Idea Exchange: African Business, Bellagio, County tech, Kenya blog, TED Global

New, and ongoing, opportunities to apply for, including..

The African Media Initiative (AMI)  African Story Challenge  provides grants to support African business reporting and is inviting applications from individual journalists and newsrooms with unique story ideas or projects on business and technology that can only be produced with substantial support. The top twenty multimedia projects that show the best potential for adopting innovative storytelling techniques using data journalism tools, will be shortlisted for the final prize and will be awarded grants of up to $20,000 to produce them for broadcast and publication.

The All Africa Business Leaders Awards [AABLA] awards invite nominees in four categories, business leader of the year, business woman of the year, entrepreneur of the year and the young business leader of the year who through their vision, leadership and commitment make significant contributions, financial impact and/or a considerable differences through their assistance given to the work of voluntary organisations, communities, causes or society.  Deadline is 23 May.

Commonwealth Scholarships The Commonwealth Scholarship Commission has 

scholarships for candidates from developing African and South Asian Commonwealth countries to study for the part-time Masters degrees in International Human Rights Law from September 2014. Deadline is 23 April.

Nominations are now open for the 2014 Kenya Banking Awards by Think Business and categories include best bank in East Africa, and awards for product innovation, mortgage finance, SME, product, agency banking, internet, mobile, customer satisfaction, asset finance, best recovery, fastest growing, CEO, lifetime achievement, among others. 

Vote for the short-listed Kenya Blog Award finalists for the year 2014. This blog is nominated under the best business blog and there are other categories for best blogs in technology, photography, creative writing, food, environmental / agricultural, fashion/beauty, politics, corporate blog, topical blog, sports, entertainment/lifestyle, travel, health, county blog, best new blog and Kenyan Blog of the Year.

Kenya ICT Innovation Awards 2014 celebrate Kenyan companies and organizations that are using ICT in new and interesting ways. Categories this year include agriculture, BPO, education & training, environmental management, financial services, gender youth & vulnerable groups, healthcare delivery, housing & urbanization, manufacturing, social equity & poverty reduction, tourism, water & sanitation, wholesale & retail trade and finally county government issues. The deadline to apply is March 31.

Pivot East The 2014 edition of the most prestigious East African mobile start-up competition is back, and yhis years conference will be held on 24th – 25th June in Nairobi, Kenya. Apply in 5 categories of mobile finance, mobile enterprise, mobile entertainment, mobile society and mobile utility by 11 April. 

The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio residency program offers academics from universities or think tank-based academics or scientists a serene setting conducive to focused, goal-oriented work, and the unparalleled opportunity to establish new connections with fellow residents from a stimulating array of disciplines and geographies. Fiction and non-fiction writers should apply through a separate Arts & Literary Arts Residency competition, and the Foundation does have a limited travel assistance program, based on income level of invited residents. Deadline is May 1.

The Royal Academy of Engineering Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation aims  to reward entrepreneurship and innovation in Africa in disciplines from mechanical, civil and computing to biomedical, oil and gas, mining and electronic engineering.  Every shortlisted entrant will receive six months of extensive mentoring, training and support in commercialising their innovation, as part of the Academy's commitment to international development. Thereafter, finalists will be invited to present their innovation and a winner will be selected to receive £25,000. The deadline for entries is 30 May.

TED Fellowship. The TED Fellows program is looking for people who have "demonstrated remarkable accomplishment." Normally, there are two admission cycles per year: one for TED and one for TEDGlobal with 20 Fellowships to each conference. Deadline  is April 18, 2014. 

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Golden Baobab Prizes for Literature are an annual Pan-African award series that recognize and celebrate excellence in stories targeting African children. Deadline is June 29.

The Business Daily Top40Under40 Women series is now open for 2014. Download entry forms from the Business Daily website and submit nominations via email. 

What other opportunities are out there? Share in the comments section

Idea Exchange: AppStars, Crowdsourcing, Maker Faire, Manuscripts

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The winners of the 2012 Africa Awards will be announced in October 2012, in Accra, Ghana. 

Also read about the young winners of the Anzisha Prize for young African entrepreneurs between the ages of 16 to 22.

Crowdsourced Journalism Awards for Africa deadline has passed, but it will be interesting to see the outcome of the big picture journalism contest  that had a prize grant a 15,000 Euros to be shared by three winners. The project is backed by Internews Europe and funded by the International Press Institute and - ..the goal is to strengthen African journalists’ capacities through training in the use of crowdsourced journalism techniques which aim to leverage citizen participation and increase the representation of local voices and perspectives through both traditional and new media channels.

Forbes Africa Ad Awards deadline is 14 September.

 

Google  RISE (Roots in Science and Engineering) Awards are now open. They promote and support education initiatives in two key areas: Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) and Computer Science (CS) and will award grants of $5,000 - $25,000 to organizations working with primary and secondary school students in these fields around the world.

Deadline is September 30.

#Kenya365 Instagram Project collects interesting photos on daily life in Kenya. Simply tag your instagram shots from Kenya with #kenya365 and it ends on August 31, 2013.

 The Kenya Film Festival is a celebration of film in Kenya and the deadline for entries to the seventh edition of the festival is September 17.

 The Kwani? Manuscript Project is a literary prize for African writing and they are seeking unpublished fiction manuscripts from African writers across the continent and in the Diaspora. The top 3 manuscripts will be awarded cash prizes of Kshs 300,000 (~$3,500) for 1st place, and Kshs 150,000 and  Kshs 75,000 for 2nd and 3rd place. Kwani? will also publish the manuscripts and market the authors globally. Deadline is 17 September. 

Kwani? also has a Majuu offer to Kenya's who live or have been in the diaspora (huko Majuu) and will pay people for photos, party flyers, job applications, tickets, recipes and other mementos of their time in the diaspora. Deadline is September 23

Make Faire Africa apply now to exhibit creative inventions, designs & fabrications at the 2012 edition in Lagos in November.

ONE The 2012 ONE Africa Award has a $100,000 prize that rewards innovation and initiatives in line with the millennium development goals. Deadline is September 23.

Orange African Social Venture is aimed at young entrepreneurs and start-ups across Africa that promote social development through ICT. Three winners will receive prizes of between 10,000 and 25,000 euros and the deadline for applications is September 30 

Safaricom, in conjunction with Vodafone, has the Safaricom Appstar challenge with a grand prize for Kenya of  Kshs 1,000,000 (~$11,800) , and a runner up prize of Kshs 500,000, and will also reward one winner from each of the six categories of games & entertainment, agriculture, health, education, utilities and financial inclusion with a Kshs 100,000 prize. The winner and runner up will also travel to South Africa to take part in the Vodafone round of the challenge, competing against winners from Tanzania, Qatar, Egypt, South Africa, and Lesotho.

The deadline is November 2, and during that time people will be able to build new apps whether in Java, Symbian, Blackberry, or Android, but apps that already appear in other stores are not eligible. Safaricom will also be launching an app store in Kenya next month in developers will own the intellectual property to their apps and there will be a revenue sharing model that favours the developers.

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Apply for the Amazon Web Services start up challenge in categories of big data & high performance computing, gaming, consumer, and business - with grand prizes of $50,000. Deadline is November 9. 

Green Card:  The US DV-2014 (diversity visa) Program runs from October 2, to November 3, 2012.
 

The 2013  Innovation Prize for Africa - has three prizes totaling $150,000 for African innovations in any of  these categories - Agriculture/agribusiness, 2 Environment/Energy/Water, Health/Wellbeing, ICT and Manufacturing/Service industries. The first prize is $100,000 and $25,000 for the second with an additional special prize for a social impact innovation of $25,000.  Entries close on 31 October 2012.

Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2013. Deadline is 31 October. 

SOMA Kenya Nominations are open for the Kenya Social Media Awards.    

TED Global 2013 is now accepting applications.

The Unreasonable Institute is now accepting applications for the year 2013 and they seeking world-changing entrepreneurs - for who they will help scale their impact through mentorship, funding, and networking opportunities.

Idea Exchange: Global Voices, TED Fellows, Journalist & Travel Opportunities

The  African News Innovation Challenge designed to promote the development of digital media products and innovations is now accepting applications and winners will receive grants from $12,500 to $100,000 for the best projects aimed at strengthening and transforming African news media.  It is Sponsored by the Omidyar Network, Google, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Knight Foundation, U.S. State Department, the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA). More and entries must be submitted online by July 10, 2012.

The Big Picture Digital Journalism Project is an innovative new project that aims to strengthen African journalists’ capacities through training in the use of crowdsourced journalism techniques which aim to leverage citizen participation and increase the representation of local voices and perspectives through both traditional and new media channels. Apply here.

Global Voices Citizen Media Summit  will be in Nairobi on July 2-3, 2012 and a  couple of local blogger are invited to attend for free by  writing a blog post of 500 words or less on the How citizen media can help ensure peaceful elections in Kenya in 2012-13.  More and the deadline is  June 11.

Google Europe, Middle East, and Africa  (EMEA) Travel and Conference grants to encourage women to excel in computing and technology. These can include free registration to selected conferences and up to 1000 euros towards travel costs. More

   

The Prince Claus Fund welcomes project proposals for cultural initiatives in the fields of digital culture and new media. Apply by the Deadline of 17 June 2012 (via @itsbuddhablaze)

Rockefeller Foundation- 2012 Innovation Challenges Competition. Details

  

TED  

• Apply to be a TED2013 Fellow, opening on  May 28.
•  Share your idea for the City 2.0 — and  apply  for a $10,000 award to make it happen.

The Thomson Reuters Foundation  is sponsoring a Financial & Economic Reporting traning course in Kampala in June 2012 to help journalists in Africa to strengthen their reporting on financial and economic topics. More  and the application deadline is 31 May 2012 (via @uginsomniac) 

Young Innovators Competition – Your Innovation on a World Stage:  ITU, the leading United Nations Agency for information and communication technology is looking for the next generation of young visionaries for its Young Innovators Competition.  Details here

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East African media awards (site is down) open to practicing journalists in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda in reporting categories of  higher education, health, agriculture/food security, political, financing, environmental, and business reporting. Deadline is June 22.

Global Film Initiative: Grants of up to $10,000 for feature film projects in all stages of production.  More  and the deadline is July 16.
 
Hivos and VC4Africa:  Have a incubator award for 2012 with a top prize of $15,000 for the chosen  entrepreneur. 
 
Kwani? Trust:  The Kwani? Manuscript Project is a literary prize for unpublished fiction manuscripts from African writers across the continent and in the Diaspora with a top prize of  $3,500. More and the deadline is 20 August. 
 
Orange: The Orange African Social Venture Prize is meant to promote social ICT innovation with three prizes of ~$12,500.  More and the deadline is September 21.

Qatar Airways: Upload inspiring pictures and win return trip tickets as prizes. Deadline is June 30.

Idea Exchange: TED, Tullow, Diageo, Kenyan Design Opportunities

Designer Opportunities (From the local newspapers)
- Design a logo for the Kenya Salaries & Remuneration Commission. First prize is Kshs. 150,000 (~$1,830) and D/L is March 30.
- Architects & artists are invited to design a new Kenyan courthouse. First prize Kshs 500k ($6,097) and deadline is March 16.
- Help design new Kenya banknotes & coins, with themes of Kenya reborn/ Kenya prosperity. The deadline April 13.

Diageo Africa Business Reporting AwardsThe 2012 edition of the DABRA business journalism awards is now open. Categories this year include ICT, finance, infrastructure, agribusiness, tourism, newcomer, media journalist and other awards, with March 23 as the deadline for entries.

Hewani: Get your mobile apps published for free at Hewani.co.ke - including all android, nokia, WAP, Web & USSD versions (via @johnwaibochi)

Hitachi Foundation: Did you start your business before the age of 30? Is it 1-5 years old, and are you interested in lifting people out of poverty? If so, you're eligible to apply for $40,000 from the Foundation’s Yoshiyama Young Entrepreneurs Program by March 30. (via The Unreasonable Institute)

TED: Worldwide auditions for speakers take place in 14 cities including Nairobi and anyone can apply as long as they have not spoken at a TED conference before. Inventors, teachers, artists, performers, change agents, story tellers and others are all invited to apply - details are here, and the Nairobi deadline is March 17.

Tullow scholarship: In partnership with the British Council Tullow invites applications for post-graduate training in oil & gas - drilling & well management, reservoir evaluation & management, energy studies with specialization in oil & gas, environmental science, oil & gas law. Details are here and the deadline is April 6.

Edit: Advance Africa is a useful resource of funding with a constantly updated list of scholarships & fellowships for African students.

Carnegie Mellon Rwanda: The Carnegie Mellon University's college of engineering will have a Rwanda campus and from August 2012, they will offer a Master of Science in Information Technology. There are 50% scholarships offered to East African citizens who apply by the April 21 deadline.

The East Africa Association of Grantmakers has organized the East African Philanthropy Awards. Categories include family, faith, corporate, youth, reporting, and individual awards and the deadline to submit nominations is April 13.

Kenya Blog Awards: The Bloggers Association of Kenya (BAKE) announces BAKE Blog Awards with 14 categories including technology photography, creative writing, business, food, agriculture, sports, fashion, corporate, new blog, Tweep (best individual and corporate on twitter) and even politics! Entries are open till March 29 for entries to be submitted.

The 2012 Kenya ICT Board Connected Kenya awards have just been announced; they are thirteen categories, and the deadline for entries is 26 March.

Award Season Part Trois

Following on part II

The Anzisha Prize for young Africans (15-20 yrs) who have solved a problem /challenges in their community (via @kenyanpundit)

The Android App competition. in the X.com dev. challenge participants can win prizes of up to $25,000. D/L is 14 May.

The 2nd eLearning Africa Photo Competition runs through April 21.

Facebook’s first hire in Africa - will be a growth manager in Nigeria (via @bellanaija)

The 2011 Freedom to Create Prize main prize and imprisoned artist prize is open to 15 July (via @Kwani)

Various jobs at Google East Africa .

iHub Mentorship program. D/L is 6 April.

Partial scholarships available to attend the 4th Global Forum on Innovation & Entrepreneurship. D/L is April 1

Kenya Government Science & Technology scholarships (29) to study in China, for undergraduates and postgraduates in engineering, medicine, computer science, and pharmacy. D/L April 7.

Connected Kenya Vision 2030 ICT awards from the Kenya ICT Board.

Maisha Filmlab with free screenwriting directing camera sound and production workshops in East Africa. (via @mkaigwa)

Mass Challenge a $1 million start up competition (via @egm_photo)

Panos Eastern Africa media fellowships. D/ L April 6.

Strathmore University’s Mobile Academy . D/L 31 March

Winners of the Nokia Idea storm will have their ideas developed into phone apps. D/L is April 14.

TEDGlobal 2011 takes place in Edinburgh, Scotland in July 2011. It moves from traditional Oxford this and 75 places available, and D/L is April 4.

Africa Youth Trust Young Women Leaders funded by the UN Women Governance and Gender Programme. D/L April 15.

Modern careers: Someone got hired via twitter

Sports: The Watamu Triathlon takes place April 9 & 10 at the Kenya coast. D/L April 4.


Photo is from a blog tracking a Cairo to Cape 12,000 kilometre bicycle expedition (equivalent to 4 Tour de Frances in 4 months). It’s now complete after a tough stint in Kenya.