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African energy and power via GOOD.

Last week, I had the great opportunity to meet with Simon Höher (@jimmiehu) and Emanuel Schwarz (@emustweet), founders of Knowable. The two Berlin boys were in town for the Social Good Summit, but thanks to the infamous Christian Vanizette (MakeSense.org), we were able to squeeze in some coffee and chat about development work and their start-up adventure.

The purpose of knowable.org is to connect creative ideas in order to solve everyday problems in developing countries. Currently, the guys are in start-up mode and therefore doing some crowd-funding. Check out their recently released video that better explains their pretty fabulous idea:

I can attest to the fact that knowable.org is not only a great idea, but it’s also run by some really great and super chill guys. I’d recommend checking them out and perhaps donating a few bucks to help get this idea off and running. If you can’t give money but have experience or connections on the ground in developing countries, don’t be afraid to reach out to them also. And if you ever find yourself in Germany, they’re hiring!

Many of my friends have heard me say something to the extent of, “Isn’t it crazy how…[insert something relatively normal in our modern society]?” I always find technology, and how far along it’s come, to be absolutely fascinating and something my mind sometimes needs a moment to really think about. When I tell people about my wonder, they tend to think I’m weird. Understandable, since we live in a hyper-connected, super tech-savvy society where 10-year-olds spend recess downloading apps to their phones and the concept of putting pen to paper to communicate with someone seems like an ancient one. It’s amazing though, right?

Brian sent me this clip this morning with the added message, “This should be the official video of #firstworldpains.” Louis CK on Conan O’Brien about how amazing our world is today and how nobody appreciates it.

Really interesting video on mobile stats in Africa. Pretty phenomenal, no?