Archive for the ‘Technology from Developing Regions’ Category
Wednesday, April 4th, 2012
While economists are preoccupied with China and India, a new engine of growth is quietly emerging in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Demographics, rising purchasing power and a burgeoning private sector are fueling economic development in a region where markets have been fragmented for too long.
Stretching from Morocco to Oman, MENA’s population tops 350 million, making it the world’s ninth largest market. But trade barriers among countries in the region have constrained market growth.
Now, an emerging trend is disrupting MENA’s traditional market patterns: a growing segment of urbanized, tech-savvy Arab youths is devouring on-line entertainment, gaming and social media, creating demand for digital services that are delivered across borders.
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Tags: "emerging", al arabiya, al jazeera, Arab, Arab digital, arab world, developing, disrupt, Doha, Dubai, Egypt, high-growth, mena, MENA 2.0, middle east, Middle East North Africa, Muslim, pan-arab, qatar, UAW
Posted in africa, Arab Business, Gulf (GCC) Region, How Cool?, Middle East, Technology from Developing Regions | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 4th, 2012
Accra, Ghana
In reflecting on the year ending, my thoughts turn again to Africa, home of six of the world’s top 10 fastest growing economies. Africa’s mobile revolution is spawning exciting, new opportunities for entrepreneurs and engineers. For practitioners eager to experience the impact of their work, there’s no more dynamic and interesting place to be than Africa today.
With that in mind, I’d like to share three short but inspiring talks given in 2011 by three of Africa’s best and brightest pioneers. These trailblazers all began their careers in technology, but now they’re developing “platforms” in the broader sense, enabling a new generation of Africans to reshape their future.
Each speaker offers their unique perspective, but a common theme from all of the talks is that Africa is rising rapidly. Through their courage and determination, Africa’s trailblazers can inspire us all to persevere, whether we work on the continent or not.
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Tags: #ict4d, africa, Africa 2012, Afrigadget, Afromusing, Ashesi, Awuah, Berekuso, Global Voices, Hersman, Huduma, iHub, m:lab, Rotich, Tech4d, TED, TED Fellow, Ushahidi, White African
Posted in africa, Sub-Sahara Region, Tech4dev, Technology from Developing Regions, West Africa, What's Next? (WILD CARD) | No Comments »
Sunday, July 17th, 2011
Nairobi Skyline
“This is the future of African technology, and if you blink, you’ll miss it.” ~Erik Hersman
On the ‘Silicon Savanna’
Last month in Nairobi, Kenya, a conference called Pivot25 connected 25 promising mobile app developers from East Africa with investors and venture capitalists. Events like this one, based on the Y Combinator model, give aspiring developers a rare chance to pitch their ideas for possible seed capital.
What’s intriguing about Pivot25 is the attention that it drew from outside the region. TIME Magazine ran a piece about the conference from the standpoint of Nairobi’s contribution to global technology. CNN’s Global Public Square covered the event, too. Why so much attention?
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Tags: #ict4d, @whiteafrican, africa, East Africa, Hersman, ICT, Kenya, m:labs, mobile, mobile app, mobile services, mobile technology, Nairobi, open data, Pivot 25, pivot25, Silicon Savanna, TED_fellow, Y Combinator
Posted in africa, Emerging Markets, ICT, Sub-Sahara Region, Tech4dev, Technology from Developing Regions, Telecommunications | 4 Comments »
Friday, September 3rd, 2010
The swift and agile
A recent Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation study revived the term “gazelle companies” to describe the young, rapidly-growing U.S.firms that are producing the majority of new jobs in the U.S. The report recommends that policy-makers nurture Gazelles to stimulate job growth at a time when unemployment is high.
I’m interested in another class of companies—agile, well-run firms in emerging regions like the sub-Sahara. Like their Western counterparts, they’re creating a disproportionate number of jobs. But these young African companies are playing a more crucial role than gazelles do in driving market growth.
To belabor the metaphor, I call them Impalas, after the lean, swift gazelles indigenous to Africa. Impalas provide technology-enabled and outsourcing services to a growing number of multinational (MNC) service providers – mobiles, airlines and banks – in Johannesburg, Accra, and Nairobi, etc. They share many of the characteristics of gazelles, but there are some notable differences.
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Tags: africa business, african economy, competency gaps, connected markets, Ewing marion Kauffman, gazelle, gazelle companies, Impala, Kauffman Foundation, MNC, multinational, service providers, skills gaps, talent gaps
Posted in africa, Business Model, Business Practices, Emerging Markets, Sub-Sahara Region, Technology from Developing Regions, Telecommunications, West Africa | 3 Comments »
Thursday, April 1st, 2010
Downtown Cape Coast, Ghana
Pulsating business scene
I spent the last couple weeks on assignment in Accra, Ghana. On this trip, I’ve seen more growth than any time since my company started working there in ’07. This is a period of unprecedented business activity and promising new projects within and beyond the mobile sector. Meanwhile, new competitors from around the world are streaming in. This corner of Africa’s business scene is pulsating.
Astute businesses here are taking steps to preserve their client base and deepen relationships with their customers. We’re privileged to work with a new generation of African business leaders with the courage and determination to transform their offerings to meet the needs of an emerging class of consumers.
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Tags: accra, africa, Analytics, customer intelligence, ECOWAS, empowerment, ghana, strategic alliance, Sub-Sahara, West Africa
Posted in Analytics, Business Practices, Collaboration, customer experience management, Emerging Markets, Social Entrepreneur, Sub-Sahara Region, Technology from Developing Regions, Telecommunications, Uncategorized, West Africa, What's Next? (WILD CARD) | 3 Comments »
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
Evening at Cape Point on the tip of South Africa
While the business world is preoccupied with the global economic recovery, a mobile revolution is quietly reshaping the marketplace in the developing world. In Africa, mobile phones are providing access to communications for millions of people who’ve never had fixed communications let alone cell phones. I’ve written before about the impact that such ‘leapfrogging’ is having on African business. Now, we’re beginning to see exciting and substantial commercial projects taking shape, particularly in the service sector.
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Tags: african innovation, african mobile, international telecommunications union, itu, leapfrog, Leapfrogging, m-banking, m-commerce, m-pesa, mobile revolution, mobileindustry
Posted in Emerging Markets, ICT, International Business, Sub-Sahara Region, Technology from Developing Regions, Telecommunications, Uncategorized, West Africa, What's Next? (WILD CARD) | 1 Comment »
Sunday, February 28th, 2010
Saturday’s massive earthquake off the coast of Chile slammed Santiago, the capital, and nearby regions. Buildings were leveled and official reports place the death toll at 708, though that’s likely to climb. Although the Chilean event was many times more severe than last month’s quake in Haiti, the sturdier infrastructure in Chile offered residents far more protection.
I’d written recently (“Out of Africa, Help for Haiti”) about an open-source tech platform developed in Kenya called Ushahidi which enables people in crisis-affected areas to text their location and make urgent requests or provide assistance for those needing it. Ushahidi’s disaster relief system is being used in the aftermath of Haiti’s quake, and now it’s being used to provide vital disaster relief in Chile.
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Tags: #chile, #terremotochile, quake victims, sms platform, Ushahidi, ushahidi volunteers
Posted in ICT, Technology from Developing Regions | 1 Comment »
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