Innovation Excellence at Digital Africa

I enjoyed my first day at the conference.

What struck me is the passion and enthusiasm of the delegates – and the list of delegates is impressive: ministers and ministerial delegates from many African countries (incl Niger, Tanzania, Egypt, Uganda, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Zambia, Sudan), CEOs, CIO and CTOs.

I think that the quality and variety of the attending delegates is what makes events like this successful (or not). Whilst I have had the opportunity to present to a broad spectrum of executives from across Africa before, this is the first time that I have had the opportunity to engage with them at such a personal level. I also believe that one of the key differentiators is that this event was not run in South Africa. The mere fact that this event is being held in Uganda has influenced who has attended and given the event a far stronger African feel.

So the first day: I kicked off the Innovation stream with my presentation on Innovation in Africa. The message was simple – transform invention into innovation – using technology to solve some of the really big problems facing us in Africa. This was followed by several others presentations including an insightful view on the need to “Light Africa” by Lynne Gallagher, the CEO of Telecom/Telematique.

The formal day finished with a very interactive panel discussion on regulation, policy setting and standards in the telco industry.

Onto the evening: we were treated to Gala Dinner were I met up with some fellow CTOs. Strangely enough the conversation quickly turned into a discussion on motorbikes when we discovered that we had a shared passion in less conventional means of transport.

All in all … it was a good day.