Tweets from Samasource- Samasource: An interview with @Leila_c, keynote speaker at Tech4Africa 2010 http://zoopy.com/q/4w9j #tech3africa #givework
- Samasource: Rare opportunity to learn about economic development first-hand: Calcutta & Haiti Senior Associate positions available: http://bit.ly/9CfG6w
- Samasource: Red-hot: Samasource growth thaws a frigid San Francisco Summer - Pamela Pavkov recounts her Associate time @samasource http://bit.ly/ddTpUf
- Samasource: RT @arrington: Crowdsourcing Disaster Relief http://t.co/RWJ8Gns via @techcrunch
- Samasource: @leila_c in @techcrunch on how @samasource uses data to make disaster relief more effective: http://tcrn.ch/dymCZB #givework
- Samasource: We are getting excited for Samasource's 2nd Annual Give Work Gala! Happens 11.11.10 - email gala@samasource.org for more info!
- Samasource: Tech For (And By) Africa http://t.co/SwwQUwI via @techcrunch
- Samasource: @samasource Stipend Haiti Field Associate position, begin in Sept. careers@samasource.org w/resume 4 info! http://bit.ly/c8yiiK @RAMhaiti
- Samasource: Leila Chirayath Janah on Samasource bridging the digital divide and creating a global meritocracy... http://fb.me/EYeshXJo
- Samasource: A comprehensive article on Leila Chirayath Janah @leila_c and Samasource: http://bit.ly/9U5rRl #givework http://fb.me/zgyP2ebi
Author Archives: leila
Kenya’s Quest for Fiber
From Sam Imende, Samasource’s program manager in Nairobi:
Kenyans are eagerly anticipating the construction of two major fiber optic cable lines that will greatly enhance internet services and significantly cut down the costs of telecommunications in the region. The current copper cables and satellite systems in Kenya have put ICT based companies at a major disadvantage [...]
Thomas Friedman on I.T. and E.T. in Rural India
Tom Friedman wrote about the growing rural BPO trend in India last year after traveling to Ethakota, a small village east of Hyderabad where Satyam Computer Services, one of India’s outsourcing giants, set up a data center. In a New York Times Op-Ed, Friedman describes the challenge of setting up shop in areas with unreliable [...]
Values-Based Consumerism
Bruce Cahan, an Ashoka Fellow and recent addition to Samasource’s Advisory Committee, gave a TechTalk at Google’s Mountain View campus a few weeks back on the need for better feedback loops for consumers who wish to buy products that reflect their values.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niGJCNN1FbA]
The talk raised a couple of interesting points:
1. Ratings systems for ethical consumerism (including [...]
The Green IT Revolution
Gartner, a Stamford-based consulting firm, recently named “green IT” as one of the ten forces that will shape business and information technology in 2008. Survey data seems to support this — according to Forrester Research, as of October, 38% of IT professionals said their companies use environmental criteria in their evaluation and selection of IT [...]
“Wily Brokers” Hurt Kenyan Outsourcing Firms
Brokers have cost some of East Africa’s top outsourcing firms tens of thousands of dollars in finder’s fees that led nowhere. A recent article in Business Daily Africa reports that many local firms are forced to use middlemen to find work, since foreign business development is prohibitively expensive. Often based abroad, middlemen dictate contract terms [...]
Kenyan Election Crisis
Charges of rigged national elections in Kenya have led to outbursts of violence in some areas, leaving between 200 and 300 people killed and many more displaced since December 27th. Earlier today, opposition leader Raila Ondinga urged his supporters to take to the streets in a peaceful rally to protest President Mwai Kibaki’s reinstatement, which [...]
One Laptop Per Freelancer
One Laptop Per Child is making headlines with its $188 XO laptop, the brainchild of MIT’s Nicholas Negroponte. The project has received plenty of criticism for its failure to lower the price to $100 (Negroponte’s goal) and attract key politicians and government buyers from low-income countries. Some tech bloggers and reviewers dislike the laptop itself, [...]
World of Good to Launch Online Fair Trade Hub
World of Good, IFAT and eBay are partnering to sell “people positive products” on Project Good, a new online hub for fair trade producers. The project will feature a Community Site and Seller Hub to help smaller companies build their brands effectively.
It’s unclear what sort of impact this will have on the sale of fair [...]
World Bank: African Diaspora Key to the Continent’s Development
The World Bank held an African Diaspora Open House on November 29th in Washington, D.C. A 2005 study found that remittances from members of the diaspora are in excess of $4-6 billion per year, making this group a vital force in Africa’s development.
This has some implications for the responsible outsourcing movement. Professionals living outside their [...]
The New and Improved Facebook Platform