Speaker: Franco Papeschi, Web Foundation
Time: 12:30 – 13:30, Saturday 1 October

Can we make a difference in societies – especially in Africa – by fostering the growth of a new generation of creators, entrepreneurs, makers that use mobile and web technologies to provide locally relevant services?

We think so, and that’s why – last year – the Web Foundation started working on 2 mobile entrepreneurship labs, in Ghana and Kenya. The session will present some of the cool things happening in these innovation hubs, will reflect on the challenges and will help participants understand what are the future opportunities in the region, and why they are important for Europe.

Franco is Service Design Expert at the Web Foundation, working on the creation of a series of Mobile Innovation Labs in Africa. Currently active in Kenya and Ghana (soon in Senegal!) – the labs aspire to be community catalysts, training centres and incubation hotspots for transforming ideas into start-ups able to generate useful, sustainable services to local communities.

In his spare time, Franco is one of the crew behind the Design Jams initiative: one-or-two-day design sessions, during which people team up and collaborate to tackle engaging User Experience challenges. The sessions champion open-source thinking & design.