The Africa I Know

Home
The Africa I Know

TAIK is a nonprofit changing narratives around Africa.

05/09/2026

Si vous deviez vous lancer aujourd’hui dans une carrière dans les STEM, quelle serait votre spécialité : l’IA, la robotique, les technologies de la santé ou l’espace ?

Dites-le-nous ci-dessous, nous lisons tous les commentaires.📗

__

If you were starting a STEM career today what would it be AI, robotics, health tech or space?

Tell us below, we're reading every comment.📗

03/09/2026

Le sommet « Women in STEM Africa » débute aujourd’hui à Nairobi. Voici cinq intervenantes à ne pas manquer — vous suivez la diffusion en direct ?

Dites-nous laquelle vous intéresse le plus.

___

The Women in STEM Africa Summit kicks off in Nairobi today. Here are five speakers on our must-watch list — tuning into the livestream?

Tell us who you're most excited about.

01/09/2026

Voici TAIK.

Nous racontons les histoires des génies africains : ces scientifiques, ces bâtisseurs et ces innovateurs que le monde continue d’ignorer. Bienvenue en septembre ; restez à l'écoute pour découvrir ce qui vous attend

____

This is TAIK.

We tell stories of African brilliance, the scientists, builders and innovators the world keeps overlooking. Welcome to September, stay tuned to see what we have coming

12/08/2026

48 years ago this month, Baba Sy died in a car accident in Dakar. He was 43.

He was Africa’s first world champion of international draughts. He had never been to school. He could not read a draughts theory book. He had memorised the Quran, spoke four languages, and could hold complete boards in his head.

In 1962 in Germany, he sat across from 150 of the best players in the world — simultaneously. He won 122, drew 33, lost 5. Some accounts say he beat all 150.

His 1963-64 world championship title stayed disputed at the time of his death. In 1986 he was posthumously declared joint champion. In 2005 he was awarded the Grandmaster title.

07/08/2026

L'innovation n'attend pas que l'on soit adulte.

Lorsque sa grand-mère a été victime d'un AVC, Naya Ellis ne s'est pas contentée de se demander : « Pourquoi cela est-il arrivé ? » Elle s'est demandé : « Comment puis-je aider ? »

Adolescente, elle a conçu WingItt, un dispositif portable destiné à détecter les premiers signes d'un AVC et à rendre plus accessible une technologie capable de sauver des vies.

Son histoire nous rappelle que certaines des plus grandes idées au monde naissent de la curiosité, de la compassion et du courage de créer.

On n’est jamais trop jeune pour résoudre un vrai problème.

06/08/2026

A 14-year-old built a working stroke-detection watch in one weekend.
In 2024, Naya Ellis was a freshman at John F. Kennedy High School in New Orleans.

She was fourteen years old.

Her first STEM Saturday project was going to be a wristwatch that detects seizures. On the final weekend before her project was due, her grandmother had a stroke.

She scrapped everything and started over.

By Monday, she had designed a device she called WingItt — a wrist-worn wearable that tracks heart rate, oxygen levels, and shifts in speech to catch the earliest signs of stroke in adults over 55. When it flags a risk, it messages family and calls emergency services. She built it to be affordable, because most commercial stroke-detection technology is not.

She won a championship title at the National STEM Challenge for it.

WingItt is now patent-pending. Naya is 16 now. The device is still in development. And she is still building.

There is a specific lesson in here for anyone working in education, talent development, or youth innovation programmes.

The difference between a school project and a real invention is often just the level of the stakes. When we ask students to design something abstract, we get something abstract.

When a student is designing for someone she loves — a grandmother, a neighbour, a friend — the work sharpens. The constraints get real. The stubbornness required to solve it appears from somewhere it was not visible before.

Naya did not have more resources than her classmates. She had a weekend and a reason.

Her own words about why she built it:

“I just want to do something that can help people who have strokes.”

If you work with young people — as a teacher, mentor, coach, funder, or parent — the question worth carrying this week is a simple one:

What would happen if we stopped asking students to design projects, and started asking them to solve someone-they-love’s problem?

04/08/2026

A teenager from New Orleans invented a watch designed to detect the early warning signs of a stroke.

Naya Ellis developed WingItt after her grandmother suffered a stroke. She built the first prototype in a single weekend. Designed for adults aged 55 and older, the wearable monitors physiological signals that may indicate an increased risk of stroke, with the goal of making early detection more affordable and accessible.

Her innovation earned her a national STEM championship while she was still a freshman in high school.

If you're young and building something that could change lives, let this be your reminder: your ideas matter.

17/07/2026

In April 2026, the US National Academy of Sciences elected its newest international members. Only 25 joined this year.

One of them was Professor Rosemary Chepkorir Sang — a Kenyan virologist at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) in Nairobi.

She trained in Kenya. She works in Kenya. She's one of the leading arbovirologists in the world.

Most stories about African scientists reaching global honours follow the diaspora arc: leave, build elsewhere, be recognized. Sang's story doesn't.

She didn't leave Africa to be world-class. Africa was where she did it.

For every young African woman looking at a science career: you don't have to leave to be seen.

16/07/2026

"She didn't leave Africa to be recognized. Africa is where she was made."

In April 2026, the US National Academy of Sciences elected Professor Rosemary Chepkorir Sang — Kenyan virologist at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) in Nairobi.

She trained in Kenya. She works in Kenya. She's one of the world's leading arbovirologists — a specialist in the viruses carried by mosquitoes and ticks. Dengue. Zika. Chikungunya. Rift Valley Fever.

Most global-honour stories about African scientists follow the diaspora arc. Sang's doesn't. She built her career on African soil, at an African institution, and the world recognized it anyway.

For every young African woman considering a science career: you don't have to leave to be seen.

14/07/2026

In April 2026, the United States National Academy of Sciences announced its newly elected members. Since Abraham Lincoln chartered the Academy in 1863, election has been one of the highest scientific honours in the world. This year, 25 international members joined the ranks.

One of them was a Kenyan virologist. Working at a Kenyan institution.

Her name is Rosemary Chepkorir Sang. She is a Principal Research Scientist at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) in Nairobi. She trained through the University of Nairobi and ICIPE. She holds a PhD in zoology and two master's degrees — one in medical virology, one in entomology. She spent her career studying arboviruses: the viruses carried by mosquitoes, ticks, and other insects that spread dengue, Zika, chikungunya, Rift Valley Fever.

Her contributions are on the record. She led entomologic investigations into Kenya's Rift Valley Fever epidemic of 2006–07. She traced the chikungunya outbreak on Lamu Island in 2004. She co-discovered the Kupe virus in 2009 — a new virus in the Bunyaviridae family. She has served on WHO Expert Committees, including on International Health Regulations. She has argued publicly that African scientists must be at the table when the world writes climate and disease policy — because when the climate shifts, the mosquitoes move first.

Most stories about African scientists elected to global honours follow the same arc: African-born, leaves the continent for postgraduate training, builds a career at a US or European institution, is recognized decades later. That is a real arc. But it is the wrong arc for Rosemary Sang.

She was born in Kenya. She trained in Kenya. She works at a Kenyan institution. And she is one of the leading arbovirologists in the world.

She didn't leave Africa to be world-class. Africa was where she did it. This is what happens when African institutions like KEMRI are given the room to become what they can be.

For every young African woman looking at a science career: the pathway from Nairobi to the US National Academy of Sciences was built without leaving Nairobi.

You don't have to leave to be seen.

Address

Website

https://linktr.ee/theafricaiknow_

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Africa I Know posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to The Africa I Know:

Want your business to be the top-listed Media Company?

Country:

City: