Anticipating the African Presence at Skoll Forum

I’m now in Oxford, England, to attend the Skoll World Forum for Social Entrepreneurship which gets underway tonight.  The Forum is a remarkable gathering of social entrepreneurs and other leaders who are creating and applying innovative solutions to today’s most daunting global challenges.

Many of these great solutions got their start in Africa, like Kiva’s micro-lending (started in Kenya) to Lifeline Energy’s wind-up radios and solar lamps (started in South Africa), to MOOCs to expand educational access, like the Open University of West African Open University (OUWA).  Kiva’s founder, Matt Flannery will be here as will Lifeline’s founder Kristine Pearson and  members of OUWA.  I’m excited to catch up with them and to meet other delegates from the region.

Although I doubt I’ll get to rub elbows with Kofi Annan, I’m especially looking forward to his speech Friday evening.  An Über Global Citizen, the former UN Secretary General combines integrity with pragmatism as he continues to try to get us cross, not build, barriers to global cooperation.