Think Africa Week 2014 (November 10-14) theme was Building Bridges for Innovation and was organized in collaboration with FinCEAL and Helsinki Think Company. The event looked at the creation of new practices for innovation and cross- cultural collaboration.
The week consisted of five events:
Day 1: Innovations Are Born Through Diversity: Actors from various backgrounds combined their strength to discuss this topic. Wilson Kirwa, the fastest long-distance runner encouraged Finnish companies to look into East Africa.
Day 2: Cracking African Business Cultures: The event gathered together a group of experts to delve into cracking business cultures in African countries. Entrepreneurial and development efforts were discussed from three different perspectives: 1. Partnerships and collaboration. 2. Knowing what to do locally, and 3. Cultural diversity.
Day 3: Advancing Your Idea & Expertise: The event explored the tools needed to enhance one’s ideas as well as how to market oneself and ones skills. With the help of Bolaji Sofoluwe, a professional consultant, participants developed their business and project ideas, and explored whether these can work in a particular African country. In addition, students received support to advance their expertise in Helsinki. This included personal help on cv’s and personal branding from Helsinki Think Company, Intern.ly and Edupoli.
Day 4: Breaking Stereotypes, Finding Potential: How does intercultural collaboration benefit society? This event focused on perceptions of African diaspora in Finland, on how stereotypes prevent talented and skilled Africans from fulfilling their potential.
Day 5: Pitching & Party: What is happening in the East African start-up scene? At the Open Mic Session, individuals shared their idea, found like-minded people and got feedback from professionals. The week was closed with a Party, Afrobeats Kallio Mashup with the DJs Dalo, Goodblood, Hermanni, Lulu & X-Ray. Live: Jbs UGian.
Speakers at TAWeek 2014 included:
Wilson Kirwa (Kirwa’s World), Jussi Impiö (Fuzu), Eva Kagiri (FinCEAL) and Bolaji Sofoluwe (ETK Group, UK), Linnea Olamo (Villa Karo), Taivo Akinremi (Ampion.org), Jovin Hurry, Dr. Olawale Omoniyi (Irofit.com), Taiwo Akinremi (Ampion.org), Oladimeji Joseph (Goly.co), Linnea Olamo, Jan-Henrik Janer (GA90 Recycling / JHJ Proconsult) , Dr. Edward Mutafungwa (Aalto University), Abdirahim ”Husu” Hussein (Moniheli ry), Uyi Osazee (University of Tampere), Marko Nokkala (VTT), Elie El-Khouri (Helsinki Yritys), Markos Lemma (Co-founder of iceaddis, Ethiopian innovation hub), and Johannes Nuutinen (Avanto Helsinki).
During the whole week, a PopUp shop with beautiful handmade accessories from Kenya were also on sell.
