Erik Hersman

Who is Erik Hersman?

Erik Hersman is a widely respected technologist, blogger and commentator who specialises in the impact and application of technology throughout Africa. Raised in Sudan and Kenya and a graduate of Kenya's Rift Valley Academy, he runs two popular websites - WhiteAfrican and AfriGadget, a multi-author website dedicated to showcasing African ingenuity. AfriGadget was named one of Time Magazine's "Top 50 Sites of 2008".

Erik is also the Co-Founder of Ushahidi, a groundbreaking crowdsourcing website created to map incidents of violence during the 2007–2008 Kenyan crisis. Ushahidi has since been used around the world in a wide range of initiatives from reporting violence in Madagascar to election monitoring in Afghanistan. In December 2009, the Omidyar Network announced a significant investment of $1.4 million to support the continued growth of the platform.

Erik Hersman's work is widely recognized among the technology, development and humanitarian communities, and in 2008 he was named a Pop!Tech Social Innovation Fellow. In the summer of 2009 he was awarded a TED Fellowship, and the following year named a Senior TED Fellow.