So it’s been a whole year since the first BarCamp and Startup Challenge, an another one is on the cards. This year’s challenge has been announced today on the Jumpstart website. The BarCamp Zimbabwe event is basically meant to get tech entrepreneurs, developers, designers and really anyone passionate about mobile and web tech into one place for a day to network, exchange ideas, demo their startups and the like.
The Startup Challenge on the other hand (called ZOL Jumpstart Chalenge this year) will give mobile & web startups an opportunity to pitch their products to a panel of seasoned entrepreneurs for a mentorship prize, cash prize, and possibly some gadgets this year!
The infographic below, posted along in the Jumpstart announcement summarises succinctly what the event is about, when it’s going to take place, and other details. Here’s the full announcement:
We’ll be posting more details of the challenge as we get them.
Update: We edited the picture above to remove the dates of the events, that were previously 24 and 25 August. The new dates are 6 and 7 September.
Here’s a post with an update of the event.
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19 comments
Its such a shame that despite all these startups programmes going on in Zimbabwe, there is no real web designing going on as evidenced by most of the local sites including this one being CMS based. You would expect Techzim was to be one of those sites which showcases the stage which Zimbabwe is now on in terms of web design/technology. Not sure wether the use of CMS is due to costs or because it is just the easy way out as there is no programming inloved.
Lol. Do you know what a CMS is?
How do you propose you manage or administer website content?
Do tell…
Tell me you are joking and if you are not then i dont think you should be posting here
My friend, I believe u are the one with a sense of humour. Still waiting for your proposal on how one should manage or administer websitye content without a CMS
Well tinm@n am guessing the straight HTML/PHP/PYTHON/JS/ASP way – it maybe harder but it could be safer – LOL-ing
And when you use the straight HTML/PHP/Python/ASP way, how would this be implemented?
Maybe to be general
– a database that you design maybe to CRUD the content
– with a secure backend that you create
– with pure dynamic functionality using your language(s) of choice
– add in a publishing workflow if you like
– a custom built templating engine
Last time I checked those are basic functions of a CMS…so what does he propose one does?
We found that developing a CMS ourselves where there’s one already, is not the most productive use of our time. And we’re not alone in this belief. It’s the standard thing world over. We did develop a few plugins and art of the theme to make a few to address a few issues otherwise we’d have used it as is.
We’re proud of this too, that’s why we left the WordPress credit at the footer of the site intact.
I think you’ve missed @99cc7ce3550f7e6b3e22161a5bcdb561:disqus ‘s point. I’m not sure what you have against CMSes but I’m sure WordPress is perfectly suitable for this site since *it is a techblog afterall* and WordPress is arguably the best blogging there is. Making use of a CMS is not a testament to one’s incompetence/lack of skill in web design/dev. I’d say that they are just smart enough to know when NOT to reinvent the wheel.
My point is, he does not know what a CMS is. CMS does not mean something that is already created. Whether you create it yourself, buy it or get one of the opensource solutions available…if whatever you create does what I listed below, it is a CMS
He was too hasty to pass judgement on something that he doesn’t actually understand
sorry ..or she
though I do agree with what you said@twitter-462856421:disqus
Do you mean developing a website that can be managed by a CMS is wrong?
There is nothing wrong with CMS actually they say Facebook was started on CMS but the problem in Zim is how we use the CMS there is not even a bit of customisation on most of them mostl zero functionality – my favourite term of the sites = Read Only Websites
Some “programmers” should just start developing their own computers and programming languages mhani “if they are failing to move on”
Thank you all for the responses but from what i have seen you are choosing the eaiser option like I said in my first comment. Writing your own code and hosting a site is not reinventing the wheel and there is absolutely nothing wrong with using ready made CMS. But from what I can see on most of our sites in Zimbabwe, there isn’t much content on there that WAMP server cannot hold if you really wanted to do it. So it probably boils down to costs and or WordPress being the easier way out.
“those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it”.
I can tell from your impassioned tone that you’re new to this – no disrespect. It’s just whipping up a couple of PHP scripts on your WAMP server, right? It’s about doing it the “hard way”, earning your geek cred. So you go ahead and build your ‘framework’. Then you realise you’re missing something, user management say. Then an admin back-end, then article expiration module, then something else, over and over and over again; your custom framework won’t ever be finished.
One day the light bulb will go on: you’ll realise it’s been done before- all of it, by people smarter than you are, in a cleaner, safer, more modular way, and it won’t take you an entire week to sort it out, just a Google search away. That’s when you investigate and install WordPress/Drupal/Joomla, and use your brains to solve the actual problem, not perform the busywork.
I keep my ‘framework’; my pride and my shame. I keep it, but I don’t use it. If it were physical I’d frame it and put it on my desk. It reminds me not to do things that have been done already, unless I can do it better. It reminds me not to waste time
Thanks Clinton D Mutambo for your explanation on what the ZOL Jumpstart Challenge seeks to promote. Keep up the good work and hopefully we’ll see more projects like these promoting new technologies.
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