Kenya - Al Kags — Strategist, Social Entrepreneur, Writer

December 24, 2016

An unusually happy post about Safaricom

These holidays in my shags (Malindi), I decided that I was going to get a more significant internet connection that the modem. I enjoy a strong fibre connection at my Nairobi home and workplace so why in 2016, should I not enjoy the same in ...

December 12, 2016

Naivasha Tragedy: We are full of shit.

40 people lost their lives in one place, at almost the same time - for most of them, minutes apart. Their lives literally went up in smoke at Karai, leaving countless others bereft. From that horrific event, the news took a predictable turn. That road ...

August 26, 2016

Last year, I attended the very successful Africa Open Data Conference and there I said some things that I was later told are unpopular within the Open Data industry - particularly in the civil society. On reflection, I find that I still stand by what ...

July 10, 2016

#OdeToYouth Lesson 15: Start saving today! Seriously, you’ll thank me later.

Wandia Gichuru, Managing Director, Vivo Activewear By Wandia Gichuru / Adapted from her Nation Interview with Thomas Rajula (June 30, 2015) I was 21 when I graduated from university, so I spent most of my 20s working. My first real job was in Montreal, Canada. More than ...

April 19, 2016

#OdeToYouth Lesson 11: Be the great person you are supposed to be – NOW.

I often enjoy listening to the BBC World Service in traffic as a means of engaging my mind. I started listening to the World Service while I was still living in that servant's quarter room I told you about earlier. One of my favorite people ...

March 16, 2016

Mourning tourism – especially in my hometown Malindi

Lately, my mind has been pre-occupied with tourism in Kenya and its very worrying trends. Much of my childhood was spent in Malindi at the coast of Kenya. My family's primary occupation was tourism but everyone in Malindi depends on tourism - from the hotel ...

January 4, 2016

#OdeToYouth 8: Your 20’s “TurnUp” turns up in your 30’s

At some point when I was in my twenties, I did very many jobs - at one time, I had five jobs: I was working in a small consulting firm business from 7am-4pm, a cyber cafe (they were necessary and mainstream those days) from 4.30pm to 7.30pm, ...

November 18, 2015

#OdeToYouth Lesson 5: Forgive your parents and yourself

When I was in my early 20s, I was very angry person. It didn't take much to get me to fly off the handle and over-react with wild gesticulations and loud admonitions. A small slight would cause me to shout at a hapless person and ...

November 1, 2015

#OdeToYouth: Lesson 2 – Learn how to sweep a floor

My last day of high school was a Thursday. My mother, one of several accomplished hoteliers and caterers in our family, had arranged that I would start apprenticeship at the Tropical African Dream Hotel in Malindi. Apprentices at the hotel were essentially being given practical ...

October 30, 2015

#OdetoYouth: Lesson 1 – Learn hard, Make a brave choice

I left Malindi, where I grew up for a major part of my life on January 6th 2000. I knew that moving to the great big city - at a time that my parents had different ideas of what I should do after high school, ...

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