Louis Wajeiya, OGW

Let there be light 💡

[Louis Wajeiya, OGW @LouiV]

Hi @EU_Commission reaching out to inquire further on  Investing in Young Businesses in Africa (IYBA) – IYBA SEED. Could please point me to a contact person for more details?

[Jacob's Ladder Africa @JacobsLadder_A]

Young Africans are no longer waiting — they’re building solutions.

The greenlabs incubation program backs this bold mindset shift with real support: training, mentorship, and networks.

🌱 Got a green idea? Build it with us — apply now
💼 Want to back Africa’s next changemakers? Let’s partner.
[email protected]

#greenlabs #YouthInnovation #AfricaYouth #GreenJobs

@Sellahb @Bilha_Ndirangu @chela_karrency @LouiV @VaLydd @kevin_okwako @UNEP @cadef_ng @Cleantechhubng @wef @_globaleconomic @ASBELKEMBOI7 @PeterKariukiKE @kevolwe_godfrey @timotsi1 @NetForCommDev @am_tonie_ @MagangaPurity @jacobaffiliates @CyndyMaloba @Alfreddiaw @ST_Mwaurah369 @Mmukai14 @MuhiaWesley @Sarah_Nash11 @Vinnysdg13 @SangakaAre @George_x86 @StellaKabura @WalelaPhillip @TonyBlairOmondi @Alfreddiaw @SwalaNyetiKe @EstherJoyrell @khoghen

[Jacob's Ladder Africa @JacobsLadder_A]

Green Jobs for Youth and Women Through Climate-Resilient Agriculture: A New Chapter for Murang’a County

Today marks a major milestone in the journey toward climate-resilient livelihoods as the County Government of Murang’a and Jacob’s Ladder Africa (JLA) signed a transformative Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to harness the power of agriculture for inclusive, green job creation.

Held at JLA Headquarters, the signing ceremony was graced by Murang’a Deputy Governor H.E. @StephenMunania; CECM Agriculture, Trade, Industrial Relations and Cooperative Development, Mr. Paul Mugo; CECM Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Dr. Apollo Maina; County Attorney Mr. James Kamau Thuku, and County Director of Agriculture and Crops, Mr. Peter Muchiri.

This ambitious partnership places climate-resilient crops—notably cassava—at the center of an innovative plan to generate sustainable employment across the entire agricultural value chain from production and processing to packaging and market access.
Value-added products such as cassava flour, starch, and bio-waste innovations will create new income streams for farmers, processors, and entrepreneurs.

At its heart, the initiative prioritizes women and youth, ensuring economic inclusion and job creation in a sector long marked by inequality.

While Murang’a is the starting point, the model is designed to scale across Kenya, activating a robust green workforce that drives food security, climate resilience, and dignified employment, especially in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) where climate-resilient solutions are most urgently needed.

Together, JLA and Murang’a County are reimagining agriculture as a powerful driver of food security, equity, and climate-ready employment across Africa.

@Sellahb @Bilha_Ndirangu @Mandakhabetsa @timotsi1 @MurangaGovt_021 @ASBELKEMBOI7

[Jacob's Ladder Africa @JacobsLadder_A]

If you could pitch one game-changing idea today, what would it be? —Or which famous innovator would you invite to dinner and why?

Your turn—let's hear your thoughts in the comments!
#DemoDay2025

@Sellahb @Bilha_Ndirangu @chela_karrency @LouiV @VaLydd @kevin_okwako @UNEP @cadef_ng @Cleantechhubng @wef @_globaleconomic @ASBELKEMBOI7 @PeterKariukiKE @kevolwe_godfrey @timotsi1 @NetForCommDev @am_tonie_ @MagangaPurity @jacobaffiliates @CyndyMaloba @Alfreddiaw @ST_Mwaurah369 @Mmukai14 @MuhiaWesley @Sarah_Nash11 @Vinnysdg13 @SangakaAre @George_x86 @StellaKabura @WalelaPhillip @TonyBlairOmondi @Alfreddiaw @SwalaNyetiKe @EstherJoyrell

[Jacob's Ladder Africa @JacobsLadder_A]

Hear what Karen Chela @chela_karrency, Chief Innovation Officer at Jacob’s Ladder Africa, Brighton Kithendu @bkithendu, Group GM - Strategic Programmes, Products & Projects Assurance at @KeEquityBank, Luiza Munyua @rain_Bu, Senior Scientific Officer at the @_AfricanUnion, and @kevin_okwako, Programs Manager at Jacob’s Ladder Africa, had to say about what excited them the most at the Innovation Challenge during Demo Day 2025!

What was your highlight from Demo Day? Let us know in the comments—we’d love to hear from you! 👇 #DemoDay2025 #JacobsLadderAfrica

@Sellahb @Bilha_Ndirangu @chela_karrency @LouiV @VaLydd @kevin_okwako @UNEP @cadef_ng @Cleantechhubng @wef @_globaleconomic @ASBELKEMBOI7 @PeterKariukiKE @kevolwe_godfrey @timotsi1 @NetForCommDev @am_tonie_ @MagangaPurity @jacobaffiliates @CyndyMaloba @Alfreddiaw @ST_Mwaurah369 @Mmukai14 @MuhiaWesley @Sarah_Nash11 @Vinnysdg13 @SangakaAre @George_x86 @StellaKabura @WalelaPhillip @TonyBlairOmondi @Alfreddiaw @SwalaNyetiKe @EstherJoyrell

[Tando @tando_me]

@GridlessCompute Is that the sisal plant?
Wen mining bitcoin from recycled braids? 😂

[Jacob's Ladder Africa @JacobsLadder_A]

Did you know? Sisal plants live 7–10 years, producing fibers for sustainable uses.

This week on #GreenJobsAfrica, we feature The Shaba, a brand partnering with rural communities to craft beautiful sisal bags using tech.
Don't forget to like the video and be part of the change towards a sustainable future!
Watch the full video to learn more about The Shaba's impactful work and how you can contribute to a #greeneconomy #keepitJLA

@Sellahb @Bilha_Ndirangu @Kisilu_Gloria
@FashionDeclares @_ethicalfashion @KenyaFashionCo1 @ASBELKEMBOI7 @kevolwe_godfrey

[Jacob's Ladder Africa @JacobsLadder_A]

The atmosphere is electric as judges engage with finalists, discussing the potential impact of their projects at the #greenLabsDemoDay. Innovation is in full swing! #GreenInnovations
@Sellahb @Bilha_Ndirangu @KarenChelak @LouiV @uonbi @Marykinotimary1

[Jacob's Ladder Africa @JacobsLadder_A]

One day to the Demo Day!! Out of over 250+ registrations, we have our 24 finalists who will showcase their renewable energy innovations to a panel of judges on the 28th of March. Who will take the top 3 spots and go home with the prize money? Who will make it into the greenlabs Incubator programme this year? Stay tuned to our social media pages to find out how the demo day will go! #greenLabsDemoDay #GreenInnovation
@Sellahb @Bilha_Ndirangu @KarenChelak @LouiV

[Jacob's Ladder Africa @JacobsLadder_A]

Meet the visionary mentors who have dedicated weeks to guiding and refining the projects of our Renewable Energy Innovation Challenge finalists.
As Demo Day approaches, these mentors stand as beacons of support, nurturing the brightest ideas toward the ultimate prize: entry into the year-long greenLabs incubation program by Jacob's Ladder Africa. Stay tuned to our social media pages to find out how the demo day will go! #greenLabsDemoDay #GreenInnovations
@Sellahb @Bilha_Ndirangu @KarenChelak @LouiV

[CIO Africa by dx5ve @dx5ve]

@JacobsLadder_A launches the greenLabs Renewable Energy Innovation Challenge, empowering youth to tackle climate change and energy access issues in Kenya. Selected participants will develop scalable solutions for sustainable growth.

[Jacob's Ladder Africa @JacobsLadder_A]

Rising star in Green Jobs: @_nguthiru- Founder and CEO, Hyapak. #GreenJobsAfrica #JLA

Watch the full video here: https://t.co/LN7WBIOOHx
#GreenJobsAfrica #JLA

[Jacob's Ladder Africa @JacobsLadder_A]

📢 Calling all aspiring innovators, entrepreneurs, and everyday problem-solvers!!!

🔥Are you passionate about making a difference?

🌍Do the challenges we are facing because of climate change and lack of energy access in Kenya fire you up?

⚡Here is a golden opportunity to be a part of the renewable revolution!

Participate in the Jacob's Ladder Africa renewable energy innovation challenge.

���Open to young people aged 20yrs - 25yrs.
💰Tons of exciting prizes to be won!

SIGN UP NOW AT → https://t.co/YAXOACC55f

[Moses Kemibaro @moseskemibaro]

[New Audio Podcast] Chopping It Up With Africa Online's 'OGs' of Kenya's & Africa's Early Internet Going Back 25+ Years Ago!

Yesterday evening, we had something of a very special meet-up or reunion with the pioneers of Kenya's Internet sector going back over 25 years ago at Africa Online. Africa Online was one of Kenya's original Internet Service Providers or ISPs of what started off as the dial-up modem via copper-based analogue landline and rain-prone variety around 1995. Africa Online was originally known as Karisi Communications and was founded by the iconic startup team of Ayisi Makatiani, Amolo Ngweno, and Karanja Gakio.

The backstory goes that Ayisi, Amolo, and Karanja were all in the US having completed their education there at the prestigious Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology or MIT when they decided to start a business to bring the Internet to Kenya and the rest of Africa. This was extremely prescient given that most of Africa was not even connected to the Internet on a real-time or 'live' basis and even email required using an archaic store-and-forward method via long-distance analogue modem dial-up connections several times a day between the US and Kenya!

They also built https://t.co/eW04BQoCIc which became for Africa what Yahoo! had been for the early Internet globally as a content and news platform, also known as a portal in later years. Africa Online would receive what were then massive funding rounds in the millions of dollars to open up Africa to the Internet from early Internet companies based in the US like Prodigy. The founding team at Africa Online are arguably the very ones that ignited the spark behind what we now call the 'silicon savannah', right here in Kenya. They are Internet royalty in the context of Kenya and Africa. The 'OOGs' if such a thing exists and we should be grateful for their foresight and resilience to create the embers that became the Internet fire that we now sit warmly embraced around.

I had the privilege of joining Africa Online after a short stint at Form-Net Africa which was also one of the first ISPs in Kenya back in 1997, working at their Mombasa office at the time. I was at Africa Online at a time when the Internet was so nascent in Kenya that our primary mission was to connect home and business users to analogue connections using slow modems and copper-based phone lines. Back then, fax machines and old-fashioned postal mail were the backbone of communications in Kenya, and mobile phones as we know them today simply didn't exist but the world and Kenya were on the cusp of a massive digital transformation as the Internet took hold of millions and eventually billions of users at scale.

In our Africa Online reunion yesterday, which I saw as a great opportunity to do an impromptu podcast on my phone, or what I like to call a 'gangster' podcast, I managed to capture almost one hour of great memories and recollections from some of my former Africa Online colleagues and Kenya's 'OG' Internet pioneers. In attendance, and captured on this podcast, were Geoffrey Shimanyula who was one of the Sales Managers back then for corporate Internet solutions, Martin Wahogo who was one of Kenya's very first website developers, Kelly Kabiru who worked in sales like myself at both Africa Online and later 3mice Interactive Media for website services under the Internet Business Solutions or IBS Division, David Ochanda who was also a Sales Manager for corporate Internet solutions, and Patrick Malungu who was the overall Sales Director at Africa Online in Kenya and across six other markets in Africa. Patrick, in particular, honed my sales skills with intense professional training into a highly sharpened and effective instrument together with the majority of sales professionals who ever worked at Africa Online.

In this podcast, you will hear amazing stories of what the Internet looked like over 25 years ago in Kenya. From the fact that an entire ISP in Kenya ran on a 64Kbps Internet connection from the now defunct Kenya Post and Telecommunications or KPTC, now known as Telkom Kenya, using the KENSTREAM data service to how a person called Randy Bush controlled the majority of the country code top-level domain names (CCTLDs) in Africa including Kenya's .KE and you sent him a text-based email template to get domain names registered that often took one or two weeks to get done since he was named in the US. You will hear about how inorder to demonstrate how a website worked a whole web server was picked from Africa Online's server room in Nairobi so that a demo could be made to a large prospective corporate client at their offices and at the same time this took down the majority of websites in Kenya to do so!

These were easily the Wild Wild West days of Kenya's now thriving and ubiquitous Internet sector and I am sure that for many of the young(er) listeners who hear this podcast, there will be many humorous and eye-popping moments. The Internet did not simply arrive in Kenya in its current form after more than 25 years, it took vision, hard work, and consistent evolution to morph into what we take for granted today. This is the story of the early days of Kenya's Internet and as we like to say here, tumetoka mbali! (we have come from far). Sit back, relax, and enjoy a nostalgic trip down memory lane to the early days of Kenya's Internet revolution from none other than the Africa Online 'OGs' that made it happen!

Listen To The Audio Podcast Below:

https://t.co/jV2vRX1lkr

#Internet #Kenya #Africa #AfricaOnline #ISP #History

[Louis Wajeiya, OGW @LouiV]

What's the definition of a startup? 😃

[Jacob's Ladder Africa @JacobsLadder_A]

The Climate Crisis is a Leadership Opportunity - Sellah Bogonko @Sellahb, Co-founder & CEO Jacob's Ladder Africa @JacobsLadder_A speaking at the Climate Action & Leadership in Africa; Ideas, Shifts & Realities session at the Africa Climate Summit @AfClimateSummit

#KICC #ClimateChange #ACS23
#AfricaClimateSummit23 #JLAatACS23

[Jacob's Ladder Africa @JacobsLadder_A]

Africa holds the key to decarbonising the global economy - H.E. President William Ruto @WilliamsRuto at the Africa Climate Summit @AfClimateSummit opening ceremony.

#KICC #ClimateChange #ACS23
#AfricaClimateSummit23 #JLAatACS23

[Jacob's Ladder Africa @JacobsLadder_A]

Professor Yemi Osibanjo @ProfOsinbajo, Global advisor, Global Energy Alliance for people and planet moderating the Carbon Markets in the Global South session at the Africa Climate Summit @AfClimateSummit

#KICC #ClimateChange #ACS23
#AfricaClimateSummit23 #JLAatACS23

[Jacob's Ladder Africa @JacobsLadder_A]

This afternoon, Jacob's Ladder Africa is convening "Opportunities and Challenges in the Advancing creation of green Jobs in Africa" with the United Nations, GO 4 SDGs, UNICEF, African Development Bank Group, African Development Fund and Green Jobs for Youth Pact. Our CEO Sellah Bogonko, @Sellahb will be moderating the session.

The live stream will be available on the African Youth Climate Assembly 2023 @AYCAssembly2023 pages.

@UN @UNICEF @unhabitatyouth

#AfricaClimateYouthAssembly23 #AYCA23 #Youth4Climate #AfricaClimateSummit #ClimateAction #ACS2023 #AfricaClimateSummit23 #JLAatACS23
#ACS23 #AYCA23

[Louis Wajeiya, OGW @LouiV]

🌍 Excitement is building as the countdown to Africa Climate Summit 2023! continues.... 🌱 @JacobsLadder_A explains why I'm eagerly anticipating this transformative event – and why you should too #ACS23 #greenjobsafrica