Meet Kenyan technologist, entrepreneur and TED Fellow Juliana Rotich in the latest installment of the Fellows in the Field video series. Visit the iHub, an incubator for Nairobi’s young technology entrepreneurs, and learn about BRCK, a rugged mobile WiFi device with huge potential to bring connectivity to areas of the world with limited infrastructure. “It’s […]
Nairobi, Kenya is one of the undisputed hubs of creativity on the African continent — and TED Fellows are at the center of the action. They’re building global technology companies like Ushahidi and BRCK, making genre-busting music that draws on wide-ranging cultural influences and working with marginalized communities in Kenya to make sure their voices are […]
Award-winning photojournalist Boniface Mwangi captured the 2007-2008 post-election violence in Kenya unflinchingly through the lens of his camera. But the horrors he witnessed propelled him into a new career as an activist and artist. Here, Mwangi talks to the TED Blog about the events that led him to stand up against injustice, literally, rather than simply document it. Tell us about your experience on […]
Around 39 million people in the world are affected by blindness — 80% of which could be avoided if people had timely access to diagnosis and proper treatment. The problem is that in many developing countries, most eye care providers are in cities, while the majority of patients live in hard-to-reach rural areas. To bridge this gap, London-based opthalmologist Andrew Bastawrous created Peek — an app […]
BRCK is best described as a “backup generator for the internet.” When it was announced, the idea of a rugged, rechargeable, mobile wifi device captured imaginations as a good way to bring robust connectivity to people in places with spotty infrastructure – particularly in developing countries. The device is the brainchild of Nairobi-based technology company Ushahidi, and was created partly out of […]
Juliana Rotich didn’t grow up in Nairobi, but the Kenyan capital has been her official full-time home since 2011. Now, she describes the city as “another node in my network.” It’s a suitable metaphor for a woman who’s immersed in the technology business, from her work at the nonprofit data and mapping collective, Ushahidi, to […]
Juliana Rotich was not expecting our interview to end in tears. Neither was I. But on reflection, we were both completely ok with it. After all, that’s what happens when terrorism becomes personal. For Rotich, that happened at the end of September, when al Shabaab terrorists attacked the Westgate Mall in the northwestern part of […]
Just a Band are … not at all just a band. During a key moment in their music video “Ha-He,” called by many Africa’s first viral video, a Blaxploitation-inspired superhero named Makmende is threatened by a man in a red tie who asks, “Are you a dreamer?” Let’s just say that Makmende leaves the victor of […]
Kakenya Ntaiya was engaged at 5-years-old, her family members regularly whispering in her ear, “Your husband just passed by.” This was the traditional path that unfolded before girls in the Maasai village in Kenya where Ntaiya grew up. “In Maasai culture, the boys are brought up to be warriors, the girls are brought up to […]
Each week, TEDx chooses four of our favorite talks, highlighting just a few of the great speakers from the TEDx community and its diverse constellation of ideas worth spreading. Below, give this week’s talks a listen. Let’s find the strength to change our slums: Boniface Mwangi at TEDxKibera While working as a photographer for a Kenyan news […]