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Uncategorized – The Tech4Africa Blog http://blog.tech4africa.com Musings, announcements, and collateral damage from Tech4Africa. Thoughts our own. We're looking for contributors from across Africa. Email hello At tech4africa DOT com. Mon, 26 Oct 2015 12:30:48 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.5.32 My Tech4Africa Experience http://blog.tech4africa.com/my-tech4africa-experience/ Mon, 13 Jul 2015 09:09:11 +0000 http://blog.tech4africa.com/?p=8672 Continue reading ]]> The moment felt very surreal when Afrocast was called up as the local winners of the IBM SmartCamp award at Tech4Africa 2014. So you can imagine my shock when we (Afrocast) were also announced as the Regional winners of the IBM SmartCamp award! It was unbelievable and it still has not sunk in almost 2 days later.

When I look back at the journey and even at that moment as I was standing up on the stage, the only thing that I could think about was how just a year ago I was at my first ever Tech4Africa hackathon at JoziHub with a few colleagues where I was about to set off a domino effect that would result in me being where I am today and possibly shape my vision of where my journey in IT is heading.

The Tech4Africa JoziHub 24 hour hackathon was an amazing experience for me as it was my first ever hackathon and it was the first time that I was in the same room with a bunch of people that were doing what I love for the love of it. The people there were amazing. The food was good and of course the free drinks! All the problems everybody set out to tackle were very ambitious especially for a 24 hour coding session but it just made me proud to be a part of a group of people that were as ambitious as I was and not afraid to set out to tackle a problem and try everything that they could to make sure it got done.

We managed to stay up the whole 24 hours working on our application and managed to complete a large portion of it except a few geolocation features that still till this day make me cringe at how simple the solution was but I guess after the 23rd hour even the most simplest solutions don’t seem so simple. The next day I actually changed a line of code and it worked…

The most important things I took away from that hackathon was the realisation that apart from being something one does for a living and as a hobby there are some common traits that I shared with the people in that room: The need to be good at they do, the desire to leave a mark on the world through what they do and the thirst for knowledge and to better ones self.

I also got the opportunity to go to only my second Technology Expo (Tech4Africa) via the hackathon where I got further introduced to the South African technology community and see how creative individuals and thinkers in our country are solving problems and sharing their expertise on some of the most interesting fields in IT. I thought I knew a lot about IT but at my first Tech4Africa I got introduced to some of the most amazing topics and fields in our industry, some of the most amazing technologies (which I have been able to carry into work and apply to create some amazing solutions) and some of the most amazing people that still recognise you when you are walking down the street.

– I will never forget the day, about 3 months after Tech4Africa 2013, when a student I met at the event stuck his head out a taxi flying by and yelled “Great talk at Tech4Africa!”. It was priceless. –

I think the opportunities that Tech4Africa presents the average techie cannot be taken for granted. The networking opportunities, the opportunities to get your ideas out to the right people, the opportunity to sit amongst people better than you at what you do and get inspired and of course a reference point from which you can use as a benchmark for all your endeavours.

In fact at the time I was at a startup (Fresh Thinking Technology) where we were building solutions that were revolutionising the government sector I met another startup (Boxfusion) that was turning the government sector upside down and inside out with some of the most innovative solutions addressing problems specific to the public sector on a scale where your competitors can feed small african countries. I had to be a part of that and I now work there!

I cannot even began to thank all the individuals that make Tech4Africa happen and the effort that they put in to make sure that it is well executed and especially Gareth Knight who seems to have more belief in the South African tech community and is responsible for igniting more flames of ambition and desire in young tech entrepreneurs than he will ever know.

Thank you!

]]> Mobile / Research Top 10 http://blog.tech4africa.com/mobile-research-top-10/ Thu, 13 Nov 2014 12:38:34 +0000 http://blog.tech4africa.com/?p=8663 Continue reading ]]>

What you need to know in the world of mobile trends

November 2014

#1 Mobile Is Eating The World

There is no point in drawing a distinction between the future of technology and the future of mobile. They are the same. In other words, technology is now outgrowing the tech industry. – Benedict Evans

#2 Global smartphone penetration 2014

“What’s the smartphone penetration in…?” is one of the most frequently asked question by our clients. Here’s the data for 47 countries (Singapore wins, by the way).

#3 Alibaba smashes China’s Single’s Day record with $9.3B Sales

Up from $5.75 last year and 42.6% of sales came from customers using mobile devices. For the uninitiated – Alibaba is Chinese Amazon on steroids, Single’s Day is China’s largest online shopping festival.

#4 Getting In on the Emerging Markets Smartphone Boom

Suhair Khan works at Google and spends most of her time focusing on trends in emerging markets – her observations and recommendations are bang on.

#5 The Fall 2014 GRIT report

Market research industry trends mapped, again. We’re thrilled to see that mobile research has firmly established its position but there are plenty of challenges ahead.

#6 Google Consumer Barometer

The Consumer Barometer helps you understand how people use the internet across the world – data from Q1 this year from over 45 markets. All free to explore and play around with.
Bonus link: Mobile-first is not a future trend in Asia, it’s here now

#7 An #MRX Hallowe’en Parade

Leave it to Tom Ewing to cram ghosts, zombies, Dracula and a mummy into an article about market research. It’s a tongue-in-cheek take on the monsters in the market research industry with plenty of painful truth in every sentence.

#8 Impact of the mobile internet in Africa

Mobile internet is having a massive positive influence on the lives of ordinary Africans – education, health, communications – no aspect of life is left unchanged as masses come online for the first time ever.

#9 Advertisers Are Moving Hundreds of Millions Of $ Away From TV

TV ad dollars are down, not much, but down, and the money is moving to digital, perhaps some to multiscreen around hit shows.

#10 Mobile is changing shopping decisions in the Middle East

Sky high smartphone penetration meets the super mall culture, at least in Saudi Arabia and UAE. Mobile is changing shopping decisions but also offers a new way to (re)capture people in shopping centres.

What’s the most insightful opinion piece or useful resource that you’ve seen this month?

Siim @ On Device

]]> WomeninTechZA Panel Discussion – Tech4Africa http://blog.tech4africa.com/womenintechza-panel-discussion-tech4africa/ Fri, 03 Oct 2014 12:03:16 +0000 http://blog.tech4africa.com/?p=8655 Continue reading ]]> Despite what you might think if you take a look around, there actually are women in the tech sector. And they’re not just in sales, marketing, or hiding behind a screen coding. They’re engineers, developers, BAs, project managers, founders, CEOs and most everything else.

Samantha Perry, co-founder of WomeninTechZA, an initiative that aims to address the gender diversity gap in the tech sector, will be chairing a panel on WomeninTech at Tech4Africa. Panellists Mich Atagana (managing editor, Memeburn), Ellie Hagopian (CEO, Nomosphere), Shana Kay (CEO, IntelliCred), Lisa Lyhne (executive director, Dariel Solutions) will share their thoughts and experiences, specifically around:

– Why are we battling to attract women to the tech sector? And why can’t we keep them here?

– Why do we need women in tech anyway? If they don’t want to be here we shouldn’t force them?

– How can we start framing the discussion so that we start solving the problem? Debate at present seems to be: “We need more women in tech.” “Ok”.

We look forward to seeing you there.

]]> Florian Aschenbrenner – Scaling from experience http://blog.tech4africa.com/florian-aschenbrenner-scaling-from-experience/ Fri, 03 Oct 2014 06:17:24 +0000 http://blog.tech4africa.com/?p=8653 Continue reading ]]> Florian Aschenbrenner will be holding a workshop on how to ensure your infrastructure can grow with your business. It’s something, he says, that not many people think a lot about.

“You start a business, write an app, but you don’t think about how it will handle spikes or increased traffic a few months down the line. For most people it’s about scaling the business not the infrastructure – and that’s what I’ll focus on.”

Aschenbrenner says he will mostly focus on the ecommerce world – it’s where his experience lies. “I’ve worked with Magento, and built similar systems over the past few years that I will be talking about. My 10+ years experience in IT has been mostly about scaling, in one form or another. I’ve had the chance to see a lot of companies grow and had the responsibility to make sure that the systems in use are able to cope with these expansions. I’ve been an advocate of secure, well-documented and user-friendly systems.”

This is his first Tech4Africa, he says. Having worked with founder Gareth Knight over the years, he got interested in the event. “With the topic, and with Africa being an emerging market and more and more start ups coming out of SA… The earlier people start talking about the things you have to do to make a business and its infrastructure scalable the better, and what I’ve learned might be of use to people,” he says.

“I’m looking forward to meeting a lot of people – networking – it’s great to get a lot of viewpoints and learn new things. You might have been working on one thing and missed a lot of other things I can add to my knowledge-base and learn better. It’s great to have a talented pool of people and speakers and be able to see how they doing things.”

]]> Erik Hersman – It’s about the journey http://blog.tech4africa.com/erik-hersman-its-about-the-journey/ Thu, 02 Oct 2014 12:54:45 +0000 http://blog.tech4africa.com/?p=8651 Continue reading ]]> Erik Hersman is the well-known co-founder of Ushahidi, a web mashup built in 2008 to map post-election violence. It’s become a platform and organisation. He’s also a co-founder of iHub – Nairobi’s Innovation Hub – and most recently, BRCK – a rugged solution to connecting in places where electricity and internet access are problematic.

Hersman spoke at the first Tech4Africa, back in 2010, mostly, he says, about the bruises the Ushahidi team had gained on the route to getting where it was at the time. “This time.” He says. “I’ll be talking about the things that happened on the way from Ushahidi to iHub and BRCK – lessons learned – the personal journey.

“I’m also going to talk about how hard hardware is,” he grins. “It’s better to go in with eyes wide shut – not knowing what you don’t know. You need to team up with a lot of people and go through a steep learning curve. We’re still going through challenges, and that’s where the personal part of the journey comes in – dealing with adversity, how to overcome it – and what comes if you stick with things long enough and push – fun things happen after you’ve done a lot of really hard stuff to make it there.”

Having been involved since the first, Hersman says he’s seen the conference evolve into an event that straddles multiple Africa countries, and attended two Tech4Africa events in Kenya.

To first time attendees, he says, “Tell your team/company that you’re going to be doing this event and not answering emails. Be plugged into this thing so you’re there – in body and person.

“Spend time talking to a number of people – a mistake people make is to stay in the crowd they go with. It destroys the opportunity for serendipity that you have. If it’s anything like the first tech4Africa,” he says, “there will be great people there and if you do not get outside your own little bubble you’re hurting yourself.”

]]> Aaron Marshall – What is your purpose? http://blog.tech4africa.com/aaron-marshall-what-is-your-purpose/ Thu, 02 Oct 2014 10:39:57 +0000 http://blog.tech4africa.com/?p=8649 Continue reading ]]> Aaron Marshall is the founder of Over, one of the world’s most popular photo editing apps. Shortly after the app took off, about 18 months ago, Marshall and his family relocated from the US to Cape Town.

“I like telling stories,” says Marshall, “so my talk at Tech4Africa is going to be some stories from our life and our experience.

Marshall’s talk is entitled: Go Big and Go Home. The keyword, he says, is ‘and’. “I think we live in a really fascinating, opportune time. There are lots of things we can waste our time on. And since life is short, I really want people to be working on meaningful products that are important to them and have a meaningful impact. Not social entrepreneurship – but doing things with meaning and not wasting our best years working on things we don’t care about for people who don’t care.

“I want to inspire people to make things that have real meaning,” he says, “There are so many startups, app this, VC that. It’s not enough to talk about why we are doing something. We need to know ‘what is our purpose here?’ If you don’t have a strong purpose it’s going to crumble and it’s going to hurt. That’s also why I say Go Big and Go Home – there’s no point in building if have no family to go home too. “

Marshall says he’s never been to Johannesburg before and is really looking forward to visiting, as well as having a chance to see (and hug) some old and new friends at the Tech4Africa conference.

]]> Tech4Africa turns five. Feels all grown up and SxSW like. http://blog.tech4africa.com/tech4africa-turns-five-feels-all-grown-up-and-sxsw-like/ Wed, 01 Oct 2014 10:40:23 +0000 http://blog.tech4africa.com/?p=8647 Continue reading ]]> Tech4Africa turns five. Feels all grown up and SxSW like.

In 2006 when founder Gareth Knight first conceived of Tech4Africa, his vision was to bring SxSW to Africa, so that people wouldn’t have to travel to Austin to soak up the knowledge, inspiration and networking it is well known for.

2010 saw the first event in Johannesburg, and, next week the 5^th event will be held in South Africa’s biggest city. Tech4Africa is also in its 4th African city, having been to Nairobi, Lagos and Cape Town so far.

Says Knight: “I’m proud to say that this is the first year where I believe we’re well on our way to being the SxSW of Africa. Because we’ve been able to get the community to submit 258 talks and vote over 14 000 times, we’re able to put out a schedule with 85 speakers in 10 rooms, over two very full days. There’s something for everyone.”

In addition to that, Tech4Africa is putting on a space for people to showcase the weird and wonderful things they are working on – a hacker space, a demo area, a cloud room for people interested in leveraging the cloud, a space for 3d printers, vacuum formers, robots, flying things, solar & green innovations, an electronics showcase, and a BYO (Bring Your Own) product showcase for anyone to demo their products.

Tech4Africa places extra emphasis on networking and social interaction, so, as in previous years, there will be an after party both evenings, and delegates can expect the coffee to be free!

Says Knight: “This year we’ve grown our reach substantially by going to Nairobi, Lagos and Cape Town, and next week in Johannesburg we’re expecting to see 570 people, so it’s going to be fun!”.

The website can be found at Tech4Africa.com and anyone can register at http://register.tech4africa.com. Tickets are R500.

]]> New website up http://blog.tech4africa.com/new-website-up/ Tue, 03 Apr 2012 20:37:52 +0000 http://t4a.feedmybeta.com/?p=3780 Continue reading ]]> … And, we’re up. After much work and a lot of tinkering with what we have, we’re proud to release our new MVP (Minimum Viable Product) site for 2012.
Coming up are all the videos for 2011, and much more content.

In the meantime, checkout the blog archives, our past speakers, or the sitemap.

If you spot any bugs or problems, pls comment on this post, or drop us an email

]]> Registration now open for Tech4Africa 2011 http://blog.tech4africa.com/registration-now-open-for-t4a-2011/ Tue, 10 May 2011 11:41:14 +0000 http://t4a.feedmybeta.com?p=1087 Continue reading ]]> A world-class line-up of international and African technologists will present at the Tech4Africa conference in October this year. The event provides South Africans with a rare opportunity to learn firsthand from technology evangelists about the role that the web plays in African business and development.

The two-day conference runs from 27 to 28 October 2011 at The Forum in Bryanston, Johannesburg and will bring international experience and perspectives to the African continent, while at the same time showcasing what Africans are doing with mobile, web, digital media and other emerging technologies.

Registration for the event is open and early bird tickets are available until 15th of June. To register or for further information, visit Tech4Africa or contact us.

“2010 saw the launch of Tech4Africa and we were met with overwhelming support from both the tech and business communities and our foundation partners, First National Bank and Internet Solutions,” says Gareth Knight, MD of Tech4Africa. “This year we’re delivering the same high standard of content and looking forward to bringing technologists together to look at what’s current now, with an emphasis on social media and how it’s relevant to digital marketing, mobile convergence, the growing cloud and the applications of BigData. We’re also focusing on great African technologists that really are leading the way.”

Keynote speakers include Josh Spear, one of the youngest and most respected digital marketing strategists in the world, and Herman Chinery-Hesse, commonly known as ‘The Bill Gates of Africa’.

Spear is a trend spotter, blogger and brand strategist, sought out for his fresh perspective and no-holds-barred style of consulting on everything from design and gadgets to authenticity and word-of-mouth. His recent focus has been the power of the blogosphere, technology, and the impact of digital media on the world. In addition to his internationally recognised trend-spotting blog, he is a founding partner of Undercurrent, a digital think-tank focused on exploring new ways to reach young people without interrupting them. With Africa rapidly leapfrogging the web and PC experience with a mobile one, the insights into how people and brands interact digitally is crucial, and indeed sets the stage for the foreseeable future. Spear has appeared in publications including Time Magazine, the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune and has presented for such diverse clients as McDonald’s, NBC, Pepsi, Virgin, The American Advertising Federation and The Google Zeitgeist conference.

Chinery-Hesse is a renowned Ghanaian technology entrepreneur who co-founded the million-dollar software company SOFTtribe, and then went on to launch BSL, which provides the infrastructure for entrepreneurs across Africa to sell products and receive payment through their cell phones. Chinery-Hesse is passionate about the contribution that technology can make in unlocking prosperity and wealth across Africa, and will be presenting his thesis on this. He has won a number of awards and is also an accomplished speaker who has delivered talks at the Wharton Business School, Harvard Business School, Cambridge University, the University of Ghana, and the TEDGlobal conference in Tanzania.

Spear and Chinery-Hesse are part of a line-up of African and international thought leaders from organisations like Amazon, HP, Johns Hopkins University, Mozilla, SwiftRiver, the African Institution of Technology, SimpleGeo, Motribe, Clearleft, Ultinet Systems and many more.

Knight adds, “With Tech4Africa our simple aim is to congregate the best practitioners in Africa and the world to provide inspiration, guidance, case studies, success stories and ultimately experience, so that Africans don’t need to travel the world to gain this understanding and exposure”.

]]> Google is looking for a Policy Manager http://blog.tech4africa.com/google-is-looking-for-a-policy-manager/ Tue, 08 Feb 2011 10:12:21 +0000 http://t4a.feedmybeta.com?p=1074 Google is looking to hire a Policy Manager for South Africa to represent Google and its policies externally before policy-makers and the broader public policy environment.

Policy experience a must.

This position is based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Find the full job description here.

]]> The Tech4Africa PR campaign: a resounding success http://blog.tech4africa.com/the-t4a-pr-campaign-a-resounding-success/ Wed, 06 Oct 2010 12:19:28 +0000 http://t4a.feedmybeta.com?p=960 Continue reading ]]>

Good news still coming from our great event! Emerging Media, the team behind Tech4Africa’s PR strategy and implementation, has just released amazing results obtained for the conference.

The Tech4Africa media campaign has been a huge success, becoming a PR and social media case in its own right.

More than 11 million people exposed to the conference through the press, online and social media.
Campaign exposure valued at US$621,123
Over 4400 online mentions.

Find more juicy bits of information in this fascinating infographic created by BrandsEye, the company that tracked Tech4Africa’s online mentions for Emerging Media. The PR guys had something to add too and they shared their experience in their post “Tech4Africa PR campaign sets up conference for longevity and sustainability”.

The successful PR and social media campaign developed for Tech4Africa was ground-breaking, as it had no reliance on traditional advertising but nevertheless managed to secure full attendance.

The high levels of online media coverage reached are due to the great job of our PR partners and the support we received from the press. But it was also possible because speakers, delegates and people interested in the event actively participated in online conversations and discussions before, during and after the conference. To all of them, thank you for helping to spread the word and making Tech4Africa the inspiring event it became!

]]> Three South African startups chosen for Seedcamp week http://blog.tech4africa.com/three-south-african-chosen-for-seedcamp-week/ http://blog.tech4africa.com/three-south-african-chosen-for-seedcamp-week/#comments Thu, 09 Sep 2010 08:18:16 +0000 http://t4a.feedmybeta.com?p=934 Continue reading ]]> Cognician, GetAGreatBoss and iSigned pack their bags for London

Seedcamp, the European micro seed fund that focuses on early stage startups has announced that it has selected three South African technology-startups to attend ‘Seedcamp Week’ in London from the 13th till the 17th of September.

South Africa has secured three of the twenty three available places at Seedcamp week from the more than 600 teams that have applied over the year. The Seedcamp finalists 2010 include a wide selection of teams from 16 different countries, active in more than 19 cities.

The South African startups were identified from the 11 startups who were selected to attend the mini Seedcamp week that was held in conjunction with the inaugural Tech4Africa conference, which brought both a prestigious and sought after line-up of international speakers from the world’s most respected web startups to South African shores.

The three chosen startups will now be facing tighter competition since they will be competing with a much stronger field of startups for a possible 50,000 Euro investment from Seedcamp along with the connection to next generation developers and entrepreneurs from a network of over 400 top-tier industry mentors.

“The South African startups we’ve chosen have unique and original products and offerings,” says Reshma Sohoni, CEO of Seedcamp. The 3 selected startups include:

Cognician describes itself as the ‘original thinking guide’ – a software application that automates complex intellectual tasks by asking you a range of intelligent, thought-provoking questions.

GetAGreatBoss pride themselves on enabling great managers to showcase their management strength in order to attract talent and boost their own careers.

iSigned on the other hand, offers secure, permanent online storage, management and sharing for legal and other important documents. It’s the ideal tool for individuals and businesses that want to store wills, legal agreements, investment records and share them with other parties securely.

“We do believe that all three of these companies have the potential to go up against a group of international startups for their place in the sun,” she says.

Sohoni says that choosing from the field of the 11 startups was a difficult task, since Seedcamp was extremely impressed by the quality of ideas presented during the one-day workshop and that each company has the right kind of founder, displaying the perfect combination between hunger and ambition.

Overall Sohoni says Seedcamp would like this event to be the first of many and sees South Africa as a great entry-point into the African continent.

“Africa has some of the smartest minds in the world and there’s a ton of potential here,” she adds.

“It‘s a continent we would definitely like to remain involved in,” she concludes.

]]> http://blog.tech4africa.com/three-south-african-chosen-for-seedcamp-week/feed/ 2 Africa: problem or opportunity? http://blog.tech4africa.com/africa-problem-or-opportunity/ http://blog.tech4africa.com/africa-problem-or-opportunity/#comments Mon, 06 Sep 2010 13:11:45 +0000 http://t4a.feedmybeta.com?p=855 Continue reading ]]> In his article “Why does being in Africa make you untrustworthy?“, Erik Hersman points out to the fact that Africans are generally suspects by default to the eyes of global corporations, which often put the continent off their radar.

Africa could be a continent of contrasts, but with lots of potentiality too. If only the world stopped making easy generalizations and looked closer to realize that.

One of the key factors for any business is to assess and be real about the context and the market in which operates. Thus, more accurate solutions can be provided to address specific needs, what improves the chance of success. If the context is problematic, that means there are needs to be fulfilled, and therefore that could be seen as an opportunity.

An example of this could be Hersman’s own enterprise, Ushahidi, a website that was initially developed to map reports of violence in Kenya after the post-election fallout at the beginning of 2008, and which now it has become a platform with global reach.

Ushahidi is a world-class technology service, but owes its roots to providing a solution to the very African need of transparency, which turns out to be a global issue.
The organization’s technology is open source, and it is often used by Internet writer Clay Shirky as an example of a successful crowdsourcing movement.

Other entrepreneurs and businesses are also working to provide services tied up to specific regional socio-cultural and economic facts, as were seen at Tech4Africa 2010. Services like PesaPal (a mobile payments company in Nairobi, Kenya) or mPedigree (allows consumers to verify with a free text message if their medicines are safe), are proving to be on the right track when addressing local needs via the most used and available technology in their target markets.

Many other startup services in Africa are choosing to use SMS as their trading platform, among other things, due to the scarce Internet connectivity and the broader use of the cell phone in many areas of the continent. And companies are focusing on that too, such is the case of Zain Nigeria, which is offering its customers access to Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo via SMS.

Nevertheless, whether focused on local, regional or global needs, African technology startups and companies must build their products based on the highest standards, and for that it’s important to keep in touch with the world’s latest developments and practices, if the continent wants to get into the world’s radar and export its innovative products or play globally.

All in all, one of the ways to bootstrap Africa to the spotlight might be what the aforementioned African organizations are already doing; which is, as Erik Hersman put it in his article: “to come up with our own business solutions that work here first, and then interact with other global systems.”

Do you agree this could be a solution? Should Africans see the problems or the opportunities?

Photo courtesy of @whiteafrican via Flickr/Creative Commons

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