First, we want to wish you all a Happy New Year. As, we look at the possibilities that unfold this year, we get very excited and we hope you feel the same way about your ventures and whatever you have your hands into. We hope we all have success stories to tell and we hope kpakpakpa.com can be involved in it in some way or fashion.
As we look forward onto 2016, it is also important to reflect on what we achieved this past year – 2015.
2015 – Looking back
kpakpakpa.com launched in August 2014 and through persistence and commitment to a vision, we have been able to grow and build a community of people interested in African products, crafts and manufacturing.
As we continue to build a knowledge base on how things are made in Africa, we will like to reflect on the things that we achieved over the last year and our plans for the year ahead.
Here are the things we did:
- We interviewed industry experts on how to promote and encourage African design & manufacturing. Check out our interviews with Stanford’s Prof. Hau Lee, Prof. Katherine Casey, Prof. James Patell and Jason Mayden.
“kpakpakpa 2015 Interview Collage: Clockwise starting from top left – Hau Lee, Katherine Casey, Jason Mayden, Jim Patell”
- We met up with some African manufacturers to learn about their business and discuss the challenges they face. Read about Ghanaian home-furnishing manufacturer Accent & Arts, Nigerian spice manufacturer AACE Foods & the fascinating artisanal engineering cluster Suame Magazine.
- We got some more instructional posts from our members who enjoy sharing the knowledge of their creations. Check out what your fellow Africans are making around the globe.
- We received some more engagement in our Q&A where people are asking and answering questions related to making products in Africa. Learn about How to patent your product or the feasibility of using Solar Energy for manufacturing plants.
- We listened to your feedback and revamped the website. We focused on creating a clean and functional website that is properly categorized and easy to navigate. We also picked a new logo that represents and embodies what we are about. Read about it here.
- Lastly and most importantly, we increased our community – a growing number of people interested in African products.
Special Thanks to Bymide, EAO, Dami, Flo, Tosin, Seun, Azad, konrad, Sven and all the people that contributed to kpakpakpa.com’s success this year, you know who you are 😉
2016 – Looking Forward
kpakpakpa.com is ready for more collaboration and we are looking forward to working with more Africans that want to share their craft. Join Us, build your reputation while you share your knowledge with a community of people interested in African products and crafts.
We will continue on our mission to provide a space that empowers the African maker, producer, manufacturer and encourages creativity in our community to make products locally that are functional to our needs in Africa and the World. We strongly believe that over the next decade a lot of great inventions will come from our beautiful continent.
We look forward to your participation and your feedback is always WELCOME.
We wish you a fruitful and successful 2016.
Your kpakpakpa.com Team
