Interview: Isis Nyong’o on investing in African tech start-ups.

Kenyan Isis Nyong’o is an investor in Africa’s technology space and a well-known name in the industry. Until recently she was the managing director of Africa for InMobi, an international mobile advertising network. Prior to InMobi, Nyong’o worked in senior management positions at MyJobsEye, a job site in Kenya, and she specialised in mobile and local content partnerships at Google. She also led MTV Network’s commercial entry into Africa and holds degrees from Stanford University and the Harvard Business School, where she was president of the Africa Business Club.

How we made it in Africa magazine asked Nyong’o to tell us a bit more about being an investor in Africa’s technology space.
When it comes to investing in the technology space in Africa, what companies, start-ups and people do you tend to invest in?
I’m always on the lookout for start-ups which have gained traction with end-users and are focused on learning. The space is in such a nascent stage so I’d be concerned about anyone who is convinced they have it all figured out. The team composition is incredibly important but equally important are

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Opinion: Are land Grabs good for Africa?

One of the stated purposes of the G8 conference, hosted by David Cameron next week, is to save the people of Africa from starvation. To discharge this grave responsibility, the global powers have discovered, to their undoubted distress, that their corporations must extend their control and ownership of large parts of Africa. As a result, they will find themselves in astonished possession of Africa's land, seed and markets.

David Cameron's purpose at the G8, as he put it last month, is to advance "the good of people around the world". Who could doubt that the best means of doing this is to cajole African countries into a new set of agreements that allow foreign companies to grab their land, patent their seeds and monopolise their food markets?

The New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, which bears only a passing relationship to the agreements arising from the Conference of Berlin, will, according to the US agency promoting it, "lift 50 million people out of poverty over the next 10 years through inclusive and sustained agricultural growth". This "inclusive and sustained agricultural growth" will no longer be in the hands of the people

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Seven Expected Highlights of the 2013/2014 budget.

The 2013/2014 budget is expected to be read on Thursday by Treasury Secretary Henry Rotich. Some of the expected highlights will be:

1. Containing the budget deficit.

Will the government balance its books? Will it have to result to extra borrowing from the markets and donors? The Kenya revenue Authority- KRA, has been falling short of its targets for some time now, and will collect just under a trillion shillings for the fiscal year. However, the budget expenditure is expected to be about 1.6 trillion shillings. Where will the extra money come from?

2. County funds allocation.

How much will the national government allocate to the counties. The allocation amount will likely point to government’s commitment to the realization of devolution. If the counties are not allocated enough money, the failure at the grassroots level could be catastrophic.

3. Reviving the agricultural sector.

Even though ICT is touted as a great enabler, farming and agriculture still remains the major contributor to Kenya’s economy, and one likely to contribute the most in lifting millions of Kenyans

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Unilever to sponsor Kenya Rugby team by 5 million.

Unilever Kenya will sponsor Kenyan Rugby team to the tune of kshs.5 million. The success of the Kenya Sevens team in the international sevens circuit has been a particularly attractive segment for Kenyan corporates, with sponsors ranging from Kenya Airways seeking to sponsor the team. Unilever follows a path of other sponsors such as Tuzo which sponsors Gor mahia, and Mumias Sugar which sponsors AFC Leopards.

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How to improve your job prospects as a college student.

It’s that time of year when college students pack up their dorm rooms and head home for the holidays. With their eyes focused on next September, they put together a resume and pound the pavement to find a job — ANY job.

Many of these jobs will be a less-than-enjoyable means to an end so that students can scrape together enough money for next semester. If your holiday job doesn’t fit your idea of the perfect job and it’s easy to adopt the mindset “I just need to get through the next few months and I won’t have to do this ever again.”

It’s easy to take a short term view, but I’d like to reframe what you think of that summer job and how you can use it to help you improve your future job prospects.

Think further ahead
Think about what will happen in your life when you graduate from college in just a couple of years:

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Ruto to meet County bosses over funds allocation.

Deputy president William Ruto will meet county bosses over the row on county funds allocation. County governors are demanding more revenues from the national government, in order for effective devolution to take place. The county bosses accuse the national government of attempts to scuttle

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CIC and SRC to discuss MPs Pay.

The constitution Implementation Commission- CIC, and the Salaries Review Commission- SRC, will meet to discuss MPs pay. Kenyan Mps want their salaries to be adjusted upwards to be the same as the MPs of the previous August House. They argue that under the International Labor Organization-ILO rules, a workers’ salary cannot be adjusted downwards. If their arguments are

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