Archive

Hello there,

I’ve always hated Lego; it was too tedious for my young(er) mind and now is used too frequently at design conferences to connote creativity. But the fact still exists: tactile learning is proven to be very effective, particularly with new technology.

Hope you enjoy August.

Hello there,

Jorge is unavailable as promised in the last letter, so it’s Chuma here.

While I’m knee deep in Kickstarter fulfillment, I’ve been thinking about open source a lot more having released the design files for wonda (the math toy I designed) under a Creative Commons license, for now to backers in the campaign and subsequently to everyone. I think that there is a feasible business model that falls somewhere between free, open source and paid, patent-protected and today’s letter is an effort to share this.

Hello there,

I’m back!

Outside of Kickstarter, I spent a good amount of time last month reading about which spoke about the Renault-Nissan Alliance manufacturing a car in India the first time. Automobile design and manufacturing is very interesting because no one starts a car from scratch: you choose a (manufacturing) platform based on another car, an engine based on yet another and set an MRSP based on the entry point you want in the market.

Paul Birkelo here, I’m the Managing Director at the Gearbox International Foundation.

First off, a big thank you to Chuma for the chance to share a bit of what we’ve been learning building a makerspace for hardware entrepreneurs in Nairobi over the last four years.

A quick word of introduction – Gearbox Kenya is the makerspace in Nairobi, founded and run by our Executive Director, . The is the US-based nonprofit we set up to support the work in Kenya, and to scale the model by helping other people build similar projects in emerging market countries around the world.

Hello there,

It’s April and, for most people, the beginning of Q2. Or Q1, depending on your fiscal year.

Things I Enjoyed Reading

Hello there,

I’m Chuma, and until very recently was part of the organizing team at Hardware Lagos. In the last two years, the guys and I have had great fun planning the events and activities, but it’s time for me to concentrate on other things I enjoy.