BBG partners with Ghana tech incubator
The Broadcasting Board of Governors has partnered with Hub Accra, a Ghana-based tech incubator, to develop mobile solutions to promote civic engagement in West Africa.
The partnership will create fellowships to provide local members of the tech and entrepreneurial communities with practical experience designing and developing mobile applications and services in collaboration with the BBG’s Office of Digital & Design Innovation.
“We’re excited to work with Hub Accra to develop innovative mobile products that serve West African audiences and follow BBG’s principles for high-quality journalism. Engaging communities in the Sahel in this process will play a great role in building tools for civic engagement by West Africans, for West Africans,” said Adam Martin, acting director of ODDI.
The partnership will help provide Hub Accra program participants with media training, as well as mentoring in areas related to media development and local sustainability.
Hub Accra fellows will explore ways to share news, information, cultural programming and social commentary to mobile device users not served by traditional media channels in the Sahel region.
This initiative is part of the BBG’s significant investment for expanding content creation and distribution to the Sahel, with a focus on promoting original high-quality journalism and providing digital media for next-generation audiences.
The team of participants in the program include:
Kofi Kwansa Bart-Plange, a Product Manager with Starfish Mobile Ghana, Mr. Bart-Plange is an Innovative software engineer, specializing in mobile applications and solutions development with over ten years of experience. He will serve as the Team Lead. Mukaila Hadi, Gbeila Aliu Wahab, Francis Kofigah and Samuel Kweku-Bio Dzidzornu, developers with Poll Afrique, a mobile startup team with the goal of, ‘helping make regional information easily accessible, by providing a platform that allows Africans to share their views via SMS and web.’