Tag Archives: students

A New Government for Iraq / Archives Hosts Newest Americans / Tweeting the Civil War

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President Obama calls the new Iraqi government a major step forward. The United States puts new pressure on those who are undermining democracy in Côte d’Ivoire. Not news: Twenty-five new U.S. citizens are sworn in. News: They are sworn in within sight of the U.S. Constitution. A new U.S. initiative is aimed at fighting world hunger through agriculture. A summit for U.S. and Russian class presidents is held in Russia. Finally, what would Lincoln tweet? 

A New Government for Iraq
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The Council of Representatives swore in a new Iraqi government led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on December 21 in Baghdad after approximately nine months of debate. President Obama, at right with al-Maliki, calls the new government, “a significant moment in Iraq’s history and a major step forward in advancing national unity.”

New U.S. Response to Flawed Election Process in Côte d’Ivoire
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The United States has imposed travel restrictions upon Côte d’Ivoire’s President Laurent Gbagbo, members of his regime and others who are undermining their country’s democratic process. The Obama administration continues to urge Gbagbo to step down in favor of president-elect Alassane Ouattara.

New Citizens and Old Documents
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Twenty-five new citizens of the United States were sworn in squarely in front of the nation’s founding documents — the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The new citizens were joined by friends and family members at a ceremony in the rotunda of the National Archives building.   

Fighting World Hunger
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Fighting world hunger is at the heart of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s new Feed-the-Future global initiative, which was implemented in May to further a pledge made by President Obama of $3.5 billion toward agricultural development. The program helps nations produce more higher-quality food and improve targeting the right food to the very young and to pregnant women, says Dr. Rajiv Shah, the administrator of USAID.

A Gathering of U.S., Russian Student Leaders
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Student body presidents representing U.S. colleges and universities across the United States went to Russia in November to meet their counterparts in what many officials and academics hope will be the first of many such exchanges in coming years. It was the first program under the auspices of the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission’s Education, Culture and Sports Working Group.

The American Civil War, Online
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News aggregators, blogs and social media outlets like Twitter are providing a new way to experience the 1861-1865 American Civil War in “real time” as the conflict has its 150-year anniversary. Online resources allow access to richer information sources and invite everyone to be a participant.

Idea of Student Cards in Ghana is 'Loaded' with Possibilities

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[guest name="Tenu Awoonor, Herman Nyamunga and Imran Qidwai" biography="Entrepreneur Tenu Awoonor is from Ghana and lives in New York. He is an assistant vice president at the financial firm Merrill Lynch. Expert Herman Nyamunga is an independent development consultant and a blogger. Expert Imran Qidwai is president of Zaviah, a high-tech consultancy firm in Boston."]

America.gov asked finalists from among the more than 700 African immigrants who submitted business plans to the “African Diaspora Marketplace” to blog about their ideas. Sponsored by USAID and Western Union Company, the African Diaspora Marketplace is a contest that will award seed money to approximately 15 winners to help them bring their ideas to life in their home countries.

TENU AWOONOR, entrepreneur:

Tenu Awoonor

Tenu Awoonor

Khary Robinson and I met at the Wharton School of Business at University of Pennsylvania. Talking about our respective native countries – Jamaica in case of Khary and Ghana in my case – we came upon the idea of a system of cashless transactions related to education expenses. The concept is simple but has a great potential. Our proprietary system is based on a card, similar to debit card, that can be pre-loaded by parents, or someone else, with a specific amount of money and used by students for purchase of school supplies, books, food and other education-related items or services. The system is secure, and the card allows parents to set daily spending limits and track their children’s expenses.

Student Card Limited's product is already in use in Jamaica

Student Card Limited's product in use in Jamaica

In Jamaica, where Student Card Limited went first in 2007, we have entered into several partnerships, which also allow students to save and parents or relatives to re-load student cards from overseas.

The market in Ghana is similar. We have already talked to local schools and vendors. The big scoop for us would be to partner with the government on a nationwide school feeding program. The use of our system would enable monitoring of the expenses related to the program, thus making it more effective and accountable.

HERMAN NYAMUNGA, business expert:

Money management for parents, especially with regard to educational expenses, is a big challenge. This business provides a much-needed solution in that it will make it easy for parents to specifically allocate money for school supplies and track expenses without any problem. It also addresses the problem of theft, because it is safe to carry.
Such a card system makes it easy for other people who are interested in the students’ academic life to safely load their cards.

Generally, it is a concept which I think will greatly improve learning in that country and also help interested parties understand how much is spent on educational supplies.

Despite all these merits, this business has potential challenges. Firstly, you need uniform vendors across the country that will be willing to accept the card in exchange for goods. Secondly, there will be issues related to verification, especially in remote locations. For example, what happens if someone loses his or her card and he or she is in such a location? Thirdly, I see a problem with manageability – will the amount put in the cards be worth the processing cost incurred, considering the fact that many people in Africa make piecemeal purchases.

IMRAN QIDWAI, business expert:

It is terrific to provide such a convenient alternative in societies that still mostly deal in cash. It is great to see you focus on a specific market segment where your solution provides obvious benefits to parents and children. It appears that some of your features, such as pre-loading, topping up and daily limits, also start to teach fiscal discipline at an early age.

I presume that the system can be expanded to include scholarships from known or anonymous donors in the affluent countries, people who may want to help less privileged but eager students?

IT Services Look for Better Grades in Ghana

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[guest name="Kobbina Awuah, Herman Nyamunga and Imran Qidwai" biography="Kobbina Awuah is from Ghana and lives in Ithaca, New York. He recently earned a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering at Cornell University and works at the energy company ConocoPhillips. Responding to his idea are Herman Nyamunga, an independent development consultant and blogger who lives in Philadelphia, and Imran Qidwai, president of Zaviah, a high tech consultancy based in Boston."]

America.gov asked finalists from among the more than 700 African immigrants who submitted business plans to the “African Diaspora Marketplace” to blog about their ideas. Sponsored by USAID and Western Union Company, the African Diaspora Marketplace is a contest that will award seed money to approximately 15 winners to help them bring their ideas to life in their home countries.

KOBBINA AWUAH, entrepreneur:

Kobbina Awuah, with student

Kobbina Awuah, in yellow shirt, works with a student.

The local primary school student (pictured with me) was one of the first visitors to a computer center I helped to establish for a non-governmental project in Bimbila, Ghana. Like most African youth, he possessed an eagerness to use the facility. It was one more proof that my business venture – Peak INFOTEK, a publishing and IT firm – is badly needed. My company aims to establish state-of-the-art computer labs and learning centers for faculty and students at Ghanaian universities. The labs and centers will be equipped with PCs connected to the Internet, educational software programs, printers and copiers. Registered users will be able to use some services via a dedicated website in their homes or dorms.

In 2007, while conducting research at Ghanaian universities on IT services, I realized that they have been lagging. The universities lack computer centers with Internet access, and students frequently have to wait in long lines to have access to copiers and printers, which are often located in the open.

I have put together a strong management team in Ghana. They have since conducted extensive market studies, which have enabled Peak INFOTEK to develop several innovative solutions. We will be launching our first IT facility in Kumasi in February 2010.

HERMAN NYAMUNGA, business expert:

In Ghana, students often wait in long lines to use copier machines.

In Ghana, students wait in long lines to use copiers.

This is a good business venture with potential to improve learning through exchange of ideas, research, and increased communication. Students will be able to access external resources to help in research and other academic projects. Most students in Africa lag behind in studies due to lack of access to quality learning resources. This facility will help to ease that problem. It will provide the students with unlimited Internet access for research and allow them to print and present their class work. Faxes will facilitate faster transmission of documents. Copiers, which are critical at African universities, will increase access to textbooks whose numbers are limited.

Universities could also use Peak InfoTek computer centers to offer online classes to reduce classroom congestion.

The challenges I see with this business model include the issue of affordability: are there enough people who can afford the venture’s services to generate a profit? Another challenge is that many students in Africa are not computer literate, so in order to increase access, you must deal with that problem too.

IMRAN QIDWAI, business expert:

As we all know, the Internet has significantly changed human lives in the past 15 years. However, it is unfortunate that large numbers of people in the developing world still lack access to computers. Anything that can help speed up and ease the access to computing resources will be phenomenal in helping the university students reach their potential.

One key to long-term success will be to make these centers sustainable, with locals trained to maintain the systems in fully operational optimum conditions. The long-term strategy should also include plans to take similar computer access and education to primary and secondary schools, so that children can start learning computer skills earlier to take advantage of the wealth of information available on the Internet.