This should come as no surprise to many after reading my first blog post, that I have chosen William Kamkwamba, whom I also refer to as W.K as my personal hero to shadow. I find that I have long been shadowing him in ways suggested in this mission such as being a
facebook fan, following him on
Twitter and subscribing to his
blog… Continue
Added by Yemisi Ajumobi on February 21, 2010 at 9:00am —
21 Comments
I think constraints are key to innovation, and so I think the very first secret is the most interesting and important to me. Constraints are what force us to think outside our normal routines, and working within unfamiliar parameters makes us do unfamiliar things. In my own experience, my best ideas often come as a result of doing unfamiliar things, whether they be in creative ventures, travel, or solving problems. So if I'm working in a constrained environment, I won't despise… Continue
Added by kiyash on February 21, 2010 at 1:53am —
9 Comments
I learned that in order to be a social innovater you must first understand the culture and the enviornment to begin to realize where and how to make change. We must also accept the way of life and work within the constraints of that society. In Africa, people cook over stovers so offering a new mothod of cooking would not be the most effective change. We must inovate with the resources provided to the most likely and positive changes.
Added by gabriel barba on February 20, 2010 at 4:00pm —
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As a kid I remember dreaming in comic book form before I ever picked up a graphic novel. The muscular bodies in tights from television would speak to me at night and give me secret messages. When my 5 year old self needed courage she dreamt of Superman flying and Alan Alda playing with electricity as Hawkeye Pierce from M.A.S.H. As I grew into myself and learned to deal with the pain and horror of life more directly the concept of a physically perfect savior seemed less true and real than the…
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Added by Evo on February 20, 2010 at 8:30am —
5 Comments
Okay, so, I thought it would be a better idea to one-off a blog post instead of continually spamming the activity stream with updates.
The EVOKE dashboard is a (relatively) simple way of digesting all the content and awesome creations that EVOKE users produce. It gets all the data from the site's handy RSS feeds and gives you a nice long title/author/date list so you can scan through. A click brings you to the relevant page on the EVOKE…
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Added by Nathaniel Fruchter on February 20, 2010 at 2:19am —
6 Comments
"Life isn't so bad, after all," I thought as I looked around at my surroundings. I had graduated from college exactly 12 months ago (luckily, the world
hadn't ended in 2012), and my major in mobile communications had really paid off. With the mass migrations in 2018, the flooding of more and more Pacific Islands, and the river deltas starting to
flood Bangladesh,…
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Added by Nathaniel Fruchter on February 19, 2010 at 6:00am —
6 Comments
I started a twitter list to help myself learn more about what's happening in Africa, especially around social issues, technology and entrepreneurship. There's a lot to learn... Do you have suggestions for more people to follow, or good lists that already exist?
Added by Gene Becker on February 17, 2010 at 5:43pm —
6 Comments
As I moved around the web from one corner to another searching for a giant in “Social innovation and Enterprise,” to definitely make my new hero, I came across Leila Chirayath Janah, the founder and CEO of Samasource (
http://www.samasource.org).
Samasource enables marginalized people from refugees in Kenya to women in rural Pakistan to receive life-changing work opportunities on the Internet. The core of this concept is microwork – little bits…
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Added by Ronald Kasendwa on February 15, 2010 at 9:30pm —
9 Comments
Social entrepreneurs come in all shapes and sizes, it seems. So many people are doing amazing work in Africa through young, creative organizations like Kiva, Ushahidi, Maker Faire Africa, and many others. But I found myself drawn to, inspired, and completely charmed by a sixty-year old English woman, Ann Cotton, who has devoted her life to the pursuit of a simple, compelling idea: that educating young women can save the world.
Ann… Continue
Added by Gene Becker on February 15, 2010 at 7:29pm —
3 Comments
"...and how was soccer today?" I ask my daughter Mavis. Before the question has finished, however, she's disappeared from view. All that's left showing on the screen in my hand is the couch and her teddy Wilbur.
She reappears with an iceblock, and with stern words in her grandmother's voice in the background she focuses her attention back on me. "Soccer was fine dad. We lost again, but we lost awesomely."
"Josh!" This time the voice is coming from behind me, not out of the…
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Added by Josh Judkins on February 15, 2010 at 11:00am —
17 Comments
As I studied Exhibit A over and over again trying to actually decipher which was my favorite secret of social innovation, I realized no matter how many times I went over it, it seemed nearly impossible for me to make one single pick and as I came across different points I totally agreed with, I would nod so hard, smile and say to myself wow that's brilliant. At the end of the day I was able to narrow my favorite…
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Added by Yemisi Ajumobi on February 15, 2010 at 12:50am —
14 Comments
About 10 years back, I was introduced to the concept of Social Innovation and Enterprise in the EVOKE network. The network really put me through some good brain work that helped me dig down into my community, understand the pressing issues it faced, and then critically come up with the solutions to those problems.
During that time, we were faced with high unemployment levels, low literacy level, and hunger among others. When I thought deeply about all this and compared the…
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Added by Ronald Kasendwa on February 14, 2010 at 8:30pm —
7 Comments
I have a chosen to shadow Charles Maisel for one reason - I think he is crazy. I have heard him talk on two occasions and both times he blew my mind with the oddness of his thoughts.
Also though, he has an enigmatic track-record as a social entrepreneur - or social artist, as he now calls himself.
He has successfully founded organisations that mostly with deal with unemployment, small business development & environmental…
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Added by Batandwa Alperstein on February 14, 2010 at 4:00pm —
7 Comments
In life, I believe, the only way to live is to do. So if one has a dream and it involves you achieving some sort of action, then you must go where it is your dream plays out and get into the action. If your dream is to build the world's fastest car, go to the Grand Prix, quite literally.
There is no hope of achieving your vision if you don't act on it, and the best place to find inspiration for your next action is to be in the environment where the action takes place. So if…
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Added by Batandwa Alperstein on February 14, 2010 at 2:04pm —
7 Comments
When I was asked to find someone to look up to, follow and be inspired by in the Social Innovation field, those behind
Maker Faire Africa was an obvious place to start. As someone working in a job assisting makers, the emergence of Maker Faire within Africa is truly exciting for me. It was first held in Ghana in 2009 and the next one is planned for Kenya in August 2010.
At the top of…
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Added by Josh Judkins on February 14, 2010 at 9:00am —
4 Comments
My hero,
Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu, said, "Informed people make better choices". I searched through several Africa-based innovators working on issues of food security and providing isolated African communities with viable skills to excel in a changing technological world. What struck me about Nnaemeka was his project's ability to address multiple issues around one central umbrella - communication.
Nnaemeka is working on a project called "Smallholders" that aims to use radio…
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Added by Chelsea Howe on February 13, 2010 at 9:58pm —
10 Comments
One of the factors I think we are all prone to forgetting - both for ourselves and in trying to aid others - is that what you
have matters more than what you
lack.
I was reminded of this once again by
Ethan Zuckerman’s post ‘
Innovating from… Continue
Added by Josh Judkins on February 13, 2010 at 3:00am —
10 Comments
I opened the front door to find the inside of the house filled with dark. "Hellooooooo?" I called out as I kicked off my running shoes.
"The Grid's down!" yelled my daughter from a couple rooms over.
I wandered into the den. "For how long?"
My daughter didn't even look up from her book. She was snuggled against the window to take advantage of what sunlight
there was. "10 minutes. More or less."
The Grid. At one time, there was 'the power' and then there…
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Added by Mita Williams on February 11, 2010 at 8:30pm —
13 Comments
Truth be told, am new to this wh*** idea and concept of Social Innovation but after reading here and there about the concept, I am glad to report that I now have the wh*** concept at my fingertips. What I carry in my head tells me that Social Innovation is all about coming up with new ideas, strategies, and concepts that meet social needs and strengthen civil society.
When I read through Alchemy’s link that he named “Exhibit A” which is about the 33 secrets of Social…
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Added by Ronald Kasendwa on February 11, 2010 at 12:00pm —
11 Comments
I have to admit that I found this mission daunting when I first read it. Find a hero? You mean, right now? I should just adopt a hero into my heart just like that?
(
Where I'm from, it's not popular to have a hero)And yet, once I started looking, I didn't take long to find one. And it was instant recognition. As soon as I read about her and her work that I knew I had found a mentor and someone to inspire…
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Added by Mita Williams on February 11, 2010 at 3:00am —
21 Comments