ORY OKOLLOH

The idea that either individuals or organisations are 'too big to fail' or that the tech and start-up sector is somehow different is wrong.

If you know anything about Ethiopia, they are very security conscious, a very closed environment. It's a repressive place were journalists and bloggers are arrested all the time.

Most entrepreneurs think capital is the biggest problem they have - but it's not. You can have all the capital you want, but if the market fit and ability to adjust are not present, your startup will likely not succeed.

Ninety percent of my mentors have been male, most of them with very little in common with me on a personal level - from life experience, work experience, backgrounds, etc.

At any one particular time, there is something in my life that is suffering as a result of my many responsibilities; most of the time, it's me.

I think that we have been able to demonstrate that we cannot just consume software, that we can create software that can be used all over the world, that we have that kind of talent in Africa.

I always ask the question: As more Africans are going online, are they finding content that is meaningful and relevant to them, or are they just consuming from everywhere else. As Africans, we have the capacity to generate our own content.

I wish I had not believed that my work would speak for itself; the working world requires a bit more than that.

People thought I wrote in a very 'masculine' way.

Technology is the perfect refuge for African capability stifled elsewhere by badly run governments and years of misplaced foreign aid. Ubiquitous connectivity in a world without legacy infrastructure, together with the potential to learn coding or anything else online, has allowed technology entrepreneurship to flourish.

I didn't grow up in the slums or anything that dire, but I know what it is to grow up without having money or being able to support family.

It's one thing to tell people to make informed decisions, but that's difficult when there is no information.

As I see it, tech in Africa 1.0 was the mobile-phone boom, and version 2.0 was about new apps developed in response to local needs. Tech in Africa 3.0 should be about those who are successful in transforming the chatter into real opportunities.

I believe in the power of ideas. I believe in the power of sharing knowledge.

As a young African, the sense of opportunity that fills my head on a daily basis is, I suspect, reminiscent of how young Africans felt at the cusp of independence.

Whether you are planning a safari, doing a homework assignment on Botswana, or promoting your local business, Street View will allow you to experience a slice of the country.

Beyond providing some level of scrutiny of Kenyan MPs, we built Mzalendo to demonstrate that there is only so much bemoaning you can do about your representation.

When I was in law school at Harvard, the Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA) in the U.S. was a big thing. I remember the fight between the army recruiters and Harvard University due to 'Don't ask, don't tell.'

We are raising a generation of children who may not know how to mobilize without Facebook.

I think there's sort of an extra oomph with the younger people coming up. They're writing. They're communicating. They're sharing, and they are very much technology-driven.

I think the Internet is a key driver of opening up opportunities, which impacts many things, including development - I will repeat that I am not a fan of looking at technology or the Internet in Africa through the lens of development - we love the Internet for sake of the Internet.

Blogging requires consistency, and you need to have some time on your hands, which I don't really have.

That's one thing you Americans take for granted, you know? That you can grow up, you know, not so good circumstances, and you can move. Just because you are born in rural Arkansas, whatever, that doesn't define who you are.

If I were to have an epitaph, I'd want it to read, 'She did stuff.'

Press and Internet freedom correlate against economic and social success, GDP, innovation, number of patents filed, and educational attainment. The more freedom there is, the more information, the more choice, and ultimately, more power for each individual.