Here’s a quick rundown of video segments that highlight how various individuals and groups are furthering African technology. Most content comes from either Kenya, Ghana, or Southern Africa, but many similar events are unfolding across all corners of Africa. The country or area of focus for each videoclip is in bold:

1. Over four days in November 2012, Google Kenya held a series of 9 events at 88mph tech hub in Nairobi, Kenya. Events included “Going Google Africa” for Kenyan CIOs, “Think with Google 2013” and workshops for developers, media, publishers, musicians, and more.
2. A glimpse into the Open Society Initiative of Southern Africa‘s youth training on ICTs and social media.
3. A high level video introducing the Western Cape Provincial Government Broadband initiative. The strategy presents the blueprint for a coherent response to the development of a broadband telecommunications infrastructure in the Western Cape that will support ICT initiatives as well as the drive for economic growth.
4. Al-Jazeera English asks about hype vs. reality in African tech: “What are the biggest challenges to the tech industry in Sub-Saharan Africa?”
5. The entire Ghanaian Presidential Debate was aired online in late-October, in addition to airing on television. Although Internet video is still not available to the majority of Ghanaians, it allows certain prospective voters (and diasporans) an additional opportunity to assess the preparedness of the candidates to govern.
6. SasaAfrica is an e-commerce platform that connects craftswomen in developing countries to the global marketplace using a simple mobile phone. The women can create personalized online storefronts that facilitated credit cards to mobile money transfers.
7. Digital download kiosks are coming to South Africa. Mobile device users will be able to purchase digital content from a kiosk, transfer it to their device (often via USB), and enjoy.
8. The VMK channel shows the first African-designed (Congolese) smartphone in action.
9. mLab Southern Africa is a mobile accelerator focused on building sustainable mobile businesses.
10. Tuluntulu is a technology that can stream video on low bandwidth like EDGE without losing audio or breaking. Essentially, broadband video can be displayed via 22.4kbps connection.
11. Techno Brain was given the responsibility of digitizing medical records for a clinic at Kenyatta National Hospital.
12. Slumfest 2012, an event that aims to empower youth to improve their standards of living, took place on 8th November 2012 at the Strathmore Business School in Kenya. The event saw numerous members of the ICT community and youth come together and provided an opportunity to interact and network.
13. The ABN segment ‘Invest Africa’ brought together a variety of ICT business leaders to discuss the state of the ICT sector on the continent.
14. Three schools in Ghana recently received computers running the Ubuntu OS, along with free software, thanks to Africa ICT Right and Computer Reach.
15. Kenyan universities are leading in embracing information communication technology. But private universities are doing much better than public universities, according to a recent study.
16. The “Digitising Cameroon Laws” project and I-Vission International are bringing ICTs to the center of social development. Bringing the laws online could help empower Cameroonians and perhaps lead to greater enforcement of the law.
17. Businesses, large or small risk having difficulties linking up with customers if they fail to create applications that will easily run on the mobile phone platform. Kenya ICT Board Chief Executive Officer Paul Kukubo says firms need to tailor their online presence to suit both mobile and personal computer platforms.
18. Using South Africa as an example, Budde Comm Senior Analyst Peter Lange discusses what conditions are required in an emerging market to turn mobile broadband into a mass market, including the availability and cost of international bandwidth and the emergence of low-cost smartphones.
19. The TV spot for YahClick, a high-speed satellite broadband Internet service which enables customers to connect to broadband-quality satellite Internet.
20. A segment from France24 looks at Kenya’s “Silivon Savannah“. Only 10% of Kenyans have access to the internet, but 80% of households have a mobile phone, making Kenya a highly connected country.

Stay tuned for more next month…