Author Archives: Jukka Siltanen

About Jukka Siltanen

Associate Expert at TANZICT-project

Rails Girls encouraged women to build their first websites

Posted on by
Reply

On Monday May 20th, two young women from Finland, Charlotta and Meri, gave a Rails Girls workshop at KINU here in Dar es Salaam. Rails Girls is a world wide network, or ecosystem if you will, of young women and girls encouraging each other to get excited about coding.

As one of the members of the same Finnish delegation as Meri and Charlotta, I had the pleasure of participating in the workshop as well. For me, as for some of the other participants, this was the first time we had an opportunity to learn the basics in HTML. It was exciting and I’m sure we all learned a lot, and not only about HTML, but also about each other. That is the beauty of networks like Rails Girls, uniting girls from all over the world through a common interest.

Participants are filling their Bentobox; structure of their website - click to see all photos from the event gallery

Participants are filling their Bentobox; structure of their website – click to see all photos from the event gallery

For it is true like Charlotta said, coding is the new literacy and we do need to get more women involved in it unless we want to repeat the gender structures of traditional, old societal structures.

All in all, it was a pleasure and we are now looking forward to see what this workshop has sparked in the women who participated and to see where they will take it from here.

- Erika Halonen / Super Sisters

Masoko Challenge takes on transparency in food supply chain

Posted on by
Reply

We have barely got some sleep after the TCRA Road Safety hackathon, and next competition is soon coming up!

2Seeds (a local NGO) is organizing the Masoko Challenge for create new business solutions addressing transparency in the Tanzanian food supply chain. They have built an API with up-to-date market prices from Kariakoo and some other markets, and a big part of the Challenge is to find smart ways of using this price information and API.

Join the Kickoff & Registration session on Friday, June 7th at 16:00hrs at the Innovation Space to find out more!

Download Masoko Challenge Flyer (pdf)

Download Masoko Challenge Flyer (pdf)

Growth Clinic by Aape

Posted on by
Reply
Our visiting Startup Sauna Coach, Mr Aape Pohjavirta

See what our visiting Startup Sauna Coach, Mr Aape Pohjavirta, said last time around

Would you like to have an intensive coaching session with Mr Aape Pohjavirta (Coach Startup Sauna, DTBi Vice Chairman) for your business idea / team / company?

As part of the International Co-Innovation Week, Aape will work with a maximum of 6 teams, entrepreneurs and/or companies to go through in a practical and interactive way the phase and challenges of each company and how to grow it. If you would like to take part in this, you need to be prepared, work hard during the Clinic and be willing to share with the rest of the participants (and Aape) where you’re really at.

The session will take place on Thursday (May 23rd) morning, 9:00-12:30 at the KINU Hub.

Apply to participate via the following registration form by noon on Monday (May 20th). Successful applicants will be notified personally to attend.

[Application form closed, Clinic full]

UPDATE 20.5.2013 08:28: Application form closed, Clinic full. All successful applicants have been notified.

SPINN Business Idea Workshop

Posted on by
3
Workshop facilitator Minna Takala, Aalto University

Workshop facilitator Minna Takala, Aalto University

As part of the International Co-Innovation Week, Lecturer Minna Takala from Aalto University will run a practical workshop on business, product and service ideas on Tuesday morning (May 21st) 9:00-13:00 at the Innovation Space.

The workshop will cover:

  • Ideation session for potential business /product / service ideas
  • Stakeholder identification – the potential customers, partners, supporters, investors, communities, NGO’s etc.
  • Resources for starting phase – creative and affordable approach with bootstrapping & frugal innovation
  • Next steps – how to proceed with the idea the next day, week and month…

Please register by noon Monday (May 20th), so we can prepare the right tools and materials based on the number of participants:
http://spinnworkshoptz.eventbrite.com

International Co-Innovation Week Program

Featured

Posted on by
2

As the Co-Innovation Week program is shaping up to its final form, and specific details and registration information are posted separately for each event, you can use this program as an overview:

Monday May 20th

Tuesday May 21st

Wednesday May 22nd

Thursday May 23rd

  • 09:00-12:30  Growth Clinic by Mr Aape Pohjavirta @ KINU (fully booked)
  • 14:00-16:00  Building Communities of Women in ICT @ Innovation Space by Rails Girls and Super Sisters (everyone welcome – no registration)
    • Hear the story of Rails Girls and Super Sisters – how and why did they start, what have they learned, and what they think can be done to encourage women to engage with technology. Intended audience for example students and other young people (men and women), university faculties, incubators, politicians, women entrepreneurs and societies, and other local relevant groups of interest.
  • 16:00-17:00  ”What will our world look tomorrow and what it means for your future business”, presentation by Mr Aape Pohjavirta @ COSTECH Conference Hall (everyone welcome – no registration)
  • 17:00-18:30  Visit of the Finnish Delegation to COSTECH (invited guests only)

There are still some updates coming up, and events waiting for confirmation, so please check back to this schedule for additions and changes.