TECH AND TELECOMS NEWS & INSIGHTS

In honour of Valentine's Day, the Africa Tech Festival Series team decided to shine a spotlight on a handful of exceptional African businesses with a social impact we absolutely love.

Across Africa, mobile technology will prove crucial in the coming years. As many places across the continent are without steady Internet or Wi-Fi, mobile is the de facto connected device.

The 4IR represents a new era of innovation in technology – one that’s enhancing human-machine relationships, unlocking new market opportunities, and fueling growth across the global economy. Discover the start-ups from across Africa's tech ecosystem that are at the forefront of this revolution.

Africa's fintech market is booming, and it shows no sign of slowing down. Between 2020 and 2021, the number of tech start-ups in Africa tripled to approximately 5,200 companies. Just under 50% those companies are fintechs.

With around 33% internet penetration, Africa is the least connected continent on earth. Naturally, connectivity varies by country, but universally, the greatest gap is between urban and rural areas. Whilst 50% of urban dwellers are connected, this figure drops to 15% in rural areas. This is the lowest percentage of any region in the world.

Thanks to mobile communications, more and more Africans have access to people, markets and information, even in remote regions of the continent. Rohde & Schwarz mobile network testing equipment and services are being used to improve network performance and quality in 21 African countries.

Femtech (female technology) is a term used to describe health software and tech-enabled products designed with women’s health and wellbeing in mind. And it's a recently coined term, contrived in 2016 by Ida Tin, a Danish entrepreneur who created a period and fertility-tracking app.  

Over the past decade, regions across the African continent have experienced rapid economic growth and improving social conditions. In line with this, there has been a dramatic spike in energy usage, presenting a daunting question: can African nations find sustainable and, crucially, climate-friendly ways to meet their growing energy needs?  

Enterprise adoption of 5G and artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) technologies is rapidly taking off in South Africa as business activities and processes require transformation to increase resilience and competitive differentiation.

We sat down with Youth Employment Service's CEO, Dr Tashmia Ismail-Saville, to discuss the importance of digitalisation, disrupting conventional training & using tech to reach youth during COVID-19.

We recently caught up with Deven Moodley, representing PicknPay, one of South Africa's retail giants! In this exclusive conversation ahead of his sessions at Africa Tech Festival, Deven shares insights on how PicknPay leverages disruptive technologies to revolutionize the retail industry.

We caught up with Amadou Diallo, the Chief Executive Officer, Middle East & Africa at DHL Global Forwarding to discuss future tech trends, the industry, Africa Tech Festival and its newly formed Leadership Council.

Watch this interview with Richard Cazalet, the Exec: Strategy and Transformation at Telkom SA to discover his thoughts on future tech trends, the industry, Africa Tech Festival and why he decided to join its newly formed Leadership Council.

Take a look back at some of our favourite 2022 sessions!

From cybercrime, to fintech, Africa's fourth industrial revolution, future tech trends and telecommunication innovations, there's something for everyone.

Hosts Tobi Lafinhan and Paula Gilbert welcome new co-host Matshepo Sehloho to the team and they get into a wide-ranging discussion about tech skills in Africa on a range of topics, including:

Africa's talent pipeline, the demand for digital skills, and how to better upskill youth and bring education systems up to date with innovation, and Africa's startup ecosystem.

Join three leading women in business discussing the best technology tips and tricks they have learnt on their journey to success

This discussion took place virtually at Africa Tech Festival 2021. In 2022, the event will be taking place LIVE in Cape Town.

Watch the full discussion from Africa Tech Festival 2021, as our experts from Launch Africa Ventures & Knabu unpack the growth of lending and finance start-ups, current investment trends & challenges, and telecom giants building new networks and upgrading existing facilities. 

Highlights from Africa Tech Festival 2021, the largest live tech event in Africa with more than 400 visionary speakers and over 16 premium conference tracks, each with razor-sharp focus, exploring the hottest connectivity and enterprise tech trends.

In this FastChat interview, Connecting Africa Editor Paula Gilbert is joined by Semin Hassanaly to discuss how hybrid Satellite 5G networks can enable new business cases for MNO's

In this FastChat interview, Connecting Africa Editor Paula Gilbert is joined by Pieter-Paul Mooijman to discuss satellite’s role in Africa’s digital transformation.

In this exclusive interview for Africa Tech Festival, Sterling Bank Plc's CFO for Corporate and Investment Banking, William Anwana, shares his top tips to help you build and motivate the workforce of the future.

Taking place in Cape Town, AFest is back in 2022 for an unforgettable evening of music and entertainment and your opportunity to network with thousands of industry leaders.