The 18th annual AfricaCom 2015 kicked off today, 17th of November in Cape Town, South Africa and will run till the 19th of November.
The event, hailed as the biggest and best tech event in Africa, gathers together senior decision-makers from the entire digital ecosystem. The theme of this year’s event is “Innovation, Transformation and Leadership for Digital Africa”.
According to the organisers of the event, Informa Plc, if you are involved in the digital economy in Africa then this is the event for you. Here are the reasons:
- Attended by 10,000 of the smartest, most switched-on digital movers and shakers in Africa
- Supported by 350+ of the biggest-hitting speakers in the digital world in Africa and beyond
- Chosen by 375+ of the world’s most innovative, forward-thinking telecom brands to showcase their solutions and services
Today’s proceedings started with a keynote panel on innovation leadership, asking how to support a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in digital Africa. The panel had decisions makers such as Markku Makelinen, Director of Global Operator Partnerships at Facebook, Bright Simons, President of mPedigree, Marc Rennard, EVP of AMEA at Orange and Christian de Faria, CEO of Airtel Africa. It was moderated by Larry Madowo, tech editor at NTV Kenya.
In their different ways, all the panelists agreed on the fact that Innovation needs more support in Africa.
According to Marc Rennard “We support local innovation through partnerships with incubators, venture prizes, technocentres etc. The most important thing is to create a favourable local environment as the innovation coming from the field in Africa meets actual needs of local people.” He went on to say that the future will be API, open innovation and a multi-cultural approach to innovation.
For more information about the agenda of AfricaCom 2015, click the website here.
