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Future Proof: An LTE Vision for Uganda

October 22, 2012 — Leave a comment

In Uganda, no one can hear you scream…..at your computer while waiting for a file to download or a video to buffer. Fortunately, there are number of reasons these frustrations may soon be a constraint of the past.

On Saturday I spent the afternoon with Thibaud Weick, CCO, and Mark Pritchard, Head of Sales & Marketing of Smile Communications (U) Ltd. Smile is one of few organizations bringing super-fast internet connectivity to Africa’s urban centers and rural areas. There are a number of things that Smile is doing very different to other mobile operators in the region that make them a company to watch in the coming years.

smile

Their LTE technology is new to the continent, having only been deployed in two other African countries to date. Thus, their launch in Uganda earlier this year puts the country on the bleeding edge of innovation when it comes consumer accessible mobile telecom solutions. Because LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology works over long distances, Smile is keen to service rural African markets as well, not just the densely populated urban markets.

The Smile Communication Uganda headquarters in the Bukoto area is an unassuming campus, located just around the corner from the local Nakumatt grocery store. It’s easy to forget you’re visiting a telecom company, that is, until you enter their data center.

smile

One of the advantages Smile has over their competitors is that their infrastructure is new, optimized for LTE from end-to-end. This is vastly different from the incumbents in the market who, more often than not, have to maintain legacy GSM equipment in addition to any new systems they wish to deploy. This makes deploying new technologies like LTE much more cumbersome and expensive for them, one of the many reasons innovation with local telecom infrastructure may appear to have stagnated.

At Smile, their data center is compact, small enough to fit in a mid-sized bedroom. If the team there ever wants to expand, and realistically only utilizes about a third of the room it’s contained in, so there is plenty of room for expansion.

network

The Smile team performed a test on my behalf downloading 35 gigs of the RACHEL courseware repository. Download speeds peaked at 17mbps by averaged at closer to 4mbps. The team assures me that this was during peak hours (2pm on a Saturday) and that during non-peak hours the speeds increase dramatically (for instance, at night).

The most exciting thing about Smile is their commitment to driving the local market forward instead of simply maintaining the standard.

In Mobile, Technology, Uganda , , , , ,
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Bahiyah Yasmeen Robinson

Appfrica Executive Director Bahiyah Yasmeen Robinson chats with business owners in Uganda.

In Uganda , ,
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Visiting Mara Launchpad in Uganda

October 19, 2012 — Leave a comment

Mara Launchpad is an exciting incubator and co-working space in Kampala, Uganda.

Following the lead of other innovation spaces across the continent, Mara Luanchpad’s mission is to create an open-ended model which allows for incubation, investment, capacity building and scale. Thus, Mara’s entrepreneurs get access to a place to work together as well as access to early stage seed funding and later stage venture capital.

Mara Launchpad Uganda

When you first visit the Launchpad, you’ll notice how densely packed the pace is with desks. These desks are paid for by entrepreneurs using Mara as their startup headquarters. Here they are given access to filing cabinets, meeting rooms, fast internet, a boardroom for meetings and other resources that might prove elusive for early-stage companies.

Mara is conveniently located directly across the street from Makerere University which makes it prime real-estate for student entrepreneurs who need a quiet, professional space to work along or in teams. The space is called the ‘Launchpad’ because of the perfect storm of resources available to participants seeking to ‘launch’ their projects or businesses in a friendly environment.

Appfrica visits Mara Launchpad

Appfrica Executive Director Bahiyah Yasmeen Robinson and Director of Advocacy Jon Gosier met with Mara Foundation Director Nigel Ball to discuss a number of opportunities for collaboration (between Appfrica and Mara Foundation), as well as their respective hubs (HiveColab and the Launchpad, respectively).

Despite what might exist as a perception of being a nascent tech community, Uganda’s Mara and Hive are only two of the many resources available to Uganda’s technology entrepreneurs and enthusiasts. By working together, the Ugandan incubator and investment community hopes to spawn a friendly competitive environment that allows all the various initiatives (and perhaps more importantly the entrepreneurs themselves) to thrive.

Apiyo Oweka of Mara Foundation

Apiyo Oweka (of Mara Foundation) and Daniel Stern (co-founder of Hive and Director of UConnect) also met with Appfrica to discuss the need the need to for more cohesion amongst business owners in Kampala’s growing market. Needless to say these conversations have spawned a number of new ideas, and will lead to many new great things for all involved!

Photos: Jon Gosier

In Business , , , , , ,
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A New Look and Feel

October 11, 2012 — Leave a comment

The Appfrica blog has been more-or-less active since 2008, and it’s had many looks which we’ve recently updated. The new site is clean and minimal and makes for better reading of the longer content we’ve written over the years.

Appfrica Circa 2012

While we were at it, we also slightly modified our logo which hadn’t changed in quite a while either.

Appfrica Logo 2013

Just for the fun of it, here’s a look back at the past! First the website….

2008-2009

2009-2011

2011-2013

We’ve come a long way since then! Now a trip down memory lane with some of our old logos…

2008

appfrica old logo old logo
old appfrica logo

2009-2011

Appfrica Classic Logo

Appfrica Labs Old Logo

2012

Appfrica 3 Year

In Uncategorized , ,
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Welcoming Our New Executive Director Bahiyah Yasmeen Robinson

October 10, 2012 — Leave a comment

The past few years have been incredible for the team here at Appfrica. What started as an ambitious effort to invest in an incubate Africa’s rising talents in technology has become a quickly growing company that’s never been more vibrant! That said, we’re excited to announce the addition of Bahiyah Yasmeen Robinson to our staff as Executive Director. In her role she’ll oversee our many programs and partnerships.

Former Director Jon Gosier, is now the Director of Advocacy and will work with assist Bahiyah in scaling Appfrica’s efforts to invest in, and nurture the African tech sector.

Bahiyah Yasmeen Robinson became involved in social entrepreneurship at a young age, partnering with friend out of high school to run a fashion line that sourced and imported local fabrics from women’s cooperatives in Tanzania. That experience invigorated Bahiyah’s love for international, cross-cultural exchange and commerce. She went on to explore the world of media and entertainment in order to obtain a well rounded view of the media industry, eventually returning to her true passion: international affairs and social entrepreneurship.

To date, Bahiyah has established and ran non profit organizations and businesses with ties to Sub-Saharan Africa, the U.S. and Brazil. She has a degree in International Relations, and has worked with large NGOs, including the Council on Foreign Relations and Ashoka in both administrative and consulting roles. Her passion is international branding, marketing and organizational development, building public-private partnerships that add value to all parties, and aligning business practices with clear and well intentioned core values.

She can be reached at byr@appfrica.com or bahiyah@appfrica.org

In Staff , , ,
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Radio Netherlands Interviews Appfrica Founder Jon Gosier

October 10, 2012 — Leave a comment

Listen to the Interview

In Business ,
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The Cheetah Code, A Film About Africa’s Tech Entreprenuers

August 15, 2012 — 1 Comment

Cheetah Trailer 45 from Jon Gos on Vimeo.

Why aren’t there more of a focus in books or film, about African innovations in business?

Not about its colonial history, its artists and musicians, its Dictators and tribes, its poverty and wars, its animals and wildlife…but work simply about doing business in Africa?

That was the question I asked myself before undertaking THE CHEETAH CODE. After spending several years living and working in the continent, it dawned on me that there were few resources available to those interested in doing business in, or with, the continent.

THE CHEETAH CODE is the culmination of several years of research in my time as a technologist, small investor, and activist. The book is about Africa’s young creative class, its expanding technical capacity, and entrepreneurs.

It is not a about philanthropy, poverty, or scapegoating foreign corporations. It is about contemporary business, economics, societal trends, and technology that happens to be told from the African perspective. It will be made available as a documentary film, and book.

==

If you find the above concept compelling, you can help make this project a reality by backing it on KickStarter.com! Those of you interested in the project who live abroad, email me privately at j.gosier@appfrica.org

BACK THE CHEETAH CODE

In Business, Culture, Podcasts, Startups, Technology, Web , , , , , ,
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The Innovation Hubs of Africa

August 1, 2012 — 1 Comment

This great graphic by the guys at Mhealth Africa illustrates where innovation hubs are popping up across the continent.

African Innovation Hubs

In Business, Infographics , , , , ,
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African Women Using Tech to Change Business

July 29, 2012 — Leave a comment

Barbara Birungi

Barbara Birungi, Director of Uganda’s innovation hub HiveColab, wrote this great piece for the BBC last week…

I believe that when you educate a woman, you educate a nation – because that one woman will share what she has learnt with other women and pass it on to the generations below hers.

This is why it’s so important that women are taught how to integrate technology into their businesses if the businesswomen of the future are to follow suit.

Women in Africa are taking to business in a big way, and playing a crucial part in the economic development of their countries

Read The Article

In Business, Technology , , ,
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“Intelligence is spread evenly throughout the world, opportunity is not.”

June 11, 2012 — 3 Comments

The following is an excerpt from a recent interview I conducted with StartupFestival.com discussing business, entrepreneurship and opportunity in developing countries.

The International Startup Festival is a 3-day event July 11-13, all about the business of Startups. Held in the historic Old Port of Montreal, Canada, the event brings together industry veterans and fresh new faces, creative thinkers, experienced entrepreneurs and technologists from around the world. This year’s speakers include people like Dave McClure (500Startups), Liza Kindred (Third Wave Fashion), Cindy Gallop (IfWeRanTheWorld.com), Graham Hill (TreeHugger.com) and many more.

I’ll be speaking at Startup Fest giving an inside glimpse into how data platforms are changing nations, and how this vision of human and machine collaboration is driving a new generation of tools to cope with today’s information flood.


READ THE ARTICLE

In Business, Startups , , , ,
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