If a group of lions is a “pride,” a group of development professionals is a ________.
More and more mzungus (whites) fall truly, madly, deeply in love with Africa. (via Scarlett Lion)
Book-burner to be new head of UN education and culture efforts (UNESCO)? We wonder if the UNESCO Sex Ed book that Chris Blattman satirized might be the first to go on the bonfire under new management.
None of the 48 Slavic women in the US Open made the semifinals. Do we need an even more complicated story that Slavic countries currently have comparative advantage in female tennis except they never win any majors?
“This power to help is just about as dangerous as hard power.” – Kenyan Writer Binyavanga Wainaina on the Ethics of Aid, on America Public Media’s program Speaking of Faith (via Texas in Africa)
Freakanomics probably doesn’t need us to promote them, but they have a nice post on African entrepreneurs (thanks for the tip to Indego Africa’s great Social Enterprising blog).
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Go Caroline, Go!
(Polish parents btw)
That NYT Freakanomics post – not so impressed. Here’s what I left as a comment:
Magatte’s company – yes, and I love what I’ve read about and from her. She rocks.
But as much as Ketty Opoka’s organisation sounds admirable, it seems to be a non-profit (which doesn’t undermine her achievements at all, but it’s just not a good example for an article about African entrepreneurs).
I’ve found Jon Gosier lovely on all our virtual (Facebook) interactions, but again he’s not an example that I would have chosen for an article about African entrepreneurs – he’s American, I still haven’t figured out whether QuestionBox has an actual business model, and some of this other clients are from the non-profit world, which so often happens around here: non-profits doing business with non-profits.
I think it’d be hugely important to highlight that there is plain-vanilla, regular, old-school business going on in Africa. Pin-striped suits, board rooms, corporates and so on. It’s really not that difficult to find African entrepreneurs, even if you don’t want to cover the well-known high-profile cases – Nigeria’s Dangote, South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa, Kenya’s Eddie Njoroge,Sudan’s Mo Ibrahim and so on. They are a lot more representative to business in Africa. It’s not all NGOs and foundations and ’social entrepreneurs’ (whatever that exactly is).
A group of development professionals is an “intrusion”.
If a group of lions is a “pride,” a group of development professionals is a “swarm of busy-bodies”?
A desultory of development professionals.
Thanks for the comments everyone, however I want to clarify a few mistakes. First, Appfrica is for-profit and always has been. Second, only two of our clients are Ngos (Unicef, Grameen). Currently we’re doing work for two African companies and one reporter. Lastly, the article isn’t about me, it discussed how I started my company, why, and then profiles the Ugandans who’s projects I’ve invested in.
The fact that Im running a company in Africa, just like I would have in Silicon Valley or New York impressed a lot of westerners, but I do it to bring money and attention to the region.
A group of development professionals is a disaster waiting for an acronym.
In the Spirit of Entrepreneurship – Africa Edition
Freakonomics has a series of profiles on African entrepreneurs. All of them great stories and interesting throughout. I did notice, however, that most of the stories involved expats or entrepreneurs educated and trained abroad. The last entrepreneur pr…
Collective nouns: a jargon of development professsionals. Or, given the way the discipline is going, a control group of development professionals.
Not to be confused with a co-option of NGOs, or a simplification of journalists.