Joseph Lekuton, a member of parliament in Kenya, starts with the story of his remarkable education, then offers a parable of how Africa can grow. His message of hope has never been more relevant.

A teacher, writer and member of the Kenyan parliament, Joseph Lekuton has an inspiring vision for Kenya.

In this talk-performance hybrid, drummer, percussionist and TED Fellow Kasiva Mutua shares how she's breaking the taboo against female drummers in Kenya -- and her mission to teach the significance and importance of the drum to young boys, women and girls. "Women can be custodians of culture, too," Mutua says.

Charity Wayua put her skills as a cancer researcher to use on an unlikely patient: the government of her native Kenya. She shares how she helped her government drastically improve its process for opening up new businesses, a crucial part of economic health and growth, leading to new investments and a World Bank recognition as a top reformer.

In Kenya, a smartphone app called iCow tracks the health of cattle for thousands of farmers, at times doubling productivity. In this talk, Sarah Cairns-Smith discusses how a range of mobile apps are transforming local economies in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Kakenya Ntaiya turned her dream of getting an education into a movement to empower vulnerable girls and bring an end to harmful traditional practices in Kenya. Meet two students at the Kakenya Center for Excellence, a school where girls can live and study safely -- and uplift their community along the way. "When you empower a girl, you transform...

Boniface Mwangi is an award-winning Kenyan photographer, artist and activist. He is a TED Fellow.

Birder and ecologist Washington Wachira started the Youth Conservation Awareness Programme to nurture young environmental enthusiasts in Kenya.

The African continent holds more water than much of the world -- yet most people can't access the rich reserves just below their feet. Kala Fleming and her team in Kenya are creating a system-level solution: "digital aquifers." By putting sensors in wells, monitoring the data from the cloud and opening up business opportunity around it, they're ...

Peter Ouko spent 18 years in Kamiti Prison in Kenya, sometimes locked up in a cell with 13 other grown men for 23 and a half hours a day. In a moving talk, he tells the story of how he was freed -- and his current mission with the African Prisons Project: to set up the first law school behind bars and empower people in prison to drive positive c...

Photographer Boniface Mwangi wanted to protest against corruption in his home country of Kenya. So he made a plan: He and some friends would stand up and heckle during a public mass meeting. But when the moment came ... he stood alone. What happened next, he says, showed him who he truly was. As he says, "There are two most powerful days in your...

TED Fellow Joel Jackson is the founder and CEO of Mobius Motors, set to launch a durable, low-cost SUV made in Africa.

Sauti Sol blends warm resonant pop with traditional Kenyan influences. Their mélange of energetic rhythms has promoted the group to become one of Africa’s most celebrated.

TED Fellow Su Kahumbu is working to improve farmer livelihoods and contribute to nutritional security and environmental sustainability.

At Clean Start Kenya, Teresa Njoroge builds bridges connecting the formerly imprisoned to the outside world and vice versa.

In 2011, Teresa Njoroge was convicted of a financial crime she didn't commit -- the result of a long string of false accusations, increasing bribe attempts and the corrupt justice system in her home in Kenya. Once incarcerated, she discovered that most of the women and girls locked up with her were also victims of the same broken system, caught ...

Nabila Alibhai leads inCOMMONS, a new cultural production lab focused on invigorating public spaces and inspiring collective responsibility for our cultural and environmental heritage.

IBM's Charity Wayua is a research manager in Nairobi, Kenya, where she leads the company's public sector research team.

Kasiva Mutua is working to elevate the place of the African woman in music.

Ory Okolloh maintains the blog Mzalendo, providing an unprecedented look at the doings of Kenya's parliament -- information once unavailable to Kenyan citizens.

Sitawa Wafula started Kenya's first free mental health and epilepsy support line.

Some lucky animals are naturally endowed with bioluminescence, or the ability to create light. The firefly, the anglerfish, and a few more surprising creatures use this ability in many ways, including survival, hunting, and mating. Leslie Kenna investigates this magical glow - and our quest to replicate it. [Directed by Cinematic Sweden, narrate...

Young inventor Richard Turere invented "lion lights," an elegant way to protect his family's cattle from lion attacks.

Award-winning photojournalist Boniface Mwangi captured the 2007-2008 post-election violence in Kenya unflinchingly through the lens of his camera. But the horrors he witnessed propelled him into a new career as an activist and artist. Here, Mwangi talks to the TED Blog about the events that led him to stand up against injustice, literally, r...

In 2013, international migrants sent $413 billion home to families and friends -- a huge sum compared to the $135 billion sent in foreign aid the same year. Yet the promise of this money, known as remittances, is stifled by a big problem that no one seems to be worried about. Economist Dilip Ratha discusses the issue in today's TED Talk (The hi...

Zoologist Dr. Lucy King helms the Human-Elephant Coexistence Program for the Kenyan research charity Save the Elephants.

As the Research Director of the Energy for Growth Hub, Rose M. Mutiso works with a global network of experts finding solutions for energy deficits across Africa and Asia. She is also cofounder of the Mawazo Institute, helping African women to become scholars and thought leaders.

Faith Osier is studying how humans acquire immunity to malaria and developing new malaria vaccines.

At Gearbox, Kamau Gachigi empowers Kenya's next generation of creators to prototype and fabricate their visions.

Dr. Kakenya Ntaiya is the founder and president of Kakenya's Dream, an international nonprofit organization leveraging education to empower girls, end harmful traditional practices and transform communities in rural Kenya.