Gold Coast Trading has always been a source of inspiration for me. Known for fusing traditional african prints with clean western lines, this fresh brand preserves our African culture in an innovative and ever dope style. Gold Coast has been featured in Vogue and countless other influential magazines worldwide, yet the impact the line makes hits closer to home. South Africa to be exact. Specific cultural references to Soweto youth and the burgeoning hipster scene throughout the country can be seen throughout the look book as well as in the designs.
I was lucky enough to sit down with Nigerian born Emeka Alams of Gold Coast Trading to speak about his new collection entitled ” The Very Best: Julia A/11,” which features his muse, the lovely Cassie Gibson. The collection consists of a “mzuzu” traditional print organic cardigan and a prima cotten tee.To find out more about this dynamic designer and his collection…
Read the rest of RhaRha’s Interview with Emeka over over at GIANT magazine.
I want this shirt!
Marketers, Agencies Eye Booming Africa for Expansion
The world’s second-largest continent is no longer the “next big thing” — Africa has arrived.
It’s a huge and compelling market, three times the size of China, home to six out of the world’s 10 fastest-growing economies, according to The Economist, and home to a billion people, 40% of who are under the age of 50, half of who have a mobile phone and 40% who are living in urban areas.
KFC, Walmart, Nestle, Danone and India’s Bharti Airtel telecoms are among the companies taking African expansion seriously.
Africa Programmers Survey Results
Interesting survey conducted by Afrinnovator on the programmer landscape in Africa. Great data, especially re: the types of languages and platforms used for developing web and mobile applications. That said, the survey also shows an unsettling problem — the lack of female programmers. Out of the 181 survey participants, only 9 were women.
This image has been making its way around Tumblr, but I’m looking at it from a different perspective. The big bad Western imperialists came in to drain Africa of its resources, but who is giving them permission to do so? What group of men seem to have no regard for the welfare of their citizens or for future generations of their countries?
The majority of African “leadership” has not retained, let alone increased, the little it inherited from colonialism. These leaders have destroyed it. ** For decades, African leaders have complained and pointed fingers at the external factors** like the effects of colonialism, unfair international economic practices, greedy multi-national corporations, etc. They blame them for the poor economic performance of the majority of the continent.
Yes, these issues have an effect in each African country, but when will these “leaders” start to analyze the factors that are in their control? When will they focus on the factors that they can control like their own economic mismanagement (foreign aid), corrupted systems, civil wars, lack of women and children’s rights, political tyranny and the absense of the freedom of their press?
This could so be an advertisement for African dictatorship.
African Leadership: Don’t worry Africa, we’ll go away when we finish!!
Web Inventor Tim Berners-Lee Seeks Voice-Enabled Internet in Africa
The World Wide Web Foundation’s VOICES project has just launched, aiming to bring billions more people online.
Tim Berners-Lee is best known as the father of the World Wide Web, but his latest side-project in Senegal and Mali—the World Wide Web Foundation’s VOICES project—aims to give youth and families without typical computing abilities a way to access the Internet with voice-enabled apps.
Land deals in Africa: What is in the contracts?
Over the past few years, agribusiness, investment funds and government agencies have been acquiring long-term rights over large areas of land in Africa. Together with applicable national and international law, contracts define the terms of an investment project, and the way risks, costs and benefits are distributed. Who has the authority to sign the contract and through what process greatly influences the extent to which people can have their voices heard. Yet very little is known about the exact terms of the land deals.
Drawing on the legal analysis of twelve land deals from different parts of Africa, this report discusses the contractual issues for which public scrutiny is most needed, and aims to promote informed public debate about them.
Mobile services in poor countries: Not just talk
Clever services on cheap mobile phones make a powerful combination—especially in poor countries
Africa & The Bass Part 3: The Polyrhythmic Basses Of Zimbabwe & Congo
Some of the world’s most inventive bass playing can be found in Africa’s modern pop music. While some players have gotten a share of the international spotlight, most of the continent’s great bassists have remained unsung heroes. In this series of articles, we’re focusing on four of Africa’s most bassobsessed countries—South Africa (July ’10), Cameroon (September ’10), and this month, Zimbabwe and Congo—and finding out how Africans have been taking the instrument to new places.
Afrilabs Links Entrepreneurs, Startups, Tech Communities in Africa
Erik Hersman, director of operations at the non-profit Ushahidi, today announced the launch of a network of startup incubators and tech communities throughout Africa. Dubbing the new venture Afrilabs, the network is meant to connect a thriving scene of tech entrepreneurs involved in such outfits as iHub in Kenya, Hive Colab in Uganda, ActivSpaces in Cameroon, Nailab in Kenya, and Banta Labs in Senegal.
African leaders advise Bono on reform of U2
Love it!
An expert commission of African leaders today announced their plan for comprehensive reform of music band U2. Saying that U2’s rock had lost touch with its African roots, the commission called for urgent measures to halt U2’s slide towards impending crisis. “Our youth today are imperiled by low quality music,” said Commission chairman Nelson Mandela. “We will be lending African musicians to U2 to try to refurbish their sound to satisfy the urgent and growing needs for diversionary entertainment at a time of crisis in the global music and financial sectors.” Concerns about U2 have been growing in Africa for a while. One Western aid blogger testified to the Commission that his teenage kids found U2’s music “cheesy.” The Mandela Commission proposed that U2 follow a series of steps to recover its Edge:
1) Hire African consultants to analyze U2’s “poverty of music trap”
2) Prepare a Band-owned and Commission-approved Comprehensive U2 Reform Strategy Design (CURSD)
3) Undertake a rehabilitation tour of African capitals to field-test and ground-truth proposed reforms
4) Subject all songs to randomized experiments in which the effect on wellbeing of control and treatment groups is rigorously assessed.
