Last month, while interacting with Joshua Wanyama, a Kenyan web developer based in Minneapolis, and one the brains behind the nascent African news/blog portal, African Path, it felt I was listening to my own speech. That was how relevant his portal is to me, and I’m sure the other bloggers that have posted about the project probably feel that way.
African Path is one project to watch, just as the Muti-Blog – a new addition to Neville’s Muti. Neviile Newey is a South African and the owner of the wildly successful Muti, a Digg-like, bookmarking and blog/news aggregating combo. If you haven’t seen the News map, a mash up of Google map and Yahoo news feeds, then do so how smart Neville is.
These folks have been able to demonstrate why Africans need to step up to the plate and offer some needed services, particularly in the media coverage of the continent – a topic I have been studying for some time, and which I and few others also intend to actively partake. These, and other pan-African projects I blogged about in earlier posts, are excellent concepts in depth and scope and the least I can do is wish the owners the best.
As the trailblazers, some valuable lessons will be learned from their actions, as well as that of the target population, since their success will depend on implementation and how their users interact with them.
The heat is on, and the clock is ticking, who makes it and who flunks? This is a question only time will answer. This is going to be an exciting year.