New Guest Column: Digitizing the Moment by Jon Gosier

Jon Gosier addressing the attendees of Barcamp Kampala at Makerere University (via Appfrica)

It's my pleasure to welcome Appfrica founder Jon Gosier to the site as a guest blogger. Regular readers will recognize Jon's name from posts like this one about his Uganda-based tech incubator.

Jon Gosier is the founder of Appfrica Labs, an incubator and Venture Capital partner for East African entrepreneurs.  The focus is on building up the East African private sector by helping local entrepreneurs to gain the skills and support necessary to launch sustainable businesses. As Jon wrote in his announcement of Appfrica's seed funding from Kuv Capital:

When it comes to VCs in America and Europe, “Investors don’t invest in businesses, they invest in people,” is a mantra commonly heard from Investors and MBAs alike. What then, does that say about Africa which is really lacking any sort of major VC community? Does it mean there’s a lack of faith (or trust) in people here? Definitely. But until there are more success stories, until there are more Ushahidis, Afrigators and Synthasites, until people take a leap of faith and don’t get burned, that mentality will remain. It’s up to Africa, and only Africa to change it.

Over the next few months, Jon will be sharing his insight about how media and technology are changing, challenging and enabling innovation worlds away from Silicon Valley. He'll explore both the technical and human side of technology, and give readers context and language to better understand how the phone in their hand and the keyboard underneath their fingers are reshaping the world.

Welcome Jon, we're thrilled to have you.