Tag Archives: Africa

Invest in African artists

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As early adaptor I have already quite a few CDs from new artists that received $50,000 from ‘believers’ in them on the Sell a band site . Good stuff. It brought me also two nice concerts in Amsterdam. One in Toomlers and one in Paradiso. I am still a member there.

A break away group is Africa Unsigned that focuses on selected African musicians to record music funded by fans. Through “crowd funding” artists raise $10.000 for the recording, distribution and promotion of an EP.

I have decided to put another $500 in artists on this site. Just now $30 in Victor Kunonga from Zimababwe

Kunonga’s lyrics reflect the voices of the voiceless in contemporary Zimbabwe, emerging from crisis and social inequity. His songs and their popularity derive from a profound sense of dignity and social awareness; songs that address and confront issues of poverty, dispossession, and the rights and needs of ordinary people.

I also put $30 in Neema.

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Leapfrogging knowledge: India cars in America and Africa sewers and water closets

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In the last week I came across two interesting media stories that touched on leapfrogging development. One on Africa being advice to leapfrog from sewers and water closets straight to eco-sanitation systems; the other one on a small, fuel-efficient sport-utility vehicle from India getting into the rich market of America

2009 will see the arrival of big emerging-market brands into the developed world, writes Tamzin Booth, European business editor of The Economist (p.127) in a special issue The World in 2009. Mahindra,  an Indian conglomerate with a strong brand, which sells everything from tractors to insurance, will launch a small, fuel-efficient sport-utility vehicle in America. Strawberry Frog, the advertising company working on the launch, says that emerging-market brands such as Mahindra can leapfrog rich-world markets by using guerrilla techniques and new media.

Africa should leapfrog from sewers and water closets straight to eco-sanitation systems in the same way as they did with going straight to mobile telephones instead of fixed lines, said Rose George, author of THE BIG NECESSITY: Adventures in the World of Human Waste, in an interview in a Dutch development magazine. She travels all over the world telling stories from her book, as I reported on the IRC monitor page: IRC in special sanitation theme issue of Internationale Samenwerking magazine.

For a good definition of leapfrogging development and an example from China see The Significance of Leapfrog Development of Education in China, PDF.