[Few universities in Africa have a research and Outreach mission, or have the resources to engage with communities. Many African academics are trained in Western countries to solve Western problems and don’t find poverty alleviation and development as exciting. As an aside, research into dung beetles’ navigation won an Ignoble Award in 2013.]
Frame Changers #149: Get Off The Script!
[If there was a clean recipe or checklist on how to make (social) ventures succeed, the world would be a different place. While you can certainly learn from a lot of people and ventures, ultimately, you have to carve out your own path.]
Frame Changers #148: Everything Needs a Business Model
Frame Changers #147: Capturing Flags is Nuts
[Context-appropriate nutcrackers (for macadamias, apricots, walnuts, etc) can help farmers streamline operations and improve their livelihoods. If you want to have a large impact, build sustainable nutcracker enterprises rather than donating your device to a farmer in 20 different countries.]
Frame Changers #146: Consultants Without Borders
Frame Changers #145: Modern Human Needs
[This is a modern take on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.]
Frame Changers #144: What’s Your Exit Strategy?
Frame Changers #143: It’s an Entrepreneur Thing!
Frame Changers #142: Design the Distribution Network First!
[There’s no Sam’s Club, Ebay or Amazon Prime in Africa. Designing the distribution network with appropriate incentive structures is just as important as the design of a context-appropriate product.]
Frame Changers #141: The Next Big Fad
[And, yes, that is indeed a solar food cooker with wheels that came about because of Human Harmonic Design. If only this process was developed earlier, we would not have had to wait 5,000 years to put wheels on bags.]