What's on the AfricaCom 20/20 agenda?

2 Oct 2018

LONDON - AfricaCom 20/20 will launch at midday on Tuesday, 13 November 2018. This year's line-up has an agenda to raise robust debate around some of the most pressing issues facing Africa's entry into the 4th Industrial Revolution, as well as presentations showcasing the possible solutions to meet many of these needs.

On day one, Lanre Kolade, MD of Vodacom Nigeria, will share some key insights with audiences eager to learn what the effects of this shift have had on Africa to date and what might be expected in years to come. This will be followed by a keynote panel entitled: The Digital Gold Mine - Overcoming Regional Obstacles, such as the effect of digitisation upon production, management and governance, as well as addressing technological expertise and economic difficulties.

Experts already agree that many of these socio-economic challenges will be met by Africa leapfrogging legacy systems. Yet, while this may be the case, the principle of laying solid foundations remains a prerequisite for long-term success. Patrick Kabre, MD of Alink Telekom will give a keynote exploring this. The caveat to all this access to knowledge and technological advancement is cybersecurity, reckoned to be the Achilles heel of digital transformation. This will be addressed by Dimitris Maniatis, head of Secure-D at Upstream, who will share his thoughts on the darker side of the web.

On the other side of the coin are organisations such as the MST Group, a social impact organisation that operates sophisticated mobile units which deliver comprehensive solutions in healthcare, education and the administrative sectors, all of which are underpinned by a nifty digital solution – Guud – that tracks, monitors and optimises effective service delivery. Grant Byron, chief technology officer at MST will present a keynote on how mobility is changing the way we deliver social impact services.

AfricaCom 20/20 will also be the centre for the IoT Challenge, a stimulating three-way pitch of 20-minute sessions each from entrepreneurs who have the edge on how operators can utilise IoT to generate and improve revenue, services and more.

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Financial inclusion is an imperative for Africa so, on day two, there will be a number of presentations and panel discussions aimed at understanding: the Findustrial Revolution - how can blockchain optimise telecom operator’s products and services in the African market?; how effective network virtualisation is in optimising African telco’s with their ROI; and a keynote from Rakesh Kukreja, group MD at IsatAfrica, that seeks to clarify how virtualising network functions via telco cloud infrastructure across all network and service platforms will enable digital democracy.

Day three of AfricaCom 20/20 will feature important discussions around Future-Tech Africa with Siphesande Sonti, head of Network: Energy Department, Mycput, and where agri-tech is headed from Lesley Colmer, director at Greencom. With more than 2.5 billion gamers in the world and growing, the opportunities in the gaming and e-sport revolution are endless, especially as more and more are switching to playing games on their mobiles.

AfricaCom 20/20 is located within the Technology Arena at AfricaCom, which takes place 13-15 November 2018 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. The Technology Arena will also be the centre of innovation with a number of demonstration pods, the AHUB and the AfricaCom 20/20 bar each afternoon from 4pm for a complimentary happy hour!

To attend, visitors and delegates can register on the AfricaCom site for access to the full AfricaCom offering of more than 15 business critical conference tracks, two exhibition halls, 450 speakers and the Afest official networking party.