Harambee (Paperback)

“Bruton write(s) with authority and boundless enthusiasm about African innovation, to explain how it has shaped the continent and how it continues to change the lives of billions…. He pulls together disparate threads from many different perspectives to produce a fascinating compendium.”—Alan Duggan, Founding editor of Popular Mechanics (South Africa)

How many inventions come from Africa? How many African countries have produced their own cars? Why is the M-Pesa mobile money system so important? Is the nature of innovation in Africa different from what we find elsewhere? In Harambee (“working together”), Mike Bruton addresses these and related questions as he remarkably discusses more than 800 inventions and innovations by more than 600 innovators from 50 African countries.

From mompreneurs to moguls, waste pickers to fintech wizards, locust whisperers to rocket scientists, Bruton showcases the creativity of the continent’s techpreneurs. The result is an insightful—and intriguing—introduction to the many significant advances in science and technology that have been made on the continent at the low-, medium-, and high-tech levels.