Africa gave up Facebook, Groupon and Zynga before they knew it could happen.

I read this article by Forbes.

It says what so many have said already. Africa is not deficient of ideas, but rather of support, of funds, of faith.

It's hard for me to accept at times. It's hard for me to be comfortable with African innovations stagnating until an American comes about with a wad of cash - simply because I believe everyone comes with their own ethos, their own way of doing things and when their money is on the line, they'll definitely be giving their two cents and moulding their projects to serve their needs. That's a fact of life wherever you go. I won't pretend as if its just the USA. China make it quite clear on the continent too, and others follow.

Mainly the hardest part of reading this article, was coupling it with my understanding of Africa's post-independence history. For many, these years in this century is Africa's calling. For many, pre-Y2K was coloured with war and famine and war and famine and coup after coup after coup. They don't know, or have never bothered to see that there were some, like my Grandfather, who were there willing to invest in their area, in their peers, in young talent. I've seen evidence of that - if anyone would like to dispute my claims. My Grandfather himself was a big thinker, one who had the ideas and requested the supported as everyone must, but then once he had made it he was there looking for the next big thing to support. His country cut the legs from underneath him and they thought they were doing just him a disservice, but they didn't see that 25 years down the line, Forbes would be asking "where are these people?".

That they can write to say we have none, as if we never did, as if we have not yet reached a level of understanding needed for development, frustrates me.  Ghana for one example had these people and then 1979 happened. They should now ask themselves, how to we get these types of people back. How do we grow IN THIS LAND, the type of people who can sponsor an African Facebook, Groupon or Zynga - I'm happy for Google to be unrivaled because I just love them that much ;-) - the way we did before.

The World needs Ngozi.

I thought I would just put on record that I am a huge Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala fan. A World Bank led by anyone but her at this moment (especially if it is an American candidate simply in the running because of his nationality) is a joke. 

America and Europe should come to understand that Number 1 they no longer own empires. Number 2 they are no longer the beacons of prosperous economies. and Number 3 it's best to co-operate with the nations who will before long, be running the global system.

It makes no sense in my opinion that a 21st Century world should continue to be run by mid-20th Century statistics and rankings. 

Read more opinions on the World Bank leadership race: 

Hats off to Ngozi - The Economist

Why are the disabled forgotten in Ghana?

The above video makes me sad and disappointed. It sums up, though, in my opinion Ghana's development process - something to be proud of, but yet something missing vital features. Ghana on the surface looks to be firmly on the path to becoming a stronger country, yet there are oversights that are only honoured by lip-service rather than tangible action.

How can a mayor, who brought his children up ion the USA and would have seen numerous examples of accessibility sanction the building of pavements that cannot be easily accessible by wheelchair users and subsequently blind people and many others. 

This isn't a new concern of mine. I realised this to be a problem on my last visit to Ghana in September 2010. I saw the building of the Accra-Nsawam road through Ofankor (barrier) and just thought every day that I drove down it "that pavement is just too high". At the time I was thinking mainly about my grandmother as she gets older, stairs and steps are decreasingly a feat I would want her to suffer. I've designed my new house (which we will hopefully begin building by the end of the year) so that my grandmother would have step free access from her room to her shower to the kitchen and the garage. It's not difficult to do so and I'm not even a trained architect. Surely the Accra Metropolitan Authority with all the 'experts' I expect they are paying, could consider, the old and disabled in town planning. 

I don't interview well

I attended an interview today. It wasn't for a job. It was for a magazine which compiles a list of the UK's top 100 Black university students. I'm not one for these awards normally, except y'kno it is nice to know someone notices your hard work and at the mo, the way things are going I could really do with positive energy. I have a few friends who have been recognised in previous editions of the magazine and I've found the aim of being featured has kept me on my toes in terms of not settling into solely academic work. 

Problem is - as you may have guessed from the post title - I do not interview well, for a number of reasons. First, interviews require you to big yourself up. Basically the summary of your whole interview experience should be "I'm amazing because... I've done this, that, this, that and the other whilst also doing ABC, HIJ, LMNOP and inspiring little Jack XYZ to become this, oh and did I mention the Queen is now my best friend, following me saving one of her corgies during a conference in which I found world peace." That's not me. I've had many a person introduce me to many another person and say I've done great things in my life and then second person would ask for an elaboration on the appraisal and I would respond jokingly "I've paid them to say that, really, I'm not that impressive, I've not done much". Selling yourself short and being modest is separated by the thinnest and blurriest of lines. I think I often find myself on the side of the former. But the sole purpose of an interview is to ditch the modesty and convince someone that you're better than what you are. Hurdle number 1, ran into.

Second hurdle, when is an interview formal and when is it informal? I was worried about the interview today. I was preparing myself for a panel of people, each picking out things from my application form and asking more about it - choosing what they found interesting (or even what they didn't find interesting but wanted to ask me about to determine why I thought it would be interesting) and really establishing who I am in the context of what I've already told them. Then I met these guys downstairs on my way up and told them I was a bit nervous as to the atmosphere of the interview. They reassured me, "it's not bad, it's just a conversation about who you are." Phew! crack a few jokes, add in a few accomplishments = give you a nice well rounded opinion of Charlene Bello. Alas, no panel (just a single interviewer) - ok, probably better. I can build a rapport with my interviewer. 

"Think personality, think personality, think personality. Oh crap the interviewer has a stern face and didn't find that little joke thing funny, ok pull it back. Second question, do I try to make the interviewer chuckle? No. just impress her with your experience. Hmmm ok, she's noting everything but she doesn't look impressed, ok informal failed, formal looks to be failing, back to informal? Will that work?" 

In an interview I'm thinking just as much about the interviewer's face (posture, how many times they look at me, if they smile) as I am about my answers. I'm guessing that's standard with everyone, but I dunno, with me, it becomes a distraction. These two combined can spell disaster, as I believed it did today. I might not be able to articulate why I'd make a good leader in the future, but I'm pretty sure I will be no matter what.

The Cost of SHS

I have just returned home from an .amazing first and last (sadly) Harvard World Model United Nations. I was tasked with representing St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the SOCHUM committee debating the topic of Primary Education Development in developing nations. It was very fitting that just before leaving I watched Nana Akufo Addo's interview on HARDtalk exploring his promise of free Secondary Education. My co-delegate and I both felt that we shouldn't limit the debate to Primary Education either, that it should be a discussion about Secondary Education as well. In the new technological age, a country who provides and ensures only primary education is a country who is content with remaining an agricultural/raw material economy. Having returned I'm catching up with fall out from Nana Akufo Addo's HARDtalk interview.

Frankly put, the NPP are shirking a concrete answer. They are, and it is a shame because I think that they are right to promise it, I think they have the moral high for promoting it before the NDC and I think they are the only party capable of bringing it to fruition. So why shirk answers? If you have not completed the costings, then there are ways of admitting that without admitting defeat. I can think of a million possible responses to journalists on this topic which might not gain the NPP extra points, but it would at least deduct points from the NDC. This is politics, what you do say, what you dont say and what you lead someone to imagine you've said all matter. Perhaps, unlike myself, Ghana's politicians have not got much experience worming their way out of detentions for absent homeworks and missing PE kits. They'll need to get the practice in quickfast, because Nana Akufo Addo struggled with Stephen Sackur and he's not yet at Paxman level! Mr. Boakye Agyarko left much to be desired on PM Express and his co-guests weren't even Alis or Foremans of the boxing ring that is Ghanaian politics.

Secondary Education is crucial if Ghana is to develop above and beyond its present record. The incentive of free SHS is still necessary to convince parents to choose that path for their children. I hope that both parties would now fight over who can offer Free SHS and more, rather than who will offer Free SHS and who will oppose it.