RichOakley.co.za

Surrounded by close on 900 like-minded entrepreneurs and tech enthusiasts (aka geeks) at Net Prophet 2010 today, and realizing quite how advantaged myself and everyone else in the room is, I really wish I could’ve whipped out my cheque book or a fat wallet and put something towards what I believe is a truly great initiative started by the RAMP Fund; the Net Prophet Bursary.

Essentially, along with the help of These Numbers Have Faces, selected individuals will have their education financed by the fund, empowering tomorrow’s innovators to go onto much bigger and greater things than would otherwise be possible. But if you’re in a similar position to me, as much as you would love to spend R12k on an iPad in the name of charity, it just isn’t going to happen.

So I have an idea.

My challenge is to you fellow entrepreneurs in the room, to pledge a percentage of their personal future profit from whatever startup you happen to be working on at the moment, and which you have no doubt been hugely empowered to achieve in thanks to the inspiring and challenging talks we all heard from the wonderful Net Prophets during the course of the day.

It isn’t much, but it’s a way that each and every one of us can give something back. Even those of us who can’t afford to right now.

I encourage you to challenge yourselves, and challenge others to do the same.

Check out http://www.rampgroup.co.za/netprophet-bursary/ for pledging details.

Nikos Machlas holds his head in disbelief after Ajax failed to convert a scoring opportunity

It’s a shame really…

Sometimes it’s just better (and more fun) to burn and rebuild than to renovate.

This was done with South Africa in 1994. It should be done with Zimbabwe. Soon.

For the past few years, my blog has been slowly ticking along, the occasional burst of enthusiasm splattering the home page with a few new posts, only for it to later return to its dormant ways. My digsmate is much the same actually. This upset me.

So instead of weeding out useless posts, and adding bits and pieces to the existing design to try and improve it, I decided to completely overhaul it. I decided to forego the weeding process, and instead dug up the whole garden. This is Post #1, then.

The new RichOakley.co.za starts here. And this time, I’m doing it properly.