Idea Exchange: Bank, Literature, Journalism, Opportunities, and Win a Free Phone

The Africa AgriBusiness Challenge from Enactus Kenya and Syngenta seeks out youth to generate creative business ideas to improve the agricultural productivity of certain crop value chains. Deadline is June 10.

The 2014 Africa Awards for Entrepreneurship will have five awards to celebrate entrepreneurs at different stages of the entrepreneurial life cycle; lifetime achievement, transformational business, outstanding mature business, outstanding growing business and outstanding social entrepreneur.

The Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation. Details here .. via @calestous.

@AfriCOG Investigative Journalism Fellowship Programme 2014. Deadline is 30 May. 

Anthemis Fellowship seeks out entrepreneurs, executives and thought leaders who are passionate about building an improved financial services industry fit for the digital age. The Anthemis Fellowship program includes 4 months at the Anthemis London office, 4 months with one of their portfolio companies and 4 months with a major financial services firm. It also comes with a monthly stipend of EUR2000 and an invitation to attend the Anthemis #HackingFinance Retreat from July 10-13, 2014 in Meribel, France. Deadline is June 1. 

@APO_Source has had a scholarship for an African journalist to to attend the 2014 annual meetings of the African Development Bank.

Bloomberg Africa ‏@BBGAfrica - seeks Swaziland, Eritrea, Djibouti, G.Bissau, Cape Verde, Eq. Guinea, Sao Tome stringers - Please e-mail asguazzin@bloomberg.net

Citi Africa Management Associate Programme Citi in Africa is  looking for ambitious graduates with strong academic backgrounds, maximum of two years’ work experience, leadership, teamwork, and excellent communication skills.

The 2014 CNN/MultiChoice African Journalist Awards will recognise excellence in culture, economics & business (NEW), energy & infrastructure (NEW), environment, health & medical, news impact (NEW), photography, press freedom, sports, language general news, Francophone news and also Portuguese news. Details here and the deadline is 30 May.

EABL Foundation scholarships for needy students who have gained admission to Kenya public universities. Deadline is June 6. 

Etisalat Prize 2014 for African literature is now open with a top prize of £15,000 and a fellowship at the University of East Anglia, while winner and shortlisted writers also receive a sponsored two city tour promoting their books. Details here and the deadline is 8 August.

The Golden Baobab Prizes for Literature include awards for a picture Book (targeting readers aged 6 – 8 years), early chapter (targeting readers aged 9 -11) and rising writers (for a young African author under the age of 18 who demonstrates the talent and drive to become the next great African author for children). Details here and the deadline is June 29.

Jalada / @KwaniTrust seek 3 best Afrofuture submissions for a second anthology. Deadline is D/L 15

Japan Government scholarships  in research, teacher training, technology, and specialized training .. via @njathika

Want to be a Jameson brand ambassador? Here's how to apply (via @uqweli ) oops - deadline also passed.

KCB: The region's largest bank has ongoing internships, management trainee and management exchange programs. Sourced from @RookieKE blog.

 

Kenya Revenue Authority -  KRA graduate trainee program 2014

The Kenya StartUp Cup is open to all Kenyan youth entrepreneurs who can apply to win Kshs 1 million (~$11,500). Details from the @prepaid_africa blog and the deadline is May 20.

KenyaTop100 seeks successful companies with turnover of Kshs 70 million to Kshs 1 billion (~$12,000)  with 3 years audited accounts to compete and be among @kenyastop100 

Kijabe Forest Trust @KijabeForest  is seeking a new logo design.

Kuona Trust has internship opportunities for students at their offices in Hurlingham, Nairobi. 

The Kwani Trust 2014 fiction workshop seeks to develop new contemporary fiction writers between the ages of 18 and 24 and from outside of Nairobi. To apply, check the website, and send email to submissions_at_kwani.org by May 26.

Orange  has launched the 4th edition of the Orange African Social Venture Prize which will award prizes to four projects; three with grants of 10,000 EUR, 15,000 EUR and 25,000 EUR, and a new special prize of 10,000 EUR. It's open to all entrepreneurs or legal entities that has been in existence for fewer than three years at the time of the competition and the deadline is 19 September.

Power Africa Off Grid Energy Challenge from @USADF and @GeneralElectric Africa offers up to $100,000 to 100% African owned and African managed firms that seek to power up under-served parts of rural Kenya. Deadline is June 20.  

School of Data: Become a School of Data Fellow as they are currently broadening their efforts to spread data skills around the world, and are seeking people who are data savvy, understand the role of NGO's, are interested or experienced in working with journalism and/or civil society, or enjoy community-building.  Deadline is 1 June.

Standard Chartered Bank Fast Track Program: The bank is looking for young graduates to join their management trainee program in several African countries, including Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Uganda, and several international locations. Sourced from @RookieKE blog

 
The Stanford University Africa MBA Fellowship Program pays for tuition and associated fees (approximately US $145,000) for citizens of African countries with financial need who wish to obtain an MBA at Stanford GSB. Stanford will award up to eight Stanford Africa MBA Fellowships annually. Details here and the deadline is 13 June.

Strathmore University @StrathU scholarships from @imbankke for 10 needy students pursuing various Finance related degree programmes.

Swedish Institute Management Programme‏ The Swedish Institute is launching a new leadership programme for progressive leaders from Kenya,Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Zambia - offering a combination of theory and practice in the area of responsible leadership and sustainable business.  Details here and the deadline is June 6.

Total Kenya Graduate Management Trainee Program. The company was is looking for young dynamic graduates.  Also sourced from @RookieKE blog but the deadline was 7 May  

The Wall Street Journal @WSJ looking for entrepreneurial reporter to cover the most entrepreneurial of Africa beats--business, from Nairobi. Apply to @pwonacott

Submit your wikimedia proposals to be included at Wiki Indaba 2014 in Johannesburg. Details here and the deadline is 15 May.

The World Bank Young Professionals Program 2014 seeks highly qualified and motivated individuals skilled in areas relevant to the World Bank’s operations such as, economics, finance, education, public health, social sciences, engineering, urban planning, and natural resource management. Details here and the deadline is 30 June.

 
Win a Nokia Lumia 1320: There are very few comments on the blog here despite the number of daily readers, and many of the comments are from spammers promoting products from far off countries. To stimulate comments, I’m giving away a brand new Nokia Lumia 1320 phone (worth about $400/Kshs 35,000) to the person who engages the most on the site. The phone was an excellent, but unexpected, prize awarded to the winner of the best business blog at the recent 2014 Kenya Blog Awards ceremony. During the month of May, readers to the blog and it's archives, can make as many comments as they want, and I'll respond on some. 

Rules 
1. There are no rules about winning.
2. It's about serious comments, not volume - and blog comments only, not tweets/tags

3. This is personal, and the promo has nothing to do with Nokia  or Nokia East Africa.

4. @Coldtusker is excluded :(
5. An announcement will be made on June 14, and there may not be a winner  if no one is deemed to be worthy.

Idea Exchange: Opportunities Galore: Blogs, Dust, Eggs, Interns, PhD’s, Oil, Social Media, Weddings

Some open opportunities to apply for; 

(Edit) African Banker Awards: The 2013 African Banker Awards competition is now on. Winners will be selected in categories of  African bank, African banker, best bank (in North Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa, Central Africa regions),  retail bank,  investment bank , most innovative bank, socially responsible bank,  financial inclusion award, investment fund/private equity fund,  deal of the year, mortgage bank/product,  and brokerage house of the year. Deadline is 11 March.

African Development Bank: 2013 Internship Programme Session 2 - Provides students with an opportunity to acquire professional and practical experience at the African Development Bank and the Bank with a pool of potential candidates for future recruitment purposes.

Also, the #AfDB's Regional Integration Dept is seeking junior consultants. Apply now.

PhD Fellowships from the African Economic Research Consortium  for people who have gained admission in 2013-14 to selected universities such as Cornell, Oxford, Ohio State or the Universities of Bonn, Sussex, Newcastle and others.  Apply through these university websites before April 30.  

The African Leadership Academy seeks to  enroll the most outstanding young leaders from across Africa and around the world. Deadline is February 28..

The African Leadership Academy also has the inaugural 'African Teacher of the Year Award' to celebrate teaching excellence on the African continent. The final 3 shortlisted finalists will be honored at a gala dinner in Johannesburg, South Africa in October in front of media, the headmasters of 100 of the leading schools in Africa, and other dignitaries. The winner of the award will also win a cash prize of $10,000. Nominate an outstanding African secondary school teacher- by the 31st of March, 2013 to teacheroftheyear_at_africanleadershipacademy.org.

Aga Khan Foundation: International Scholarships - scholarships and loans for postgraduate studies in 2013-14 to outstanding students from the developing world. The Foundation assists students with tuition fees and living expenses only and half of the scholarship amount is considered as a loan, which must be reimbursed with an annual service charge of 5%. Application deadline is 31 March.

(Edit) Anzisha Prize 2013: Has $75,000 in cash prizes for youth entrepreneurs. Details here and deadline for the @anzishaprize is April 1.

BAKE: Kenyan Blog Awards 2013 awards aim to reward and recognize exceptional bloggers creating content in technology, photography, creative writing, business, food, environmental / agricultural, style, politics, corporate, sports, lifestyle, travel, new blog and others.  Deadline is February 1.

Big Brother Africa: BBA 2013 kicks off in May. To qualify, participants have to be above the age of 21 and speak fluent English.

Blackberry: Developers may apply for Built for Blackberry reviews and the $10,000 Developer Commitment before February 18.


(Edit) CNN Multichoice African Journalist 2013 is open to African nationals, working on the continent for African owned, or headquartered, media organisations and with work that has appeared in printed publications or electronic media that is primarily targeted at and received by an African audience. Deadline is 17 April 2013.

(Edit) The 10th edition of Diageo's DABRA awards is now open. The Diageo Africa Business Reporting Awards will recognize journalists and editors who provide high quality coverage of the business environment in Africa in ten categories including ICT, finance, infrastructure, agribusiness / environment, tourism, best business story, business feature, newcomer, media of the year, and journalist of the year. Deadline is March 15.

(Edit) East Africa Philanthropy Awards: The 2013 EAPA awards from the East Africa Association of Grantmakers is now open for nominations in philanthropy categories for individuals, youth, faith-based, community, social entrepreneurs, and corporate philanthropy. Deadline is 30 March.

Egg Hatching Incubators are being lent to individuals and groups on credit, and with no interest charge. 

Faithful Frames: Win a free wedding photoshoot worth Kshs. 15,000 (~$175). Deadline is  Jan 28.

(Edit) Film Mentorship Program: Opportunity for talented young African filmmakers involved in directing, scriptwriting, production, camera, production design, sound design and editing, to enroll in a workshop where they will meet professional filmmakers from all over the world in September 2013. Details here and deadline is 1 May.

(Edit) The International Academy of Journalism 2013/2014 Fellowship program Journalism in the Digital World is now open.  Deadline is May 3, 2013.

Kings Pool Challenge League: EABL's Pilsner brand is sponsoring a national pool tournament that runs from 21 January to May 4 2013.

(Edit) The 2013 edition of Mobile Web East Africa  is on later in February in Nairobi. Read more about the event.

Nestlé Prize in Creating Shared Value (CSV) seeks innovative programmes, businesses or social enterprises that innovate with impact in water, nutrition, or rural development. Deadline is March 31

(Edit) PivotEast: The third edition of this mobile startup showcase competition takes place on June 25-26 2013 in Kampala, Uganda, and it is open to  all companies in East Africa including South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Somalia. Competition will be in five categories of mobile finance, mobile enterprise, mobile society, mobile utility, mobile entertainment – and this year companies can submit a product in more than one category. The deadline for entries  is 15 April.

(Edit) Poptech: The 2013 Social Innovation Fellows program. Details here and deadline is 2 April.

(Edit) The Rockefeller Foundation Next Century Innovators Award series is now open. Nominate people or organizations that can win up to $100,000 for solving entrenched social problems. Deadline is February 28

Squad Digital: The digital agency is seeking an experienced digital business director with  knowledge of social SEO, Mobile (e.g. M-banking) 

TAHMO: Design a sensor that measures a weather or hydrological variable (temperature, wind, dust or lightning) and is both inexpensive and robust.  Deadline is 1 March 2013.

Tony Elumelu Foundation: Is seeking companies to place interns with for periods of  8-10 weeks. They should have revenue of $250,000 - $5 million per year and agree to pay for stipends while the Foundation will  cover the cost of recruitment, travel, and accommodation  

Toyota: Dream Car art contest dubbed "Your Dream—The Car of the Future" aims to create an opportunity for children (in 3 categories) —through drawing pictures of their “dream cars” —to develop their interest in cars. Deadline is January 31. 

Tullow Oil: The Group Scholarship Scheme will offer up to 114 scholarships across its countries of operation (10 for Kenya) for the 2013/14 academic year and these can be in engineering & tech., oil & gas economics, business journalism, law, and others. Deadline is 13 February. 

World Bank Africa: Social media internship - apply by responding to the phrase: #iwant2work4africa because..

Open Data and African Banking

There are two recent initiatives in making bank economic data more transparent.

The first was by the World Bank a few months ago with their open financial data initiative which has data on bank loans over the last 50 years to various countries with details on loan programs, targeted areas & sectors, how much countries owe etc. They have also customized mobile versions of the data, with a claim that some data is accessible when offline, and with time the information will expand to also cover WB grants, not just loans.

This week, the African Development Bank rolled out open data for Africa with African countries trade, development numbers and other sectoral economic data. It's accessible in English & French. This tool may not have as much data and, as is the case in many African countries where data collection is an issue, some searches may yield zeros. However, with time and a commitment to build on data collection, it will also be a useful resource for investment data.

Award Season Part Deux

This is a continuation of a series highlighting some open awards, that may be about to close in the next few weeks.

The Acumen Fund East Africa Fellows Program aimed at entrepreneurs or people working on ground breaking programs with social impact in east Africa and will receive training in leadership , and is modeled around an executive MBA. D/L is 15 April for launch in July 2011

The Africagrowth Institute 2011 SMME Awards that recognizes \small, medium or micro enterprise (SMME)companies that are growing sustainably and contributing to economic growth. D/L is 30 June

(For Women): The Anita Borg Agent Award for ladies who demonstrate use of technology to change lives. Sponsored by Google, it has prizes of $5,000 in travel reimbursement to attend the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. D/L is May 2

(For Women): The annual Business Daily Top 40 Women Under 40 award series in Kenya that recognizes women achievers in the world of business. D/L is 10 April.

The Diageo Africa Business Reporting Awards that recognize outstanding journalists, editors, blogs, and other media that feature coverage of the African businesses scene. D/L is 27 March.

(For Writers): The Golden Baobab Prize for Literature is a Pan-African literary award. Details here.

The Nestle Prize that recognizes projects in the fields of nutrition, clean water, or rural development that create shared value. D/L is 30 June.

The Shuttleworth Foundation for people ready to commit to undertake social change through innovation. They review applications in May 2011 for September intake.

(For Journalists): The United Nations journalism fellows program Dag Hammarskjöld Scholarship Fund program aimed at developing country journalists with an interest in international affairs and winners get to travel to and report on the United Nations from New York. D/L is 6 April.

(For Writers): The World Bank Essay competition open to people aged 18 – 25 to write about youth migration. Details here but the deadline is tomorrow – 17 March.

EDIT: PIVOT 25 competition for developers in June 2011 with prize money of up to $75,000. Deadline is April 15.

The Nairobi Stock Exchange young investors challenge whose registration period is on-going through April.

Any other awards that can be highlighted here?

Idea Exchange: App Opportunities

Bankelele app: From this week, the blog is now available as a Nokia app that can be downloaded from the Nokia Ovi store. This is because, one problem with being on the blogger platform, is that it is quite difficult to read, and bulky to download, via mobile phone; this is now fixed, with this simple app, created using the Ovi Store appwizard, making it very simple (and small) for (Nokia) phone users to read the blog content. (Edit - thanks to Mwirigi of the E63 Club)

Nokia remains the premier phone used to access the net in Kenya, as confirmed in the latest state of mobile web report which had Nokia phones occupying 8 of the top 10 positions in this region.

Samsung app: The other two phones on the same list are from Samsung who are also emerging in the region with space for local developers, with a store for Samsung apps, and which will be explained further at the next Mobile Monday at the iHub on developer opportunities for monetization with Samsung.

Other opportunities

- Women Developer Opportunity: There is an mWomen App challenge for women developers from Vodafone to build apps for basic phones and for smart phones.
- Echoing Green: Their fellowship program is now accepting applications with a top prize of $60,000 for individual start-ups that will win capital and technical assistance.
- Tandaa Funding The Kenya ICT Board has a Tandaa funding challenge in which six companies will pitch ideas to venture capitalists in Nairobi.
- EDIT: Apps for Development Challenge from the World Bank, with a first prize of $15,000
- Finally, the US Embassy in Nairobi has launched the annual diversity visa lottery for anyone without an app; 3,000 Kenyans expected to win green cards.

World Bank Africa Blog

The World Bank has a new blog from its Chief Economist for the Africa Region - Shanta Devarajan.

Bankers' post-election assessments

Citigroup (CITI)
- Limited impact on economy if political crisis is resolved. It Matters little to the economy who won the election as private sector will continue to drive growth
- Share sell off at NSE could be a good buying opportunity as economic fundamentals unchanged
- President will use police and military to clamp down on protests which themselves will not last more than a few weeks
- Parliament loyalties will be split by president as MP’s vote with their stomach
- There’s little the international community can do besides pushing for reforms.
- Also in the pre-election period, the opposition may have been falsely buoyed by opinion polls which are not sound (& could the same thing have happened to Obama in New Hampshire ?)

Renaissance Capital (RENCAP)
- Crime wave has emerged under the guise of political riots
- Government may take all 12 nominated seats in parliament
- Reemergence of the civil society and NGO’s as source of political pressure and search for solution
- Main threat is if two parties don’t agree so may revise down the 6 – 7% GDP projections.
- Also prices have not factored in the chaos, so investors should hold off on buying.

Thanks to Silaha for the 2 reports – and who has also blogged some post-election predictions for Kenya

Treasury Officals:– from Business Daily
- Damage on the economy could cut the projected growth by as much as a half, if not worse.
As agricultural, financial services and tourism sectors are likely to under perform
- Treasury could be forced to craft a stimulus economic package to help reconstruct the affected regions and
- Lower the interest rates in the economy.

Central bank Governor - from Reuters
- Kenya can still achieve 8% growth in 2008
- Disruptions were temporary and will have a major impact on GDP growth
- Shilling’s depreciation was due to holiday period
- Safaricom IPO in first quarter of 2008
- Interest rates will not change

World Bank
(Hat tip Kumekucha) There’s a controvery brewing of the World Bank’s assessment of the election and resultant crisis

Excerpts;
- The considered view of the UN is that the ECK announcement of a Kibaki win is correct. More irregularities of consequence on the Odinga side than on the Kibaki side.
- The process of arriving at the result created a crisis of confidence due to missteps by (a) the ECK chair (who joked about possible rigging during a news conference), (b) the vocal EU observer who was not thorough and precise in analyzing information provided to him (c) the lack of preparation by Kibaki’s party in dealing with a highly media-savvy opposition.
-Moving forward. One option being explored is getting them to agree to a recount which, by law, has to be done through a petition to Kenya’s High Court. Eminent persons from abroad would monitor this recount. Meanwhile, Kibaki would proceed to form a Cabinet, possibly with some participation by Odinga supporters. It is unclear what would happen if the exercise arrived at a different result from the ECK decision. The gamble is that this would not happen and that even if it did, both sides would have a face-saving way to accept a change in course via-a-vis their supporters

This is not the first time the first time that the land-lord-tenancy arrangement between the President and the World Bank has been put to question – see here and here

Finally;
Not sure if she’s a banker, but Kenyanentreprenur argues that what Africa needs are development minded dictators since we are not ready for democracy – and i hope we won’t be having this debate in 2012!

My own take is that the people at the Coast, Nyanza, Rift Valley and Western provinces need to start rebuilding their lives and their industries - otherwise they will be left behind. Rioting in your own community is dumb as you destroy businesses that deliver services and create jobs within the community. So pass that message along with any peace & sympathy messages you convey. Also watch NTV's great Voices of Reason program on Youtube that looks at pre- and post-election issues (more on that later).

Mama Mikes & the World Bank

Money, food, transport have been in short supply in many rural areas affected by the violence. Equally crippling has been the lack of communication capability where there has been no electricity (poles brought down/lines cut) or shops (closed/looted/overpriced) selling mobile phone airtime.

People in urban areas have been sending airtime up-country by the thousands to stranded friends and relatives, while others from overseas (and even within Kenya) have turned to Mamamikes – who apologize for some logistcial delays and problems that may have been experienced in the transfer process.

DC opportunity
World Bank Summer Internship Program; apply online before January 31.