Shows
The Trajectory AfricaGoodbye for now, Trajectory AfricaThe Trajectory Africa, is a "pop-up" podcast designed to explore the first principles of VC and tech entrepreneurship in Africa, as they emerge in real time. After a nearly four year run, the journey has come to an end. This conversation with Andile Masuku, Co-Founder and Producer of African Tech Roundup (ATRU) and Tayo Akinyemi, Host and Producer of The Trajectory Africa tells the origin story of the pod, how and why ATRU was involved, how both media properties have evolved, and what's next for both creators.[07:15] – Revisiting early conversations about collaboration[13:55] – Unpacking tensions between open...2025-07-021h 25
African Tech RoundupAdapt or Be Left Behind: Marie Lora-Mungai on AI and the Future of African FilmmakingMeet Marie Lora-Mungai, expert advisor in African creative industries and sports business and founder of Restless Global - whose 20-year journey from CNN journalist to production company founder to industry advisor gives her a unique vantage point on Africa's creative economy.
In thought-provoking conversation with Andile Masuku, Lora-Mungai makes a compelling case for African filmmakers to stop seeking funding for traditional productions and instead leverage AI tools to create content independently.
Episode overview:
The discussion stems from Lora-Mungai's viral Linkedin post warning African filmmakers about AI disruption. She points to a jarring disconnect: while some creators are still trying to...2025-04-0629 min
African Tech RoundupFrom Policy to Independent Media: Fatu Ogwuche on Creative Storytelling in TechEpisode overview:
In this conversation, Fatu Ogwuche shares insights into her transition from working at Meta and consulting for Nigeria's Electoral Commission to launching her own media platform, Big Tech This Week. She discusses her entrepreneurial spirit, creative approach to storytelling, and the unique position independent creators hold in today's media landscape.
Andile Masuku describes Ogwuche as "low-key the industry's head of intelligence" - a title earned through her knack for asking the right questions, journalistic research methods, and ability to get people comfortable enough to share meaningful insights about the African tech ecosystem.
Key topics:
- Transitioning from corporate...2025-03-2142 min
African Tech RoundupInside Money & Moves: Tinashe Mukogo On Merging Corporate Expertise With Independent MediaEpisode Overview:
This episode features a relaxed, peer-to-peer conversation between two media entrepreneurs—African Tech Roundup co-founder and executive producer Andile Masuku, and Money & Moves founder and writer Tinashe Mukogo.
They explore how Mukogo draws on his background in consulting (Deloitte), corporate venture capital (Next47), and organisational finance (Siemens), along with his CA and INSEAD MBA credentials, to deliver sophisticated yet accessible analysis of African businesses.
What starts as an origin story and a look into his approach to business journalism expands into a deep dive on turning media assets into sustainable businesses. Mukogo and Masuku explore strategic considerations, revenue mo...2025-02-0757 min
African Tech RoundupKoltronics Nigeria's Lanre Kolade and the inside story of Google's Equiano cable landing in TogoThis episode features an illuminating dialogue with Lanre Kolade, Chairman of ConnectedCompute, CEO of Koltronics Nigeria and former CEO of CSquared, exploring the intricate dynamics of infrastructure development and digital transformation across Africa.
Episode overview:
Andile Masuku engages with Kolade to unpack his 26-year journey in African broadband connectivity, examining the delicate balance between commercial viability and developmental impact in major infrastructure projects.
Kolade shares profound insights on building sustainable digital infrastructure in African markets as he reflects on his experience leading groundbreaking initiatives at CSquared, including the Google Equiano Cable landing in Togo in 2022.
Key topics:
• Blended finance models fo...2024-11-2119 min
African Tech RoundupSafaricom Ethiopia's Network Chief on Building Network Infrastructure From ScratchIn October 2022, Safaricom launched its telecommunications services in Ethiopia, marking a major milestone as the first private operator to enter the Ethiopian telecom market. This move broke the long-standing monopoly of state-owned Ethio Telecom and was seen by many as a significant step towards liberalising the country’s telecom sector.
The company had officially been licensed in July 2021, with a record $850 million licensing fee—the largest foreign direct investment in Ethiopia at the time. Safaricom committed to investing around $8 billion over the next decade to build its infrastructure and services, aiming to enhance competition and improve connectivity for millions of Ethi...2024-10-1718 min
African Tech RoundupFuture in the Humanities EP 3/3: Slave RideIn the third and final episode of the Future in the Humanities podcast mini-series, titled "The Gig Economy's Hidden Costs", Wits social scientist and researcher Fikile Masikane guides an exploration of the complex realities facing gig workers in the Global South, particularly food courier riders in Africa.
Featuring insights from a study conducted with Edward Webster, Andile Masuku delves into the challenges and contradictions of the gig economy, examining how promises of entrepreneurship and freedom often lead to harsher working conditions and increased precarity.
Key themes:
- Expansion of e-hailing and e-delivery platforms in the Global South
- Promises vs...2024-09-2625 min
African Tech RoundupFuture in the Humanities EP 2/3: Everybody Gets a ConspiracyIn this episode, Wits University media researchers Samuel Olaniran and Iginio Gagliardone guide an audio tour into the complex world of conspiracy theories in the era of social media and global crises.
Drawing from multiple research findings and expert dialogues, Andile Masuku (host) grapples with the complex function of conspiracy theories in our society. Rather than dismissing them solely as social ills, he investigates their potential as tools for challenging authority and frameworks for understanding our social environment.
This approach acknowledges that conspiracy theories can serve as a means for marginalised groups to question power structures and make sense of...2024-09-2617 min
African Tech RoundupFuture in the Humanities EP 1/3: Touching BrainsIn the opening episode of the Future in the Humanities podcast mini-series, titled "Touching Brains", Wits University research collaborators Sahba Besharati and Victoria Williams let us in on their multidisciplinary exploration of the complex impact of COVID-19 on human interaction and touch.
Featuring insights from various studies and discussions around the experiences of parents and caregivers during the pandemic, Andile Masuku (host), examines the significance of physical contact, the resilience of human beings and the potential long-term effects of altered social interactions.
Key themes:
- Perception of touch across societies: We pose the question: Is touch perceived differently across cultures...2024-09-2626 min
#AndilesTake PodcastDirt Under Our Fingernails"Dirt Under Our Fingernails" was produced by Andile Masuku, Siphokazi Jonas and Brendan "Spike" Ballantine. Poetry written and performed by Siphokazi Jonas. Interview conducted by Andile Masuku. Poetry performance and interview recorded by Brendan "Spike" Ballantine. Audio mixing, mastering and sound design by Brendan "Spike" Ballantine.
Andile Masuku, Siphokazi Jonas & Brendan "Spike" Ballantine © 2021 All rights reserved.2022-02-0320 min
Mint Podcast by Adam LevyUsing Social Tokens To Disrupt Africa's Corrupt Media LandscapeMint Season 3 episode 19 welcomes Andile Masuku, founder of the African Tech Roundup. The independent Africa-focused technology, digital, and innovation media platform recently tapped into the world of crypto by launching their social token, $ATRU on Socialstack. With the help of their community, they’re exploring new financing paths to bypass traditional corrupt media in Africa. In this episode we discuss:0:00 - Intro5:09 - About Andile Masuku13:22 - Tell us about $ATRU19: 21 - Journey into Crypto29:08 - Social Tokens and democratized media41:55 - Celo Grant Funding47:47 - How do you educate your audience...2021-12-141h 17
#CreatorSpacesPodcasting is Disrupting the Media Industry with Andile MasukuAndile Masuku is a strategist, community catalyst, creator, and the host of the African Tech Roundup podcastIn this episode, we had a chat about the disruption of media in Africa & discussed- Acquiring an audience vs building a community- How to get rid of perfectionism- Proliferation of podcasting in AfricaFollow @MasukuAndile on Twitter to learn more about community building2021-08-0418 min
The Global Startup MovementConstructive Development Finance Frameworks With Jean Bosco IyacuMultimediaLIVE — In this conversation with Andile Masuku, Jean Bosco Iyacu thoughtfully interrogates the sustainable impact of progressive development finance versus the sketchy outcomes of foreign aid.Jean Bosco is a former banker and fellow of the Harvard Kennedy School. He is the director of programmes at Access to Finance Rwanda, an organisation which promotes financial inclusion for low-income clients. Listen to hear why he's not a fan of foreign aid and explain why a robust development funding market is key to disrupting the systematic issues with the global finance status quo.Editorial Disclaimer: This podcast is part...2020-05-1400 minThe Global Startup MovementConstructive Development Finance Frameworks With Jean Bosco IyacuIn this conversation with Andile Masuku, Jean Bosco Iyacu thoughtfully interrogates the sustainable impact of progressive development finance versus the sketchy outcomes of foreign aid.Jean Bosco is a former banker and fellow of the Harvard Kennedy School. He is the director of programmes at Access to Finance Rwanda, an organisation which promotes financial inclusion for low-income clients. Listen to hear why he's not a fan of foreign aid and explain why a robust development funding market is key to disrupting the systematic issues with the global finance status quo.Editorial Disclaimer: This podcast is part of a seven-part podcast...2020-05-1434 min
African Tech RoundupConstructive Development Finance Frameworks With Jean Bosco IyacuIn this conversation with Andile Masuku, Jean Bosco Iyacu thoughtfully interrogates the sustainable impact of progressive development finance versus the sketchy outcomes of foreign aid.
Jean Bosco is a former banker and fellow of the Harvard Kennedy School. He is the director of programmes at Access to Finance Rwanda, an organisation which promotes financial inclusion for low-income clients. Listen to hear why he's not a fan of foreign aid and explain why a robust development funding market is key to disrupting the systematic issues with the global finance status quo.
Editorial Disclaimer: This podcast is part of a seven-part podcast...2020-05-1434 minThe Global Startup MovementContemplating COVID-19's Impact on Africa's Economic Outlook with Landry SignéMultimediaLIVE — Professor and Founding Co-Director of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Globalization 4.0 at Thunderbird School of Global Management Landry Signé joins Andile Masuku and guest co-host Iginio Gagliardone for a heartfelt discussion about how the COVID-19 crisis might alter Africa's economic growth trajectory.Landry is a Senior Fellow in the Global Economy and Development Program at the Brookings Institution and his passionate perspectives about the merits of democracy feature heavily in this episode. His views are coloured, in part, by the live policy-making exposure he's gleaned during advisory assignments such as serving on the...2020-04-2800 min
African Tech RoundupContemplating COVID-19's Impact on Africa's Economic Outlook with Landry Signé & Iginio GagliardoneProfessor and Founding Co-Director of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Globalization 4.0 at Thunderbird School of Global Management Landry Signé joins Andile Masuku and guest co-host Iginio Gagliardone for a heartfelt discussion about how the COVID-19 crisis might alter Africa's economic growth trajectory.
Landry is a Senior Fellow in the Global Economy and Development Program at the Brookings Institution and his passionate perspectives about the merits of democracy feature heavily in this episode. His views are coloured, in part, by the live policy-making exposure he's gleaned during advisory assignments such as serving on the Global Network on Digital Technologies for Sustainable U...2020-04-281h 32The Global Startup MovementThree Arab Women Innovators Factor in on the Economic Benefits of Backing Female EntrepreneurshipThis brief fire-lighter conversation was taped live on stage at SPARK’s 7th Annual IGNITE Conference in Amsterdam. It features three local women who live and work in Arab states, namely, Hala Bugaighis, a law expert who co-founded Jusoor Centre for Studies and Development, a Libyan think tank which focuses on economic development with special focus on women issues, Jumana Salous, who is programme manager of the Business Women Forum Palestine, an organisation which empowers local women founders and SMEs, and from Jordan, Lamia Tarabiah, the founder of Nawaret Haretna, a women-focused community center which supports entrepreneurs.This brief fire-lighter co...2020-04-1512 minThe Global Startup MovementThree Arab Women Innovators Factor in on the Economic Benefits of Backing Female EntrepreneurshipMultimediaLIVE — This brief fire-lighter conversation was taped live on stage at SPARK’s 7th Annual IGNITE Conference in Amsterdam. It features three local women who live and work in Arab states, namely, Hala Bugaighis, a law expert who co-founded Jusoor Centre for Studies and Development, a Libyan think tank which focuses on economic development with special focus on women issues, Jumana Salous, who is programme manager of the Business Women Forum Palestine, an organisation which empowers local women founders and SMEs, and from Jordan, Lamia Tarabiah, the founder of Nawaret Haretna, a women-focused community center which...2020-04-1500 minThe Global Startup MovementCreative Entrepreneurial Moves & Relevant Investment Support With Regis Umugiraneza & Roy BudjhawanMultimediaLIVE — This episode features a three-way conversation between Andile Masuku, Regis Umugiraneza, a budding Rwandan agro-processing entrepreneur and co-founder of a business called the CARL Group, and Roy Budjhawan, head of impact financing at ING, a Dutch banking and financial services corporation. Fun fact: Regis and Roy have in common a link to the humble sweet potato.Regis's live founder experience acts as a springboard for a discussion about effectively channelling entrepreneurial ingenuity and delivering market-relevant business innovation. Roy and his team at ING are actively financing innovative early-stage business ventures and his insights on the challenges...2020-03-2900 minThe Global Startup MovementCreative Entrepreneurial Moves & Relevant Investment Support With Regis Umugiraneza & Roy BudjhawanThis episode features a three-way conversation between Andile Masuku, Regis Umugiraneza, a budding Rwandan agro-processing entrepreneur and co-founder of a business called the CARL Group, and Roy Budjhawan, head of impact financing at ING, a Dutch banking and financial services corporation. Fun fact: Regis and Roy have in common a link to the humble sweet potato.Regis's live founder experience acts as a springboard for a discussion about effectively channelling entrepreneurial ingenuity and delivering market-relevant business innovation. Roy and his team at ING are actively financing innovative early-stage business ventures and his insights on the challenges faced by legacy financial...2020-03-2941 min
The Global Startup Movement - Startup Ecosystem Leaders, Global Entrepreneurship, and Emerging Market InnovationPart 2 - State of the Ecosystem - North Africa, Middle East, & Sub-Saharan Africa with Andile MasukuAndile Masuku is a Zimbabwean broadcaster and entrepreneur based in Johannesburg, South Africa. As the executive producer of African Tech Roundup, much of his time is spent covering Africa’s emerging tech and innovation ecosystem. Andile speaks widely and advises high net worth individuals and leading brands and businesses around the world on media strategy, market-entry plays and investment pipeline development focused on Sub-Saharan Africa. He has a finger on the pulse of the ecosystem’s most pertinent issues and aspirations and has a penchant for extracting and delivering candid insight and analysis.
Thanks to his active media role, Andile enjo...2020-03-1700 min
The Outlook Podcast ArchiveA Syrian love story that started with a resumeWhen Syrian Tamim Kbarh did a call-out on social media offering to help people improve their curriculum vitae, he got more than he bargained for. An impressive CV from Rahaf Al Iymoni dropped into his inbox and it was love at first resume. But he was in Turkey and she in Syria. It would take a challenging three year journey and a virtual wedding for them to meet face to face. Presenter: Andile Masuku
Producer: Deiniol BuxtonPicture: Rahaf and Tamim smiling in the street
Credit: BBC/Andile Masuku2020-03-1526 minThe Global Startup Movement - Startup Ecosystem Leaders, Global Entrepreneurship, and Emerging Market InnovationPart 1 of 2 - State of the Ecosystem - North Africa, Middle East, & Sub-Saharan Africa with Andile MasukuAndile Masuku is a Zimbabwean broadcaster and entrepreneur based in Johannesburg, South Africa. As the executive producer of African Tech Roundup, much of his time is spent covering Africa’s emerging tech and innovation ecosystem. Andile speaks widely and advises high net worth individuals and leading brands and businesses around the world on media strategy, market-entry plays and investment pipeline development focused on Sub-Saharan Africa. He has a finger on the pulse of the ecosystem’s most pertinent issues and aspirations and has a penchant for extracting and delivering candid insight and analysis.
Thanks to his active media role, Andile enjo...2020-03-1000 min
African Tech RoundupIs The Super-Platform Hype Surrounding Africa's Mobile Gaming Industry Real? feat. Lucy HoffmanIn this instalment of the African Tech Roundup podcast, Andile Masuku and Osarumen Osamuyi are joined by Lucy Hoffman, co-founder and head of operations at the Cape Town-based, American mobile content development startup Carry1st.
Listen in to learn why, as glitzy ecosystem trends like fintech and mobility continue to dominate headlines, Lucy and the rest of her team at Carry1st are quietly bullish on the mobile gaming industry’s low-key commercial case and “super-app/super-platform” potential.
Lucy is an experienced American business operations specialist who, prior to joining Carry1st, spearheaded operations at impact investment facilitation startup Nexii and th...2020-03-101h 14The Outlook Podcast ArchiveThe rapper who woke up deafDutch rapper Sor and his group, Black Acid, were rising rapidly through the Amsterdam music scene. They seemed poised to hit the big time when Sor was struck down by a mysterious illness, culminating in the devastating morning when he woke up without any hearing at all. The road to recovery was long, but with the help of technology, Sor was able to regain some hearing and start making music again. He told Andile Masuku about how deafness has both affected and inspired him.Producers: Andile Masuku and Katy DavisPhoto: Sor performing on stage
...2020-02-1922 minThe Global Startup MovementShift The Power: Challenging Development Cooperation Power Dynamics Between The Global North & SouthMultimediaLIVE — This brief firelighter conversation was taped live on-stage at SPARK’s 7th Annual IGNITE Conference in Amsterdam. It was a discussion provocatively themed “Shift The Power” – for which Andile Masuku (moderator) was joined by the Dutch Ambassador for Youth, Education and Work in the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tijmen Rooseboom, Evelijne Bruning, who is the Netherlands Country Director of The Hunger Project and the Executive Director of INJAZ Lebanon, Samar Dani.Tijmen is a recently-appointed Dutch policymaker whose mandate is to ensure that The Netherlands is optimising the use of public...2020-02-1800 minThe Global Startup MovementShift The Power: Challenging Development Cooperation Power Dynamics Between The Global North & SouthThis brief firelighter conversation was taped live on-stage at SPARK’s 7th Annual IGNITE Conference in Amsterdam. It was a discussion provocatively themed “Shift The Power” – for which Andile Masuku (moderator) was joined by the Dutch Ambassador for Youth, Education and Work in the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tijmen Rooseboom, Evelijne Bruning, who is the Netherlands Country Director of The Hunger Project and the Executive Director of INJAZ Lebanon, Samar Dani.Tijmen is a recently-appointed Dutch policymaker whose mandate is to ensure that The Netherlands is optimising the use of public funds earmarked for advancing youth education and employment. Evelijne...2020-02-1819 minThe Outlook Podcast ArchiveFlying my South African flag at the top of EverestIn May 2019 Saray Khumalo became the first black African woman to summit Everest. She defied those who didn't believe she could achieve her dream of climbing the world’s highest peaks. The trek to the top wasn't easy though, Saray tells Andile Masuku about three previous attempts and her near-death experiences. Saray's adventurous expeditions help raise money to educate young Africans through a charity she's set up called Summits With a Purpose.Presenter: Andile Masuku
Producer: Deiniol BuxtonPicture: Saray Khumalo summiting Mount Everest
Credit: Saray Khumalo2020-02-1626 minThe Global Startup MovementUnpacking Arab Identity & Socio-economic Dynamics with Arab Economies Researcher Salam SaidMultimediaLIVE — In this podcast, Andile Masuku chats with Dr Salam Said, a seasoned Middle Eastern economics researcher who specialises in Arab economies, Arab trade policies and the political economy of Syria.Andile taps Dr Said's extensive professional and lived experience as he attempts to wrap his mind around some of the ways Arab identity and geopolitical dynamics (past and present) inform the socio-economic policies of nations that tend to dominate the global news cycle for all kinds of complex reasons.Listen in to hear Dr Said factor in candidly on how to properly gauge the economic empowerment...2020-01-1900 minThe Global Startup MovementUnpacking Arab Identity & Socio-economic Dynamics with Arab Economies Researcher Salam SaidIn this podcast, Andile Masuku chats with Dr Salam Said, a seasoned Middle Eastern economics researcher who specialises in Arab economies, Arab trade policies and the political economy of Syria.Andile taps Dr Said's extensive professional and lived experience as he attempts to wrap his mind around some of the ways Arab identity and geopolitical dynamics (past and present) inform the socio-economic policies of nations that tend to dominate the global news cycle for all kinds of complex reasons.Listen in to hear Dr Said factor in candidly on how to properly gauge the economic empowerment of everyday citizens, particularly...2020-01-1941 min
African Tech RoundupShift The Power: Challenging Development Cooperation Power Dynamics Between The Global North & SouthThis brief firelighter conversation was taped live on-stage at SPARK’s 7th Annual IGNITE Conference in Amsterdam (https://spark.ngo/ignite-conference-2019/). It was a discussion provocatively themed “Shift The Power” – for which Andile Masuku (moderator) was joined by the Dutch Ambassador for Youth, Education and Work in the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tijmen Rooseboom, Evelijne Bruning, who is the Netherlands Country Director of The Hunger Project and the Executive Director of INJAZ Lebanon, Samar Dani.
Tijmen is a recently-appointed Dutch policymaker whose mandate is to ensure that The Netherlands is optimising the use of public funds earmarked for advancing youth ed...2020-01-0919 min
African Tech RoundupUnpacking Arab Identity & Socio-economic Dynamics with Arab Economies Researcher Salam SaidIn this podcast, Andile Masuku chats with Dr Salam Said, a seasoned Middle Eastern economics researcher who specialises in Arab economies, Arab trade policies and the political economy of Syria.
Andile taps Dr Said's extensive professional and lived experience as he attempts to wrap his mind around some of the ways Arab identity and geopolitical dynamics (past and present) inform the socio-economic policies of nations that tend to dominate the global news cycle for all kinds of complex reasons.
Listen in to hear Dr Said factor in candidly on how to properly gauge the economic empowerment of everyday citizens, particularly...2020-01-0941 min
Dear DiasporaAfrican Tech Roundup’s Andile Masuku on the first ‘Made in Africa’ Smartphone and How to Do Business on the Continent the Right WayIn this episode of Dear Diaspora, I had the pleasure of interviewing Andile Masuku, co-founder of African Tech Roundup. African Tech Roundup is a Johannesburg-based media and insights organization which tracks the progress of Africa’s emerging digital, tech and innovation industries. African Tech Roundup produces podcasts, syndicated op-eds, omnichannel media projects, live events, and in-depth fringe insights coverage of leading conferences. I’ve been listening to African Tech Roundup for a couple of years now, so I was honored to have a conversation with Andile. In addition to African Tech Roundu...2019-11-031h 18
The China Africa ProjectThe China-Africa Tech Roundup with Andile MasukuWhen Shenzhen-based Transsion Holdings IPO'd last month no one predicted that it would surge a stunning 64% on its opening day of trading in Shanghai, pushing the company's valuation to around $7 billion.
But it really shouldn't have come as a surprise given that Transsion's suite of mobile phone brands is now dominant in Africa with more than 50% of the market.
But Transsion isn't some kind of outlier. Beijing-based StarTimes has tens of millions of PayTV customers across the continent, Huawei, of course, built 70% of Africa's 4G network and Transsion-Netease joint venture Boomplay is the top mobile streaming music service on the c...2019-10-1551 min
African Tech RoundupWill Facebook's Digital Currency Libra Be Good For Africa? feat. Michael Kimani & Simon DingleIn this in-studio taping of the African Tech Roundup podcast, Andile Masuku is joined by the Kenyan digital money analyst Michael Kimani and the South African crypto entrepreneur Simon Dingle to discuss how Libra and the proposed Calibra network stacks up against existing cryptocurrency concepts like Bitcoin, and to establish whether or not Facebook's digital currency might be good for Africa.
It's safe to say that the world hasn't been quite the same since Facebook and its high-powered corporate collaborators - Visa, MasterCard, Uber, Spotify, South Africa's PayU and several others - revealed plans to re-imagine global finance using a...2019-07-191h 01The Global Startup Movement - Startup Ecosystem Leaders, Global Entrepreneurship, and Emerging Market InnovationDigital Media and Freedom of Speech in AfricaAndile Masuku is a former Zimbabwean broadcaster and entrepreneur based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Andile produces a portfolio of popular audio podcasts covering tech and innovation on the African continent— including the African Tech Round-up, the African Tech Conversations series, and #AndilesTake , as well as developing and executing content strategy and tactical media plays for leading companies. He also writes a weekly syndicated tech column for Business Report and African Independent.
Dotun Oloworopoku is a General Partner at Ventures Platform. He is also the Managing Partner at Starta, a platform that makes it easier to build, discover and track high growth bus...2019-07-0900 min
African Tech RoundupSouth Africa's New Banking Wave + Huawei Or The Highway? + Kenyan Repat Diaries feat. Mark KarakeJoining Andile Masuku and guest co-host, Vije Vijendranath, for this episode of the African Tech Roundup podcast is Kenyan repat, founder of Impact Africa Network and host of the Chini ya Maji podcast, Mark Karake.
Following professional stints in Silicon Valley, working for the likes of Google, TrustArc and Oracle, Mark decided to return to his native Kenya in March 2018 to get involved in early-stage startup acceleration and investment activities in Nairobi.
In this show, Andile, Vije and Mark will unpack three weighty questions:
1) What is behind the new wave of banking currently sweeping South Africa? [18:28]
2) Is the African Union's...2019-06-121h 29
African Tech RoundupJumia's NYSE Listing + Are Blockchains Safe? + Security Token Offerings, Yay or Nah?Good friend of the show, entrepreneur, investor and incurable blockchain technology fanatic, Simon Dingle, joins Andile Masuku and Musa Kalenga to chat through three big questions:
1) What are we to make of Jumia’s much-publicised New York Stock Exchange listing?
2) Is blockchain technology as full-safe as we are often led to believe?
3) How excited should we be about PopCom founder, Dawn Dickson, becoming the first black woman to raise over $1 million for her company via a security token offering?
Regular listeners of this podcast will know that during our in-studio episodes Andile, Musa and a guest normally highlight and briefly un...2019-04-251h 05
African Tech RoundupConservation Meets Conscious Capitalism With The Desert Date Company's Lauren ServinThis bonus podcast miniseries episode features Lauren Servin, the American Founder and "Chief Tree Officer" of the Desert Date Company. The Desert Date Company is a natural ingredient supplier and skincare brand based on the banks of the Nile River in Northern Uganda.
Lauren was previously SPARK’s South Sudan Country Manager – a role she inhabited for four years. In that role, she implemented an agribusiness entrepreneurship development programme focused on value chain development.
In this conversation with Andile Masuku, Lauren explains how she and her team are looking to merge the conservation of threatened desert date trees (Balanites aegyptiaca)— which...2019-03-2225 min
African Tech RoundupWajenzi's Alain Nkurukiye on Galvanising Diasporans to Back Economic Growth in AfricaAlain Nkurukiye is a Corporate Strategy and Economic Policy MBA who hails from Burundi, but has lived and worked in the Netherlands for the better part of 10 years. Through his startup, Wajenzi, he aims to channel all his professional competencies into narrowing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) financing gap by stimulating the African Diaspora to invest systematically in their countries of origin.
Listen in to hear to hear Alain explains why he's all fired up about Wajenzi's mission and to hear Andile Masuku push back on his apparently limitless passion for the work his organisation has undertaken.
Editorial Disclaimer: SPARK...2019-02-1530 min
African Tech RoundupThe Joy of Missing Out - Should African Founders Reject Hypergrowth VC Doctrine?Co-founder and Co-MD of Secha Capital Rushil Vallabh joins Andile Masuku and Musa Kalenga for the very first in-studio taping of 2019. Andile, Musa and Rushil chat through some notable signals and trends they've observed in Africa’s digital, tech and innovation ecosystem over the last month or so, then unpack issues raised by a New York Times (NYT) article entitled, More Start-Ups Have an Unfamiliar Message for Venture Capitalists: Get Lost - penned by Erin Griffith - which caused quite a stir on social media.
The NYT piece raises some contentious issues currently being debated within Africa's early-stage startup investment sc...2019-02-061h 18
African Tech RoundupDevelopment Finance Diaries with Musa Sillah and Mohamed Alhadi of the Islamic Development BankThis podcast features two separate conversations Andile Masuku had with senior executives working for the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB). Both exchanges yielded intriguing insight into the values, investment outlook and business MO of the world’s preeminent provider of sharia-compliant development finance.
The first part of this episode features a brief chat with Musa Sillah, the Director of the Africa and Latin America Department at the IsDB. Sillah explains what distinguishes the IsDB from other leading development institutions like the World Bank and the African Development Bank, and offers insight into some of the work they are doing to promote su...2019-01-1834 min
African Tech RoundupShaqodoon's Mustafa Othman on the State of Somalia & Somaliland's Entrepreneurship Support EcosystemIn this podcast, Andile Masuku chats with Mustafa Othman. Mustafa is the Somali Co-founder and Communications and Technology Manager of an organisation called Shaqodoon which operates in Somalia and Somaliland. Shaqodoon, which translated to English means “job seeker”, was born out of a USAID funded youth empowerment project called the Somali Youth Livelihoods Program, which was supported by the Education Development Center (EDC).
Shaqodoon serves up programmes designed to help unemployed and out-of-school youth aged between 15 and 24 years acquire marketable work and life skills. Many of these initiatives are delivered thanks to strong partnerships the organisation has struck with local comm...2018-12-1925 min
African Tech RoundupGutsy Entrepreneurial Moves With Morris Dougba of Green Gold Liberia and Ayham Maksoud of Al-MaksoudThis candid conversation - led by Andile Masuku - features two remarkable entrepreneurs. The first is Morris Dougba, a second-generation Liberian cocoa farmer and University of Liberia accounting graduate who fled his homeland to live in the US to escape civil war.
Morris has since returned to his country to found a company called Green Gold Liberia, which produces charcoal briquettes using organic waste. Green Gold is determined to end Liberia’s ecologically damaging reliance on charcoal production activities, which destroy the country’s ancient rain forests.
Also on the show is Ayham Maksoud, a Syrian civil engineer born to an e...2018-12-1245 min
African Tech RoundupUniversity of Oxford's Alexander Betts & SPARK's Yannick Du Pont on Innovative Foreign Aid StrategyIn this relaxed three-way conversation, Alexander Betts, Professor of Forced Migration and International Affairs and William Golding Senior Fellow in Politics at the University of Oxford's Brasenose College, and Yannick Du Pont, the Co-founder and Director of the Dutch NGO SPARK, join Andile Masuku to discuss the awkward state-of-play within the global foreign aid industry, reference instructive live case studies and attempt to define what “winning” at helping turbulent regions of the world navigate towards sustainable economic growth should look and feel like.
Alexander is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader whose research at the University of Oxford centres on r...2018-12-0548 min
African Tech RoundupTransUnion Africa's Lee Naik on embracing collaboration and harnessing democratised technologiesLee Naik is the CEO of TransUnion Africa, a subsidiary of the giant American consumer credit reporting agency, TransUnion, that’s listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Prior to joining TransUnion Africa, Lee spent 18 years at Accenture, where he served as Managing Director of Accenture Digital in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Since signing up to lead TransUnion Africa in January 2017, he’s been tasked with shaping the company’s continental growth strategy— a process that’s so far necessitated the recruitment of key senior talent, the orchestration of major tech platform updates, and the expansion of the firm’s range of information...2018-11-2338 min
African Tech RoundupOvamba's Viola Llewellyn on encoding African IP and the need for Pan-African digital standardsThe third and last episode of African Tech Roundup's (https://africantechroundup.com) miniseries (http://bit.ly/atrudigitalassets) on digital assets features Viola Llewellyn, the UK-born, Cameroonian Co-founder and President of an award-winning fintech platform called Ovamba. Ovamba leverages proprietary technologies to connect African SMEs to sources of short‐term capital to fund their growth.
Viola has spent over 15 years working in the management consulting, technology and alternative finance sectors at firms like of IBM, Unisys, KPMG and Preston Gates Ellis. She currently serves on the Boards of Directors of ActivSpaces, AH Partners, the European Women in Payment Network and the In...2018-11-2040 min
African Tech RoundupEOS Nairobi's Felix Macharia and Raise's Marvin Coleby unpack the African Digital Asset FrameworkIn this podcast - the second episode in African Tech Roundup's (https://africantechroundup.com) three-part miniseries on digital assets (http://bit.ly/atrudigitalassets) - Andile Masuku chats with two gifted distributed ledger proponents who are co-architects of the African Digital Assets Framework - ADAF (http://adaf.io).
ADAF is the first open-source software platform to create transnational standards for digital assets and distributed ledger technologies— in line with pan-African development objectives. ADAF intends to complement the African Union’s Single Africa Digital Market initiative, which seeks to leverage technology to stimulate digitised pan-African economic integration.
Andile's first podcast guest is Feli...2018-11-131h 19
African Tech RoundupTalking Transsion, Android vs iPhone and Xiaomi's Pocophone F1 with Nendo's Mark KaigwaFollowing a sunny Johannesburg lunch al fresco, Nendo (https://nendo.co.ke) Founder and CEO Mark Kaigwa and Andile Masuku chat about a few consumer tech issues that are currently trending in their lives.
Listen in to learn why the music streaming service Boomplay is thriving in Africa, how Transsion's African digital domination strategy seems to be coming together nicely, why Xiaomi's Pocophone F1 smartphone is shaking things up in the global high-end mobile device market, and why Mark and Andile feel obliged to weigh the pros and cons of switching back to Android after several years of being iPhone...2018-11-0947 min
African Tech RoundupAfrican IP diaries with UCT's Prof Caroline Ncube and Thomson Reuters' Saidah Nash CarterThis podcast is the first instalment of a three-part miniseries (http://bit.ly/atrudigitalassets) produced by African Tech Roundup (https://africantechroundup.com) to spark a broader debate about the nature and value of African digital assets within the context of the world’s emerging digital economy.
Joining Andile Masuku for this conversation are two distinguished Cape Town-based innovators. First, the Zimbabwean-born Professor of Intellectual Property at the University of Cape Town’s Faculty of Law and co-editor of the South African Intellectual Property Law Journal, Caroline Ncube. Caroline has authored a book called Intellectual Property Policy, Law and Administration in Afri...2018-11-0559 min
African Tech RoundupIs Venture Capital a Ponzi Scheme? feat. Grant Phillips of PhilTech ConsultingJoining Andile Masuku and guest co-host Rushil Vallabh of Secha Capital on this African Tech Roundup podcast is Grant Phillips. Grant is the Founder and CEO of PhilTech Consulting and has partnered with both Convergence Partners and Stockdale Street (the Oppenheimer Family’s South African private equity outfit) to "build out technology ecosystems across Africa". He was previously the CEO and Chairman of the Nairobi-based credit reference bureau and debt management outsource organisation CRB Africa as well as CEO of TransUnion’s Pan-African business.
Listen in to hear Andile, Rushil and Grant unpack the provocative assertion that venture capital is a Po...2018-11-021h 29
African Tech RoundupMasakhe Foundation's Mpilo Ngcukana & Thulani Fesi on why KwaLanga Cape Town needs a youth tech hubOn this podcast, Andile Masuku chats with two exceptional, Cape Townian entrepreneurs who are both actively involved in a youth-focused tech hub initiative called the Masakhe Techville Creative Technology Center in KwaLanga township, where they both grew up. The project is an initiative of the Masakhe Foundation.
Mpilo Ngcukana co-founded the Simon Deporres men’s clothing brand in 2007 - while studying Finance and Economics at the University of Cape Town, and is currently working to launch an art gallery in Langa. And Thulani Fesi is a street art curator and hospitality and entertainment innovator who was previously part of the in...2018-10-1224 min
African Tech RoundupCachet Consulting's Anita Mendiratta on how Africa's tourism industry has progressed since the 90'sAnita Mendiratta is the Canadian Founder and Managing Director of Cachet Consulting, a firm which services governments, multinational corporations and global NGO’s.
Anita has over two decades of tourism and economic development experience gleaned on almost every continent and possesses an enviable grasp of the economic, social, political and environmental dynamics impacting nations grappling with change. She is currently a Strategic Advisor to CNN International, a Board Member for the Thebe Group, a Strategic Resource to the World Bank and a Partner to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).
In this brief conversation with Andile Masuku, Anita reflects on...2018-10-1015 min
African Tech RoundupGoogle South Africa's Mich Atagana on reflecting everyday Africans onlineThis super-chill conversation, taped at the fringes of Africa Tech Summit 2018, features Google South Africa’s Head of Communications and Public Affairs, Mich Atagana. Mich is an exceedingly well-travelled former-journalist who, as Editor of Memeburn and Ventureburn, previously covered emerging tech and startups on the continent.
Mich was a GSMA Global Mobile Awards judge for 4 years (from 2014 to 2017), and also formerly penned a column for CNN which featured insight about leading tech companies around the world.
In this chat with Andile Masuku, Mich reveals how Google is working to ensure that Africans coming online - as access to the internet im...2018-10-0521 min
African Tech RoundupThe Sunday Times' Pearl Boshomane Tsotetsi on lifestyle journalism politics & travelling while blackPearl Boshomane Tsotetsi is the Lifestyle Editor at the Sunday Times (South Africa). Pearl was voted one of Mail and Guardian's Top 200 Young South Africans in 2015 and assumed her current role in 2017. She previously served as Editor of Daily Planet, an intersectional pop culture and social commentary website covering the arts, feminism, racism, social media and digital consumer trends.
In addition to working at the Sunday Times, the self-proclaimed "Blonde Bombshell" writes and curates for her blog, FeministMakoti.co.za— a platform for black female voices to convey perspectives on love, sex, marriage, relationships and everything in between.
In this co...2018-09-2737 min
African Tech RoundupPesapal's Mark Mwongela talks fintech's impact on Africa's travel and tourism industryMark Mwongela is the Co-founder and CEO of Pesapal, a leading Kenyan mobile, online and point-of-sale (POS) payment platform operating in seven African countries including Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Kenya. Previously, Mark served as Technical Director at Pesapal— overseeing the firm's product development efforts, and prior to that, he was Managing Director of Variant Technology Management Consultancy.
In this conversation with Andile Masuku - taped at Africa Travel Summit 2018 (http://africatravelsummit.com) - Mark shares the rationale for Pesapal's Pan-African hospitality business focus and factors in on how home-grown fintech innovation is contributing to the growth of the continent's tr...2018-09-2440 min
African Tech RoundupHacking Remittances and Other Stories feat. Herbert Banhire of AMA.ZING (Zing Holdings)According to a recent World Bank report, it's more costly to send money to Africa than to anywhere else in the world. On average, a 12% remittance fee is charged for every USD200 sent to the continent. Just last year (2017), African Diasporans reportedly sent home USD38 billion, and doubtless, a solid chunk of that sum served to line the pockets of financial incumbents who are only too happy to promote the status quo.
In this episode of the African Tech Roundup, Herbert Banhire, AMA.ZING's Head of Zimbabwean Diaspora SA, joins Andile Masuku and guest co-host, Tapsnapp Founder, Vije Vijendranath, to...2018-09-171h 29
African Tech RoundupTonjé Bakang of African Leadership Academy on Afrostream's demise and failing forwardYou might recall that in September 2017 the Cameroonian former Founder & CEO of Afrostream and current Chief Brand Officer of African Leadership Academy's Anzisha Prize, Tonjé Bakang, published a heavily-publicised Medium post in French announcing that his VOD streaming service was shutting down. Here is Tonjé's letter in English— translated by Audrey Lang: http://bit.ly/tonjéokayafrica. Our very own Andile Masuku even wrote a syndicated op-ed for Business Report South Africa (http://bit.ly/tonjeoped) celebrating Tonjé's decision to chronicle how and why his company failed.
By founding Afrostream, Tonjé set out to capture the loyalty of an unde...2018-09-0748 min
Africa On Focus the PodcastAndile Masuku – The #AfricanNarrativeThe 3rd episode of Africa on Focus aired on the 3rd of June starring Ms.aba who interacted with Andile Masuku, Zimbabwean broadcaster, entrepreneur, tech columnist and co-founder of African Tech Roundup. The South-African based entrepreneur shared how he is keen to interact with Africans in Amsterdam and learn on the strength of connections of Dutch-based Africans with the African continent.2018-06-231h 25
African Tech Roundup#VillageDiariesAmsterdam Pt 1 - A fireside chat with HYBR Founder & CEO Charles OjeiOn Tuesday, June 5th, 2018 the international African Tech Roundup LIVE Tour launched with a live event in The Netherlands dubbed #VillageDiariesAmsterdam.
For the first part of the evening's programme, hosts Andile Masuku and Musa Kalenga were joined by headline guest, Nigerian Partner and CEO of HYBR, Charles Ojei.
Prior to founding HYBR, Charles was Director of Enterprise Business at Samsung Electronics West Africa and earned nearly two decades of sales, business development, strategy and technology professional experience while embedded at Procter & Gamble, General Electric, Samsung, and DuPont. He implemented projects in Africa, Americas, Asia and Europe across multiple industries such...2018-06-2254 min
African Tech RoundupInteroperability, Data Ownership & Steward Ownership feat. Oliver Sauter of WorldBrainIn this episode of the African Tech Roundup podcast, Oliver Sauter— Co-founder and Head of Strategy, Product & Operations at https://WorldBrain.io, joins Andile Masuku and Musa Kalenga for a meandering conversation that explores the link between the trend towards interoperability and idealised notions of individual data ownership.
As Africa grapples with the reality of large swathes of its population being either digitally "invisible" or completely oblivious to the commercial value of the personal data they are palming off so freely, Oliver, Musa and Andile discuss how interoperability might contribute towards private citizens wielding control and commercial agency over their pe...2018-05-131h 21
#AndilesTake PodcastPhilippa Larkin and Andile Masuku's tech and innovation catch-upIn this relaxed chat - taped on Wednesday, May 2nd, 2018 - Business Report (South Africa) Content Editor, Philippa Larkin and African Tech Roundup Executive Producer, Andile Masuku, chat about topical global issues impacting Africa's tech and innovation industry.
Listen in to hear how the conversation takes some unexpected twists and turns as Philippa and Andile discuss the continent's unfolding digital transformation journey.2018-05-0757 min
African Tech RoundupFacebook's Breach of Trust + Blockchain Straight Talk feat. Marvin Coleby of Raise ImpactIt's fair to say that Facebook is the elephant in pretty much every room at the moment. In this month's instalment of the African Tech Roundup podcast, Marvin Coleby joins Andile Masuku and Musa Kalenga to factor in on some of the biggest tech and innovation headlines that have trended over the last month or so— not least, Facebook's diabolical data privacy gaffes.
Marvin is a venture lawyer who hails from The Bahamas and his startup, Raise Impact (http://raiseimpact.io/), is harnessing blockchain technology to build a tokenized impact exchange to democratise private investments made in companies based in em...2018-04-121h 17
African Tech RoundupA Peek Under the Hood Of South Africa's Mobility Scene feat. Obakeng Morapeli MatlhokoBack on the show for the first time since contributing his fair share of involuntary hot takes on Episode 109 entitled "Investor Bias Debate 2.0 + Should Africa Embrace Uberisation?" (http://bit.ly/investorbias) Tapsnapp Founder, Vije Vijendrenath assumes co-hosting duties in Musa Kalenga’s absence. Andile Masuku chats to him about the workarounds he's deployed to secure funding for two startups that he previously struggled to get investors to take seriously-- namely, www.tapsnapp.co and www.youbabyandi.com.
Then, joining Andile and Vije on the show for a deep dive into South Africa's mobility scene is Obakeng Morapeli Matlhoko, the Founder of...2018-03-081h 24
Key Africans UnlockedKey Africans Unlocked Ep 1 - Andile MasukuAndile Masuku is a Zimbabwean broadcaster and entrepreneur based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He wears many hats including being the executive producer of AfricanTechRoundup.com and being a sought-after speaker and voice-over artist.2018-02-0157 min
Key Africans UnlockedKey Africans Unlocked Ep 1 - Andile MasukuAndile Masuku is a Zimbabwean broadcaster and entrepreneur based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He wears many hats including being the executive producer of AfricanTechRoundup.com and being a sought-after speaker and voice-over artist.2018-02-0157 min
African Tech RoundupOn Your Marks for 2018: Is the Lean Startup Approach Legit?In the first full African Tech Roundup podcast of 2018, Andile Masuku mulls over Gefira Solutions Founder and CEO Bert Bruggeman's assertion that we can't just "app our way" to solving all of Africa's problems.
Then, he ponders which hybrid investment approaches might prove successful in fueling African startups in 2018, and echoes the questions posed by Seyi Fabode’s blog post entitled: “Is It Time To Dump The ‘Lean Startup’ Approach?”
Also, in this episode, Andile gives a quick update on the #NotOurManifesto dumpster fire that Co-Creation Hub Nigeria co-founder Femi Longe lit late last year and shares some encouraging news regarding...2018-01-1524 min
African Tech RoundupDo African Startup Pitch Competitions Offer Anything More Than Pre-allocated Peanuts?The Facebook-sponsored TechCrunch Startup Battlefield competition which took place in Nairobi recently brought together fifteen African startups for a glitzy pitch session that offered entrants the chance to win $25,000, as well as the opportunity to go on and compete for $50,000 at the Disrupt Cup, which will be held in Silicon Valley next year.
After the Kenyan logistics startup, Lori Systems, won the Nairobi event murmurings of alleged tournament rigging started doing the rounds and eventually surfaced in media reports. This palava has got Andile Masuku and Musa Kalenga wondering what, if any, value startup competitions are adding to Africa's emerging...2017-10-301h 01
African Tech RoundupInvestor Bias Debate 2.0 + Should Africa Embrace Uberisation? feat. Vije VijendranathA couple of weeks ago, a think piece by Andile Masuku entitled "We simply must not allow investor bias to persist" - featured in African Independent and Business Report - caused a bit of a stir on Twitter. The hubbub surrounded the article's tackling of the sensitive issue of investor bias that appears to be prevalent in Africa's startup finance scene.
Cited in Andile's piece are research findings published in a recent Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation-funded report by the American VC outfit, Village Capital. According to the report, more than 90% of the funding that's gone into East African fintech startups...2017-07-311h 22
African Tech RoundupMalawi Secures $72.4 Million Credit Line From The World Bank To Advance National DigitisationThe Sub-Saharan Africa heads of the likes of Huawei, Oracle, Cisco, IBM and perhaps even Amazon, Facebook and Google, have no doubt already booked first class tickets to Lilongwe to advise the Malawian government on what to do with the $72.4 million line of credit the country has secured from the World Bank to "help Malawi build the digital foundations needed to help the country connect to the global digital economy". This development comes in the wake of the World Bank resuming "budget support financing" for Malawi in May 2017 after a four-year hiatus.
In this African Tech Round-up, Musa Kalenga and...2017-06-2345 min
African Tech RoundupDiscussing Inclusive Value Chains With Simon Carpenter of SAP AfricaWe are one week away from returning to our regular coverage of the week’s biggest digital, tech and innovation headlines, once the team at the African Tech Round-up returns from the Festive break.
This week's show features yet another sneak preview of Season 6 of the African Tech Conversations series. Andile Masuku chats with Simon Carpenter, Chief Technology Officer at SAP Africa. With 2017 well and truly underway, Andile finds out what innovation trend Simon is most excited about.
Music Credits:
Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Music licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution2017-01-0914 min
African Tech RoundupZebra Cabs Raises $21.6 Million To Take On Uber And Taxify In South AfricaSA 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 i...2016-12-0629 min
African Tech RoundupKenyan Agritech Startup WeFarm Secures $1.6 Million In FundingHow 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 in...2016-11-2138 min
African Tech RoundupHighlights From DISCOP Johannesburg and Digital Lab Africa (featuring Jason Njoku of iROKO)Andile Masuku and Brian Lupiya spent three days last week at DISCOP Johannesburg— Africa’s biggest multi-screen, multi-platform marketplace, assessing trends within the continent’s digital content scene.
They spent most of our time collecting insights at the fringe of Digital Lab Africa (DLA)— a DISCOP partner initiative that aims to be a springboard for African multimedia talent looking to launch worthy projects and business ideas within digital music, web creation, virtual reality and video game development.
So this week, in place of the bringing you the week’s highlights in terms of digital, tech and innovation news from across Africa, Br...2016-11-0730 min
African Tech RoundupBarclays Africa's Blockchain Transaction A World FirstIt’s been a busy week for the continent’s fintech scene.
The past week saw MTN South Africa announce that it would be discontinuing its mobile money service due to “a lack of commercial viability”. This revelation comes months after Vodacom South Africa ended it’s catastrophic attempt at copying and pasting Kenya’s M-Pesa magic.
Meanwhile, Madagascar became only the second African country after Tanzania to to roll out mobile money interoperability across the country's mobile networks.
But easily one of the catchiest headline stories of the past week was about Barclays Africa’s involvement in what’s being celebrated...2016-09-1956 min
#AndilesTake Podcast10: Chef Tips With Lesego SemenyaIn this instalment of #AndilesTake, I catch up with my mate, Chef Lesego Semenya, a year and a half or so after he first shared the vision for his LesDaChef fine dining brand with me.
I'm fascinated by the level of focus and intentionality this Soweto-native, and Prue Leith Chefs Academy graduate in Centurion brings to his culinary hustle, and I take great pleasure in celebrating the fact that since we last spoke on mic, Les has been named one of the Mail & Guardian’s Top 200 Young South Africans, dubbed a rising star by House & Leisure, appointed consulting chef to a...2016-09-0942 min
#AndilesTake PodcastEpisode 10 Promo: "Chef Tips"This is quick teaser for the upcoming episode of #AndilesTake which will feature fine dining chef, Lesego Semenya-- M&G Top 200 Young South African, TOP Chef SA judge, Resident Foodie at Power FM and all-round man of the people.
Music Credits:
Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Music licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.02016-08-2203 min
African Tech RoundupEconet Wireless Set To Roll Out Shine's Ad Blocking ServiceEconet Wireless has recently announced that all ±40 million of their subscribers in Africa will benefit from Shine’s ad blocking service— starting with those in Zimbabwe.
This deal represents Shine’s first deployment on the continent, following partnerships they’ve struck with the likes of the Caribbean mobile operator, Digicel, and Three Group in the UK and Italy.
There’s no doubt about it, life is about to get a little tougher for online media platforms that rely on ad revenue to survive, as well as for web marketers that peddle online real estate. However, Econet’s subscribers are likely to relish the...2016-08-2237 min
African Tech RoundupMTN Group Reports Losses In Mid-Year Results For 2016MTN Group’s warning that their interim financial results for the period ending June 30th 2016 would be unpleasant did a lot to absorb the shock when reality struck last Friday— the day the report eventually dropped.
Despite revenue for the interim period improving by ±US$5.7 billion, MTN reported an after tax loss attributable to equity holders of just over US$401 thousand. That translates to a headline loss per share of nearly US$0.20. Compare that with 2015’s headline earnings of just under US$0.48 per share, and it’s sobering to see how humbling this must be Africa’s largest mobile service provider.
A...2016-08-0823 min
#AndilesTake Podcast9: Look Up #livingtruthfullyDuring a recent trip on a dodgy Greyhound coach to visit family in Zimbabwe, I learned some rather poignant lessons about the importance of looking past the trivial business of daily life, and peered past man-made hype to what really matters.
Shout out to Africa's busiest border post. It's all love, Beitbridge!
Music Credits:
Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Music licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.02016-08-0307 min
African Tech RoundupCodeacademy Receives $30 Million Investment Lead By Naspers VenturesThere’s no doubt that online education is a hot ticket at the moment.
While the folks at Andela are probably still celebrating landing $24 million worth of investment courtesy of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and others, the New York-based Codecademy has closed a $30 million Series C investment round led by Naspers, through its Naspers Ventures division.
Codecademy plans to use the funds to extend its global reach, build its mobile presence, and beef up its course content. It does seem that formal education business is well and truly on its way to being disrupted.
In this week’s African Tech Roun...2016-07-1831 min
#AndilesTake Podcast8: Delusions feat. Toro OreroThis episode of #AndilesTake explores the importance of delusion, and it features the live wire that the Toro Orero, a Nigerian-born Managing Partner of Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm, DraperDarkFlow.
One of the key things Toro and his partners at DraperDarkFlow look for in a startup founder that they might invest in is a sense of delusion. He believes that being a little nuts is often a good indicator that someone has what it takes to change the world.
I'm totally with it!
Music Credits:
Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Music licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.02016-07-1009 min
#AndilesTake PodcastBONUS: In Conversation With Andre Blaze HenshawAs promised in Episode 7 of the #AndilesTake podcast, this is the uncut conversation I (Andile Masuku) had with Nigeria's inimitable Andre "Blaze" Henshaw.
Andre is easily one of Africa’s leading broadcasting talents. While he's probably most famous for his work on Nigerian public radio, and hosting primetime extravaganza’s like Nigeria’s Got Talent on television, it’s his work on the My Africa podcast (available on iTunes) that got me sensing a sort of kinship with him.
He launched the podcast at a time when his media career was soaring, and the whole podcast scene on the continent wasn’t e...2016-06-241h 01
#AndilesTake Podcast7: So Much To Say... Not! feat. Andre Blaze Henshaw & PJ LebeaSo, I’ve decided to pick up where I left off in terms of the audio journal I started just over 18 months ago.
Technically, this is Episode 1 of the 2nd Season of the #AndilesTake podcast series. Except as you’ll gather in this instalment, I’m still trying to figure out what it is I’m actually trying to say, and why. I feel like once I properly get my thumb on that, the name of the podcast will change.
In the meantime, consider this a personal invitation to join me in discovering what stories are worth telling, what issues are wort...2016-06-0929 min
African Tech RoundupNaspers Now Worth Over ZAR 1 TrillionIf there were a race to being Africa’s largest media and internet company, out of fairness to other firms in the running, Naspers would probably be asked not to enter.
After seeing its share price rise to an all-time high on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange last week— reaching R2,320.73 per share, pushing its market value to R1,02 trillion (±$6,7 billion), it’s now a matter of “catch me if you can” as far as any of the firm’s competitors closing in on them.
In this week’s African Tech Round-up, Andile Masuku shares some of the reasons why Naspers stock is such a...2016-06-0627 min
African Tech RoundupGhana's Police Threaten Social Media BlackoutTurns out Ghana’s top cop— Inspector General of Police John Kudalor thinks that blocking social media access across the country might be necessary to ensure Ghana’s national security on election day in November 2016.
Mr Kudalor reckons that Ghana might do well to learn from the example set by other countries on the continent and around the world that have take similar steps in the recent past— Uganda no doubt being top of mind.
It's likely that the Inspector General’s comments might have been made to test public sentiment on the issue ahead of the polls. However, if the chill...2016-05-3026 min
African Tech RoundupHow Ridiculous Is This? South Africa Is Looking To Ban Netflix!There are media reports doing the rounds regarding South Africa’s Film and Publication Board (FPB) Chief Operating Officer Sipho Risiba supposedly giving Netflix a two-week ultimatum to comply with its regulatory requirements (whatever those are), or risk facing tough sanctions.
Word is, Risiba recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Kenya Film Commission in a show of support for Kenya's mission to regulate Netflix’s activities within that country. Despite details around this matter being sketchy, critics have already started accusing the FPB of functioning outside of its mandate, and senselessly seeking to regulate the internet.
In Andile Masu...2016-03-2823 min
African Tech RoundupMobile World Congress 2016 (feat. Craig Wilson, Talib Graves-Manns & Brien Jordan-Jack)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...2016-03-0742 min
African Tech RoundupWhy Is South Africa Looking To Regulate Services Like WhatsApp?African lawmakers are struggling to come to grips with the opportunities and threats presented by various important innovations being spurred by technological advancement— this as they carry out the unenviable task of safeguarding public welfare.
In this week’s episode of the African Tech Round-up, Tefo Mohapi and Andile Masuku discuss some of the more troublesome regulatory issues that are cropping up in countries like South Africa, Kenya and even Morocco— where VoIP apps have recently been banned unless they operate under telecommunications licenses.
Also in this week’s show, a snippet from a conversation Andile Masuku had with Rohan George—...2016-01-1831 min
African Tech RoundupNetflix & Buffering (featuring Emeka Okoye and Aaron Fu)We’re just loving this trend of brilliant Africans crashing our podcast recordings. The last time that happened we had a total blast with Rebecca Enonchong, Mark Kaigwa and Thebe Ikalafeng.
This week, Nigerian software engineering heavyweight, Emeka Okoye, literally walked into the room as Tefo Mohapi and Andile Masuku were chatting about about how Africa seemed to be responding to Netflix’s surprise roll-out of its service to pretty much every corner of the planet. Be sure to listen in to hear him share his thoughts on the impact (or lack thereof) that Neflix’s entry into the Nigerian video...2016-01-101h 03
African Tech RoundupMbwana Alliy Talks About Startup Governance & Funding Tech Startups In AfricaWe attended Afrikoin Johannesburg on 3 December 2015.
At the event, Andile Masuku posed a question that led to a very lively debate about whether improved “access” to seamless, more affordable financial services does in fact equal “inclusion” for Africa’s poorest— especially given how centralised the world’s computing power is, and how huge stashes of Bitcoin are held by a relatively few well-resourced interests.
We also caught up with Savannah Fund founder, Mbwana Alliy for a chat after the event.
In this week’s episode of the African Tech Round-Up (the last full-length episode of 2015), you can not only look forward to liste...2015-12-071h 52
African Tech RoundupMTN Nigeria Stunned By Unprecedented $5.2 Billion FineIt’s been a truly awful week for the MTN Group— what with a $5.2 billion fine imposed on MTN Nigeria (the group’s largest and most profitable subsidiary) by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for failing to disconnect unregistered SIM cards timeously, the news of which led to considerable market panic and a subsequent 16% drop in MTN’s share price.
This week, MTN also started fielding allegations of engaging in highly sophisticated tax evasion practices such as using transfer pricing to ship profits off to distant tax havens via their off-shore ‘businesses’, namely MTN Dubai and MTN International in Mauritius.
Meanwhile, t...2015-11-0231 min
#AndilesTake Podcast4: Presenting Like A Pro feat. Marc Chase, Alex Granger & Beth-Ann GalvinThe gift of speech is a hugely underrated blessing. I'm at the stage in my life-- personal and career-wise, where I've developed an awareness for the potential of what comes out of my mouth to either kill or heal, build or destroy.
In this episode of #AndilesTake, I look back on the influences that have shaped the broadcaster I am today, share what fuels my sense of purpose as a communicator, and reflect on what inspires me not just to keep raising my game as a pro, but also cherish the responsibility of having a voice in these tough times.
...2015-09-1721 min
#AndilesTake Podcast3: Craftsmanship vs. Entrepreneurship (Part 2) feat. Unathi Msengana & Asanda MadyibiThis is the second and final part of my take on the transition from craftsmanship to entrepreneurship featuring Unathi Msengana and Asanda Madyibi.
Unathi Msengana is a well-loved South African media personality and business woman (Musician, Metro FM DJ, Idols South Africa Judge and Television Producer) who is easily one of the most relevant and, indeed, most bankable entities in the Africa’s fickle entertainment industry. While, Asanda Madyibi is an incredibly talented fashion designer to the stars whose garments have graced catwalks around the world.
Unathi, Asanda and I go way back, but not quite as far back as th...2015-07-2815 min
#AndilesTake Podcast2: Craftsmanship vs. Entrepreneurship (Part 1) feat. Unathi Msengana & Asanda MadyibiUnathi Msengana is a well-loved South African media personality and business woman (Musician, Metro FM DJ, Idols South Africa Judge and Television Producer) who is easily one of the most relevant and, indeed, most bankable entities in the Africa's fickle entertainment industry. While, Asanda Madyibi is an incredibly talented fashion designer to the stars whose garments have graced catwalks around the world.
Unathi, Asanda and I go way back, but not quite as far back as their friendship. They have been thick as thieves since Asanda designed Unathi's graduation dress 14 years ago.
Recently, I was lucky enough to crash a...2015-07-0824 min
#AndilesTake Podcast6: Fruit of the Year 2015Join me in celebrating the mango! *cue fireworks* In this feature I contrast the amazing qualities of 2015's "Fruit of the Year" with the dodgy quality of customer service in South African supermarkets.
While it's been a remarkable year for the mango, public outrage at poor customer service in South Africa continues to grow (with significant amounts of frustration being aimed at the big supermarket chains).
Is it possible that there are lessons the supermarket industry could learn from the mango's consistently impressive performance this past summer? I think so!
For nearly a decade, I've shopped for fruit and vegetables...2015-05-1406 min
#AndilesTake Podcast1: Do What You Love feat. The Muffinz (Workers' Day Special)The wait is over. The Muffinz have finally released their much-anticipated sophomore album, "Do What You Love"-- following the success of their critically-acclaimed, award-winning debut, "Have You Heard" in 2012. After touring widely since the release of their first album (selling out venues like New York's famous Apollo Theatre along the way), and sharing the stage with legendary artists like Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Oliver Mtukudzi (who features on their latest album), I asked them to give an honest account of what it's really like to "be a Muffin".
I also get a little personal in this episode as I...2015-04-3012 min