I can not believe no one has posted this yet, so here it goes
“Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them – Work, Family, Health, Friends and Spirit and you’re keeping all of these in the air.
You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls – Family, Health, Friends and Spirit – are made of glass. If you drop one of these; they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for it.
Work efficiently during office hours and leave on time. Give the required time to your family, friends and have proper rest. Value has a value only if its value is valued.”
Why the downvotes?
Mpesa was made for a VodafoneUk subsidiary. It's not network ubiquitous(& hasnt scaled as succesfully in other vodafone subsidiaries) but makes a lot of profit for its network.
Ushahidi is OS & not-for-profit & has shown "growth".
ps: I use Mpesa regularly and I've tried Ushahidi, they both 'fill a need' but differ on scaling & revenue.
The skill is already there, as evidenced by the large numbers of developers flocking tech hubs such as the iHub in Nairobi.
What is needed is first is angel investors to help projects become startups. It's hard to build a startup on an empty stomach.
Next is successful role models for those in Universities and colleges to emulate.
Much contrary belief, I agree with you that there is a lot of talent. These developers are very talented and intelligent; they lack the experience and exposure. Given time and the right investment, there won't be much difference with the rest of the world.
Speaking of there being a lot of talent contrary to much belief, I recall seeing a TED talk that mentioned how people in many African cultures excelled at binary arithmetic when it was introduced to them because it was actually much more similar to their mode of thinking (as evident in binary-tree patterns in their art, IIRC) than the decimal system predominant in Western culture.
As someone who grew up in southern Africa, I'd love to put some time and resources towards efforts to help the start-up scene in Africa.
Very few, at the moment - I only started thinking about it a few days ago when I saw the "AfricaHackTrip" on MeetUp.com. I would be unable to join them on that trip, but it's got me thinking about what else I might be able to contribute. Do you have any ideas?
Well, most damage(to hacker-mindedness) is done in high schools and universities, that's a place one can start with. I'm thinking our hackspaces need to have good libraries so a book donation inititave would help.
There is no real protection against fraud at the moment, the operator Safaricom is fighting to block conmen from the system hence the push for subscriber registration
The iHub is primarily a open space where developers, tech enthusiasts and investors can mingle and work together. The tech scene at the hub is currently the leading edge in the country as many of the innovations that are happening in Kenya are mostly at the hub making it vibrant and the place to be.
Check out mfarm.co.ke as one of the success stories out the iHub
I really like that background script, might have to give that a try.
If you use Emacs, you might try org-mode - it includes an archive feature that allows you quickly toss subtrees into a second associated text file, which I find handy for keeping a 'done' list.
That's a great script, but it only displays the todo list. Did you hack it to show done items? The author's point is that a done list is only useful if you see it.
It's always darkest just before dawn, so do not give up hope just yet. Hang in there, you took a risk that did not pay off, so take a few minutes to lick off your wounds then move on, take it as a learning experience and do not repeat the mistakes you made.
Your story touched me as it's exactly what I am living through at the moment, its now 6 months since I quit my well paying job and being broke constantly is no fun, especially after life threw some unexpected twists my way, my dad being sick and me taking time off to stay with him the past 2 months till he got better.
Point of it all is there will be lows in life but also highs, so hold on and take heart.
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
