Grand Challenges African forum set for Nairobi

In 2003, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation launched Grand Challenges. It focused on 14 major scientific challenges that, if solved, could lead to key advances in preventing, treating, and curing diseases in the developing world.


The Grand Challenge framework encompasses global health, water, energy, environment, food, education, security, and poverty. It focuses on research efforts and engaging the world’s best researchers. Projects are selected based on public, transparent calls for proposals seeking the best ideas. Funders, investigators, and other stakeholders actively collaborate to accelerate progress and integrate advances to ensure that they serve those most in need.
read more: www.the-star.co.ke/news

Outernet's Pillar in Kenya

Last week was not just big because of our announcement about putting satellites in orbit. Something big happened much closer to Earth in a village in Kenya. Outernet's CEO, Syed Karim, was in Lanet Umoja testing the first Pillar in existence. It started in Kenya. It will continue everywhere else. more: blog.outernet.is/a-pillar-in-kenya/

Outernet is currently prototyping a completely self-contained high-speed receiver called Pillar. Pillar is solar-powered, weatherproof, and creates a wireless hotspot to allow WiFi-enabled devices to access content. Pillar is an autonomous digital public library which can be installed virtually anywhere in the world. source: www.outernet.is/en/receive

Oshwal community to build Sh3bn varsity in Thika

The Oshwal Community is building a Sh3 billion University in Thika, marking yet another milestone for the group’s investments in education facilities.

The community has acquired 50 acres of land in Thika for construction of the Oshwal University complex.

Oshwal community is a 100-year old charity organisation formed by migrants from India’s Rajasthan State and their descendants. READ MORE: www.businessdailyafrica.com

History of the Visa Oshwal Community - Thika, Kenya
At the beginning of the last century, Oshwals as young as 10-15 years started migrating from Gujarat, India to Kenya, the first stepping stone to the Dark Continent. They arrived in dhows with meagre funds, but with dreams of uplifting their livelihoods which over time became a reality. Thika was a main centre after embarking at Mombasa. It is believed from the information gathered that Shah Meghji Ladha and Meghji Kanji were the first Oshwals to have come to Thika in around 1910. READ MORE: www.thikaoshwals.org

How Africa is out-innovating Silicon Valley

WHEN THINGS turned ugly after Kenya’s 2007 elections, an unlikely group of heroes — young African coders — developed a platform that used cellphones and the Internet to track the violence. Ushahidi, as it was called, would go on to transform not only government accountability in Nairobi but, more broadly, digital mapping around the world.

The African techies were at the forefront of a revolution clicking into place from Lagos to Nairobi — and everywhere in between. Today, Africa’s “Silicon Savanna” has produced innovations as varied as Wi-Fi on public transportation in Kenya to mobile midwifery services in Ghana. read more: www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2014/05/31/how-africa-out-innovating-silicon-valley/

From savannah to slums, Kenyan yoga strikes a pose

There he stands, Mount Kilimanjaro in the background, striking a pose on a purple mat, bathed in the light of dawn. Breathing. Stretching. Opening up his mind -- a group of young children following and copying his every move.

Watching a Maasai warrior practice yoga is a rare sight, but Jacob Parit is not only a warrior in one of Africa's best-known tribes, he's also an instructor with the Africa Yoga Project. read more: edition.cnn.com

Why Kenya attracts America's best and brightest young social entrepreneurs

They flock from America's top universities, grad programs and consulting firms to the pulsing heart of a new Africa. From glass towers and Ivied halls to cramped garages, cooperative work hubs, and overflowing makeshift live/workspaces, these young, talented and driven entrepreneurs are riding a new wave of social enterprises, crash landing into a rapidly rising east African capital.

Image source: blog.biz.colostate.edu

The most populated city in east Africa, and one of the fastest growing, Nairobi, Kenya has become an extremely strategic regional center for business, banking, development, and politics. A destination hosting a diverse mingling of foreign inhabitants, from emissaries, ambassadors and development agencies to mobile innovators, technologists and consultants, Nairobi has just recently to crept into the international market as a city to keep an eye on. read more: www.huffingtonpost.com

Leather business from waste fish skin

In a modest studio in Kisumu, 26-year-old Everline Odera is busy putting the final touches on a unique leather handbags she has been sewing for the last two days.

The pouch is not only unique in design but also in the material used to make it. For the last few months, Ms Odera has been training on how to turn fish leather into clothes and gifts items.

She is a member of Afrika Pamoja, a project by a community-based organisation called the Teenage Mothers and Girls Association of Kenya, (Temak).

The use of fish leather is becoming popular especially in the lakeside city of Kisumu where various government agencies and CBOs are working together to create value out of the resource until recently considered as waste.
read more: www.businessdailyafrica.com

Eto’o to set up football academy in Laikipia as Zeitz starts league.

Samuel Eto’o, the footballer with highest salary in the world – at about Sh250 million a month – landed in Laikipia on Tuesday evening and flew out on Wednesday.

This was, however, not before untying his purse strings for the local residents with a huge announcement that his foundation will set up a football academy in the area.

News that the Cameroonian star’s Sh2.6 billion-a-year salary at Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala will trickle down to Laikipia County was received with huge acclaim from the residents, who had just concluded a month-long football tournament in pursuit of peace and environmental conservation.

Eto’o’s announcement came hot on the heels of another piece of great news: the Zeitz Foundation will sponsor the Laikipia Unity Football League, a new annual tournament that kicks off next year around Nanyuki.
read on: www.nation.co.ke/sports/football. 


About The Zeitz Foundation

Founded in 2008 by business entrepreneur Jochen Zeitz, the Zeitz Foundation is a non-profit organization registered in Germany, headquartered in Kenya, and with representation in the United States and the United Kingdom. The goal of the Foundation is to maintain or improve the integrity of ecosystems through effective, sustainable management practices that ensure ecosystems continue to deliver services - such as clean water and air, carbon sequestration, and healthy soils - for the benefit of mankind. read more: zeitzfoundation.org

Samuel Eto’o and Puma boss in Laikipia.

Cameroon football star Samuel Eto’o arrives in Nairobi at dawn on Tuesday and will be the chief guest at Wednesday’s final of the Laikipia and Beyond Unity Cup at the Nanyuki Municipal Stadium.

Eto’o will be accompanied by Jochen Zeitz, the founder of tournament sponsors, Zeitz Foundation and chairman of the board at German sportswear and lifestyle company, Puma and will be received on arrival by Football Kenya Federation chairman Sam Nyamweya.

Eto’o is expected at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport at 5.30am and will catch a connecting flight at the Wilson Airport to Laikipia for his two-day tour. read on: www.nation.co.ke/sports/

Reigning World beauty queens to visit Nairobi.

The reigning Miss World Ivian Sarcos arrives in Nairobi on Thursday morning. She will be accompanied by the Miss World Limited CEO, Julia Morley, and Miss World, Europe, Alize Mounter among others.
The visit will also be attended by all the reigning Miss World beauty queens from across Africa.

The visit, which is one of a kind, will see the top model attend the Miss Kenya 2012 crowning ceremony to be held in Nairobi on Saturday. Her six-day stay will also see her extend her Water for Life charity campaign. source: www.standardmedia.co.ke

Lake Turkana Festival

Ten Kenyan communities. A remote region of the country. Different traditions. Environmental challenges. Economic prospects. Reconciliation.

Proposed by the local community of Loiyangalani, Kenya, back in 2008 and jointly organised by the German Embassy, the Local Community Festival Committee, National Museums of Kenya and Private Safaris (K) Ltd., the Lake Turkana Festival has become an important element of Kenya's annual event calendar.

From 18 to 20 May 2012, the Lake Turkana Festival will take place in Loiyangalani for the fifth consecutive year. Focusing on the sustainability of the event, the Festival will be built around its core, i.e. the presentation of cultural dances and traditions of the participating communities, and cover issues relevant to the region.

From a cultural point of view, the event will feature unique performances and demonstrations of ten ethnic communities which live in the Lake Turkana region: El Molo, Rendille, Samburu, Turkana, Dassanach, Ghabra, Borana, Konso, Wata and Burji.

Do you know what a Ghabra or a Burji looks like at all? Or better yet: have you ever seen them sing and dance in their traditional ways? Have you ever been able to visit the living room of a Dassanach's hut? Have you ever tried the food of any of these communities? Where will you ever be able to witness that if not during the Lake Turkana Festival in Loiyangalani in Northern Kenya? more info: www.laketurkanafestival.com