In a nation known for minerals, a controversial crop is on the rise. Before he started growing weed, Koti spent his days digging holes and tunnels, mining for morsels of gold. He would smoke weed...
A good coder is hard to find, as Kenyan entrepreneur Tonee Ndungu knows. Nairobi is chock-full of mediocre ones, while those with real skills are in such high ...
https://jacobkushner.com/hopes-for-african-tech-are-high-but-who-will-train-the-coders/
Off a dirt road, atop a grassy hill, the plains of central Kenya seem endless. The nearest town is a decent hike away. But here, in the middle of nowhere, I pull out my iPhone, and within seconds...
https://jacobkushner.com/is-this-africas-real-silicon-savannah-2/
In an age of terrorism, many countries — the United States among them — face a difficult balance between security and civil rights. For Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, the fight against al-S...
As the heavyweight Uber enters Nairobi’s robust taxi market, a start-up called MaraMoja is adapting to the local scene In January, the taxi-app juggernaut Uber set up shop on the crowded byways...
The introduction of Apple Pay, which allows users to pay via smartphone, has generated plenty of buzz. But when it comes to mobile money, America trails years — seven years — behind another ...
https://jacobkushner.com/pay-by-phone-africas-got-it-covered-2/
It started out as a nice idea that made a sharp left turn and then took a whole new direction. A 22-year-old Kenyan developer, getting the idea from a class at Strathmore University in Nairobi, w...
https://jacobkushner.com/driving-drunk-in-nairobi-theres-an-app-for-that/
For more than two centuries, The Old Farmer’s Almanac seemed to hold the answer to every crop grower’s questions, like when is the best time to plant onions (“as soon as the ground can be w...
https://jacobkushner.com/africas-farming-revolution-starts-here/
Even the smallest of bribes can stifle an economy when they’re magnified millions of times over. When a police officer gets caught soliciting a bribe, most people would tend to blame the cop. I...
https://jacobkushner.com/is-high-tech-the-solution-to-corruption-in-kenya/
Remembering the Poet Who Dreamed of a United Africa A year ago this month, gunmen affiliated with the Somali terrorist group al-Shabab stormed the Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi, Kenya. The th...