MEF Connects Nigeria – a view from the floor

Managing Director for Africa & Chief Communications Officer of Basebone James McNab shares his account of the recent MEF Connects Nigeria, held during Mobile West Africa 2015. Nigeria is well documented as a rapidly growing economy and no more so in the mobile sector. MEF’s recent Global Consumer Survey showed Nigerian consumers see their device as an essential part of everyday life with bookings, scanning barcodes and location based surveys having all risen by half year on year. The study also identified a significant boost for health and fitness and medical apps. The inaugural MEF …

What it means to live in a mobile first, cloud first world

We are all familiar with the terms 'mobile' and 'cloud'.  The former means portable, wire free connectivity and the latter means network based storage.  Whilst these are obvious misconceptions its how mobile and cloud work together that provides the basis of the next wave of growth for all kinds of services.  Here, Marc Kleinmaier, Head of Developer Experience in North America for Microsoft Mobile, explores the relationship between cloud-first, mobile first world. Marc Kleinmaier speaks with MEFTV at MEF Global Forum in San Francisco, Nov 2014 Let's address the elephant in the room; how can …

Africa’s leapfrog to a technology-leading continent

It's no secret that Africa is, in many ways, well ahead of so called developed markets in embracing mobile technologies. The MEF Global Consumer Survey revealed that "mobile first" markets were more readily adopting a range of mobile services from mhealth to mobile banking, and African countries were chief among them, building out home grown mobile ecosystems, that meet very real consumer needs. Here Toby Shapshak, editor and publisher of Stuff magazine  gives his take on the African mobile revolution and shares why he believes Africa is a mobile-driven continent. Shapshak is a key speaker …

Transforming lives through mobile technology – mind the bumps!

The recent MEF Global Consumer Survey noted that mobile-first regions are driving innovation across a range of mobile services, with accelerated adoption of relatively new areas of mobile such as mHealth, mobile banking and education. Here, Patrick Allainguillaume, Global Market Unit Head at Mahindra Comviva, reflects on mobile's growing importance in playing a transformative role in society.  Also check out our MEFTV interview with Patrick from MEF Connects Africa during AfricaCom. For any individual even remotely associated with the mobile telephony space today, there is very little doubt …

MEF Africa Report: Mobile Leaders Confident of Regional Industry Expansion

First announced at the recent Africa Day in Johannesburg, MEF this week launched the second part of its three-country African Growth Market Study, which surveyed mobile business leaders in the region to deliver an industry snapshot of market confidence and key drivers for mobile content and commerce in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. Confidence across the continent was shown to be high with over two-thirds in Kenya (70%) and South Africa (68%) and almost all in Nigeria (93%) optimistic for  mobile content and commerce revenue growth. The three-country study provides insight into the …

MEF Africa Day 2014

Last week the first MEF Africa Day was held in Johannesburg supported by Samsung, and saw around one hundred industry leaders gather over three sessions for debate, dialogue, insightful presentations and constructive networking. MEF Africa GM Jo Crawshaw shares the day's events, and if you were able to make it along to Johannesburg, see if you were caught on camera in our photo gallery. Mobile in Africa plays a pivotal role in driving innovation as an instrument of consumer empowerment and social inclusion as well as being pervasive in many aspects of daily life, from providing entertainment …

Digital Entrepreneurship in Kenya 2014

Marissa Drouillard, Intelligence Consultant, Mobile for Development at the GSMA, discusses the findings of their recent report on Digital Entrepreneurship in Kenya which looks at current opportunities and challenges for the Kenyan entrepreneurship ecosystem. Pete’s Coffee, nestled in Nairobi’s Bishop Magua building, is the kind of place where aspiring Kenyan entrepreneurs mix with international investors and more mature startups. Spend an hour on the patio sipping a cappuccino and you will likely encounter a number of Kenya’s uber-hyped tech company founders having meetings with their team or …

Improving Mobile Services for the Bottom of the Pyramid in Africa

Africa has the fastest growing mobile market in the world and opportunities to use mobile technologies for social upliftment abound. More Africans have access to mobile phones that to clean water and by 2016, predictions indicate that approximately one billion people in Africa will have access to a handset. As a mobile-first (and often mobile-only) region, mobile is the perfect technological conduit to provide demand-driven, real-time information and services to a variety of audiences. However, there are numerous barriers that must be overcome if we are truly to see the full power for mobile …

Why is Kenya so Optimistic about Mobile?

On Monday evening last week during AfricaCom in Cape Town, Africa's largest tech and telecoms conference and exhibition, MEF co-hosted the Mobile Monday Jamboree. At what is widely known as the AfricaCom networking party and with over 1000 industry representatives in attendance, MEF launched the first report of a three-country African Growth Market Study on mobile content and commerce. MEF Africa General Manager Jo Crawshaw was at the launch and shares her impressions of the event. The key findings from the first of our series of reports showed the optimism of industry leaders towards mobile …

MEF Launches Research on Mobile Content and Commerce Trends in Africa

MEF Africa General Manager Jo Crawshaw writes... It’s no secret that Africa is an incredibly exciting place to be involved in the mobile industry. Contributing 3.5% towards to continent’s total GDP and home to some of the world’s fastest growing economies, the African mobile market is forecast to quadruple in seven years, growing from a combined value of US$60 billion in 2013 to around US$245 billion in 2020. Despite the impressive growth and countless innovations coming out of Africa, barriers to market entry still exist. Challenges for those navigating the various regulatory …

Africa’s Rising Star

Emma Kaye, co-vice chair of the MEF EMEA Board, discusses the seemingly endless opportunities presented by mobile in the relatively untapped African markets and explores the key role of local content Africa is often referred to as The Dark Continent and satellite images of Africa at night attest to this. It’s an apt description only if one considers that 25 countries in Africa face an energy crises, from there on out it could not be more wrong. With an expanding middle class Africa makes up 14% of the world’s population of which over 65% are under the age of 35. In the last 10 years 6 of the …

MEF in Kenya: Welcome to the Silicon Savannah

MEF Africa General Manager, Jo Crawshaw, recently hosted the very first MEF Connects Kenya in Nairobi sponsored by Spice VAS Africa, where she met with the founding steering committee members of MEF's youngest chapter. Whilst many African cities claim to be the continent’s tech hub, Nairobi really does shine in East Africa as a success story in innovative mobile offerings. Recognising the importance of Kenya’s dynamic mobile industry to the continent and the global industry, MEF held an exclusive drinks reception in Nairobi for its first foray into this exciting African region. Mobile …

MEFTV at the MEF Africa Office Launch

MEFTV spoke to several of the new Steering Committee members at the inaugural meeting, held in Cape Town during AfricaCom last month. Here we hear from MEF members Digitali, with Stefano Valenti & Demetre Kotsonis, and get their thoughts on the role MEF can play in Africa. Click the link below for more videos from the MEF Africa launch.   Next Page > Roger Davies - Nazara …

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MEF Africa Launch in pictures

MEF recently launched its dedicated presence in Africa at the inaugural Steering Committee meeting in Cape Town. The new MEF office was launched in association with Vodacom, and aims to help promote African mobile growth and showcase innovation. The launch and steering committee meeting were well attended by a cross-section of industry luminaries from right across the value chain, and representing the whole of the African continent - check out the photos from the launch below - and to find out more, head over to the MEF website. …

MEF launches dedicated African Office in association with Vodacom

  MEF has today announced the launch of a new dedicated African office in association with Vodacom to help promote African mobile growth and showcase innovation.Headquartered in Johannesburg, the MEF Africa Office will serve as a hub for the trade association’s growing African membership. A MEF member steering committee from across the African mobile ecosystem has already been constituted to drive the regional agenda.Rimma Perelmuter, MEF Executive Director said: “With such diverse innovation originating in the African continent, it is clear that Africa offers the mobile industry a strategic …

MEF Connects Cape Town 2010: “Local is lekker”

Last year’s MEF event boasted a view of the impressive new Green Point stadium which hosted the opening World Cup game in June. This year’s venue offered an alternative yet intrinsically Capetonian view – Clifton’s 4th beach – to welcome MEF members and guests to the Mira Networks-hosted MEF Connects event held in Cape Town on 10 November.Emma Kaye, MEF EMEA board director, welcomed guests and thanked Mira Networks for sponsoring the second annual gathering in Cape Town. Gerrit Jan Konijnenberg, MEF EMEA Chairman, then confirmed the ‘tradition’ of local events would be maintained with the …