African Tech Conversations

Cobus van der Merwe is a former army man who has managed to carve out an impressive second career in defence technology. He’s an experienced negotiation team leader in both partnership establishment and contract closure in land warfare and aviation systems. He is currently a senior executive specialising in electronic warfare at Saab Grintek Defense, based in Centurion, South Africa. Cobus has extensive experience in leading defence-level operational test and evaluation teams and performing customer value engineering. In this conversation, taped a couple of months ago, Cobus shares insights gleaned from an extensive defence career which straddled the seismic shifts which occurred within South Africa’s socio-economic landscape over the last three or four decades. Theme music by Brian Lupiya. Used with permission.

Back in 2012, Musa Kalenga was voted as one of the Top 200 Young South Africans by the Mail & Guardian, and for good reason. Musa is a talented digital specialist, marketing maven, author, former Group Head of Digital Marketing at Nedbank, former Africa Client Partner at Facebook, current Head of Brand at IAB South Africa, and Founder and CEO of a new adtech startup called Microtising. His professional business experience spans over twelve years and includes building his first company from zero to R6,5 million in turnover by the age of 26. Throughout his career, Musa has consistently done impressive work for foreign governments and multi-national companies-- assisting them to leverage digital innovation to advance their organisational objectives. In this chat with Andile Masuku, Musa shares loads of insights on starting up in Africa and talks about the challenges of navigating Africa's corporate digital scene.

Simon Carpenter is Chief Technology Officer at SAP Africa. In his rather long and varied career at SAP he has been a massive proponent of Digital Transformation and its role in enabling self-sufficiency, inclusiveness and sustainable economic growth on the continent. Simon’s also passionate about helping executives understand how SAP can help them drive their innovation and digital transformation agendas. Theme music by Brian Lupiya. Used with permission. Additional music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Chad Larson is one of the three founders of the Kenyan solar power start-up M-KOPA Solar. He serves as the company’s Finance Director and Chief Credit Officer and 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. Theme music by Brian Lupiya. Used with permission. Additional music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Eline Blaauboer is Managing Partner at both TBL Mirror Fund and Safaricom Spark Venture Fund. She’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 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. Theme music by Brian Lupiya. Used with permission. Additional music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).

Ethiopian-born, Solomon Assefa is the Director of IBM Research in Africa. He is responsible for IBM’s research labs in Kenya and South Africa, and oversees the development of technologies that aim to transform key industries and address the continent’s grand challenges. As a Research Scientist, Solomon has spent a lot of time at IBM working on nanophotonics technology. His research contributions include high-speed optical detectors, nano-structured platforms for bio-sensing, and quantum information processing. He’s co-authored over 150 publications, has over 50 patents, holds a Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and is an Honorary Professor at University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. Theme music by Brian Lupiya. Used with permission. Additional music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Tomi Davies is a Nigerian investor, author and tech evangelist who is widely considered the God-father of Africa’s angel investment scene. He is also the founder of the Lagos Angel Network (LAN), as well as the founding President of the African Business Angel Network (ABAN). He lives and works mostly in the UK, and he’s spent much of the last decade investing, mentoring, and advising start-up founders, angel investors, venture capitalists and a good number of public and private institutions. As an angel investor, he continues to manage a growing portfolio of tech-enabled businesses that originate from Africa. Music Credits: All music by Brian Lupiya. Used with permission.

Riaan Badenhorst’s worst disappointment as a young man has led to a fairly successful career in IT security. There’s no doubt that the folks at Kaspersky Lab— currently the world’s fourth largest antivirus vendor, are rather pleased that Riaan’s childhood dreams didn’t come true. Today, Riaan heads up operations for Kaspersky Lab’s Africa Business— a position he’s occupied since late 2012. In his executive role, Riaan oversees Kaspersky Lab's operations in more than 40 countries across the sub-Saharan region. In this conversation, Riaan speaks to me about the increasingly complex challenges of ensuring the safety of internet users. Riaan also gives me his take on the growing trend towards the internet of things, and offers advice around the precautions we all ought to be taking to avoid succumbing to the dangers that lurk in the digital realm. Music Credits: All music by Brian Lupiya. Used with permission.

Brendan Horan is a chartered accountant who has served as Managing Director of Mix Telematics Africa since June 2014 when the firm’s fleet and consumer businesses on the continent were merged into one business. Founded in 1996, Mix Telematics has grown into a leading global provider of fleet and mobile asset management solutions, and is listed on both the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and on the New York Stock Exchange. Using a Software-as-a-Service delivery model, MiX Telematics delivers solutions to customers in more than 120 countries, across 6 continents— with offices in South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States, Uganda, Brazil, Australia and the United Arab Emirates. Music Credits: All music by Brian Lupiya. Used with permission.

Frank Schutte, is formerly the Managing Director for Retail Product & Marketing for South Africa’s largest life insurer— Liberty. In a gutsy move, he left his cushy gig there to found a startup called MobiLife, which is "Africa’s first 100% mobile insurance offering" that aims to transform micro-insurance in South Africa. In this conversation Frank chats about what would possess him to take on the massive incumbents who currently dominate South Africa’s fiercely competitive multi-billion dollar life insurance market, and how far ahead of the online insurance adoption curve he thinks he and his team might be. Music Credits: All music by Brian Lupiya. Used with permission.

Gareth Cliff is not only a controversial South African Radio DJ and a judge on DSTV’s hugely popular Idols South Africa, but also the Co-founder & President of Africa’s largest podcast producer, CliffCentral.com. His colourful journey within broadcasting led him to quit one of South Africa’s most lucrative radio gigs to launch a platform that now boasts over 40 podcast titles and garners over 100,000 downloads per week. In this conversation, Gareth unpacks the values that motivated his evolution from broadcaster to startup founder, and shares insights on what its like to be a pathfinder in Africa’s untamed new media landscape. Music Credits: All music by Brian Lupiya. Used with permission.

Maya Horgan Famodu is a consummate eclectic who wears the beautiful complexity of her Nigerian-Swedish-American heritage with pride. Maya is the Founder and Managing Director of Ingressive, a firm dedicated to guiding global capital to African entrepreneurs through a 2,000 member angel database, and semi-annual investor tours. Alongside her serious commitment to promoting entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa, Maya takes time out to write for Inc., the Huffington Post, and several other leading publications, organise panels for the likes of SXSW, dance hip-hop and take long rides on her motorcycle. In this conversation, Maya shares the challenges of building a bullet-proof professional reputation within the American VC community, and chats about the risks and rewards of building bridges between Silicon Valley and various growth hubs within Africa’s tech ecosystem. Music Credits: All music by Brian Lupiya. Used with permission.

It’s fair to say that the Nigerian-born Toro Orero is a live wire that’s all the way lit. He serves as Managing Partner at DraperDarkFlow— a Silicon Valley VC Fund backed by the illustrious Tim Draper, who’s investment portfolio at DFJ features everything from Tesla and Solarcity to Skype and Twitter. DraperDarkFlow is dedicated to investing in African startups run by "delusional" founders intent on changing the world. Toro also curates SpeedUPAfrica, which is one of the continent’s leading startup bootcamps. In this conversation, Toro talks about how being underestimated is his superpower, what he and Tim Draper look for in startups they hope to invest in, and dishes on the pros and cons of running an Africa-focussed VC firm that’s headquartered in Silicon Valley. Music Credits: All music by Brian Lupiya. Used with permission.

Oliver Fortuin heads up BT’s (formerly British Telecoms) operations in Sub-Saharan Africa, where he is tasked with leading the charge for a legacy ICT institution (that is nearly two centuries old) in some of the world’s most promising developing markets. Prior to joining BT, Oliver held executive positions at i1 Solutions, HP and IBM, and earned an MBA from the Open University, UK. In addition to chatting about his upbringing and his journey up the corporate ladder, the conversation touches on everything from macroeconomics to business challenges that keep Oliver and his team on their toes. Be sure to listen in if only to hear Oliver’s answer when asked (rather unfairly) what disruptive trend could potentially render BT redundant in the next decade. Music Credits: All music by Brian Lupiya. Used with permission.

Ben White is exceedingly well-travelled, and his love for building new businesses has taken him all around the world and seen him collaborate with like-minded individuals pretty much anywhere he spends three hours or more. As the founder of what is widely considered Africa’s leading platform for startup funding, VC4A (Venture Capital for Africa)— Ben leads a team that brings together thousands of business professionals from 159 countries who are dedicated to building game-changing startups on the African continent. VC4A has recently published a report called the 2016 Venture Finance in Africa which cites growing investor appetite in African early stage startups. In this conversation with Andile Masuku, Ben unpacks some of his organisation's findings and factors in on what players within the VC and angel investment scene on the continent ought to be doing to improve the state-of-play overall. Music Credits: All music by Brian Lupiya. Used with permission.

By his own admission, Matthew Lee would not have been voted most likely to become an executive at a leading software multi-national by his classmates at the trade school where he trained to be a plumber. Years after he first left plumbing to try his hand at networking, Matthew worked his way up the corporate ladder at Comztek and Novell. While based in Johannesburg, he now oversees African operations at the German open source software firm, SUSE. Among many other things, Matthew chats to Andile Masuku about how the open source software movement has cleaned up its act, the extent of OSS adoption on the continent, and why Microsoft might no longer be considered the global OSS community's arch nemesis. Music Credits: All music by Brian Lupiya. Used with permission.

Stephen van Coller is the Chief Executive for Corporate and Investment Banking at Barclays Africa He is a Chartered Accountant who worked for Ernst & Young in South Africa and the UK for many years, before leaving the professional accounting industry to join Deutsche Bank— where he served as head of coverage and corporate advisory. Since joining Barclays in 2006, Stephen has held the positions of Deputy Chief Executive and Head of Investment Banking at Absa Capital and was appointed to his current position in 2009. In this extended chat, Stephen talks about how Barclays Plc’s imminent plans to shed its investments in Africa will impact the business he runs, and why he is confident that fintech startups on the continent will never completely disrupt incumbents within the financial services industry. Music Credits: All music by Brian Lupiya. Used with permission.

Our final guest on Season Two of African Tech Conversations is the “unemployable”, disruptive force that is Alan Knott-Craig Jr. It’s natural to assume that Alan Knott-Craig Sr paved the way for his son and namesake, Alan Jr to become one of the most well-recognised personalities on South Africa’s tech scene. And while it’s impossible to disregard the advantages of having such an experienced and well-connected man for a father, Alan Jr has long proved his mettle as a startup founder and gone on to carve out his own success. Prior to founding free WiFi non-profit, Project Isizwe, Alan Jr founded World of Avatar and served as CEO of Mxit. Prior to that, he was Managing Director of iBurst, as well as Chairman of Cellfind. At Project Isizwe-- where he’s currently CEO, he’s poised to hand over the reins to Zahir Khan, so he can focus his energies on steering his latest venture— WiFi network startup, HeroTel. There's no doubt that when it comes to speaking his mind with little or no filter, Alan Knott-Craig Jr proves that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Happily, that attribute makes him a very interesting subject indeed. Music Credits: All music by Brian Lupiya. Used with permission.

There’s no doubt about it. WiFi is the new black. California-based, NYSE-listed wireless systems company Ruckus Wireless is betting that the rate of WiFi infrastructure development Africa will continue to rise. And you can be sure that they’re doing what they can to help service the millions of Africans coming online year on year— profitably, of course. In the latest instalment of African Tech Conversations, Andile Masuku chats with the adrenaline-junkie that is Michael Fletcher— who has overseen Ruckus Wireless’ operations and new business development on the continent since 2010. In a career spanning 23 years, Michael has helped establish new businesses, penetrate new markets, and managed sales teams for companies like Motorola, Workz, Belkin and of course Ruckus. These days, Michael and his team at Ruckus are leveraging the company’s smart wireless solutions and nimble approach to edge in on massive incumbents like Oracle. They’re aiming to increase the company’s partner footprint across Africa and position to exploit new business opportunities. Music Credits: All music by Brian Lupiya. Used with permission.

There are many who aspire to the title of “activist”, but few walk the tweet. But Cameroonian-born Rebecca Enonchong is the real deal. Rebecca’s technical and leadership track record at the highest level has led to her being widely considered one of the most credible ambassadors for Africa’s burgeoning tech scene. We can at least vouch for this: Rebecca is not afraid of the truth. Her commitment to helping emerging entrepreneurs on the continent by sharing openly the details of the challenges, failures and successes of her career is refreshing. And as both a tech pro working her way up the corporate ladder, and later, a tenacious startup founder determined to design and build ladders of her own, hers has been quite a journey. Besides being the Founder & CEO of enterprise application solutions company, Apps Tech, Rebecca is also a trusted advisor in matters of tech and innovation to many of Africa’s most influential brands and businesses. When she’s not flying between Douala and Washington DC on Apps Tech business, Rebecca maintains a busy speaking schedule that takes her all over the world, and she serves on several boards, for the likes of the African Business Angel Network and VC4Africa. It’s fair to say that we're more than a little stoked that Johannesburg made it into her travel itinerary. Music Credits: All music by Brian Lupiya. Used with permission.

Anyone who's ever heard Gys Kappers speak will know how passionately he advocates for organisations to be super-intentional about systematically tapping every single employee— from the top to the very bottom of their structures, for game-changing insights and wisdom that can otherwise easily go ignored. In the latest episode of African Tech Conversations, Gys shares an incredible story of how an idea put forward by an entry-level factory worker helped the concrete masonry business he had a hand in building (the largest privately-owned business of its kind in South Africa at the time) stay afloat during the early to mid 2000’s. But it was a chance encounter with a fellow MBA student at the University of Cape Town following that seminal experience that would lead Gys to co-founding “social business software and collaboration company”, Wyzetalk— which is currently leading the charge on the continent to persuade companies to adopt social business software to achieve collaboration, open innovation and communication objectives. Music Credits: All music by Brian Lupiya. Used with permission.

This week’s chat on African Tech Conversations is 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 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. Music Credits: All music by Brian Lupiya. Used with permission.

Brandon Bekker 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. Listen in to hear what went into Brandon's decision to leave the security of working for a large listed tech company to join a startup. You’ll also be interested to hear what he had to say when asked whether or not email will exist in the next 5 years, and whether Mimecast isn't in fact a data business which just happens to provide email security solutions. Music Credits: All music by Brian Lupiya. Used with permission.

After being at the helm of Africa’s largest Technology, Media, and Telecommunications (TMT) sector focused fund manager for nearly a decade, Brandon Doyle seems to have thoroughly shed any visible traces of his punk rock past. Since co-founding Convergence Partners in 2006, Brandon and his team (many of whom are Charted Accountant types) have built an impressive track record of developing new investment opportunities and adding value to existing investments across the entire life cycle of ICT assets in Africa. In the latest instalment of African Tech Conversations, the Convergence Partners CEO shares some highlights from his stellar career in finance— which features lengthy stints at firms like Nedbank and Anglo American. He also hints at elements of the “secret sauce” that’s allowed his company to lay claim to the title of “impact investor”, and be widely considered a leading player within Africa’s ICT infrastructure venture capital scene. Brandon also gives us an update on how well Convergence Partners’ legacy business portfolio is doing— which includes hugely successful investments like SEACOM and Dimension Data, and talks about how he’s planning to invest the $200 million Convergence Partners has managed to woo into its recently-closed Communication Infrastructure Fund. Music Credits: All music by Brian Lupiya. Used with permission.

Many of us can relate to being let down, or at least disillusioned with our careers when we were in our early twenties. In the latest instalment of African Tech Conversations, Dominique Collett-Antolik chats to Andile Masuku about experiencing a complete meltdown based on her disappointment with how little she had achieved in life at the age of 23. By her standards, her gig at that age— investment banking at Standard Bank, was simply not good enough. After all, the dolls she played with as a child had been “23-year-old lawyers and astrophysicists”. Yes, folks. We are dealing with a serious over-achiever here-- a force of nature whose journey through life has led her through the corporate halls of some of the world's leading investment banking institutions and consulting firms. Following a successful exit at the incredibly successful fintech startup she co-founded, Tyme (acquired by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia for a rumoured ±USD30 million), Dominique has gone on to become a financial services investor and innovation architect who now inhabits a senior role at Rand Merchant Insurance Holdings. She is no doubt one of the most talented, well-informed and influential players on South Africa’s innovative fintech scene. Music Credits: All music by Brian Lupiya. Used with permission.

By her own admission, Matsi Modise, does not look a day over 25. But you would do well not to underestimate this 30 year-20old executive who has recently been appointed Managing Director of SiMODiSA-- a South African industry-led initiative launched to address the hurdles faced by small and medium-sized enterprises and startups. Formerly the National Executive Director of the South African Black Entrepreneurs Forum, Matsi is an avid entrepreneurship activist and a successful entrepreneur in her own right — having co-founded the business development advisory firm, Emerge Ltd. In this conversation, Matsi spoke about finding her voice and not being afraid to use it to advocate for causes she cares about. No doubt, it is her affinity for engaging in meaningful dialogue that has led to her being inducted as a World Economic Forum Global Shaper, and appointed the South African Chapter Head of the Pan-African foundation, Africa 2.0. We are willing to bet that this bright, millennial upstart will continue to help keep the African startup eco-system's fires burning. Music Credits: All music by Brian Lupiya. Used with permission.

Oresti Patricios co-founded Ornico Group in 1984, aka the year I was born. While incredibly disruptive in its time, the video reel production business Oresti operated back then is a far cry from the media conglomerate he runs today. Ornico Group has made a solid name for itself in Africa’s leading markets, boasting a client list which includes the likes of MultiChoice, Old Mutual and Woolworths. Oresti, who is undoubtedly a thought-leader in the sphere of African media and brand intelligence, recently made headlines by overseeing Ornico’s acquisition of the media monitoring and social analytics startup, Fuseware-- founded by Mike Wronski. At a recent talk and fireside chat I attended, hosted by iAfrikan and Ogilvy & Mather Johannesburg, Oresti and Mike shared their excitement for their new partnership, but to the dismay of many in attendance, the pair remained tight-lipped on their immediate plans for the future. In this relaxed conversation, Oresti shares on the influences that shaped his success, and explains how understanding that "business is all about people" has helped him pick the right partnerships over the years. Music Credits: All music by Brian Lupiya. Used with permission.

Mteto Nyati is no stranger to playing ball at the highest level in Africa’s corporate scene. His resume is pretty impressive. Studying at Yale, executive posts and directorships at companies like IBM, Enablis and Blue Label-- to name some, and even being MD of Microsoft South Africa for several years makes him anything but your average corporate animal. In his current role as CEO (Chief Enterprise Officer) for the MTN Group, Mteto continues to live up to his totem-- Nyati, which is Xhosa for “buffalo”, by bullishly challenging the status quo and lending his unique brand of "change-making" to a mobile telecoms business that is ripe for disruption. In this laid-back chat, Mteto unpacks his plans to change "how MTN makes money" and shares how "planning accordingly" makes it possible to overcome the on-going marginalisation of women and non-whites within corporate. Enjoy the conversation. Music Credits: All music by Brian Lupiya. Used with permission.

What do you get when a Microsoft geek and an IBM nerd fall in love and make a baby? Justin Spratt, that's what. Discover how Justin (Quirk MD Africa) went from being a curious, ten-year-old “hacker” in Australia, to rocking a suit at Morgan Stanley in London– then later becoming a tech-loving digital agency exec and start-up investor right here in Africa. We asked Justin what it’s like running what's widely considered to be the fastest-growing digital agency in Africa, and got him to share his impressions of some big-name tech entrepreneurs he’s been lucky enough to work with and be mentored by over the last decade. Name-drop alert: people like Internet Solutions Founder, Ronnie Apteker, Quirk Founder and CEO, Rob Stokes and Dimension Data Chairman, Jeremy Ord, to name some. Highlights of this absorbing conversation with Justin include: --Justin explaining why he reckons the future of tech and entrepreneurship in Africa is super-bright, --Trends to watch that will lead to the total disruption of the traditional broadcasting industry, --Invaluable advice to African millennials poised to launch themselves into the big, bad world after they finish school and/or university. Be inspired!

A short while ago, we sat Trevor Wolfe down for a quiet chat. Trevor is Managing Director of crowdsourcing company Springleap. We find out how this achievement-oriented, American millennial has managed to pack an huge amount of valuable business experience into the last decade or so-- often shunning lucrative employment opportunities with established big name firms in favour of the more difficult, less-travelled road of entrepreneurship. In this, the first of our African Tech Conversations series, Trevor walks us through the graveyard of his past experiences as a strategic resource to several startup ventures-- pointing out where "bodies are buried", and sharing what he's learned from each set back. He also shares some fascinating insights into the global trend towards crowdsourcing, and how Springleap went from selling t-shirts to becoming the impressive crowdsourcing platform it is today. Listen right through to the end to hear why he's chosen to live and work in Africa, and whether he thinks Johannesburg is cooler than Cape Town.