Matthew Dawes, managing director of All Amber, organisers of Mobile Web West Africa 2013 (MWWA2013), has told HumanIPO Africa’s mobile sector is witnessing an increased rate of maturity.
He said it is evident in the revelation and realisation of the continent’s information need.
“On the sector itself I think there is an increased rate of maturity. I think that the information need is being revealed and realised,” Dawes said.
“Whether it is personal, social, entertainment or professional there is a huge need and the mobile device is the platform to enable that gap to be filled.”
Concerning countries in the West African sub-region, he said Nigeria is progressing at a swift speed without the massive foreign involvement as seen in Kenya.
He said: “Nigeria is accelerating at a rapid pace and I think it is benefitting from being fairly insular, with not a huge amount of international involvement when compared to say Kenya.
“Also, startups in Nigeria don’t really need to look externally for a market or scale as they have it all available nationally – the size of the market in Nigeria is staggering.”
Though Ghana is a small market when compared with Nigeria, he said it also has impressive and international ambitions.
Overall, he said the continent is on the right track. Even when failure is recorded with startups, he said it still represents a sign of progress.
Dawes concluded: “It’s all swings and roundabouts, but it’s all positive. Even when you see start-ups failing that’s still a sign of progress. Those are hard earned experiences which will pay dividends in the future.
“My view is that the wider world is slowly beginning to pay attention as well. People’s heads are being turned and with that the perception of the continent is changing and I think that is brilliant.”
