About
My name is Josef Scarantino and I am currently a web professional working in the Washington DC metro area. I’ve had a deep interest in Africa since my teenage years and had the golden opportunity of a lifetime to go to East Africa in 2005 as a volunteer for installing solar-powered satellite Internet cafes in rural locations in southern Sudan. To make a long story short, the experience was a life-altering adventure in logistics, language and culture beyond anything I had ever experienced.
But long before my 2005 trip I had made an effort to study everything I could get my hands on concerning Africa and eventually ended up volunteering for multiple organizations ranging from human rights advocacy to well-drilling to a peace institution. I attended my first African Studies Association meeting in Washington DC in 2002, whose theme was “Africa in the Information and Technology Age,” and had my eyes opened even further to the multiplicity of need and opportunity in this great continent, specifically in regards to information technology.
Currently, I work for a nonprofit organization as a full-time web professional but my interests toward Africa have grown tremendously over the years. I am interested in topics ranging from human rights to social entrepreneurship to technology innovation to micro-lending. In other words, if it involves helping people in Africa live better lives, especially related to technology, I likely have an interest in the subject.
I am also the Founder and Executive Director of a nonprofit organization called webstartAfrica, which exists to support African technologists of many kinds. Our first major initiative, African Tech Network, is set to be launched with an April public beta.
If you live in the Washington DC area and would like to speak with me, please email me. I am always up for connecting to other people with similar passions.
For more information about me, and a more precise explanation of my background, please see my LinkedIn profile.
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