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by chirau 2662 days ago
If ever you want to go beyond Kenya, let me know. I am fully invested in Africa. I am from there myself. Born and raised until the day i started college. I live between SF and NYC now.

More than happy to lobby for such initiatives with my employer and philanthropic network.

I contributed, in part, to the establishment of things like NairaLabs and Usahidi amongst many others.

Unfortunately, I am not taking on projects in Kenya anymore. Everyone else is doing Kenya and Kenya is, sad to say, saturated with these kind of projects that they end up conflicting.

I am happy to work with you guys on a more devolution focused effort. I'm more interested in other countries rather than Kenya. I spent a number of years there and outside to know that there are other places that need more help than Kenya.

I know it doesn't sit well with people, but I really am not for creating a Goliath of tech in Africa (i.e Kenya). I prefer decentralized development where the whole continent grows together. Also, Kenya is one of the most impressive countries i know. The amount of talent and ambition there is breathtaking and I have no doubt that those folks will take it places. I am not from Kenya, and would like to see development in Africa rather than Kenya only. There are, so far, very few to negligible, trickle down stories of "Africa Rising" beyond the usual suspects Kenya, SA, Nigeria etc.

But yeah, I am ranting now, if ever you do expand to other countries, keep me in mind. Especially smaller hubs like Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ivory Coast, Senegal, where the interest and talent pool are just as great. The project looks great (though the site could use more information) and I wish you all the best regardless!

1 comments

Chirau, our goal is to build more computer labs in more than just Kenya. Kenya was easiest for me because I already had a school there to do the pilot program. As you know with Africa, every country is a whole new market place with its own set of challenges. I will let you when we expand to more countries, it will probably be Ethiopia or Tanzania next. In the meanwhile, if you are looking at a similar projects in other countries, here are a few https://www.iamthecode.org, http://www.gebeya.com/: Ethiopian, https://andela.com/, https://worldcomputerexchange.org/, https://thisisafrica.me/born-to-code-rwanda-launches-first-c....
Chirau, what is the best way to reach you?
mayortendi[at]gmail.com