[richardw]

Some cities are pretty much first world, but 100km out of town you're in the 3rd world. Cellphone coverage over my whole country, I'm typing this on a notebook attached to a 23" LED screen and a docked iPhone. I'm writing C# for the day job while telecommuting from home. My guide up Kilimanjaro friended me on Facebook the other day. But I'll be donating blankets to some very cold people this winter - people who have never typed on a keyboard. Huge differences.

[tlack]

Tell us more! What country are you in? Were you raised there, or did you move there by choice for some reason?

[richardw]

Pretty boring by African standards - born in Johannesburg, South Africa. Lived in various parts of the country, visited Zimbabwe, Tanzania (climbing Kilimanjaro), Mozambique (scuba diving), Lesotho (cycling trip). Taste of the kili trip: http://picasaweb.google.com/richard.watson/Kilimanjaro

South Africa has really transformed, but still a long way to go. I think the really interesting places are those that are emerging now. I've heard Ghana is fantastic - great people, very friendly.

[djb_hackernews]

I spent a few weeks last summer in Western Africa, mostly Burkina Faso, but did spend a week in Ghana. I understand it is the most stable in west Africa and growing the fastest but I, as a westerner coming from one of the top 10 or so poorest countries in the world(Burkina), didn't see as dramatic a difference in Ghana than I had expected. I unfortunately never made it to Accra.

[tlack]

How's the tech scene in South Africa? I would imagine it has its share of startups and investors, etc.

[richardw]

Development here is mostly focused around consuming & adding to technology - e.g. CRUD apps, although there is a small population of startups. Cape Town has the Silicon Cape initiative and there are a couple of incubators in other cities, e.g. http://www.theinnovationhub.com/

I have no idea how many developers-in-garages there are. I've watched the Business of Software forum, ASP and a couple others, but haven't sensed many other South Africans (or Africans). There is some interest in the social media area, like Afrigator.com and a few service-oriented companies. During the .com era, there was something called First Tuesday, which mirrored an overseas initiative of the same name. Meetups of ideas/money/services first Tuesday of every month.

In terms of bigger names...hmm. Alon Musk was born here but not sure when he left. Mark Shuttleworth started here. There's a make-a-site-easily company that is doing well but whose name I forget (edit: yola.com), and they're now in California.

Ah - here's an index: http://www.sastartupindex.co.za/

Maybe there's a startup idea in there :) /adds to list

[kilps]

There is some info at http://www.siliconcape.com/ (Cape Town focused).

[richardw]

I've known about it for ages, but assumed it was very CT-focused so only now really dug into the site and registered. It does look like the go-to place for local startupy types, thanks!