African Innovator Magazine- Vol 2 Issue 1

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VO2, ISSUE NO.1

in the United States and/or other countries. All other brands or products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and should be treated as such. Headline source: NetApp internal estimates, June 2012: VNX, VNXe, Celerra NS can run any of Flare and Dart Operating Systems. Contribution of these products to the OS share has been estimated based on the proportion of NAS and SAN installations in these products (NAS – Dart; SAN – Flare).

Africa’s

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TOP 20 Tech influencers PG 28 CEO THUMBZUP STAFFORD MASIE

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As a proud partner of NetApp, we’re committed to helping you deploy the right storage and data management solution. For more information, please email Oyoenisai Udonte at oyoenisai@datagroupit.com or visit www.DataGroupIT.com.

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ALEXANDRA ZAGURY BLACKBERRY MEANS BUSINESS IN AFRICA

THE LIST TOP 10 REASONS WHY AFRICAN TECH START-UPS STRUGGLE

TRIGGERFISH ”AFRICA’S ANSWER TO DREAMWORKS STUDIOS”

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from the editor

Mobility: Africa is definitely going places T

here is no doubt about it, technology is growing and Africa is on the move!

According to the Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA) Africa is the fastest growing mobile market in the world.

Research shows that access to mobile technology is inextricably linked to economic development- and has contributed in no small measure to Africa’s recent GDP growth.

In the enterprise, BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and the consumerisation of IT are increasingly becoming hot topics for IT managers and CIOs. In this edition we look at the challenges of mobility in the consumer and business markets, and the impact this has on the well-being of the average African. We also hone in on the BlackBerry, Africa’s most loved smartphone, and analyse the company’s business model and growth prospects.

With the passing of Steve Jobs, there is also widespread interest in Apple and the company’s ability to remain relevant with the iPhone – particularly considering the

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competition from Samsung and Nokia.

The advent of mobile access has offered the African entrepreneur many opportunities. These determined individuals are not only changing their communities but making an impact on a global scale.

To this end we have compiled a list of Africa’s most influential people in technology, with a strong focus on telecommunications. The list includes the likes of Mike Adenuga, founder of Global Limited (Glo), Naguib Sawiris, founder of Orascom Telecom Holding SAE and Hakeem Belo-Osagie, Chairman of the Board of Emerging Markets Telecommunications Services Ltd. (Etisalat) We hope you enjoy the read!

a.S. Wakama Executive Editor, CEO.

4/23/2013 2:54:43 PM

contents Tech News 6

Snippets of Major ICT Developments on the Continent

Social Scene 10 A Round-up of Major ICT Events and Networking Functions

Gadgets 12 Apple iPhone 5 13 Samsung Wireless Audio with Dock 13 HP Compaq Elite 8300 All-in-One

The Innovator 15 18 20 22

Making IT work Stafford’s way - Stafford Masie Lakasa Technology - Online start-up aims to unite Africa “Africa’s answer to Dreamworks studios”: Triggerfish shows star quality 2Go boldly into Africa - Getting Africa talking

The List 26 Top 10 reasons why African tech start-ups struggle 28 Africa’s Top 20 Tech Influencers

Industry Analysis A rich editorial mix makes AIM a must-read.

A magazine to savour,and a source of reference to keep.

35 38 40 42 44

Huawei - Growing with Africa - Li Dafeng The Telemedicine Promise: finally a reality or still a pipe dream? - Ishe Zingoni Mobility in Africa, the great enabler - Garth Hayward Supporting the shift to mobility in Africa - Tony Walt Data storage needn’t be a problem - Netapp

Features 46 Blackberry - Blackout or back in motion 50 LTE in Africa - call it like it is 54 Social Networking - Throwing innovation into the mix

Industry Leaders 56 BlackBerry means business in Africa - Alexandra Zagury 58 What it takes to spice up VAS - Arun Nagar

Digital Africa 62 Social media gets vocal – Rorotika

Country Focus 64 Technology at the heart of Egypt’s growth plan

Publishing Director A. S. Wakama, Editors Chris Tredger, Charlie Fripp, Business Development and Sales Vardis Banga (vardis@itnewsafrica.com), Layout and Design Jevon Johnson, Publisher ITNA Publishing (Pty) Ltd, Address 657 James Crescent, Halfway House, Midrand, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa, Telephone +27 11 026 0982

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fast laneN E W S

Intel to stop motherboard production “WE DISCLOSED INTERNALLY TODAY THAT INTEL’S DESKTOP MOTHERBOARD BUSINESS WILL BEGIN SLOWLY RAMPING DOWN OVER THE COURSE OF THE NEXT THREE YEARS. AS INTEL GRADUALLY RAMPS DOWN ITS MOTHERBOARD BUSINESS WE ARE RAMPING UP CRITICAL AREAS OF THE DESKTOP SPACE INCLUDING INTEGRATION OF INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS FOR THE PC ECOSYSTEM SUCH AS REFERENCE DESIGN DEVELOPMENT, NUC (NEXT UNIT OF COMPUTING) AND OTHER AREAS TO BE DISCUSSED LATER,” INTEL SAID IN A STATEMENT.

IN WHAT COULD BE A SIGN OF THE TIMES, CHIP MAKER INTEL HAS ANNOUNCED THAT THEY WILL BE SLOWING DOWN PRODUCTION OF MOTHERBOARDS FOR THE TRADITIONAL PC OVER THE NEXT THREE YEARS, AND WILL INSTEAD, FOCUS ALL THEIR EFFORTS ON TABLETS, SMARTPHONES AND ULTRABOOKS.

SAMSUNG ANNOUNCES 8-INCH TABLET Following Sony’s announcement of the Xperia Z tablet, Samsung lifted the silence on their latest tablet device, confirming an 8-inch Galaxy Note will be on show at MWC. There are rumours this is the same device that was leaked a couple of weeks ago, and according to initial reports, it should have a 1.6GHz quad-core Exynos processor on a 1,280 x 800 pixel screen.

Airtel Gabon penalised for not reporting international calls In a move seen as pushing regulation forward in Gabon, the country’s regulator has fined Airtel Gabon for failing to report all international calls made on their network.

According to telecommunications regulator Arcep (Agence de Régulation des Communications Electroniques et des Postes), Airtel Gabon was fined an undisclosed fee for “under-reporting international call traffic in June 2012.”

Arcep claimed that Airtel failed to report over threequarters of its real traffic, and this came to light as a result of audits conducted in August and September of last year. According to the regulator, they “also found that Airtel’s on-net tariffs contravened the tariffs set by the regulator based on orders made by the World Bank.”

The resulting fee is unlikely to harm the company, which has seen its user base increase in recent months as a result of the introduction of new services.

Airtel Gabon has yet to make a public statement on the fine.

France Telecom buys Alcazar Capital’s stake in Orange Kenya France Telecom now has a 60 percent stake in Orange Kenya following its purchase of the 11 percent owned by Alcazar Capital. France Telecom did not disclose the value of the transaction.

According to local media reports, the French giant has replaced Alcazar’s CEO Charbel Jaoude on Orange Kenya’s board as part of the overhaul and purchase.

The two companies had jointly acquired Orange East Africa in 2007, changing the name to Orange Kenya as a special vehicle.

The acquisition also gives France Telecom more liquidity and mobility in the fast-growing East Africam mobile sector.

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New CEO in charge of Cameroon’s Set’Mobile CAMEROON’S MVNO (MOBILE VIRTUAL NETWORK OPERATOR) SET’MOBILE HAS APPOINTED A NEW CEO TO RUN THE COMPANY’S OPERATIONS. HERVE PERRIN WAS ANNOUNCED AS THE NEW CEO, SUCCEEDING CHARLES GUERET. GUERET LEFT THE CEO POSITION IN EARLY SEPTEMBER 2012 AND HANDED OVER THE COMPANY TO CFO JEAN-BOSCO MASSOMA ON AN INTERIM BASIS.

THE MOBILE OPERATOR IS OWNED BY CAMEROONIAN FOOTBALLER SAMUEL ETO’O AND IS AN MVNO ON THE ORANGE CAMEROON NETWORK.

Sony shows off its flagship Xperia Z Sony Mobile South Africa unveiled Sony’s latest mobile handset, the Xperia Z, at a press conference in Johannesburg. The flagship model features a 5-inch Full HD 1080p Reality display, a 1.5Ghz Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor and is waterproof to a depth of 1m for 30 minutes.

One of the new design features that Sony is exploring, is a raised, stainless steel power button, as the company believes that it is the most important button on a device and needs to function properly.

The button is raised for easy access, and takes on a stylish design element.

The full touch screen occupies a great deal of the front display, which creates a bigger working area for users, while touch buttons at the bottom of the unit is cleverly hidden out of view when not used.

Orange hoping to score in South Africa

With a resolution of 1920x1080, it has approximately 443 ppi density and is also dust-proof.

Maroc Telecom announces massive broadband investment Morocco is seeing a massive boost in broadband Internet efforts as Maroc Telecom, an established telecom operator in the North African country, announced a MAD 10.1 billion ($1.2b USD) upgrade to the current network in the country.

The announcement was made in a statement to the French stock market regulator.

French telecom giant Vivendi, which owns 53 percent of Maroc Telecom with the other 30 percent owned by the Moroccan government, believes the new investment will help push the country’s broadband Internet services forward in 2013 and pave the way for greater development of the Internet in the country.

The company also intends to invest in other African countries where it operates, such as Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Gabon and Mali.

Orange, a global telecommunications services provider and sponsor of the Africa Cup of Nations, has launched Orange Horizons, a new subsidiary established to build the brand and source fresh revenue streams for the Group.

South Africa is one of the markets targeted for a range of planned projects, including the launch of online stores, travel solutions and a virtual mobile operator.

The first of these projects has already been launched. This comprises two websites: firstly an ecommerce website (http://www.orange.com/za/) which has been launched to sell telecoms-related devices and accessories.

THIS IS COMBINED WITH A COUNTRY WEBSITE, WHICH PROVIDES ONLINE CONTENT SPECIFICALLY TAILORED FOR A SOUTH AFRICAN AUDIENCE INCLUDING NEWS FEEDS, SPORTS NEWS AND AUDIOVISUAL CONTENT.

FOR MORE UP TO DATE ICT NEWS,VISIT WWW.ITNEWSAFRICA.COM 07 AFRICAN INNOVATOR VOLUME 2, ISSUE 1

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The IDC provided an international guarantee facility to

The IDC continues to identify and provide development

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funding for projects that will contribute to the accelerated

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Keeping South African industry

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in the global picture

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SOCIAL SCENE

Social Scene

THE INNOVATION DINNER SERIES BRINGS TOGETHER SENIOR EXECUTIVES TO DISCUSS BURNING ICT ISSUES

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2

012 was an active year for IT News Africa, African Innovator magazine and the Innovation Dinner series.

The quarterly event continues to attract top level executives and decision makers from across the spectrum of Africa’s growing ICT sector.

Investors, service providers and operators have regularly attended these functions to network, enjoy time together and discuss key issues in the ICT industry.

A number of topics have come under discussion including LTE (Long Term Evolu

tion), broadband pricing in Africa, BYOD (Bring-Your-Own-Device) and Big Data.

We were also honoured to host Zimbabwe’s MDC Minister of Information, Communication and Technology, Nelson Chamisa, in a frank interview about Zimbabwe’s economic direction, opportunities and challenges.

Minister Chamisa spoke about the growth of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country, investment opportunities, government plans for ICT infrastructure and regulation.

“Our Innovation Dinner series is the ideal

opportunity for senior executives in the IT industry to network and hear from world class speakers. This is the platform to identify opportunities and gain advice on the best strategies for the future,” explains Abby Wakama, Executive Publisher and CEO, IT News Africa.

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fast laneG A D G E T S

Must-Have Gadgets APPLE IPHONE 5

Not much has changed in Apple’s iconic design since the launch of the iPhone 4.

Taking on the same form factor as the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, the iPhone 5 is slightly bigger to accommodate the larger screen.

The new phone one of the world’s thinnest at only 7.6 mm, which makes it 18 percent thinner than the iPhone 4S. The unit is also lighter, as it weighs only 112 grams – 20 percent lighter than the iPhone 4S. Users will now be able to enjoy media content on a larger screen which sports a 326 PPI Retina display, 1136 x 640 pixel resolution with a 16 x 9 aspect ratio. The bigger screen has also allowed Apple to include a fifth row on the home screen for applications.

Just 3 days after launch in September last year, the company announced that it had sold over five million units of the iPhone 5 and more than 100 million iOS updates.

In terms of computing power, it makes use of an A6 chip, giving

the unit twice the processing capability of previous versions.

The chip is also 22% smaller than previous models. But with a stronger chip comes battery issues, and Apple has also addressed that – the iPhone 5 exceeds the battery life of the 4S, which now has 225 hours of standby time.

The addition of cameras into smartphones has given many users an easy way of capturing images on the go.

While the iPhone 4S’s camera wasn’t completely up to scratch, Apple made sure to update the one in the iPhone 5. It will now sport an 8 megapixel sensor with a maximum resolution of 3264 x 2448. Its backside is illuminated and features a hybrid IR filter, five-element lens and an f/2.4 aperture.

PRICE: $199 to $849 Available at all reputable electronics outlets in South Africa

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SAMSUNG WIRELESS AUDIO WITH DOCK Samsung is well known for manufacturing a wide range of quality products including audio systems. The Samsung Wireless Audio with Dock is a great alternative to smaller speakers – and it looks good too.

Starting with the form factor and design, the audio dock sports a sleek look that will fit in with any room. The classic gloss black finish rounds off its stylish appearance. The unit is rather cumbersome and heavy, so it is advisable that users find the right location to avoid having to move it around.

While it looks good, the dock is also the world’s first wireless audio dock which supports Samsung’s Galaxy SII and SIII and well as Apple’s iPhone and iPod range of devices.

From a technical point of view, it has a 2-Channel speaker system with a combined output of 10W. That does not sound like a lot, but the unit is capable of blasting tunes at high volume without distorting.

The device is sturdily built with a stylish design and the audio it produces through the APTX Decoding format is great.

PRICE: $346 Available at all reputable electronics outlets in South Africa

AS FAR AS AIO’s IN GENERAL GO, THE COMPAQ ELITE 8300 IS ONE OF THE BEST WE HAVE SEEN SO FAR. THE UNIT IS GREAT TO WORK ON AND THE KEYBOARD AND MOUSE COMBINATION IS COMFORTABLE. THE SCREEN IS BIG AND BRIGHT, THE HARDWARE RUNS EFFICIENTLY AND THE DESIGN IS STURDY AND STYLISH.

HP COMPAQ ELITE 8300 ALL-IN-ONE All-In-One (AIO) computers are not as popular as they should be.

For any business that relies on having the fastest equipment and office-bound staff, an AIO is a great option to save space and funds.

An AIO is a computer which has the innards of a traditional computer built into the monitor. HP’s Compaq Elite 8300 All-in-One Desktop PC is probably as good as an AIO can get. The machine has everything a user could possibly want – while looking incredibly stylish.

It features a 23-inch diagonal TN widescreen WLED backlit LCD screen and has a native resolution of 1920 x 1080. There is an optional integrated 2.0 MP webcam and dual microphone array as well.

Since there is no physical computer tower or body, all the jacks, connections and plugs are located around the outside of the monitor. In terms of connectivity, it has ample USB connections – four USB 3.0 and 2 USB 2.0 ports.

It also features microphone and headphone jacks, a DisplayPort, an audio out, and one RJ-45 network port, and Wi-Fi capability. On the right side of the monitor sits a neatly tucked-away Slim Tray optical drive which functions as a DVD reader and writer.

As far as AIO’s in general go, the Compaq Elite 8300 is one of the best in the world.

The unit is great to work on and the keyboard and mouse combination is comfortable. The screen is big and bright, the hardware runs very well and the design is sturdy and stylish.

PRICE: $1,075 Available at all reputable electronics outlets in South Africa

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HANDS ON THE INNOVATOR

Making IT work

Stafford’s Way STAFFORD MASIE, CEO THUMBZUP Stafford Masie, former CEO of Google Africa, speaks openly about his passion for technology, his new mobile card payment device and true innovation.

S

tafford Masie, the former CEO of Google South Africa, is not an easy person to define. His aura is electric and he speaks with a passion for technology, the kind of passion that is often discussed in ICT circles – but rarely seen in practice. His words ring with an air of confidence and pay tribute to an established career that has been sculpted by technology and a tenacious approach to overcoming adversity.

Like a new father, the 38-year-old speaks of his “My dad said to me ‘you can choose one of two things: you can latest venture – Thumeither choose to become the victim, bzup – with a sense of or you can choose the alternative - genuine pride. There why not ensure that every time you is no tiptoeing around stand up in front of that crowd of what he envisages for people, that you are the best. If you this company. It is a local do that, not only will you person- payment innovations ally overcome, you will also help to company which enables break the stereotype.” mobile businesses and entrepreneurs across South Africa to accept debit or credit card payments using their mobile devices combined with a world-first, plug-in device called The Payment Pebble.

The emphasis is on local, on people and

on manufacturing technology to make a difference. He has a staff of twenty, including PhD-graduates, on his payroll and a team that is ultra-passionate about innovation.

Thumbzup and The Payment Pebble, it seems, are creations that have emerged because of Masie’s dogmatic defiance against technology that is produced to simply improve the bottom lines of enterprises.

According to him, he has a preference for technology that serves as a real catalyst for change in the lives of users.

“Two and a half years ago I was sitting in the reception of the office of a mayor of one of the metros. A lady walked in and was crying. She had a baby wrapped on her back and she couldn’t speak because she was crying so much. I asked reception what was wrong and I learnt that this lady had given birth to twins, prematurely, during the winter. During the process she was hurt and, at the same time, authorities had arrived to switch off her electricity. She had the money, she had credit cards, but she couldn’t pay.

One of her babies died because of exposure.”

This was one of several defining moments

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THE INNOVATOR

for Masie. “It was my little epiphany. I thought to myself ‘this will be the very last time in my life that I utilise my skills sets and my assets and who I am to sell tech that is made somewhere else in the world to make a multinational money’. That I would walk out of this and build things that make a tangible difference to people.”

Mobile money happens to be the avenue he has chosen, a decision based on working with alpha-geeks to innovate. He has the relevant skills and contacts in this area, and believes the payment process can be made a lot easier.

Looking back on his personal and professional journey, Masie holds nothing back as he reflects on the difficulty of establishing his credibility within a society that was struggling with cultural difference and the stigma of discrimination.

Masie grew up in Eldorado Park, Johannesburg South. It was his uncle, a computer programmer at an insurance firm, who first introduced him to the world of technology and it turned out young Stafford had a natural inclination and love for programming and writing code.

In the early 90’s he took the opportunity to further his skills as an analyst by landing a job at Telkom South Africa as a Novelcertified trainer within the company’s Novel Authorised Education Centre.

This required that Masie travel across the country to train people. It was during his time on the road that he was exposed to the realities of life, particularly the existence of discrimination in South Africa.

“It was hard in the beginning. It was the first time I came into touch with discrimination and the first place I learnt a lot of life lessons. My dad said to me ‘you can choose one of two things: you can either choose to become the victim, or you can choose the alternative - why not ensure that every time you stand up in front of that crowd of people, that you are the best. If you do that, not only will you personally overcome, you will also help to break the stereotype,” said Masie.

This experience had a profound affect on his career. “You know, when you are forced to ensure that every time you stand or sit in front of people, that you know your stuff – it grows you. It inherently grows you. You have

this innate organic requirement to acquire all the knowledge you can because you are always in a defensive position having to prove yourself for the first five minutes,” he continues.

Masie has embraced this growth experience and made it a part of his professional profile.

He is often invited to deliver keynote presentations at events and is always prepared and entirely comfortable in a room full of people.

After heeding the advice of industry associates, Masie left Telkom SA and headed to Dimension Data.

“This was a fantastic time. It was the heyday for the company … it was when Dimension Data had the exclusive rights to Cisco, people were implementing local and wide area networks. Networking was new. I

just by consequence, about who he was. I always said that if ever I was a top businessman, I would like to be like Doc. Even to this day he is the same,” says Masie.

What of the state of the domestic ICT industry? Masie believes we have established a culture of technology consumption and not production.

“I wish we had a greater organic invention and making culture in the IT industry. That is why Thumbzup has been established, to make things. We are not buying software; we are making our own hardware and a product that we are going to ship overseas.

I also don’t believe we have the necessary incentive platforms in place for invention making and this is where government can play a greater role: to incentivise companies to make, not just consume,” Masie adds.

“I almost want to take a step back. It is not

“IT WAS MY LITTLE EPIPHANY. I THOUGHT TO MYSELF ‘THIS WILL BE THE VERY LAST TIME IN MY LIFE THAT I UTILISE MY SKILLS SETS AND MY ASSETS AND WHO I AM TO SELL TECH THAT IS MADE SOMEWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD TO MAKE A MULTINATIONAL MONEY’.

THAT I WOULD WALK OUT OF THIS AND BUILD THINGS THAT MAKE A TANGIBLE DIFFERENCE TO PEOPLE.” also saw them acquire Internet Solutions,” said Masie.

It was during this time that Masie met with- and learnt from people like Internet Solutions founder Ronnie Apteker and Jeremy Ord, Chairman of Dimension Data Holdings. “These people were pivotal. I watched them, I watched them succeed and saw the ways they lived their professional lives, which led to their success,” he adds.

But who, if anyone, would Masie consider to be his mentor? It is the first time he has been asked this question and the first time he has mentioned it to anyone. His reply: Bruce Watson, a senior director at Dimension Data and one of the company’s original founders.

“What I liked about him was his demeanour, his professionalism and his interaction with us. He had a respect and an aura about him that he didn’t have to demand. It was

about the industry. It is about anything you do in life. Steve Jobs said it so beautifully, ‘you can never connect the dots forward, you can only connect the dots backwards and the only way the dots connect is if what you are doing, is to what you truly love to do.

According to Masie, he has always been in situations in which he loves what he is doing at the time.

“Somehow that has led to success. I have had a fulfilling career to date … and I am only 38, I have so much more to do!”

CHRIS TREDGER ITNEWSAFRICA.COM

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All-in-one \adj: all-inclusive. For the contact centre, Interactive Intelligence defines its all-in-one IP communications platform this way: All communications applications running on a single platform. A single point of administration for all functionality, meaning less training and less complexity. Add-on applications activated with simple license keys, to bypass costly, complex integrations. Complete fault tolerance and business continuity for all contact centre applications. A single all-inclusive solution from a single vendor, including a single maintenance contract. All redefined by a lower total cost of ownership.

Shouldn’t this be your definition too?

www.inin.com/za CONTACT CENTER • UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS • BUSINESS PROCESS AUTOMATION Cloud-based or On-premise

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THE INNOVATOR

Lakasa Tech

Online start-up aims to unite Africa

Z

imbabwean born Vuyo Sakala is a businessman on a mission to fulfil a dream: to establish a web presence that meets the information and social networking needs of African people and businesses.

With five regional-based websites already up and running, Sakala believes he has the blueprint in place to effectively engage the market and set a new standard of social and professional online networking for users across the continent.

The 27-year-old entrepreneur has successfully established the Tunisia-based company, Lakasa Tech and three years ago developed safrip.com, a portal targeting the SADC region designed to provide easy-to-access information.

Sakala has quantified the potential that exists within Africa’s broader market. According to his information, the SADC region alone has a combined population 275 million.

The idea is to offer browsers a facility with content that is updated, relevant, unlimited and easily accessible – but do so by facilitating virtual windows to regions, presenting users with an opportunity to source region-specific information and network with like-minded people and companies.

Lakasa Tech has since rolled out several websites to cater to the needs of other parts of Africa including CAFRIP.com, NAFRIP.com, WAFRIP.com, EAFRIP.com and NIFRIP.com. These, combined, represent the North, South, East, West and Central areas of Africa.

African Innovator recently caught up with Sakala to discuss the intricacies of starting a venture in Africa and what it takes to truly succeed.

make sure this is something that you really want and believe in because it takes a lot of your own time, determination, patience, creativity and money and lots of it!

How difficult is it to get a business up and running within the IT industry in Africa?

It depends on where you are located within Africa. Investors usually follow “hot spots” and seem to be reluctant to invest outside these areas. Kenya is an example of this. It is marketing itself as the tech hub of Africa, which makes it more difficult to set up a tech business outside of Kenya – due mainly to the fact that it is difficult to source financing.

Access to information and support in general is very difficult within Africa. Access to information is essential for the tech sector to grow. The first thing to do is to know what companies are doing and what they have to offer. A significant amount of business in Africa still happens behind closed doors, so changing this practice may make finding a venture capital company much easier.

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What does one need, aside from funds/ capital, to give it a serious go?

You should not assume that you are going to receive millions of dollars when you are starting out. This is unlikely to happen, so do not build your business model on this assumption.

The entire initial phase, and even after this, will have to come from you putting in the hard work and using money from your own pocket.

So make sure this is something that you really want and believe in because it takes a lot of your own time, determination, patience, creativity and money and lots of it!

Research, research, research! Things change everyday. Be knowledgeable about your sector.

If you do not know, how can you expect others to know? Investors will question you on everything so be prepared and research as much as you can about your sector, as well as the effects you will have on other sectors or how they may affect you. This knowledge will not only help you when talking to investors, but will also improve your business.

What are the challenges/ obstacles?

Dealing with the pace of the older generation and their approach to funding.

Access to information and support in general is very difficult within Africa.

Access to information is essential for the tech sector to grow.

The first thing to do is to know what companies are doing and what they have to offer.

The tech industry is fast-paced and a product can be fully developed within a matter of weeks. This is a lot faster than many other sectors. Therefore, the approach to financing this industry will have to be different to that within mining and agriculture, for example.

Another challenge is getting companies to see the big picture or potential of what you have to offer. It would help if companies researched a bit more on the potential of the tech space if they want to get involved in it. This will go a long way in bridging the gap between both parties and speeding up the process.

Are there any resources one can rely on to help?

Knowing where to source these resources is a challenge in itself.

What advice would you give young, budding entrepreneurs hoping to make it in Africa’s burgeoning ICT space?

As I mentioned earlier one needs a lot of determination, patience and creativity. Keep your costs down and do as much of it as you can by yourself. Only ever pair up with like-minded individuals. Choose your partners wisely.

Being best friends with someone does not necessarily mean they will make a good business partner. Try and keep your team small at the beginning. Know in advance how best to maximize any relationships. Opportunities come by once in a while and you must learn to strike while the iron is hot.

Above all enjoy what you do. Success will come.

CHRIS TREDGER ITNEWSAFRICA.COM

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Triggerfish -

“ Africa’s answer to Dreamworks studios”:

South-Africa based Triggerfish Animation Studios demonstrates what Africa’s innovators have to offer the global market

C

ape Town-based media and entertainment company Triggerfish Animation Studios may create stories that entice the imagination, but the studio’s rise to worldwide acclaim is very real.

The company was established in 1996 as a boutique stop-frame animation studio and achieved prominence in the industry with several locally produced commercials.

The company’s profile was strengthened in 2001 when it directed and produced material for the first season of the local version of US educational program Sesame Street. Based TECHNOLOGY IS EMPOWERING on the success of this INDEPENDENT PRODUCERS TO initial project TrigTAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE gerfish produced MASSIVE OPPORTUNITIES material for both Takalani Sesame Street, DIGITAL DISRUPTION IS as well as US versions BRINGING TO THE MEDIA AND of the hit show.

ENTERTAINMENT SPACE. The main objective of the business is to produce characterdriven stories that have global appeal and this is the inspiration behind the work of an elite team of passionate individuals, headed up by owner and CEO, Stuart Forrest.

Five partners make up the ‘brains of the business’ and, together with producers, supervisors, team leaders, production support staff and technical creative artists, have contributed to the company’s standing as a globally-recognised and award-winning production studio.

In an article by Forbes Magazine, Triggerfish Animation Studios was reffered to as Africa’s answer to DreamWorks, Disney and Pixar.

African Innovator chatted to Forrest about the company, the role of technology, its lucrative distribution partnership with Sony Pictures in the US and what innovation truly means in this space.

Triggerfish has been described as one of the continent’s most innovative companies.

How do you keep ahead of technology and instil an environment of creativity and innovative thinking?

We are primarily a creative company employing some of the most talented people in the country. We use technology to enable our creativity, so everything we do with technology is done in order for our creative vision to be realised. We set ourselves extremely

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HANDS ON THE INNOVATOR

high creative goals to start with, and then go about solving them one step at a time. This forces us to be innovative and constantly on top of technological advances so we can deliver the solutions.

We do not have the resources of some of our more established competitors, so this compels us to find new and better ways of doing things.

Technology is empowering independent producers to take advantage of the massive opportunities digital disruption is bringing to the media and entertainment space.

Your project Adventures in Zambezia was the first South African full length animation feature to attract US distribution partnership for English speaking regions, how did this feel?

We were thrilled when we got the offer from Sony Pictures International Acquisitions. They are a major distributor and to partner with them on the release of our first film has been prestigious and we have learnt a lot from them. It is also a big step forward for African film-making and our aim is to change the way the world sees Africa through our films and help inspire a continent.

The movie business in Africa seems to be growing, with the likes of Nollywood making a significant impact, where does animation fit into growth projections?

We are proud to be a leader in African animation, a particularly family-friendly genre, and it is exciting to be at the forefront of exporting original African properties into the world.

Africa itself has a huge market potential, and we want to experiment with various new types of distribution for the continent.

With the rapid growth of mobile technology throughout the continent, we are seeing exciting possibilities for a different distribution model that finds new ways to get our stories into every household.

Animation travels really well and digital disruption is having a massive effect on how media is consumed. There is a big opportunity for Triggerfish to bring Africa’s unique creative voice to Hollywood and audiences around the world and for this reason we are talking to potential partners to help us realize this vision.

What inspires you as a creative producer?

When I work with a director who has a clear, consistent vision, and we put together a team that can support and deliver that vision, I get really excited. We get to work with the best artists and technical directors in the country – it is wonderful to see the vision come to life, bit by bit, as the team works to execute it.

Our studio is also driven by a bigger dream - to change the way the world sees Africa through our films. Our industry has a massive influence on the world around us, and Triggerfish has the team and the talent to reshape perceptions of Africa.

CHRIS TREDGER ITNEWSAFRICA.COM 21 AFRICAN INNOVATOR VOLUME 2, ISSUE 1

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THE INNOVATOR

2go

Boldly

Africa

into

Mobile communications startup 2go, is building an African mobile social network to rival global players

M

obile communication has grown exponentially in Africa over the last couple of years and the need for mobile users to stay in contact with one another has been the driving force behind innovation.

While mobile communication “Mobile phones have the ability to applications, radically improve people’s lives. such as MXit, The well-known World Bank Report have been showed that for every 10% increase around for a in mobile phone penetration in number of years, developing markets, there is a there is still room 0.8% increase in GDP.” for growth - and this is where 2go comes in.

Based in South Africa, 2go is a mobile social network that allows users to chat and share content for free, and is growing at a rate of 50 000 new users per day. That is no small feat, as the application is already being used by over 9-million people in Nigeria and almost 2-million people in South Africa - with a total user base of

over 20-million across Africa.

African Innovator sat down with 2go executive Marc Herson to find out what makes the company so successful, future plans for expansion and the innovative strategies they have adopted to compete in a crowded market.

2go represents stiff competition for rivals. Why has the service been so successful?

First and foremost 2go is an African technology company with a focus on serving users in Africa and other emerging markets.

In Africa less than 10% of users own a smartphone and the other 90%, who own a feature phone (non-smartphone), are price sensitive to mobile data charges.

2go was purpose-built for these 90% of mobile phone owners and offers users a lightweight application that empowers them to chat and socialise at a low cost. We differentiate based on our intuitive user interface and the way our custom technology minimizes mobile

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data consumption for our users.

In order to stay ahead, one needs to innovate. What strategy have you adopted to deliver new offerings and develop products?

Innovation is always about people. We are still a small team of less than ten people and our current focus is on attracting and hiring the best possible talent. This was one of the primary reasons 2go recently moved offices to Cape Town where there is a vibrant community of software developers.

We are also working hard at building a strong company culture focused on excellence, where developers are challenged daily to rapidly build and deploy best-of-breed technology that impacts millions of people every day.

What is your opinion on the current mobile landscape in Africa/SA? It is an incredibly exciting time in Africa, especially in countries like Nigeria with a population of over 160 million and plenty of room for mobile subscriber growth.

Mobile phones have the ability to radically improve people’s lives. The well-known World Bank Report showed that for every 10% increase in mobile phone penetration in developing markets, there is a 0.8% increase in GDP. I actually think this could even be understating the impact that mobile phones may have on people’s lives as there is also a large intangible social benefit of accessing mobile services such as 2go.

At 2go we are privileged to have a bird’s eye view of how people use their mobile phones.

We poll the 2go user base from time-totime, and a recent poll of our user base in Nigeria indicated that 66% of people spend two hours or more on their phone every day and almost 20% spend more than four hours travelling every day.

This time is spent not only communicating on phones, but also consuming media.

For instance, over 50% of Nigerian 2go users get their daily news on their phone; 44% watch video on their phone and 55% listen to music. And this is all on a feature phone!

These are pretty amazing stats when you consider the results of an additional poll taken in the country, which showed that 31% do not watch TV and 40% do not yet have a

bank account.

There is therefore still a huge opportunity to improve people’s lives through mobile media and inclusive financial services. We hope to be able to play a small part in this mobile revolution.

What goes into developing a great user experience and how important is it?

I would argue that user experience is the most important aspect of any consumer technology application. If you think about great companies like Apple and Google, they are fanatically focused on elegance, simplicity and ease of use.

When one develops for low-end feature phones, getting user experience right is really hard to do with hundreds of different types of devices with varying nuances, such as the size and dimension of the phone screen. Added to this is the memory limitation of these handsets and the price sensitivity of users to data communication fees.

2go thinks about all these issues when trying to create a compelling intuitive experience for our users.

What would you ascribe 2go’s success to?

We think our growth is due to the combination of creating a lightweight application that has an intuitive user experience, together with our ability to efficiently scale our backend.

We have also always encouraged users to give us feedback on technical and other issues and being responsive to their needs has been a critical component of our success.

With other offerings such as MXit and WhatsApp available, how do you retain your current users?

We have been fanatically focused on giving feature phone users the best possible messaging and social chat application. We plan to continue to bring them the best possible communication service, even as they evolve to newer generation handsets.

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How did the concept of 2go come about? What is the company’s back-story?

2go was initially started in 2007 by Alan Wolff and Ashley Peter (the current co-CEOs) while studying computer science at Wits University.

They wanted to build software that people would use every day and thought they could offer a fresh messaging application with compelling features and an intuitive user interface.

The company was entirely self-funded and was initially bootstrapped, with them working out of their parents’ houses, doing the programming themselves and hosting a server on a friend’s Internet line.

WHEN ONE DEVELOPS FOR LOW-END FEATURE PHONES, GETTING USER EXPERIENCE RIGHT IS REALLY HARD TO DO WITH HUNDREDS OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF DEVICES WITH VARYING NUANCES, SUCH AS THE SIZE AND DIMENSION OF THE PHONE SCREEN How did 2go manage to get over 2-million users in Nigeria?

Is that your biggest market?

Yes, we have over 10 million users in Nigeria.

Innovation is the heart of being the best. What is next in the pipeline for 2go?

We will continue to focus on developing best-of-breed technology centred around messaging and social chat. Our next versions will have tighter integration into the handset and we will develop the application to better serve users as they move to semi-smart and smart phones.

How big is the need for affordable mobile communication in Africa?

It is massive. It changes people’s lives. I recently met a 2go user in Cape Town who has left behind all her relatives in Zimbabwe. She cannot afford to stay in touch with her family through traditional phone calls or even SMS. Affordable communication services like 2go greatly enhance her life.

Where would you like to see the service in five years?

We would like to continue to be a leading mobile communication service focused on improving the lives of users across Africa through low-cost, intuitive software. There are many strategic paths where we can take 2go, from mobile payments to mobile entertainment.

What needs to be done to accelerate mobile growth in Africa?

Many people say that a US$50 smart phone is the key to the future. I agree that low cost smart phones are critical, but this would still largely only benefit more affluent users if voice and data costs are not reduced significantly.

Africa has some of the most expensive mobile phone connectivity rates in the world.

What challenges and problems do you face with such a service?

There are a myriad of challenges. We face the technical scaling challenges of having millions of messages being sent across our service every minute and developing technology that provides a seamless cross platform experience.

I would say our key challenge right now is to attract and hire world-class developers. This is not easy when one is competing in a global economy with tech giants like Amazon, Google and Facebook. But we seem to be making great strides here and are proud to be attracting the type of technical talent we currently have on board at 2go.

CHARLIE FRIPP ITNEWSAFRICA.COM

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TOP 10

REASONS WHY STARTUPS

Struggle

W

hat does it really take to establish a credible, sustainable technology-focused start-up business in Africa? And, once established, can these businesses seriously compete for market share?

Before any attempt can be made to answer these questions, those behind business incubators or the business of building business, warn that it is critical to differentiate between the many forms that a tech start-up can take.

“Tech startup’s take many forms and good reporting would be cognisant of this fact.

Different types of tech businesses will experience different challenges so the question itself is broad,” explains Pavlo Phitidis, CEO of Aurik Business Incubator (Pty) Ltd. Speaking from a formulations sector point of view, Colin Mkhonza, Secretary General of SABTIA (The Southern African Business and Technology Incubation Association) identifies a lack of innovative ideas and seed funds as two of the main contributors to the difficult situation small-to-medium sized businesses find themselves in.

From their responses below, we are able to deduce the real challenges African tech start-ups face in finding their feet and maintaining balance.

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THE LIST

1.SHORTAGE OF INNOVATIVE IDEAS There is a huge challenge with Universities not being able to produce graduates willing or able to commercialise their innovative ideas and research projects. The results of PHD theses often end up in dusty store rooms. In addition, a dearth of research funding is also a major hindrance to innovation.

tech know how to fund in rounds and experienced entrepreneurs know how to select the right funders. This is the nature of a tech community similar to what is found in Palo Alto and does not exist in Africa at this point in time.

7.CONCEPTUALISATION

So many high technology projects die due to lack of seed funds for piloting production processes and product refinement. This also refers to start-up capital.

Many tech start-ups forget who comes first - The idea of the tech entrepreneur or the need of the customer. Who is the customer, how to find them and most importantly how to build towards their needs is the single biggest challenge that we see facing tech entrepreneurs. Get this wrong (or worse assume it and do not do it) and you will be hacking away for years to come thinking that the world is against you and customers are stupid. This is not uncommon.

3.SKILLS

8.GOVERNMENT POLICY

2.SEED FUNDING

Tech companies are built by people, not machines. By definition, these people are skilled in science and technology, the very weakest of all our school syllabuses. This means we are not seeing people secure tertiary education in the sciences and engineering faculties at nearly the levels that we require to build a vibrant tech sector. The scarcity in skills sees many early stage businesses not being able to afford the skills that they need to get going.

4.SOCIAL ISSUES SME companies are predominantly one-man businesses. Some of the SMEs manufacture products from their kitchen or garage, and sell to the surrounding neighbourhood. The products are predominantly of poor quality due to poor manufacturing practices and in some cases, with low quality raw materials. The end result is that the final consumer – be it government department or individual consumer – ends up with a product that is sub-standard.

5.COMMERCIAL ABILITY Tech trained and skilled individuals are no different to tertiary trained accountants, lawyers, engineers and MBA’s. They are all technicians i.e. technically proficient at numbers, contracts, building things and consulting respectively. Tertiary education makes you into a technician - it does not help you build a business. Entrepreneurship is not the endeavour of a single person. Knowing how to build a business and motivating people to support you and help you (and yes, there is nothing wrong with getting help), is key to success.

6.GROWTH FUNDING Africa is not used to funding tech start-ups. These businesses often burn a lot of cash and are built on a model called “build it and they will come”. Often this fails. Experienced funders focused on

There is nothing in government policy that makes tech start-up’s easy. We have no tech-development zones where bandwidth is free to take some of the load off tech start-ups. We have no aggressive policies that allow us to capitalise on global trends.

For example, in the USA, Fulbright Scholarships target the best and brightest students offering them tertiary education in the best universities in the USA. These students seldom leave after graduating populating the West Coast of the USA with some of the best, brightest and most capable brains in the world today. Why have we, as Africa, not gone into Europe and taken the already qualified electronic and computing engineers who have no prospects in dead, dying Europe and offered them opportunities to use their skill to help contribute towards building our future?

9.ARROGANCE AND NAIVETÉ Many young tech entrepreneurs believe the nonsense of their excel spread sheets that tells them that they will be billionaires in a short period of time. The biggest enemies are often the entrepreneurs themselves. In understanding how and what is needed to build wealth as a tech entrepreneur, this problem can be alleviated substantially.

10.MARKETING ISSUES (BRANDING,ADVERTISING AND SALES) This is a massive challenge for all start-ups as they cannot properly advertise and brand their products to compete with established brands. This directly affects their sales and consequently their revenues.

CHRIS TREDGER,

ITNEWSAFRICA.COM

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Africa’s

Top

20 Tech Influencers

A

frica’s technology landscape is vast and growing. It is ripe for expansion and is increasingly becoming an attractive environment for companies (local and international) to set up shop and invest.

The people on this list have taken

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advantage of this growth and have established themselves as pioneers in the industry. Some of them are investors, others are entrepreneurs and bloggers, but a common thread is that they are all African and are behind some of the most inspiring and innovative companies in tech.

4/23/2013 3:06:45 PM

1.ELON MUSK - SPACEX

tion Development Bureau (BDT) from 1998 – 2006.

Born in Mali, Dr Touré is also known for his contribution to telecommunications throughout Africa, having championed the implementation of outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and launching projects based on partnerships with key global stakeholders.

3.MIKE ADENUGA - GLOBACOM South African born founder of Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), Elon Musk has proven what can be achieved when innovation and creativity are expertly blended.

The company’s SpaceX Dragon recently successfully completed its first commercial cargo mission to the International Space Station.

In May 2012 the company’s SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule grabbed international headlines by successfully launching from Cape Canaveral in the US and becoming the first space launch by a private company in the history of space flight.

2. DR. HAMADOUN TOURÉ - ITU

5.NAGUIB SAWIRIS, FOUNDER,

ORASCOM TELECOM HOLDING SAE

Mike Adenuga is the founder of Nigerian multinational telecommunications company Globacom Limited (Glo), based in Lagos.

The telecommunications company was established in 2003 and is owned by the Mike Adenuga Group. Initially launched in Nigeria, the company has extended its reach to the Republic of Benin, Ghana and the Ivory Coast.

In 2012 Adenuga featured on Forbes’ Africa’s 40 Richest list – his net worth of $4.6 billion earning him the rank of second wealthiest Nigerian.

4.STRIVE MASIYIWA - ECONET WIRELESS

The Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) was re-elected for a second four-year term in October 2010.

He is widely acknowledged for placing emphasis on ICT as a driver of social and economic development and has previously served as Director of ITU’s Telecommunica-

Born in Zimbabwe, Masiyiwa is the founder of telecommunications services Group, Econet Wireless.

Masiyiwa successfully fought a landmark 5 year legal battle in Zimbabwe beginning in 1998, which effectively ended the state’s monopoly in the country’s telecommunications sector.

The company provides services related to mobile cellular telephony, fixed networks, enterprise networks, fibre optic cables and satellite services.

Masiyiwa’s achievements and list of personal accolades include ’10 Most Outstanding Young Persons of the World’, ’15 Global Influentials of the Year’, Builders of Modern Africa and ’20 Most Powerful Business People in African Business’.

Born June 15, 1954, Egyptian businessman and politician Naguib Sawiris is reported to have a net worth of $2.5 billion.

He was executive chairman of the telecommunications companies Wind Telecom and Orascom Telecom Holding (OTH) before turning to politics in May 2011.

Orascom Telecom Holdings has 20,000 employees and manages 11 GSM operators around the world.

He is considered a nationalist and supporter of liberalism. He favored a gradual transition during the 2011 Egyptian revolution and played a mediating role between the protesters and Hosni Mubarak’s people.

Although he expressed concerns about the military caretaker government he favored changes that increased democracy and stability.

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6.RONEN APTEKER, FOUNDER OF INTER-

NET SOLUTIONS

Ltd. in support of software projects.

In 2002 he achieved international acclaim as the second self-funded space tourist and the first South African in space.

Shuttleworth has also elevated the profile of local business leadership through the establishment of the Shuttleworth Foundation. This is a non-profit organisation that provides funding for social innovators and entrepreneurs.

8.LEO-STAN EKEH

Hakeem Belo-Osagie’s reported net worth of $400 million earned him the 40th position on Forbes’ Africa’s 40 Richest list.

As Chairman of the Board of Directors of Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services Ltd., trading under the Etisalat brand, Belo-Osagie has contributed towards the growth of an established, global telecommunication company.

A dedicated philanthropist, he is said to be one of the largest donors to the African Leadership Academy, a Johannesburg based institution that focuses on leadership development.

10.STAFFORD MASIE - THUMBZUP South African entrepreneur Ronen Apteker co-founded the country’s first commercial Internet Service Provider (ISP), Internet Solutions.

Established in 1993, the company provides connectivity, communications, cloud and carrier services to organisations in the public and private sector, as well as to the consumer market via its wholesale offerings.

Apteker is a noted author and respected entrepreneur, with titles like Trading Spaces and Funny Business…the secrets of an accidental entrepreneur under his belt. He remains a regular contributor to South Africa’s business and financial press.

7.MARK SHUTTLEWORTH- UBUNTU

Nigerian entrepreneur Leo-Stan Ekeh is the Chairman of Zinox Technologies. He is credited with supplying the core technology infrastructure for the country’s 2011 voter’s registration.

This feat earned Ekeh national awards, including Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic and Life Membership of the Institute of International Affairs.

He is also on record as having pioneered the first Nigerian internationally certified computer brand, Zinox Computers and has contributed extensively to desktop publishing, computer graphics and the distribution of ICT products across West Africa.

9.HAKEEM BELO-OSAGIE - ETISALAT

South African entrepreneur and philanthropist Mark Shuttleworth funded the development of Ubuntu, a free operating system for desktops, servers and mobile phones.

He also founded Thawte in 1995 and sold the digital certificate and Internet security company to VeriSign in 1999 for R3,9 billion. In 2000 he formed HBD Venture Capital and later also established Canonical

Former Google South Africa country manager, 38-year-old Stafford Masie has been in the technology industry for many years and recently made headlines for establishing Thumbzup, a South African payment innovations company.

A noted speaker and renowned entrepreneur, Masie is passionate about the development of local technology for local needs.

His business grabbed the attention of the domestic market when it struck a deal with one of South Africa’s largest banks, ABSA, for the integration and distribution of the Payment Pebble, a world-first, plug-in mobile payment device.

Under the agreement, ABSA will provide the Payment Pebble as a value added service to small business owners and merchants from 2013.

11.JASON NJOKU - IROKO PARTNERS Jason Njoku is widely acknowledged for bringing Nigerian entertainment to the world, via the Net. Through iROKO Partners, Njoku has helped to raise the profile of ‘Nollywood’ and Afrobeats within the

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THE LIST

international film and performing arts industry. The company is marketed as the world’s largest online distributor of African movies and music.

iROKO Partners was launched in December 2010 and according to its website, the company has built a global audience of over 6 million unique users from 178 countries.

12.

Cambridge University, the University of Ghana, and the TEDGlobal Conference in Arusha, Tanzania, amongst others. The BBC describes Mr Chinery-Hesse as Africa’s Bill Gates.

Today SOFTtribe’s clients include Unilever, Guinness Breweries Ghana Limited, Pricewaterhouse-Ghana, the British High Commission, Ghana’s Millennium Development Authority, Ghana National Petroleum Company, Zenith Bank, Cargill and a host of other government, multinational and private sector blue-chip clients. SOFTtribe’s reach includes Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Guinea, Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire.

13.

ORY OKHOLO, KENYA,ACTIVIST, LAWYER AND BLOGGER, FOUNDER OF USHAHIDI

HERMAN CHINERY-HESSE SOFTTRIBE

14.SEUN OSEWA, CREATOR OF NAIRALAND

The creator of the online community Nairaland, Nigerian researcher, programmer and webmaster Seun Osewa has made a definite impact on political and social discourse in his country of birth.

Recent stats reveal that Nairaland has attracted over a million members and is amongst the top ten most visited sites in Nigeria according to Alexa.com.

15.ROBERT SUSSMAN, CO-FOUNDER AND JOINT CEO,THE INTEGR8 GROUP

Herman is a software engineer by profession. 19 years ago he co-founded the SOFTtribe limited, one of the leading software houses in West Africa. He holds a number of directorships and is an Assessor of the Commercial Court, Ghana. He has won a number of personal awards including Outstanding Ghanaian Professional from the GPA Awards (UK), as well as the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Texas State Alumni Association and Texas State University-San Marcos (USA)—the first and currently only African recipient of the award. Herman has also been a resource person and visiting speaker at the Wharton Business School, Harvard Business School,

Ory Okolloh started out as an impassioned blogger who wanted to democratize information and increase transparency through her website, Mzalendo (Swahili for patriot).

When disputed presidential election results led to violent unrest in her native Kenya, Okolloh helped create Ushahidi (Swahili for “Witness”), a tool that collected and mapped eyewitness reports of violence using text messages and Google Maps.

A few years on, this activist has emerged as one of the most powerful tech figures in Africa, currently serving as Google’s policy manager for the continent. It is a tremendous accomplishment for a woman who started out just blowing off steam.

The origins of the Integr8 Group can be traced back to the year 2000, when cofounder and joint CEO Rob Sussman saw a gap in the market for an operator who could offer unrivalled, proactive IT service and support.

Since inception, the company has grown from a modest IT services operation to emerge as South Africa’s largest privately owned Managed IT Services provider.

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THE LIST

Recently it made headlines when Integr8 IT, the IT management specialist firm within the Group, was acquired by systems integrator Business Connexion for an estimated R126 million.

Sussman helped establish, drive and direct what has now emerged as Africa’s largest publicly traded IT Company.

University, Oxford University and Stanford University.

19.WAEL GHONIM - NABADAT / GOOGLE

According to his online profile, CNN listed him as one of the Top 10 African Tech Voices.

Gbenga was Nigeria’s first IT Youth Ambassador and also held the position of Vice Chair of the UN Economic Commission for Africa’s African Technical Advisory Committee.

Egyptian Google executive Wael Ghonim, is the head of marketing in the MEA region. He is also the Chairman of Nabadat, an NGO. Ghonim is credited with using Facebook as a tool to inspire the ousting of the Hosni Mubarak regime.

He was also featured on Time Magazine’s list of ‘100 most influential people of 2011’

16.EMEKA OKOYE - NEXT2US

Emeka Okoye is the CEO of Vikantti Software and CTO & co-founder of Next.2.us.

The latter is a website that focuses on geosocial connectivity using various applications, including SMS and mobile phones.

Okoye has over 17 years’ experience in Web, Enterprise & Mobile Software and Project Management.

He graduated as a Geologist in 1990 but being passionate about software engineering, he built Nigeria’s first banking website (IBTC, 1996) and Internet Banking app (IBTC, 1997), co-founded one of Nigeria’s earliest start-ups and built the biggest Nigerian Portal (NgEx.com, 1997) and was the Project Manager/Lead Architect of Nigeria’s first major E-commerce Project in 2000 (FSB Bank, Valucard, UPS & Xerox, 2000).

17.GBENGA SESAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AT PARADIGM INITIATIVE NIGERIA

Gbenga Sesan is a member of the Committee of eLeaders for Youth and ICT at the United Nations Department of Economic & Social Affairs.

Sesan has completed executive education programs at a number of globally recognised institutions including Harvard

18.

STUART FORREST, OWNER AND CEO OF TRIGGERFISH ANIMATION STUDIOS

Forrest is the owner of Triggerfish Animation Studios, an established operator within the marketing and advertising industry in South Africa.

Media reports have described the venture as “Africa’s answer to Dreamworks, Disney and Pixar” and the company has produced several projects including the animated features “Zambezia” and “Khumba”.

The offerings have catapulted the Studio to international acclaim, with Zambezia attracting the interest of Sony as a distributor to English-speaking territories – reportedly the first time a South African feature has secured US distribution of this level.

20.LOY OKEZIE - TECHLOY.COM

Few have made an impact on the online landscape in Nigeria as Loy Okezie has.

Currently living in Lagos, Okezie started the technology news and research website Techloy.com to highlight the importance and development of Nigeria’s technology ecosystem. Since its creation, Techloy has grown to be one of Nigeria’s biggest technology websites.

Started more than four years ago, Okezie now serves as Chief Editor, where he is responsible for the website’s editorial direction.

His blog was voted ‘Best Technology Blog’ in Nigeria at the recently concluded Nigerian Blog Awards 2012.

CHRIS TREDGER,

ITNEWSAFRICA.COM

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Huawei -

Growing with Africa One of the biggest companies to invest in Africa in terms of telecommunications infrastructure is Huawei. Regional President for East and Southern Africa, Li Dafeng, speaks of the company’s plans for the continent.

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“INVESTING IN AFRICA, SERVING AFRICA, AND GROWING WITH AFRICA” DESCRIBES MY VISION FOR THE CONTINENT”

frica has seen a marked increase in foreign investment, particularly from China, and the country’s investments in Africa span across many sectors and are not confined to Chinese government and large state-owned companies.

As one of China’s fledging multinationals and a major force in the international telecommunications equipment industry, Huawei is the first non-state-owned Chinese company to successfully expand its operations internationally.

In Africa, Huawei began operations in 1998, starting in Kenya, and has now become the largest CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) product provider in the region.

Huawei currently serves 270 operators in about 100 countries, including 35 of the world’s top 50 telecommunications companies.

Li Dafeng, the Regional President for Huawei East and Southern Africa, talks to African Innovator about the company’s expansion into Africa.

Who is Li Dafeng and what is your management style?

I am the Regional President for Huawei East & Southern Africa. I have over 20 years’ experience in the telecoms industry, working for both the public and private sectors - 16 of which have been spent with Huawei. I have grown from being a junior manager to my current position.

I have a Bachelors Degree in Radio Engineering, and a Masters Degree in Signal and Information Process.

As a manager, I prefer an open door policy to enable free interaction with my team.

Why is Africa so important?

Africa is an important market… it incorporates our core business areas including solutions for operators, consumers, and enterprises.

Huawei solutions are deployed by more than 60 operators in more than 37 African countries. The company is committed to being a long-term investor in the local market,

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to providing innovative products and services to our African customers and consumers, and to being a responsible investor, tax payer, employer and corporate citizen.

Africa is important to me because it gives an opportunity to implement our localization strategy, giving local talent employment opportunities and allowing local suppliers to share in Huawei’s growth.

This forms part of our local empowerment initiative termed ‘globalization’ which entails partnering with the local business community through local employees, sharing resources with local partners, as well as providing opportunities to develop local talent that will form the next generation of ICT leaders.

Currently the company’s localization rate in Africa on average is at 60% , and we hope to increase it to 70%.

How will your plans help Africa in the long term?

Through our ‘Bridging the Digital Divide’ strategy, Huawei aims to better allocate information resources by developing effective communications networks in Africa that would enable more people to have access to communications and information systems.

To achieve this goal, we aim to consistently expand the coverage of communications networks in the region and provide training opportunities for local technicians and talent.

To sustain communication services and help fulfill the strategy, we will continue to focus activities on three main elements: technology, funds, and knowledge transfer, which foster mutual support and improvement.

Huawei has established one Research and Development center (South Africa), and seven training centers (Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa) to facilitate knowledge transfer among our staff, customers and local universities.

We have donated telecom equipment to local universities across Africa, and signed memoranda of understanding for knowledge transfer with universities in Kenya and Uganda, with others in the pipe line.

What is your vision for Huawei in Africa?

“Investing in Africa, Serving Africa, and Growing with Africa” describes my vision for the continent.

This is being made possible through provision of the latest innovative solutions at competitive prices, bridging the digital divide through knowledge transfer, localization and our investment in Corporate Social Responsibility.

The company has created solutions that enable customers to reduce power consumption, carbon emissions and costs, thus contributing to the development of the society, economy, and the environment across Africa.

To date, the company has partnered with Africa’s leading operators and enterprises to provide Carrier, Enterprise and consumer device solutions. The revolutionary Huawei IDEOS 8150 for example is the $100 dollar smartphone that enhanced local smartphone user experience due to its rich features and affordability.

As of the first quarter of 2011, the smartphone was leading with a

45% market share according to a 3rd party report. IDEOS users are the highest consumers of data amongst Safaricom’s 5 million unique data subscribers, accounting for 18.5% of Safaricom’s handset data revenues.

What are your plans to make the company the provider of choice in Africa?

To adapt to the revolutionary changes that are taking place in the information industry, Huawei is making strategic adjustments to better serve its customers globally, and in Africa.

We have extended the reach of our innovative offerings from the telecom carrier network field to the enterprise and consumer fields.

The company has coordinated the development of the “cloudpipe-device” business and put considerable resources towards providing large capacity and intelligent information networks, a variety of smart devices, as well as new-generation business platforms and applications to offer users an efficient, environmentally-friendly, and innovative information-based experience.

We will continue bringing to Africa the latest innovative technologies in carrier solutions such as 2G, 3G, LTE, Green Solutions, and enterprise solutions such as enterprise network infrastructure, cloud computing & datacenter, enterprise information security, telepresence, e-solutions, devices e.g. smartphones and tablets, placing Africa at a competitive level with the rest of the world.

We will continue bringing to Africa the latest innovative technologies in carrier solutions such as 2G, 3G, LTE, Green Solutions, and enterprise solutions such as enterprise network infrastructure, cloud computing & datacenter, enterprise information security, telepresence, e-solutions, devices e.g. smartphones and tablets, placing Africa at a competitive level with the rest of the world.

Why is growth in Africa such an important dish on the menu?

Africa is an important market, specifically in light of our ‘Enriching Lives through Communication’ mission. About 70% of Huawei’s global revenue comes from overseas, including Africa.

In 2011, the company recorded US$3.42 billion in revenues in Africa; a year-on-year increase of 15%, representing 13% of the company’s total global annual sales revenues.

What would your next career move in Huawei be? And what would your ultimate position be?

I am still growing with Huawei, the sky is the limit!

Whatever my ultimate position will be, I will be in a good place to share the wealth of experience and knowledge gained over the years to make a difference at the company and within the ICT industry at large.

CHARLIE FRIPP ITNEWSAFRICA.COM

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the TELEMEDICINE promise: Finally a reality or still a pipe dream?

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elemedicine has garnered widespread attention in recent years as various stakeholders realise its potential.

In Africa, the practice is by no means a cure for all our problems, nevertheless it can go far in attaining the goal of universal access to healthcare for our citizens.

African countries have shown varying levels of enthusiasm for telemedicine, with a number of governments moving to adopt e-health and telemedicine policies.

The chief underlying problem Although such developments constiin most countries has been tute vital ground work, key stumbling the conspicuous absence blocks remain, which have resulted of private sector players in in a number of projects stalling at the telemedicine, thus leaving pre-implementation phase. governments and external Telemedicine involves the use of organisations to drive the information and communication process. technologies (ICT) to provide health services when the medical professional and patient are separated by distance. It has the potential to combat some of the key challenges facing Africa in terms of a chronic shortage of healthcare professionals, particularly those available to serve the rural majority of the population.

It is therefore not surprising that telemedicine has been widely touted as the most suitable solution to bridge this urban-rural healthcare divide.

A reliable telecommunication network forms the backbone of any successful telemedicine solution, and constitutes the vital link between the consulting doctor and the patient.

Recent advances made in the telecommunications space in Africa have therefore laid the ground work for telemedicine to be harnessed as a sustainable healthcare delivery tool.

Large parts of Africa gained access to international fibre bandwidth for the first time via submarine cables between 2009 and 2011.

In the space of two years, no fewer than six major submarine cables landed on the continent, with the next one, ACE, expected in late 2012. Telecom companies have responded by ramping up their investments in terrestrial infrastructure, and expanding their network footprint.

Today, Africa stands at over 550 million mobile subscriptions, which is a remarkable feat for a continent whose subscriber base stood at a mere 80 million in 2001.

These encouraging developments have helped to reinvigorate the hope that telemedicine can live up to its early promise. In a number of African countries, telemedicine was initiated at least a decade ago, but today a miniscule proportion of projects are still in existence.

Of the currently active projects, fewer than 20% are being fully implemented, with the majority still in the pilot phase.

The South African government’s telemedicine rollout commenced in 1998, and at its height had 86 operational sites, a number which has dwindled to 32. Most projects were discontinued prematurely, and the picture is not dissimilar for the rest of the continent.

The reasons African telemedicine projects are failing to transition from successful pilot studies to large-scale programme rollout are varied, but they predominantly hinge on infrastructural and funding issues. In developed countries, by contrast, telemedicine stakeholders have grappled with ethical and legal impediments.

There has been a tremendous level of investment in telecommunications infrastructure in Africa, neverthe-

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ous stakeholders such as governments, medical less the level of connectivity is still far from equipment suppliers, IT suppliers, telecoms ubiquitous. companies and funding organisations, which This is particularly true if one notes that infraneed to collaborate in order to establish self-susstructure deployments have been concentrated taining telemedicine solutions. As an example, in metropolitan areas. Although rural conneca thriving public-private partnership involving tivity is increasing, monopolies in a number of the government, MTN South Africa, Stellencountries have precluded innovation in the way bosch University and rural areas are provided the Medical Research with access.

Council established A further problem in the Botshabelo is that many of the community of the Free possible “last mile” State Province can be technologies are often described as having the not supported by telhallmarks of a successecoms, or are hindered ful multi-stakeholder by telecommunications partnership. This appolicies that inhibit proach should be able their use and require to take centre stage in licensing. A case in South Africa in future point is VSAT, which, as the government while suited to most looks to strengthen remote and underprimary healthcare in served areas, its use preparation for the has been hindered by National Health Insurlegislative problems that ance programme to have restricted private be phased in between enterprise, resulting in 2012 and 2025. high costs.

In conclusion, teleThe lack of sustainmedicine’s prospects in able funding has been Africa remain as bright, the second major despite the early stumbling block as the setbacks in terms of vast majority of projects project implementain Africa are still funded tion. The unprecthrough donations, edented adoption of mobile technologies, and mostly involving foundations. Setting up a accompanying advances in telecommunications, telemedicine network requires significant capital underline the immense potential of telemediinvestment, and also high on-going operating cine and m-health on the continent. The costs. The issue of funding has been identified as majority of projects the predominant reatrialed in Africa have son responsible for the not yielded envisaged demise of most projects Telemedicine’s prospects in Africa in Africa. The chief remain as bright, despite the early results mainly due to underlying problem setbacks in terms of project imple- infrastructural and funding constraints. in most countries has mentation.

These challenges been the conspicuous are however being actively addressed given the absence of private sector players in telemedicine, pace of on-going infrastructural advances, and thus leaving governments and external organisainnovative collaborations currently being forged tions to drive the process. It has been observed between various public and private partners. that the lack of viable business cases has invariWithout these collaborative interventions, it is ably dissuaded private companies from actively difficult to see how telemedicine will live up to pursuing opportunities in this space. its promise.

The telemedicine ecosystem comprises vari-

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Mobility in

AFRICA - the great enabler Feature phones and a lack of high-speed Internet connectivity still dominate the African mobile landscape. However, there are massive step changes taking place that are set to make mobility the key technological enabler for businesses, education and end-users on the continent over the About 80% of smart devices are next five to ten years.

A number of facalso currently supplied by tors influence the corporations in Africa so the rapid adoption of smart Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) devices in Africa, in the and ‘consumerisation’ of IT form of smartphones trend is just as prevalent. and tablets.

According to the 2012 African Mobile Factbook, smartphone penetration rates in Africa are currently at 17-19%, with general industry predictions estimating that this will reach 23% by 2015 and

40% five years from now. This makes Africa the fastest growing market in terms of mobility in the world, with massive scope for continued growth on a continent that has over 1 billion people.

Factors such as constantly improving communication infrastructure, the increasing adoption of cloud-based technologies, the development and manufacture of lower-cost smart devices for developing markets, lower-cost Internet access and limited access to other ‘big screen’ forms of technology are driving this adoption of tablets and smartphones in Africa.

What these devices enable is the key to understanding the importance and potential that this technology holds for the continent.

African adoption Africa is also uniquely positioned to adopt and

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take full advantage of mobility as there are no legacy systems or infrastructure in place that limit adoption. About 80% of smart devices are also currently supplied by corporations in Africa so the bring your own device (BYOD) and ‘consumerisation’ of IT trend is just as prevalent.

This makes management and enablement of mobility within the corporate environment that much easier. These factors have led many industry analysts to predict that Africa will become the first post-PC region in the world.

However, there are still challenges. The major barrier to the adoption of mobility in Africa remains cost. In the past this type of technology was out of the reach of smaller businesses in the formal and informal sectors, as well as consumers and children. However, as the cost of connectivity and the price points of these devices continue to tumble; widespread accessibility is a reality across a growing number of business sectors and economic classes in Africa.

From a business standpoint, user education and training are also areas of concern. The endusers of these devices pose a risk to the integrity of company information as most have never interacted with technology.

This means that they are more susceptible to risks and threats. As such, policies and procedures around use are paramount to the success of mobility in the African corporate environment.

Power on, power up Access to a reliable supply of power is also a key factor to enabling mobility within Africa, as is battery life on the devices that are entering the market. With charging points often few and far between on the continent, more innovative means of recharging batteries on mobile devices are needed. This has given rise to solar charging stations, which are being set up throughout the continent to better enable mobility.

While this is a systemic view of why mobility is growing in Africa, it is key because mobility has a lot to offer African businesses and the greater population. The low- to mid-mass market has the most to gain because, first and foremost, it gives them access to the Internet. This opens up new channels for doing business, accessing information and connecting with the rest of the

world. In fact, the 2012 African Mobile Factbook states that commerce in Africa is dependent on mobile, as micro-entrepreneurship covers almost 90% of the employment base and accounts for about 65% of continental GDP. Enabling SMEs For SMEs within Africa, the rise of cloud computing and virtualisation, coupled with mobility has also given many access to enterprise-grade applications and services at a fraction of the cost.

Business-in-a-box-type solutions are also available at low price points, which enable new companies to get off the ground sooner. This form of utility computing supports the type of micro-entrepreneurship that is so prevalent in Africa. It is also aiding in the continued economic Once the adoption of smart prosperity of a number devices crests we can then of African economies, especially in sub-Saharan expect to see the next evolution of mobility within Africa, while larger first Africa begin. world economies struggle to stimulate any growth at all. Systems can now also be deployed and controlled centrally, which enables businesses of all sizes to expand operations virtually, without geographical limitations.

Mobility is also helping to improve education on the continent as teachers have better access to resources, while low cost devices are being introduced into the learning environment for children to consume content, engage in tutorialbased learning and continue their education after hours with 24/7 support.

For all of these reasons mobility will be the key driver of economic growth and prosperity within Africa for the foreseeable future. Once the adoption of smart devices crests we can then expect to see the next evolution of mobility within Africa begin. The management of content, applications, cloud-based services and the sheer number of devices in use will require software and backend technologies like automated device management solutions to ensure that an efficient and effective mobile environment is maintained and ensure that this computing paradigm remains an GARTH HAYWARD enabler.

REGIONAL MANAGER,

KAYESA AFRICA

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Supporting

the shift to mobility in Africa TONY WALT, CHIEF SOLUTIONS AND MARKETING OFFICER AT INTERNET SOLUTIONS

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here is little doubt that the future of telecommunications and computing on the African continent centres on mobility. Recent research by IDG paints a picture of a burgeoning mobile market in Africa, with the adoption of smart devices set to reach a tipping point within the next five years.

The IDG research found that, although the number of African proThe corporate network fessionals using tablets is lower than environment is currently the global average, Africa’s user base is being dictated to by end-users expanding rapidly. The research states through the consumerisa- that of the over 3100 IT and business tion of IT and bring your own professionals from around the world device (BYOD) trends. that were surveyed, only 55% of African respondents owned a tablet device, compared to a global average of 71%. This is the lowest level of any continent in the world, and compares

to 66% in Asia and 69% in the Middle East.

However, their dependence on this technology is telling, as 80% of the African professionals surveyed use their tablet daily for work, compared to a global average of only 61%; and 95% use it daily for personal use, compared to a global average of 87%. Of Africans polled who didn’t own a tablet, 46% said they intended to invest in one within the next three months. This was the highest percentage anywhere in the world, and clearly illustrates the importance of mobility on the African continent.

Transformation It is therefore imperative that service providers begin to transform their network infrastructure and architecture to accommodate this burgeoning demand for mobility, and support everything that this technology

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enables. For instance, it is important to understand that despite the sheer number of mobile devices in use, be they feature phones, smartphones or tablets, networks that enable mobility also need to accommodate a growing number of machine-tomachine connections.

Traditional thinking around who the consumer or target market is also needs to change, especially as service providers expand into Africa. The corporate network environment is currently being dictated to by end-users through the consumerisation of IT and bring your own device (BYOD) trends. Africa is also dominated by micro-enterprises, not large corporations. This means that mobility solutions cannot be provisioned based on broad company needs, but rather in a manner that meets the individual needs of end-users. In today’s environment it is ultimately end-users who make the decision about what they will consume on their mobile devices, and they shouldn’t be restricted by the architecture of a network.

As such, service providers that play in the African market need to change their mindsets in terms of how they provision network infrastructure to accommodate this play. More specifically, the established and more traditional fixed-to-mobile or mobileto-mobile network architecture is no longer sufficient to support the mobility boom as there is insufficient spectrum to drive competitiveness in this sector.

Connecting opportunity Taking a TCP-IP internet protocol-based approach to mobility is what will open up greater opportunities in the African market.

Augmenting short range and metro Wi-Fi networks and ADSL with WiMax, LTE, 3G and 2G, to create a heterogeneous network, will deliver the spectrum range that providers need to provision the innovative services that true mobility enables, such as ubiquitous cloud-computing, unified communications, collaboration and e-commerce.

A shift to this type of architecture is also essential if service providers hope to remain relevant in this dynamic and rapidly evolving environment. For instance, if service providers in Africa are not already thinking about the role and importance that voice communications will (or won’t) play in the future and shift their content and revenue models to accommodate this changing paradigm,

then they will be left behind.

The challenge facing service providers in achieving this shift is interoperability and standards. To accommodate the plethora of people and devices the architecture implemented today needs to be able to achieve this future vision, because the network you align with now will govern the type of content and services end-users can access and use in the future. As such, the ultimate goal is to ensure that all connectivity mediums can be seamlessly woven together to support this type of technology and the TCP-IP network is the layer that brings it all together.

Paradigm shifts As the demand and adoption of mobility continues to grow in Africa the content and services that can be accessed on the move become the central value proposition, not the ability to merely connect. This means that service providers also need to start moving to a model that supports free connectivity, where users pay for what they consume and not how they consume it.

The industry players that can get this model right, run over a heterogeneous network, will be the ones that benefit from the massive shift in mobility about to happen in Africa, especially as cheaper smart devices become more widely available. These 3G, WiMAX, and LTE-enabled devices are the game-changers for Africa. The industry players that aim to cater for the new connectivity, and content demands, that this will create need to already be looking beyond the next three years.

From a first-world perspective, a prime example of this model is the Kindle and Amazon eco-system. Users pay for the book, not the connectivity to download it. As a service provider, if you aren’t building your architecture to support this and partner with the right hardware manufacturers, then traditional revenue streams will cease to be profitable or sustainable.

So, the question is who will be the players that are willing to innovate in the burgeoning African mobility market? Survival in this market hinges on a shift in thinking around how to enable connectivity, initially for corporations in and around their buildings and then on a broader scale, to deliver the pervasive connectivity needed to deliver true mobility across Africa.

Survival in this market hinges on a shift in thinking around how to enable connectivity, initially for corporations in and around their buildings and then on a broader scale, to deliver the pervasive connectivity needed to deliver true mobility across Africa.

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Data Storage needn’t be a burden

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or many companies and organisations creating an immense amount of data could pose a problem when said data needs to be stored for retrieval at a later stage. Data should be effectively stored, but there are a number of factors that users should keep in mind.

“Data can be stored effectively by bearing in mind that data is easily duplicated from all sorts of copies, for back up, DR, test and Dev and so on. As such, to effectively manage data, organisations must look to technologies that are efficient in the way that data is created and managed from inception to deletion,” says Rex Mafiana, District Manager, NetApp. NetApp creates innovative storage systems and software that help customers around the world store, manage, protect, and retain one of their most precious corporate assets: their data.

Rex adds that technology from NetApp will make storage one of the easiest things an organisation can do. “With NetApp storage efficiency technologies around space efficient snapshots and restore, Flexclone, Thin Provisioning, De-duplication of primary, secondary storage and much more, organisations can rest assured that their current investment will be protected and cost of ownership well-managed in the long term.”

But data storage goes beyond the traditional way of on-site storage, and a buzz in the industry has companies looking elsewhere – cloud storage. However, cloud storage does come with an inherent risk that Rex Mafiana says users need to be aware of.

“The promise of cloud technology is simply doing more with less with its attendant flexibility and cost effectiveness. However, cloud comes with its own share of risks. In order to proceed, it is important to define

what kind of cloud – public or private.

Depending on an organisation’s business, cloud services, be it private or public, can present significant business benefits. My advice would be that each organisation should evaluate their cloud options carefully and adopt a stage /step process. And if it is sound, definitely invest.”

NetApp has operations in various regions across the continent, including West Africa.

In order to streamline its African business model, NetApp has adopted a holistic approach to the continent. “NetApp’s business model is to push innovative storage solutions through local channels - an indirect model.

This solution is same for both South African and the Nigerian region.”

But NetApp isn’t simply content with its current African footprint, as they are always in search of new opportunities. “Clearly we want to reach new markets and customers and as such it is critical for us if we must grow our business,” Mafiana said.

NetApp has rolled out a number of data storage solutions, but Rex Mafiana says their Data-On-Tap operating system has been their most successful product launched.

“All NetApp solutions have been immensely successful but I believe I can tie that to our Data-On-Tap operating system which has revolutionized the storage industry. It is today the world’s number one operating system and has again birthed another industry first: our “Clustered On-Tap”. This solution delivers Intelligent Management, Immortal (24x7x365) operations and Infinite scalability, giving organizations unprecedented

ability to scale in performance, capacity and their operations giving rise to unprecedented business agility.”

Being in an industry that is constantly changing as clients, users and companies shift their needs, so too does NetApp need to evolve in order to meet their needs.

“I just mentioned the Clustered On-Tap, that guarantees 100% availability, but there are other solutions for big data storage and most recently the Data-On-Tap Edge. It is a software-based storage solution which can be installed in virtualized remote or regional offices where there is no need to make the extra investment in physical storage.

Having a storage solution is one thing, but protecting it from intruders and unintentional access can be a bit tricky without the right software. “NetApp data security solutions are multiple, from encryption at different stages to WORM solutions, these same solutions are available in any region where NetApp sells its solutions.”

As global data storage solutions change with the incredible pace of technology, Rex Mafiana has a vision for the future use of available solutions. “I would love to see better adoption of cloud services, this way we can share the same Infrastructure and better protect the environment,” he concluded.

CHARLIE FRIPP ITNEWSAFRICA.COM

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Choose an IT solution that’s both affordable and scalable.

To see how midsize businesses with smaller IT budgets can finally choose storage solutions they won’t outgrow, visit NetApp.com/midsize.

As a proud partner of NetApp, we’re committed to helping you deploy the right storage and data management solution. For more information, please call Virtual Works at 254 731 010 874 or DataGroup IT at 234-70-69472070. ©2012 NetApp. All rights reserved. Specifications are subject to change without notice. NetApp, the NetApp logo, and Go further, faster are trademarks or registered trademarks of NetApp, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. All other brands or products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and should be treated as such.

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special feature

BlackBerry

- Blackout or back in motion Is BlackBerry’s Platform 10 the company’s winning ticket?

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he brand has been called ‘The Coolest Overall’ by South African youngsters, according to a Sunday Times Generation Next 2012 Brand Survey. Recent statistics shared by the company speak of 80 million subscribers globally, 60 million BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) users, 60 million Facebook for BlackBerry users and more than 105,000 apps for sale in BlackBerry App World.

In Africa the BlackBerry device, first launched globally in 1999, is reportedly gaining popularity.

That is what the company’s executive leadership is communicating to the market.

An article posted on The Times of India * online reports of an expected spike in the number of BlackBerry smartphone users in Nigeria from 4 million at the end of 2011 to 25 million by 2016.

Research from Informa Telecoms and media reveals that there are 695 million mobile connections in Africa, representing 65% penetration, with four in ten people connected via mobile phones.

Recent statistics also show that there are 22 million mobile broadband subscribers.

BlackBerry believes that with the market penetration of smart phones below 10% in most African countries and a growing hunger for connectivity, the majority of the company’s growth in Africa over the next five years will stem from feature phone users acquiring their first smartphones.

To meet the demand, the company has introduced tiered BlackBerry service plans in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.

On the surface the company looks in solid form and, by all accounts, has every base covered to entrench its value proposition and strengthen its portfolio as a serious competitor within the continent’s growing mobile services space.

However, the combination of the widely reported disruption to its global BIS (BlackBerry Internet Service) in October 2011, retrenchment and management changes at executive level which has seen Thorsten Heins take over leadership of the company as CEO and President, has resulted in scepticism about the company’s ability to compete for market share, particularly against companies like rivals Apple.

The global disruption to its BIS service was attributed to a “core switch failure within Blackberry’s infrastructure”. The problem was exacerbated by a substantial backlog of unsent data that held up the recovery process.

“Although the system is designed to failover to a back-up switch, the failover did not function as previously tested. As a result, a large backlog of data was generated and we are now working to clear that backlog and restore normal service as quickly as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience and we will continue to keep you informed,” claimed a statement from the company at the time.

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Many analysts are of the opinion that if BlackBerry 10 fails to deliver and be as revolutionary as Heins and the company have envisaged, it could mean the end of the mobile handset maker.

It was arguably a strange twist of fate for the company when some users across the EMEA region experienced problems with their service at precisely the same time that Apple’s highly-anticipated iPhone 5 was launched.

In July 2012 Simon Leps, CEO of Fontera Digital Works, cited poor execution and uptake of the BlackBerry PlayBook as well as market pressure from iPhone and Android smartphones, as responsible for what he describes as “the steady decline globally since 2007, with its US market share plummeting from 41.1% to 3.7%.”

According to an IDC study Worldwide Smartphone 2012 – 2016 Forecast and Analysis, while Android is projected to maintain a general leadership position throughout the forecast period, BlackBerry has been listed amongst the competitors that will “shift position each year”.

According to Leps although BlackBerry cannot continue to compete with the R&D budgets of rivals Apple and Android – and seriously require funding or an investment overhaul, there are a number of factors in the company’s favour. These include global presence, an established customer base and 47 african innovator VOLUME 2, ISSUE 1

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public awareness of the brand.

In the first quarter of 2012 BlackBerry reported a loss of $518 million and a 43% decline in revenue.

In September of the same year BlackBerry reported second quarter results for the three months ended September 1, which showed that revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2013 was $2.9 billion, up 2% from $2.8 million in the previous quarter and down 31% from $4.2 billion in the same quarter of fiscal 2012.

The revenue breakdown for the quarter was approximately 60% for hardware, 35% for service and 5% for software and other revenue. During the quarter, BlackBerry shipped approximately 7.4 million BlackBerry smartphones and 130,000 BlackBerry PlayBook tablets.

“Despite the significant changes we are implementing across the organization, our second quarter results demonstrate that BlackBerry is progressing on its financial and operational commitments during this major transition,” said Heins.

“Subscribers grew to approximately 80 million global users, revenue grew sequentially from the first quarter, cash, cash equivalents, short-term and long-term investments increased by approximately $100 million to $2.3 billion, and carriers and developers are responding well to previews of our upcoming BlackBerry 10 platform.

Make no mistake about it, we understand that we have much more work to do, but we are making the organizational changes to drive improvements across the company, our employees are committed and motivated, and BlackBerry 10 is on track to launch in the first calendar quarter of 2013.”

But can committed employees and a new operating system alone save BlackBerry from perhaps inevitable collapse?

Once the golden child of mobility solutions for many companies around the world, more of them have been reducing (and even cancelling) their contracts with BlackBerry in favour of equipping their workers with Apple’s iPhone or Android devices.

In September 2012, BlackBerry shipped

their 200 millionth smartphone, but while iPhone and Android devices might have a that might sound impressive, Android is bigger market share in the rest of the world, steadily gaining ground on their numbers but Goldstuck added that it is not the case - currently seeing more than 1.3-million in South Africa, as the iPhone is beyond the phone activations a day, with more than reach of most users.

500-million Android-powered phones in use.

Respondents in World Wide Worx’s MobilThe U.S. Defence Department has been ity 2012 survey gave the iPhone the greatest the latest entity to cancel their exclusive future brand momentum, with purchase contract with BlackBerry, stating that while intentions suggesting a six-fold increase in they will still be making use of BlackBerry market share, to 6%, in the next 18 months. phones, they have urged other companies “This is double the brand momentum (e.g Apple and Android-device makers) to indicated for the iPhone at the end of 2010, apply for government contracts. but the intended purchasing activity at the Before their announcement, the US Imtime, which should have given Apple 3% migration and Customs Enforcement agency market share, simply did not materialise,” announced that they will be outfitting their Goldstuck commented on the research.

17,600-strong staff with Apple’s iPhone, “This shows the extent to which the iPhone moving away from BlackBerry. A number of remains an aspirational phone, but one that smaller companies have also followed suit is out of reach, while the BlackBerry represince then. sents a reachable Cancelled aspiration.”

“As in other developing markets, the contracts aside, But numbers demise of BlackBerry in this country alone will not be BlackBerry is positive about its future, remains a myth,” enough to keep saying that their new Blackberry 10 operatthe sceptics at bay. BlackBerry needs to pull ing system will be one of the best operating something spectacular out from their techsystems users have ever seen. nological hat, or they will almost certainly But that has also failed to enthuse customstruggle to make it through the next decade. ers. The operating system was scheduled to As users become savvy about what they want launch in 2012, but Heins announced the in a mobile handset and educate those postponement of the OS until January 2013. around them regarding choice, it is difficult Many analysts are of the opinion that if for any manufacturer to stay ahead.

BlackBerry 10 fails to deliver and be as revoThere is general consensus that Blacklutionary as Heins and the company have Berry needs to change their approach to envisaged, it could mean the end of the design and development in response to an company in terms of mobile handsets. increasingly competitive landscape. It has But even if the picture looks bleak for always been a tough market, but technology BlackBerry in the rest of the world, the companies have realised that they need to handset has never been more popular in adapt to market trends, instead of trying to South Africa. According to World Wide dictate the trends.

Worx, BlackBerry’s market share in SA rose This is arguably one of the biggest by 14% in the last 18 months, and among problems at BlackBerry - they are set in 16-25-year-olds it has 28% market share. their ways and want to command the choice “As in other developing markets, the degiven to their users. For the most part, mise of BlackBerry in this country remains BlackBerry phones have always been buttona myth,” says Arthur Goldstuck, managing based, while almost all other phones in its director of World Wide Worx. “BlackBerry’s category feature touchscreen technology. continued strength lies in its appeal to the BlackBerry users are familiar with using the younger market, with the Curve models hard buttons, but to entice new customers, maintaining a ‘cool’ image. In the 16-25 age BlackBerry has to move to a wider range of group, the brand has 28% market share.” touch-only phones (a number of BlackBerry

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handsets feature touch but are vastly outnumbered by button-based phones).

And this is the big gamble that new CEO Thorsten Heins will be taking with their new Z10 and Q10 handsets, which launched in January this year. The majority of new handsets will be fully touch screen and will launch with BlackBerry 10.

If the new devices launched in 2013 are not as popular as the company hopes, they may be forced to rethink their strategy.

One thing is for certain: BlackBerry as we know it, is not going anywhere anytime soon. Worst case scenario for the company is that the BlackBerry brand gets acquired by a different handset maker who will most likely continue the line of handsets.

Analyst James Faucette of Pacific Crest Securities thinks that BlackBerry 10 and the new handsets will be dead on arrival. “We believe BB10 is likely to be DOA. We expect the new OS to be met with a lukewarm response at best and is ultimately likely to fail”.

Forester analyst Charles Golvin shares the same sentiment. “The

window for BlackBerry to remain a platform with viable growth potential is closing, and this development illustrates the pace at which it is closing,” he says.

Naturally BlackBerry’s new CEO is doing everything in his power to keep this unsteady ship in-tact. “This company is not ignoring the world out there, nor is it in a death spiral. Yes, it is very, very challenged at the moment – specifically in the US market. The way I would describe it: we’re in the middle of a transition,” Heins told CBC Radio.

“All that is in the making, it is in the works. This company is in the middle of it and I’m positive we will emerge successfully from that transition.”

CHRIS TREDGER AND CHARLIE FRIPP ITNEWSAFRICA.COM

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LTE in Africa call it like it is L

ong Term Evolution (LTE) has moved from concept stage to actual rollout globally.

It does exist. It is an advancement on previous wireless technology standards including GSM/EDGE, HSDPA and HSDPA+, and has been developed and rolled out to consumers to enhance network speeds and throughput on communication.

Discussion about LTE also includes reference to LTE-advanced/ 4G, which is not entirely available as yet. It is a differentiation that consumers need to understand in order to evaluate whether or not what they are receiving is exactly what they ought to be. The issue of spectrum or the ranges of broadcast radio communication signals used by networks to broadcast, and usually managed by telecoms and broadcast regulation authorities, also warrants consideration.

LTE is acknowledged to be an evolution-

ary technology and the latest standard within the development of global wireless mobile broadband communication.

A report posted on the official International Telecommunications Union (ITU) website, entitled ITU/BDT Arab Regional Workshop on ‘4G Wireless Systems’ – Tunisia, 2010, details what it terms ‘LTE performance requirements’. These requirements cover data rates, cell range and cell capacity.

In terms of data rate, the criteria stipulated is “instantaneous downlink peak data rate of 100Mbit per second in a 20MHz downlink spectrum (i.e. 5bits per second, per Hz) and instantaneous uplink peak data rate of 50Mbit per second in a 20MHz uplink spectrum (i.e. 2.5 bit per second per Hz)” From a cell range point of view, the conditions stipulated in the report state 5km as an

the scenario with LTE is no different from previous industry transitions, such as the move from Edge to HSDPA, for example, and demands the same considerations before widespread adoption and application can take place.

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optimal range, 30km range with reasonable performance and up to 100km cell range supported with acceptable performances.

Regarding capacity, the report indicates “up to 200 active users per cell (5MHz) or the equivalent of 200 active data clients.

In its definition of the generations of mobile technologies, the ITU applies 4G to LTE-advanced and WirelessMAN-advanced.

A press release posted on the site explains: “Following a detailed evaluation against stringent technical and operational criteria, ITU has determined that “LTE-Advanced” and “WirelessMAN-Advanced” should be accorded the official designation of IMTAdvanced.

As the most advanced technologies currently defined for global wireless mobile broadband communications, IMT-Advanced is considered as “4G”, although it is recognized that this term, while undefined, may also be applied to the forerunners of these technologies, LTE and WiMax, and to other evolved 3G technologies providing a substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities with respect to the initial third generation systems now deployed.

Mobile network operators across Africa

have claimed to have rolled out LTE and 4G on their networks. In South Africa, operators like Vodacom, MTN, 8ta and Cell C have announced their readiness to move subscribers over to LTE. Vodacom was the first to announce that they have officially made the service available to local customers.

In Kenya LTE connectivity is expected to serve as replacement technology for regions throughout the country. Authorities have made public efforts to establish national coverage before the end of 2013 and have all counties connected.

There have also been a number of announcements about LTE trials in countries like DRC, Ghana and Zambia.

However, analysts agree that there could be confusion amongst some consumers as to what constitutes LTE and how this differs from LTE Advanced or 4G – and in particular, within developing markets like Africa, the question begs: is LTE that operators claim to have rolled out, actually LTE? And, does 4G actually exist? or is this merely a marketing ploy to attract consumers?

Arthur Goldstuck, CEO of World Wide Worx, adds perspective by stating that the

debate centres on whether or not these operators have rolled out 4G or not - because not all forms of LTE are officially 4G. “The ITU is in fact open-minded about LTE being called 4G if it represents a step change in speed, but their formal definition requires tight adherence to a narrow set of specs,” says Goldstuck.

Mark Taylor, CEO at Nashua Mobile, says there are a couple of things that need to be put in place in order to make LTE work.

“The most important one starts with the handset. Can the handset upload and download at the speed required to perform LTE at the expected level? Do the networks have the spectrum to deliver this versus when the networks are re-farming spectrum? Is it going to have an impact on voice and data services to existing customers? Do we have the transmission in place to support the volume of data that LTE allows you to do in accordance with the true definition of LTE? If we do not have a fibre optic link, endto-end, I don’t believe you can deliver the speeds at the level required. So we have to make sure that we finish the infrastructure upgrades first to carry the data at the speeds required,” he says.

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Taylor says the scenario with LTE is no different from previous industry transitions, such as the move from Edge to HSDPA, for example, and demands the same considerations before widespread adoption and application can take place.

“Can my PC support an LTE modem? You are going to need LTEenabled handsets. How many are there in the market? How prevalent are they? How long will it take before we have a wide enough volume of customers who can actually use it? The people who get onto LTE first, have the backhaul and are located in an area of fibre end-toend, where the networks are self-provided and there are a few users, and who will not be impacted by the re-farming of spectrum. They will have an amazing service. But go to certain areas and see how many people can really use the data because of concurrent users.”

Asked if by promoting this service and claiming rollout before the infrastructure is fully in place, the industry could be creating a false expectation? Taylor says no.

He is adamant that the industry is 100% correct to advertise and promote the product, and this is part of the evolution of the telecoms industry.

“They are raising expectations, yes, but not falsely. If they explain exactly where the base stations will be situated and where you will get coverage and you know that is where you will get coverage, it is absolutely right. It is the next step in the evolution of telecoms,” he explains.

Gary Williams, Head of Pre-Sales Engineering at Metrofibre networx, confirms the benefits of higher speed, lower latency and practical advantages in LTE... but the data rate and speed will depend on the amount of other subscribers connected to that same cell site.

Williams lists a number of considerations to additional LTE rollout in Africa, including a formalisation of national broadband policies to free up the much-needed 800Mhz and 2.6Ghz spectrum ranges, cellular operators having to bolster their LTE network capacity and better utilise existing spectrum resources, as well as improved interconnection and cooperation between cellular operators, carriers and Network providers.

Amith Maharaj, Senior Managing Executive at South African mobile operator 8ta, says, “LTE as a technology is a reality. Whether everyone has rolled out and has it commercially available, depends on what you as a consumer or you as a business deem commercial rollout. So is it 50 sites that warrant it to be a network out there or 200 or 300? But it is here - three of the networks in the country already have LTE sites up. As the definition goes, the true sense of 4G will come with LTE advanced, a progressive step, the technology there is not fully mature yet, but you can look at minimum of 100 Mbps being that qualifier. So, yes, 4G is not here today, but it is an incremental jump and not a big leap.”

However, in order for Africa to take the ‘big leap’, the issue of management of spectrum has to be resolved.

“Regulators define and allocate the spectrum. Usually the spectrum is managed by the telecoms and broadcast regulation authorities. In some cases both segments are separated and there are two

separate regulatory bodies. Depending on the countries, regulators can either have the last say and issue the spectrum or they may have their decision approved by the ministry in charge of telecommunications,” says Thecla Mbongue, Senior analyst for Informa Telecoms & Media in South Africa.

Mbongue believes that whilst reference to 4G alongside LTE can be confusing to consumers who do not know about the technology, the fact is that LTE has been rolled out in Africa as advertised by specific companies within specific regions.

“It is the case, in a sense that what is needed is LTE network infrastructure on the operator’s side and LTE enabled devices, on the subscriber’s side. There is no ITU definition as a far as LTE is concerned, since it is a technology. ITU however has defined the generations of mobile technologies. LTE-advanced is part of 4G based on the download speed, which the subscriber is meant to experience.

In most cases the speed (100 Mb per second) cannot be reached for various reasons,” Mbongue suggests that service providers do have a role to play in helping to roll this technology out.

“Because they own the networks, I’d rather say that they are the ones who need to help in order to deploy the technology efficiently.

They need help from authorities in terms of spectrum allocation, but also in terms of cost of spectrum, which should not be auctioned at ridiculously high prices so that operators concentrate their investments in deploying and optimising their networks. At the same time, there should not be pressure on them to deploy LTE just everywhere, but in strategic and profitable areas. 3G is yet to cover most of the continent and in most case 3G can still address the basic Internet needs of ordinary citizen.”

Whilst users across the continent still need to orientate themselves to the real advantages of LTE, an air of expectation and anticipation prevails – and the ball is now effectively in the operators’ court.

Mbongue suggests that service providers do have a role to play in helping to roll this technology out.

CHRIS TREDGER ITNEWSAFRICA.COM

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Throwing Innovation Into the

mix A mixture of services is fuelling social networking on the continent

obile communication has grown exponentially over the last couple of years, and services such as WhatsApp and Mxit have experienced significant month-on-month growth within their respective user bases. However, well established South African social media and communications company MXit does not view WhatsApp as a threat to its business model.

“WhatsApp is a pure messaging “I don’t believe WhatsApp platform, a utility to let people and Mxit are playing the send push messages to each same game, and there’s other without having to use SMS definitely space for (which can be very expensive). A different services. big differentiator for MXit is that WhatsApp and Facebook MXit is about meeting people. co-exist happily, and MXit is about communities that users tend to use both, form around topics or activities of for different purposes” mutual interest,” Peter Matthaei, Head of Product Development at MXit, said in an interview with African Innovator Magazine.

Other instant mobile communication services and platforms have also sprung to life since the creation of MXit, with WhatsApp and BBM being the biggest of the bunch.

Matthaei said that MXit had to think quickly when alternative services entered the market.

“The arrival of WhatsApp and BBM did force us to up our game, and also required us to get our messaging and marketing right. I don’t believe WhatsApp and Mxit are playing the same game, and there’s definitely space for different services.

WhatsApp and Facebook co-exist happily and users tend to use both, for different purposes. But it does mean we - Mxit - need to be clear about our value to users,” he said.

Other players in the market pose a problem for mobile communication in general because there is always the risk of the market becoming saturated.

According to Matthaei, whenever a number of successful applications are launched, there tends to be

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a large number of clones that try to reproduce the same success.

“Any market where you get a couple of really successful players will inevitably fill up with clones and competitors. I’d say it has happened in the mobile communications market. But I don’t think that is really much of a problem for users; I’ve never heard users complain that the space feels crowded to the point of confusion,” he confessed.

Matthaei believes that a number of applications are still in existence today because of the strong backing they receive from their parent companies - Research In Motion (now BlackBerry) has BlackBerry Messenger, Apple developed iMessage and Google has Google Talk.

“It seems one gets a few big players in the smartphone space: WhatsApp as a cross-platform app, iMessage on Apple devices, BBM on BlackBerry devices. These have become successful because of the app stores (in WhatsApp’s case) or handset manufacturers pushing their own proprietary solutions (in the case of iMessage and BBM).”

MXit has found a niche and caters for its market. “Then there are a whole bunch of locally successful communication apps like Mxit in South Africa and parts of Africa, QQ in China, mig33 in Indonesia and some other countries, etc. I find it fascinating how each service has a slightly different take on the same basic problem.”

Innovation is at the heart of being the best in a certain industry,

and MXit is no different. What is next in the pipeline for MXit? Matthaei points out that the company is working hard to improve their chat experience.

“If innovation is the heart of being the best, the heart of Mxit is chat. So, even as we’re adding all new platform features that allow developers to offer their services to our users, we’re spending a lot of effort on improving the chat experience. We’ve got a whole bunch of innovative features which we’ll be launching over the coming months.”

The Head of Product Development was reluctant to divulge specifics on new services, but added that the company would focus on tools for communities. “We also have a strong focus on providing tools for communities to use MXit to connect with each other around common interests. Say, a community for a specific school, a religious community or a company wishing to connect with its staff - or less formally, users connecting around a hobby, a geographic location or any other topic of common interest,” he concluded.

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INDUSTRY LEADERS

B “In many cases, African consumers’ first experience of the Internet – as well as services like instant messaging, social networking, mobile banking and email – is mobile. The challenge is to provide access to these mobile services to even more Africans so that we can boost the continent’s Internet penetration.”

lackBerry’s leadership has alerted the market to significant changes within the company … time will tell as to whether the new strategy will work for Africa Despite several setbacks, BlackBerry is upbeat about prospects in Africa and its ability to retain a strong position within the mobile services market.

The company experienced a difficult period in late 2011 when international reports of disruptions to BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) and BIS (BlackBerry Internet Service), as well as reports of massive layoffs, had a negative impact on share prices.

After a management reshuffle, notably the appointment of Thorsten Heins as CEO after former Co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie stepped down, the company has come out aggressively in an all-or-nothing bid to retake its position as the top smart-

phone manufacturer.

African expansion The company’s South African office is currently consolidating its position within the Southern African market. This involves an intense focus on the needs of customers and tailoring services to meet these needs.

In September 2012, BlackBerry, in association with mobile phone distributor Slot Nigeria, officially opened the BlackBerry by SLOT store in Nigeria at Computer Village in Ikeja, Lagos.

The store is designed especially to provide Nigerian customers with a first-class, authentic BlackBerry purchasing experience that includes free software upgrades.

“Today, BlackBerry is sold in about 300 retail stores nationwide. Our strategy is to continue working with local partners to help deliver a strong retail presence and after sales service that will provide our Nige-

Blackberry

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Alexandra Zagury Managing Director Africa & Southern Africa Blackberry

ANGELA GAHAGAN-TOMSON MANAGING EXECUTIVE FOR ISP AT MTN BUSINESS

rian customers with the optimal BlackBerry experience. With our new regional entity,

“WE RECOGNISED THAT, APART FROM OFFERING A WIDE RANGE OF DEVICES, WE NEED TO OFFER CUSTOMERS MORE CHOICE AND FLEXIBILITY WITH DATA PACKAGES BASED ON THEIR NEEDS AND BUDGETS.” we are looking forward to further cementing our relationship with the Nigerian market and working with our partners to support both our customer base and the transformation of the ICT industry in West Africa,” said Robert Bose, BlackBerry Regional Managing Director for Middle East and Africa.

Alexandra Zagury, Managing Director for South & Southern Africa at BlackBerry, says a core component of the company’s strategy for Africa is to ensure that local users experience the latest innovations from the company at the same time as the rest of the world.

“Examples include the introduction of the next-generation BlackBerry 10 operating system and the recent launch of more

flexible and affordable BlackBerry service plans for entry-level smartphone users. Success is a matter of having the right products at the right prices,” she says.

Executive leadership at the company is also aware of the power that the BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) wields. Zagury says there are 60 million active BBM users worldwide and 70% of them use it daily to communicate.

While the general feeling is one of enthusiasm for the potential that exists within Africa and its expanding mobile user base, BlackBerry acknowledges the challenges that come with doing business on the continent.

“In many cases, African consumers’ first experience of the Internet – as well as services like instant messaging, social networking, mobile banking and email – is mobile.

The challenge is to provide access to these mobile services to even more Africans so that we can boost the continent’s Internet penetration.

“Africa is the world’s second largest mobile market but there are still barriers to growth related to affordability, accessibility and social and cultural relevance. Our goal is to break through these barriers so that

we can open up access to the Internet for millions of people in Africa. To do so, prices of smartphones and mobile data plans need to be more flexible and affordable to accommodate the needs of a wider range of customers.

“We recognised that, apart from offering a wide range of devices, we need to offer customers more choice and flexibility with data packages based on their needs and budgets. We recently introduced tiered BlackBerry service plans in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana with great results. We have also rolled-out this approach in other regions globally, including Latin America, Middle East and in the Asia Pacific,” says Zagury.

With this strategy in mind, management at BlackBerry believes that with the market penetration of smart phones below 10% in most African countries and a growing hunger for connectivity, most of the company’s growth in Africa over the next five years will stem from cellphone and feature phone users acquiring their first smartphones- and the company’s aim is to be positioned strategically to meet this demand.

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What it takes to Spice up VAS VAS AFRICA CEO ARUN NAGAR ON THE HIGH GROWTH IN THE VAS SPACE

C

ARUN NAGAR discusses consumer-focused entertainment mobile applications driving growth in the VAS space.

by Chris Tredger

onsumer-focused entertainment mobile applications is driving high growth within the VAS space Sitting a stones-throw away from his offices in Rivonia, Johannesburg, Spice VAS Africa’s CEO and Managing Director Arun Nagar says app-driven content and consumer-focused ‘infotainment’ is what service providers must focus on in order to seriously compete in the Value Added Services (VAS) space. Additionally, those wishing to break into the local market cannot afford to discount the relevance of localised content.

Like many market segments within the ICT sector, over time VAS has evolved and operators like Spice VAS Africa are aware that a few so-called traditional value-added services are now considered core activities on the network, including Short Message Service (SMS) and data.

With the avalanche of devices, apps

and other mobile offerings now spreading throughout developed and developing global markets, and mobility considered a high-growth area, it is quite understandable that the VAS market is emerging as an increasingly competitive arena.

It is a space that continues to attract the attention of a range of stakeholders, from mobile and fixed line operators, through to ISPs, solution vendors and content providers.

These groups all have a vested interest in the segments or categories of business that fall under the VAS banner, including entertainment/ infotainment services, utility services and mobile commerce.

However, it is mobile commerce that is driving the most business currently says Nagar. “Without doubt mobile commerce is driving the most business. An SMS and data business that sits with the network is not

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INDUSTRY LEADERS ARUN NAGAR VAS AFRICA CEO

viewed as being a VAS activity that needs to be outsourced to a vendor - it is seen more as a core activity that the network has to get involved with. Years ago these services – like sms and roaming - were outsourced to a third party, now they are seen as key, active value added services.”

At the same time aspects like utility services are particularly significant within markets like those in Africa says Nagar, a market that is strategic to Spice VAS Africa’s expansion plans.

The company has offices in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, and is in the process of establishing business operations in Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon and Rwanda.

Utilities, including that which covers health, education and government services, continues to impact on socio-economic

reformation and development across the continent.

“In the case of Africa, the rollout of VASbased utilities services is still in its infancy, but there is certainly progress being made,” Nagar adds.

He refers to India as an example of an advanced telecoms market where utilities and related services are very much entrenched.

He sites the country’s railways and education as key areas where these services have had a significant impact.

It is entertainment that is seeing explosive growth within Africa Nagar continues. “This is an app-driven market that is coming of age within the continent. Online music companies are beginning to emerge and there is a clear opportunity to drive local content.”

Local is what matters When it comes to mobile technology

innovation and application, the quality, reliability and relevance of content is a key differentitor.

“We have a saying: while technology is king, content is King Kong!” Nagar quips.

The fact is that those businesses wanting to leverage off the growth of VAS and managed services – particularly within Africa – cannot afford to overlook the importance of content that is relevant to local consumers he says.

“Africa demands local presence. We have this presence. You secure local content and make it available through the platforms that you have. What this gives the local population is technology of an international standard and content that is relevant to them. Take store fronts within the music for example, The store front that would appeal to the lower market segment would be an IVR

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INDUSTRY LEADERS

(Interactive Voice Response) store front because voice is available on the lowest end of mobile handsets. Then mid range, you have WAP, GPRS and EDGE-enabled handsets for which a mobisite works perfectly. Then at the top of the market you have the smartphones an own device portal is very relevant. One needs to have a proposition for each strata of the consumer society. From apps to mobisites to an IVR,” Nagar explains.

He believes this total, comprehensive value proposition with emphasis on local content and the ability to leverage off international technology standards works best.

It is also the best in terms of meeting the needs of a dynamic market Nagar continues.

“Markets in Africa that are less developed by definition have less access to the Internet.

They are hungrier for Value Added Services.

In developed markets the app and mobisites have a greater chance for success, whilst in developing markets an IVR has a greater chance of success. In SA surely an odp and mobi site has more traction, because there is more access to Internet and more tech-savvy customers. But in a developing market, the percentage of smart phones is only 2% or less, so when you are talking about streaming over IP, you are only accessing a very small percentage of the market,” he continues.

According to Nagar VAS is now considered a far more regulated environment, with service providers and operators obliged to take more accountability in terms of the delivery of benefits to consumers.

The industry has shifted to encourage the entrenchment of a more sustainable business model, driven by consumer satisfaction and a more levelled playing field.

“Without doubt mobile commerce is driving the most business. An SMS and data business that sits with the network is not viewed as being a VAS activity that needs to be outsourced to a vendor - it is seen more as a core activity that the network has to get involved with. Years ago these services – like sms and roaming - were outsourced to a third party, now they are seen as key, active value added services.”

“In the case of Africa, the rollout of VAS-based utilities services is still in its infancy, but there is certainly progress being made.”

ARUN NAGAR

60 AFRICAN INNOVATOR VOLUME 2, ISSUE 1

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ADVERTORIAL

Social Media Gets Vocal...

W

ith the proliferation of social media in recent years, from Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, to Mxit, Pinterest, Tumblr and Badoo, and oh-so-many others, it might seem that it has all been done and little opportunity is left in the social media space for something truly new.

However, all the popular social media sites are dependent on, and designed for the internet. Many people in the less-developed parts of the world, Africa in particular, still do not have easy access to the internet, and most do not have smartphones which could be used for accessing the internet.

In addition, groups that are illiterate, as well as those who are not fluent in the major languages of the world, find it difficult to access the largely text-based social media, even if they do have internet connectivity.

For these reasons, large populations still have not experienced the social media revolution.

Recognising these population groupings that do not have access to social media, but who are social by nature, an entrepreneur from Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa, decided to return to the basis of all communication – voice – and to bring social media to everyone. And so, under the wing of Rorotika Technologies’ incubation programme, Tawk2me was born.

Tawk2me is a totally mobile, voice-driven social networking service that allows you to record and broadcast voice messages, for multiple receivers, from any mobile device.

Tawk2me requires no app or software

download, and delivers personalised voice messages to a select audience - fans, followers, friends, family, work groups or communities.

Tawk2me allows the user to record voice blogs or chirps, which are then shared with followers. Followers or “Listnas” receive an SMS notification that a voice message from the person they are following is waiting for them. The “Listnas” click on the voice link in the SMS to listen to the message on their mobile phone. It doesn’t matter which phone the Listna uses.

Using voice, Tawk2me distinguishes itself from other social media because voice allows emotion, character and personality to be expressed. Tawk2me allows the people sending messages to communicate in their own language, with their own accent and it is not restricted to the literate. It offers a personal contact not achieved with text communication.

As a ‘one to many’ platform, there is no limitation to how many recipients can receive a message at any time. So a celebrity can make a single phone call and leave a message that can be delivered to thousands or even hundreds of thousands of mobile phones.

Tawk2me has many applications, enabling business owners to communicate with customers and staff, clubs and organisations to stay in touch with their members, celebrities and sports stars to connect with their fans, religious leaders to reach out to their followers, schools to keep parents up to date,

and everyday folk to stay close to family and friends.

Imagine being able to listen on your mobile phone to your favourite actor commenting on the vibe just before she walks into an awards ceremony, or hearing your local sports star from the change room just before he takes to the field, or receiving inspirational messages from your religious leader.

Municipalities could reach all their local communities (even illiterate groups) to provide information on health, education, natural disasters, elections and so on.

The possibilities are endless.

“There are so many Tawk2me applications,”says Tawk2me CEO, Chris Matthews. “If one looks at the high number of illiterate people throughout Africa that use mobile phones but cannot text, Tawk2me, being voiced based, unlocks a huge opportunity for them.”

Mobile phones are an established communication medium, and are now also emerging as an effective way to advertise. Tawk2me has also created a niche marketing opportunity for brands to engage with their clients in a fun yet effective way.

For more details on Tawk2me, visit the Tawk2me website www.tawk2me.com or contact Rorotika Technologies.

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The diagram below shows how Tawk2me works:

Rorotika Incubation Programme Rorotika Technologies offers IT incubation services in the mobile telecommunications arena, supporting visionaries, entrepreneurs and small businesses on the road from innovation to implementation. With in-depth knowledge in numerous disciplines, and extensive telecommunications experience, Rorotika’s services include business analysis, development, QA, SI, documentation, training, operational support and marketing support.

Over the last year, Rorotika has been working with Tawk2me Communications

(www.tawk2me.com) on their exciting Social Media offering for voice. Tawk2me launched commercially in Swaziland on 31 January 2013, in collaboration with MTN Swaziland.

Rorotika is also working hand-in-hand with Frootnip gaming, to offer a fun gaming experience with a unique gaming concept that uses revenue-generating bearers (SMS, USSD and data) and often- underutilized cell broadcast technology.

Rorotika has also recently started working with Glovent (www.glovent.co.za) on their Glo-Portal, a Community Management System, developed to enhance management and communication in residential communi-

ties. It offers a central web-based community portal and a Body Corporate management platform.

For more information on Rorotika’s incubation programme, or the innovative entrepreneurs and companies that we are currently working with, please contact us via email incubation@rorotika.com or call 0115680800 and ask for Bengt Klasen (Project Office Manager) or Rosanne Weiss (Marketing and Communications Manager).

You can also find us at: www.rorotika.com

63 AFRICAN INNOVATOR VOLUME 2, ISSUE 1

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Country focus

Technology

at the heart of Egypt’s growth plan

Egypt continues to experience socio-economic and political change and technology is never far from the process

I

n 2011 Egypt made worldwide headlines as a revolution took hold and anti-government protestors vented their anger and frustration against the regime. It was a time when the world held its collective breath in anticipation of what could or would transpire.

Almost two years later, the former government toppled and reports of ex-President Hosni Mubarak being arrested on charges relating to the deaths of over 800 protestors, the country is once again in the news.

This time, Egypt’s top appeals court has overturned a previous guilty verdict imposed on Mubarak and ordered a retrial. Speculation is rife as to what implications this will have on Egypt’s turbulent journey on the way to democracy.

Aside from the political and social discourse and change initiated through the country’s revolution, the event shed global light on the impact of social media and the role this powerful resource plays in modern society.

In fact technology, more specifically the Internet, was at the forefront of key developments that characterised the revolution.

The Huffington Post online reported that when the

government shut down the Net, anonymous users interacted to help keep communication channels open.

It helped keep the world’s attention on what was going on in the country.

Today, technology remains a cornerstone of Egyptian society. The country’s telecommunications sector comprises several global service providers, including Etisalat Misr, Mobinil, Orascom Telecom and Vodafone.

These established firms have reportedly witnessed a 23.1 percent growth rate since 2008. At the end of 2011, the country had 83.8 million mobile subscribers, nearly 100 percent penetration.

Global research company Frost & Sullivan has reported that broadband Internet is considered to be a high-growth area and the sector generates revenue in the region of $6,35 billion. This figure is expected to exceed $11 billion by 2018.

As is the case in many developing economies in Africa, Egypt’s authorities have made public their intention to investigate mobile operators regarding claims of poor quality of service by consumers and take action where necessary.

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Towards the end of 2012 the country’s telecommunication watchdog, The Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA) called for an investigation into a complaint about a “secret agreement” between certain providers who allegedly colluded to increase the price of prepaid mobile credit cards.

Despite wrangling between stakeholders, industry representatives have stated clear objectives for ICT telecommunications, including a significant increase in job creation – with at least 20 000 new jobs expected to be created.

According to Egypt’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), the country saw double digit growth in the telecom and IT sector prior to the 2011 uprising, but they are confident that renewed movement in the sector will bring growth.

The industry body wants to build on the Telecom Master Plan formulated in 2000. Information available through the website identifies a number of milestones that have been achieved as part of the reformation of the telecoms industry. These milestones include the deregulation of the mobile services sector, pre-paid calling cards, data and Internet services, as well as the enlargement of the Ownership Base of Telecom Egypt.

Most recently the Open Source Strategy Committee has stipulated its aim to integrate and use the open source software-based applications as a national strategy. There is also talk of the efforts of authorities in trying to establish a fourth mobile services license.

The pace of development and growth of technology and the economy will likely depend on the buy-in of key role players including government and the business sector.

One of Egypt’s most well known technology powerhouses falls under the Sawiris family. Naguib Sawiris is the founder of Orascom Telecom Holding SAE and is reported to have a net worth of $2,5 billion.

Onsi Sawiris, who founded the Orascom Group, is reported to have a net worth of $2,17 billion.

With the world’s attention once again fixed on Egypt’s socio-political status, ICT is likely to play an even more important role going forward.

Despite wrangling between stakeholders, industry representatives have stated clear objectives for ICT and telecommunications, including a significant increase in job creation – with at least 20 000 new jobs expected to be created.

Chris tredger itnewsafrica.COM

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