• Log in
  • Sign up
  •  
  • About
  • Entrepreneurs
  • Rainmakers
  • 88mph Garage Nairobi
 
HumanIPOHome to African Tech
    
  • News
  • Activity
  • Startups
  • People

Follow African Tech scene

You have successfully subscribed!

Notify me!

Featured news

OPINION: Kenya’s CCK is not as powerful as it thinks it isEmergency services unavailable due to cable theft

Advertisement

Most read

  • African Startup of the Year

    December 29, 2012

  • Major African Startup Events to Watch for in 2013

    January 2, 2013

  • 2012 Kenyan Tech Scene review: Tech/Incubation hubs

    December 29, 2012

  • Opinion: Content provision to be the next big thing in Africa’s Web industry

    January 1, 2013

  • African Tech Company of the Year

    December 30, 2012

Latest by country

Kenya

  • OPINION: Kenya’s CCK is not as powerful as it thinks it is

    January 4, 2013

  • COFEK says prosecution of unregistered SIM card users unwarranted

    January 4, 2013

South Africa

  • SA Internet speeds may decrease with LTE rollout

    January 4, 2013

  • Emergency services unavailable due to cable theft

    January 4, 2013

Nigeria

  • Nigerian satellite centre hopes training will bring native innovation and progress

    January 4, 2013

  • Ericsson donates world class physics lab to University of Lagos

    January 4, 2013

Follow us!

HumanIPO Twitter feed

Follow entrepreneurs, investors and tech enthusiasts!

Join today!

Latest by category

Startups

  • “First ever” African-designed smartphone launched in Congo

    January 3, 2013

  • SA’s Nomanini boosting entrepreneurs and rural connectivity through Google App Engine

    January 3, 2013

Mobile

  • Liberian cell phone stove saves cooking time

    January 4, 2013

  • Mobile banking poses threat to Zimbabwean banks

    January 4, 2013

Internet

  • SA Internet speeds may decrease with LTE rollout

    January 4, 2013

  • Vodafone Ghana addresses complaints on latest Internet bundle plans

    January 4, 2013

Telecoms

  • OPINION: Kenya’s CCK is not as powerful as it thinks it is

    January 4, 2013

  • Emergency services unavailable due to cable theft

    January 4, 2013

Features

  • New Year resolution to reality: An app fills the gap

    January 3, 2013

Events

  • SABC signs last-minute Afcon broadcasting deal

    January 4, 2013

  • US Silicon Valley mentorship opens for African women

    January 3, 2013

Social Media

  • Twitter prepares to float in 2014, valuation at US$11 billion

    January 4, 2013

  • African Internet use “far greater than expected” – report

    January 4, 2013

Gadgets

  • LG starts taking orders for OLED TV’s

    January 3, 2013

December 30, 2012

African Tech Personality of the Year

Share Tweet

Bitange Ndemo http://www.businessdailyafrica.com

In an industry which often depends on the motivation and energy of decisions-makers, one person has the ability to make a significant impact. HumanIPO picks out some of the most important players of 2012.

 


Tefo Mohapi: Jason Njoku, from startup to international and multimillion dollar company in one year (iROKOtv and iROKING). The sites are currently monetised through paid user subscriptions and expanding, with a South African office planned for 2013.

Robin Okuthe:
Bitange Ndemo, Kenya’s Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communications, has dominated news on Africa’s competitive telecommunications sector. An active participant in initiatives targeted at lowering the cost of accessing ICTs in East Africa, his priority has been to connect East Africa to the world through underseas fibre-optic cables. Just this month, he called on the communications industry to stand against a set of new regulations proposed by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

Elly Okutoyi:
Chief Executive Officer of Computer Warehouse Group (CWG) Austin Kwesi Okere. He was recognised by the organisers of the Titans of Tech Award as the "Technology Africa Personality of the Year 2012″. Under his leadership, CWG has grown from a small company selling DELL computers into Africa’s leading indigenous ICT company in Hardware, Software, Internet, IT Education, IT Security and Telecommunications.


Tom Jackson: John Holdsworth, the founder of AppChat, who is fighting hard to bring down mobile costs in South Africa. He has vowed to fight on against a court ruling against him, as he battles against the Ruenert Group in order to be able to commercially launch AppChat. He has also taken the fight to ICASA, calling for them to regulate in order to break the dominance of Vodacom and MTN in the South African market. 


Vincent Matinde: Randolf Owusu. This 24-year-old went against the odds to create and launch Anansi Browser and Anansi Operating system, propelling him to major interest internationally. He has received thousands of downloads for his software solutions. He is set to go far.

Gythan Munga:
Mark Kaigwa, a social and digital media guru, is probably Africa’s most foremost person in tech, representing the continent on global platforms and fronting for Africa as the next Silicon Valley. Notably, Kaigwa wrote and directed his first film, titled Dawa, this year. Mark also presented a talk - titled "Kenya’s Reputation As Africa’s Silicon Savannah: Conceited or confirmed?" - at the recent Mobile Web Africa 2012 conference in South Africa.

Gabriella Mulligan:
Alan Knott-Craig Senior has captivated the South African telecommunications sector this year through his outspoken, controversial attacks on larger telecoms companies in a bid to push down prices and open up the market to smaller operators. Most recently calling for the unification of operators under an umbrella structure, Knott-Craig has shaken up the telecoms sector.

Richard Cutcher:
Jess Green, founder of Perk.co.za and a recently elected member of Silicon Cape executive committee, has embarked on an ambitious project to encourage the South African government to fund a startup accelerator programme for talented entrepreneurs from across the globe. He has already met with Western Cape officials in what could be the first steps towards South Africa finally catching up with Kenya and Nigeria on the startup scene.

Nanine Steenkamp:
South African Marlon Parker, CPUT lecturer and founder of Reconstructed Labs (RLabs) and JamiiX, transforms lives with his innovative IT ideas and projects such as Drug Advice Support Network on the technological spectrum for social change. His programmes reach up to 100,000 people. RLabs supplies education to poverty stricken communities, such as the Cape Flats where he came from, while he employs social media to share stories of hope.

Paul Adepoju:
Omobola Johnson, Nigeria’s Minister for Communications Technology, for championing several landmark innovative projects that not only put the present status of Nigeria’s ICT into perspective, but also build strong foundations for the future.

Brandon Gregory:
James Kennedy is an Irish tech entrepreneur who has twice won funding through the Start-Up Chile programme – an initiative to fund international tech businesses at the seed stage in Chile. Kennedy has been actively involved with presenting Start-Up Chile to budding tech entrepreneurs in Cape Town, South Africa.

Kamau Mbote: 
Peter Munyiri, Chief Executive of Family Bank. The bank is the only institution that has paperless banking through proper utilisation of ICT. The bank has also introduced chipped ATM cards, that have reduced fraud to nil.

Share Tweet

FB comments

Latest news

  • image
    6 hr 47 min ago

    SA Internet speeds may decrease with LTE rollout

    Internet speeds in South Africa may slow as bandwidth sharing increases due to increased Internet usage and rollout of Long-Term Evolution (more)

  • 7 hr 11 min ago

    Vodafone Ghana addresses complaints on latest Internet bundle plans

    Vodafone Ghana has clarified the rationale behind its latest fixed broadband (FBB) bundles, which customers complain was introduced without (more)

  • image
    8 hr 6 min ago

    OPINION: Kenya’s CCK is not as powerful as it thinks it is

    The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) has for a long time portrayed itself as the ultimate authority when it comes to matters of (more)

  • image
    8 hr 33 min ago

    Emergency services unavailable due to cable theft

    Emergency services in Queenstown, South Africa, are currently out of reach to the public after a cable theft yesterday (Thursday).

  • image
    8 hr 53 min ago

    Nigerian satellite centre hopes training will bring native innovation and progress

    The Nigerian Centre for Satellite Technology Development (CSTD) has announced its readiness to train Nigerian engineers in the relevant (more)

  • 9 hr 18 min ago

    Variety and use of cyber weapons on the increase, says Kaspersky Lab

    2012 saw an increased number of countries targeted by cyber weapons, with African countries such as Egypt and Sudan hit for the first time.

  • 9 hr 42 min ago

    Liberian cell phone stove saves cooking time

    Liberian Louis K. Teakleah has invented a cell phone operated stove that can be controlled with a few dials, even away from home.

  • image
    10 hr 3 min ago

    SITA renders government site unhackable by shutting it down

    Following the hacking of three South African government websites, the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) has simply shut down one (more)

  • 10 hr 22 min ago

    Mobile banking poses threat to Zimbabwean banks

    Zimbabwean banks are working on the collaboration between banks and mobile operators to promote the use of mobile money services (MMS) in (more)

  • image
    10 hr 53 min ago

    Ericsson donates world class physics lab to University of Lagos

    Swedish manufacturer Ericsson has donated a refurbished physics laboratory to the University of Lagos in Nigeria, in a move hoped to help (more)

  • 11 hr 14 min ago

    Nokia says African factory would not make economic sense

    Nokia will not be setting up a phone manufacturing plant in Africa just yet, despite the huge market that it has on the continent, as it (more)

  • image
    11 hr 37 min ago

    Nigeria sees increases in telecommunications penetration

    Omobola Johnson, Nigeria’s Minister for Communications Technology, has described the increase in the access to information and (more)

  • 12 hr 3 min ago

    Starcomms shareholders approve Capcom’s US$210 million acquisition

    Shareholders of Starcomms, the Nigerian code division multiple access (CDMA) telecommunications service provider, have approved a share (more)

  • image
    12 hr 52 min ago

    Zambia nationwide radio imminent

    Zambians could enjoy national airwaves in the near future after the Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA) (more)

  • image
    13 hr 23 min ago

    Twitter prepares to float in 2014, valuation at US$11 billion

    Twitter has been valued at US$11 billion as it prepares to go public and sell shares in 2014.

  • image
    13 hr 44 min ago

    COFEK says prosecution of unregistered SIM card users unwarranted

    The Consumers Federation of Kenya (COFEK) has condemned a decision by the government to prosecute unregistered SIM card holders, saying the (more)

  • image
    14 hr 4 min ago

    Mobile number portability hailed by NCC Director, gives date of commencement

    Nigeria’s mobile number portability (MNP) policy will drive competition among Nigerian network providers and encourage operators to (more)

  • image
    14 hr 31 min ago

    African Internet use “far greater than expected” – report

    A survey of Africa’s big cities has concluded that urban dwellers on the continent are embracing the Internet to a significant extent, (more)

  • image
    15 hr 17 min ago

    SABC signs last-minute Afcon broadcasting deal

    The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has signed a R65 million (US$7.5 million) deal for the broadcasting rights of the (more)

  • image
    16 hr 17 min ago

    Nigeria’s communications minister predicts mobile money boom

    Nigeria’s Minister for Communications Technology, Omobola Johnson, has announced that by 2015 the value of mobile money transactions in (more)

  • 16 hr 52 min ago

    Microsoft acquires home and entertainment technology startup

    Microsoft have acquired home and entertainment technology startup id8 Group R2 Studios Inc in a bid to strengthen and grow its portfolio of (more)

  • 1 day 5 hours ago

    SA Communications Minister Dina Pule scores badly on Cabinet Report Cards

    South Africa’s Communications Minister Dina Pule scores an E on the respected Mail & Guardian Cabinet Report Cards, which is not (more)

  • image
    1 day 5 hours ago

    No LTE services yet for SA iPhone5 users

    iPhone 5 users in South Africa will not be able to access Long-Term Evolution (LTE) services via their mobile devices until Apple has (more)

  • 1 day 6 hours ago

    Megaupload says US government double-crossed it to obtain warrants

    Lawyers representing Megaupload, known for its file hosting service megaupload.com, have told a US court that the company had failed to (more)

  • image
    1 day 7 hours ago

    US Silicon Valley mentorship opens for African women

    African females with a university degree and two years professional experience in the science, technology, engineering or maths (STEM) (more)

  • image
    1 day 7 hours ago

    LG starts taking orders for OLED TV’s

    In an attempt to beat their rivals, LG Electronics has begun taking orders for organic light-emitting diode (OLED) televisions, though (more)

  • 1 day 8 hours ago

    Gartner sees global IT spending rising in 2013

    Gartner, the global technology research, analyst and advisory company, forecasts worldwide IT spending to total $3.7 trillion in 2013, a (more)

  • 1 day 8 hours ago

    Nokia Siemens merges Middle East and Africa operations

    Nokia Siemens Networks is merging its Middle East and Africa (MEA) businesses into a single organisation covering the whole region, in a (more)

  • image
    1 day 8 hours ago

    New Vox Telecom CEO announced

    Jacques du Toit has been confirmed the new Chief Executive at South Africa’s Vox Telecom effective from 01 January 2013, replacing a (more)

  • image
    1 day 8 hours ago

    Facebook to update timeline, advertising revenue shift

    Facebook is currently testing the replacement for the timeline user profile page in the hope of a better public response.

  • image
    1 day 9 hours ago

    “First ever” African-designed smartphone launched in Congo

    Technology firm VMK have launched what it claims is the first ever smartphone fully designed and engineered in Africa into the Congolese (more)

  • image
    1 day 9 hours ago

    Kenya's top bookseller goes online

    Leading and diversified Kenyan bookseller Text Book Center (TCB) has unveiled an online portal to boost its sales ahead of the reopening of (more)

  • image
    1 day 9 hours ago

    Survey shows less than five percent of Nigerians have access to PC

    Nigeria, Africa’s most populated nation, has a personal computer penetration rate of just 4.5 percent, despite having more than 101 (more)

  • image
    1 day 10 hours ago

    2012 SA Blog Awards winners announced

    New Year’s Eve saw the announcement of the winners of the “2012 SA Blog Awards” after a public voting phase and decision by judges on (more)

  • image
    1 day 10 hours ago

    New Year resolution to reality: An app fills the gap

    As the festive cheer fades and reality has to be faced again, you have the opportunity to start a clean, new page. And there are handy apps (more)

  • 1 day 11 hours ago

    Microsoft accuses Google of hindering Windows Phone

    Microsoft has lashed out at Google, accusing it of providing the Windows Phone with second-class services compared to competitors Android (more)

  • image
    1 day 11 hours ago

    CCK threatens unregistered SIM cardholders with hefty fines

    Kenya’s communications industry regulator the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) has threatened mobile phone users with hefty fines (more)

  • 1 day 12 hours ago

    Meraki acquisition completed by Cisco

    Cisco has finally concluded and announced the acquisition of Meraki, a cloud networking company that offers midmarket customers (more)

  • image
    1 day 12 hours ago

    Nigerian telecoms operators assure users of improved service quality in 2013

    Nigerian telecoms subscribers have been assured by the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) of an improvement in (more)

  • 1 day 12 hours ago

    TopTV: sensitive information not at risk

    The South African satellite television service TopTV, which suffered a security breach on New Years Day, has reassured subscribers their (more)

  • image
    1 day 13 hours ago

    Ubuntu announces Linux-based alternative to Android for smartphones

    Ubuntu, the open source Linux-based operating system founded by South Africa’s Mark Shuttleworth, have announced a smartphone version of (more)

  • image
    1 day 13 hours ago

    Slow Internet expected in Kenya as cable repairs start

    Internet users in Kenya will experience lower broadband speeds in the next two weeks as The East African Marine Systems (TEAMS) cable (more)

  • image
    1 day 14 hours ago

    Nigerian farmers to get 10 million mobile phones – ministry

    The Nigerian government has revealed plans to distribute around 10 million mobile phones to farmers in the country, in order to boost (more)

  • image
    1 day 14 hours ago

    SA’s Nomanini boosting entrepreneurs and rural connectivity through Google App Engine

    South African startup Nomanini is doing its part to encourage entrepreneurship and rural connectivity in the country by using Google’s (more)

  • 1 day 15 hours ago

    Telecom Egypt to get mobile services license by mid-2013

    Egypt’s National Telecom Regulatory Authority is to grant Telecom Egypt a mobile services license by the middle of this year as it pushes (more)

  • image
    1 day 15 hours ago

    NOTAP DG calls on tech journalists to promote Nigeria’s Vision 20:2020 targets

    Nigerian journalists have been encouraged to present to the rest of the world opportunities in the country’s science, technology and (more)

  • 2 days ago

    Qataris increase share in Tunisian operator to 90 percent

    The Tunisian government has sold a further 15 percent stake in Tunisiana, the country’s largest mobile operator, to Qatari Telecom (more)

  • image
    2 days ago

    MTN awards millions in shares

    Ten MTN directors are set up to be millionaires with shares worth R55.6 million (US$6.5 million), as granted according to the operator’s (more)

  • 2 days ago

    Samsung to unveil two new Series 7 monitors

    Samsung will be unveiling the two latest additions to their series 7 monitors at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, USA next (more)

  • 2 days ago

    Some iPhone users blocked by 2013 ‘Do Not Disturb’ bug

    In an error with echoes of the iPhone’s 2010 Daylight Savings Time (DST) fiasco, users of Apple’s latest operating system, iOS6, are (more)

  •  Like us on Facebook
  •  Follow on Twitter
  •  Youtube
  • News
  • Startups
  • People
  • News RSS
  • About
  • Entrepreneurs
  • Rainmaker
  • 88mph Garage Nairobi
  • In press
  • Logo & brand
  • Feedback
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy