Comments on: Links to Make You Think

By: AlanB

AlanB — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:33:40 +0000

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.

By: Robert Vesco

Robert Vesco — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 10:00:29 +0000

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…

By: Scott MacLennan

Scott MacLennan — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 02:52:45 +0000

A group of development professionals is a disaster waiting for an acronym.

By: Jon Gosier

Jon Gosier — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:17:26 +0000

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.

By: Godfrey Parke

Godfrey Parke — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:20:35 +0000

A desultory of development professionals.

By: Unit

Unit — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:12:31 +0000

If a group of lions is a “pride,” a group of development professionals is a “swarm of busy-bodies”?

By: Tim of Angle

Tim of Angle — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 05:55:38 +0000

A group of development professionals is an “intrusion”.

By: Andrea Bohnstedt

Andrea Bohnstedt — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 05:18:23 +0000

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).

By: Sceptical Secondo

Sceptical Secondo — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 02:36:07 +0000

Go Caroline, Go!

(Polish parents btw)