African Tech Round-Up

In this podcast - the second episode in African Tech Roundup's (https://africantechroundup.com) three-part miniseries on digital assets (http://bit.ly/atrudigitalassets) - Andile Masuku chats with two gifted distributed ledger proponents who are co-architects of the African Digital Assets Framework - ADAF (http://adaf.io). ADAF is the first open-source software platform to create transnational standards for digital assets and distributed ledger technologies— in line with pan-African development objectives. ADAF intends to complement the African Union’s Single Africa Digital Market initiative, which seeks to leverage technology to stimulate digitised pan-African economic integration. Andile's first podcast guest is Felix Macharia, a Kenyan senior medical student who is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of EOS Nairobi— where he leads product development and decentralised protocol research. Felix is also an affiliate scholar with the Institute for Blockchain Studies in New York. Also on the show is

Following a sunny Johannesburg lunch al fresco, Nendo (https://nendo.co.ke) Founder and CEO Mark Kaigwa and Andile Masuku chat about a few consumer tech issues that are currently trending in their lives. Listen in to learn why the music streaming service Boomplay is thriving in Africa, how Transsion's African digital domination strategy seems to be coming together nicely, why Xiaomi's Pocophone F1 smartphone is shaking things up in the global high-end mobile device market, and why Mark and Andile feel obliged to weigh the pros and cons of switching back to Android after several years of being iPhone users. Resource referenced in this episode: From Cyber Café to Smartphone: Kenya’s Social Media Lens Zooms In on the Country and Out to the World http://bit.ly/KenyaSocialMedia

This podcast is the first instalment of a three-part miniseries (http://bit.ly/atrudigitalassets) produced by African Tech Roundup (https://africantechroundup.com) to spark a broader debate about the nature and value of African digital assets within the context of the world’s emerging digital economy. Joining Andile Masuku for this conversation are two distinguished Cape Town-based innovators. First, the Zimbabwean-born Professor of Intellectual Property at the University of Cape Town’s Faculty of Law and co-editor of the South African Intellectual Property Law Journal, Caroline Ncube. Caroline has authored a book called Intellectual Property Policy, Law and Administration in Africa: Exploring continental and sub-regional co-operation and co-edited another called Indigenous Knowledge and Intellectual Property. She is also a fellow of the Cambridge Commonwealth Society, a Shell Centenary Scholarship Fund scholar, an associate member of the Centre for Law, Technology and Society at the University of Ottawa an

Joining Andile Masuku and guest co-host Rushil Vallabh of Secha Capital on this African Tech Roundup podcast is Grant Phillips. Grant is the Founder and CEO of PhilTech Consulting and has partnered with both Convergence Partners and Stockdale Street (the Oppenheimer Family’s South African private equity outfit) to "build out technology ecosystems across Africa". He was previously the CEO and Chairman of the Nairobi-based credit reference bureau and debt management outsource organisation CRB Africa as well as CEO of TransUnion’s Pan-African business. Listen in to hear Andile, Rushil and Grant unpack the provocative assertion that venture capital is a Ponzi scheme, recently made by the American-Sri Lankan Founder and CEO of Social Capital Chamath Palihapitiya. Head to [1:18:12] if you'd like to skip straight to that conversation. Chamath - a bona fide billionaire - was an early senior executive at Facebook. Following that, Chamath founded Social Capital which he claims, its first 8 years, made double what Ber

Paul Kent is Co-founder and Managing Director of Sureswipe, a South African payments solutions startup dedicated to making card payment acceptance easy and accessible for small and medium-sized retailers and service providers. Sureswipe started out as a business division of the cloud-based clinical and billing practice management software firm, Healthbridge, before it evolved into the Point-Of-Sale (POS) product driven startup it is today. Since 2008, Paul has helped to grow Sureswipe into one of the more recognisable brands in South Africa's crowded payments market. The business currently services over 9,000 merchants and employs more than 100 people. In this conversation with Andile Masuku, Paul sheds light on Sureswipe's growth strategy and provides pragmatic insight about the market intelligence and business partnerships required to succeed in South Africa's competitive payments industry.

South African Lyndsey Duff is the South Africa Country Manager at What3Words— a British startup which provides a precise physical location solution that has broken up the world into a grid of 3m x 3m squares and assigned each one a unique 3-word address. Prior to joining What3Words, Lyndsey oversaw inward investment at the South African High Commission UK, following stints at the Palace of Westminster and the South African Chamber of Commerce. In this brief chat with Andile Masuku - taped at Africa Tech Summit Kigali 2018 - Lyndsey outlines What3Words' African business goals and unpacks the company's ambition to better tech heavies like Google by ushering in the "next global addressing standard".

On this podcast, Andile Masuku chats with two exceptional, Cape Townian entrepreneurs who are both actively involved in a youth-focused tech hub initiative called the Masakhe Techville Creative Technology Center in KwaLanga township, where they both grew up. The project is an initiative of the Masakhe Foundation. Mpilo Ngcukana co-founded the Simon Deporres men’s clothing brand in 2007 - while studying Finance and Economics at the University of Cape Town, and is currently working to launch an art gallery in Langa. And Thulani Fesi is a street art curator and hospitality and entertainment innovator who was previously part of the independent record label, 021 Records, alongside notable stablemates DJ Fosta and Skullman. In this conversation, Mpilo and Thulani let us into the grassroots struggle to bring disadvantaged youth in KwaLanga up to speed with advances in tech, in order to set them up for success in today’s increasingly digital world. Editorial Disclaimer: Airbnb (https://airbnb.com) is the presenti

This podcast features two South African startup founders working the trenches of the emerging gig economy. Human geneticist-turned-entrepreneur Aisha Pandor is the Co-founder and CEO of SweepSouth, an on-demand booking platform for home cleaning services. SweepSouth is quite notably the first South African start-up to be accepted into the 500 Startups Accelerator in Silicon Valley. Velani Mboweni is the Co-founder and CEO of the ride-sharing service, LULA. This Global Fellow of the San Francisco-based Kairos Society and alumnus of the South Africa-Washington International Program is currently spearheading a mission to transform the way people commute by leveraging on the shared economy and mobile technology. Aisha and Velani were both born into families with a rich political history and have inherited considerable privilege as a result. Aisha is the daughter of South Africa’s current Minister of Higher Education, Dr Naledi Pandor, and Velani is the nephew of former South African Reserve Bank governor, Ti

Anita Mendiratta is the Canadian Founder and Managing Director of Cachet Consulting, a firm which services governments, multinational corporations and global NGO’s. Anita has over two decades of tourism and economic development experience gleaned on almost every continent and possesses an enviable grasp of the economic, social, political and environmental dynamics impacting nations grappling with change. She is currently a Strategic Advisor to CNN International, a Board Member for the Thebe Group, a Strategic Resource to the World Bank and a Partner to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO). In this brief conversation with Andile Masuku, Anita reflects on the progress Africa's tourism industry has made since she first arrived on the continent in the 90's and factors in on the challenges and opportunities that remain. Editorial Disclaimer: Airbnb (https://www.airbnb.com/) is the presenting sponsor of this podcast, which is part of an African Tech Roundup (https://www.africantechroundup.com/)

This super-chill conversation, taped at the fringes of Africa Tech Summit 2018, features Google South Africa’s Head of Communications and Public Affairs, Mich Atagana. Mich is an exceedingly well-travelled former-journalist who, as Editor of Memeburn and Ventureburn, previously covered emerging tech and startups on the continent. Mich was a GSMA Global Mobile Awards judge for 4 years (from 2014 to 2017), and also formerly penned a column for CNN which featured insight about leading tech companies around the world. In this chat with Andile Masuku, Mich reveals how Google is working to ensure that Africans coming online - as access to the internet improves - are equipped with relevant educational resources to help them thrive in digital terms, and are served with content that reflects their world. Look out for some fun cameos in this episode. Editorial Disclaimer: Airbnb (https://airbnb.com) is the presenting sponsor of this podcast, which is part of an African Tech Roundup (https://africantechroundup.com

Honourable Najib Balala is Kenya’s Minister of Tourism and Wildlife. After previously serving in that cabinet position once before, from 2008 to 2012, and subsequently serving as Chairman of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, Hon. Balala was re-appointed as Kenya's Tourism Minister in 2015. Following the establishment of Kenya’s new Constitution in 2012, Hon. Balala was responsible for delivering the country’s reformed Tourism Bill and providing the sector with a policy designed to promote growth and sustainability through public-private cooperation. Listen in for insights from a man credited with steering Kenya’s tourism sector to recovery following the country’s tragic post-election violence in 2008, and for being the chief architect of what is widely considered one of the continent’s most progressive tourism policy and legal frameworks. Editorial Disclaimer: Airbnb (https://airbnb.com) is the presenting sponsor of this podcast, which is part of an African Tech Roundup (https://africantechro

Stephan Ekbergh is the Founder and CEO of Travelstart. He is a Swedish entrepreneur who is probably best known for growing Travelstart from a provocative online travel startup in Scandinavia to one of the world’s largest online travel agencies servicing emerging markets in Africa and the Middle East. Prior to founding Travelstart, Stephan was a touring DJ and entertainment entrepreneur who performed at events all over Europe. After founding Travelstart in 1999 and steering the business to profitability, he moved to Cape Town, South Africa in 2004 to expand the firm into Africa. In 2010, he decided to sell Travelstart's European division to focus on growth into the Middle East, and in 2016, Travelstart took on $40 million dollars of investment in a round led by Amadeus. Listen in to learn how Stephan succeeded in bringing his African startup dream to fruition and to hear why he's bullish about the business potential of Africa's travel and tourism industry. Editorial Disclaimer: Airbnb (https://airbnb.com) i

Pearl Boshomane Tsotetsi is the Lifestyle Editor at the Sunday Times (South Africa). Pearl was voted one of Mail and Guardian's Top 200 Young South Africans in 2015 and assumed her current role in 2017. She previously served as Editor of Daily Planet, an intersectional pop culture and social commentary website covering the arts, feminism, racism, social media and digital consumer trends. In addition to working at the Sunday Times, the self-proclaimed "Blonde Bombshell" writes and curates for her blog, FeministMakoti.co.za— a platform for black female voices to convey perspectives on love, sex, marriage, relationships and everything in between. In this conversation with Andile Masuku - taped at Africa Travel Summit 2018 (http://africatravelsummit.com) - Pearl unpacks her aspirational editorial approach to crafting an “intelligent lifestyle product” that is both representative and market-relevant. Listen in for some straight-talk about the sociopolitical and economic importance of profiling black excellence

Chris Lehane is Airbnb’s Head of Global Policy, Public Affairs and Communications. Chris engages with policymakers around the world to safeguard the rights of people who have bought into the travel industry giant's home sharing proposition. He also frequently contributes to public discourse around the societal hazards, economic benefits and democratisation potential of the new "experience economy" Airbnb is propagating. In the 1990's, Chris served in various positions in the Clinton Administration, including Press Secretary to Vice-President Al Gore and Special Assistant Counsel to President Bill Clinton. Today, he is easily one of the world’s most high profile sharing economy proponents and in this conversation with Andile Masuku - taped at Africa Travel Summit 2018 (http://africatravelsummit.com) - Chris unpacks some of the idealistic values influencing Airbnb’s strategy and fuelling their growth. He also tackles some of the very real challenges that society will need to confront as the world navigates to

Mark Mwongela is the Co-founder and CEO of Pesapal, a leading Kenyan mobile, online and point-of-sale (POS) payment platform operating in seven African countries including Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Kenya. Previously, Mark served as Technical Director at Pesapal— overseeing the firm's product development efforts, and prior to that, he was Managing Director of Variant Technology Management Consultancy. In this conversation with Andile Masuku - taped at Africa Travel Summit 2018 (http://africatravelsummit.com) - Mark shares the rationale for Pesapal's Pan-African hospitality business focus and factors in on how home-grown fintech innovation is contributing to the growth of the continent's travel and tourism industry at large. Listen in to hear how a travel blog targeting Kenyans living abroad led to the development of what is now one of Kenya’s leading mobile, online and point of sale platforms servicing hundreds of hotels, tour companies and travel operators. Editorial Disclaimer: Airbnb (https:

According to a recent World Bank report, it's more costly to send money to Africa than to anywhere else in the world. On average, a 12% remittance fee is charged for every USD200 sent to the continent. Just last year (2017), African Diasporans reportedly sent home USD38 billion, and doubtless, a solid chunk of that sum served to line the pockets of financial incumbents who are only too happy to promote the status quo. In this episode of the African Tech Roundup, Herbert Banhire, AMA.ZING's Head of Zimbabwean Diaspora SA, joins Andile Masuku and guest co-host, Tapsnapp Founder, Vije Vijendranath, to chat about some leading tech and innovation ecosystem trends and to talk about the Zing Holdings' (http://ama.zing.world) ambitions to disrupt Africa's remittance industry via their first B2C virtual coin-based remittance offering, AMA.ZING. The Mauritius-registered Zing Holdings was founded by South Africans Jason Perthel (CEO) and Warren Venter. AMA.ZING is poised to help Zimbabweans living in South Africa - b

You might recall that in September 2017 the Cameroonian former Founder & CEO of Afrostream and current Chief Brand Officer of African Leadership Academy's Anzisha Prize, Tonjé Bakang, published a heavily-publicised Medium post in French announcing that his VOD streaming service was shutting down. Here is Tonjé's letter in English— translated by Audrey Lang: http://bit.ly/tonjéokayafrica. Our very own Andile Masuku even wrote a syndicated op-ed for Business Report South Africa (http://bit.ly/tonjeoped) celebrating Tonjé's decision to chronicle how and why his company failed. By founding Afrostream, Tonjé set out to capture the loyalty of an underserved customer segment that lay within the confines of a super-competitive streaming market. We’re talking a well-defended industry dominated by international rivals like Netflix, and by increasingly confident African startups like IROKO— the former reportedly spending something like €33 million on marketing alone in the first year they launched in France (Afrostream

Congolese Jean-Claude Tshipama is the CEO of Eutelsat's Konnect Africa subsidiary which delivers satellite broadband connectivity services in Africa. Jean-Claude has over 16 years’ experience in telecommunications, computer and Pay TV industries’. He holds an MBA from HEC-Montreal in Canada and a Master’s degree in Economics from the Protestant University in Congo. Jean-Claude was formerly the Commercial Director at Celtel in DR Congo, and also previously served as Director of Sales and Distribution at both the Digicel Group and at the Microsoft Corporation's Africa business. Prior to joining Eutelsat, he was notably CEO of Canal+ in DR Congo, and he currently serves on the board of Equity Bank in Kenya. In this conversation with Andile Masuku and Musa Kalenga - taped at Afrobytes Tech Marketplace 2018 - Jean-Claude discusses his new role at Eutelsat and shares some of the values that inform his personal and professional mission. Listen in to hear him respond to questions about his organisation's ability t

South African Simon Dingle has worked with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies since 2011, designing products that make it easier to engage in an increasingly digital world. He has proved to be especially gifted at using his broadcasting, writing and speaking talents to make complex crypto-related matters simple for audiences all around the world Simon previously led the product team at one of the world’s earliest Bitcoin exchanges and spearheaded collaborations on several other popular fintech products. Today, he spends most of his time designing and investing in projects that "make money more fair". Simon is a passionate cryptocurrency proponent who believes that "a new kind of money" can save the world from tyranny and allow global citizens to trade without needing to rely on greedy third-parties. In this sparky conversation with Andile Masuku, he unpacks some radical ideas contained in his book entitled, In Math We Trust – The Future of Money, and makes a case for why we should all trust math instead of

At the fringes of Afrobytes Tech Marketplace 2018, Andile Masuku caught up with virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) evangelist, founder of the Lagos-based Ìmísí 3D and co-founder of the We Will Lead Africa initiative, Judith Okonkwo, to take in her compelling arguments for why VR tech ought to be more enthusiastically embraced across Africa. Listen in to hear how Judith and her team at Ìmísí 3D - an "Extended Reality (AR/VR) creation lab dedicated to growing a community of AR/VR developers in Nigeria" - are working to turn 3D adoption sceptics into believers by creating market-relevant solutions using AR/VR tech, and providing educational and engagement experiences with AR/VR.