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This is a group for ladies with interest in Information Technology. Right now we are based in Kenya but we intend to spread our wings to all corners of the world. The aim of this forum is: to empower the gal tech community in Kenyato use the Akira Chix to reach out to other gals in community and encourage them to pursue careers in the field of technologyto integrate use of technology in solving life's problemsto facilitate collaboration and communication among the tech galzto inspire gals to be transformational leadersto enlighten the community on the technology sphereto motivate the gal community to continue in their technology development

She is based in London

Social entrepreneurs see problems much as economists see them: as simple inefficiencies. Sometimes, indeed, inefficiency alone is involved - for example, mushroom growers not having access to discarded coffee grounds. But in many other situations, the problem is politics, which is to say the clashing interests of people. Many social entrepreneurs treat power as something to work around. They can be clearer in articulating what they are for than in stating what they oppose, and why. They often take the holes of the system as a given and do their best to plug the leaks.

The We Love Wool campaign, with its Facebook and Twitter pages, up to Tuesday this week had more than 14,000 followers since it began on June 1. Decked out in his grey wool sweater, Adrian is among more than 70 woollen garment wearers who have clicked on www.fashionbyfeelings.com to upload his "look" as part of a competition to win Sydney airfares, accommodation, a $3000 gift card and other prizes.

Africans are active participants in the social media industry, here are a few examples: Motribe - This South African company enables you to create your own mobile social network with speed and ease and offers you great social tools to power your mobile social network MXit - A South Africa-based mobile social network. Over 27 million registered users, adding over 40,000 every day. Check out this cool infographic about MXit Adloopz - An innovative Nigerian startup that puts a social twist to advertising on the internet Personera - Personera lets you create custom artifacts from your content on social networking sites like Facebook Nikohapa - A Kenyan startup that offers Foursquare-like checkins made simple and that reward you with discounts for checking in to partner stores Ushahidi - Crowdsources information using multiple channels including social networking platforms like Twitter  Swift River - An Ushahidi project that adds super data processing to data coming from sources of unstructured information such as a twitter feed Zoopy - Another South African company that focuses on mobile video ForgetMeNot Africa: bridges the huge gap between the internet and mobile messaging worlds allowing any mobile phone to send and receive email and chat message on any carriers network. Quirk eMarketing - A digital marketing agency that also helps companies make use of social media for great results. Quirk has also spawned other cool companies in social media such as BrandsEye that creates great tools for online reputation management and crowdsourcing company IdeaBounty. And as far as group buying is concerned, Groupon has inspired many an African groupon clone. There are numerous African companies playing in this area - Rupu and Zetu in Kenya, DealDey in Nigeria, and a whole lot of others in South Africa

Kenya is on the brink of becoming Africa's ICT hub due to the continued growth in Internet and mobile technology use in East Africa's biggest economy with investors flooding the country.

Mambe Nanje is the founder of Njorku.com- a fast growing job search engine and aggregator that helps thousands of African job-seekers find employment opportunities in locations nearest to them. It's something like Google, but exclusively for African job seekers. The service went live on in late March, and within four months, Njorku is already attracting more than 5,000 unique users per week, a brilliant performance by Cameroonian standards.

Localization of an e-commerce site goes much further than just dealing with customers and payment methods. "In the US, local merchants are unsophisticated, you can't imagine how unsophisticated they are in the third world. With all due respect, it's rough. You're not dealing with the most cutting edge people in the world. They're old school. You have to know the dynamic of the local merchant. Every local merchant has a different psychology - how much can you push and pull, how in touch are they with new modern ways of doing business." Dealing with local merchants has been an educational experience, for all involved. Offerna has been playing a significant role in giving merchants new and dynamic ways of dealing with their customers, and in the process, building a loyal consumer base.

How interested are people in innovation - and how does that change cross-culturally? What do users across the world really want, how can we uncover and design for their unmet needs, and what services can we attach to products to stay close to our customers? We've found that these questions point to a new need for innovative cultures in the world today (distinct from innovative companies).

Read on for two promising startups that are equipping health care workers in developing nations with souped-up cellphones, and helping them treat more patients, faster.