Upbeat Africa

  • Malawian Man Brings Electricity to His Village 30 Sep, 2021 - This is the story of Colrerd Nkosi, a young man from Malawi who single handedly brought electricity to his village for the first time, basically free-of-charge for the residents. Yobe Nkosi is a remote village located in northern Malawi where Mr. Nkosi grew up. Gift Mfune, a student told France 24 that in their village […]
  • Cameroon’s Film Industry Bolstered by Netflix Deal 1 Jul, 2021 - By: Josh Schlicht, AFJN InternJuly 1, 2021 Cameroonians are celebrating this month as two domestically produced films will appear on the international streaming giant Netflix. These new additions, titled, ‘A Man for the Weekend’, and ‘Broken’ will accompany two existing Cameroonian titles recently released on the streaming service. Cameroon has gained international recognition from the […]
  • The International Children’s Peace Prize Winner: Divina Maloum 16 Feb, 2021 - February 16, 2021 By Mariah Omer, AFJN Student Intern Divina Maloum is a young Cameroonian peace and social advocate. She is a winner of the fifteenth International Children’s Peace Prize, of 2019. Maloum was awarded for her efforts in “Promoting children’s rights by visiting the school to warn students against joining armed groups, such as Boko […]
  • The first African women to address the U.N. General Assembly 1 Dec, 2020 - Out of the 193 total United Nations (UN) Member states, 54 represent African countries. Only four women representing their own countries have addressed its General Assembly. This is an important forum for a head of state to not only represent their country internationally, but also to stand out by making the country’s position on issues known on an international scale.
  • Africans Among Time Magazine 2020 World’s Most Influential People 9 Nov, 2020 - This year’s prestigious Time 100 most influential people was released on Sept. 23. Among them is Julie Mehretu. She is an Ethiopian-born visual artist known for the exploration of multiple dimensions in her paintings and other forms of artistry. Her art explores the significance of space and place through layered shapes and lines, depicting environments […]
  • Ghanian flag designer Theodosiah Okoh recognized as Revolutionary 2 Jul, 2020 - By Chazmine A. Moore Theodisiah Okoh is the artistic designer behind Ghana’s flag, which is no small achievement since the design influenced many other African countries’ flags such as Guinea, Cameroon, Senegal, Togo, Mali, The Republic of Congo, and more. Okoh crafted the design for the Ghanian flag following Ghana’s liberation from colonial rule. Okoh’s […]
  • Flight Simulator built by Congolese pilot and engineer 28 Oct, 2019 - In 18 months Illith Ongagna with the help of secondary school students from Brazzaville, the capital city of the Republic of Congo built a flight simulator made out of recycled materials. This innovation could put Brazzaville on the map for civil aviation. Illith dreams to eventually build drones and passenger aircraft that is capable of […]
  • Kenya: young Kago Kagichiri invents a virtual library for rural disadvantaged students 28 Oct, 2019 - In 2009, Kago decided to drop out of college as a junior pursuing a degree in  IT at Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology, to concentrate on a more pressing issue that he was confident and capable enough to fix. In 2015, Kago Kagichiri became cofounder of Eneza Education which is a mobile education […]
  • Ugandan innovators have breast cancer detection for male and female 28 Oct, 2019 - Three young male technology experts from Uganda developed an app that uses a simple process to collect images and screen ultrasounds that locate any signs of breast cancer.  This diagnostic cancer innovation concept is the result of an inspiration that Mr. David Mwesigwa had after he lost his grandfather to breast cancer. This device can efficiently […]
  • Ivory Coast: Environmental entrepreneur reforest areas by resorting to Kenyan Seed ball solution 28 Oct, 2019 - After an initiative in Kenya to encourage reforestation, entrepreneur Sarah Traboulsi got inspired and decided to work in order to save her country’s environment. Over 40 years, about 80% of the Ivory Coast’s forestation dissipated. In Traboulsi’s fight against climate change, she takes action by implementing the seedball innovation. How did she start?  “I got in […]