The Open Digital Sovereignty Initiative (ODSI) launch event was excellent! I was really impressed by the messaging, lineup of speakers, and the attendance. An excellent mix of policymakers, developers and open source advocates. In many ways to me personally it felt like a “coming home” to the kabissa ICT capacity building work I did a lifetime ago with civil society organizations in Nigeria (in many other African countries too but especially in Nigeria). It warmed my heart and gave me hope for the future to see how the ICT landscape in Nigeria has clearly grown by leaps and bounds.
@Ted you were there too what were your impressions?
I’ll share the webinar recording as soon as I get it. I’m on the ODSI mailing list now - see below.
Note to self to seek out more online events like this and participate in them live - even though I’m not the main show the chat is a great place to meet people. Since the event I added a bunch of folks to my LinkedIn (yes, I still use LinkedIn for networking 
) and have some calls lined up.
Dear Tobias Eigen,
Thank you for being part of the Open Digital Sovereignty Initiative (ODSI) Launch Showcase.
Whether you joined us live or registered but were unable to attend, we sincerely appreciate your interest in this important milestone for Africa’s open source ecosystem.
Over the course of the showcase, through our speakers, we explored why visibility matters, why open source matters, and why digital sovereignty matters for Africa. This is only the beginning, and we are grateful to everyone who took the time to be part of it.
We are currently preparing the event recording and will share it with all registered participants as soon as it is ready, so if you couldn’t join us live, or would simply like to revisit the discussions, you won’t miss out.
In the meantime, we would love for you to continue this journey with us.
Join the ODSI Directory: African Open Source Directory - ODSI
By adding yourself, your project, or your organisation to the directory, you are helping make Africa’s open source ecosystem more visible. That visibility strengthens collaboration, informs better policy, and moves us one step closer to digital sovereignty across the continent.
You can also learn more about ODSI and our work at: https://www.odsi.africa
Thank you once again for your support and for believing in this vision. We look forward to building this movement together.
Warm regards,
Olawale Fabiyi
Founder & Executive Director
Open Digital Sovereignty Initiative
odsi.africa
I liked the event. I think they carefully avoided the word “colonialism” while describing digital colonization perfectly: Platforms and ideas developed outside of Africa that do not address the African context, imposed on Africa. (paraphrasing).
Like you, I kept a low white profile.