ICTworks by Inveneo

Although investment in Africa has traditionally focused on commodities rather than technologies, the explosion of mobile usage has opened up opportunities for small-business development.
Memeburn explores some of the continent’s incubators for entrepreneurs to consider before taking the next step. It’s worth remembering that the investor climate is often make or break when it comes to finding angel investors.

Nigeria
Enspire is more than an incubation programme as it aims to support the establishment of businesses that graduate from the initial stage of developing an idea.
The group’s vision encompasses seeing incubating business through to the forefront in developing new and innovative technologies, directly creating products and services, according to TechLoy.
In August 2010, the initiative incubated three ideas, including software engineering and web-portal solution projects that were carried out over a six-week period.
Nigeria has a massive population, which is ideal for cultivating a large market. It is projected by development economist Jeffery Sachs to serve as Africa’s powerhouse within the next two decades — if not sooner. In this context, the international tech media sector has given Nigeria some attention. It is evidently well deserved.

Ghana
Ghana is certainly not short on opportunities for innovation, and both the private sector and the state are committed to startup culture.
The Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) trains and mentors aspiring African software entrepreneurs. The European-based company says its goal is the creation of wealth and local jobs in Africa. Working in partnership with the UN, the Ghana Multimedia Incubator Centre was set up in 2005, and aims to advance ICT entrepreneurship development through the incubation of ICT business startups.
The venture is in partnership with the country’s government and aims to help young businesses that have “ground-breaking and innovative ICT ideas to mature into viable business ventures”, according to Ghana Unlimited.

South Africa
Memeburn recently broke the news of one of the country’s most exciting ventures yet: Google’s latest venture for incubating South African startups.
Identified startups receive six months free office space and bandwidth, between US$25 000 to US$50 000 investment capital, access to Google mentors, and free publicity.
The venture, called Umbombo (Zulu for vision), has Cape Town as its home as Google is confident that the city is positioning itself as a hub for innovation and technology.

Egypt
Tahrir2 is a the first technology hub based in Egypt’s city of Alexandria and is backed by Mohammed Gawdat, Google’s managing director for emerging markets and businesses in Southern, Central, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
According to a report by ArabCrunch.com, Tahrir Square offers startups physical location, mentorship and funding. The amount of money placed in each business will vary, though successful entrepreneurs can look at around US$15 000.

Tanzania
The first phase of the Nelson Mandela African Institute for Science and Technology (NM-AIST) is complete. Construction of the institute’s vital structures has been under way at the site since August this year at a cost of Sh38.7-billion (around US$25 000), reports africanbrains.net. There are scholarships now available and applications are open. The centre may serve as an entry point for the East African nation’s startups.

Kenya
Kenya, Africa’s mobile rising star, is a growing hub that has attracted a number of East Africa’s entrepreneurs. Technologically, one can argue that Kenya has made the biggest strides when it comes to internet connectivity.
NaiLabs is one of four fresh incubators that has opened in Kenya in the past two years, providing fast internet connections with a specific focus on web, mobile and social media solutions. NaiLabs caters for a 100 startups per given period and, of those, the most promising 10 are incubated at the NaiLabs facilities, TechZim reports.
There’s no doubt that Africa’s incubators are growing, with new centres opening each year. The next five years may provide a snapshot as to how the investment in facilitating the next big innovation correlates with success. And, for investors who have chosen wisely, the payoffs should be good.

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Article by G. Kofi Annan initially posted on the BusinessInsider website

A recent report by Dubai-based firm Delta Partners has put the growing telecom industry in Emerging Markets to reach $200 billion by 2013. In the white paper titled “ICT in emerging markets: a USD 200Bln opportunity that cannot be ignored.”, the telecommunications advisory and investment firm reveals that the ICT market in South East Asia, Middle East and Africa was worth $168 billion in 2009 at around 5% of the global market. The findings show that this is expected to grow by $60 billion until 2013 to $228 billion in 2013 – a large incremental growth opportunity.

“The size of the ICT opportunity is significant in all three regions and it is expected to grow rapidly at an annual growth rate of 8% in the next three years as markets mature and operators continue to embrace ICT and its potential,” says Dimitris Lioulias, Manager at Delta Partners. “The window of opportunity for aspiring telecoms operators however is narrow. Firstly, because competition is increasing on the access side and secondly, because IT players are moving aggressively to lock in long-term contracts those enterprise and SME customers willing to outsource a number of their networking and IT needs.”

Fueled by the influence of ICT on infrastructure in countries like China, Kenya, India, and Indonesia, analysts are increasingly encouraging multinational companies to engage the banking, public and telecommunications sectors in emerging markets for growth. About IBM's own outlook on ICT in Africa, country general manager for IBM East Africa Tony Mwai recently told Reuters, "We are seeing growth in the financial services sector, certainly in telecommunications because of the explosion of mobile technology and we are seeing growth in the public sector as governments transform toe-government type of operations and delivery of services to citizens,".

Report Overview:

• ICT is a global market worth more than USD 3 trillion and it becomes increasingly relevant for telecoms players, both as an offensive and as a defensive play
• The ICT offering can be broken down into six different categories of services, from more network centric (and hence more synergetic to pure Telco players) to more IT centric (and hence more synergetic to pure IT players). These services range widely not only in terms of revenue generation potential but also in terms of EBITDA margins (3-45%)
• The motivation of telecoms operators to enter the ICT battlefield has been varied depending on the type of player. The result, however, has been strategies that turn ICT into an important part of operators'; business
• In Emerging markets, the ICT opportunity is at different stages of development: In South East Asia, business process outsourcing is at the forefront of ICT services being provided. Operators are in some cases quite advanced as they started with their ICT efforts more than a decade ago
• In the Middle East, slow deregulation of the telecoms markets hinders strong development of ICT. Operators are in the process of building their skills and they use partnerships to achieve so
• In Africa, poor fixed infrastructure also affects ICT negatively. Operators try mostly to leverage their mobile assets to deliver ICT services
• The size of the opportunity in these Emerging markets is expected to reach USD 230 Bln by 2013. The window of opportunity for aspiring telecoms operators is narrow. Firstly, because competition is increasing on the access side. Secondly, because IT players are moving aggressively to lock in long-term contracts enterprise and SME customers willing to outsource a number of their networking and IT needs

Read the full report

On Wednesday May 18, Ashoka delivered a terrific panel conversation at the World Bank called, Public Goods through Social Enterprises: Creating Hybrid Value Chains. Bill Drayton and Valeria Budinich spearheaded the discussion with their thoughts on the growing impact of hybrid value chains, full economic citizenship, and the inevitability of a changemaker world. I had three take-aways that I will consider under the current framework of technology.

First, Bill Drayton gave a statistic that blew me away and I had to Google it to make sure I heard it right: “Over half of the Ashoka fellows have changed national policy within five years.” There are over two thousand fellows worldwide, so you can imagine how many countries have gone through some sort of systemic change thanks to the influence of these individuals. But according to Mr. Drayton, the social entrepreneur is only successful when he has caused a movement within his community. Ashoka measures impact with specific large-scale variables. First they look at the original vision of the social entrepreneur, second, how well they scale the model and inspire others to replicate it, third, how their influence has caused a policy change, and fourth, how their model has promoted leadership building. This simple, yet impressive set of indicators demonstrates that Ashoka’s mission is to create entirely new systems and markets, rather than trying to fix broken models.
Second, patterns and systems are only valid if they are in the best interest of the citizen sector. Mr. Drayton explained that if a production and distribution system fails, then it fails for a reason and needs to be redesigned. This reminds me of a great TED talk by Seth Godin , where he makes the point that we shouldn’t allow broken ideas to perpetuate. I tweeted a question to the panel that ended up getting a laugh because it reflected the crux of the funding challenge for social entrepreneurs. I asked,

Mr. Drayton replied that the foundation model is a failure, it is inherently self-interested and in most cases will not allow social entrepreneurs the freedom necessary to follow the changemaker model. “It is only a eighty to ninety year-old system,” he quipped, “it isn’t too old to change.”
My third take-away was the need to create teams for social and economic change, which is the essence of the Hybrid Value Chain model. In the article, “A New Alliance For Global Change,” that was published in Harvard Business Review, Drayton and Budinich define the HVC as the joining of for-profit business with the citizen sector to “make global economies and create lasting social change. Businesses offer scale, expertise in operations, and financing. Social entrepreneurs offer low costs, strong social networks, and a deeper understanding of customers and communities.” This partnership of the private and citizen sectors is able to yield financial and social returns but also do so in such an effective way that the entire system of business is changed. Teams of social entrepreneurs from different backgrounds are necessary to create these hybrid partnerships and are increasingly doing so around the world. Bill Drayton poignantly asked, “How many people know that we are turning into a changemaker world?”

All these issues are important to take into account when applying a tech lens of innovation. Technologists are creating systems that change people’s lives through new
mobile phone tools, social media and networking, mapping technology, and environmental advocacy to name a few. Due to the exponential speed that new technology is produced, there are many opportunities to innovate broken systems. Social entrepreneurs need tech tools to be able to leverage a community and create a movement. I believe that much of the tech world realizes that it is part of a changemaker world—one that is democratic, participatory and allows individuals to achieve full economic citizenship.
Technological innovation has largely been developed for commercialization and fitting the needs of business, entertainment, and government. Now with the onset of HVC into the tech sector there are companies that have sprouted over the last few years that have combined the business and citizen sector to produce something mutually beneficial. We teach about many of them in our courses like FrontlineSMS, Ushahidi, Medic Mobile, and FreedomFone. Microfinance failed to be able to give access to entrepreneurs in the most rural areas and MPesa was able to solve it. What do you think the future of HVC will be in the tech sector? Are technologists going to be more socially minded as they see the growing impact that they can make? Is the citizen sector going to become more tech savvy so that they can create the programs and products that they need? Do you think we’ll get to a point where all business will have to have a changemaking social impact to be successful in the future? Please comment your thoughts!

Mark Your Calendar! AshokaU and @TechChange will be holding a twitter chat on: How will technological innovation and social entrepreneurship transform higher education? on June 17th from 1-2pm. Stay tuned for more details.

Originally posted on TechChange

Think African economies and you may think commodities, like oil and gas. But it may be time to start thinking tech innovation.

Countries around the continent have identified technology as a key weapon in the battle to boost prosperity - and that has sparked a tech revolution.

Sky high ambition
The continent's biggest economy has sky high ambitions.

South Africa is a serious contender to be home to a massive deep space telescope project called the SKA - or Square Kilometre Array. If the country beats off competition from Australia, its aerospace industry would receive a massive boost.

In fact, science and technology minister Naledi Pandor says the project would be "the largest science-based capital injection" Africa has ever seen.

That could mean more jobs and training in a cutting edge sector.

Young guns
But Africa's tech revolution could run out of steam unless it produces a new generation of innovators. That is why Kenya is taking steps to develop the talent that could help it get ahead of the game.

It is doing so with projects like m:lab - a consortium of stakeholders, including Nairobi University, which aims to hothouse talented mobile application developers.

Manager John Kieti says he is convinced Kenya is now a major world technology hub.

"[The mobile] is much cheaper to get, plus it can be used outside where there is no infrastructure like power," he says.

"Essentially, the mobile is going to be huge for us in terms of innovation, much more than the PC was a few years ago."

But it's not enough just to come up with good ideas - m:lab encourages innovators to focus on "demand driven" applications so they can be turned into viable businesses.

Pay it forward

Kariuki Gathitu is one of the hottest properties in Kenya's tech sector.

He is a 27 year old software developer who has come up with an application to build on the country's already sophisticated mobile payments market, called M-Payer.

"It has come into the mobile money scene to solve a huge challenge," he says. "This challenge is basically the interoperability, aggregation and integration of mobile money."

It streamlines the whole process from start to finish and so aims to benefit consumer and business operator alike.

Mr Gathitu demonstrates how subscribers can pay bills, receive cash and transfer funds with just a few taps on a mobile, and cash will clear in minutes, not hours or days.

M-Payer claims it can end the 'cheque in post' culture that has ruined many small African firms, often operating on tiny margins, with little or no access to bank credit.

Wider markets
But the revolution is not only happening in Kenya.

Right across the continent, developers are coming up with applications designed to reflect local needs. In Ghana, it is now central to the health of both companies and individuals.

ShopAfrica53 advertises goods and services from across Ghana online
The country has no shortage of enterprise, but smaller operators can struggle to gain access to wider markets.

And that access can make the difference between stagnation and prosperity.

One company in Accra is itself making a living by using technology to boost the prospects of other businesses.

ShopAfrica53 is a kind of web-mall - advertising goods and services from a range of small businesses in Ghana.

This means the tiniest and most remote operator now has access to an international market. The website also handles logistics like collection and delivery of goods, and takes payment on behalf of the vendors.

The technology being used by ShopAfrica53 can be a lifeline for small entrepreneurs ranging from tailors to artists.

Fighting the fakes
IT is even being used to protect the health of individuals by tackling the potentially deadly problem of fake medicines. An application called mPedigree allows you to check the authenticity of drugs.

You simply examine a special verification code on the bottle or packaging and send it, via free text, to a central online registry. An automatic response confirms whether the product is the real deal.

So far, only two of Ghana's major pharmacies have actually joined the system, but mPedigree says others have expressed interest.

"The drug industry in Ghana is worth about $750m (£465m) a year," says mPedigree's Selorm Branttie.

"Assuming about 10% of those are counterfeit drugs, we are talking about $75m a year going into the wrong hands... being invested into the wrong industries."

So whether it is fighting fake medicines or developing cutting edge telescopes, it's clear that Africa's technology is increasingly important in changing the lives of people across the continent.

"We cannot miss this train," says ShopAfrica53's chief executive Herman Chinnery-Hesse. "It's the only way to go."

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In my course on technology, development and Africa, a fine undergraduate student, David Metoyer, wrote this about the activities in Africa of Vodaphone, one of the world’s most significant mobil-telephony companies and a sizeable force in the sub-Saharan mobil boom:

Since 2009, Vodafone has significantly increased its presence in Africa. Vodacom, Vodafone’s leading subsidiary, hired 4,082 additional employees in Africa, bringing the total to 6,833 (a 150 percent gain). As a whole, Vodafone employment in Ghana increased from 13,676 in 2009 to 21,064 in 2010. Vodafone’s Seek, Identify, and Support (SIS) program enables the company to quickly identify new opportunities in the African market. The SIS program allows employees to propose potential projects that will benefit the company, and local communities. Often times, the communities are the employees’ home villages.

For Vodafone, sub-Saharan Africa is proving to be the testbed for R&D development that will transition to the rest of the world. Vodafone’s emerging “Africanized” technology is highly advanced, world-class stuff; unlike other existing technologies that have slowly trickled down into African markets.

Some examples: At first, Vodafone and its network of subsidiaries in sub-Saharan Africa tapped into the existing electrical grid. But the newly represented company was soon bombarded with complains from customers over spotty coverage and service outages. The problem was identified immediately. Some countries, specifically Kenya and the DRC, had very weak supporting infrastructures. As a result, the overburdened electrical grids dropped power to cell towers, regularly cutting service from paying subscribers until power loads reduced to sustainable levels. The outages could have lasted for hours. To remedy the issue, Vodafone fitted cell towers with gasoline backup generators.

For the past decade, the company’s critical challenge has been providing cellular coverage to places that lack even the most basic services, such as running water and electricity. Running power to rural cell towers was expensive and cable theft was rampant. To reach the rural customer, Vodafone planted generator-supported towers throughout the African countryside. The new tower sites reduced grid dependency, but also increased operational costs to ensure the reliability.

Around 2009, the concerns over energy security were also met with concerns over environmental degradation, or dramatically changing climates. Gasoline prices increased and soon Vodafone faced rapidly increasing costs to support reliability to its least paying customers, rural villagers. Additionally, Vodafone was under fire for excessive CO2 emissions from the gasoline generators powering those rural towers.

Vodafone was forced to “design for real needs”. Hybrid green sites have emerged as the solution. The project was taken on internally by the Cost Reduction team; the “Green Technology Program” aims to implement diesel hybrid sites, solar power, fuel cell technology, along with new methods of cooling and storing battery power. The results will reduce operational costs, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and further improve service reliability. Today, the hybrid powered sites stand in Kenya, the DRC, Mozambique, Lesotho, Tanzania, and South Africa. There are only a handful of towers operational, but the results are promising.

With is successes, Vodaphone’s “green technology program” also presents challenges. The advanced technology is expensive, and inconsistent load demands make it difficult to gauge what amount of support is necessary. In rainy seasons, usable sunlight is a mere 5.5 hours a day, not enough to fully power the towers. Securing space for solar panels is another challenge, though positioning the panels off the ground is providing a short-term solution. In 2011, tower security is the largest challenge facing Vodafone. The technology exists, but the effectiveness is severely limited by implementation due to a risk of damage and theft.

To provide access to power in rural markets, Vodafone is rolling out a solar-powered cellphone, complete with a built in solar panel on the back of the handset for charging. The phone launched in India from late 2010 and will push through Africa in 2011.

In the case of Vodafone, the “Africanized” technoscientific operations unfolding in developing parts of Africa could lay the framework for the rest of the developed world to follow.

Metoyer, a student at Arizona State University, is studying the important developmental role that multinational corporations now play in the sub-Saharan. He’ll be working in West Africa this summer, in his own private venture, based on a small-scale energy-efficiency innovation, which permits low-cost charging of cell-phone batteries off the electrical grid, thus meeting a key demand of rural Africans: juice to keep their phones running.

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Writer Credit: David Metyor and G. Pascal Zachary