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Kenya's iHub Creates Accelerator Program For Tech-Hardware Entrepreneurs

Posted by timothy on from the manifesting-destiny dept.

An anonymous reader writes: The iHub in Nairobi has long been at the epicentre of tech developments in Africa, and has been lauded by both Barack Obama and Satya Nadella in recent weeks. It currently has about 3000 software devs registered as members, but since last year has been building a makerspace for hardware entrepreneurs, too. Gearbox, as its called, it's just launched its first incubation program with the backing of Village Capital, offering $100,000 in investment opportunities for 12 entrepreneurs through a three month program. According to the organisers, it's the first of its kind on the continent. (It's certainly not the first hackerspace in Africa, though -- even in 2012, there were quite a few.)

16 comments

  1. do-de-do-de-do-do-do-do by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I blessed the rains down in Aaaaaafrica.

    1. Re:do-de-do-de-do-do-do-do by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I blessed the rains down in Aaaaaafrica.

      The once mighty Slashdot has been reduced to this.

    2. Re:do-de-do-de-do-do-do-do by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      In Soviet Russia, APK's hosts file updates systemd!!!!

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    3. Re:do-de-do-de-do-do-do-do by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah yes, the good old days of when Slashdot was the thinking elite of the Internet. Oh, what joy and sadness it is to remember the days of ASCII art penis, Goatse, Natalie Portman covered in hot grits. *sniff*

  2. Thank you Apple. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thank you Apple. Keep up the great work!

  3. Fool me twice... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Isn't this initiative by the same group that kickstarted the "brck" as an open source project then close sourced it soon after funding was complete?

  4. iStuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Naming something an iStuff after say.. 2008 sounds incredibly lame. Even Apple is starting to stop naming its own products iDevices, see Apple Watch for example. I guess Apple will soon rename its iMac and iPhone to something else, maybe MegaMac and MegaPhone or something

  5. We interviewed about 200 devs in Nairobi... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    last summer and not a one of them passed even basic questions that you would expect a high school graduate in the US to know. It was very sad to see just how dishonest the people in NIgeria are. About a third of the resumes claimed to have more than a decade of experience with Java, but not a single person could answer my question what is the difference between a Map and a List in Java. Not a one.

    1. Re:We interviewed about 200 devs in Nairobi... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      So.. you 200 interviewed Kenyan developers .. in Nigeria ? Was is some sort of mass scam baiting ?? If so, nice Safari, you deserve a Golden Pith.

    2. Re:We interviewed about 200 devs in Nairobi... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My company had the same experience. We had a federal grant to pay for the hiring and training, but we couldn't find a single dev that would be worthwhile to hire. I did almost fifty phone screenings, and despite the fact most claimed over ten years experience, none could answer even basic questions that even my son could answer after taking AP comp sci in high school. Not a one could answer the question like what was the difference between a LinkedList and an ArrayList. We hired the best five, since they were basically free, and in three years not a one was able to contribute anything meaningful I thought our interns we hired every summer from Univ of Washington were bad, but these guys were an entirely new level of bad. They didn't cheat or backstab like the devs in our office in Chennai, India, who we caught outsourcing to China, but they just couldn't get anything done. They never faked unit tests like our Indian devs, but they just couldn't make anything work. They committed broken code, but they were better than the Indian devs that work for us that would instead modify the tests so that they would pass.

    3. Re:We interviewed about 200 devs in Nairobi... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You and the parent are the same anon troll. You think all slashdotters are too dumb to notice the similarity of the posts ?
      Put some more effort into your trolling, lazy azz troll - since "dey took mah jerrbs" , you anyways should have plenty 'o time in yer hands.

    4. Re:We interviewed about 200 devs in Nairobi... by dbIII · · Score: 1

      I suggest you try Indonesians if you want a lot of Java experience.

    5. Re:We interviewed about 200 devs in Nairobi... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We know it's not the same poster because the first used "difference between a Map and a List " and the second one used: "difference between a LinkedList and an ArrayList."...

    6. Re:We interviewed about 200 devs in Nairobi... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You Americans should realize that you are not the only ones with the Internet or who know how to program. In Nigeria there are 100 Million PAYING mobile phone subscribers and we need to support them with infrastructure. I find your country culturally saddled with a sick problem from previous centuries.

  6. Just be sure to KEEP THEM IN AFRICA. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And do not include any of US walking dead zombies not their color. I know for certain they are anti-technology but do not want it to be known so they want appearances to be politically correct while they find a way to set back our technology (by missing people and substituting us by a credible one of them).