We have good news to share regarding our Crowd Sourced Bursary idea that we launched at Net Prophet 2010.

Through some outrageously generous contributions from various members of the community and RAMP Foundation, we have now reached our target of R60 000! Excellent. Many thanks to all those who contributed.

Now that we’ve reached our target, it’s time to kick things into gear, and begin the exciting process of finding a suitable candidate who will be awarded the bursary, enrolled, and mentored towards success. The first step is already in motion, and These Numbers Have Faces, who have kindly offered to facilitate the process for us, are busy scouting for the ideal candidate to utilise the bursary. Once they have been identified, we’ll formally introduce them to you, and communicate their progress over time. Ultimately, we’d like to get the community involved where possible in encouraging our students to succeed.

For those interested in the mechanics behind the selection and mentoring process, you can read more about These Numbers Have Faces and their excellent Community impact model, which favors development and interdependency over simply providing aid on their website.

Feeling inspired yet? The fund is still open! – and contributions will go towards our 2011 Crowd Sourced Bursary, with the goal of providing exponentially more bursaries to more students. So we’d like to encourage those inspired to give to feel free to do so at any stage. The details on how to give can be found here.

More updates to follow.

Erik Hersman is also the founder of Ushahidi, iHub, AfriGadget and spends a lot of his time telling stories of Africans solving everyday problems with little more than their creativity and ingenuity. Fascinated by micro-entrepreneurs, gadgets and improvisation, he is proving that technology is changing Africa – daily.

In his presentation, Erik looks at the rising tide of technology entrepreneurs throughout Africa.

[podcast]http://audio.rampgroup.co.za/Podcasts/np2010-1.mp3[/podcast]

Arthur is an award-winning writer, analyst and commentator on Internet, mobile and business and consumer technologies. He heads the World Wide Worx research organisation, leading groundbreaking research into how change is affecting businesses large and small. Clients of the research include South Africa’s major financial institutions and corporations, Government departments and agencies, and international organisations.

In his presentation, Arthur gives valuable insights and data around the technology and consumers in South Africa.

[podcast]http://audio.rampgroup.co.za/Podcasts/np2010-9.mp3[/podcast]

Patrick Kayton has spent the better part of ten years putting ideas into people’s heads. As a content architect, Patrick has been responsible for the conceptualisation, design, development and delivery of creative, full colour and highly interactive educational materials, courses and comics principally in the areas of entrepreneurship and innovation.

In his presentation, Patrick looks at the history of how we publish content, and how we should do so in the future.

[podcast]http://audio.rampgroup.co.za/Podcasts/np2010-6.mp3[/podcast]

Richard Mulholland is the founder of Missing Link (www.missinglink.co.za), a specialist conference and presentation strategy company, and co-owner of Thunk! (www.thunklab.com) SA’s first perspective lab.

In his presentation, Richard looks at the negative sides effects of social media, and how they can be avoided.

[podcast]http://audio.rampgroup.co.za/Podcasts/np2010-5.mp3[/podcast]