Stunning photos show Africa through African eyes

Inside Africa
 Digital Migration

Entrants to IBM's The World Is Our Lab photo competition sent images highlighting Africa's biggest challenges and opportunities. Lawrence "Shabu" Mwangi won with an image he took of children playing with the plastic frame of an old TV in the Mukuru slum in Nairobi.

Boda Boda

"Boda Boda" is a bicycle taxi. Many in Western Kenya rely on boda boda to get around. Photographer Frank Odwesso's winning image highlights how Kenyans use innovation to get around what would otherwise be a setback.

Baby Sitting

Imole "Tobbie" Balogun was another grand-prize winner. His photo highlights the overwhelming responsibility many of Nigeria's impoverished children face, either because they're forced to work or take over family duties at an early age. 

Mama Africa

This image shows day-to-day life in Makoko, one of Nigeria's biggest and best known slums. Most of Makoko rests on stilts above the Lagos Lagoon. It has an estimated 85,840 residents many of whom are fishermen.

Bible Study

In "Bible Study," Kevin Amunze shows a rural tribe using radio to learn. Because of its low cost and accessibility, radio is still the biggest media in Africa and in often plays a vital role in education.

Survival

"Survival" highlights issues of water storage and infrastructure in Africa, where 345 million people don't have easy access to this life-giving resource.

Tracks

"Tracks" depicts the abandoned state of much of Africa's railway infrastructure. However, foreign investors are playing a key role in rail modernization programs such as Kenya's Chinese-financed line linking East Africa to South Sudan, DR Congo and Burundi.

Poverty Weighed in a Can

This image highlights the extent of poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa, where half of the population lives on $1.25 a day and 90% of African women work in the informal sector. 

Kunoa

This image of a mobile knife-sharpening business in Kenya -- one of the many micro-companies that make up the African economy -- highlights the continent's entrepreneurial spirit.

Commuter Train

Passengers ride an overloaded commuter train at the Makadara station in Kenya's capital Nairobi. The larger-than-normal numbers were due to a strike by minibus drivers and conductors.

Creative Minds

In "Creative Minds," five-year old Ken Kyalo wears a pair of glasses he fashioned from scrap wire during the laying of the foundation stone for a new building at the Heritage of Hope and Faith Children's Rehabilitation Center in Mlolongo, Kenya.

Girl by the Windvane

In this image, a young woman sits near the turbines in the Ngong region of Kenya. Renewable energy sources have huge potential in Africa as it seeks to address its electricity shortage.

Face of Hope

"Face of Hope" shows a child in Mali, Africa's third largest gold producer.

Launch of Measles Vaccine

Two-year old Doris Nyambura cries as she receives a dose of measles vaccination during the launching of a vaccination exercise in Rongai, Nairobi.