In this special edition of the African Tech Roundup podcast, taped at the fringes of the inaugural Africa Digital Transformation Strategy Summit (convened by NOVACOM Summits), Refiloe Mpakanyane investigates the state of digital transformation in Africa through conversation with four seasoned corporate C-suite executives spearheading corporate innovation in Africa.

Dr Juliet Ehimuan is formerly Director of Google West Africa. Juliet posits three critical pillars of digital transformation: access, local content development, and tech entrepreneurship. Citing the role of smartphone adoption in driving digital access across Africa, Juliet believes that skills development is essential for participation in the digital economy and that governments can play a significant role in digitizing services, enhancing efficiency, and promoting digital skills among citizens.

As the Chief Strategy Officer of Liquid Intelligence Technologies, Dr Willie Oosthuysen serves a Cassava Technologies subsidiary with an extensive presence in over 20 African countries and a fibre optic network spanning more than 110,000 kilometres. Willie holds that even as regulatory challenges persist across the continent, with governments often struggling to keep pace with rapidly evolving technology and innovation, Africa adapts successful technology models from more developed regions, with a lag of 2 to 3 years.

Varun Giridhar is the CEO of Continuous Power Africa. The episode acknowledges the challenges of infrastructure, energy costs, and other hurdles in Africa's digital transformation. Varun is inclined to view Africa's energy challenges as opportunities for innovation. He is upbeat as he reflects on the continent's progress since Continous Power Africa started providing nimble, cost-effective distributed energy to telecommunications partners in Africa and beyond. He is particularly bullish on more recent trends towards the deployment of remote control and autonomous interventions.

Elhad Kassim Said Ahmed is the Head of Submarine Optical Fiber Network at Comoros Cables. Comoros Cables is a company from a small island nation with a grand vision for connectivity. Elhad sheds light on Comoros Cables' ambitious vision to position itself as a pivotal hub for broadband connectivity. This vision is underpinned by Comoros' strategic geographical location, nestled in the Mozambique Channel. This location allows them to connect not only with the Asian markets but also with the northern and southern regions of the African continent.

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Image credit: Gabriel Meinert

African Tech Roundup Novacom Summit

Digital Transformation Pulse Check: Undersea Cable, Remote Power Supply & Terrestrial Fibre Optic

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Building The Future of Web3 In Africa, was recorded live at the Africa Money & DeFi Summit - West Africa 2023, an Africa Tech Summit event.

Panel session featuring: 
Vicentia Asilevi – IT Project Manager - Ejara
Munachimso Ogueke, CEO - OneLiquidity
Sarah Idahosa, Founder - Women in Defi
Emmanuel Ebanehita, CMO - Fuse 
Moderated by Elisha Owusu Akyaw (aka GhCryptoGuy)

Subscribe for updates and join our live Summits us in, Nairobi and London! More details on www.africatechsummit.com

EP21: Building The Future of Web3 In Africa

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The State Of African Fintech Trends & Opportunities recorded live at
Africa Tech Summit London 2024 at he London Stock Exchange on June 7th, 2024.

Featuring
Chinenye Agwu - VP Sales & Sector Head for PSPs at Flutterwave
Lewam Kefela - Principal at Partech Africa
Frank Atube - COO at Seamfix
Stephen Oluwatobi - Head of Operations at Kora Technologies
Babs Ogundeyi - Group CEO & Founder at Kuda Technologies
and moderated by Nkiru Uwaje - COO at Mansa Finance

The session focused on the current funding landscape for African fintechs and the challenges faced by the ecosystem over the past 12 months including the significant decrease in funding in 2023 due to global economic downturns, the necessity of educating regulators to bridge generational gaps and foster better understanding of fintech innovations, and the impact of regulatory and compliance challenges on business growth. Despite the setbacks, there's optimism about the future, highlighting the increasing number of funds earmarked for Africa and the potential for a resurgence in the fintech sector.

Visit our website for more details and future events: https://www.africatechsummit.com/

EP30 The State Of African Fintech Trends & Opportunities

Listen to a live panel on "Gen AI Hype or Reality? How are African Startups Building with Generative AI" recorded live at Africa Tech Summit London. Visit our website for more details and future events: www.africatechsummit.com.

Featuring:
Honey Ogundeyi – Founder & CEO at Edukoya
Dave Evans – CTPO at pawaPay
Stefan Kruger – Vice President Of Engineering at Paystack
Ed Fricker – Director of Platform Engineering at Smile ID
and moderated by Kartik Renjen – Head of Startup/VC Biz Dev at Amazon Web Services

The session emphasizes the importance of integrating AI into both current operations and future visions, highlighting the value of building in-house AI expertise to stay competitive. Panellists stressed the need for early-stage start-ups to experiment with AI tools and avoid over-committing to specific technologies due to the rapid pace of innovation. Underscoring the potential for smaller, efficient teams to leverage AI for significant impact and encouraged innovative business models in the AI-driven market.

EP31 Gen AI Hype or Reality? How are African Startups Building with Generative AI

Listen to a live panel on "Insights From The Frontline" recorded live at Africa Tech Summit London. Visit our website for more details and future events: www.africatechsummit.com.

Featuring:
Chika Nwobi – Founder & CEO at Decagon
Mike Quinn – Co-Founder & CEO at Boost
Uzoma Dozie – Chief Sparkler at Sparkle
and moderated by Jessica Hope – Founder & CEO at Wimbart

The session digs in to the founders stories, sharing their challenges and strategies for startups in the African tech ecosystem amidst macroeconomic difficulties. Panelists discussed the importance of building businesses with solid fundamentals, focusing on profitability, and managing risks such as currency devaluation and inflation. They also emphasized the need for startups to stay lean, adapt quickly, and maintain strong relationships with investors to secure funding during tough economic times.

EP32 Insights From The Frontline

Episode 55 of the Big5D Podcast once again turns to the May 2025 BigFive Summit in Cape Town for a great conversation about tech and business in Africa. 

This conversation, recorded at Innovation City Cape Town on 6 May 2025, features a panel on Go to Market Strategies for SMEs led by Summit Co-host Amanda Louw-Bester (Pragmattica Consulting). 

The panel features three entrepreneurs who have seen it all and can at the very least steer small business founders away from obvious mistakes in the early stages of their business journey. 

The panelists offer a wide array of insights for founders on everything from tactics to avoid to tactics not to overlook, especially in a business's early stages. 

The panelists joining Amanda are Bernadene Appalsamy, Ledger Leap; Tim Shoko, Umlilo Energy; and Remi du Preez, Polygon.

This episode of the Big5D Podcast is supported by the 2025 BigFive Summit sponsors.

Absa Group (absa.africa)
Dialog (localdialog.com)
Nspyre (nspyre.co.za)
Networds (networds.co.za)
AfriGIS (afrigis.co.za)
Pragmattica Consulting (pragmattica.co.za)


Episode 55: Live from the BigFive Summit -- GTM for SMEs

Africa-focused technology, digital and innovation ecosystem insight and commentary.

The BIG5D Podcast features interviews with entrepreneurs, business leaders, investors, and others driving the adoption of digital marketing and commerce tools by small businesses in Africa and the Middle East. 

The "Big Five" in this context are search, social, mobile, location, and payments. 

This podcast is produced by BigFiveDigital and The Africa B2B Tech Report. Send inquiries to info@bigfivedigital.org

Africa Tech Summit is the leading event series focused on African tech and investment with Summits globally. Africa Tech Summit Podcast continues the conversation with industry leaders, investors and corporates providing you with insights from across the African tech scene.

New tracks tagged #Africa Tech