Day 2 highlights at East Africa Com 2016

Amy Turner - Digital Content Marketer, Knect365


This year's East Africa Com was a great success and we would like to thank everyone who took part. Senior executives and VIPs from the telecoms, ICT & digital communities throughout East Africa came together to network, share ideas, collaborate and do business.

This is how day 2 unfolded in the best quotes of the day:

“Safaricom has no direct plans to enter the banking industry”

You heard it here first. This is what Safaricom’s Ken Okwero assured all attendees from the banking and financial sectors today. This telecommunications heavy-weight is doing some major business where their KCB partnered loans are concerned though, with one loan being processed every second by their 23.6 million customers.

“Every Kenyan has a right to information – this drives innovation within our youth”

Nixon M. Gecheo, ICT4D expert and member of the Universal Service Advisory Council, used his Government Keynote Address to highlight the key priorities of the Universal Access Fund, which is to invest KES 500m in broadband connectivity for Kenyan secondary schools.

“People who call their mothers often are more likely to pay back their loans”

I bet you weren’t expecting a quote like this in an East Africa Com round-up. During the m-commerce panel this afternoon, Airpesa founder Segeni Ng’ethe explained to attendees how mobile finance companies such as Branch are using call data and behaviours to ascertain whether their customers are good for a loan.

“Telco is the backbone of M2M”

Saim Afzal of MTN Congo summed up how IoT can be effectively enabled during our Industry Insight session. In essence, without telco and its role in building sufficient infrastructure and capacity, M2M will never be able to be successful in Africa.

“We are no longer living in an isolated ecosystem”

During our Finance Leaders Roundtable, Kenya Commercial Bank CIO Avi Mitra stated that rather than seeing M-Pesa as the competition, commercial banks should forge partnerships with mobile money firms, in order to drive financial inclusion in East Africa.

Keep up to date with all our news and take part in the conversation over on our social media channels:

Website: East Africa Com 2016
Twitter: @AllAboutCom
LinkedIn: East Africa Com: Telecoms, ICT & Digital Media Group
Facebook: Com World Series
Instagram: @ComWorldSeries

Day 1 highlights at East Africa Com 2016

Amy Turner - Digital Content Marketer, KNect 365

 

Day 1 of East Africa Com was a roaring success!

Throughout the course of today's panels, workshops and keynotes, we gained a great insight into the most pertinent developments, challenges and accomplishments of the ICT and tech sector in East Africa. Here is day 1 summed up in 5 quotes:

“Every company is a tech company”

Tony Wood of @First Consulting made this bold statement in his Introduction and Chairman’s Welcome and it rings true. The digital disruption is happening, from start-ups in their infancy to huge multinational corporations.

“The African model is a collaborative one”

The overriding theme of many discussions on day one has been that of synergy and collaboration. This was summed up perfectly by Convergence Partners Chairperson, Andile Ngcaba, during his Investment Briefing.

“I don’t see 5G LTE being rolled out by 2020”

This was the almost unanimous vote of our ‘Beyond Voice and Data’ panel. One or two of the panelists tried to be optimistic, but as Orange Kenya Telkom End-to-End Engineer, Ibrahim Empamba, stated: “We won’t even get to know the 5G LTE frequency until 2019”.

“We don’t think of Netflix as the competition”

Today saw the introduction of East Africa Com’s first ever dedicated broadcast stream. Rather than viewing them as competition, the panel of media and television experts saw the introduction of Netflix to the market as a challenge and an opportunity to introduce high quality, local content to the East African market.

“We believe connectivity is a basic human right”

Intelsat’s Brian Jakins gets to the crux of the matter and highlights that fact that nearly all major telecoms and tech projects have a similar objective - connecting the last mile. In case you missed it, you can read about Intelsat's Globalized Network here.


Tomorrow we'll have another highlight round up, with a full event report to come.

For those who couldn't make it today head down to the Radisson Blu, Upper Hill Nairobi tomorrow to benefit from the great content, networking and supplier exhibits and showcases.

East Africa Com runs until 19 May. Visit our website for further information.

Stay up to date and join in the conversation on all out social media channels -
Twitter: @AllAboutCom
LinkedIn: East Africa Com: Telecoms, ICT & Digital Media Group
Facebook: Com World Series
Instagram: @ComWorldSeries

What to expect at East Africa Com 2016

By Amy Turner - Digital Content Marketer, KNect365

There’s less than 24 hours to go until the start of East Africa Com 2016 and some of the biggest movers and shakers in the tech and digital ecosystem have begun to descend upon the ‘Silicon Savannah’ for two days of unparalleled insight into the East African ICT and telecoms sectors.
The event will be bringing the region’s government leaders, telco and tech decision-makers and some of the keenest analytical minds in the areas of research and innovation together under one roof. In doing so, this will be the biggest event of its kind in East Africa.

It will be a melting pot of the most cutting edge technologies, ideas and solutions which will facilitate and accelerate growth and development in the areas of connectivity, infrastructure, big data, financial services and digital broadcasting, to name but a few.

Day 1
This year sees the introduction of the first ever dedicated digital TV stream. The most prominent names in the space will be sitting down together to take part in a panel discussion on how to successfully launch a TV channel in the digital age. Moderated by technology editor and anchor of NTV Kenya, Larry Madowo, this workshop session will hone in specifically on sports content, in order to underpin discussions on procuring and producing content for a multiplatform environment. The focus here is a truly pan-African one, as we look at how best to customise content for an African audience, as well as determining whether current business models support local production and content creation.

Also, does Netflix fit an African context, and if so, is it a threat or actually a benefit to the industry? Our panellists will be hashing it out.

This year we are fortunate to welcome key government figures who are spearheading the digital revolution in East Africa through their involvement in developing smart policies to connect the underserved and actualise the ICT4D culture.

Kenyan ICT Secretary, Dr Katherine Getao, will be delivering the Government Keynote on Day 1, which will deal with developing a smart policy for growth, while Nixon M. Gecheo of the Communications Authority of Kenya will present the achievements of the Universal Access Fund in serving the previously underserved, in his Government Keynote on day 2.

Industry leaders will also be taking the stage at East Africa Com 2016, where Huawei’s Nigel Bruin will highlight the socioeconomic benefits of a National Broadband Network in Eastern Africa and alongside government’s regulatory policies, rollout affordable broadband services.

East Africa Com will also serve as a space to forecast emerging technology trends in Africa. Chairman of Convergence Partners, Andile Ngcaba, will be delivering his investment briefing on what we can expect on the African digital horizon; from broadband growth and smart cities to data protection.

Day 2
Day 2 will be hosting an exclusive CIO roundtable discussion; bringing CIO’s together to assess their roles and responsibilities in a competitive digital age, and the possibility of innovating the East African digital sphere utilising Cloud, IoT, big data, social and mobility.

We’ve invited a selection of East Africa’s financial and ICT heavy-weights to convene a meeting on the digital transformation of financial services to mobile and leveraging new partnerships, in order to forge a successful transition to mobile banking solutions.

East Africa Com 2016 will serve to spur debate, forecast trends, source solutions, forge contacts and open up possibilities - with East Africa placed in the very epicentre of this tech and digital sphere.
 

With all this on the cards, let’s not forget that the event also provides a multitude of opportunities to meet and forge meaningful business relationships through our networking sessions and engaging exhibitions from our partners. This year even sees the addition of a exclusive poolside after party on day 1.

We look forward to welcoming you to East Africa Com 2016. Keep up-to-date with all the latest news and updates about the event here on our blog, as well as on all our social media channels. You can take part in the Twitter conversation using the hashtag #EastAfricaCom2016.


East Africa Com
18 - 19 May 2016
Radisson Blu Hotel
Nairobi
Kenya


Website: East Africa Com 2016
Twitter: @AllAboutCom
LinkedIn: East Africa Com: Telecoms, ICT & Digital Media Group
Facebook: Com World Series
Instagram: @ComWorldSeries