Sahara Sparks is an annual “innovation and technology entrepreneurship event” that takes place in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Started in 2015, the event is becoming an annual must-attend.
This year, it will happen alongside AfriLabs' annual Gathering at Golden Tulip Hotel in Dar es Salaam from the 11th to 13th October 2018.
To build momentum for the main event, Sahara Sparks has decided to hold “tour” events in nearby cities called City Sparks. This includes Kampala.
Last week, it announced a partnership with The Innovation Village to hold an event in Kampala called Kampala Sparks. The theme for Kampala Sparks, like Sahara Sparks, is “Innovation in the Data Age.”
According to Sahara Sparks, “Kampala Sparks aims at building regional innovation ecosystems”.
Kawanguzi Japheth of The Innovation Village described this as an opportunity to learn locally and regionally.
Also read: This year’s Kampala Innovation Week to focus on funding
“The aim [for Sahara Sparks] goes back to ‘how do we learn locally, regionally and globally?’”
Other City Sparks include Lilongwe Sparks in Malawi, Nairobi Sparks in Kenya, and Harare Sparks in Zimbabwe.
The above are partnerships with mHub Malawi, American University Nairobi and B2C Co-working in Zimbabwe. The aim and theme are the same as those of Kampala Sparks.
This is the first time Sahara Sparks is spreading Tanzania. With the aim of becoming a regional and later continental network and community.
This year's Sahara Sparks will act as “an avenue for discussion around technological trends and the use of technology to impact the community and drive positive changes”.
You can sign up for Kampala Sparks here.