Bright Simons gave up an academic career to work in technology because he wanted to do something 'practical'. Now the world is adopting his system
"I had been in student politics and I had this idea I could help change things," he says. He turned instead to migration studies, winning another EU scholarship, having decided that he wanted to help refugees. "But I felt that even that wasn't practical enough."
…
Most exciting, perhaps, is that the system is now being taken beyond Africa. It's become a model for the industry in India and is being extended across south Asia. "It's the first time that innovations from Africa are going to other parts of the world," says Simons. "It's changing the traditional story about the continent and demonstrating that Africa can be the source of groundbreaking innovations. "This is a genuine reversal of the usual narrative."
…
"And it's not going to be about shiny gimmickry as it often is in the west. It'll be about innovation that has an impact on human lives."
…
The old stereotypes about Africa "absolutely" still exist. When it came to approaching multinationals, Simons encountered stiff resistance to the idea that innovation could come from Africa rather than go to it, added to which there "is almost no institutional funding for innovation in Africa". There's no bank money, no aid money. And the greatest challenge is "scale".
…
No comments:
Post a Comment