Q&A
What projects are you working on now that are most meaningful to you?
I'm creating Africa's first online banner advertising network. while the Internet has revolutionized how business is transacted worldwide, marketers are still in the dark on how to reach Africans online. Pamoja Media bridges this gap by providing a platform connecting marketers to Africans online within the continent and in the Diaspora. We are working with some of the leading publishers in Africa and a number of the world's leading sites such as Yahoo! By helping these global and African brands monetize their African traffic, we are, in turn, enabling improved content production and monetization within the African web space. From bloggers to media brands, we are working across a whole spectrum of sites accessing over 35 million individual Africans online. Advertisers greatly benefit from the service. Both local and global brands are finding it easier and more cost-effective to advertise online. This is due to easy tracking parameters, interaction with brand experiences and a targeted audience marketers can reach.
Besides your work, what issues/ideas/pursuits are you passionate about?
I am most passionate about seeing a better depiction of Africa on the global stage. Knowledge is the most important asset. In Africa we need better access to knowledge and to systems that allow people to compete on the global stage. Entrepreneurs need the ability to access the capital and key connections that will allow them to grow successful enterprises. on the other hand, the world's view of Africa needs to be balanced to show both the positive and negative stories instead of just the negative ones that have been proven to sell news. Africans, therefore, need to create their own institutions that can allow them to own these stories.
What do you do for fun?
I love traveling and exploring new places, learning new cultures, architecture and how people live. I love reading fiction, biographical and business books. Photography helps me relax, as I can focus on artistic creativity. watching sports and movies are also great joys of mine.
Recount a surprising anecdote about yourself that few people know.
On a Sunday afternoon in 1980, something happened that changed my life. I was outside playing with my elder sister who convinced me to climb up the fire escape of our apartment building. Both my parents and elder brother were in the house with my dad, who was nursing a headache and my brother, who was unwell with the flu. At age two, you do anything your elders show you. so when my sister jumped through a gap, I decided to follow her. My stride was shorter than hers. I fell through the gap, tumbled down two stories and landed on my head. My expectant mother heard the commotion and ran outside. Trailing her were both my dad and brother who immediately recovered from their ailments upon seeing me sprawled on the sidewalk. So I went to the doctor on that day, but I would like to think that my unconventional thinking in life has been heavily influenced by the sudden stop the ground offered my jump.
