up, my parents were senior lecturers , and I was immersed in an academic ecosystem that felt both comfortable and, in a way, predetermined. There was an unspoken expectation—the path of least resistance—that I would follow in their footsteps, attend KNUST , and continue that cycle. This reflection comes after an insightful conversation I had with Kwame Boateng of Africa Capital Connect , where we dug deep into the origins of my entrepreneurial path [ 03:10 ]. You can watch our full, wide-ranging discussion on the Africa Capital Connect YouTube channel here: But there is a specific kind of entrepreneurial spirit that is often forged in the fires of teenage rebellion. At that stage in my life, I felt an i...

Register today at http://barcampkumasi10.eventbrite.com/ BarCamp Kumasi 2010 will take place on September 18, 2010 at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Engineering Department at the KNUST campus in Kumasi, Ghana. The theme is be “Collaboration: The key for opportunity and development”. Following the successes of BarCamp Ghana '08 and BarCamp Ghana '09 , regional BarCamp events will be organized in selected regions in Ghana to enable as many people as possible partake in BarCamps before the main national event in December. On December 22, 2008, over a hundred young Ghanaians met in Accra for BarCamp Ghana '08 to exchange ideas on entrepreneurship, innovation and development for a rising Ghana. BarCamp Ghana '09 followed on December 21, 2009, in Accra, under the theme "Leadership for our times - cultivating change makers". BarCamp Kumasi 2010 will bring together stakeholders in Kumasi to for a day of dialogue, dem...

Earlier this year, I blogged about my friend, Eyram Tawia's work on Leti Games . Together with Wesley Kirinya, from Kenya, they've launched a couple of games produced in Africa. The major one is iWarrior which is receiving a lot of buzz and is an iPhone app (game). So if you have an iPhone, pick up the app today from the Apple appstore and support African-made. I haven't been able to play the game yet but from what I hear, it's a lot of fun. What else do you want in a game? And it's an African-made too :-) I've already blogged about Eyram Tawia and his work on Leti Games. I am excited for both these guys. We had tried working on a computer game for the African Cup of Nations in Ghana in 2008. Through my working experience with them, I knew they would go on to do bigger and better things and are quite capable of competing worldwide. Eyram had already proven his mettle by winning GhanaThink's Programming Contest while a final-year student at the Kwame Nkru...

I know the Old Schools Reunion happened a while ago in Accra recently but it's never late to blog about it. I like the idea of bringing old students of many schools together in one place. There is the nostalgia felt like the old times of Interco n Superzo, reuniting with friends and the sheer entertainment provided as well. I attended the 2004 edition at the Aviation Social Center and it was so much fun. I met a number of friends from Presec and KNUST JSS I hadn't seen in ages. I heard the event was extended to Kumasi a few years' back and that is great too. I had so much fun at the sole event I went to and I was singing jama songs all day, In fact I recorded a video. I recorded a video of Presec colleagues singing 'All my sins shall be taken away'. I had a few other videos that I lost. Bummer. We never said 'Bummer' in Presec. Neither did we say the 'F' word. I say the 'F' word so many times these days, I don't even know how that happene...

I don't remember when exactly I got my first computer game. I was young and it was a Nintendo. It was the thing to have as a young boy. After school (from about class 4/4th grade till about the end of JSS/middle school), setting up shop in front of the TV playing Mario, Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat was the 'joie de vivre'. The funniest part was how we'll simulate jumping if the game character was jumping; kicking, screaming, punching, you name it. Around the same time, when most of us youngsters were looking out for the thrills of puberty,focusing on passing exams, getting the newest gadgets and attending all the birthday parties, Eyram Akofa Tawia was busy learning computer programming. Visual Basic to be precise. This is 1997 and 1998 in a pre-internet cafe Ghana. There's only one way this story could end. Today, Eyram (or Wuzu as his close friends know him), has started his own computer game company called Leti Games with backing capital. Wuzu meant the ...

Many people have asked me about my interest in one day running for president. “When are you filing your nomination for the presidency”, they ask jokingly. I don’t have any ambition to be a president or participate in politics in the future but the encouragement I receive has me thinking hard about it. Aside from being the patriot I try so hard to be, I have to be seen as a leader to receive such encouragement. I am hopelessly in love with Ghana and the potential of the nation, I am very optimistic about it and sometimes foolishly idealistic. However, I have not always been this way. In this series of blog posts, I will write about my journey to this point and if I am even worth being mentioned in the same breadth with leadership. We can paraphrase a famous Shakespeare quote to introduce leadership. Some are born leaders, some achieve leadership and some others have leadership thrust upon them. Increasingly, I feel I fall into the third category. I don’t even know what it means to be bo...

I wrote this article for KNUST's TECHNOCRAT magazine a couple of years ago at the request of one of my Odadee mates there. I don't know if it was ever published but the contents of the article are still relevant a few years on. I hardly write articles for magazines/newspapers because I find it hard to write technical pieces without my usual sarcasm, question asking and flexibility. I tried with this one :-) Science, technology and entrepreneurship in Ghana It was a breath of fresh Ghanaian air to lay my hands on my first issue of KNUST’s Technocrat. I saw it a conscious effort to promote the ability and the potential of our Ghanaian intellectuals, mind and hand. People close to Ghanaian inventors know their capabilities but the word never reaches the masses and many a time the investor. It is about time it did. I spent a few minutes thinking what ‘bridging the gap between industry and academia’ meant. This was my conclusion – applying innovation and inventiveness in academia in...