African Tech Roundup Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Craig Wilson on the best from Mobile World Congress 2016 Mar 13, 2016

Show notes

Andile Masuku chats to Stuff Magazine South Africa Editor, Craig Wilson, about all the biggest news to come out of the Mobile World Congress 2016-- that went down in Barcelona.

Mobile World Congress 2016 (feat. Craig Wilson, Talib Graves-Manns & Brien Jordan-Jack) Mar 07, 2016

Show notes

Aspirational mobile trends like virtual reality are all well and good, but as Africans we must still grapple with the practical implications of having a massive percentage of mobile users on the continent continuing to rely on feature phones. In this week’s episode of the African Tech Round-up, Stuff Magazine South Africa Editor and good friend of the show, Craig Wilson joins Andile Masuku to unpack some of the highlights of Mobile World Congress 2016— which wrapped in Barcelona just over a week ago. Also, be sure to listen into this week’s show to catch snippets of a conversation Andile had with Talib Graves-Manns (Start-up Founder & Entrepreneur in Residence with Google for Entrepreneurs and Code 2040) and Brien Jordan-Jack (Aerospace Engineer, Commercial Pilot & Founder of Axiom Group). Find out what Talib reckons sets Code 2040 apart from other “diversity in tech” initiatives aimed at creating access, awareness, and opportunities for top Black and Latino/a engineering talent in the US. And learn what Brien makes of the crazy valuations of Silicon Valley tech startups, many of which are yet to demonstrate any substantial revenue potential, never mind profitability. Music Credits: Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Music licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Talib Graves-Manns And Brien Jordan-Jack on starting up while black in the US Mar 06, 2016

Show notes

Andile Masuku got to hang with two interesting African-American entrepreneurs who were in South Africa on business, and gleaned insights on the start-up scene they hail from. Talib Graves-Manns is the Entrepreneur in Residence with Google for Entrepreneurs and Code2040 at the American Underground in Durham, North Carolina. Talib is also the Co-Founder of three startups: RainbowMe Kids, Point AB, and Life on Autopilot. Brien Jordan-Jack is an aerospace engineer, and a celebrated commercial airline pilot for a leading global carrier. He’s also had a long stint working in investment banking. Currently, he’s leveraging all his technical training, professional experience and impressive network into launching various ventures in new media and international property investments.

Nigeria's Communications Comission Accepts MTN Nigeria's 'Chump Change' Settlement Feb 29, 2016

Show notes

It would seem that MTN might be off the hook over the small matter of the several billion dollars it owes/owed the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)— proving to many that “all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”, or as Tefo Mohapi so eloquently put it in this week’s episode of the African Tech Round-up, “TIA”. MTN Nigeria seems to have taken the casual legal advice of a certain Kyle Torrington of LexNove who joined me on last week’s show and suggested that the least MTN ought to do is start demonstrating some goodwill by taking steps to right some of its wrongs on the continent. It’s just that relative to the $3.9billion fine levied by the NCC, MTN’s $250million show of “good faith” seems rather pithy. Listen in to this week’s show to hear Tefo Mohapi and Andile Masuku factor in on what is clearly the biggest break MTN has landed in months, that is, if the spike in the company’s share price is anything to go by. Music Credits: Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Music licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Museveni Won, But Did Uganda Decide? Feb 22, 2016

Show notes

Uganda’s most closely contested election in decades pitted the victorious incumbent, Yoweri Museveni, against seven other candidates, including his former doctor, Kizza Besigye, and ex-prime minister, Amama Mbabazi. While polls leading up to the election showed that Mr Museveni had a comfortable lead over his nearest rival, there was still the open question of the winning candidate needing to secure more than 50% of the vote to avoid a run-off with the second-ranked contender. (Mr Museveni eventually won 60% of the Ugandan vote.) Following a government-ordered social media blackout, many Ugandan journalists, activists and even some presidential candidates spent last Thursday (election day) posting social media updates on ways people could access social media via VPN Services like Tunnelbear. And while it’s widely believed that Mr Museveni engineered the social media ban to ensure his victory, it has to be asked, was this a legitimate attempt to keep elections free and fair, or simply an outright violation of human rights? Joining Andile Masuku on the African Tech Round-up this week to debate that question as well as to give his candid take on other high-profile legal issues to come out of Africa’s digital tech and innovation scene of late, is lawyer turned co-founder of LexNove, Kyle Torrington. Music Credits: Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Music licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

#FreeBasicsMustFall Feb 15, 2016

Show notes

Facebook is still smarting from having Free Basics kicked out of India. Clearly no one was more upset by India’s emphatic rejection of Mark Zuckerberg’s walled garden project than venture capitalist and Facebook board member, Marc Andreessen, who took to Twitter last week to express his frustration at the country’s decision— a move that was met by global outrage. Nevertheless, we have Andreessen to thank for inspiring our discussion on this week’s episode of the African Tech Round-up, and re-igniting the debate around net neutrality, and whether companies like Facebook ought to be supported in their efforts to provide "internet lite" to the world’s poorest who would not otherwise access the web at all. Music Credits: Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Music licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Siya Xuza And Dr Jerry Gule factor in on promoting homegrown tech innovation Feb 14, 2016

Show notes

Siyabulela Xuza is a young engineering graduate from Harvard, who got his start in science very young, experimenting with rocket fuel in his mother’s kitchen in a little rural town in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. While still very young, he would later become quite well-known for his prowess in the field of energy engineering, winning numerous awards and endowments from around the world— so much so that he even had a planet named after him. These days, he’s back on the continent, and alongside spearheading a business focusing on the commercialisation of solar cells and related solar technologies, he serves as Brand Ambassador for French oil giant, Total. This chat features Siya, and Total’s GM for the company’s Marketing Services Competency Centre (Pty) Limited, Dr Jerry Gule.

Should Uber Leave Kenya? Feb 08, 2016

Show notes

No doubt about it— it’s an unsettling time to be an Uber driver in Kenya. This past week, more reports of intimidation and violence against Uber drivers have been reported in Nairobi. And you can be certain that the beef is not over Uber’s shocking new logo. It appears Uber’s presence in the East African nation has begun to to seriously offend the nationalist sensibilities of some Kenyans. In this week’s discussion on the African Tech Round-up, Tefo Mohapi and I try and wrap our minds around the angst surrounding Uber in Kenya and ask a simple question, “Should Uber Leave Kenya?” Music Credits: Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Music licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

SEACOM Experiences Second Major Outage In As Many Weeks Feb 01, 2016

Show notes

The soul-destroying Twitter outages and more recent SEACOM broadband disruptions notwithstanding, the team at the AfricanTechRoundup.com has been extremely busy since we properly got 2016 on the go a few weeks ago. So busy in fact, that Tefo Mohapi was unable to join Andile Masuku on the show this week. (Heads up. This week’s episode will be uncharacteristically short, but informative, nonetheless.) Music Credits: Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Music licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Apple, Sony And Samsung Face Child Labour Allegations In The DRC Jan 25, 2016

Show notes

We had to face a tough truth this week. The fact is that we are complicit in the perpetuation of horrible crimes against humanity. And if you’re reading this right now, it’s likely that you are too. If you’re an enthusiastic user of the useful tech products made by the likes of Apple, Sony and Samsung (as we are), then you’re contributing to the on-going exploitation of children as young as seven years of age in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In this week’s episode of the African Tech Round-up, Tefo Mohapi and Andile Masuku discuss the disturbing implications of an exposé recently put out by Amnesty International and African Resources Watch (Afrewatch), which names and shames leading technology manufacturers who use cobalt sourced in the DRC in lithium-ion batteries found in their products. (Fast fact: The DRC produces at least 50% of the world's cobalt.) There’s no doubt that there’s an argument for how companies and governments need to be held to account, but we as consumers need to realise that ultimately, it is we who wield the greatest economic leverage to influence commercial and political interests to act ethically. The pertinent question is therefore less, “What will they do about it?” but more, “What are we going to do about it?” Music Credits: Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Music licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

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