Podcasts about project isizwe

Listen in as Alan Knott-Craig Jr, son of Alan Sr, the pioneering co-founder and first CEO of Vodacom, one of South Africa's leading mobile network operators, and later the feisty CEO of challenger telco Cell C—takes us through a transformative career moment that set the stage for his future ventures. Episode overview This early 2016 conversation finds Alan Knott-Craig Jr in a moment of trademark forthrightness. Fresh from his tenure as CEO of Mxit, once Africa's largest social network with over 50 million registered users, he was already building Project Isizwe, a non-profit bringing free public Wi-Fi to South African townships, while laying the groundwork for HeroTel—reportedly the country's largest fixed wireless internet service providers. His journey would later lead to founding FiberTime, his current venture bringing pay-as-you-go fibre internet to townships through an innovative voucher-based model—an offering in a growing field of players serving underserved communities. Critical points - The fascinating disconnect between Knott-Craig Jr's prominent surname and admittedly privileged middle-class roots—his father never held Vodacom shares and put him through government schools - His journey from dutiful son following paternal direction until 25 to forging his own entrepreneurial path - The honest characterisation of Project Isizwe's non-profit work as "sincerely selfish" What we know now Viewed from 2025, this conversation foreshadowed key developments in Knott-Craig Jr's trajectory: - The evolution from running Africa's largest social network to pioneering township internet connectivity models - His transition through various ventures: from Project Isizwe's free township Wi-Fi network to HeroTel's rural broadband expansion, and now FiberTime's pay-as-you-go township fibre model - The emergence of his distinctive voice on entrepreneurship, particularly evident in his strongly-opinionated social posts and entrepreneurship books. Questions we're pondering - Could Mxit, with over 50 million registered users at its peak, have dominated African mobile social networking if it had doubled down on being a dating platform instead of taking WhatsApp head-on? - After writing several books about entrepreneurship over the last decade, has Knott-Craig Jr fully embraced vulnerability in "Life Lessons: How to fail and win" (June 2024)? - Will FiberTime's pay-as-you-go model or some derivative—no contracts, just vouchers for 24 hours of uncapped 100Mbps—prove to be the key that unlocks true digital inclusion in South African townships? Image credit: Stokoekeagan

BizNews — The transition from classroom education to home schooling can be easy if you have internet access. One of the Biznews contributors Anton Roux related how his daughter’s day has not changed much during the Covid-19 lockdown as she sits down in front of her laptop for lessons until the school day ends. For many other families in the country, it is not that easy as they do not have access to the internet. The charity Project Isizwe is enabling some poorer families to continue education by providing them with modems and data. But as Allan Knott-Graig told Alec Hogg it is a short-term solution during the novel coronavirus outbreak. The cost of data in South Africa is too expensive to provide internet to communities over the longer term. – Linda van Tilburg

BizNews — The transition from classroom education to home schooling can be easy if you have internet access. One of the Biznews contributors Anton Roux related how his daughter’s day has not changed much during the Covid-19 lockdown as she sits down in front of her laptop for lessons until the school day ends. For many other families in the country, it is not that easy as they do not have access to the internet. The charity Project Isizwe is enabling some poorer families to continue education by providing them with modems and data. But as Allan Knott-Graig told Alec Hogg it is a short-term solution during the novel coronavirus outbreak. The cost of data in South Africa is too expensive to provide internet to communities over the longer term. – Linda van Tilburg

Today's pod-episode left me with aha moments and a deep desire to continue in pursuit of one's true purpose. I am always inspired by women in our country who work tirelessly to effect change and to better the lives of our people. In this conversation, I had the honor to interview a remarkable woman who believes our purpose on this earth is to be of service to each other. I sat down with Dudu Mkhwanazi who is the CEO of Project Isizwe, an NPO which advocates for digital inclusion for low-income communities. In 2017, at just 26 she became the youngest CEO of the organization. Dudu holds a Masters Degree in Public Policy and Comparative Politics from the Universite Montpellier, in France. She does it all while also being a mom to a beautiful girl. This episode uncovered her journey from Politics to Tech and what she had to quickly learn when she occupied this leadership role. We further touched on the pressure of being the first in the family, motherhood and mental wellness. Do give us feedback on what you enjoyed the most about this episode. Enjoy! ************************************************************************************** Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast if you haven't already, rate and review us. You can also leave us a voice message on anchor.fm and who knows you might be featured on our next episode. These are other platforms where you can find this podcast and subscribe to one that you have access to. You can find both our Podcast and our Host Olerato on Instagram. Our website is www.lifewitholerato.com For business inquiries email us on lmthembu27@gmail.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thejourneyunearthed/message

Half of the world's population don't access the internet, and they're missing out on economic and social benefits says Dhanaraj Thakur, research director at the Web Foundation. Satellites might provide the solution to reaching people in remote areas according to Jason Knapp from the company Viasat and Larry Smarr from the University of Southern California. Dudu Mkhwanazi, CEO of Project Isizwe, describes the benefits of access for poor townships in South Africa.(Photo: Internet users in the Ivory Coast, Credit: Getty Images)

TechCentral — In this episode of the podcast, Duncan McLeod interviews Project Isizwe CEO Duduzile Mkhwanazi on the non-profit's plans for rolling out free Wi-Fi in South Africa following the dissolution of the company's agreement with the City of Tshwane. Mkhwanazi, who joined Project Isizwe from the Democratic Alliance 19 months ago, explains what happened in Tshwane, and why the company is no longer involved in the city's Wi-Fi project. She talks about the company's origins, the work it is still involved with and its expansion plans. In the podcast, Mkhwanazi explains Project Isizwe's business model, what role founder Alan Knott-Craig still plays and some of the opportunities it is pursuing, including in the area of TV white-spaces spectrum (it was involved with Microsoft in a trial of this technology in Limpopo). Don't miss the discussion.

Tim Human, Jan Lachenmayer The complex and multidimensional challenge of digital inclusion is being tackled by corporations, governments, and ever more so, by entrepreneurs and innovators. Before any of us create solutions though, we need to understand what the key barriers are to Internet adoption, and figure out the best ways to intervene. In this session, three initiatives, the winners of the Mozilla Equal Ratings challenge, will present their solutions on how to connect underserviced communities. All three initiatives target different demographies and use different technologies: Gram Marg Solution for Rural Broadband: The team from Mumbia, India has built an open source low-cost hardware prototype utilizing Television White Spectrum to provide affordable access to rural communities. Afri-Fi: Free Public WiFi: The South-African team has created a financially sustainable model called Project Isizwe connecting brands to an untapped, national audience, specifically low-income communities who otherwise cannot afford connectivity. Free Networks P2P Cooperative:  The Brazilian Cooperative enables communities to set-up networks to get access to the Internet and then supports itself through the cooperative fees, and while co-creating the knowledge and respecting the local cultures.   The three initiatives will present their work, exchange experiences and challenges and discuss how their efforts can be scaled in order to connect the next 4 billion.

Tim Human, Jan Lachenmayer The complex and multidimensional challenge of digital inclusion is being tackled by corporations, governments, and ever more so, by entrepreneurs and innovators. Before any of us create solutions though, we need to understand what the key barriers are to Internet adoption, and figure out the best ways to intervene. In this session, three initiatives, the winners of the Mozilla Equal Ratings challenge, will present their solutions on how to connect underserviced communities. All three initiatives target different demographies and use different technologies: Gram Marg Solution for Rural Broadband: The team from Mumbia, India has built an open source low-cost hardware prototype utilizing Television White Spectrum to provide affordable access to rural communities. Afri-Fi: Free Public WiFi: The South-African team has created a financially sustainable model called Project Isizwe connecting brands to an untapped, national audience, specifically low-income communities who otherwise cannot afford connectivity. Free Networks P2P Cooperative:  The Brazilian Cooperative enables communities to set-up networks to get access to the Internet and then supports itself through the cooperative fees, and while co-creating the knowledge and respecting the local cultures.   The three initiatives will present their work, exchange experiences and challenges and discuss how their efforts can be scaled in order to connect the next 4 billion.

Following our coverage last week of the partnership between VAST Networks and Ruckus Wireless to deliver on Africa’s largest single deployment of WiFi infrastructure at the recently opened Mall of Africa in Midrand, South Africa— we thought it might be a good idea to invite a certified WiFi-freak to help us understand why WiFi may indeed be “the next big thing” in terms of ushering in seamless connectedness on the continent. Joining me on the African Tech Round-up this week is Riaan Graham, Ruckus Wireless’ Director for Sub-Saharan Africa. In this week’s discussion, Riaan argues that the perfect wireless ecosystem requires the harmonious interplay between fixed line telecoms operators and mobile telcos, with WiFi playing a complimentary role. However, as fixed line operators and mobile telcos continue to grapple with diminishing voice revenues, and opt to back technologies like LTE and LTE-U over WiFi, that idyllic scenario is undoubtedly a long way off. Meanwhile, the growing demand for free internet access delivered via open public WiFi infrastructure further complicates matters for legacy commercial interests who are desperately trying to work out sustainable business models to ensure they survive into the future. Hat-tip to the likes of Project Isizwe in Tshwane, South Africa. Music Credits: Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Music licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Breakfast with Alan Knott-Craig is never boring. The rejuvenated telecoms entrepreneur was in great form when breaking bread with Biznews.com's Alec Hogg at the Woolworth Cafe' in Rosebank. In this wide ranging conversation, AKC Junior reflects deeply on the challenges of having a famous father, the spell in public service with Project Isizwe, and his new entrepreneurial business, Herotel, which he hopes by 2020 will be recognised as "the Capitec of telecoms".

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.

It's been my privilege to know both the Alan Knott-Craig's well. Senior, the former telecoms engineer who started and built Vodacom into South Africa's leading cell phone network. And Junior, the 38 year old technology entrepreneur who is the subject of this fascinating special podcast. Our friendship began more than a decade back when the young chartered accountant Alan returned from a spell in New York. We played some golf together (a game he still obsesses about) and formed a fast friendship. Alan has picked up more business scars than someone twice his age, but despite being exposed to the worst of human arrogance and greed, he retains that critical character trait all entrepreneurs need - bouncebackability. And as you'll hear in this fascinating interview, he remains an optimist, especially about the land of his birth. He hates being called a serial entrepreneur, but after Cellfind, iBurst, World of Avatar, MixIt, Project Isizwe and now Hero Telecoms, the cap seems to fit. With a war chest of R80m after two rounds of funding, Alan is determined to redefine another sector of the developing New Economy. Here's his story. - Alec Hogg