Words matter. These are the best Ory Okolloh Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
I think a lot of Africans in my generation, and especially those of us who have spent time overseas before coming back, are quite comfortable moving between the two worlds, though always with a lens of, ‘What can we do to help our countries or regions?’
I believe in the power of ideas. I believe in the power of sharing knowledge.
We can’t entrepreneur our way around bad leadership. We can’t entrepreneur our way around bad policies. Those of us who have managed to entrepreneur ourselves out of it are living in a very false security in Africa.
I wish I had not believed that my work would speak for itself; the working world requires a bit more than that.
An absence of credible information prevents citizens from participating in public decision-making, particularly on key issues of concern such as education, health, and governance.
I’m not sure I’d be as successful as I am as a woman in a profession other than in technology. Because it tends to be a bit neutral. If you have the tools, if you can code, it’s a lot more sort of merit and recognizes talent.
Let’s make sure that the Internet stays open to those who need it the most.
Omidyar Network first supported Africa Check in 2014 when they were a team of just three dedicated people intent on building a more fact-based environment for public debate in South Africa.
Beyond providing some level of scrutiny of Kenyan MPs, we built Mzalendo to demonstrate that there is only so much bemoaning you can do about your representation.
The depiction of Africa has changed in the media in that it is not always poverty, disease, and so on.
If I were to have an epitaph, I’d want it to read, ‘She did stuff.’
The Internet Governance Forum – which brings together NGOs, government officials and companies – needs to do a better job of including representatives from Africa, Latin America, and Asia and addressing their issues.
As a young African, the sense of opportunity that fills my head on a daily basis is, I suspect, reminiscent of how young Africans felt at the cusp of independence.
I think that we have been able to demonstrate that we cannot just consume software, that we can create software that can be used all over the world, that we have that kind of talent in Africa.
I probably can win a prize for the most ways to use a Harvard Law School degree because of all the things I’m doing.
I think there’s sort of an extra oomph with the younger people coming up. They’re writing. They’re communicating. They’re sharing, and they are very much technology-driven.
I always tell people that I am most proud of the fact that the Ushahidi story has provided an inspiration to other techies in Kenya and Africa as an example of the kind of talent the continent holds.
For Ghana to suggest that they will turn off the Internet, in addition to other countries that have done it like Uganda, Zimbabwe, DRC, Burundi, Chad and others, that’s worrying.
I didn’t grow up in the slums or anything that dire, but I know what it is to grow up without having money or being able to support family.
If you know anything about Ethiopia, they are very security conscious, a very closed environment. It’s a repressive place were journalists and bloggers are arrested all the time.
The increasing diversification of media ecosystems after decades of state control, along with new digital tools that allow for greater citizen engagement, have led to a dramatic reshaping of the dynamics between citizens, media, and government.
Most entrepreneurs think capital is the biggest problem they have – but it’s not. You can have all the capital you want, but if the market fit and ability to adjust are not present, your startup will likely not succeed.
I’d like to see technology to move beyond the hype and be considered part of infrastructure… the way you see access to water. I would like it to move away from apps and mobile money. So that everyone has their TV and their Wi-Fi, and it’s just ubiquitous. I think that’s where we should be headed.
As much as innovation is important, I think we also need to just make stuff. If we look at Kenya, where I’m from, as an example, we are importing everything down to toothpicks.
I want my work at Google to have a long-term impact on the tech scene in Africa and to result in millions more Africans not just going online but having an amazing experience once they do. That’s what drives me every single day when I get to work.
The idea that either individuals or organisations are ‘too big to fail’ or that the tech and start-up sector is somehow different is wrong.
I spent a lot of my early blogging career sort of highlighting all the ills of the government in Kenya and all the corruption and problems.
As I see it, tech in Africa 1.0 was the mobile-phone boom, and version 2.0 was about new apps developed in response to local needs. Tech in Africa 3.0 should be about those who are successful in transforming the chatter into real opportunities.
Press and Internet freedom correlate against economic and social success, GDP, innovation, number of patents filed, and educational attainment. The more freedom there is, the more information, the more choice, and ultimately, more power for each individual.
Technology is the perfect refuge for African capability stifled elsewhere by badly run governments and years of misplaced foreign aid. Ubiquitous connectivity in a world without legacy infrastructure, together with the potential to learn coding or anything else online, has allowed technology entrepreneurship to flourish.
People thought I wrote in a very ‘masculine’ way.
Ninety percent of my mentors have been male, most of them with very little in common with me on a personal level – from life experience, work experience, backgrounds, etc.
In Kenya particularly, we have a lot to say – we’re sort of obsessed with politics. We have three nightly news broadcasts, predominantly bad politics.
Anyone who has been successful and has knowledge to share is a potential mentor.
I have a very introverted real personality.
