Despite pioneering the distribution of African content online, through platforms iROKOtv and iROKING, Njoku notes that embracing failure, incorporating it into his image as an entrepreneur, was a good move, for himself and others, stating that people will respect you for overcoming hard times.

“I’m a certified failure,” he told the audience, amidst laughter, but his poignant insights into why we really fear failure, make it a refreshing and inspiring talk. iROKOtv is the world’s largest legal distributor of Nollywood movies online, and currently offers a library of over 5 000 streaming films to its 500 000 plus users, most of whom live outside of Africa.

iROKING is the largest digital distributor of Nigerian and African music. As of October 2012 its mobile site offers steaming and download services, of songs and music videos, to users directly to their phones.

The vision of iROKOtv and iROKING is to turn them into the Netflix and Spotify of Africa respectively. Watch Njoku’s talk in full, below.

Recently, I began to compile a list of amazing Ugandan women who are using twitter to promote the work they do, catch fun and also positively represent their country as e-ambassadors. I have learnt a lot from following this amazing women. It is only natural that I recommend you follow them too. I present to you the 7 amazing Young Ugandan women to follow on Twitter in no particular order; {compiled by Rotimi Olawale}

Grace Natabaalo Follow @natabaalo

Grace is a journalist and program associate at the African Centre for Media Excellence. She describes herself as crazy about social media and life.  Grace regularly tweets about current affairs and news in Uganda and sometimes international news. Ms. Natabaalo holds a degree in Mass Communication from Makerere University and has had extensive training in online and multimedia journalism coupled with internet technology in newsrooms.

Maureen Agena Follow @maureenagena 

Maureen is a blogger, New media trainer and a trained citizen Journalist. She has been working in Technology for Development fields for the last 4 years and specifically on the socio economic empowerment of rural communities. She holds an MSc in Information systems, a Bsc Information technology and a diploma in Introduction to internet Governace. She maintains a blog and is a founding member of the Girls Geek Kampala.

Rosebell Kagumire Follow @rosebellk

Rosebell is a Ugandan multimedia journalist working on peace and conflict issues in the Eastern Africa region. She is also an award winning blogger, her blog won the Waxal – Blogging Africa Awards, the first African journalist blogging awards hosted by Panos Institute of West Africa in 2009. She has experience in documenting and communicating women’s war experiences in Uganda, South Sudan and DR Congo and is also the coordinator of Africans Act 4 Africa, a network of African citizens and activists calling on African leaders to ACT for Africa. Rosebell maintains a personal blog and tweets mainly about African issues, current affairs and travels widely.

Evelyn Namara Follow @enamara

Evelyn is a tech-chic and currently the country Director of Solar Sisters in Uganda. Evelyn who won the Anita Borg Change Agent Award 2012 has a backgound in Information Technology and has been involved in the open source movement on the African continent. Evelyn’s tweets focuses on technology, sometimes music, entrepreneurship and her many adventures. At other times, she talks about topical issues in Uganda and the rest of the continent. Evelyn runs a personal blog (evelynnamara.com) and is widely travelled on the continent and beyond.

Joy Doreen Biira*** Follow @joydoreenbiira

Joy is an anchor and reporter for Kenya Television Network. She describes herself as an environmentalist who loves nature and is God’s favoured one. Joy tweets about current affairs in Kenya, Uganda and the entire East Africa and sometimes the entire continent. Her tweet also covers political happening in Kenya and Uganda.

[Ed’s note: I follow Joy!! She’s been fantastic during the recent Kenyan election coverage]

Catherine Byaruhanga Follow @cathkemi

Catherine is the BBC’s Uganda multi-media reporter. She has previously lived and worked in the UK before moving back to Uganda. She has an interest in business and economics. Her tweets cover national, regional and international politics, fashion and celebrity gossip. Her recent tweets have been devoted to the African Nations Cup currently ongoing in South Africa and the Obama inauguration events. She explains on her twitter profile that the views expressed are not that of the BBC but hers.

Charlotte Kemigyisha Follow @charlie_kemi

Charlotte is the Communications Manager at Umeme Limited, Uganda’s Electicity Distribution Company. She describes herself as vivacious, tenacious, occasional blogger and fashionista. Her tweets, she says, are mostly personal. She tweets and retweets about Ugandan political life and history, economy, women issues and a bit of odd and interesting stories around the continent.

The government has called on the international media to desist from negative and inciting reporting on Kenya in the run up to the March 4 General Elections.

Information PS Dr Bitange Ndemo said alarmist and irresponsible reporting would affect the peace and cohesion that is prevailing in the country. Speaking at a press conference at a Nairobi hotel Saturday, he specifically singled out the Cable News network (CNN)for airing a news story alleging that Kenyans were arming themselves and preparing for war, ahead of Monday’s historic poll.

The clip aired showed an unnamed militia group preparing to cause mayhem in the Rift Valley in the election period Dr. Ndemo said that the CNN clip was stage managed adding that the media house did not verify its report with the police or other relevant government agency.

Ndemo warned that stern action will be taken against the international media for spreading false information.

“CNN did not verify its facts. It went to the some bush and stage managed the story,” he said adding that the government would investigate the source of the footage and take appropriate action.

The PS said the government will formally write a protest letter to CNN and demand a retraction of the story adding that the story was meant to destroy the country. Dr. Ndemo said CNN should be on the forefront in championing the best practices in journalism.

Kenyans have reacted angrily at the news story.

Okolloh cut her political blogging teeth when she co-founded Ushahidi during the Kenyan election violence in 2007.

Okolloh found her own blog flooded with information, pushing her to develop the site to manage and organise the huge response. “The voices of people were just not being conveyed …. That became overwhelming; I was getting about 300 comments every hour. I was blogging around the clock, sleeping maybe two or three hours a night.” Ushahidi combines mapping with eye witness reports and has since been used to monitor xenophobic violence in South Africa, elections from Mexico to India, the Gaza War, and post-earthquake crises in Chile, Haiti and Australia.

Six years later, Ory is again monitoring the Kenyan elections with the Kenyan Elections Hub, which will curate content from across Youtube, as well as create a platform where information can be shared and host Google Hangouts where politicians can reach out to Kenyan citizens for discussion and debate.

When Redi challenges Okolloh on the tension between activism and a highly profitable company like Google, Okolloh points out that the two fields no longer have to be mutually exclusive:

“I don’t think there’s necessarily a conflict between making money and being a company that cares …. If they are [a] successful business in Africa it means they will be here for the long run.”

Ed’s note: Follow Ory Okollah on twitter @kenyanpundit

by @tmsruge

Something transformational has been happening online: African voices have begun populating social media, quickly becoming the undisputed champions of development punditry. No longer are we faced with what the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie called “the danger of a single story”. Twitter, Facebook and other forms of social media are bringing African voices and new, varied narratives to the forefront. And, what’s even more remarkable, is that these online platforms are not being used for simple pontification and acerbic commentary (although there’s a fair bit of that as well). These tools are also being used to replace staid development paradigms, by organising and developing African-driven institutions.

One form of social media in particular has had a noticeable effect. Twitter’s short messaging network has revolutionised political discourse and rewritten the rules of international development dialogue. Controversial development projects such as the #1millionshirts campaign (pdf – see page 11) and Invisible Children’s Kony 2012 video came under heavy diaspora scrutiny online. Invisible Children’s video campaign to capture the notorious Ugandan rebel Joseph Kony became a victim of its own success and was dismissed as “over-simplified” and “misleading” by many prominent voices in the diaspora. Likewise, the negative feedback against the #1millionshirts campaign – a project to dump 1 million T-shirts into the African marketplace – was so powerful that founder Jason Sadler pulled the plug on it.

With social media bringing African voices to the fore, gone are days when do-gooders can launch misguided development projects with impunity. This, in turn, has encouraged more collaboration and shared learning. After killing his project, Sandler took the initiative of engaging with African diaspora, including myself, to understand better how he could put his talent to good use.

New institutions for economic development

Thanks to social media, Africa has been talked about now more than perhaps at any other period in history. It has been talked about particularly for the many business opportunities that the continent offers today such as the recent discoveries of oil in Ghana, Uganda, Kenya and many other places.
Africans are using social media to hold their leaders accountable. This is judging from the number of tweets, Facebook posts inter alia of the youth, especially on almost a daily basis either commending their leaders or admonishing them to do the right thing. Arguably, this has also led to more freedom of expression across the continent. Social media is indeed transforming Africa.