BarCampGhana

BarcampGhana 2008 will be held in Accra, Ghana on December 22nd 2008. This event will bring people interested in Ghana, on a variety of levels and topics, together in one place for a day of exploration, connection and enjoyment.

Website: http://www.barcampghana.org/

Why should I attend?

• It will be a gathering of the most innovative minds in business, science and technology in Ghana
• Hear industry leading Ghanaians speakers talk about their experiences
• Meet and interact with like minded people in a fun and interactive environment
• Discuss Ghana’s role in the global village

We need speakers !!! Interested in speaking about any of these topics?

• Opportunities in open source.
• Mobile payments; why is Africa leading the world
• African outsourcing; opportunities and risks
• African communications infrastructure; growth, trend, opportunities
• African Women and technology
• African ingenuity; building, making and selling African products
• Science and technology education in Ghana
• ICT Solutions for Affordable health care in Ghana
• Ghana 3.0; how technology is enabling the informal market
• Renewable resources; green technology, biofuels and solar energy
• Social Media: Where are the Ghanaian or West African bloggers?

Go to this site to sign up on a panel

http://www.barcampghana.org/contact

I’ve been delaying this blog post in the hope that one or two avenues would change things, but unfortunately they haven’t and so it’s time to face reality ;-(

In short, unfortunately I/we weren’t able to raise enough money through sponsorship to cover enough of the costs needed to make the financial risks tenable, which effectively means no conference this year. The majority of responses were along the lines of “we’ve already allocated our budget for this year”, or “it’s not our business focus so we won’t spend money on it”.

*** Please spread the word ***

So, the obvious course of action is to try get into next years budgets; and keep plugging away at people to get at least a yes/no. Based on that, it’s either a yes for sometime in 2009 / 2010; or give up on the idea having tried, failed and learnt from it. I’m not convinced that giving up is the only option just yet though!!

That said, a few good things have come from the efforts so far, and they are:

1. a few people have stepped forward to offer sponsorship in the last week or two, unfortunately it’s not enough to cover costs, but it is a good sign.
2. word seems to be spreading, I’ve been amazed at how many emails have come in every day, from all over.
3. Most of the speakers have committed to staying involved, which means that we’re still able to speak to sponsors with such a great lineup

Bottom line:

1. My sincerest apologies to you all.
2. If you have any questions or comments, please comment.

Thanks, and will be blogging soon with more news!!