A New Wave of Impact Investments Sweeping Across Egypt

A New Wave of Impact Investments Sweeping Across Egypt

By Zen EditorNo Comments
Alexandria, Egypt- June 27th, 2018: The networking event, taking place in Cairo on June the 28th 2018, titled “Impact Investing and the Future of Startups”, concludes the second part of the Mentoring Up activities. As a seed for putting “impact” in investment in the Egyptian ecosystem, the highly anticipated networking event will witness the presence of a pool of active, well-respected investors, a variety of purpose-driven startups and other supporting organizations. It is an honor to have H.E Mr. Laurens Westhoff, the Netherlands Ambassador in Egypt, at the event who will give the opening remarks emphasizing the importance of impact investing and social entrepreneurship in Holland and Egypt. The event will also comprise a panel discussion exploring the impact investments climate and ecosystem in Egypt, additional highlights from the Mentoring Up programme as well as allowing time for the entrepreneurs and investors to meet and network.  Ahmed Bastawy, Founder and Managing Director of icealex will be, in his welcome note, highlighting...
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MakerNet report on design and knowledge sharing

MakerNet report on design and knowledge sharing

By Zen EditorNo Comments
The MakerNet initiative has been making progress, and a report has just been released that looks at design and knowledge sharing and procurement from local manufacturers. The report is shaping where the MakerNet concept goes next. It shares the results of experiments, workshops and interviews with makers, humanitarian staff and GIG members. THANK YOU to everyone at GIG who participated! Key results include: the need for standardisation across design sharing platforms; the need for focus on in-person engagement; strong support for mapping of local manufacturing capabilities; and demand for a one-to-many contracting system for distributing production. Field Ready, the MakerNet initiative, Humanitarian Makers and others are securing funding to work on these priorities – so expect more good news soon! Access the report at humanitarianmakers.org/[…]...
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GIG @ re:publica 2018

GIG @ re:publica 2018

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“We are what we create together” re:publica #18 is happening again and we are excited that a vibrant, diverse community of innovators joined for the 6th Global Innovation Gathering (GIG). The GIG network brings perspectives from across the world to Europe’s leading conference on the Internet and society. Every year since 2013 the Global Innovation Gathering hosts a track and since 2015 a pop-up Makerspace to showcase innovations from all over the world. In the past couple of days over 85 people from 30 different countries arrived in Berlin to meet up, share sparkles, experiences, design projects and prepare for re:publica with speakers representing projects in Kenya, Pakistan, Nepal, South Sudan, India, Brazil, Colombia and many more. You find many of our sessions in the Tech for Good and also in the tracks such as Blockchain, Fe:male Digital Footprint, or re:health. We will be reporting on how the unconnected are connecting themselves, how Zero Net Neutrality unintentionally accelerated Fake News, tell...
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OPEN HARDWARE GUIDE from South Sudan

OPEN HARDWARE GUIDE from South Sudan

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The South Sudan Open Knowledge and Innovation Hub "OPEN HARDWARE GUIDE" #OHG Following up on the 2016 "Let's Go jHUB" programme, in collaboration with icebauhaus e.V. (Weimar, Germany), KAPITAL (Juba, South Sudan) and r0g_agency for open culture gGmbH (Berlin, Germany), the OPEN HARDWARE GUIDE (#OHG) is an outcome of the Open Tech and Repair Skills workshop hosted by Hive Colab in Kampala and the Panyadoli Self-Help Secondary School in Bweyale, Uganda. As a follow-up to the first Open Learning Guide (#OLG) the Open Hardware Guide gives examples of hands-on skills possibilities and projects applying open hardware methodologies. Acting as an introduction to resources and as a tangible tool in the form of a rugged A1 poster for trainers, tinkerers and facilitators, the #OHG is ready for distribution to anyone interested in exploring open technologies in a very practical way. The #OHG content was developed by the workshop participants based on their designs and documented steps, and accompanied the development of the...
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Call for support to humanitarian makers

Call for support to humanitarian makers

By Zen EditorNo Comments
Cyclones in the Caribbean. Earthquakes in Mexico. Floods in Nepal & India. Refugee crisis in Bangladesh. Cholera in Yemen. Crisis in Syria. Near-famine around Lake Chad Basin and South Sudan. There is a lot of urgent humanitarian relief to provide right now. Field Ready would like to ask the GIG community: Promote the Humanitarian Makers community so that we can respond more quickly. Ask your networks to visit humanitarianmakers.org to sign up and tell us what skills you can share. If you know people who would like to support makers in disaster relief work, please ask them to donate to our response to the cyclones in the Caribbean at gofundme.com/field-ready-response-usvi-irma. https://vimeo.com/169800408 Field Ready featuring iLab Haiti and Haiti Communitere On September 27, 2017, Field Ready was featured on CBS Chicago regarding their hurricane relief deployment....
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Wearable technology for empowerment

Wearable technology for empowerment

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GIG member Rebeca Duque Estrada is a co-founder of Olabi Makerspace in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and gave a presentation on tech wearables at the TEDx IE Madrid this June. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_Yg73GF6x0 Rebeca takes us through her own and amazing experience with tech wearables and its incredible capability of empowerment and communication. Rebeca Duque Estrada is a Brazilian architect and maker based in Berlin. She is project coordinator for Olabi Makerspace, where she has developed courses and methodologies that open access to technology through meaningful experiences, combining high-tech with craft techniques, wearables technology and bio-materials. Her latest project called Wearable as Manifest explores the potential of wearables as an element that goes beyond glowing and conveys a message....
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PitchDriveXYZ – Presenting the 14 top Start-ups from Africa

PitchDriveXYZ – Presenting the 14 top Start-ups from Africa

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PitchDrive by CcHUB, powered by Google for Entrepreneurs, will engage 14 of Africa’s top tech start-ups on a tour of tech hubs in Europe (London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Zurich and Paris) to pitch to investors, explore international opportunities and learn about frontier technology markets. Last year, it was estimated that African start-ups raised a record-breaking total of $366.8 million in investment, with the top 10 destinations being Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda, Cote d’Ivoire, Tanzania, Egypt, Ghana, Senegal, Morocco, Tunisia and Uganda. Africa is in the midst of a technological renaissance and we present to you a unique opportunity to interact and network with 14 leading startups from the continent. The Open Pitch session will give the entrepreneurs the unique opportunity to interact, network and pitch to a room full of highly networked individuals and Africans in the Diaspora. We hope you will take out time to join this rare opportunity to get a glimpse of the best of Africa’s tech startups. After an introduction...
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GIG @ OuiShare in Paris

GIG @ OuiShare in Paris

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At the think and be-tank for a collaborative society Ouishare we had an all GIG panel, reunited to discuss and share ideas and projects on grassroots collaboration for improving our lives in fast changing cities from the global south perspective. Brazil, Marocco, Rwanda and Kenya were represented by Asmaa Guedira, Ouishare connector and project manager of Womanity, Georgia Nicolau from Procomum Institute, Jon Stever from The Office/Impact Hub Kigali and Nanjira Sambuli from Web Foundation. The group discussed projects such as #i4policy, which is strengthening civic participation in discussing public policy on the African continent. The discussion format was a fishbowl which allowed for a lot of input and examples from the public on how civil society and civic initiatives can change the realities in the cities by collaborating, documenting and sharing....
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GIG members as graphic novel characters

GIG members as graphic novel characters

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Two Global Innovation Gathering members were announced as cameos in an upcoming graphic novel about hacker and maker movement - Glider Ink. Samer Shawar from Palestinian VecBox and Nawres Arif from Iraqi Science Camp are going to share their prosthesis and interfacing expertise with fictional characters featured in the comic. We would like to help people understand that innovation happens all over the world - and by sharing the knowledge openly, we can build something truly magnificent. [one-half-first][/one-half-first] [one-half][/one-half] More info on the project at glider.ink and facebook.com/gliderink...
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GIG #rp17 Closing Dinner at c-base

GIG #rp17 Closing Dinner at c-base

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Originally published at kairokoshary.com. For the fifth year, the Global Innovation Gathering (GIG) was held in Berlin, Germany. ​As with every year, it was tied to the infamous re:publica conference that takes place in early May.  The conference focuses on internet & society, which ties perfectly to the booking innovation sector in what is called in development parlance, "The Global South". GIG fits perfectly into this context brining talent from around the world, including the southern hemisphere, to re:publica. Here, the latest in amazing topics with regards to tech hubs, makerspaces, innovation, and entrepreneurship in countries from Brazil to the Philippines and many in between (actually this year had reps from 20 countries.) From the rp website describing the annual makerspace setup on the floor of re:publica: "... the GIG Makerspace is bringing you the best of 3D printing, laser cutting, soldering, wiring, moulding and building. 2017 is surely no exception. From fashiontech to custom-made DIY limbs to knitted generative patterns: have a look at our awesome demo, exhibition and...
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