Living Life Like It’s Global With Ashley Veasey

On this week’s episode of African Tech Conversations, I chat with a globe-trotting Brit who has spent the last 20 years working in retail, investment and corporate banking in no less than four continents.

Before Ashley Veasey’s current gig as Chief Information Officer at Barclays Africa Group, he served in senior leadership positions at corporate giants like Citi Group and JP Morgan. Prior to joining Barclays, however, Ashley worked for Standard Chartered Bank as CIO in Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong, where he made a name for himself as somewhat of a disruptive technologies maverick.

Nowadays, Ashley enjoys travelling, and has an inexplicable passion for Italian motorbikes. Listen in to find out what the man literally has under his skin.

Making The First Team With Brandon Bekker

African Tech Conversations is back for Season 2!

Over the next five weeks you can look forward to listening in on candid conversations I’ll be having with five leading personalities drawn from Africa’s tech scene.

This week, I sat down with Brandon Bekker, who is Managing Director for Africa and the Middle East at email security firm, Mimecast. This former pro rugby player and lawyer-turned-tech salesman has come a long way from his humble entry level position at Internet Solutions.

Prior to joining Mimecast in 2008, Brandon spent 10 years within the Dimension Data Group, and ended up serving in executive positions at both Internet Solutions and Dimension Data. At Mimecast, Brandon’s credited for contributing significantly to the company’s continued growth into a serious international player within email security management.

In this episode, you’ll learn what went into Brandon’s decision to leave the security of working for a large listed tech company to join a startup. Listen in to find out what he had to say when I asked if he thinks email will exist in the next 5 years, and whether Mimecast isn’t perhaps a data business which just happens to provide email security solutions.

Happy listening!

Massive Downsizing At iROKOtv and South Africa Considering Police Body Cameras

It’s been a super-busy week for the team at the African Tech Round-up.

I’m back from a week-long medical leave of absence due to eye surgery I had done on my left eye. The experience has left me grateful for the gift of sight and the many other (not to) simple things in life that we often take for granted. It’s also been humbling to witness first-hand (excuse the pun) how technology enables truly miraculous things when harnessed with wisdom and finesse.

“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realise they were the big things.”  — Robert Brault

We’re also happy to have our content producer, Peter “The Enigma” Peele back from a a hectic trip to Dubai where he attended GITEX Technology Week 2015. We managed to convince him to jump on the mic with us this week and share some highlights from his trip.

Then my co-host, Tefo Mohapi, not only delivered a talk and facilitated a discussion at the the Thabo Mbeki Leadership Institute’s Leadership Conference this past week (the dude got to even have dinner with former South African President Thabo Mbeki himself), but also attended the Brand Africa 100 Awards. You can look forward to hearing Tefo give us the low-low on all that in this week’s episode.

Nevertheless, this week’s show is chock-full of important digital, tech and innovation news from across the African continent— not least, the unfortunate rumoured in-fighting and financial distress at Jason Njoku’s media startup, iROKO Partners, and the fact that the South African Police Service is contemplating the adoption of body cams to monitor its officers. Be sure to listen in for more on that, and a whole lot more.

What’s The Big Fuss About Apple Ad Blockers?

As an avid consumer of new media, it’s hard not to love the ad blocking features Apple has worked into iOS9, and the clever ad blocking apps that are selling like hotcakes on mobile app stores everywhere.

But content publishers are claiming that ad blocking is tantamount to taking the bread out of their mouths, and warn that ultimately you and I will suffer as great content— traditionally funded through ad revenue, will no longer be viable to produce. Meanwhile, it doesn’t help that fake media traffic schemes— powered by bots, are eroding the confidence we all have in the internet’s ability to deliver an efficient and integrous way for advertisers to display ads to targeted audiences.

In this week’s discussion, Tefo Mohapi and I weigh the pros and cons of ad blocking, and discuss how this might shape the future of advertising on the web. Publishers will no doubt need to tweak their business models if they are keep the lights on. It will be interesting to see whether these developments lead brands and publishers to look to native advertising to save the day.

Also in this week’s African Tech Round-up, all the week’s biggest news from across Africa:

• South African JSE-listed tech firm, Altron is poised to sell its Autopage subscriber base for an estimated $108 million,
• Ethiopia rings in the New Year with the launch of Chinese-built light-rail system,
• Groupon is to withdraw from Morocco as part of its global rightsizing efforts,
• MultiChoice throws disgruntled Kenyan DSTV subscribers a bone by adding more channels to its “Compact” offering,
• Kenyan ISP Zuku is keen to woo customers to subscribe for its video-streaming service,
• A major survey reveals that there is a growing cyberbullying epidemic among South African teens, and
• Infamous South African Twitter personality, @PigSpotter’s identity has been revealed.

How To Build Products For Africa And Avoid Failing Like The Altech Node

It’s official. Citing “increased competition” and “unfavourable market conditions” Altron is puling the plug on the Altech Node console and will discontinue its video-on-demand offering come the end of October 2015.

The news comes in the wake of Naspers’ recent launch of the Netflix-clone, ShowMax, which the tech giant is clearly not sparing any expense in promoting. (By the way, you may as well take advantage of ShowMax’s free seven-day trial offer to check out what all the fuss is about.)

What is the best way to build new tech products for Africa?

The Node’s spectacular failure to appeal to consumers has led Tefo Mohapi and I to ponder the question, “What is the best way to build new tech products for Africa?” Perhaps there are lessons that big tech and startups on the continent would  do well to learn from Altron’s costly misfire regarding how to effectively build and roll-out relevant and commercially successful products and services.

Also in this week’s African Tech Round-up, all the week’s most important digital, tech and innovation news:

• Visa has choses to test ground-breaking biometrics technology— for use at ATM’s, in South Africa,
• Apple is preparing to shut down the transit app, Hopstop— which it bought from its Nigerian founder, Chinedu Echeruo for $1 billion in 2013,
• WeChat and Nigerian online tech publication, Tech Cabal are set to host conferences in Nigeria, aimed at empowering developers to make use of WeChat’s API, and
• Mobile phone manufacturer, Mi-Fone, accuses its Chinese rival, Xiaomi, of intentionally using similar sounding names for mobile devices they have recently launched in Africa.

Presenting Like A Pro

The gift of speech is a hugely underrated blessing. I’m at the stage in my life– personal and career-wise, where I’ve developed an awareness for the potential of what comes out of my mouth to either kill or heal, build or destroy.

In this episode of #AndilesTake, I look back on the influences that have shaped the broadcaster I am today, share what fuels my sense of purpose as a communicator, and reflect on what inspires me not just to keep raising my game as a pro, but also cherish the responsibility of having a voice in these tough times.

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it will eat its fruit.” –King Solomon

I am greatly indebted to three of South Africa’s leading communicators for sharing their stories and trade secrets with me. A big thank you to eTV news anchor, HOT 91.9 FM radio jock, voiceover artist and speaker, Marc “The Voice” Chase, the irrepressible former corporate executive turned rockstar speaker and author, Alex Granger, and executive presentation coach, founder and CEO of Business Presentation Skills Holdings, Beth-Ann Galvin— whose 30-year track record has rightfully earned her the reputation of being “The Presentation Fixer”. I have no doubt that you will benefit immensely from their wisdom as I have.

“Cashflow Rules Everything Around Me” Alludes iROKOtv’s Jason Njoku

Launching a start-up in Africa is not for the faint-hearted. Very few promising ventures– even those that achieve solid traction, can expect to land Silicon Valley-type investment offers that might allow a founder the liberty to concentrate solely on growth, versus say, survival.

This week’s discussion is inspired in part by a recent blog post by iROKOtv Founder and MD, Jason Njoku, written in response to a question posted on a popular Nigerian tech message board by someone who was curious to know how many Nigerian startups are in fact profitable.

Tefo Mohapi and I weren’t sure of what to make of both the question and and Jason’s subsequent response to it, so we decided to bounce some ideas around to try and determine which of these three: 1) growth, 2) profitability, or 3) being cashflow positive, African startup founders should focus on in order to succeed. Consider this just the start of a very long conversation that we plan to keep applying our minds to.

A definite highlight this week was having Jovago.com Founder and MD, Marek Zmyslowski aka Chinedu join us on this week’s African Tech Round-up while he was in Johannesburg on business. It was very kind of him to let us hijack him for a couple of hours, and include his two cents on this week’s news and discussion topic.

Be sure to catch all the week’s biggest digital, tech and innovation news:

• Kenya and South Sudan are set to start work on a multi-million dollar high-speed fibre optic cable within the next two years,
• The Consumer Federation of Kenya is leading a boycott of DSTV over high cable subscription rates,
• Nigerian e-commerce platform Yudala is keen to pull an ‘Amazon’ as it plans to roll out a traffic-beating drone-delivery service,
• South Africa’s largest online news platform, News24, has finally opted to disable public comments to articles posted on their website,
• Facebook 2nd Quarter African User numbers reveal some fascinating trends,
• Singtel, Orange, Deutsche Telekom and Telefónica are joining forces to launch a VC initiative spanning Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East, and 
• A quick reminder to anyone living in South Africa that public comments on the proposed new Cybercrimes and Cybersecurity Bill are to be submitted to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development on or before November 30th.

What Defines An African Startup?

Back in Episode 3 of the African Tech Round-up we asked the question: “What is a startup?” A lively discussion ensued— inspired by an eloquent piece written by David Adamo Jr, a Nigerian Computer Science PhD student at the University of North Texas.

Since then Founder & CEO of Hotels.ng, Mark Essien, and Project Isizwe Founder & CEO, Alan Knott-Craig Jr, have both since penned articles (When Startups In Nigeria Suddenly Got Serious and Venture Capital In Africa Is Hard) which contribute to answering a more pointed question we’re asking in this week’s show:

“What defines an African startup?”

Can African tech startups be defined in the same terms as those currently being born and raised in Silicon Valley?

Are there certain universal standards (i.e. minimum levels of traction in the form user onboarding, cash flow, etc.) that must be met in order for a business owner to claim the coveted title of “startup founder”?

Tefo Mohapi and I’s discussion this week adds to a debate that we hope everyone in Africa’s tech eco-system will continue to jump in on.

Also, catch up on all the week’s biggest tech, digital and innovation news from across Africa:

• Safaricom poised to start charging banks for bank-to-M-Pesa transfers,
• Google Transit launches in Kenya and attempts to aid users of public transport,
• Nest VC establishes a presence in South Africa through a partnership with Cape Town Garage,
• Android One’s Infinix Hot 2 smartphone selling like hotcakes in Nigeria,
• Google announces that they have reached a 10 million user milestone in Nigeria,
• South African mobile network, Cell C, discontinues free WhatsApp promotion, and
• South African airline FlySafair server crash following slash price ticket campaign.

Does Africa Need More Cheap Smartphones?

For many recently married couples, the diamond engagement ring is one of their biggest assets— albeit an emotional asset, symbolising love and lifelong commitment. In financial terms it isn’t an asset at all, considering the fact that it loses at least 50% of it’s retail value the moment you leave the jewellery store. Rough, isn’t it?

And yet still we feel compelled to buy diamonds for our loved ones, and continue to fuel a global billion-dollar industry. One has to admire the ingenious marketing strategy drafted and executed by the N.W. Ayer ad agency in the early 1900s for their client, De Beers, which resulted in the world attaching value to a commodity that’s not nearly as rare (or as necessary) as we were led to believe.

In this week’s African Tech Round-up, Tefo Mohapi and I discuss the the implications of low-cost smartphone penetration on the continent. The increase in internet use via mobile devices has undoubtedly delivered certain advantages. But when you consider how issues like the prevalence of preventable diseases, hunger and limited access to basic education continue to be a daily reality faced by many Africans, the importance of whether or not you have a smartphone might be in question.

So, just how important and necessary is this so-called “mass exodus” from feature phones to smartphones, and could the Android-brigade (led by Google and its mobile device manufacturing homies) be stimulating the demand for the smartphone the way De Beers did for diamonds near the turn of the century?

Also in this week’s episode, all the biggest digital, tech and innovation news from across Africa:

• Vodacom South Africa rolls out voice-over-WiFi calling,
• The Nigerian Communications Commission poised to deactivate 10.7 million mobile lines over various networks,
• Kenyan banks are finally getting in on the mobile money craze in a big way,
• Uber Kenya sees their user numbers triple following the introduction of Uber Cash,
• The embattled Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa is reeling following a train crash,
• Thousands of South Africans reportedly implicated in the Ashley Madison data dump, and
• Google rolls out its Android One programme is Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Egypt, and Morocco.

Scary Software Upgrades

Microsoft certainly got millions of people excited a while ago when they announced that their latest version of Windows would be free.

However, Windows users in most of Africa have begun to balk at the “not-so-free” implications of this recent innovation – which by the way, is essentially a compulsory upgrade.

Internet access is still relatively limited in most parts of the continent, and there’s plenty of data showing that most people primarily connect to the web via mobile networks which deliver data at a premium.

In this week’s discussion, Tefo Mohapi and I talk about how it appears tech companies like Microsoft seem unmoved by how forced software upgrades will negatively impact African consumers who must pay dearly for the privilege of staying up to date.

Also in this episode of the African Tech Round-up– all the week’s biggest digital, tech and innovation news:

• Find out why two of Vodafone’s biggest subsidiaries in Africa are in hot water for two very different reasons,
• Discover how the Hacking Team security breach has inspired advocacy group Paradigm Initiative Nigeria to write a strong letter to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari,
• Learn how South African JSE-listed giant Naspers is plotting to pre-empt Netflix’s imminent entry into the South African market with a video-on-demand service of its own,
• Get the low-low on which South African travel crowdfunding startup is calling it a day, and
• Hear all about how the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Africa project is desperately seeking data scientists.