
Ken Banks and his FrontlineSMS system have been around for about 18 months. In February he was contacted by a group in Nigeria who wanted to use it for monitoring of the upcoming presidential elections from the grass roots level (see BBC story).
Ken isn’t just a talker, he actually is doing things with technology to make the world a better place. He has a distinct focus on Africa, as can be seen through the various projects he has worked on over the years. To get an understanding of how important social change is to him, beyond even the money, listen to the podcast and understand his favorite quote:
“I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good thing, therefore, that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again…”
Etienne de Grellet, French poet and missionary (1773-1855)
Read more about Ken Banks at his organization’s site Kiwanja.net, or on his blog.
6 Responses
John Kuner
May 5th, 2007 at 9:05 am
1Nice one, Mr. Banks!
Links of Interest | White African
May 7th, 2007 at 8:35 am
2[…] African Signals has been picking up: Interviewing the Maker of the Nigerian SMS Election Monitoring System - Ken Banks […]
Yomi Omo
May 8th, 2007 at 7:34 am
3Good work. nice to know we Africans are ready to embrace technological change to solve pertinent socio-economical issues and drive social and political change
African Digerati: Ken Banks | White African
July 15th, 2007 at 7:12 pm
4[…] to an audio interview with Ken […]
nGOmobile: Win Your Own Text Messaging Service | White African
September 16th, 2007 at 9:36 pm
5[…] This is a neat project coming from someone who carries a lot of credibility in this space in Africa. Ken’s FrontlineSMS has been used by a number of organizations, most notably when it was used for monitoring the recent elections in Nigeria. I’ve interviewed Ken before, you can read it here or listen here. […]
Tony (Nigerian)
May 4th, 2008 at 11:32 am
6This sounds like a great idea. I pray it works. It will reduce the electoral fraud being perpetrated by those who do not have the citizens’ welfare at heart.
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