Getting Our Books Beyond Nigeria

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Cassava Republic in Abuja, Nigeria is an independent publisher established in 2006 to challenge perceptions of African writing. Today, the company has an office and bookshop in London to promote its writers in the West such as Leye Adenle, author Easy Motion Tourist.

On the 10th anniversary of her publishing house, it was great to be asked to talk to founder Bakare-Yusuf on how she is planning to get books into the hands of readers and partnerships with international companies.

It is great to be in the Publishing Perspective’s autumn print magazine and Frankfurt Book Preview again.

Read it on Publishing Perspectives by clicking here or download it here

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Pilot Project (Without Pilots)

 

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It’s great to be in Wired UK (magazine) again and to have had my piece flagged up on the contents page.  It is even better to have been asked to write about Professor Paul Newman’s spin-out Oxbotica’s self-driving pods and the Selenium software that they run on.

While I wait for the piece to appear online, either buy the magazine or check out the piece I wrote for the i newspaper in which I am taken on a test drive by Geni, their self-driving pod.

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The 15-year battle to bring mobile payment to the West

 

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Old hat: Mobile payment services have existed for a long time in Africa

As Apple Pay goes live in China, Mark Piesing discovers how squabbling egos delayed the technology’s arrival in the West for 15 years, while it thrived in Africa.

Check out my piece from the latest edition of Warwick Business School’s CORE magazine in full below or the original here. The next edition of CORE is out in a few weeks time.

Continue reading “The 15-year battle to bring mobile payment to the West” →

International Ed-Tech, Publishing, and Investment: An Emerging Accelerator

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With investments from China’s Qtone and Oxford University Press, ed-tech accelerator Emerge Education is engaging with ‘the old school together with the new school.’

Check out the second of my well received two-parter on Oxford University Press and innovation in full below or the original here.

It was great to have a scoop on the size of OUP’s stake in Emerge and that China’s Qtone were more than strategic partners with Emerge.

Continue reading “International Ed-Tech, Publishing, and Investment: An Emerging Accelerator” →

Dutch Publishing, Open to Innovation: Three Viewpoints

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In efforts like the Dutch Publishers Association’s ‘Renew the Book’ and ‘Scouting Successful Fiction’ at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands’ publishing industry explores what’s ahead.

Still behind on my posts…Check out my recent piece in Publishing Perspectives in full below – or the original here.or the original here.

Continue reading “Dutch Publishing, Open to Innovation: Three Viewpoints” →

Airships are back – and their popularity is about to soar

AirlanderThe Airlander 10, part plane, part airship, flies for the first time (kind of)  at Cardington airfield in Bedfordshire

Check out my recent double spread in the i newspaper with additional content below or the original here. It appeared the day before the first flight.

If you want the now well-known story of the Airlander, look up my piece for The  Independent here or The Economist here.

Continue reading “Airships are back – and their popularity is about to soar” →

Big and Small, Old and New: Oxford University Press and Its Israeli Startups

Tel AvuvAt the Maariv intersection in downtown Tel Aviv.

‘The world of publishing has evolved one small step and then stopped,’ says a digital entrepreneur, one of three whose Israeli startup is collaborating with the venerable Oxford University Press.

Just catching up from my holidays…read this piece I wrote for Publishing Perspectives back in July in full below or by following this link

Continue reading “Big and Small, Old and New: Oxford University Press and Its Israeli Startups” →