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Another Barcamp Cape Coast chapter starts with #bccapecoast 2015

September 11, 2015, 12:56 pm
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This year, we shall have our 5th +Barcamp Cape Coast. It's been great to see what has emerged out of Barcamps in Cape Coast these 5 years. There are startups like +Ahonya.com which now has the +Ahonyabid product. There's the inspiration for +Tech Needs Girls Gh by +regina agyare. But I especially love the growth of people like +kofi yeboah +Kobe Subramaniam +William Osilaja Boampong and +francis kumadoh. The first two are joined by +Rachel Hormeku (also from #Bccapecoast), +Senam Aseye Bridget and +Leonard Hagan to lead the +Barcamp Ghana program in Ghana. With this next theme around 'Equipping the Youth to plan their future today', we at the +GhanaThink Foundation are on course to do more.

Barcamp Cape Coast 2015 is on September 12th at the University of Cape Coast. The organizing team is made up of +Papa Baffoe Aikins +Mantey Joshua +Wilson Seyram Ameamu +sampson oboh +Ansaba Amoah +Kwesi Quagraine and some other volunteers. I'm excited for this event, as always. Especially because I get to be in Elmina, my hometown. Join us there to learn, share and network. Hoping that we congregate and continue network a lot of driven young people based in Cape Coast and beyond. If you can't join us in person, stay tuned to the #bccapecoast hashtag.


Barcamp Cape Coast 2015 is a free networking forum bringing people together for a day of discussion, demos and dialogue on Cape Coast, Ghana and beyond. It will take place on September 12, 2015 at the Faculty of Education Lecture Theatre 9 at the University of Cape Coast. The theme for this year is Equipping the youth to plan their future today. This event will be the 5th BarCamp in Cape Coast as it builds a network of young change makers, doers and entrepreneurs in Ghana. The GhanaThink Foundation has successfully organized 47 BarCamps in Ghana.

This forum will focus on information sharing to enable participants plan their future better. Time-tested teachings along with transcendent trends will be highlighted and discussed in order to help set the paths of youths right. Cape Coast has been a major town for education in Ghana and various stakeholders will be participating in Barcamp Cape Coast.
The Barcamp will feature multiple user-generated breakout sessions about business, social entrepreneurship, technology and development, alongside topics relevant to the Central Region and beyond. There will be a speed mentoringsession where mentors will give insights and answers to questions from attendees. Confirmed mentors include Benedict Entsi Williams (Agrobusiness), +Ekow Simpson (cape360gh), George Nii Tackie (Business Lecturer), +Samuel Kojo Brace (ATL FM Journalist), Felix Osei (Talent Microfinance), +benewaa fosu aka Sarah Fosu (Woman for Girl Initiative), +Jay Yorke (Marketer), +Rosina Dolly (Dolly Foundation), +Elvis Sekyi (First Capital Plus), +Tara Squire (+Tigo Ghana), etc
Register/RSVP at the BarCamp Cape Coast eventbrite website (barcampcapecoast15.eventbrite.com) or text"Barcamp Cape Coast [name] [email address] to 1945 through any mobile network (example - Barcamp Cape Coast Esi Eshun esi@eshun.co). Contact us via barcamp at www.ghanathink.org for sponsorship or partnership opportunities.

BarCamp Cape Coast 2015 is supported by Tigo Ghana, Making All Voices Count, Kasahorow Foundation, Cape 360. Join us to move the Central Region and Ghana forward.
Stay tuned via the #bccapecoast hashtag.
Stay tuned via our social media. Twitter | Facebook | Google+ 

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The second Barcamp in Bolgatanga - BarcampBolga is here!

October 9, 2015, 7:07 pm
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It's early in the wee hours of Saturday morning. I've returned home after being at the Odadee Torch & Bonfire night at Presec. I was wearing a black +Barcamp Tema tshirt. Many Odadee recognized me but also recognised Barcamp. Branding. I am not unable to be at +Barcamp Bolga which happens today due to prior engagements and personal reasons. I am sad though. I really wanted to be at Barcamp Bolga for the team. But like I've told many people, the Barcamp will run smoothly without me. That's the mark of maturity. The +Barcamp Ghana team is taking leadership, spearheading #bcbolga through +kofi yeboah and +Leonard Hagan. +Rachel Hormeku and +Senam Aseye Bridget have done their part too, with +Kobe Subramaniam in the background. +Abdul Razak Dimbie and +Baawuo Gloria together with +Daniel Yakuba +Jon Mydaz and +Frank Bruce are making the second Barcamp Bolga happen, with support from +Joachim Danbo and +Enoch Robot Boy Appiah Junior.

The second Barcamp Bolga promises to be better than the first, +Reuben Griffiths Bekoe has ridden into town, and discovered a waakye map. There's more interest from young people around Bolgatanga and the Upper East region and more gender parity. Other +GhanaThink Foundation members like +Mohammed Muntasir Nashiru +Rukaya sukah +Karima Seidu +Antumwini Amos +Jaynie Micado +Joseph Osei Oppong-Brenya will be there as well. I'll be following the Barcamp via the #bcbolga hashtag, especially on Twitter. Read the press release below to learn more.

Barcamp Bolga 2015 is a free networking forum bringing people together for a day of discussion, demos and dialogue on Bolgatanga, Ghana and beyond. It takes place on October 10, 2015 at VAG Hall in Bolgatanga. The theme for this year is "Building partnership for development- the role of private enterprise". Frank Bruce, the coordinator for this second Barcamp in Bolga, said, “The first of its kind in the Upper East region, Barcamp Bolga has shown the way to connecting people with distinguished business leaders for a day of networking, mentorship, and ideas sharing for the development of Bolgatanga, the region while empowering residents particularly the youth to aspire to achieve”.

TheGhanaThink Foundation has successfully organized 49 BarCamps in Ghana as part of itsBarcamp Ghana program since 2008. BarCamp Bolga 2015 will be the 2nd of its kind and it will showcase of entrepreneurs and innovators in the Upper East region. Frank Bruce recalls, “Since we organised first Barcamp Bolga last year, the team have received overwhelmed response from participants as how our event has inspired them to be achievers and helped them to interact with business leaders in the region who on a regular day is hard to cross them and network

Leonard Hagan of the Barcamp Ghana team said"I'm excited about the second BarCamp to take place in Bolga. I hope this forum is better utilized by the tertiary students, young entrepreneurs and even the unemployed youth to gain ideas on how we can build stronger developmental partnerships. If Bolga for that matter our country will develop, it will take the strong developmental foundations we lay today(our ideas)”.

The 2015 Barcamp Bolga theme explores how the private sector in Bolgatanga and beyond can be active players in pursuing development in this region, especially as partners. Discussions will center on developing various business and industry sectors in Bolgatanga and the Upper East region. Frank Bruce continued, “This year promises to be even invigorating with an array of accomplished individuals in various fields of endeavour assembled to mentor the hearts and minds of participants to spur them for success. You can’t miss Barcamp Bolga 2015, looking forward to meeting you there.”

The Barcamp will feature multiple user-generated breakout sessions in topics relevant to the Upper East Region and beyond. There will be a speed mentoring session where mentors will give insights and answers to questions from attendees. Confirmed resource personnel include +Linda Atibilla (Social Entrepreneur), +Richard Azunre (Lecturer), Jonathan Atuah (Agribusiness), +Fati, Abigail Abdulai (Social Entrepreneur), +Hillary Adongo (Entrepreneur), Ibrahim Dabo (UDS Lecturer), +roger laari (Upright Consult), Joseph Kancha (Agribusiness), etc.
Register/RSVP at the BarCamp Bolga eventbrite website (barcampbolga15.eventbrite.com) or text "Barcamp Bolga [name] [email address] to 1945 through any mobile network (example - Barcamp Bolga Esi Eshun esi@eshun.com). Contact us via barcamp at www.ghanathink.org for sponsorship or partnership opportunities.

BarCamp Bolga 2015 is supported byTigo Ghana,Making All Voices Count, etc.
Join us to move the Upper East Region and Ghana forward.  
Stay tuned via the #bcbolga hashtag.

Stay tuned via our social media.Twitter |Facebook |Google+

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Support as #ReubenRides across #Ghana fundraising for the Cleft Foundation

October 15, 2015, 4:56 am
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You might have seen #ReubenRides on social media. It's one of the coolest things happening in Ghana this year and more people need to know about this. 

On August 10th, 2015, +Reuben Griffiths Bekoe laced his sneakers, pumped on his bicycle and started to ride across Ghana to raise money for the Ghana Cleft foundation as part of his action at home for the Latitude Global Volunteering, ICS where he volunteered for 10 weeks in Cape Coast. 

His cycling tour has taken him from Tarkwa to Takoradi to Cape Coast to Accra to Ho to Tamale and he is currently in Bolga. He's been taking pictures and selfies, posting on social media throughout his journey, ridden with +Wanlov Kubolor, been on the +Joy 99.7FM Super morning show, etc, getting featured by +cecilia amoafowaa sefa on her blog, etc. Remarkably, he's been taking videofies --- taking videos of himself as he's been riding! See a video montage from his Cape Coast to Accra trip.


Love on Wheels, #ReubenRides Cape Coast to Accra
Thank you everyone for making my Cape Coast to Accra ride possible. Check out what I have for you.
Posted by Reuben Griffiths Bekoe on Monday, September 21, 2015
He is taking this challenge of his life in honour of the children who are suffering from Cleft and his late parents Gustav Ayeh Bekoe & Margret Fosua Ayeh. Each one of these special children has survived cleft SURGERY because of their positive attitude and successful surgeries by the Ghana Cleft foundation funded by generous people like you. This is his first bicycle ride across the country and first of its kind in the country, it is his most memorable ride because of the courage and strength of these doctors, family and survivors of these surgeries behind him.

He attended +Barcamp Takoradi, mentored at +Barcamp Cape Coast and attended +Barcamp Bolga as well. Along his journey, he has met and been supported by many +GhanaThink Foundation members, like +Elvis Bomasah +herbert acheampong +Mohammed Muntasir Nashiru to name a few. He will be at +Barcamp Kumasi. We are having a Twitter chat for him tomorrow to support as well using the #ReubenRides hashtag. I think I came up with this hashtag :-)

Our part is easy, all we need to do is to commit to supporting and sponsoring him. His part is a little tougher, he has committed to raising 15,000 for the Ghana Cleft foundation by completing over 15,000 km across the country no matter how long it takes. 
Please donate as generously as you can by sending your donations to the Cleft foundation ECOBANK account number (0213074414843601) Harper Rd, Kumasi or to mobile money number (+Airtel Ghana #AirtelMoney) 0263161964/ (+Tigo Ghana #TigoCash) 0571500010. You can also support and donate online via Indiegogo.

Just in case you need a little extra motivation to sponsor him, here are some few reasons Reuben shares.

ü  Attached to the letter/mail is an approved letter from the Ghana Cleft foundation
ü  You can transform my bicycle into a money machine as I raise 100 a mile.
ü  Your donation closes a gap in the mouth of a cleft child and restores a smile. J
ü   The public can access comprehensive cleft information 24 hours, 7 days a week through the Ghana Cleft Foundation information number +233-27-520-1020 and website www.ghanacleftfoundation.org
ü   You will help me achieve my long-time dream of cycling across Ghana in supporting a charity.

Let's help as #ReubenRides around Ghana.  See another video he just posted yesterday as well. 

#ReubenRidesThanks everyone for how far we've come. I'm VERY HAPPY to say we reached our GHC 1000 today. As a way to say thank you, I have this video for you. Thanks for the love, support, donations, prayers & sharing my posts. We made it together. ***Send your donations to Ecobank A/C 0213074414843601 (Kumasi branch) or Airtel money number 0263161964 / tiGO cash 0571500010 or download groupins on playstore (Contact Jessica) ★igg.me/at/GFnH-h31Zoo★
Posted by Reuben Griffiths Bekoe on Wednesday, October 14, 2015
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Barcamp Ho chalks 5 years of impact and successful #bcho projects

October 22, 2015, 2:47 pm
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I'll be going to Ho for the 6th time this weekend. This will be the 5th time for +Barcamp Ho, I've attended every single Barcamp in #HoCity. The other time I was in the capital of the Volta region, I was attending the funeral of the late Eli Aidam, one of the Barcamp Ho co-founders. We miss him, one of the true young heroes of Ghana. He'll be proud of what we've achieved with Barcamp Ho, especially +Junior Camp Ghana. The current team continues to do a great job, led by +Courage Christson Tetteh. +Gameli Adzaho is still there to give advice and support to others like +Elvis Bomasah +Ousman Saidy +Courage ES +Mark Hammond +Precious Adade and +Harry Akligoh. We need to mention folks like +Eric Tackie Tawiah Ankrah and +Shika Brown as well. The team needs some awesome ladies though, like +Rachel Hormeku and +Senam Aseye Bridget who are part of the +Barcamp Ghana team alongside +kofi yeboah +Leonard Hagan and +Kobe Subramaniam. I'm looking forward to this Barcamp, and the joys of being in Ho around this time. After all, +Party Crew was bloodied, ahem, baptized in Ho. +Seyram Freddy Ahiabor +Ali Bukari Maiga +Donald Ward +David Nikoi will tell you, and +Eyram Tawia and +Nehemiah Attigah will attest. As for +Francis Addai? He's the life of the party! He even met +Mabel Blankson at a Barcamp. Learning, sharing, networking.... continue. You're not coming to Barcamp Ho? Ekekevor! Read more about it below.
Barcamp Ho 2015 is a free networking forum bringing people together to learn, share and network. It is on October 24, 2015 at the University of Health and Allied Sciences Campus (UHAS) Auditorium, Ho. The theme is "Youth as leaders of community development". Barcamp Ho 2015 follows 50 successful BarCamps in Ghana organized by theGhanaThink Foundation as part of itsBarcamp Ghana program. Gameli Adzaho, Barcamp Ho co-founder said, “The BarCamp Ho deserves commendation for fashioning out a unique event that connects young entrepreneurs and innovators from the Volta region and other parts of Ghana. It has provided a fertile nurturing ground for many brilliant initiatives, including +GhanaThink Foundation’s own programmes such as Junior Camp Ghana”.

The 5th Barcamp in Ho hopes to define and discuss how young people can be leaders of community development in Ho and beyond. Courage Tetteh, the Barcamp Ho coordinator opined, “The onus lies on youth to save society from the misery of mediocrity in every facet of community. The solution to the myriad of challenges around us can be diagnosed through idea exchange”. Information about Tigo’s Digital Changemakers competition in conjunction with Reach for Change will be shared. Courage continued, “I call on every youth in every corner of Ho and Volta Region to lead change in any small way they can. Youth are the Change; embrace the change".

The Barcamp will feature user-generated breakout sessions about topics relevant to the Volta Region and beyond. The speed mentoring session will have mentors giving insights and answers to questions from attendees. Some confirmed resource persons are +Mary Eyram Ashinyo (Medical Doctor), +Bright Dey (ICT Coordinator), +Akpablie King Nobert (Citi FM), +Dzidudu Darkey-Mensah (Playwright), +Prince Kotoko (Savana Signatures), +Solomon Yao-Say Selorm Adade (Dietician), +Mawuli Adzoe (Tech Entrepreneur), +leonard lumor (Chaufra Theatre Group), +Kwadwo Duodu (Daily Guide), +Cephas Kojo Jr Quarshie (Leadership coach), +Edwina Crankson (Winnies Cakes), King David Suitor (Wakeup Volta), +Bismark Tay (Leadership coach), +Kafui Adzah (CookHouse), etc.

Register/RSVP at the BarCamp Ho eventbrite website (barcampho15.eventbrite.com) or text "Barcamp Ho [name] [email address] to 1945 through any mobile network (example - Barcamp Ho Esi Eshun esi@eshun.co). Contact us via barcamp at www.ghanathink.org for sponsorship or partnership opportunities.
BarCamp Ho 2015 is supported byTigo Ghana,Making All Voices Count, University of Health & Allied Sciences, LIFE-MAC Foundation, etc. Join us +GhanaThink Foundation to move the Volta Region and Ghana forward. Stay tuned via the #bcho hashtag. Stay tuned via our social media. Twitter | Facebook | Google+
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Barcamp Kumasi lives and discusses Sustainable Entrepreneurial Practices this Saturday

November 4, 2015, 9:44 am
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Kumasi was naturally the next city to have a Barcamp after the ones in Accra. In 2010, the first +Barcamp Kumasi happened at KNUST. This Saturday will be the 6th +Barcamp Kumasi, and the 52nd +Barcamp Ghana event. I'll be there. Kumasi is where I was bred, and where my parents still live. All these years in trying to build a network of changemakers, doers and entrepreneurs in Kumasi, we've been too limited to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology community. As past Barcampers have left Tech and stayed in Kumasi and through the few #KumasiKonnect events pioneered by our own +GhanaThink Foundation, there is a growing inclusion. I pray for the huge number of first time Barcampers this Saturday, with many of them being Kumasi based but not part of the KNUST community. So help us God :-) The team is led by the indefatigable +sampson deklu who is mostly in Ho these days and co-emceed +Barcamp Ho. In fact, he's the first repeat #bcksi coordinator in a while. +Renny Ali & +Daniel Sarpong are on the team for the first time, alongside +Noah Alorwu, a Ketasco alum who is now in Kumasi Poly. +Eva Andoh & +Christian Junior Worgbah complete the team. It's great to have the Kumasi Konnect team of +priscilla sarfo-frimpong +Prince Boadu +Rasheeda Yehuza and +Joseph Osei Oppong-Brenya support where needed. The Barcamp Ghana team of +Rachel Hormeku, +Senam Aseye Bridget, +kofi yeboah, +Leonard Hagan and +Kobe Subramaniam support as well. The team started planning earlier than usual, hope that counts for a better Barcamp. We've consistently had this year's Barcamps be better than last year's, no, I am not jinxing this one :-) Wanna know why this will be better? Let the press release tell you more below.
Barcamp Kumasi 2015 is a free networking forum bringing people together for a day of discussion, demos and dialogue on Kumasi, Ghana and beyond. It takes place on November 7 at the College of Science Auditorium in KNUST. The theme for this year is "Sustainable Entrepreneurial Practices". This Barcamp hopes to assemble stakeholders to network, build a supportive enterprising community and partner to build together. Sampson Deklu, the coordinator, said: “I am looking forward to meet young people ready to implement sustainable practices which would bring national development”.

TheGhanaThink Foundation has successfully organized 51 BarCamps in Ghana. BarCamp Kumasi 2015 will focus on arming participants with information on sustainable entrepreneurial practices. The 6th Barcamp in Kumasi continues to our network of changemakers, doers and entrepreneurs via theBarcamp Ghana program. Kofi Yeboah, Barcamp Ghana Lead, says, “Barcamp Kumasi 2015 is going to be a forum to learn strategies relevant for building sustainable businesses”


As usual, we will have multiple user-generated breakout sessions about topics relevant to the Ashanti Region and beyond. Our speed mentoring session will help participants gain insights and answers to questions. Our confirmed mentors include +Mawuli Amedofu (Springverve),Fred Acheampong (Prestige capital), +Alloysius Attah (Farmerline), +Ebenezer Donkoh (NYDJ), +Kwabena Danso (Boomers Bikes), +J. Gyau Kusi (Google Ambassador), +Patricia Ama Bonsu (Ultimate FM), +Kwamina Quansah  (Black Republic), Frank Mercer (Marketing specialist), +stefan kwakye (Kessben Group), +Jorge Appiah (Creativity Group), Mildred Ofosu-Ennin (MOEI Fashion Designer), +Evans OWUSU AMANKWAH  (YALI Fellow), +Avinash Lakhani (Avros Limited), +Louis Lamis (leizerlegacy), Dr Percy Ampeh (Optometrist), +Michael Buckman (Xceed limited), +Adwoa Yeboah Gyapong (Development Planner), +Gamel Sankarl (Writer),etc.

Register/RSVP at the BarCamp Kumasi eventbrite website (barcampkumasi15.eventbrite.com) or text "Barcamp Kumasi [name] [email address] to 1945 through any mobile network (example - Barcamp Kumasi Esi Eshun esi@eshun.co). Contact us via barcamp at www.ghanathink.org for sponsorship or partnership opportunities.


BarCamp Kumasi 2015 is supported byTigo Ghana,Making All Voices Count, Hapaweb Solutions and  Farmerline.Media partners are College Mag, WatsupTek, HyperActive GH. Join us to move the Ashanti Region and Ghana forward.  Stay tuned via the #bcksi hashtag. Stay tuned via our social media.Twitter |Facebook |Google+
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Barcamp Sunyani 2015 touches on technology training

November 20, 2015, 5:52 pm
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I will never forget the first time I came to Sunyani. The place looked so serene and clean. Over the last couple of years since I've been in the capital of the Brong Ahafo region, many residents have opined about how population growth has taken the cleanliness shine off a bit but the serenity still remains supreme. We've been hearing about violent acts, but not enough to cloud the region. The region is still known for its agriculture, energy and resources. And football too! I'll be watching the #ElClasico in the SunCity. After, #youknowwhat! +Barcamp Sunyani 2015! This will be the 4th +Barcamp Sunyani. Excited about it. Especially the theme dubbed "Technology tool training for these times". We're underperforming in tech use in Ghana and we must step up our game.

+Jean-Baptiste Mantey, the main cofounder, is not in Sunyani now but his tentacles are all over the organization of the event. In his stead, the diligent +Kofi Kafui Kornu is the current lead, pulling the strings to make #bcsyi successful. He is ably assisted by +Joachim Danbo, and +Naa Adjeley Osekre. They have a number of volunteers helping as well, in the spirit of the +Ghana Volunteer Program. The +Barcamp Ghana team of +kofi yeboah +Leonard Hagan +Rachel Hormeku and +Senam Aseye Bridget have played their various roles too. I'm looking forward to seeing this Barcamp be better than all the previous ones in Sunyani, continuing the trend we've seen this year for +GhanaThink Foundation's Barcamps in Ghana. Read the press release below.
Barcamp Sunyani 2015 is a free networking forum bringing people together for a day of discussion, demos and dialogue on Sunyani, Ghana and beyond. It will take place on November 21, 2015 at the Assembly Hall of the Sunyani Municipal Assembly. The theme for this year is the "Technology tool training for these times".


This networking forum would provide an opportunity for participants to learn from, share & network with each other. Participants will be inspired and motivated and get information to do things they love to do. The Lead for the Barcamp Sunyani Team Kofi Kafui Kornu says, "This year's Barcamp Sunyani is going to equip participants with knowledge of, and skills in using available technology tools to increase productivity in their fields of endeavour."


The GhanaThink Foundation has successfully organized 52 BarCamps in Ghana. BarCamp Sunyani 2015 will touch on technological tools can be used by the youth in recent times. There will also be a discussion on how people can be trained to use technology effectively.



As usual, there will be multiple user-generated breakout sessions about topics relevant to the Brong Ahafo Region and beyond. Our speed mentoring session will help participants gain insights and answers to their questions. Sam Biako (Gladsome Food & Beverage), +Inno Amey (KI Amey Services), Audrey Tindana (Ark FM), Ike Frimpong (Sky FM), Joyce Osei (CEO of Mz Joice Kitchen), Samuel Asamani (Nestle), Samuel Nimako-Boateng, Maame Duah (Bui Power Authority), +Myk-El Sumaila (Public Health), +amos katsekpor (SENA) are amongst the mentors confirmed for Barcamp Sunyani 2015.
Register/RSVP at the BarCamp Sunyani eventbrite website (barcampsunyani15.eventbrite.com) or text "Barcamp Sunyani [name] [email address] to 1945 through any mobile network (example - Barcamp Sunyani Esi Eshun esi@eshun.co). Contact us via barcamp at www.ghanathink.org for sponsorship or partnership opportunities.


BarCamp Sunyani 2015 is supported by Tigo Ghana, Making All Voices Count and Ark 107.1 FM. Join us to move the Brong Ahafo Region and Ghana forward.

Stay tuned via the #bcsyi hashtag. Join us on our social media network.Twitter | Facebook | Google+
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Vodafone’s #YeeTwiKor promo is on point

December 3, 2015, 1:57 am
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It’s a great time to be a Vodafone customer as Vodafone Ghana is on a mission to reward 180,000 customers via the Yɛɛ Twi Kɔ promo. I should be one of them, and you too. When Vodafone decides to be loyal, good things happen. Ask Doctor Kay K, he won GHȼ100. Evidence here. I asked my fellow GhanaThink members on whatsapp and one person has won GHȼ5.00. Small small. I asked on Facebook and a friend had gotten 100 points. That's great to see but I also especially love the way this promo has been ran.


I started using Vodafone late last year. At #startcon14, I received a Samsung Note Pro tablet with a Vodafone chip. I continued to hear so much about Vodafone X and promptly signed onto it. It’s been great, though I haven’t used it as much as I enjoy Vodafone broadband (wi-fi). During the height of the #dumsor problems, Vodafone started giving out mobile data to its broadband users as part of appeasing us for the internet challenges. I got my second Vodafone chip. Smart customer move on its part. Another thing to love.


One of the first times I heard about Vodafone’s Yɛɛ Twi Kɔ promo was on TV via the ad with Gasmilla. Gasmilla’s Telemo has been such a huge hit in Ghana that people have started social media campaigns to ensure that it wins the song of the year at all relevant Ghanaian music award shows. Using a hit song that’s in the Ga language for a promo with a Twi language headline is not only innovative and bold, in this particular case it works. The theme song has been my girlfriend’s ringtone for a while and recently, I had to point out to her how much I enjoyed the ringtone. Is it because the song sounds like Telemo? Maybe. But that’s the other brilliant part of this campaign. Side note might be that Gasmilla goes by GasmillaWins on Twitter? :-)




It didn’t surprise me one bit to see Vodafone’s Mass Market manager, at the heart of rewarding promo winners. Gasmilla’s Telemo song also screams mass market. It is as populist as they come with a very catchy chorus. Yɛɛ Twi Kɔ is catchy as well and that dance Gasmilla and co break out at the end of the ad is priceless.

Social media has been part and parcel of many Vodafone promos over the past couple of years. As a heavy Twitter user, I’ve admired the social media engagement. #YeeTwiKor has been trending on Twitter. The best part involves the various winners you’ve taken to social media to showcase winning. @PopsicleV posted a short video with his win, and though he didn’t do a very nice dance like we expected, he let out a shout of joy. The best part was when he sang ‘Telemo’.


So though you might have tried a million times to win and failed, ‘try again’. because as you use data and make calls you are accumulate points which can make you win in the weekly and the monthly cash. Check your point now *5000#..... then the rest can follow. After alll, Gasmilla’s Telemo song talks about ‘“carrying on, in spite of all that happens to you”. Twi kɔ o, twi kɔ! You stand to win a bigger amount that will summon an even better dance.
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Rewarding Vodafone subscribers as #YeeTwiKor

December 3, 2015, 2:44 am
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The announcement to reward 180000 Vodafone customers through the Yɛɛ Twi Kɔ was bold. The odds are high given that Vodafone has over 7 million subscribers. But I could surely get lucky if 180000 people are being rewarded right? My friends have been awarded already.
I have so many friends who swore by Vodafone X that I also started using it eventually. It’s awesome that the #VodafoneX family and the #VodafoneRed family are eligible for this promo. I’ve been enjoying using wi-fi with the Samsung Note Pro tablet which has my Vodafone chip and using expressPay to recharge. This promo has already convinced me to recharge credit the popular way by scratching and topping up.
The Vodafone recharge cards have a new format with features including two scratchable panels - the concealed recharge pin and the hidden prize. Scratch the panel and reveal the identity of the prizes won. I just spoke this into your life, go and recharge now! Amen!

On November 16, 2015, some Kumasi based subscribers were rewarded. William Okoh Sarkodie, (no relation to the popular musician of the same name) a businessman, won the monthly grand prize of GHȼ30,000 while Mustapha Ahmed Toufiq and Eric Lumor took home GHȼ10,000 and GHȼ5,000 respectively. William said he’d use the money to expand his business. There are so many Oseikrom based entrepreneurs and businessmen who could make great use of 30K. Go to Adum and see. This is a good amount to get ahead of the unforgiving Kumasi business climate competition. I like that William said, “The promo is real so take advantage of it to enrich your life.” The promo is real, a few friends already told me they won.
Yee Twi K) winners Kumasi.jpg
The world’s most popular mobile money service has finally arrived in Ghana courtesy Vodafone Cash. One Prisca already won GHC200 via Vodafone Cash. Like her, winners can withdraw the cash at any Vodafone Cash agent or Vodafone Retail Shop nationwide, after successfully registering for the mobile money service.

Even if you scratch and don’t win, and see the ‘Try Again’, you will still be accumulating points which will come in handy later. That’s as you are using the credit to talk, browse, text, etc. My friend Naa Oyoo Quartey has been scratching, topping up and building her points, she details that in a blog post. The more you use, you increase your chances of winning the ultimate GHȼ100,000 prize as well as the many other prizes as part of the 180000 people. This just made me think of all those Oprah Audience Giveaways. Many people are winning big cash in the midst of the try again. Abeg, stay positive, concentrate and learn the rules of the Yɛɛ Twi Kɔ promo. The Grand Draw date is 26th December, 2015 - Boxing Day - at the West Hills Mall. What are you waiting for?
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Nescafe Africa's #GetStartedAfrica winner is Korotoumou Sidibe!

December 3, 2015, 3:54 pm
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The wait is over! Nescafé, Nestlé’s coffee brand, has announced the winner of this year’s Get Startedchallenge, an initiative which aims to inspire young African entrepreneurs to generate innovative ideas to create shared value for the society we live in. Together with some others, we've been tweeting up #getstartedafrica all year! Finale don come :-)

Korotoumou Sidibe, from Mali, beat 3 other finalists to win USD 30,000 ($$$$$) worth of financial and mentoring support from Nescafé to help fulfill her dream. Her dream is to reduce the amount of food waste in Mali and Africa through her unique preservation methods. +Koro Sidibe showed us some of her glorious food mixes when we met her at +Impact Hub Accra in October. Korosaid: “I’m so excited that my project is about to take off thanks to Nescafé!” The Oklahoma based student added, “Each finalist’s dream also has the potential to have real community impact, so this is such an honour. We’re about to get started! I can finally start my food preservation project on a larger scale.”

The runners up are +Pierre Nahoa who seeks to provide access to native language learning courses in Côte d'Ivoire and Africa through his E-BOA'SOUKLOU project; +Dare Adu (Nigeria), who wants to help widows and orphans to become financially independent through his snack shop project; and +moïse compaoré, who intends toreduce the number of deaths that could be avoided at the hospitals through his the emergency box project. I'm happy to know that they each won USD 7,000 to help kick-start their dream projects.

The “Dream Truck” Tour started this. For this year's challenge, nearly 2,000 ideas in the areas of technology, health, culture, community development or the environment were submitted. A number of them were published on the Nescafé Get Started Africa website. 

Ideas were also collected during the Get Started Truck Tour that travelled across Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Ghana between April and June. I had the honour of being in Abidjan while the truck was there. +Emmanuel A. Gamor and I had a blast there! I finally made it to the country of +CYRIAC GBOGOU, +edith yah brou and +Yehni Djidji. We had a great time with the Nescafe team and fellow influencers like +Ameyaw Debrah +Yomi Adegboye +Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata Jnr. CFA and +Basile Niane.

The 4 finalists were selected through a multi-stage voting process by the Nescafé team, which included a public vote on the Nescafé Facebook page and 9 key West African influencers (including yours truly), who reach 1.2 million online users every day. #TalktoUs.

Koro on the Google Hangout with Laura, myself and Cyriac
Koro, Pierre, Dare and Moise were mentored by us the influencers in Accra, Ghana, at the beginning of October via the live communication platform Google Hangouts. It was awesome to see, I learnt a few things about Google Hangouts in this process.

They then presented their business ideas to a jury of African entrepreneurs made up of +Fred Swaniker, Get Started jury leader and co-founder of the +African Leadership Network; +Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji, founder of the RISE Networks Social Enterprise; and Adama Ndiaye, the fashion designer behind +adama paris and founder of Dakar Fashion Week. Fred said: “Nescafé’s Get Started challenge is a wonderful example of something that has inspired young people to think creatively, to innovate and to become role models for other young people about self-reliance and entrepreneurship. This is one influential way that will help young Africans to develop".

Last year’s winner, Muazu Adamu, a 21 year-old-student from Nigeria, won USD 20,000 towards fulfilling his dream of lighting up Africa by boosting power produced from generators through a device called the “power optimiser”.

“Since the beginning of the year, sales have hit close to 400 devices,” said Muazu. “We worked with a client who sponsored a new design and paid for production. So far we have sold up to 300 of the newly designed devices.” I look forward to seeing Koro also do great things with Nestle supporting her dream.

Nescafé’s Get Started challenge supports Nestlé’s way of doing business, which it calls ‘Creating Shared Value’. The company is creating opportunities and improving livelihoods for the communities in which it operates, plus developing its own activities.
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Barcamp Koforidua 2015 champions practical education for successful careers #bckdua

December 4, 2015, 12:54 pm
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Koforidua is an interesting town in Ghana. It's arguably the closest regional capital to Accra, actually it is. But it's not the biggest town in its region, Nkawkaw is. I'll spend a night there this weekend as I attend +Barcamp Koforidua, the 3rd edition. I love how Barcamp Koforidua finally took off. It was thanks to +Nkansah Rexford digging in, the reality that +Samuel Tinagyei was based there, +Billy James Dega's efforts in getting +Eric Amonoo and +Samuel Mari Twum involved from the All Nations University side and the heaven sent +Duncan Elikplim Kwame Gablah and +Jemima Abochie due to the first National Volunteer Day.

This year, after 2 years of taking over All Nations University College's Engineering school, the venue for Barcamp Koforidua will be at the Kama Conference Hall. Yes, Koftown is about 90 minutes from Accra but the Eastern Region's Barcamp won't be happening in Osu. It's in Kofcity! I hope the break from ANUC lends a bigger Koftown feel to Barcamp Koforidua. Because we know ANUC is not the best representation of Koftown. Being where the main market is, is. +Jimmy Othniels and +selorm mamanye will tell you.

Tomorrow, the 3rd Barcamp in Koforidua happens. As usual, the organizing team has been supported in various ways by the +Barcamp Ghana team, +kofi yeboah +Leonard Hagan +Rachel Hormeku and +Senam Aseye Bridget. I know other +GhanaThink Foundation members will be there to rep. They might be wondering about the Koforidua Flowers myth but don't blame them. I am keen to find more information about the origin of my nickname, @Abocco. Read the press release to learn more about Barcamp Koforidua 2015.

BarCamp Koforidua 2015 is a free networking event to bring people together for a day of discussion, demos and dialogue about Koforidua, Ghana and beyond. The event will happen at Kama Conference Hall on December 5, 2015. The theme is "Practical Education for Successful Careers". Barcamp Koforidua is organized primarily by the GhanaThink Foundation, an NGO based both in Ghana and the USA, which has successfully organized 53 BarCamps in Ghana. The Marketing Lead of the Barcamp Ghana Team Rachel Hormeku says, “Barcamps nationwide have inspired changemakers to reach for higher goals. Barcamp Koforidua would be a platform for the youth in Koforidua to discover more practical tools for success in their career.”

Barcamp Koforidua lead Paa Kofi Tinagyei said: “This year's Barcamp is set to activate a conversation that transcends the class, flies past academia as a whole and gets into the heart of business and industry”. Barcamp Koforidua 2015 is the 3rd of its kind and it aims at creating a platform for young people to share ideas on how to identify, clarify and convert opportunities into business ventures by learning to engage and leverage their passions. it also seeks to promote partnerships that are directed towards providing a support base for young entrepreneurs and innovators. We would also discuss how Koforidua and its surrounding areas can be positively affected by youth. Paa Kofi Tinagyei added: “It is about the two heartbeats of the youth of Ghana, which is education and successful businesses. It is our hope that, the ideas, solutions, proposals and action steps we discover and resolve to pursue and promote will help transform our educational structure and produce successful businesses”.


Barcamp Koforidua aims to assemble Koforidua stakeholders to network, build a supportive enterprising community and give birth to lasting professional partnerships. It will feature many young inspirational people based in and outside Koforidua. Confirmed mentors include +Edmund Duodu (DMAC Foundation), +Josephine Marie Godwyll (Young At Heart Foundation), +Sylvanus Gatorwu (Nice 90.9 FM), Billy-James Dega (NSBE), Whit Alexander (Burro Brand), Emmanuel Beresie (Barclays), +Miracule Daniel Gavor (Novan Education), Joanah Owusu (Assembly woman), Nana Addo Dankwa (Speed Banking), Foster Agbobadah (Businessman), Rexofrd Nkansah (Software Developer), etc.


Register at Barcamp Koforidua eventbrite website You can also register by sending “[Barcamp Koforidua] [Your Name] [Your Email Address] to 1945 on all mobile networks (example - Barcamp Koforidua Esi Eshun esi@eshun.co). Contact us via barcamp at www.ghanathink.org for sponsorship or partnership opportunities.


BarCamp Koforidua 2015 is supported by Tigo Ghana,Making All Voices Count, Novan Education, etc.


Stay tuned via the #bckdua hashtag.
Stay tuned via our social media.

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The Father Christmas of Barcamps in Ghana - Barcamp Accra - is here to fight corruption, etc

December 18, 2015, 1:55 pm
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We call +Barcamp Accra the Father Christmas of Barcamps. It normally happens on the Saturday before Christmas but the festive season is not the main driver behind this choice. It is to cater for allowing Ghanaians from all over the world to meet, those in Ghana and in the Diaspora. The Borgas have been arriving and we can see it in the Accra traffic. They'll quickly realise that the top issues in Ghana in 2015 are #Dumsor and #Corruption. The latter is still rife and is the main topic driving Barcamp Accra 2015. Corruption clearly for me are the symptoms of bigger systemic issues we have in Ghana. But why and how do we become corrupt? What can we do to fight this canker? It will be addressed via a panel discussion at +GhanaThink Foundation's 55th Barcamp in Ghana.


After havingBarcamp Voices in Legon in February, Barcamp Accra will also happen at the University of Ghana. It's not only for the Legon community, just like other Barcamps in Accra attract a great diversity of people. It's happening on December 19, as in tomorrow. Missing out? Check the #bcaccra hashtag for updates. Read the press release below to learn more.


BarCamp Accra 2015 is a free networking forum to bring people together for a day of learning, sharing, networking and mentoring. The event shall be held on December 19 at the Central Cafeteria in Legon, Accra. The theme is “The The Fight Against Corrpution: The Role of the Youth”. This Barcamp event will be the 55th organized by theGhanaThink Foundation, as part of itsBarcamp Ghana program which is building a network of change makers, doers and entrepreneurs.

The Director of the+GhanaThink Foundation, Ato Ulzen-Appiah says, "Barcamp Accra is seen as the Father Christmas of Barcamps in Ghana. We have this Barcamp in December to bring us together, whether from all over Ghana or in the Diaspora. Corruption is a canker, we are problem solvers. #Morevim!"
+Nana Akosua Hanson (+Y1079FM&+Viasat 1 Ghana) will moderate a panel on the theme featuring+Anis Haffar (Gate Institute), Kathleen Addy, Nana Akosua Konadu, and+Nana Akwasi Awuah (+Occupy Ghana). Two Tigo Directors, Stephen Essien for Customer Operations and Sylvia Owusu Ankomah of Regulatory Services will be speaking as well. Confirmed mentors include Robert Bennin (Temple Advisory), Adiza Brimah-Annan (Opulence Consult), Kwesi Ampong-Dadzie (Ofamfa Group), Leila Paintsil (Weston Capital), Andrew Tarawali (Injaro Investments), +Mawuli Tse (Solar Light Company), +Kobina Aidoo (ACET), +Ethel Cofie (EDEL Consult), +William Okyere-Frempong (The HuD Group), +Ayotunde Adeusi (Stesi Events), +David Hutchful (Grameen Foundation), +Alain Gbeasor A. (Gesus Group), +Richard Nunekpeku (Anyako Farms), Prince Kwame Akpesey (Acumen Fund), +Rita Kusi (KUSI Consulting), +Alexander Okereke (STEL), +Nelson Klutse (Suba), +Abena Safoa Amoako-Gyimah (Sa4a Designs), +Elijah Addo (Food4AllGH), Doris Bill (Greenheart Consult), +Cwesi Oteng (Musician), +Shamima Muslem (Journalist), Latif Abubakar (Globe Productions), Chichi Equomah (Nyonyo GH), Benedicta Boateng-Appeadu IDP Foundation), +Godwin Etse Sikanku (Legon Lecturer), +Akosua Konadu Owusu (Platinum Exposure Limited), +Yaganoma Baatuolkuu (Wanjo Foods), +Curtis Vanderpuije (expressPay GH), etc.

The Lead for the Barcamp Accra team, Duncan Elikplim Gablah stated that, “the youth must see corruption as a weed to be destroyed from our midst and must be determined to fight it and not be passive. Barcamp Accra hopes to initiate a passion to fight corruption amongst the youth."
Register athttp://barcampaccra15.eventbrite.com/. You can also register by sending “Barcamp Accra Your Name Your Email Address” to 1945 (example - Barcamp Accra Esi Eshun esi@eshun.co) . Contact us via barcamp at www.ghanathink.org for sponsorship or partnership opportunities.
 
Barcamp Accra is supported byTigo Ghana,Making All Voices Count,mPedigree GoldKeys, Stesi Events, JollofPot GH, etc

Stay tuned to #bcaccra for social media updates and check out Barcamp Accra onTwitter |Facebook | Google+

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#MightyAfrican trending on #HappyBirthdayAto

December 31, 2015, 3:02 pm
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I've not done a great job blogging in 2015 like I promised I would, Life happened. But am cool with it. I'll try again next year with more efficiency and great results. Today is my 32nd birthday. Yeah, I grew. I used the #mightyafrican hashtag quite a lot in celebrating my birthday. It trended as a result. Here's evidence below and a few selected tweets.























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#HappyBirthdayAto 2015

December 31, 2015, 3:19 pm
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December 31, 2015- my 32nd birthday. I received a number of #HappyBirthdayAto messages. Thank you all for joining in celebrating my birthday, I'll like to share a few on this blog post, soem of the tweets. I'm a huge Twitter fan now. You can read some of the Facebook messages on my wall.















































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The state of the Huawei P8 - the review

January 25, 2016, 2:45 pm
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My first experience with Huawei was when the Ideos phones were released. They had been a major hit in Kenya as a cheap workable smart phone. At the beginning of 2012, while I worked for Google, I, alongside other techies in Ghana, were looking for the Ideos phone. They had literally run out in Ghana. I normally associated Huawei with cheap smart phones that aren't of top of the shelf quality. Enter Huawei P8. It comes from a line of Huawei phones that has effectively put that notion I had to rest.

HuaweiP8pic.jpeg
The Huawei P8 comes in 4 great colours! Prestige Gold is cool, maybe I love the gold plated colour because I am from Ghana (and am golden). The Mystic Champagne model is more elegant though, I love this one. Very sleek! The new metal bodies that many new smart phones have lose some of the elegance. Not this P8, the elegance does not “dissip8” (dissipate) in spite of the durability features it comes with. The Prestige Gold and Carbon Black models come with 64 GB storage while the Titanium Grey and Mystic Champagne models come with 16 GB storage.

It is very easy to use and has a lot of innovative features. Do you ask people to call your phone when you can't find it? What if the phone is on silent or vibrate like I tend to do for mine?
What if you could shout for your phone to do something and just show itself? Well, an even better feature is available for you with the Huawei P8, A voice command feature. Think of how much fun you could have with such a feature. Are you not psyched?

Many people like me want the phones we use to take the best pictures. Even rivaling the Canon cameras our friends carry around. Many people are taking photography as a hobby and a side business. It's cool and dandy but some of us want to maintain our phones as our primary photo taking device. The Huawei P8 serves those purposes very well. The rear camera is a 13 mega pixel camera which gives you some of the best photos around. If you're a selfie addict like me, an 8 mega pixel front camera will serve you very well. So many times I have had to keep my phone in my pocket when my friends need to choose a camera to take our groufie. Groufie means group selfie. Credit my and my GhanaThink folks next time you use the word. The iPhones and iPads are normally the devices of choice for the groufie. With the Huawei P8, I can also rep! Here's another kicker, the camera records video at 1080p@30fps, quality!

I tried a couple of tricks in the book to take a screenshot. Until I discovered there was a button I just click to take a screenshot as part of the Android pull-down menu. Xixie! (Huawei phones are from China, no?) I am particular about how phones present the contacts for use. For the P8, it gives me the option while looking at a group of contacts to choose some contacts to send an email to! Sorry, I haven't seen this on any other phone so pardon my excitement! I can send a mass text too! These Huawei P8 phones #makeitpossible.
HuaweiP8GH.jpg

I've been a single SIM guy until recently where my line of work requires me to work with multiple SIM cards. I don't need to get a new awesome device because the P8 can take care of my double needs just fine. Whew! In these parts of the world, a major selling is a dual SIM phone. This is a phone built for Africa, which is where I find myself. Sold.
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Saving the future of English as #WeAreEvolving

February 1, 2016, 5:41 am
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Ever seen some English words used in scenarios which made you go “huh?”. Me too, several times. As an old student of Presec (Presby Boys’ SHS, Legon) where we used student lexicons, I became really acquainted to English words being used to mean many different things which weren’t in the official dictionaries. Thanks to pidgin English, this notion became popular. In fact, we loved using English words to mean different things so others wouldn’t understand what we were saying. It was and is still cool. The English language has been evolving. We have been evolving. #WeAreEvolving. You bet I was going to have fun with such a hashtag right? Here. And many others too.

Here are some of the coolest and best #WeAreEvolving posts from January. Quite creative too. You are welcome to join in as well.

I felt it was quite odd to see what crush meant when I first encountered this word at the turn of the millenium. A small sound of a bird has evolved into a loud statement from humans on Twitter. My buddy +Frank Bruce of the +Barcamp Bolga team threw more light on Tweet with this Tweet too.

The word cassette hasn’t changed, but +Antumwini Amos outlined how listening to music has evolved with this tweet. Mbamuah got in on the act with the evolution of DP, and I loved the statements around the use of the letters cum words in LOL and XOXO. Even punctuations have gotten in on the act! ;)

Surf the waters, and surf the net, ahem the web, now. This image in this tweet answered the age old question of why the thing for navigating our PCs is called mouse. As technology has become more ubiquitous, it’s needed to borrow many words. Now, apple, blackberry, (courtesy +Enoch Robot Boy Appiah Junior) amongst many other things, have really evolved into other things. I mean, how at how tablet has been re-introduced as a word to kids! Don’t you just check check this? :-)

Shuffle cards then, I haven’t played ‘Spa’ in ages though I play ‘Sipa’, the Togolese version via an app I blogged about here. Like +Nii Ayaa Mensah pointed out, the most common thing we shuffle these days are tunes (music). Talking about music, you see how rappers call out lyrics as sick lines or even speak of being ‘ill’ as a great thing? Same with seeing footballers score ‘sick’ goals! Prince reminded us.
Canon is now a popular camera brand but it is still used to shoot! Zoom has evolved and become important in shooting too! Sister +Deborah Vanessa reminded us of another thing in cameras, memory!

The word blast means multiple things as pointed out here. for good and for bad, as people pointed out. And even sound! Many of these word evolutions came about from high school lexicon, as +Mutombo da Poettweeted about ‘mining’.

William spoke of shark, something I was while at Presec :-) Sometimes. how you say it means everything. So much that these days, I call my better half boo! I must end by saying it was really cool to see this hashtag (which has also evolved from something), trend locally in Ghana on January 24! Go and get creative and point out how #WeAreEvolving via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. Don’t be left out.

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With the Huawei P8, you can particip8 more in cool camera captures!

February 4, 2016, 10:34 am
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The Blobla meme has gone viral with many people getting their own at the Blobla link. When I was notified about this, it had given some accurate descriptions of friends. So I tried it. When I saw mine, I knew Blobla had studied my Facebook. Smart. I REALLY like taking selfies with friends. I obviously want to use my phone each time but sometimes, some other friends have phones that take nicer pictures and selfies. With the Huawei P8, I can now do the selfie taking with more confidence due to its great camera. Great news! Now, I can particip8.


As I mentioned earlier, I REALLY like taking selfies. But the truth is, I REALLY like taking groufies, that is, selfies with a group of people. Blobla attests :-) I need my phone to have a great camera. So I set out to test the ability of the Huawei P8. After a small party celebrating the 15th anniversary of Wikipedia, I took a selfie with some (+Planning Wikimedia Ghana) Wikimedia Ghana group members +Felix Nartey & +Enock Seth Nyamador  who are also part of the +GhanaThink Foundation. While we readied for the picture, I was going to anticip8. The results were gr8.
The camera has a couple of great features. The Huawei P8 has state of the art “low-light” shooting capabilities. It also has face and smile detection. You can also put the focus on yourself with the Huawei P8’s “Perfect Selfie” feature. Want to shine brighter when you take groufies? You're covered. You can highlight your best features in each photo, so every side is now your good side. Here is a groufie I took with +Jimmy Othniels+Samuel Mari Twum+Eric Amonoo +Samuel Tinagyei etc in Koforidua after a wedding reception. +Barcamp Koforidua things!

The touch focus feature can be a life saver! Imagine those times where you need to focus your camera to take the perfect picture for your Cam Scanner app. The last time I tried this with another phone, I had to adjust the phone and camera to account for shadows, etc. Tedious! It could make my patience dissip8.
Time travels at whatever speed you want with the Huawei P8 Time Lapse function. Huawei P8's real-time preview helps you choose the right exposure time for the perfect shot! The “light painting” feature allows you to paint with any light source in creating spectacular and unique images. These are relatively new features that I had to take time to figure out.

In addition to the timeless flash option, you can also choose a light option that creates a light source to brighten up the picture taking environment. The night vision pictures are really good! Fret no more about pictures after dark. Here’s a picture I took with a couple of friends - +Nii Oblie Ardayfio & +David Osei at Republic Bar in Osu during a night on the town.
I tested the panoramic shot a couple of times. The camera app does a good job of guiding you in taking the perfect panorama. Below is a great shot of the Achimota Retail Centre in its full frontal glory.
My first experience with Huawei was when the Ideos phones were released. They were good affordable smart phones which brought many people into the Android family. They run out of Ghana so fast! However, I normally associated Huawei with cheap smart phones that aren't top of the shelf quality. Enter Huawei P8. It compares favorably to other high-end smartphones, at a more affordable price. One of the phone shops in Ghana sells it for under GHC 1700. That’s a steal right there! Grab one while stocks last. Don’t be l8. It can help take a really nice picture of #waakye, especially when you don't use the right camera on #WaakyeWednesday and have to take today like I did. Don't db8. G8 8. :-)
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Secure your & Ghana's future with the Savings Booster

February 8, 2016, 2:56 pm
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Growing up is not easy. It would have been great to have been more prepared through the years. I am accepting that you can't have enough information, especially from experienced people. We must have one eye on the future as we go about conquering the present. As we are growing up, #WeAreEvolving. Things change, become better especially with technology and we get greater responsibilities as part of our careers and even our ages. We must be prepared for the future. Saving is an integral part of this.
We start to take more responsibility for our communities and countries. We start to understand and pay taxes. I tweeted about three constants. Life, death and taxes. When we were growing up, in mathematics, we learnt about mathematical constants which were signed by 'k'. Now, K has become a synonym for constant. Why not save for the future in between life & death while paying taxes? As we have evolved, there has been a lot of great information. One of the best evolutions is saving money as you pay your taxes. Read that again. It's real. You can save some of your taxes as extra savings for later


PetraTrust has launched a really cool online tool that sheds more light on this. It is aptly named achievemore.petratrust.com. It presents information about a PetraTrust product called 'Savings Booster'. The website is very user-friendly and easy to navigate. The pains at which it goes through to make you understand the Savings Booster is quite remarkable. It is that kind of 'attention to detail' that we lack in these parts and must become ubiquitous. Not surprised though. Those who run PetraTrust have been trained and been honed by world class institutions and this is evident in the work they do. After my friend Mutombo checked out the website, he chimed in with advice, He's a very experienced guy, Listen to him :-)
PetraTrust is a leading financial services provider. They are affectionately called the pensions expert.
The managing director, Kofi Fynn, at the launch of ‘Savings Booster’, said workers need to add the 3rd tier pension scheme to benefit from the pre-tax savings provision in Ghana's Pensions Law. You are probably patronising the 1st and 2nd tier schemes because they are mandatory - they are managed by SSNIT. He explained that when one makes a savings booster contribution through payroll, part of the money that would have been paid as taxes will be added to that savings hence, putting the contributor ahead even before the investment begun. You need to ensure yourself or your company is on this! Gain more information at the PetraTrust website today!
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Vodafone Ghana champions Internet of Things with expert workshop

July 8, 2016, 12:55 pm
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Many telecommunication companies around the world have been at the forefront of scaling innovation. Thanks to their huge subscription bases and financial muscle, they are also some of the best organizations to drive this. Due of user churn amongst other reasons, these telcos spend a lot of money on marketing as well. As companies that adopt technology and in many ways stay on top of trends, they also promote a lot of innovation in their marketplace. Vodafone Ghana is priming to continue this in Ghana and be a market leader.  It is in this light, that they are promoting the internet of things (IoT).

Vodafone Ghana organized a workshop recently at the Labadi Beach Hotel on June 27, 2016 to educate Ghanaians more on IoT. In attendance were many Ghanaian content and web developers.
What is IoT? It is seen as an amalgation of IT & OT. IT is about people talking to people, while OT is about machines talking to machines.  IoT is about machines and objects talking to machines and objects talking to people.

IOT is transforming the way organizations work. Matt Hatton, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Machina Research spoke about opportunities coming into the Ghanaian market for organizations here. He also shared some success stories.
With better use of technology and instituting more IoT into business, organizations can save millions of dollars. Don't take it from me, take it from the expert himself, Matt Hatton.

According to data from a Vodafone M2M Barometer survey in 2015, 64% of respondents (organizations) said they expect to have an IOT solution in place within 2 years. 59% of the respondents (organizations) using IOT said they are seeing significant return on investments (ROI). Many times, organizations are concerned with finding more money to invest in what they are doing for greater returns.

There are various Ghanaian companies starting to use IoT, including some startups. A group of them are working under the WAZI-UP IoT project. This workshop is the surest sign that Vodafone Ghana is willing to champion IoT in Ghana. When Vodafone Ghana supported our Tech Camp West Africa in 2015, Angela Mensah Bonsu, Head of Vodafone Business Solutions, gave a great presentation showcasing Vodafone Ghana's drive to showcase and implement innovation in our business ecosystem. At this IoT workshop, she said, "IoT is cementing Vodafone’s offering in Ghana exceeding its deliverables across varied and multiple sectors in Ghana". We need technology everywhere, indeed. Let's all deliver technology and trends for development in Ghana together. 
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Understanding & making use of the Internet Of Things revolution

July 8, 2016, 12:55 pm
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Photo from http://tblocks.com/
The internet of things (IoT) is the network of physical devices, vehicles and buildings and other items embedded with electronics, software, network connectivity, etc - that enable these objects to collect and exchange data. That's what Wikipedia says. With IoT, internet connectivity is extended beyond computers, tablets and phones to a whole wide of range of devices and use cases that will really blow your mind. The 4th Industrial Revolutionis here! That means we need great #internet4all as well.

Various companies around the world use Internet Of Things to manage fleet while monitoring mileage and even engine health. IoT is useful in monitoring parking spaces availability in city congested areas. Even Diageo is joining fun whereby messages are sent out when a Johnny Walker bottle is opened! IoT can also be used in payment processing based in location or activity duration for public transport, gyms, theme parks, etc.

It can be also used to monitor the quality of tap water in cities and for monitoring of water level variations in rivers, dams and reservoirs. This sounds like something Accra really needs. Maybe the next AMA supported hackathon should focus on this? The Trotro Data Throwdown was cool though! Zoomlion would find the ability to detect rubbish levels in containers to optimize the trash collection routes very useful. E-Commerce is starting to thrive a bit in Ghana. IoT can enhance that by getting intel through point of sale with info on customer habits, preferences, etc. Remember iCow? Well, various companies in Ghana like Farmable are using technology in the agricultural sector to monitor cows, etc.

Have you heard of a Fitbit? That's IoT in action. Some friends of mine have been wearing it. It challenges to walk more, sometimes doing as much as 5000 steps in one day. I walk a lot anyway, so I don't really need a Fitbit (yet). I've seen a lot of Samsung made watches and Apple watches used similarly but these devices are able to do much more - phone calls, act as calendars, used for playing music, etc!

See the cow? Photo from Ogilvy
After too many run-ins with the Electricity Corporation of Ghana over dumsor issues and ECG payment wahalas, a smart meter has been fixed in my home. Here's IoT at work again. Smart meters are able to read how much energy you use (for instance) and communicate that to a central system. That's lovely. Because when I go to ECG now, they can give me better information on how much energy I used and how much I should pay, etc. You're surprised this wasn't the case 2.33 years ago? That's some of what we are dealing with in Ghana.

The possibilities for IoT are endless though. Imagine we have smart cars and a smart city transport system all communicating? We will get better traffic flow optimization, where traffic lights can pick up changes in traffic flow and different conditions. Drivers will get to know about traffic and street conditions, and we can have better mobility. I know Dumsor is back but if our electricity system is working like it should, this is possible!

At the heart of making IoT work, is network connectivity. There is no organization better placed to support this effectively in Ghana like Vodafone Ghana. They have the broadband connections, they have a wide network and millions of subscribers and even more SIM cards in the system. They don't say "Power to You", they're also a fan brand. Check out Vodafone's M2M website to learn more about their IoT solutions.
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Strengthening networks for an internet of things economy

July 8, 2016, 1:44 pm
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Thanks to technology services, there is a lot of data about users and uses cases, which allow organizations to be smarter and technology to work even better. In addition to this value in data explosion, there is enormous growth in intelligent use of the data. Platforms must orchestrate the data in hand to deliver value. They have to help users shift out the requisite information out of the chaff they see. The attention span of users and subscribers for that matter is very minimal, and so they
need to be served with relevant information and data they need quickly and conveniently.

We celebrate our mobile phone penetration in Ghana (35 million subscriptions for a nation of 25 million people), We have multiple devices connecting us for communication, but there is a wide range of other connected devices. By 2025, there would be 9 billion connected devices. Ghanaians must be part and parcel of those numbers with a lot of IOT use.  There has been very small uptake with mobile application use in Ghana, due to lack of trust in technology, failed use cases and stories and access and affordability of internet data. IOT services need a smarter and tech loving population to thrive.

Vodafone's bespoke, innovative SIM and SIM chip solutions are designed to address IOT business models and service requirements. At the recent Vodafone Ghana IoT workshop, a representatative spoke about this. Vodafone already enables connections for millions of users and devices today in Ghana, its business solutions would add the ability to manage these connections as added value.
This single SIM can be used worldwide, amongst the countries that Vodafone operates in. Vodafone owns and operates networks in 26 countries and has partner networks in over 50 additional countries. It has more than 500 million connections (second globally behind China Mobile). For companies doing business in the West Africa sub-region, it's critical to be able to move data and communicate effectively across. This is also true for connecting devices and being able to seamlessly move information briskly and efficiently. 

— Vodafone Ghana (@VodafoneGhana) June 27, 2016
And a pretty bold statement at the end too right? As SIM cards become cheaper in many markets, they also need to be pre-provisioned and ready to use. Vodafone Ghana has addressed that. With their Machine to Machine solutions, business assets are connected to the internet. There are a whole wide range of uses cases for the Ghanaian market and beyond on the Vodafone website - aptly named Machine to Machine :-) Below is an intro video about Vodafone M2M.



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