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General Musings iAdvocate Publications

My News and Views Roundup (2020-)

A curation of essays, interviews, talks, op-eds by and/or featuring yours truly. Also, additional roundups on COVID-19 and for 2014-2019). 2024 Security and Trust in Africa’s Digital Financial Inclusion Landscape (A culmination of a three year project assessing cybersecurity in Africa’s digital financial services landscape, this co-authored paper draws the links between technical aspects of […]

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General Musings iAdvocate Publications

My News and Views RoundUp (2014-2019)

A curation of interviews, talks, op-eds by/featuring yours truly. You can also check out my op-eds for Kenya’s Daily Nation (2014-2017) here and 2020 onward here. 2019 Recapping 2019: a special podcast interview with Dickens Olewe BBC 100 Women 2019: Who is on the list this year? (Yours truly was! 😊) On Conferences/Events about Africa(ns) […]

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iAdvocate Publications

A Tech Policy ‘Starter Pack’ for African Innovators and Techpreneurs

I know…policy is a put off for many. It’s that space for the old men and government types that we love to hate. Bears repeating, however, that failing to engage – worse, ignoring- the unfolding ICT policy space is myopic for all ye techpreneurs. I bet you it will only come back to bite you […]

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iAdvocate

Hundreds of Fabulous Kenyan Women signed up to #SayNoToManelsKE

Back in May 2016, I wrote for the Daily Nation on this nefarious issue of all male panels, otherwise known as manels. They are pervasive. They are normalised.  They are problematic. The reactions to the piece have been interesting to follow, primarily via the #SayNoToManelsKE and #SayNoToManels hashtags.  (Other hashtags highlighting this issue globally include […]

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General Musings iAdvocate

On Writing about Tech in Africa (part 2): our toothbrushes, toilets and bulbs

 Back in 2009, some journalist -perhaps trying to make her story about “the pearl of Africa” land some eyeballs- stated that Uganda was “a place where cell phones could outnumber light bulbs.” Now, that little nugget has morphed into the widely parroted factoid, that there are more mobile phones than bulbs in Uganda. It’s been […]

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iAdvocate

What About the People?

Many democratic societies today are grappling with upholding and defending free speech, as well as drawing the lines on where it crosses over to hate, or even dangerous speech. Hate speech remains a term without a universal definition. In Kenya, recent history is littered with evidence of the impact (but not necessarily a direct correlation) […]

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General Musings iAdvocate

On Writing about Tech in Africa

(As posted on Medium) Read an article (on international media) lately about some tech startup or innovation in Africa? Have the words “disrupt”, “revolutionise”, or phrases like “the next big thing” appeared? Have you found yourself believing that there’s a “tech revolution” across the continent (country) of Africa? Add "disrupt" to that list 🙂 https://t.co/GaYSLs3lc6 […]

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iAdvocate

To appreciate social media’s impact in Kenya, go beyond the surface

There’s a lot of opinion-sharing on social media and blogging in Kenya.Unfortunately, not as much as analysis which is a much-needed exercise in humility for some.  At the Bloggers Forum  recently hosted at the iHub it seemed, for instance, that the working definition of the term ‘blogger’ was anyone who tweets, has a Facebook account, […]

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iAdvocate

Dear Kenyans, Tweet On!

Social media are playing a critical role in lending and amplifying citizen voices in Kenya today, contributing to what has been termed a ‘networked fifth estate’. Citizens are finding and amplifying their own collective voice; we no longer have to wait for the media, the opposition, civil society, religious institutions,the government or any other ‘intermediary’ […]

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iAdvocate

Art Attack: Reclaiming Art

Art is not a preserve for those who fail or aren’t good at ‘everything else’! Art is the revolution! If nothing else sinks in, let this be the take away! Society has been perpetrating this notion that the pursuit of career or livelihood through artistic ventures should warrant a pity party, is the work of […]