BAMAKO STYLE
Take what’s available, add a layer. Solve an immediate problem because the bigger ones may never be fixed. This is the way most things work (or inch by) in Mali: be it a potholed road that’s filled with crushed rock monthly rather than paved, or a freelance ultrasound machine that arrives on the back of a scooter to provide imaging for obstetrics clinics. Renaud Gaudin, who is French but leads Bamako’s only tech co-working space, Jokkolabs, said, “we’ve never been this far [towards] creating actual businesses from scratch”. It’s an improvement, at least, where there couldn’t be more room.