It feels great to be celebrated and it was such an honour to get featured on the Prosearium website. Prosearium is an initiative started by Sithe Ncube a Zambian based in South Africa to document 1000 African women of all backgrounds and their experiences creating and contributing to games. Prosearium.net is taking a step forward to increase the participation of African women in game development. 

Again thank you to Sithe and the team for the lovely feature. You may read the article here.

Kesho pia ni siku is Swahili and loosely translates to tomorrow is a new day.

My mentor Ng'endo Mukii over the December holidays hired me for some transcription work.

I have done a couple of transcription work for her but this one was a little special.

I got to listen to her conversations with her mother a strong and very inspiring woman entrepreneur.

The stories shared were deep and emotional and I am humbled to have had a chance to listen to them raw as they were before they were trimmed into a few minutes.

As an entrepreneur, it inspired me to keep on going and as a woman, it taught me how resilient women can be and to literally keep at it. 

The following is the beautiful output by Ng'endo of these beautiful conversations coloured by the beautiful African fabric that Njeri Mereka sells. Click the image below to open the clip. Enjoy!

We won! 

What a way to start 2021.

Over the years, on my journey in the Game Development Industry, I have been blessed with great friends. So when I found out that we as the Moran StoryLab would be participating in an all-female XR Hackathon this month I reached out to my friend Roy for some advice. 

Roy had participated in the previous XR (extended reality) Hackathon by the same company BlackRhinoVR and their team had won an award. I went through some ideas with Roy after which he gave me a task to research a few things. And one of those was the parable of the talents in the Bible.

I found this a strange way to approach finding Tech solutions but I trust Roy so I went ahead and looked for the parable to refresh my memory. That is when I saw the correlation between the message of the parable and the theme of the XR Hackathon which was "Eradication of Systemic Corruption using VR/AR Solutions".

The Parable of the Talents Matthew 25:14-30

For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. 

Then he went away. He who had received the five talents made five talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money.

Now after a long time, the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, "Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more."

His master said to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master."

He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying. "Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours."

But his master answered him, " You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming, I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents.

For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

The overarching issue we noted as a team when it comes to corruption is mismanagement of funds so this parable resonated. However, while we went through our ideas as the Moran StoryLab team, we realized there is a need for people to be educated on various important issues such as the fact that we have paid taxes since we were children through everyday goods. Therefore even if some of us don't pay taxes directly from our salary, we still need to care how the funds are used. 

Another learning opportunity was that there are ways unknown by most that one can report corrupt officials anonymously while protecting themselves and their loved ones.

At first, our idea was jumbled up. We had so many problems we wanted the solution to solve. But thanks to the witty message by Brian Afande the Managing Director of BlackRhinoVR keep it simple stupid we decided to simplify our solution. So on the first day of the Hackathon when all the other teams hacked away, we went back to the drawing board to simplify our solution and bring some form of clarity.

The team going back to the drawing board

These were the most trying moments during the Hackathon but we somehow pulled through. Using the resources we had at our disposal, we saw it fit to make an educational augmented reality experience that teaches the user how to report corruption cases anonymously so as to protect their identities as witnesses.

We called our solution Whistle Blowing 101

As we've learnt from the parable we are all given responsibilities according to our abilities. We as a team,  after the short training we had received from BlackRhinoVR mentors, were able to come up with a simple solution that would help in solving a crucial problem. A problem so crucial that lives have been lost as a result.

During the presentation of our solutions, we made sure to mention a few of the many lives that were affected due to lack of knowledge on how to protect themselves. Those examples included John Githongo, David Munyakei and Boniface Mwangi who upon revealing corruption underwent some grave repercussions. 

Upon revealing the Anglo Leasing scandal, John Githongo sought exile in the UK due to claims of a threat to his life. After exposing the Goldenberg scandal, David Munyakei was sacked from his job at the Central Bank of Kenya. As a result, he was not able to buy some medicine he needed and later succumbed to the illness. 

Boniface Mwangi, on the other hand, had to send his family to the United States because his activism against corruption put them all in danger. As seen in his award-winning documentary film Softie the move affected his relationship with his family including his firstborn son almost denouncing him as a father.

It is as a result of such stories that people turn a blind eye to corruption because we do not know how to protect ourselves. There is so much to lose as individuals. However, now with our solution, people will know there are more secure ways of reporting corruption cases such as going through the Ethics and Anti-Corruption (EACC) website and filling in forms anonymously. 

In the parable, the "unfaithful servant" accused their master of some form of impunity but did not seem to have any evidence. Such accusations even to date fall on deaf ears; that is why to further our solutions upon funding, we would like to come up with a platform where people can upload videos and photos as evidence which will go through some form of fact-checking among other procedures.

In the spirit of keeping things simple stupid, we made our prototype the simplest and most straight forward way we could. We avoided making a prototype of how we envisioned the future software solution to look and resorted to stating it during the presentation. I loved how easy it was to explain what our solution was about and how when the judges sent questions our way we were all able to assist one another in answering them. 

The synergy throughout the Hackathon was amazing. Our bond as a team grew in leaps and bounds and now I look forward to working on a 360-degree video shoot together later this year. 

After the Hackathon, we had a Protecting Your Intellectual Property talk organized by BlackRhinoVR on the following Tuesday to prepare us for the future should our projects get funding for further development. 

We won 600 dollars by practising simplicity and now our 2021 is off to a great start. I would like to challenge you to find ways to simplify the things you do. Ease into them and find ways to relieve stress. Simplify the goals you have so that you have tiny little habits you do regularly towards the achievement of the larger goal. When you get the chance read the book Atomic Habits. And on that note. I wish you the very best this new year and remember to keep it simple stupid. 

I remember watching my desk mate and fellow classmates walk past me during assembly to the front of the podium to receive gifts for doing well in exams . While this happened I would wonder when it would ever be me. At times I would daydream walking up the podium to get my Cadbury chocolate for grades well earned. Yet again and again, I would wake up and find myself in the same place leading on the other side, with no chocolate in sight apart from the occasional generous friend giving me a kionjo.

In the afternoon, after class, I would stay in behind longer than usual while my deskmate went for Hockey practice so that I could catch up on some reading. I would do the same during the weekends when she and other high performing students would go out of school for Sports competitions. 

I did not let myself get into Sports because I was scared that my grades would deteriorate even further. If only I knew what I know now as someone working in the Video Game Development Industry, on the importance of play in activating the brain for learning and strategic thinking. 

Anyway, I digress; my daydreams were the closest I got to receiving such a chocolatey gift. I know, I know you must be thinking gosh how petty. All the same, I am a human being and coupled with my raging teenage hormones at that time I was allowed to feel that way. 

Most schools did not have such gifts and students still did well. However, that was not my reality and for that, I felt inadequate. 

The fusion of art and tech is the future; creativity is getting more on demand during this time of accelerated digital transformation -- Wendi Ndaki

Don't get me wrong I had my strong points. I remember being awarded the second position for drawing a portrait during an inter-house competition. But now looking back, I realize no one saw it fit to give us brilliant creative students chocolate as recognition for our creative genius. It tells you a lot about the education system and the solutions for these ingrained mindsets that the sciences are the most important and should be given priority at the expense of the arts.

Anyway, I laboured through high school and ended up with a good enough grade to do a Diploma so as to qualify to do my Degree. This only happened because I am blessed with caring parents who made sure I went through my University education. 

I ended up in IT and I decided to embrace it. I eventually fell in love with it which led to me starting this blog and joining the gaming industry where I feel most at home because of how art and tech fuse seamlessly.

To be honest, one must be strong-willed and passionate about art to go through such experiences and still be at it. And because of that, I celebrate myself.

Having gone through the hardships I did during my time in High School, I have come to appreciate applications that gamify learning such as Mavis Beacon for typing and Duolingo for learning foreign languages. Because I love learning new things. It's just the method of learning I used in High School that did not work for me.

I learn best by doing practical stuff that is why Art was my favourite subject in High School and IT grew on me in Uni. 

I used to attend classes during the day and work in the ICT department in Uni at night. I would juggle that with doing assignments and also being an active member of a student-run organisation called AIESEC where I would eventually get elected as a Vice President. I even got to travel to Rwanda as a web design volunteer teacher in a High School in Huye through AIESEC.

My alma mater USIU-A made learning fun and my time on campus was full of adventure. I still remember the 24 hour ride from Nairobi to Kigali by bus for that volunteer opportunity. And how we would go to the Rift Valley region for leadership conferences on a regular, both through AIESEC and USIU-A as student leaders.

As I sit here writing this, my life still has its challenges but I feel like my past experiences ground me. I am more appreciative as my life takes shape and as I establish myself as a Creative Entrepreneur. 

I currently have clientele from both the Arts and Tech industries. I have travelled to numerous countries fully sponsored because I chose to be bold, follow my heart and do what I love. I recently spoke in a panel with CEOs and influential people in Kenya and I almost did not recognize myself. I received a good sum of money for winning as a team at the Hack Ur Culture Hackathon. My team Hack Circle also received funding from the Goethe Institute Joburg to further develop another solution we created at the same Hackathon.

I have found my calling in the fusion of the arts and technology and I intend to share this passion through the work I produce and hopefully make a difference through inspiring stories that encourage those hesitant to follow this path that it is possible to succeed in it.

It will be tough at times but totally worth it. Let it be imperfect as you start and watch it improve as you go. We are always on a journey towards an elusive perfection, so let yourself be perfectly imperfect. And try try try. Apply for those opportunities and then let go, meanwhile count your blessings and stay positive. All will be well.

I never got that chocolate in High School but I tried my best. Now I can buy myself all the chocolate I want with money earned doing things I absolutely love. What more could one ask for? I did my Diploma while my classmates were doing their Degree I felt low in the beginning but when I went to do my Degree I achieved more than I thought I would. And so can you, that thing that is putting you down right now will make for a great story in the future. Be kind to yourself and those around you and let yourself be perfectly imperfect.

In the spirit of following my passion for the fusion of art and technology, I recently participated in a hackathon called Hack Ur Culture. The aim of the hackathon was to come up with technology solutions for Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums based in Africa during this Covid 19 period where their foot traffic has been adversely affected. 

My team called Hack Circle submitted two solutions. One of them was a game based in District 6, South Africa; it won an award for Most Compelling project and was exhibited at the Fakugesi Festival. 

The other one was about digitizing the all-female event Strictly Silk based in Kenya which we are excited and humbled to have gotten the chance to continue developing.

This Hackathon was the epitome of the arts and tech industries fusing seamlessly and it is during my period there as a Hacker that I first learnt about crypto art. My curiosity in cryptocurrency led me to attend the hackathon workshop and I am so glad I did. The concept of crypto art felt foreign at that point but it planted a seed in me. 

I could not get the idea of crypto art off my mind. This led to my research on the same and as a result, this article. I hope that it will enlighten you and plant the seed of curiosity in you as well. 

Covid 19 has accelerated digital transformation in all industries and as artists, we also need to jump on board and see how technology can help us grow in our crafts. So, shall we sow the seed now?

What is Crypto Art?

Crypto art is a category of art that is associated with blockchain technology. I bet you've heard of Bitcoin right? 

Blockchain is the technology behind Bitcoin but it is far bigger than that and is used in many industries such as finance, healthcare, law, and now - the arts.

Image Source

"Bitcoin is a simple application that uses the Blockchain technology to send money around the same way Gmail is an application that uses the internet to send emails around" - Gordon Berger

How can Digital Artists benefit from Crypto Art?

Blockchain is a permanent, public registry that is stored in multiple computers such that if one storage location is lost, the information can still be retrieved from the rest. It could be the future for Creatives and here's why:

When a famous artist paints a canvas and signs it, it becomes worth millions because of its scarcity and uniqueness. Digital art has the challenge that it can be duplicated infinitely in good quality, making its value depreciate with every duplication.

Image Source

Blockchain technology has come in to solve this problem. Crypto art adds a unique signature to a digital file of artwork called tokenizing or mining it on the blockchain.

Tokenizing is the digital version of the artist's signature and it represents the scarcity of the art piece while increasing its monetary value. In this way, blockchain technology will allow digital art to be unique in such a way that it can be collected in the same way physical art is.

It is important to note that the token holder is the owner of the piece and can choose to gift it to someone else. In such a situation, they lose ownership, and just like a physical gift the ownership is transferred to the recipient of the gift. 

Here are other reasons why you might want to work with crypto art

• Blockchain can help in reducing art forgeries because everything is stored in a shared database. Every single artwork can be traced all the way back to its creator/ artist studio. In this way, the artist retains the copyright. 
• Compensation for future sales is possible; this means when an art piece is sold, a percentage is sent to the original owner who is the artist and the creator of the piece. This is definitely a motivating factor to make digital artists create more art.
• Digital artists can create digital limited series of their artwork and all the editions will be tracked in the blockchain. 
• Fractional ownership is possible, meaning you can own a percentage in a certain artwork the same way you can own stock in a company. This translates to, for example, owning 0.001% of Micheal Soi's painting. All these concepts can be used for visual art, music, podcasts, videos, photography, performances, and articles/ blogs.
• The market for crypto art is growing rapidly and once traded in cryptocurrency, artists can retrieve their money in dollars or euros.
• Crypto art is also bringing artists together from all over the world. Virtual meeting places called Metaverse and Cryptovoxels are entirely dedicated to art. While Cent is a social media blogging platform on the blockchain that is igniting conversations.

So there you have it. Now it is up to you to water and tend to that seed we have just planted. Do your research and share this along with the other articles you will read on this topic with your fellow artist friends. 

Let's figure out this crypto art thing together. Feel free to share what your biggest take away is in the comment section below. And always follow your passion.

Image source

In an ideal world of team building, each person each day is excited to be involved in the project or work they do. Are you?

This piece is inspired by the Netflix series Money Heist and a business training I attended on building an awesome team by IE International University. As a viewer of Money Heist, I was impressed with how the heisters were able to make the general public join them in a rebellion all thanks to the remarkable team they had built.

As a writer in the entertainment industry, I have realized that collaboration is important and in order to collaborate well, great teams need to be built. 

The essentials of team building are purpose, mastery and autonomy. Businesses around the world that are able to successfully achieve these 3 goals usually also succeed in providing motivation, allowing for creativity and improving productivity in their teams. In addition to these 3 essential elements to team building are gender representations, adapting to change, persuasion, recruitment and networking.

Let's talk about all the essentials as inspired by this internationally acclaimed Netflix show.

1. Purpose

The Money Heist's team purpose is to print 24 billion euros and also to complete the greatest heist ever. The fact that they plan to print the money means that they will not steal; that is how they get the protestors on their side.

In a team, things happen and goals change but the larger goal should never change. In order to have a great team like the professor, it is important to educate the team into their behaviour and purpose as individuals and as teammates.

2. Mastery

Education should make sure that each team member has a high level of mastery in their area of expertise. In Money Heist, the person digging the escape tunnel, the person printing the money and the person keeping the hostages in check were the best at what they did.

We like to work in teams when we believe that we're going to get better at what we do or what we like to do. This is highly motivating. 

As a team leader, if you assign a role to someone and they act hesitant or say they don't want it, it's important to help that person understand that they are going to be incredibly valuable - not only in this team but also to themselves as they build towards greater competency for the future.

Nairobi: Image source

Aspiration for greatness inspires mastery. In Money Heist, the aspiration is to a great robbery, freedom, breaking away from traditional society, and its requirements. This aspiration for greatness gives an opportunity for mastery through practice. 

For instance, Nairobi is good at printing money but she goes to become an even greater master when she prints 24 billion euros in the greatest money heist in history. 

Berlin is a master of social, emotional and cultural intelligence. He understands people very well. He knows what makes them tick enough to know what and how to say things in order to persuade them to do what he wants them to do.

3. Autonomy

Money Heist highlights the power of a team that is formed by autonomous people who can make decisions within the guidelines of the culture of the group. Everyone was able to make decisions in order to change and adapt the plan to changing conditions on the ground. There's a culture of instant communication especially when it comes to who is in charge when the professor is not around.

It is important to remember that everything is derived from culture. The professor taught them to have shared values which included spilling no blood, making the money, and getting the money out so that they could improve everyone's lives. 

Denver: Image Source

Team leaders are meant to be driven and passionate about what they do so that the team members can learn by example. Each team member should be self-aware enough to know what drives them personally.

In one episode, the team leader Berlin who was not in full possession of his mental faculties ordered Denver to take Monica's life. When met with the dilemma of shooting her or being killed himself, Denver made a rather clever decision that saved both their lives and led to their love affair. This goes on to show the power of autonomy versus blindly following of leaders even when they are clearly on the wrong.

Berlin: Image Source

Therefore, in order to form a good team, it's important to foster a feeling of autonomy and ownership in each individual so that they can act in accordance with the purpose of the team.

Hierarchy also determines culture: the money heisters hierarchy was that of peer relations except for the professor who was slightly above. This contributed to the openness of the members when it came to communication. There are many moments in the series where different people became the boss. 

4. Gender representation

In Money Heist, there is a balance in gender representation; we see powerful female figures in Raquel and Alicia who represent the former and current head of the police. While Raquel allows for moral ambiguity and questions what the police do, Alicia does not. She is a member of law enforcement with questionable ethics and morality. She will torture and harm people in order to get what she wants. Although they were both in the same team, to begin with, they no longer are because they do not share the same values of good and bad.

Raquel shows her autonomy when she joins the heisters, a team she was once against. This is the beginning of her transformation into developing her own power and her own set of ethics and values. She becomes completely revolutionized, even wearing different kinds of clothing like shown in the picture below. She carries with her all the knowledge she has of law enforcement and becomes a crucial member of the heisters team. 

Raquel: Image source

5. Adapting to change

It is important to note that in every team there will be conflict and resistance. The reasons for resistance are fear, loss of control, uncertainty, surprises and unfamiliar things - all of which stem from change. One of the key features of teams is that they can change' this is highlighted by how the law enforcement team changed once Raquel left.

A radical change also occurred among the hostages when Monica joined the heisters. This is after Arthur dismissed her when she told him that she was carrying his child. The painful dismissal leads Monica to the arms of Denver her captor and eventual lover (Stockholm syndrome). Monica fully embraces her new team and even goes on to take on the name of a city and what better city for her than Stockholm. 

Stockholm: Image source

6. Persuasion

Persuasion is a key skill in team building. And it requires a show of evidence and credibility. You are more likely to persuade people if you show them evidence that you believe they should do the thing you say and you have credibility in it. One should also have emotional, social and cultural intelligence in interacting with a group to increase the chances of successful persuasion. 

The professor is great at persuasion, an example is how he got Tokyo to the team by saving her from a trap the police had placed to arrest her. He also revealed some details about her life that no one else knew and explained how he was going to help her change her life.

7. Recruitment

Hiring is dependent on culture: what culture do you want to create, and who are the people who can help you create this culture? It is important to ask yourself questions such as

• Will you have a shared purpose with the new member of the team? 
• Will they be accepting of responsibility and autonomy? 
• Will they be able to make decisions much like the ones the leader would?
• What role will they take?
• How will they fit with the other members? 
• Will they be able to communicate easily in the group and will their addition be useful?

Mastery should be taken into consideration too because you want to hire people who are capable. For instance, the  Professor hired Tokyo because she was good with a gun and great at being a thief.

New Recruit Bogota: Image Source

8. Networking

Who is in your network? What are the networks of the people who are in your network? Networking helps us access expertise that we don't have and get our goals achieved as a result.

We should all be like the Professor who was a connector connecting networks. He had done his research and figured out a network of thieves with specific skills that he needed for this particular heist. He was so good at networking that he was able to bring Raquel who was once against the team to his side and into his network. 

Thanks to Money Heist we have seen the power of autonomy, mastery and purpose in accessing the drive and motivation of people to really want to be engaged in their work. People seek meaning and a sense of accomplishment as a primary motivation. 

Giving room for gender representation in our teams is also a great way to build healthy teams. We also need to improve our persuasion, recruiting and networking skills because after all, we all need each other. 

Have you watched Money Heist? What was your biggest takeaway lesson from it?

 As part of the organising team of The Africacomicade Gamathon I would like to share this press release with you.

The two-week-long Africacomicade gamathon program officially came to an end, with the announcement of winners from its 48 hours game jam on Monday, 7th September 2020. Africacomicade is an initiative to create a platform that empowers African creatives by connecting them together cross country to promote collaboration, showcasing their skills and jobs to the world and linking them up with opportunities home and abroad.

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Did you know that the Video Game Industry is bigger than Hollywood? Well, it is and in 2020, the global games market is set to generate more than $160 billion and increase by 7.3% year on year. In Africa, the market for games has risen from $105 million to $570 million in just four years! The African population is young with the average age being 20 years. This will form the labour force of the future, as well as the gaming community that will raise the user base for games.

Oscar and Oluwatosin the Co-Founders. Their talk can be found here.

The Africacomicade Gamathon is a virtual event that is hosted on itch.io. It is an initiative that was started by Oscar Micheal and Oluwatosin Ogunyebi to showcase African Creatives to the World. This is not only limited to the Creatives in the Gaming Industry but also those in the wider Entertainment Industry like film, music and content creation. Gaming is an industry that brings other industries together and this will become even more evident once you register for free and attend the training sessions and talks. 

The aim of Africacomicade is to let the world know we have African Game Developers who are doing well. And to invite Creatives of all kinds from Storytellers to Illustrators, Marketers to Animators, Musicians to Sound Technicians and more to learn how they can plug into this inclusive Industry. It is a chance to show all these people the job opportunities they can leverage.

The Gamathon started on the 24th and will be running till the 30th of this month August 2020. The first 5 days are dedicated to training through talks and panel discussions. A lot of insight into the gaming industry will be shared by Industry leaders. Then on the final two days, Creatives from different African Countries will team up and create games for 48 hours in the exciting Africacomicade Game Jam.

If you are a newbie, not to worry. There will be training sessions in the program such as using platforms like Buildbox which requires no coding to create a game but focusses more on logic. Communication about all these training opportunities will be done through the Africacomicade Discord channel. Gaming and Game Publishing companies will also come in and inform new as well as established Game Developers what they have to offer.

The training sessions are in an effort to assist in the education needed in the Gaming Industry. It seeks to highlight how there are endless opportunities for what one can do with their gaming skills. 

As a player you can become a professional game tester and assist Game Developers with the much-needed feedback during the different development phases of their games. You can also become a Professional Esports Athlete and stand a chance to earn just as much as the professional football players do.

So as you can see there will be lots of activities before the Game Jam this weekend. If you are a Creative and, to be honest, I believe we all are, you may want to register and learn how you can offer your skills in this fast-growing Industry. Also, note that there are lots of prizes to be won. I look forward to seeing more African Creatives building their networks and growing in the Industry. And I hope you will be one of them.