MyWeku

“When a needle falls into a deep well, many people will look into the well but few will be ready to go down after it”. It is with great pleasure that we unveil MyWeku’s 20 Rainmakers or the people we think have created the most imapact to effect positive change in 2010. Some have been around for a while but are still as relentless in the pursuit of thier goals as when they firsTOPt started, testament to thier unyielding spirit and staying power. Others have only come to the fore this year. Its taken the best part of a year to carefully compile this list. In the process some have been replaced by some whose impact even though recent has justified thier inclusion. Our 20 Ultimate Rainmakers are represented in each of the categories: Politics, Entertainment, Style & Fashion, Tech, Business, Videography, Human Rights, Green, Sports,  Education, Media, Arts and Philanthropy.

Ory Okolloh – Technology

Our technology rainmaker, Okolloh hails from Nairobi, Kenya. Ory Okolloh, a Harvard law graduate, founded the website Ushahidi (which means “testimony” in a Swahili) to map and crowdsource informant-provided news of rapes, murders, and stranded refugees. The platform, which uses information gathered from texts, phone calls, or emails, has since been used to track violence in Pakistan, elections in India, snowdrifts in Washington, D.C., and thousands of trapped earthquake victims in Haiti.  A vetran in the African blogoshere Ory Okolloh, made great use of her blog Kenyan Pundit to recruit techies to get Ushahidi started. Website: Ushahidi.com     

K’naan – Entertainment

K’naan whose name means “traveller” was born in Mogadishu, Somalia where he spent his formative years, partly as a child soldier. He is reputed to have left Somalia with his mother and two siblings on the last commercial flight to leave the country before it crumbled, firstly to New York and then later to Ontario, Canada. His song Waving Flag was one of the official songs at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa and has become synonymous with South Africa 2010. Website: Knaan 

 

 

Bethlehem Alemu – Business

Bethlehem Alemu became a 2010 rainmaker by taking SoleRebels a shoe company located in the heart of Addis Ababa to new heights. SoleRebels, which uses old car tires as the sole material for its shoes stepped onto the global stage this year with Amazon, Urban Outfitters and a host of other international retailers stocking thier products. Bethlehem Alemu has become the face of a new generation of Africans taking social entrepreneurism to inspiring levels. Website: SoleRebels 

 

   

Just a band – Videography

Just a band are a Kenyan pop group adept at mixing bumping club tracks with cool hip hop and heartfelt down-tempo tracks. This year saw the video to their song Ha-He become the first African video to become a viral internet sensation. The video, starring Makmende a fictional super hero, generated over 25,000 hits in a week and garnered intense media coverage from the African blogoshere, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, Global Voices and others. The success of this video and subsequent discussions and analysis has revolved around the extent to which Kenyans and other Africans have not only adopted social media but have become active players in determining what and who becomes a viral sensation on the internet.  Video: Super Hero Makmende

Jepchumba - Digital Art

Jepchumba, originally from Kenya is the founder of the African Digital Art Network. Art made with digital media is slowly becoming established. It is, therefore, heartening to know that Jepchumba’s work in providing a comprehensive forum for African Digital artists and promoting discussions about how technology interacts with art and culture has been recognized. The Network an online community within the African Digital Art network has the biggest collection of African Digital Artists online. A fair number of Africa’s growing list of animators such as the creators of Bino & Fino and Shrinkfish can be found showcasing thier films here. Website: African Digital Art   

 Maggie Otieno – Arts

Maggie Otieno runs African Colours, a premier internet space for the promotion of contemporary African art since 2000.  Maggie Otieno has been instrumental in not only building a formidable platform for contemporary African artists, but ensuring as evidenced by this year’s re-design of the site that the organization continues to be the front runner on all things African art. The central office of African colours is in Nairobi and its work is supported by representatives in Africa, Europe & America. The African Colours website is in the list of top ten African Art Websites. Website: African Colours   

Emeka Okafor - Innovation

Emeka Okafor continues to be the driving force behind Maker Faire  Africa (MFA), an organisation set up to create awareness of African innovation.  This year’s event held in Nairobi, Kenya saw makers across Africa such such as Robert Mburu’s security systems and  Simon Mwaura Kimani‘s inbuilt house system that gives you the ability to control your lights, TV etc via SMS win MFA’s awards for 2010.  Emeka’s other interests include sustainable technologies in the developing world and paradigm breaking technologies in general. His blog, Timbuktu Chronicles seeks to spur dialogue in areas of entrepreneurship, technology and the scientific method as it impacts Africa. Website: Maker Faire Africa  

 Museke – music

Our music rainmakers are a group of Africans who created what is fast becoming the most comprehensive database of African music and information online.  Museke.com is managed by a group of African music fans from around Africa, namely Ato Ulzen-Appiah – Chief Eexecutive Officer, Suuch Solutions – Chief Technical Officer, Keitumetse Diseko - Chief Marketing Officer, Edward Mabonga – Chief Financial Officer and Jacqueline Ngo Mbus - Chief Content Officer. They are young Africans who love African music and love to listen to music from other African countries. Some are based in the US, the UK and in Africa.The Museke project is the go to place for lyrics to African songs.  The site launched its Museke Online Africa Music Awards (MOAMAs) this year to showcase and to celeberate the best African music has to offer. Website: Museke

Olufemi Terry – Author

Sierra Leone’s Olufemi Terry won the 2010 Caine Prize for African Writing, arguably Africa’s leading literary award, for ‘Stickfighting Days’. The Economist’s Literary Editor Fiammetta Rocco one of the judges described the book as “ambitious, brave and hugely imaginative” and stated that Olufemi Terry’s ‘Stickfighting Days’ “presents a heroic culture that is Homeric in its scale and conception. The execution of this story is so tight and the presentation so cinematic, it confirms Olufemi Terry as a talent with an enormous future”. Other shortlisted authors included Lily Mabura and Namwali Serpell both of whom were featured on MyWeku.

Solari Ekine – Human rights

Solari Ekine, decribes herself as a Nigerian feminist, human rights activist and scholar. Maya Angelou was once quoted as saying “Courage is the most important of all the virtues , because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently”. Courage to speak up for victims and against thier opressors is what Sokari Ekine does best through her blog Blacklooks.org.  Website: Blacklooks.org      

 

   

 

Ethan Zuckerman a co-founder of Global Voices and a member of Ushahidi’s Advisory Board describes himself as “an activist, blogger and geek, living in Western Massachusetts and working in Cambridge as a research fellow at the Berkman Center, Harvard University,  interested in ways that citizen’s media can address longstanding biases in the news media”. Ethan who runs a personal blog called “My Heart’s in Accra…” continues as he has always done in engaging and puting his experience and knowledge of the tech world to great use on the African continent and elsewhere. Ethan was quick to send an encouragement note with postive comments about this website via tweeter at the beginning of this year for which we shall always be grateful. Personal Website: “My Heart’s in Accra…”    

Ndesanjo Macha – Media

Our second media rainmaker is Ndesanjo Macha a blogger, journalist, lawyer and digital activist from Tanzania who is credited with setting up the first ever blog in an African language – Jikomboe (which means free yourself in Swahili). Ndesanjo has worked with Congolese refugess as a human rights lawyer in Namibia and as a columnist for a newspaper in Tanzania. Ndesanjo, as the Regional Editor for Sun-Saharan Africa is instrumental in selecting and bringing out fascinating and interesting stories through the Global Voices Network to a global audience. Website: Global Voices Africa    

 

 Vote or Quench - Politics

As the story goes an open letter published on CNN from Nosarieme Garrick, 25 years old, to Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan lead to the creation of Vote or Quench. The goal of Vote or Quench is to “engage young people in deciding what happens next in Nigeria and informing our youth on the importance of voting, the candidates running, and how each prospective administration will affect them”. This is a great initiative especially given that the four young people who kickstarted this initative have never actually been in the same room together! What is impresive is the use of fellow Nigerians such as Nneka Egbuna that the youth can identify with in promoting the importance of voting.  Website: Vote or Quench   

Lola Remi – Style and Fashion

Our style and fashion rainmaker, Lola Remi, launched Agnes & Lola, her UK based fashion boutique in August 2010 to make African clothes more accesible. Throught the year we have showcased some of the main African fashion websites and some of the movers and shakers  in the African fashion industry. Agnes & Lola promises to reinvent the way Africans market and promote African prints. A business model that is hoping to place emphasis on bringing fashion desgners together to break into the world’s fashion market is indeed a breath of fresh air. As Xaverie Bakemhe, one of the designers at Agnes & Lola eloquently put it recently on CNN “If we are not able to break into the world market then we need to come together to move forward” . Website: Agnes & Lola     

 

Patrick Awuah – Education

 Patricks G Awuah Jr a Ghanaian, was a Microsoft Corporation engineer and programme manager for 8 years. A Haas Business School graduate (UC Berkeley USA) where he enrolled with the aim of picking up managerial skills to found his own university in Ghana in 1997 has been a revelation. His university Ashesi University has established itself as one of the most forward looking instituitions in Africa. Website: Asheshi University     

 

Jorn Lyseggen – Education

Jorn Lyseggen another education rainmaker was responsible for bringing one of the most innovative entrpreneurial education instituitions to Ghana in 2008. The Meltwater Entrpreuneurial School of Technology (MEST) has a vision to create wealth and jobs locally in Africa. By training and mentoring young Africans to start their own software companies that compete successfully in the global marketplace, MEST aims to establish a generation of software entrepreneurs who inspire generations to follow in their footsteps. It is his desire that companies launched by graduates through the MEST program will inspire a future prosperous technology industry in Africa. Website: Meltwater Entrpreneurial School of Technology (MEST)     

Ghana‘s Black Stars – Sports

Our sports rainmakers are the Black Stars of Ghana, lead by Asamoah Gyan who plays as a striker for Sunderland FC in the English Premier league. The Black Stars represented not only Ghana but an entire African continent desperate to do well at the FIFA World Cup Football tournament held in Suth Africa. Even though the team was ultimately eliminated in rather fortuitous circumstances as they aimed to be the first ever African team to get to the semi finals of the tournament, they won many friends with thier scintillating brand of football. Website: Ghana Black Stars        

 

Gashaw Tahir – Green    

 

In 2004 as most people will recall, Kenya’s Wangari Maathai became the first African woman to win the Nobel Prize for her sterling work on the environment. Wangari Maathai started a campaign to plant tens of millions of trees across East Africa. Gashaw Tahir, an Ethiopian, following in the footsteps of Wangari Maathai this year has so far collaborated with Ethiopian youth to plant 1 million trees on 11,000 acres of land in Ethiopia. Website: Gashaw Tahir Video    

    

     Wale Tinubu – Business Leader

Wale Tinubu, the Group Chief Executive of Oando was awarded the prestigious ‘African Business Leader of the Year 2010′ award. An LLM graduate from the London School of Economics, Tinubu lead Oando to be the first African company to get listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange with a market capitalization of more than three billion South African Rand. He is an ardent advocate for the African continent and one of a few group of business leaders positively changing the way business is done across the continent. In a recent interview on CNN Wale spoke about how he started in business and gives advice to prospective business leaders. Website: Oando Plc

Moh Ibrahim – Philanthropist

This year’s Forbes Magazine listed all 1,011 billionaires in the world that made the cut. Amongst this peerless group was Mo Ibrahim. There are some “wrongs and rights” with showcasing billionaires. Mo Ibrahim, however, has contributed immensely to the African continent by setting up the “Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership” worth about $5 million a year, awarded to the best African political leader. Mo Ibrahim is an ardent advocate of rebranding Africa. He was quoted this year as saying “All we hear about Africa in the west is Darfur, Zimbabwe, Congo, Somalia, as if that is all there is. Yet there are 53 countries in Africa, and many of them are doing well”.

And it won’t be long before we start putting together next year’s list of Rainmakers, so be on the lookout for inspirational people who are pushing the boundaries in their fields — who are willing to look at things and take the risk of saying, “I think I can do this better” and if you do find them do please tell us who by emailing us here:  voices@myweku.com