Digital Transformation OP-ED - What good navigation looks like: no machine sails itself From Block's standing ovation to Monday.com's manifesto to a South African consultancy that started with the social system, Part 3 asks what good AI navigation actually looks like when you prioritise the human element and demand results over rhetoric.
Digital Transformation OP-ED - The mine, the machine, and the intern From post-WW2 coal mines to modern codebases, history suggests AI transformation will rise or fall not on technical capability alone, but on whether organisations deliberately redesign the social systems that surround the machine.
Artificial Intelligence OP-ED - How solo sailors sleep Solo sailors don't forecast the ocean. They set an alarm and pay attention. In the age of AI disruption, that pragmatic sensibility turns out to be rarer and more valuable than anyone is admitting.
This Is Connectivity OP-ED - Video podcasts are just chatshows with visible microphones Twenty-five years of podcast evolution has come full circle. Adam Wakefield argues audio's so-called limitations are actually its greatest edge in the attention economy.
Market Intelligence OP-ED - Afrexim walked away from Fitch. Cassava's creditors can't. Western rating agencies helped blow up the global economy, paid their fines, and kept it moving. Now they're the arbiters of African creditworthiness. But dismissing their scrutiny doesn't make the numbers disappear.
Digital Transformation OP-ED - After the launch party: who actually benefits from AI? What gets measured depends on who builds the scale.
Artificial Intelligence OP-ED - Cue ominous film score: is the AI agent apocalypse upon us? Last week, an AI startup watched its entire value proposition ship as a native feature. This is the story of what that moment reveals — and what some are betting it doesn't.
Venture Capital OP-ED - Cupid's cash flow: the matchmakers have marriage problems too When venture capitalists push portfolio consolidation, they're not just playing cupid. They're managing their own performance pressure.
Policymaking OP-ED - Nudge, don't shove: what Australia's social media ban gets wrong Prohibition makes for a satisfying sign. Behaviour change is messier.
This Is Connectivity OP-ED - Self-driving VC: Boardy, QuantumLight, and the end of the warm intro? AI is automating the art of the warm introduction. What happens when connectivity becomes a product rather than a relationship?
Infrastructure OP-ED - GPUs to gigawatts: how Africa’s energy potential could re-shape the AI landscape As AI’s hunger for power grows, Africa’s untapped energy reserves could redefine the continent’s role in the global tech race.
Artificial Intelligence OP-ED - Africa's AI awakening: from Western brainrot to homegrown tech sovereignty As Gen Z in the West abandons social media's endless scroll for "meaning," Africa is laying internet connectivity infrastructure at scale. Will it import yesterday's engagement-maximisation playbook or build for actual human flourishing?
Market Intelligence OP-ED - What do SAG Ventures and Balloon Ventures have in common? The intermediary trap Prince Nwadeyi's published research and Joshua Bicknell's operational experience expose the same problem: entrenched incentive structures don't serve those closest to real economic activity.
Digital Transformation OP-ED - What can standing in an iPhone 17 queue in Tokyo reveal about digital power and control? Plenty. Scarcity and sovereignty play out differently in Tokyo and Nairobi, but the underlying lessons for Africa’s tech builders are strikingly similar.
Digital Transformation OP-ED - Lessons from 25 Years of Africa’s internet story: a preview of Russell Southwood’s reflections Drawing from an upcoming African Tech Roundup podcast, this op-ed unpacks Russell Southwood’s reflections on lessons, blind spots and enduring questions.
Market Intelligence OP-ED - Who controls the narrative? First-party data, truth and power in Africa’s digital economy As powerful actors spin persuasive stories, the challenge is documenting reality with first-party evidence, resisting myths, and shaping narratives that serve more than self-interest.
Health Economics OP-ED - A son's grief and gratitude in a world of unequal healthcare Dr Leonard Masuku's death within Zimbabwe's constrained hospital system serves as a stark reminder of healthcare's global inequities.
Fintech OP-ED - The education of April Long: a Chinese entrepreneur's humbling lessons building for Africa's $286 billion trade gap After a decade in East Africa, fintech founder April Long reflects on the tough pivots, misread assumptions, and modest wins behind building Pyxis (rebranded Waka) for Africa-China trade.
Digital Transformation OP-ED - Namibia’s telecom network disruptor wants your customers, whoever you are Paratus Namibia is tearing up telecom playbooks, eyeing 5G mobile markets and crossing industry lines. In a game of territory and tech, no customer is off-limits.
Banking OP-ED - KCB Group builds on groundwork laid by 'Gov-preneurs' in Ethiopia as banking liberalisation accelerates Following Safaricom's lead, KCB's imminent Ethiopian entry leverages policy frameworks informed by 'Gov-preneurs' who embedded with government to safeguard 'fin-sovereignty'.
Artificial Intelligence OP-ED - The end of SEO as we know it? AI search and the future of discovery With AI reshaping how we find answers online, the rules of engagement are shifting. Here's what creators, founders, and strategists need to understand now.
Sona's Field Notes Sona's Field Notes #04: Strong Founder or Wrong Founder? After three Field Notes on external challenges, Sona Mahendra turns inward: exploring founder archetypes, market timing, and the uncomfortable truth about what constitutes winning.
Market Intelligence OP-ED - How routine township shopping in South Africa now buys you 'invisible' funeral cover through embedded insurance SAG Ventures’ Purchase Pal, underwritten by Sanlam, tucks funeral insurance into everyday grocery purchases. No forms, no intermediaries, no premiums. Prince Nwadeyi shows what happens when deep consumer research drives product design.
Fintech OP-ED - Stablecoins promise efficiency for Africa's fintech future, but at what cost? As stablecoins promise fast, cheap transfers, African businesses must weigh efficiency against surveillance risks and shifting gatekeepers in a new digital financial order.
Digital Transformation OP-ED - Can fibre optic manufacturing joint ventures like YOA Cable drive Africa’s next industrial wave? Pieter E. Viljoen, a physicist-turned-optic cable manufacturing boss, is betting that rethinking fibre from first principles could help restart Africa’s stalled industrial ambitions.
