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Crowdfunded Afrimakers To Bring Arduinos, Raspberry Pis To African Tech Hubs

Posted by samzenpus on from the hands-on dept.

An anonymous reader writes "There's a chronic shortage of tech savvy teacher all over Africa, and at the same time a strong belief that the tech economy is vital to growth. Enter Afrimakers, a crowdfunded project to visit tech hubs in seven continents and leave behind Arduino boards, Raspberry Pis, soldering kits and — most importantly — the smarts to use them. The Indiegogo fund opened up a week or so ago, and they've managed to raise enough for the first two countries so far."

25 of 61 comments (clear)

  1. unemployed Americans, emigrate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    There be jobs in Africa!

    Good luck getting past the TSA.

  2. Raspberry Pi and Arduino by kriston · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The Raspberry Pi is great for software hacking.

    The Arduino is great for both software hacking and hardware hacking.

    The Pi can be expanded to add effective hardware abilities, but it's more of a software platform. The Arduino is much better for hardware hacking.

    I'm glad to see they are both being offered. Just don't offer a soldering iron kit with the Raspberry Pi. That's for the Arduino.

    --

    Kriston

    1. Re:Raspberry Pi and Arduino by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I wouldn't say that, the arduino is not at all good for software anything. They are far too limited when it comes to memory. For hardware hacking the arduino is indeed superior because it has an ADC and is realtime and the pi is not. However, I think if you are looking for an all in one device the Pi is it. If you want the whole shebang, get both and connect them through a logic level converter UART to UART. Then you have a Pi with an ADC and all the extras.

    2. Re:Raspberry Pi and Arduino by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Especially in a country where 300 bucks ain't just the price of a Christmas gift but rather your annual food budget...

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  3. Wat? by Barny · · Score: 1

    "...visit tech hubs in seven continents..."

    When did Antarctica get a tech hub?

    --
    ...
    /me sighs
  4. Apparently... by luckymutt · · Score: 1

    ---There's a chronic shortage of tech savvy teacher all over Africa

    Apparently there is also a shortage of English teachers.

    1. Re:Apparently... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      No, teacher is singular. There's only one tech savvy teacher who travels all over Africa to teach.

    2. Re:Apparently... by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      Still wrong; with countable nouns the partitive takes a plural.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  5. Sigh... by axlash · · Score: 1

    Not another "technology will save 'Africa'" story - as though 'Africa' was a monolithic entity.

    It's possible that this program will produce some enthusiastic and talented programmers in Africa... but when those programmers realise that it's frustrating writing programs when there's only a few hours of power a day, internet access is flaky, corrupt and predatory government frustrates their efforts to set up a business, and some big company overseas beckons them to work, they probably won't remain in Africa for very long.

    In any event, I think it would be better to focus more on the business side of things (i.e. how can technology aid your business) rather than technology for technology's sake).

    --
    Deal with reality - the world as it is - rather than ideality - the world as you would like it to be.
    1. Re:Sigh... by adamoxford · · Score: 1

      Fortunately Afrimakers isn't that kind of story. The guys behind it were invited to try and visit by the people who run tech hubs all over the continent - the only reason it's 'Africa' rather than individual countries is that there is a pan-continental network of hubs that work together to try and do exactly those things you mention. They've asked Afrimakers to visit to supplement that work they do around entrepreneurship etc. As for developers leaving the continent - there is also an opposite effect taking place. Diaspora who've gone overseas, learned skills, and are returning to set up social enterprises or take advantage of the big growth rates and start businesses.

    2. Re:Sigh... by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      My dad said yes. We had a few pretty good governments right after WW2. It seems you just have to stuff politicians into concentration camps for a few years to set them straight.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    3. Re:Sigh... by axlash · · Score: 1

      Fortunately Afrimakers isn't that kind of story. The guys behind it were invited to try and visit by the people who run tech hubs all over the continent - the only reason it's 'Africa' rather than individual countries is that there is a pan-continental network of hubs that work together to try and do exactly those things you mention. They've asked Afrimakers to visit to supplement that work they do around entrepreneurship etc. As for developers leaving the continent - there is also an opposite effect taking place. Diaspora who've gone overseas, learned skills, and are returning to set up social enterprises or take advantage of the big growth rates and start businesses.

      Thanks. I read the original article, and I got the impression that there was more emphasis about teaching tech to children than working with would-be entrepreneurs to help with their businesses.

      I know that there are Africans who have worked abroad returning to their home countries, but sadly, there are far more Africans remaining abroad, or worse still, seeking to leave. But perhaps it doesn't matter - you only need a few enterprising souls to kickstart something good.

      --
      Deal with reality - the world as it is - rather than ideality - the world as you would like it to be.
    4. Re:Sigh... by jones_supa · · Score: 1

      corrupt and predatory government

      Is there any other kind?

      http://cpi.transparency.org/cpi2013/results/

    5. Re:Sigh... by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 2

      My opinion on Africa is that the currently-modern countries are fine; the starvation-level countries need feudalism in the short term; and the type of technology to deploy in many of these places will be different than what we use here. That is to say: more sustainable, self-sufficient technology that needs less infrastructure will suit underdeveloped countries in that region better, but porting that same tech here would just get lots of greenie-weenie gum-flapping and high implementation fees to little benefit. Major infrastructure in the poorer regions of Africa of course would just devastate their economy; while actually providing sanitization and food distribution and education at an acceptably high level without requiring a multi-mega-bajilliotrillion-gold-pieces bootstrap they can't afford to maintain, much less implement in the first place, would give them a vehicle for economic prosperity.

      --
      Support my political activism on Patreon.
    6. Re:Sigh... by blackraven14250 · · Score: 1

      Most of Africa's governments are in an entirely different league than the governments you're more familiar with.

    7. Re:Sigh... by Monsuco · · Score: 2

      It's possible that this program will produce some enthusiastic and talented programmers in Africa... but when those programmers realise that it's frustrating writing programs when there's only a few hours of power a day, internet access is flaky, corrupt and predatory government frustrates their efforts to set up a business, and some big company overseas beckons them to work, they probably won't remain in Africa for very long.

      Not all of Africa is impossible to do business in. Kenya's government, while not good, is at least stable and mostly functional. Botswana has seen very dramatic economic growth and is starting to emerge in the global markets as a viable place to do business.

      Sure, Somalia's too unstable, Nigeria's too factional and Zimbabwe is too corrupt, but there are parts of Africa that could potentially benefit from better tech in schools.

      --
      The Gospel according to lolcat
    8. Re:Sigh... by thecueball5166 · · Score: 1

      Thanks. I read the original article, and I got the impression that there was more emphasis about teaching tech to children than working with would-be entrepreneurs to help with their businesses. In my mind it's hard to separate the two. What's emerging is a movement that includes things like Afrimakers and takes in both ends of the scale. It's different to the way a lot of governments and businesses are approaching the problem, which is to try and start teaching people after they graduate - which is too late really (although unavoidable atm). This is very much the long term view :) Then again, reading some of the other comments here, I think I may need to do more explaning in future articles about just what's happening in many countries now. A lot of views seem to be about 30 years out of date...

    9. Re:Sigh... by thecueball5166 · · Score: 1

      ^^ Gah - managed to strip all the formatting out of that last comment some how, apologies.

    10. Re:Sigh... by axlash · · Score: 1

      Then again, reading some of the other comments here, I think I may need to do more explaning in future articles about just what's happening in many countries now. A lot of views seem to be about 30 years out of date...

      I wouldn't bother, really. The holders of those views hold them more for emotional than logical reasons.

      --
      Deal with reality - the world as it is - rather than ideality - the world as you would like it to be.
  6. Raspberry Pis by mythix · · Score: 2

    That's nasty

  7. Oh great.. by Virtucon · · Score: 1

    More 419 scams from Nigerian princes and Craigslist ads wanting to pay top dollar for iPods, iPhones.

    --
    Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
  8. More African princes asking for money? by Andover+Chick · · Score: 1

    Sadly tech these tech pushes in Africa inevitably end with scams, fraud and various other forms of internet crime. Although cheap hardware allowed countries such as India to rise to the top of the software tech world, Africa has notoriously high levels of crime.

    1. Re:More African princes asking for money? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I really don't think so. I can give you so many case studies in hubs like Angola, Tanzania, Kenya or South Africa where this isn't the norm. I am Kenyan so I get heavily biased...lol but I think projects like Mpesa, Ushahidi, Brck that are encouraging. Tech hubs and spaces like mlab, 88mph, Google ventures for africa e.t.c can't be that bad for the region.

      I think some of the tech especially in the government and economic sector push for more transparency more than anything that why most governments fight to open up their data or put open data initiatives within government.

      As for cheap hardware, I am still rocking my IBM T40 running linux. You don't need anything that elaborate to learn the basics especially at a young age. But I can be wrong.

      PS: Africa is not a country? Nigeria != Africa.....haven't studied geography in a while but there is some other 50+ countries and 10000+ tribes each with their own customs and mannerisms. But I did use that 'I am an African Prince and the Serengeti is my back yard' to get some love with the ladies first year of college. I know lame but had to. Damn, went on a tangent but I hope you get the gist of my argument.

      Peace.

  9. Re:"African tech hubs" - an oxymoron... by Monsuco · · Score: 1

    What have Africans done for the world?

    Humanity likely came into existence in Africa.

    --
    The Gospel according to lolcat
  10. Nothing new here by WML+MUNSON · · Score: 1

    I don't mean to piss on this girl's project but, unless she's going to do this in places like Goma or Juba, she's not doing anything new or particularly special in Africa.

    Many African countries have had successful domestic tech scenes for longer than most people realize. That includes robotics communities, network operator groups, Linux user groups, ICT associations, and more. There are a lot of incredibly talented and dedicated people here who have been tirelessly building these communities for a very long time.

    Sub-Saharan Africa started to become hip about three years ago. Ever since then we've been practically drowning in hackathons and other feel-good tech events organized by "movers and shakers" from the west.

    I'm ranting a bit, so don't get me wrong; all of these projects have a positive impact. I'm just sick of hearing about how "innovative" some people are for doing stuff that's already been done before just because they're the first people to yap about it on-line.