Coworking Africa media partner and friend Smart Monkey TV interviewed Emmanuel Mbisimo, community manager of jHub.
JHub is the first Technology Hub in Juba, South Sudan.
The project born in 2015.
« jHUB will be home for the youth to give them access to a Coworking space, electricity, high-speed Internet as well as mentorship and business development skills« , according to TechMoran.
In the video interview, Emmanuel explains how it was launched out of a Peace Hack Camp; the events its has organised; its Open Solar event; the kind of start-ups it’s fostering; and the importance of peace for more start-ups to develop.dd.
As other TechHubs in Africa, jHub aims to contribute to build up a community taking part in the re-construction of South Sudan.
Here it is :
In the small town of Moshi, Tanzania, located on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro, a new project has opened up, Kili Hub. The hub launched in collaboration with Anza, an NGO comprised of an international team. In short, Anza provides support to businesses via a specially curated accelerator program that that is fully aligned with their « social business charter and potential to positively impact the Kilimanjaro region on a large scale ».
Although there is currently a large community of NGOs in the region Kilimanjaro, Kili Hub manager, Mary Bantug realized that there was a lack of dedicated work hubs. We caught up with Mary to talk about building community in East Africa, and the positive impact these hubs can have on the local ecosystem.
Our aim is to be the center of social change, the hub if you will, of social impact in the area. We’ve invited different NGOs to join us at Kili Hub, and we feel that by having their office here, we’re encouraging that collaboration on a daily basis.
We also have events here, such as training, workshops, and work groups, in an effort to cultivate this culture of collaboration and show the community that we’re “not just an office building”, but that the whole of Kili Hub is working together for the community.
As previously mentioned, Moshi is a community made up of NGOS, safari tour companies, many small mom and pop shops and restaurants as well as entrepreneurs. Because it’s a very small town, that “buzz” you might feel from large cities, such as Nairobi or Dar Es Salaam, is just not there.
From my own research and conversations had within the community, I see that the culture of “working together” is definitely there, but a formal coworking space where that is encouraged is still needed.
There isn’t necessarily that culture of “formal collaboration” and we aim to provide that. What I mean by formal collaboration, is a more the proactive push towards a culture of working together with the intent of looking for new ways that our efforts can align instead of just when need arises.
There is very much an “informal” culture that surrounds partnerships here, usually borne from the question “Do you know anyone who can help me with my work?”
A coworking space addresses this informality by raising awareness of the skills and knowledge available in the community. Through this approach, resources can be mobilized more efficiently and help to increase impact.
We’ve held several events in late 2015.
First we had a launch event in September and invited the community to come visit the Hub, to see the space and meet others in the who are doing similar work.
We also held a few networking events for the professional community, in addition to smaller ones, such as happy hours and documentary nights.
Yes we are! We have contacts with Impact Hubs in East Africa and are aware of the more independent coworking spaces in the region. Once more established, we are looking towards possible partnerships.
Interview of Yaw Owusu, Managing Director Gateway Innovations Ltd – Accra, Ghana
I founded Gateway Innovations Ltd to plan, develop and manage Ghana Cyber City. I co-authored the book Modernizing Commonwealth Governments, which outlines the role of startup incubation and technology parks in transforming Africa’s IT economy. I have appeared on ENCA and SABC TV (South Africa), CCTV (China), Bloomberg TV (United Kingdom) and CNN iReport (USA) to discuss developing smart cities in Africa. I worked for General Electric and IBM (Washington) and Goldman Sachs in New York before relocating to Ghana to work full-time on the Ghana Cyber City venture.
Ghana Cyber City is a business innovation hub, comprising workspace and data center for innovative companies; new age condos for knowledge workers and executives; and a commercial center for technology retailers such as Huawei, Samsung, Apple. In collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Airtel Ghana and corporate partners, the project would incubate African startup firms. Located next to the University of Ghana at Legon, a high demand and strategic area of Accra, one of West Africa’s biggest commercial hubs, the Ghana Cyber City offers an innovative environment and a vibrant business and social community to its corporate, retail and residential tenants. Ghana Cyber City seeks to develop the infrastructure that will facilitate development of more African innovations such as mPesa (mobile banking), esoko (online marketplace for agricultural producers and buyers), mPedigree (protecting the integrity and safety of medications in African markets), etc.
Ghana Cyber City Project
Africa indeed has substantial infrastructure deficit for which the continent needs to invest more than $90 billion a year to address, according to the International Monetary Fund. The African Development Bank, in partnership with the African Union Commission, recently launched the Program for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) to facilitate investments in four areas, including Information technology and energy, critical to building Africa’s infrastructure.
Coworking and startup hubs serve as infrastructure (training center, incubator, accelerator), to support tech, entrepreneurship and innovation. Coworking can be a powerful platform to discover and nurture young entrepreneurs seeking affordable avenues to transform smart ideas into commercially-viable and profitable businesses and smart community development initiatives.
Corporate partners and universities can play a key role promoting innovation in Ghana and Africa. Case study: The Accra-based Gateway Innovations, the managing company of the Ghana Cyber City venture, has partnered with Airtel Ghana and MIT Global Startup Labs of Cambridge, Massachusetts to develop Airhub, to promote technology entrepreneurship and develop startup ventures in Ghana and Africa.
The Coworking Africa 2015 summit is a good avenue to start the process of linking promoters, managers and patrons of startup hubs, coworking spaces and technology parks together.
There would be more than 600 million Africans between the ages of 10 and 24 by 2050, up from 344 million today. By 2040, over 1.1 billion Africans will be of working age, surpassing India and China (Source: McKinsey). There’s going to be an explosive growth in coworking communities across Africa in the coming decades as the youth population increases, income levels continue to grow, more young Africans acquire higher education and become more tech-savvy and entrepreneurial-minded.
A smart or cyber city is characterized by the integration of technology into a strategic approach to sustainability, citizen well-being, and economic development. Africa is making strides in the following areas:
Tidiane Ball is the founder of DoniLab, a coworking space rooted in Bamako, Mali. Tidiane tells us about is experience, the impact of coworking and how coworking might rise in his country as well as in Africa, broadly speaking.
What is DoniLab ?
DoniLab is a coworking space based in Bamako, Mali. Its aim is to encourage entrepreneurship among young Malians.
What can you tell us about your story ? Your focus ?
In our African countries, young people have projects but have no environment conducive to develop. I was in the same situation. In 2009 I had the idea to create malisante.net which is a medical information site. Being student at the time I did not have the means or to take office or to have a fixed Internet connection. I was forced to go to the cyber cafe for updates to the website. In 2013 I decided to set up DoniLab to help all those who are in the same conditions. Our goal is to foster entrepreneurship among young Malians.
How would you describe the situation of coworking in Mali ? Where does the demand come from ? Is your community mainly made out of freelancers, startups, NGO?
Coworking is in a start in Mali. The demand mainly comes from young unemployed graduates. This is explained by the fact that these young people have realized that they need to create their own business and work in synergy. DoniLab is an NGO.
Is this audience big enough, according to you, to make those spaces financially sustainable on the long run?
We believe DoniLab will be financially independent on the long run. Because the craze that creates space among young is very large. Young people aren’t reluctant to contribute because they see this as an opportunity.
What are the biggest challenges you have to face ?
The challenges ahead are numerous: the involvement of authorities in support of coworking spaces, obtaining lower internet costs, which are very high, and Partnerships
According to you, offers coworking a solution to offer a better, more reliable, internet broadband connection for a bigger audience in Africa ? What about power outages ?
The big effort has to come from telecoms operators. For example, in Mali the maximum throughput for internet entrepreneurs is to 384 kb/s for USD 70 per month. Other offers are reserved for large companies because they are too expensive. Power outages are frequent so we’re about to go to a solar energy solution. This will allow us to save time and make money savings.
What can you tell us about the ambitions of Mali in terms of digital entrepreneurship friendliness ?
Digital entrepreneurship begins to take off in Mali. Many young people are interested. The government initiated the project ‘Mali Digital 2020’. This project aims to make Mali a technology hub by 2020.
Do you thinks coworking spaces community in Africa should/could collaborate more ? If yes, in which fields ?
The coworking space in Africa must work together to exist in the long term. These collaborations can be: a technology exchange, exchange of knowledge and experiences. In this context, for instance, we have a partnership with Ouagalab Burkina Faso.
What would you expect from a conference such as the Coworking Africa conference ?
Coworking Africa conference can be an opportunity to meet people doing the same thing as me, to exchange our experiences. But also to create a network and partnership
We are very happy to announce that Jess Williamson, director at TechStars, one of the biggest and most famous startup accelerators in the US, will be a speaker at the upcoming Coworking Africa 2015 conference (Cape Town, July 23-24).
Jess will tell us more about what, according to her, are the big market opportunities Techstars sees for Africa, want to support/invest in and how the development of a genuine Coworking scene in Africa is helping with that.
Jess is Director for the Barclays Accelerator powered by Techstars, working with startups across the financial services industry. Originally from California, she has spent nearly nine years in the UK with adventures including startups in Scotland, Springboard accelerator in Cambridge, and Techstars London. She is interested in better engaging
Today, the US based New Worker Magazine posted a great article on our upcoming Coworking Africa conference in Cape Town. 
Until now Africa has been considered a small player in the coworking movement. Now, major demographic shifts and a handful of booming tech scenes are creating ideal conditions for the rise of coworking in Africa. A growing number of people across Africa are looking for flexible workspace, from entrepreneurs and independent tech professionals, to teachers and development workers.
Over 100 coworking spaces, tech hubs, business incubators and startup accelerators have opened in Africa in the last two years. Universities, businesses and development agencies are starting to make use of these new spaces.
With the growth of the flexible workspace industry comes Africa’s first conference devoted to the topic. The Coworking Africa conference will be held in Cape Town, South Africa on July 23-24 at Cape Town Office,Cape Town Garage, OPEN and The Design Bank. Cape Town is regarded as the capital of coworking in Africa with more than 25 spaces, many of which will be participating.
You can read the whole piece here
Iceaddis is the first innovation hub & coworking space in Ethiopia established in May 2011. The coworking space recently moved to a new modern building in the heart of Addis Ababa.
Iceaddis is partly an open community workspace, part vector for investors and part pre-incubator for young energetic tech- entrepreneurs.
We asked Florian Manderscheid, the development manager, to tell us more about Iceaddis.
What is Ice Addis ?
Iceaddis is an innovation hub and coworking space. We support startups teams and host events for tech community and social focus.
What can you tell us about your story ? Your focus ?
Iceaddis was established as the first innovation hub in Ethiopia, it serves as a place to go for young creative professionals with a background of an growing economy and changing structures in the society. iceaddis is offering a place for exchange, work and the support for innovative project ideas, that are related to local demands and developments. Mainly young university graduates and startup founders are using the iceaddis facilities and connect to the developer and technology community.
Looking back on several startups that have came out of iceaddis and a community with around 5000 members, we have currently changed our organization in to a private company that enables us to reach out to even more young talented techies and entrepreneurs. We believe that iceaddis has become more attractive to collaborate with private sector and international institutions.
How would you describe the situation of coworking in Ethiopia ? Where does the demand come from ? Is your community mainly made out of freelancers, startups, NGO’s ?
As coworking is now in the beginning in Ethiopia, we see a huge potential for more places, such as iceaddis. So far, there are very few other public coworking spaces and the concept of coworking is very new to most of the professionals and corporates. Most of our community members have a tech related background but also international freelancer are part of the mix.
Is this audience big enough, according to you, to make those spaces financially sustainable on the long run ?
That is something, we are eager to figure out within 2015, since we just started giving service.
What are the biggest challenges you have to face ?
Apart from the financial sector that makes it complicated for startup investment, it is the bureaucracy which makes it necessary, to have a business license for each activity that we want to perform i.e. consultancy, coworking, events, product development. But we are very optimistic that the government will change the regulations and include startup incubation in the business licensing.
According to you, offers coworking a solution to offer a better, more reliable, internet broadband connection for a bigger audience in Africa ? What about power outages ?
Internet is available for many people by service providers, such as internet cafés and hotels. But coworking offers a lot more than internet, which is the exchange amongst young entrepreneurs and techies – that enables them to focus on even more complex challenges.
What can you tell us about the ambitions of Ethiopia in terms of digital entrepreneurship friendliness ?
So far, we see a change in digital entrepreneurship and a growing number of startups involved in the sector. Currently the potential is limited due to an inefficient financial sector, but we are waiting for mobile payment systems to be launched by end of this year. On the other side Ethio Telecom has a lot of homework to improve the stability of internet connection.
Do you thinks coworking spaces community in Africa should/could collaborate more ? If yes, in which fields ?
Probably coworking spaces can be a link for peer learning and knowledge sharing.
More information about coworking in Brazil, visit www.coworkingbrasil.org.
We are very happy to welcome Phezulu Group as a sponsor of the Coworking Africa 2015 conference !
