#hivecolab

Labeja Yafes has developed a solar stove...with capacity to cook food in 1 hour max with adequate sunshine @lmarkreiff @BOSCOUganda http://pic.twitter.com/Ls834A1xCW

Tomorrow I’ll hit up my fifth innovation hub in Africa. I’ve been lucky to have had the opportunity to visit several different co-working labs and tinker spaces during my two months in Kenya. It’s exciting to experience hubs at different levels of maturity with varying approaches to change. I am thankful for my association with Kenya’s own iHub, which maintains a certain cache and reputation in the tech hub community. I’ve noticed that dropping the iHub name works a bit like a skeleton key, allowing known associates access to a number of Africa’s tech labs—and perhaps more importantly, their managers. These thought leaders and visionaries have been particularly helpful as I begin to weave together a cohesive story for my forthcoming thesis (focused on the trickle-down effects of Africa’s tech hubs). Besides interviewing Erik Hersman at the iHub, I’ve met with managers at Kampala’s Hive Colab and this Thursday I will venture to South Africa’s Jozihub in Johannesburg. Smart people with smart ideas working to inspire smart change in Africa. Smart.

While labs like the iHub and the Hive Colab appear seemingly independent, many are connected through a larger umbrella network called AfriLabs. According to their website, “AfriLabs exists to support the growth of communities around African technology hubs and to encourage expansion of the network by providing tools and resources for new and emerging labs.” It is great to see AfriLabs link best practices and best people across countries and disciplines, connecting disparate dots throughout the continent. This type of coordinating body can help set a course for Africa’s tech hubs—allowing them to calibrate their short-term and long-term goals. I certainly need to do more research on the AfriLabs model.

While only 400 miles from Nairobi, Kampala feels a world apart from life in Kenya. This weekend I hopped on an Embraer 190 and flew to Entebbe for a weekend reunion with Team Fletcher—East Africa style. The trip was a needed shot in the arm, providing a slice of Medford, Massachusetts in the middle of the Ugandan jungle. Four wayward Fletchies—me, Clint, Anjali, and Heather—all assembled in Kololo, a leafy neighborhood perched on one of Kampala’s seven hills before heading eastward for some R&R in Jinja. Our crew spent the majority of our time in Jina, lounging nearby the Nile River. Our schedule consisted of mandated pool time, chilled Club beers, and an intense daylong whitewater rafting expedition. And though I do hold a special place in my heart for Nairobi, the long weekend was a lovely escape from the traffic and smog of Kenya’s “Green City in the Sun”.

Before rafting/swimming/nearly drowning in the Nile (pinch me…the Nile!) our group toured the Hive Colab, a tech and innovation workspace located in Kampala. The Hive maintains a complimentary mission to the iHub: incubate and educate young businessmen and businesswomen, providing them an array of opportunities to flex their entrepreneurial acumen. On Friday, we met with Hive managers Barbara Birungi and Brian Ndyaguma. Both were incredibly helpful and spoke candidly about the unique interaction between tech and employment in Kampala.

Brian noted, “Technology is a double-sided blade. Consider this: When you create a good app you often rob the economy of jobs—so you have to proceed carefully.” He emphasized the importance of thinking through the positive and potentially negative effects of Uganda’s venture into the knowledge economy.

Barbara had similar things to say about Hive’s emphasis on creating quality jobs in Uganda. In a recent blog post, she underscored the importance of generating ideas that in turn generate jobs—particularly in a country where young unemployment stands at 82 percent. It was exciting to see Barbara and Brian’s hope to harness the positive power of technology for the betterment of all Ugandans.