Erik Hersman

Erik Hersman (born 1975 or 1976) [1] is a technologist, blogger and commentator who specializes in the impact and application of technology Throughout Africa. Raised in Sudan and Kenya , have been a graduate of Kenya’s Rift Valley Academy and Florida State University , [2] he runs the websites White African and AfriGadget, the Latter being a multi-author website dedicated to showcasing African ingenuity. AfriGadget was named one of Time’s “Top 50 Sites of 2008”. [3]

He is co-founder of Ushahidi ( “testimony” in Swahili ), a crowdsourcing website created to map incidents of violence prolongation the 2007-08 Kenyan crisis . Ushahidi has since leg-used for reporting violence in Madagascar [4] and election by monitoring in Afghanistan . [5] In December 2009, the Omidyar Network announced an investment of $ 1.4 million to support the continued growth of the platform. [6]

In 2008 Hersman was named a Pop! Tech Social Innovation Fellow. [7] In the summer of 2009 he was Awarded a TED Fellow Fellowship, [8] and the following year named a Senior TED Fellow. [9]

Married to Rinnie with three young children, he moved back to Kenya from his Florida home in December 2009.

He founded iHub , Nairobi’s tech innovation hub, in March 2010 – an open space for the technologists, investors, tech companies and hackers in Nairobi.

He is the co-founder of BRCK, a ‘backup generator for the web, and one of the first hardware startups in Africa, welke raised $ 1.2 million in July 2014. [10]

References

  1. Jump up^ Smith, David (30 October 2012). “Kenya building a digital future in Africa’s silicon savannah” . The Guardian . Hersman, 36
  2. Jump up^ *Bright, Jake; Hruby, Aubrey (2015), The Next Africa: An Emerging Continent Becomes a Global Powerhouse , Thomas Dunne Books , p. 157, ISBN  978-1-25006-371-7 .
  3. Jump up^ “50 Best Websites 2008: Afrigadget.com” . Time .
  4. Jump up^ “Violence in Madagascar” . Ushahidi . 2009-03-24. Archived from the original on 2011-07-17.
  5. Jump up^ “Election monitoring in Afghanistan” . aliveinafghanistan.org . Archived from the original on September 2, 2009.
  6. Jump up^ “Omidyar Network website” . Omidyar Network . Archived from the original on July 15, 2011.
  7. Jump up^ “Pop! Tech Social Innovation Fellows: Class of 2008” . poptech.org . 2008.
  8. Jump up^ “TED Fellowship” . fellows.ted.com .
  9. Jump up^ “TED Conference Announces The 2010 Senior Fellows” . PR Newswire . January 1, 2010.
  10. Jump up^ “BRCK Could bring a reliable Internet connection to some of the musts remote parts of Africa” . thenextweb.com . 2014-07-16.