Shisa Afrika's Blog | Category

Jonathan Jansen: If we don’t stop the free fall in education democracy will implode.

Why is mathematics so fundamental to history, design, art and engineering? Because mathematics is not about numbers. It is about value—practical value, disciplinary value and cultural value (Gauri Dushi). We count and calculate, measure and anticipate, earn and spend, tithe and gamble, wonder and worry, with the aid of mathematics. We design buildings and navigate the universe using mathematics. And it is through mathematics that we learn, from a young age, those values indispensable for democracy—discovery, invention, concentration, alternative solutions, patience, perseverance, discipline, logic, order and economy. Is it possible, I sometimes wonder, that the oft-noted parsimony in the novels of Nobel Laureate, JM Coetzee, might have something to do with his initial training in mathematics? This is after all the man who once delivered a lecture to the Philosophical Society on “Poetry and the language of mathematics.

Welcome to the Shisa Afrika Blog.

Through our Blog, we hope to share our innovative ideas on our products, our route to market and the issues our products help to alleviate – namely, energy poverty, shack fires and indoor air pollution.

There are so many positive issues to highlight surrounding access to clean, affordable energy – safer, more efficient households, namely. We will post information that is relevant, concise and informative around what we at Shisa Afrika have been researching – trying to understand the best way forward within our purpose and ideals.

The short of this vision is to supply useful, clean alternative energy products across many sectors and markets – especially to the poorer socio-economic areas. It is generally the poorer communities that either don’t have access to energy or they have a very unreliable supply and we know our products are perfect for these reasons.

We are both excited and passionate about our proposed route to market – a grassroots selling and marketing model – creating employment opportunities for the people who will mostly be using these products. We want to create a new, innovative, vibrant type of entrepreneur, servicing their clients with a product that is truly useful and needed by the end user.

This is our goal to help increase our market share.

Category Archives: Uncategorized

The tragedy of SA’s maths education – Soapbox | Moneyweb

Jonathan Jansen: If we don’t stop the free fall in education democracy will implode.

Shisa Afrika – ‘Re-inventing’ useful alternative energies

Welcome to the Shisa Afrika Blog.