Thousands gathered today at AfricaCom to see star speakers and find out about the latest products in the digital market
At 9am today in sunny Cape Town the convention centre was buzzing with people: visitors of the AfricaCom exhibition open for the 2nd day as well as conference delegates here to see some of the show’s star speakers take the stage in the keynote session.
They were certainly not disappointed. The session’s keynote speaker was Alan Knott-Craig, arguably the most experienced man in South Africa’s mobile market, having worked at Telkom, launched Vodacom ZA and turned it into a pan-African business, and now heading challenger operator Cell C.
He gave a frank, inspiring and entertaining presentation on the evolution of the telecoms market in Africa and future challenges and opportunities. His keynote was followed by 2 panel discussions: one on the evolution of the digital ecosystem (with panellists from Orange, MTN and Alcatel-Lucent) and one on handset strategies with Nokia, MTN, Orange, Unitel and Qualcomm.
Following the keynote the conference broke into streams and 3 co-located events: AfricaCast for the broadcasting industry, Enterprise ICT Africa targeted at CIOs and IT professionals, and the new AfricApps, for the developer ecosystem.
Outside the conference sessions, the AfricaCom exhibition has been full of activity. Over 300 companies showcased their solutions and products for the African market, while the thousands of visitors mingled, checked out new products, shared ideas and made new contacts.
Today is due to end in glamorous fashion at the AfricaCom Awards (currently taking place at the Waterfront Lookout), where the achievements of Africa’s digital industry will be celebrated over a gala dinner with live music and entertainment.
Enterprise ICT
Enterprise ICT Africa opened today at the CTICC for the first day of illuminating discussions around the ICT needs of enterprises in Africa. It was perhaps only to be expected that Cloud would figure prominently in discussions as industry leaders join to attempt a 'demystifying' of the subject. All agreed that Cloud is a 'must play' area, but the questions remain - how, where and with whom?
Speakers debated the issues, and the panel included experts like Camille Mendler, Principal Analyst for Verticals at Informa Telecoms & Media, Riaan Van Niekerk, CIO at McGregor BFA, Fidel Mabutho Mbhele, Director: ICT Policy & Strategy, Western Cape Govt., Edwin Paalvast, SVP, Service Provider EMEAR at Cisco, and Shinya Kukita, Chief Manager - International SI Service Business Development Division for NEC.
Join us tomorrow for further insight into this market opportunity.
AfricApps
AfricApps launched today with a fantastic day one of interactive developer sessions. Opening with Paul Lee the hugely respected Senior Product Manager at Google who is responsible for championing Google's mobile data strategy in Africa. Other major highlights included presentations from Afrozaar and 2go, culminating in a mobile apps dragon den!
AfricApps developers bravely pitching their apps
Make sure to join us for Day 3!
What's happening tomorrow: take a look at the full agenda here
AfricaCom Conference sessions
- 09:00 - 11:30 AfricaCom Keynotes – Vision for Africa: Service Innovation in a Digital Africa (location - Auditorium 2)
- 12:10 – 15:30 Content & Data (location - Auditorium 2)
- 12:10 – 13:00 Infrastructure Sharing (location – Roof Terrace room)
- 12:10 – 13:20 Roaming & Interconnect (location – MR 1.41)
- 14:00 – 15:00 Rural Telecoms (location – Roof Terrace room)
- 11:50 – 17:40 Africa Cast (location – MR 1.61)
- 11:30 – 17:00 Enterprise ICT (location – Strelitzia Restaurant)
- 12:00 – 17:35 AfricApps (location – Jasminium Restaurant)
- 15:40 – 16:20 AfricaCom closing Keynotes – Regulatory Evolution Africa (location - Auditorium 2)
The Exhibition (FREE for all Visitors)
- 10:00 - 17:00 - The AfricaCom Exhibition(FREE for all Visitors)
- 10:30 – 12:10 The AfricaCom Masterclass Theatre - located in the exhibition (FREE for all Visitors)
- Sessions on Network strategies - Mobile Broadband /LTE, Fibre and Satellite
AfricaCom delegates are tweeting - join them!
"Africacom is certainly gaining huge momentum now. Very impressive turnout and quality of showcase and speakers."
Mayan Mathen, Dimension Data @mayanm
"At Africacom 2012 in Cape Town. Again convinced of the fact that Africa is the real frontier for growth and future opportunities!"
Pieter Swanepoel @swapieter
“Brilliant #AfricaCom conference. The startup ecosystem still be discovered. It's a shared goal of all those that attended. We'll get there!”
Marc Elias @ MarcBElias
“#AfricaCom the CEM master class was outstanding. Thanks.”
MM @mishamatee
Don't forget to tweet about your thoughts on this year's AfricaCom?
Tweet about your experience using #AfricaCom @allaboutcom on twitter!
We look forward to welcoming you tomorrow!
Kind Regards
The AfricaCom Team
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