28 September 2019
This week, a story from my last few weeks in Kenya (eluded to here): the day my friend and I went with John Mayai and filled up two Ubers with eggs. It’s a good example of the struggles and differences in the mindset that come with running a micro-business in East Africa. Plus, a quiz at […]
31 August 2019
By the time this email is sent, I’ll have left Kenya “for good”. Sad face. During the final week, I’ve been procrastinating hard to avoid actually packing up everything, though in moments when I was clearing out my wardrobe I did find some interesting things. Most were objects that I’d brought over from the UK […]
13 July 2019
This week I met with two organisations providing people in East Africa with skills for the future. “The future of work” is something I’ve been contemplating a lot recently, and both seem to have developed a view of what the world will look like in 0-20 years, and subsequently designed themselves to equip students accordingly. Africa Digital Media Institute (ADMI) ADMI trains people […]
22 June 2019
This week we’re discussing a form of transport I’d not encountered before moving to East Africa, but that is now my primary form of transit: the motorbike taxi. There’s more than meets the eye to getting on the back of a motorbike and so we’ll cover the history, market dynamics, and improvements to the industry […]
15 June 2019
On Tuesday and Wednesday this week I was at a conference in Nairobi showcasing tech businesses from across Africa. It was a good opportunity to see some of the initiatives being taken by startups on the continent and also listen to discussions by enthusiastic panelists on the role of technology in the development of the […]
23 February 2019
Last weekend I visited a farm run by two pretty cool women. Cate and Sylvia (both 28) were in office jobs until last year. Cate, an accountant, and Sylvia, working in HR, felt they wanted to get out and about more and so quit their jobs and got into farming. Cate is a friend of […]
17 November 2018
For the most part, I dress incredibly boring. I’d say 280/365 days a year I wear the same (type of) blue chino trousers, and will rotate a few basic T-shirts/ jumpers depending on the season. Which in Kenya, ranges from bit chilly – quite hot – pretty hot. When it comes to shoes, I was […]
10 November 2018
A series of events led to me being able to take a day off work yesterday. I decided to spend it going to a mango farm about an hour out of Nairobi to scope out its commercial potential.
20 October 2018
Have you thought much about the business of video games? I’m not particularly a gamer but a few weeks ago I did a podcast interview with someone who spoke about how it’s a massive industry that is waiting to find its time in Africa. The root of where the lucrative deals come is by turning […]
10 March 2018
On Tuesday The Economist came to Nairobi to host an event on innovation in Africa. I went along (as part of the sponsorship deal for the podcast) and wanted to share some of the key things covered. Unlike other conferences I’ve been to, there was a refreshing level of debate between panelists which facilitated getting to the […]