Nkosana Makate 55: Vodacom Eats Humble Pie Over Please-Call-Me Idea 🟢 CLICK HERE to subscribe to the African Tech Roundup Podcast 🟢 Happy May Day, Africa! There’s no doubt Kenneth Nkosana Makate is celebrating Workers’ Day in style following a South African Constitutional Court judge ruling that Vodacom owes him a big fat cheque for profiting from his Please-Call-Me idea for
African Tech Conversations Taking On Giants With Alpesh Patel 🟢 CLICK HERE to subscribe to the African Tech Roundup Podcast 🟢 Alpesh Patel is the outspoken Founder and CEO of Africa’s first home-grown mobile device brand, Mi-Fone. He is also formerly the Director of Sales at Motorola Mobile Devices for Africa, as well a seasoned entrepreneur who’s seen his
Zambia 54: Tax Free Mobile Devices vs. Drone Delivered HIV Testing Kits 🟢 CLICK HERE to subscribe to the African Tech Roundup Podcast 🟢 There is so much talk around the potential of technological innovation to lift Africa out of poverty and usher the continent into an era of peace and progress. It's worrying when such talk is bandied about by corporate
Alan Knott-Craig Jr 53: A Year of Great African Tech Conversations 🟢 CLICK HERE to subscribe to the African Tech Roundup Podcast 🟢 Over the past year, our sister podcast, African Tech Conversations, has featured relaxed in-depth chats with leading entrepreneurs, innovators and thought-leaders from Africa’s tech scene. In place of this week’s discussion on the African Tech Round-up, we’re
BudgIT 52: Celebrating The African Tech Round-Up's First Birthday! 🟢 CLICK HERE to subscribe to the African Tech Roundup Podcast 🟢 We set out to provide some much-needed coverage of the biggest digital, tech and innovation news stories from the African continent — minus all the PR-soaked click-bait and consumer-driven tech chatter one tends to find all over the web. We’ve
MTN Nigeria 51: Nigerian House of Representatives Calls For MTN Nigeria To Pay Over $10bn 🟢 CLICK HERE to subscribe to the African Tech Roundup Podcast 🟢 MTN’s Nigeria headache is now officially a chronic migraine. Just as the MTN Group thought the worst was over, Nigeria’s House of Representatives decided to shake things up. Some members have declared any concession (promised or granted by
Netflix 50: How Ridiculous Is This? South Africa Is Looking To Ban Netflix! 🟢 CLICK HERE to subscribe to the African Tech Roundup Podcast 🟢 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 their regulatory requirements (whatever those are), or risk facing tough
Fintech 49: Will These FinTech Startups Disrupt Incumbents? 🟢 CLICK HERE to subscribe to the African Tech Roundup Podcast 🟢 Last week, the Standard Bank Incubator in Johannesburg played host to Nest.vc’s forum on finance and technology. The gathering formed part Nest’s monthly entrepreneurship speaker series and showcase dubbed #WhatsNext. It is the very first #WhatsNext event
48: Vodacom Accused Of Stealing An Idea, Again! 🟢 CLICK HERE to subscribe to the African Tech Roundup Podcast 🟢 Vodacom is reportedly fielding a lawsuit filed by a South African company called Ndabenhle Business Enterprises CC. Word is, Ndabenhle is alleging that Vodacom stole the “Airtime Advance” idea from them and ran with it, leaving them in the cold.
Mobile World Congress 2016 47: Mobile World Congress 2016 (feat. Craig Wilson, Talib Graves-Manns & Brien Jordan-Jack) 🟢 CLICK HERE to subscribe to the African Tech Roundup Podcast 🟢 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
MTN Nigeria 46: Nigeria's Communications Commission Accepts MTN Nigeria's 'Chump Change' Settlement 🟢 CLICK HERE to subscribe to the African Tech Roundup Podcast 🟢 It would seem that MTN might be off the hook over the small matter of the several billion dollars it owes/owed the Nigerian Communications Commission — proving to many that “all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal
Uganda 45: Museveni Won, But Did Uganda Decide? 🟢 CLICK HERE to subscribe to the African Tech Roundup Podcast 🟢 Uganda’s most closely contested election in decades pitted the victorious incumbent, Yoweri Museveni, against seven other candidates, including his former doctor, Kizza Besigye, and ex-prime minister, Amama Mbabazi. While polls leading up to the election showed that Mr Museveni
Facebook 44: #FreeBasicsMustFall 🟢 CLICK HERE to subscribe to the African Tech Roundup Podcast 🟢 Facebook is still smarting from having Free Basics kicked out of India. Clearly no one was more upset by India’s emphatic rejection of Mark Zuckerberg’s walled garden project than venture capitalist and Facebook board member, Marc Andreessen, who
Uber Kenya 43: Should Uber Leave Kenya? 🟢 CLICK HERE to subscribe to the African Tech Roundup Podcast 🟢 No doubt about it— it’s an unsettling time to be an Uber driver in Kenya. This past week, more reports of intimidation and violence against Uber drivers have been reported in Nairobi. And you can be certain that the
SEACOM 42: SEACOM Experiences Second Major Outage In As Many Weeks 🟢 CLICK HERE to subscribe to the African Tech Roundup Podcast 🟢 The soul-destroying Twitter outages and more recent SEACOM broadband disruptions notwithstanding, the team at the AfricanTechRoundup.com has been extremely busy since we properly got 2016 on the go a few weeks ago. So busy in fact, that Tefo Mohapi
Apple 41: Apple, Sony And Samsung Face Child Labour Allegations In The DRC 🟢 CLICK HERE to subscribe to the African Tech Roundup Podcast 🟢 We had to face a tough truth this week. The fact is that we are complicit in the perpetuation of horrible crimes against humanity. And if you’re reading this right now, it’s likely that you are too. If
MTN South Africa 40: Why Is South Africa Looking To Regulate Services Like WhatsApp? 🟢 CLICK HERE to subscribe to the African Tech Roundup Podcast 🟢 African policy makers 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
Netflix 39: Netflix & Buffering (Featuring Emeka Okoye and Aaron Fu) 🟢 CLICK HERE to subscribe to the African Tech Roundup Podcast 🟢 We hope you’ve had a restful break, and that your return to the office hasn’t been too jarring. As for us, we’re just loving this trend of brilliant Africans crashing our podcast recordings. This week, Nigerian software
Facebook 38: Musa Kalenga & Kali Ilunga Get You, Digital Africans, Pumped Up For 2016 🟢 CLICK HERE to subscribe to the African Tech Roundup Podcast 🟢 Happy New Year! The African Tech Round-up team is only one week away from being back on strike to bring you the most important digital, tech and innovation news from across the African continent. This week though, we round off
Kojo Baffoe 37: Craig Wilson, Kojo Baffoe and Jade Brennan Talk Gadgets & Apps Trends In Africa For 2015 🟢 CLICK HERE to subscribe to the African Tech Roundup Podcast 🟢 This week's episode is a panel discussion from The Annual Round-up 2015 that covered some of 2015's highlights from a gadgets and apps perspective. Deputy Editor of Stuff Magazine and Technology Analyst, Craig Wilson, Director of
Google 36: Andrew Taylor & Mich Atagana Discuss 2015 Tech Startup Trends For Africa 🟢 CLICK HERE to subscribe to the African Tech Roundup Podcast 🟢 In the second instalment of our four-part Annual Round-up 2015 insights series, we bring you a panel discussion on African tech startups featuring Google South Africa’s Head of Communications & Public Affairs, Mich Atagana and Entrepreneur Magazine Columnist &
Dominique Collett-Antolik 35: Dominique Collett-Antolik and Brandon Doyle Talk 2015 African Fintech & Telecoms Trends 🟢 CLICK HERE to subscribe to the African Tech Roundup Podcast 🟢 Over the next four weeks the we are taking a much-needed break. Cue peaceful ocean sounds But while we're away, in place of our regular programming, we’ll be sharing exclusive content from the Annual Round-up 2015 event
African Tech Conversations Being Unemployable With Alan Knott-Craig Jr 🟢 CLICK HERE to subscribe to the African Tech Roundup Podcast 🟢 Our final guest on Season Two of African Tech Conversations is the “unemployable”, disruptive force that is Alan Knott-Craig Jr. It’s natural to assume that Alan Knott-Craig Sr paved the way for his son and namesake, Alan Jr to
Angani 34: Mbwana Alliy Talks About Startup Governance & Funding Tech Startups In Africa 🟢 CLICK HERE to subscribe to the African Tech Roundup Podcast 🟢 We 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’
African Tech Conversations Going Wireless With Michael Fletcher 🟢 CLICK HERE to subscribe to the African Tech Roundup Podcast 🟢 There’s no doubt about it. WiFi is the new black. California-based, NYSE-listed wireless systems company Ruckus Wireless is betting that the rate of WiFi infrastructure development Africa will continue to rise. And you can be sure that they’re
