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Archive

Why not? Why can’t Kenya vote via SMS?

In my last post, I promised to share my musings on the Kenyan elections. I did muse a little on this subject at the NDI Conference on Technology and Transparency and in general, the faces of my audience told me that I am too simplistic ...

NDI Conference: Open Data and Elections

This past week I was invited by the National Democratic Institute team in Kenya to speak at a conference they organised in Nairobo to discuss the elections. They asked me to discuss lessons from the Kenya Open Data Initiative that might be useful in thinking ...

Al Kags named New Generation Leader for Africa 2012

I am humbled and honoured to be named a New Generation Leader for Africa 2012, by the Africa Leadership Network. According to Fred Swaniker, famously of the Africa Leadership Academy, I was nominated from "thousands of candidated from the continent." Named this year to stand alongside African ...

Random thoughts from dowry negotiations

Today I attended a wonderful ceremony – a Gikuyu traditional dowry negotiation. In this age, such things as dowry have been given bad connotations laced with greed, backwardness and a lack of regard for human life (particularly that of the woman). I would not feel ...

Talking about Business Intelligence @ICPAK

Today I had the privilege of speaking to Certified Public Accountants at the Annual Conference of ICPAK in Mombasa. The topic that I was asked to speak on was Business Intelligence as a driver for business growth. The presentation I made can be downloaded here. Having ...

Kenya Open Data Initiative one year on

I have just returned to Kenya from a week-long trip to Washington DC, where I attended the International Open Government Data Conference (See the liveblog) that was co-hosted by the World Bank Group and the US Open Data Initiative, dubbed data.gov. Coming one year after the ...

Are Social media sites the future really?

Lately, I have been asked to contribute thought to managers on the subject of social media. Is it an annoying distraction propagated by a group of unfocused, flighty youth who have no social skills and who cannot spell to save their lives? Or is social ...