Ideas factory
It is getting hard to be upbeat about Africa, especially in light of the political crisis in Zimbabwe. The country's bombastic president, Robert Mugabe, continues to hog African news after being re-elected to office, sparking calls for new sanctions against his administration for alleged human rights abuses. Despite the best efforts of celebrity political activists such as Bono and Bob Geldof, the continent remains plagued with tyranny, corruption and poverty.
What has proved to be better than a rock-star-led charity event is the blog AfriGadget (www. afrigadget.com), which shines a light on how African innovation is solving everyday problems. It has been high on the radar, thanks to the attention of BuzzFeed, Boing Boing and other trend-spotting websites.
Pulled together by a slew of volunteers, AfriGadget debuted in 2006. Since then it has faithfully documented the lo-tech triumphs of African inventors who are good at thinking outside the box and thriving in the face of acute budget constraints.
Devices highlighted by the blog include bamboo bicycles, a paraglider made mostly from plastic bags and a coffee maker fashioned from a mortar shell.
Under the site's surreal and improvised approach to the world, almost any machine, piece of wood or rubbish has applications. With some ingenuity and a twist of the screwdriver, what may be junk to some can be transformed into a must-have gadget for the thrifty.
Ideas about which makeshift gadgets the website should spotlight may come from anywhere. As with a wiki (collaborative website), any source is free to contribute.
Even so, AfriGadget has a kind of aptly ad-hoc management structure. The leading figures include Web marketing strategist Erik Hersman, engineer Juliana Chebet, sanitation expert Juergen Eichholz and communications specialist Steve Mugiri.
Weighing the future for the digital journal, Mugiri says: 'The challenge lies in being able to identify stories that will engage our audience, which is mainly in the western world.' He adds that the task is complicated because volunteers are responsible for all of AfriGadget's editorial, financial and administrative functions.
Each volunteer has other time-consuming commitments. Mugiri, for instance, is heavily involved in the East African music scene. Consequently, the editors rarely find time to get out in the field and meet innovators whose work warrants inclusion.
Because poverty promotes mental agility, Africa is teeming with innovators, who are classed as 'cheetahs'. These represent entrepreneurial dynamos, in stark contrast with the 'hippos' (lazy bureaucrats flopping in mud).
Some innovators are all the more effective because they have been making things since childhood, when they built their own toys. As a result, useful cobbled-together machines that rip up the rulebook are common in Africa.
Despite the despots in their midst, the AfriGadget gurus are producing an abundance of riches.
