In August South Africa celebrated Women’s Month. Memoirs of
1956 were recaptured all around us and not to keep you in the history web, I'll fast foward to 2012...
If you don’t know Ory Okolloh, I’ve got one word for you – Google!
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| Ory Okolloh |
I attended a conference where one of the main speakers was
Victor Dlamini (a thought leader of our times); he spoke
about Africans making a conscious choice of producing home-grown
solutions and content. It made me think of how much I struggle with ‘aunthetic’
content when researching African culture as in most instances it's compiled in a third person’s
perspective.
I started following Ory on Twitter
(@kenyanpundit) last year after I read about Ushahidi.com and
Mzalendo.com which she co-founded. This Kenyan born change-maker is
Google’s Policy Advisor for Africa who graduated from Harvard Law School. One
of her goals is to explore ways to get Africans reading about Africans, and for
Africa to reach internet usage levels comparable to that of the Western world.
One of her greatest challenges I reckon is lobbying African governments to
invest in infrastructure that will ensure accessibility of w.w.w in the
continent.
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| Ory Okolloh |
“The internet needs to be treated as an infrastructure. It’s
a core, as critical as electricity, water or roads in terms of a growing economy.” –Ory Okolloh, Forbes
Africa magazine (Aug. 2012 Issue)
Think about it...because you have access to the internet, you have
access to the world. You can start an online business with minimal capital
compared to the conventional ‘brick and mortar’ business. Imagine the
possibilities of women in rural villages trading with the rest of the
world and Africa having it’s own PayPal.
ORY, WE SEE YOU!
While task teams and commissions of enquiries are being
launched by our governments, citizens are developing sustainable solutions and Ola
Orekunrin is one of these citizens...
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| Ola Orekunrin |
In 2009 Ola founded Flying Doctors in Nigeria. Born in the
UK she graduated in Medicine at the age of 21. Confronted
with a tragic encounter of losing her little sister while she
was on holiday in Nigeria due to a heart attack that could have been avoided if
she had received medical help timeously, she decided to sell her car, her house and
her medical training business to raise capital to start Flying Doctors. Ola
booked a one-way ticket to Nigeria and today the company has 10 on-call doctors,
administrators, a helicopter and jet.
OLA, WE SEE YOU!
A Fulbright scholar (recently completed her Masters in
Economics), winner of a South African Music Award and currently in the IPED (International Political Economic & Development)
program at Fordam University in New York, she's a catalyst for social change. She continuously expresses her love
for her country and how she can’t wait to contribute positively to her native continent.
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| Nomsa Mazwai |
I was so proud when I went to Rapsody’s show 2 weeks ago and
she did a track which featured Nomsa. With both women being social activists in their own right, I found myself embracing being a black woman who’s
crossed the South African citizen border to being an ‘African’ of the world.
To all Women in the world – “Let the habit of excellence drive you.”
I dedicate this post to all Africans in diaspora who
contribute positively to their native continent and plan to return and assist
the with advancement of Africa …We
see You!
RIP – Zenzile Mariam Makeba
