Africa has a certain flair for innovation - this keynote explores how Africa has managed to continue to innovate despite disadvantages. It covers Alternative Energy, Mobile Payments, Crowdsourcing, Scratch Card distribution channels and Alternative Power. Stories of a continent solving real problems, not #FirstWorldProblems!

1. You
Don’t
Need
Bandwidth
To
Be
Awesome
Celebra1ng
African
Tech
Innova1on
@andyhadfield
Theme
co-­‐developed
by
BreB
Haggard
(@breBski)

2. In
Africa,
it
is
oIen
said…

3. Insert
pic
of
cloud
(tech
cloud
or
normal?)

4. A
couple
of
things
irritate
me
about
the
Internet’s
view
of
Africa.

5. HANDS
FREE!

6. The
dysfunc5on
of
Africa
has
become
part
of
business
folk
memory
that
keeps
Western
mul5na5onals
from
doing
anything.
-­‐
Paul
Collier

7. Never
fear.
We
got
our
own
back!

8. #FirstWorldProblems

13. It’s
really
easy
to
come
up
with
ways
that
the
Third
World
can
learn
from
the
First
World
in
the
technology
sector…

14. Square
pic

15. The
App
ecosystem
pic

16. IBM

17. Facebook

18. It’s
much
harder
to
turn
that
argument
on
it’s
head
and
say…

19. What
can
the
First
World
learn
from
the
Third
World?

20. And
why
should
they?

24. Here
are
more
reasons
why
the
boDom
of
the
pyramid
is
so
important…

25. Funny
Picture
of
mortage
crisis

26. Funny
Picture
of
mortage
crisis

27. Funny
Picture
of
healthcare
crisis

28. Funny
Picture
of
Eurozone
crisis

29. Looks
like
the
First
World
may
need
some
Third
World
thinking?

30. Because
while
the
top
of
the
pyramid
is
going
through
some
tough
1mes,
Africa
has
been
1cking
away.
Focused
on:
Accessibility,
Flexibility
and
UIlity.

31. It’s
not
an
easy
journey…

32. Herman
Chinery-­‐Hesse
quan5fies
this
problem
extremely
well…

34. And
now
you
can
see
why
Accessibility
is
such
an
important
part
of
Strategy:
Africa

35. That’s
what
I’d
like
to
explore
today.
>
Alterna5ve
Energy
>
Mobile
Money
>
Crowdsourcing
>
Scratch
Cards
>
Alterna5ve
Power

37. We’ll
start
with
a
nod
to
the
First
World.
In
pockets,
they’re
showing
some
African
flair…

38. AlternaIve
Energy

39. Soccer.
PreBy
widespread?

40. Now
what
if…

42. It’s
about
power.

43. Mobile
Money

44. Gartner
predicts
that
Mobile
Money
is
to
become
a
$617-­‐billion
industry
by
2016.

46. Launched
in
2007
by
Safaricom
in
Kenya…

47. Deposit
and
withdraw
money
Transfer
money
to
other
users
&
non-­‐users
Pay
bills
Purchase
air5me
Transfer
money
into
a
bank
account
(some
markets)

48. It
is
not
a
banking
system.
It
is
a
money
facilita5on
framework.

49. B2B
B2C
…
and
now
C2C

50. More
than
half
of
Kenya’s
GDP
moves
through
MPESA.
That’s
$20
million
+
per
day.

51. MPESA
has
achieved
two
important
things
that
First
World
payment
services
probably
never
will…

52. MPESA
disintermediates
the
banking
system.

53. Breaks
down
the
rich-­‐to-­‐poor
input
requirement
through
a
system
of
distributed
agents.

54. Somewhere
between
Hoover
and
Amway,
the
First
World
lost
the
passion
for
distributed
entrepreneurial
networks

55. Crowd
Sourcing

56. In
Swahili
there
is
a
word
for
“tes1mony”
or
“witness”.

57. Born
in
the
post
elecIon
violence
in
Kenya,
2008…

58. What
was
the
need?
Kenyans
couldn’t
get
up-­‐to-­‐date
and
reliable
updates
about
poli1cal
condi1ons
through
tradi1onal
media
channels.

59. How
does
it
work?
Input
via
>
SMS.
MMS.
Online.
Input
on
>
Any
device.

61. Here’s
the
trick.
It’s
open
source.

62. “AcIvist
mapping”
The
combina1on
of
social
ac5vism,
ci5zen
journalism
and
geospa5al
informa5on.

63. Accuracy
through
AggregaIon.

64. The
real
innova5on?
It’s
open
source.

65. Which
means
it
has
been
picked
up
and
exported
to
the
world.
2011
Middle
East
Pro-­‐Democracy
Demonstrators
2011
Christchurch
earthquake
disaster
2010
Hai1
2010
Russian
Wildfires
…
even
being
used
in
India
to
map
3G
connec1vity

66. The
2010
HaiI
Disaster
is
a
par1cularly
effec5ve
way
of
showcasing
the
power
of
Open
Source.

71. What
can
we
learn?
The
power
is
in
the
data,
not
always
the
interface.
No
barrier
to
input
means
more
input.

72. Scratch
Cards

74. Quickie.

75. Made
in
Ghana.
In
partnership
with
the
Catholic
Church.
Yes.

76. That
same
church
owns
an
insurance
company.
Flock
size:
4
million

77.
Scratch
Card
+
The
Cloud
(not
the
Rain
one!)
+
Insurance
Company
=
?

78. Use
cases:
Cashflow
flexibility
Frequent
travel
Insuring
friends
&
rela5ves
remotely...

79. Powerful
example
of
PAY
AS
YOU
GO
…
and
introduces
us
to
some
more
golden
rules
of
African
InnovaIon:

80. Secret
to
Third
World
product
adop2on
Low
upfront
payment
Flexible
remaining
payment
rate
High
immediate
uIlity

81. Star5ng
to
see
businesses
like
this
in
the
First
World?

83. And
now,
to
end
off…

84. AlternaIve
Power

86. 80%
of
Tanzanians
live
within
5
km
of
the
power
grid.
90%
of
them
lack
access
to
electricity.

87. BaYeries.

88. NetFlix
for
BaYeries?

91. Let’s
hear
from
the
Founder…

93. “…
to
move
electricity
around”.
What
a
novel
concept.

94. The
important
lesson?
Third
World
environments
don’t
mean
Third
World
margins.
These
are
big
volume
businesses
we’re
talking
about.

95. So.
When
you
look
back
at
all
these
examples…

96. We’re
innovaIng
despite
our
situa1on.
When
there
is
no
capital
available
-­‐
there
is
a
focus
on
brain
power.

99. You
may
think
these
are
simple
solu1ons
for
a
simple
world?

101. A
unique
business
situa5on
exists
in
Africa.

102. Africa’s
Future
Concept
Erik
Hersman
(@whiteafrikan)

103. We
don’t
take
ourselves
too
seriously.

104. Every
feature
of
underdevelopment
represents
a
business
opportunity
-­‐
Herman
Chinery-­‐Hesse

105. If
we
think
accessibility
first,
devices
second…
If
we
think
flexibility
first,
margin
second…
If
we
think
uIlity
first,
experience
second….

106. Thank
you.
@andyhadfield
www.andyhadfield.com

107. Credits
• hBp://www.andyhadfield.com/2012/04/african-­‐tech-­‐innova1on-­‐you-­‐dont-­‐need.html
• hBp://www.cmoa.co.uk/
• hBp://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTEDS14/Images/AfricaFlagMap.jpg
• hBp://ted.com
• hBp://fellows.ted.com/profiles/erik-­‐hersman
• hBp://gogreencyclopedia.blogspot.com/2012_03_01_archive.html
• hBp://egg-­‐energy.com/what-­‐we-­‐do/
• hBp://www.bslglobal.com/products.html
• hBp://www.africanlibertycard.com/features.html
• hBp://edi1on.cnn.com/2012/09/13/world/africa/mobile-­‐phones-­‐change-­‐africa/index.html
• hBp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-­‐Pesa
• hBp://gulzar05.blogspot.com/2011/02/m-­‐pesa-­‐success-­‐story.html
• hBp://pixelballads.wordpress.com/2012/01/14/mobile-­‐technology-­‐and-­‐the-­‐unbanked-­‐m-­‐pesa-­‐
part-­‐3/
• hBp://statspoqng.com/2011/04/kenyas-­‐m-­‐pesa-­‐the-­‐unbelievable-­‐success-­‐story-­‐in-­‐numbers/
• hBp://www.afrigadget.com/
• hBp://gcstz.com/products
• hBp://blog.ushahidi.com/index.php/2010/02/19/taking-­‐the-­‐lead-­‐ushahidi-­‐hai1-­‐tuIs/
• hBp://irevolu1on.net/2010/02/20/sms-­‐disaster-­‐response/

108. NOTES
&
Further
InnovaIons
• MXIT
– Drug
Counselling
• Nokia
Life
Tools
• Health:
counterfeit
medicine
checking,
adherence
measurement,
electronic
pa1ent
records
to
rural
clinics
via
Q&A
USSD
• JV
between
Safaricom
and
Syngenta
for
mobile
based
crop
insurance
for
subsistence
farmers...no
forms,
no
claims,
payout
using
Mpesa
to
mobile
phone
– hBp://www.microfinancefocus.com/syngenta-­‐founda1on-­‐
safaricom-­‐announce-­‐crop-­‐micro-­‐insurance-­‐program
• Tracker
and
other
SA
GEOLOCATION,
tracking
businesses
are
interes1ng