This year’s AfricaCom was all about innovation, transformation and leadership, and what a year it has been! Africa's, digital & ICT community gathered in Cape Town last week to be inspired by the continent’s tech leaders, to meet the most innovative minds and to do even more business than usual.
Here are some of the highlights of this year:
1. The busiest event so far: AfricaCom and the co-located events took over the CTICC and seemingly the whole city, with people from across the world and across all tech and related industries mingling
2. The launch of the Ericsson AHUB: dubbed by many ‘the best new thing at AfricaCom’, this is where the continent’s top tech entrepreneurs met with established innovators, investors, incubators and more
3. The Ministerial speech: The Hon. Prof. Hlengiwe Mkhize, Deputy Minister of South Africa’s Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services, took to the stage at to highlight the importance of ICT for socio-economic development in Africa
4. SDN & NFV taking off: a busier conference session, mentions in the keynote talks and the new PoC zone, showcasing proof-of-concept demos
5. The first CIO Forum: heads of ICT from a broad range of organisations (large corporations, public sector, SMEs) got together to share 'war stories' and learn from peers in this Checkpoint-sponsored new feature
6. The CEO of the Year’s inspiring speech: Roshi Motman, CEO of Tigo Ghana won the prestigious AfricaCom Awards and dedicated it to her team and inspiring people
7. Sustainability and ICT for development a major focus for the industry: speakers from organisations as varied Facebook, Ericsson, Vodacom, minister and regulators called for more action to promote ICT as a key development tool
8. The biggest party at the AfricaCom Awards: live music, contortionists, dancers, comedy, seaview, great food and inspirational finalists and winners all in one night!
9. The regulatory panel: bringing together the heads of some of the most influential regulators across Africa (ICASA, ECOWAS, BOCRA) let the industry know what their ambitions are
10. The bigger-than-ever Mobile Money conference, Shaping an ecosystem for digital commerce in africa through remittances, m-commerce, digital currencies and MFS interoperability.
Keep an eye out for the photos and videos of this year’s AfricaCom to be released in the next few days, and mark your agenda for the next top events in tech Africa:
- East Africa Com, Nairobi, Kenya, 18-19 May 2016
- West Africa Com, Dakar, Senegal, 8-9 June 2016
- NigeriaCom, Lagos, Nigeria, 21-22 September 2016
- AfricaCom, Cape Town, South Africa, 15-17 November 2016
We look forward to seeing you again next year
The AfricaCom team
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