African Tech Roundup Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Unpacking Africa's Solar Power Revolution With Chad Larson Of M-KOPA Solar Dec 30, 2016

Show notes

This week's episode of the African Tech Round-up features a snippet from Andile Masuku's full-length sit-down with Chad Larson-- one of the three founders of the Kenyan solar power start-up M-KOPA Solar. Chad serves as the company’s Finance Director and Chief Credit Officer. He has lived in Nairobi with his wife and three boys since the company launched in 2011. Chad is a qualified CFA and an Oxford MBA who previously served as the CFO of the Africap Microfinance Investment Fund, based in Johannesburg, and prior to that, he spent 10 years in the investment banking division of Bank of America in Sydney and New York, working on fixed income, structured finance, and derivative transactions. M-KOPA Solar is aiming to be a $1 billion company by providing pay-as-you-go energy to off-grid homes. To that end, the company successfully closed a $19 million round of financing led by Generation Investment Management LLP in December 2015. Music Credits: Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Music licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution

Talking Venture Capital With Eline Blaauboer of TBL Mirror Fund and Safaricom Spark Venture Fund Dec 23, 2016

Show notes

This week’s African Tech Conversations sneak-peek is drawn from an in-depth chat Andile Masuku had with Eline Blaauboer, Managing Partner at both TBL Mirror Fund and Safaricom Spark Venture Fund. Eline’s worked in the venture capital and private equity sector in both Europe and Africa for last 14 years— gaining loads of experience with new investments and portfolio management, negotiation and structuring of investment rounds and deal flow generation. Her latest undertaking is something called 'Africa Tech Ventures' - a venture fund focussed on investing in and accelerating the growth of disruptive tech-enabled start-ups and businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa. Eline and her team at Africa Tech Ventures are currently in the process of fundraising and on the look-out for investors interested in collaborating with them. Music Credits: Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Music licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution

Olivier Laouchez Of TRACE on evolving in the digital media space Dec 20, 2016

Show notes

Olivier Laouchez, who hails from Martinique (French West Indies), is the charismatic co-founder and CEO of Trace, one of the world's leading urban entertainment platforms which reaches over 200 million multicultural and multiethnic youth in 140 countries around the world. Initially a print magazine published in New York and London, Trace was relaunched as a multimedia group in 2003, and now operates 20 TV channels under several sub-brands and formats: TRACE Urban, TRACE Tropical, TRACE Toca, TRACE Gospel and TRACE Sports Stars. More recently, Trace has continued to invest aggressively in on-demand digital video, mobile services, content production and event production.

Ringing In The Festive Season With Dr Solomon Assefa of IBM Dec 15, 2016

Show notes

The team at the African Tech Round-up is on break, but while we’re away over the next four weeks, the show will go on! In place of our regular programming, we’ll share sneak-previews of episodes from the brand-spanking new season of the African Tech Conversations series which starts on Friday, December 16th, 2016. The series features the likes of Eline Blaauboer, Managing Partner at TBL Mirror Fund and Safaricom Spark Venture Fund, Chad Larson, Co-founder and Chief Credit Officer at M-KOPA, Simon Carpenter, Chief Technology Advisor at SAP Africa, and more. This week we’re ringing in the Festive Season by sharing moments from Andile Masuku's in-depth conversation with the Ethiopian-born, Dr Solomon Assefa, who is the Director of IBM Research in Africa. Music Credits: Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Music licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution

Brett Parker of SAP Africa on helping large enterprise clients maintain their competitive edge Dec 08, 2016

Show notes

Brett Parker is the Managing Director of SAP Africa. In this chat with Andile Masuku, he reveals some of the most critical strategic decisions made by SAP’s global leadership back in 2010, that helped the software giant maintain its dominant position in an increasingly competitive global market. Brett also highlights some of the fascinating greenfield opportunities SAP is pursuing on the continent and explains why SAP is well-positioned to partner with enterprises looking to navigate digital transformation issues.

Dr Chakib Bouhdary of SAP clears up commonly held misconceptions regarding digital transformation Dec 08, 2016

Show notes

Moroccan-born Dr Chakib Bouhdary is SAP’s global Digital Transformation Officer. In this chat with Andile Masuku, he shares some of the most common misconceptions he encounters regarding digital transformation when he interacts with executives around the world. Chakib also comments on the strategic mindset driving the trend towards large enterprises keenly making big plays outside their traditional businesses.

Zebra Cabs Raises $21.6 Million To Take On Uber And Taxify In South Africa Dec 06, 2016

Show notes

SA Taxi-owned Zebra Cabs has raised just over $21.6 million from Futuregrowth Asset Management to expand their owner-driver scheme in Johannesburg, and to take on Uber and Taxify. Their big hairy audacious goal is to have 3 000 cabs on the road by 2020. This development has got us wondering how many players Africa’s ride-sharing market can sustain. There must be easier ways to make a buck, but it seems the prospect of carving out a decent chunk of a potentially multi-billion dollar industry is clearly too much to pass up for VC's like Futuregrowth. The FOMO is real! It’s going to be interesting to see how quickly Zebra Cabs burns through their newly-found cash. Will they withstand the fierce price war that's almost guaranteed to ensue? How long will their financiers be willing to wait before they turn a profit? And will more funds be forthcoming when Zebra Cabs needs to extend their runway further down the line? Only time will tell. In this week’s African Tech Round-up we publish snippets from two conversations Andile Masuku taped at SAP’s Executive Digital Exchange, which happened in Camps Bay, Cape Town last week. First, he spoke with SAP’s global Digital Transformation Officer, Dr Chakib Bouhdary who shared some of the most common misconceptions regarding digital transformation he's encountered while interacting with executives around the world. Chakib also explained the strategic mindset driving the trend towards large enterprises keenly making big plays outside their traditional businesses. Then, Andile then spoke with SAP Africa MD, Brett Parker, who revealed some of the most critical strategic decisions SAP’s global leadership made back in 2010 that helped them to maintain their dominant position in an increasingly competitive global market. Listen in to hear Brett highlight some of the fascinating greenfield opportunities SAP is pursuing on the continent. Music Credits: Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Music licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution

Dr Vukosi Marivate of South Africa’s CSIR on the importance of data security regulation Dec 02, 2016

Show notes

This is a lively chat Andile Masuku had with Dr Vukosi Marivate, a Data Scientist and Senior Researcher at South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). They speak about the trend towards countries around the world passing laws that require the personal information of their citizens to be hosted on servers within their borders. We reached out to Vukosi after having some insightful engagement with him on Twitter last week; following our coverage of Russia blocking LinkedIn for flouting data security regulations.

Senegal Launches A New Electronic Currency Nov 29, 2016

Show notes

Senegal is now the second African country after Tunisia to adopt an electronic currency. eCFA is equivalent in value to the country’s physical tender and will be available on all mobile money and e-wallet platforms. This development has led to e-money proponents speculating which African country might be next to adopt electronic money. Zimbabwe, perhaps? It’s popularly been argued that given the persistent economic troubles that have dogged the country, Zimbabwe might very well be the continent’s best use case for the adoption of virtual currency. But for the time being, Zimbabweans will have to be content with the country’s newest currency-- bond notes, which the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe started rolling out on Monday, December 28th, 2016. This week’s African Tech Round-up features a lively chat Andile Masuku had with Dr Vukosi Marivate, a Data Scientist and Senior Researcher at South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). They speak about the trend towards countries around the world passing laws that require the personal information of their citizens to be hosted on servers within their borders. We reached out to Vukosi after having some insightful engagement with him on Twitter last week; following our coverage of Russia blocking LinkedIn for flouting data security regulations. Music Credits: Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Music licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution

Kenyan Agritech Startup WeFarm Secures $1.6 Million In Funding Nov 21, 2016

Show notes

How much of an over-achiever is Elon Musk fixing to become, though? In the last week, he’s added providing global internet coverage via a massive satellite network to his audacious To-do List. In this week’s African Tech Round-up Andile Masuku reflects on how Musk’s latest ambition might upset net neutrality watchdogs around the world who might not trust SpaceX to responsibly execute on something they don’t trust the likes of Google and Facebook to do. Also in this week’s show is more about perhaps the most publicised tech investment news of the past week, the $1.6 million investment haul made by the Kenyan agritech startup WeFarm. It’s exciting to see agritech startups start to excite the global VC community. It's absurd how millions of people on the continent go hungry every year despite how well-endowed Africa is in terms of natural resources. It’s about time we harness tech to work smarter, improve our yields, and get food to hungry people not just on the continent, but wherever it’s needed around the world. Finally, listen in to hear Andile Masuku's conversation with Milena Taieb, Head of Video for France, Africa and the Middle East at Believe Digital Studios— the world’s leading multi-channel network (MCN) specialising in multi-platform distribution, audience development and content monetisation. Milena reveals how Believe has upended the traditional music and video production business, and how despite the plethora of self-publication platforms available to creators today, success is predicated on executing a killer digital strategy. Music Credits: Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Music licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution

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