This Is Connectivity

A collection of 33 posts

This Is Connectivity

OP-ED - AI tools are taking us somewhere no human has ever been. Just not in your voice.

A study involving Google DeepMind researchers and a festival-shortlisted short film surface two persistent anxieties in my journalism practice.

Market Intelligence

POD - Russell Southwood on monopolies, M-Pesa, and candid framings of Africa's digital economy

Analyst and author Russell Southwood reflects on a quarter-century of observing Africa's digital transformation. From yellow pages cold calls to fibre-to-the-home rollouts, Southwood makes the case for holding optimism and realism in the same hand.

Social Media

OP-ED - X marks the spot: your platform is someone else's country

Open-sourcing a candid disagreement with Future in the Humanities (FITH) Founding Chair Prof Iginio Gagliardone about Mastodon and X. What are the tradeoffs of building an African intellectual project on platforms that might extract more than they give?

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.

Artificial Intelligence

POD - Natasha Blycha on why AI without law is just code without conscience

Emerging technology lawyer Natasha Blycha unpacks why smart legal contracts may be AI's most important guardrail, how Africa's slower adoption could become a strategic advantage, and what a Mennonite community taught her about choosing the right technology.

Career

OP-ED - AI augmentation in 2025: what Accenture's layoffs and a homeless Nigerian app founder reveal about the future of work

The question isn't whether you're augmented. It's whether you can deliver.

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?

This Is Connectivity

OP-ED - AI is dismantling consulting's oligopoly. If McKinsey's using ChatGPT, what are you paying for?

Ten years ago, a social media agency owner told me my consulting ambitions were naive delusions. He wasn't entirely wrong. But neither of us saw what was coming.

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.

Startups

POD - Prince Nwadeyi on building financial services solutions corporates commission but won't execute themselves

Prince Nwadeyi unpacks how aligning incentives across value chains turns corporate muscle and founder execution into profitable innovation, and why Mustard Finance Group's reported 99.9% repayment rate proves the model works.

Impact Investing

OP-ED - M-KOPA’s decade of discovery: when patient capital buys time to pivot

M-KOPA’s lengthy path to profitability shows how patient capital can buy the time (and permission) to pivot until the real business emerges.

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.

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.

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'.

Career

POD - From Maputo to Shopify and why Guidione Machava says 'African Designer' is a career-limiting label

Guidione Machava argues that leading with geographic identity in a global market can unconsciously devalue your talent. He shares how he's built a cross-continental product design career, from founding Mozambique’s top dev community to working at Shopify and 23point5.

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.

Career

POD - Wabo Majavu on early AI, strategic foresight, and digital activism

South African strategist Wabo Majavu traces her technical roots at CSIR, MTN, and Intelsat to reveal how they've informed her executive strategy work—balancing digital inclusion, AI innovation, and commercial success.

Ecosystem

OP-ED - Alesimo Mwanga on why strategic partnerships are the secret to scaling African innovation beyond funding

Ecosystem strategist Alesimo Mwanga explains how strategic partnerships unlock cross-border venture growth where funding alone falls short.

Artificial Intelligence

OP-ED - Claude, deepfakes, and the death of 'real'

As AI blurs the line between truth and fiction, our collective indifference to reality could prove more dangerous than the technologies reshaping our world.

Venture Building

POD - Funema's vision for venture building, AI and scaling impact in Africa

David Ogundeko unpacks Funema's contrarian venture development philosophy, long-term investment sensibilities, and lessons from nearly a decade of building startups in Nigeria, South Africa, and the US.

Career

OP-ED - When AI comes for your craft: a personal reckoning in Africa's creative scene

AI is disrupting African creative work—and it’s personal. Andile Masuku confronts hard truths about his own voiceover career and what comes next for creatives all over the continent.

Artificial Intelligence

POD - Why African filmmakers must stop raising millions and embrace AI or risk irrelevance

Marie Lora-Mungai joins the African Tech Roundup Podcast to explore how AI is democratising filmmaking in Africa—and why adopting emerging tools is now more practical (and necessary) than pursuing conventional production models.

Ecosystem

OP-ED - Edge of the matrix: Bankole Oluwafemi on levelling up in a world of unequal passport access

For Nigerians, global mobility isn't just travel—it's a game rigged at birth. "Full-stack creative" and TechCabal founder Bankole Oluwafemi reveals how to hack the system and rewrite your sovereignty stats.

This Is Connectivity

POD - From Meta to independent media: Fatu Ogwuche on personality-driven journalism and creative storytelling

Fatu Ogwuche, founder and CEO of Big Tech This Week, joins Andile Masuku on the African Tech Roundup podcast to share her journey from big tech to independent media, offering insights on research-driven storytelling, audience engagement, and the future of African tech journalism.