Entrepreneurs Eskinder Mamo and Amanuel Abrha were born and raised in Ethiopia, but after completing their higher education in Europe have since been based in Berlin, Germany. After the successful launch of their IT and business consulting startup, they are now determined to use their experience abroad to help contribute to the development of their country of origin.
Recent news
From farmers to businesswomen: eLearning promotes economic empowerment
Women selling fruit, handicrafts, milk or eggs all have one thing in common: the main problem they have faced up until now is that they have had no way to access markets beyond the one down the road from their farm or home… until now.
‘We had to get creative’: Digi-tales from Africa’s resourceful librarians
Andrew Carnegie once said, “A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing spring in the desert.” Today, libraries are just as important as they were in Carnegie’s time, serving as ‘e-hubs,’ where citizens can access scholarly research from around the world.
Sharing solutions: How eLearning can tackle health worker shortages
The Ebola crisis in West Africa exposed the overwhelming need for trained healthcare professionals. But as many educational institutions are already stretched to their capacities, more and more eLearning modules are being developed to train much-needed nurses, midwives and other health workers outside the classroom.
Open educational resources: taking charge of technology
“The opposite of ‘open’ isn’t closed. The opposite of open is broken.” This quote, by the open-access advocate John Wilbanks, isn’t just applicable to the realm of data – it’s relevant to education, too.
Live and learn: classrooms explore Ethiopia’s utopia
His wife left him, his family disowned him and he was labelled mentally ill all for trying to create a new way of life, but Ethiopian farmer Zumra Nuru has since proven that his ideas for equality and justice were the key to reducing poverty and increasing development. Starting from scratch in 1972, Nuru has created a democratic, sustainable community, where women and men […]
Re-inventing higher education: online, tuition-free and accredited
After reaching its long-term goal of gaining accreditation in 2014, the University of the People (UoPeople), the world’s first tuition-free, non-profit, accredited online university, is setting its sights on Africa.
Kenya’s local solution to a global education problem
With a bit of “luck, good timing and hard work,” Kenyan entrepreneur Tonee Ndungu has been attracting attention both locally and abroad for his innovative solution that makes educational content affordable and accessible to middle and low income families.
‘Inspirational’ Malawian teacher shortlisted for Global Teacher Prize
Andrews Nchessie is a teacher at both Kasungu Demonstration School, and Kasungu Teacher Training College in Malawi. Beyond that, he is a pioneer within the Malawian educational system, developing new and improved ways for young Malawian children to learn, and also for Malawian teachers to improve how they teach their young students.
What’s wrong with Facebook-sponsored Internet access?
Is limited access to the Internet better than no access at all? This is a question posed by John Naughton, author and professor of the public understanding of technology at the Open University, in a recent Guardian diatribe against a Facebook app that offers free connectivity to developing nations. Naughton’s answer is ‘no’.
