The world is awash in streaming services, and Meg Whitman already had her fortune — but then Jeffrey Katzenberg came calling with a mobile-focused startup. With nearly $1.8 billion raised and America on lockdown, consumers may have no choice but to try Quibi.



Minutes after Meg Whitman announced she was stepping down as CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in November 2017, her phone rang. It was Jeffrey Katzenberg, whom she has known since they both worked for Disney in the late 1980s and early 1990s — Whitman was in strategic planning; Katzenberg ran the film studio.&nbsp; ‘What are you doing?’ ” Whitman remembers her friend asking. “I don’t know,” she replied.



“I’m the chairman of Teach for America. I’ll probably do stuff with my husband and travel.” She continues: “He goes, ‘No. What are you doing tonight?’ And I said, ‘Knowing you, Jeffrey, I’m having dinner with you.’ ”



Katzenberg flew to Silicon Valley and, over dinner at Nobu in Palo Alto, pitched his idea for bringing high-caliber entertainment to mobile phones. For Whitman, the idea checked all her boxes: The potential market for the service was huge, prevailing trends were right and it occupied a unique niche.



“I ultimately said, ‘You know what? I think I have another startup in me,’ ” says Whitman, 63, who first got rich (she’s worth $3.3 billion) working with another visionary founder, Pierre Omidyar. She helped build eBay from 30 employees and $4 million in revenue when she joined in 1998 to more than 15,000 employees and $8 billion in revenue when she left a decade later.



“We’re pioneering into a space that only exists because of two things: YouTube, and Steve Jobs and the iPhone,” Katzenberg says. “Those two things have now created a new piece of real estate, and that real estate is 7 in the morning until 7 at night… That’s the thing that’s exciting to me.”



Two years after that dinner, Quibi (an awkward portmanteau of quick and bites) is poised to launch its mobile streaming service offering original movies, reality TV, comedies and news edited into bite sized nuggets of 10 minutes or less, optimized for viewing on phones.



Many in Hollywood think it’s a terrible idea. At a time when viewers are awash in entertainment options, many of them free, who is going to pay for another? “If I’m going to watch Game of Thrones in eight-minute chunks, what’s the difference between what he’s doing and me hitting the pause button?” scoffs one powerful Hollywood insider, who requested anonymity because his clients sell shows to Quibi. Barry Diller, perhaps the greatest Hollywood visionary of his generation, recently called Quibi a “gutsy speculation” for his former protégé (Katzenberg, 69, worked for Diller at Paramount in the ’70s). “He’s so naked out there with this.”



It’s not a new idea. Back in 1999, Katzenberg tried something similar with Pop.com, which was supposed to deliver short animated and live-action films across the internet. With the technology for viable video streaming still in its infancy, it was an uncertain notion at best. Despite being backed by Steven Spielberg, David Geffen, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Paul Allen, Pop.com was dead within a year.



This time around, Katzenberg raised enough money to play it out, including $1 billion in August 2018 from the likes of Alibaba, Disney and Sony. It fortuitously wrapped up a $750 million follow-on round in March, just days before the coronavirus froze the country. “I’ve never seen an environment change this fast,” Whitman says. “Every day is a new day, with new data and new concerns.” Luckily, Kevin Hart and Jennifer Lopez already finished work on their shows, and Spielberg has a movie in the works, attracted by a “cash plus” deal that lets them retain rights to their material. After two years, they can stitch together their “quick bites” and release them as a full-length movie.



Inadvertently, America’s lockdown might have created the perfect moment for Quibi. Nielsen projects media viewing will spike by as much as 60% due to COVID-19. People will certainly know it’s available: Quibi is spending a gargantuan $400 million to promote its new service and in mid-March announced that it will offer the service free for three months.



“This is a moment in time in which we have a chance to do something that is putting some happiness and some joy and some fun and some laughter into people’s hands,” Katzenberg says.



Quibi also has the advantage of being loaded with fresh content just as the production of all new shows and movies has been stilled by the pandemic. Quibi has been stockpiling programming since last September in anticipation of a possible writer’s strike, fearing a replay of 2008, when a union walkout halted new production for 100 days.



The service debuts on April 6 with 50 original shows, including movies offered in cliff-hanger chapters such as the thriller Survive, starring Sophie Turner (Game of Thrones) and Corey Hawkins (BlacKkKlansman); 120 reality shows and documentaries; plus news, weather and sports. In all, Quibi promises to deliver 8,500 quick bites from 175 shows in its first year.



But the $1.8 billion question remains: Will anyone pay to watch them? Some Hollywood players are adopting a “DBA Jeffrey” — Don’t Bet Against Jeffrey — attitude.



“Jeffrey has only taken a couple of big swings in his life, and he’s hit it out of the park,” says a senior executive at one of Hollywood’s major talent agencies. “If you had blindly bet on Jeffrey Katzenberg for the past 30 years, you’d have made a lot of money.”



&#8211; Dawn Chmielewski

Young Chinese colleagues working together in a busy co-working space from above

The Billionaire’s Startup

Samsung has brought mobile payment solution, Samsung Pay, to South Africa. The innovative payment service is available to ABSA and Standard Bank cardholders on both Visa and MasterCard platforms. Security comes first with 5 layers, including fingerprint and iris recognition as well as tokenization to secure all your cards. It’s well on its way to become the new way to pay.

Smartphones have truly become an extension of who we are. It is safe to say that the first thing most people do when they wake up is to look at their mobile phones to check feeds, check messages, just generally check everything, in an always connected world. With Samsung Pay, Samsung South Africa aims to make your eligible Galaxy smartphone a tool that enriches your daily life.
As one of the world’s largest smartphone and technology innovators, Samsung’s core motivation behind developing and implementing Samsung Pay is to give South Africans a smart way of banking at their fingertips, with the security to give them the peace of mind to use it.
Loading cards from participating banks is as easy as scanning and verifying them and adding your iris, fingerprint or pin code authentication.  Once set up, it’s so easy to use. Simply swipe up from the home screen of any eligible Samsung smartphone, no need to search for the app, then select the card, enter your security verification and tap or swipe your phone on the speed point.
Tokenisation is the key to protecting consumer information when it comes to electronic payments. To achieve this, all sensitive account information is replaced with what Samsung refers to as a token. The token replaces information with a series of numbers that are card and mobile number specific. Payments are made using the token which means that this payment method adds another layer of digital security so that information is never vulnerable even in cases of theft. The token can be deactivated without going through the process of cancelling the account.
Cardholders are given a mobile payment solution that will not only benefit the digital footprint in South Africa but will make banking a less tedious process. Head of Digital Solutions for VISA in sub Saharan Africa, Geraldine Mitchley, says Samsung Pay is a life changing payment solution.
“Considering the number of smartphone users in South Africa, it is expected to reach over 25 million by 2022, we are seeing that the phone is the one item people will always have with them and VISA supports payment solutions that fit people’s changing lifestyle,” she says.
How does it work?
Samsung Pay can be used wherever Absa or Standard bank debit or credit cards are accepted on both VISA and MasterCard platforms.  The first step is downloading the app from the Google Play Store and registering your cards with your password method of choice. Then it’s simply a matter of swiping up from the home screen and then swiping or tapping their Samsung Galaxy smartphone at participating outlets. The Samsung devices that currently support Samsung Pay include the Galaxy Note 9, Note 8, S9+, S8+, S8, S7 Edge, S7, A8 and A7( 2017 edition). The 2017 edition of the Galaxy A5 will be compatible in September 2018.
No terminal updates will be needed by operating merchants in order to accept payments. Payments are made without any extra cost; the only fees that apply are banking fees.
Samsung Pay truly is innovation at its best, so get Samsung Pay, and make your next payment an adventure of innovation!
&#8211; Gypseenia Lion

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“Samsung brings smart, effortless payments to South Africa”

The former CEO of First National Bank (FNB), Michael Jordaan, is launching a new app-driven bank early next year. He says Bank Zero will not inflict exorbitant fees on consumers.
“It is possible to create a mobile bank at a much lower cost than the traditional banks… If we can stimulate a savings culture in South Africa, as well as help individuals and businesses to waste less money on bank fees, it will help the economy grow,” he says.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2016/11/01/banking-at-your-fingertips/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Banking At Your Fingertips</a>
Jordaan has worked in the banking sector for over 20 years and will need all his experience as he becomes a competitor of his former employers.
The idea came about three years ago, over a good bottle of wine with his co-founder Yatin Narsai, who is the former head of retail at FNB. The two were inspired by the app-driven businesses such as Uber and Airbnb.
<div id="attachment_35972" style="width: 210px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-35972" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-35972 size-medium" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/image001-1-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/image001-1-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/image001-1-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/image001-1-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/image001-1-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/image001-1-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/image001-1.jpg 1365w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />Micheal Jordaan. Photo Provided.</div>
“We hope to solve many of the everyday problems that individuals and businesses still have when making payments or investments,” says Jordaan.
They spent the last year applying for a banking licence with the South African Reserve Bank (SARB). This year, they are working on integrating the bank into the South African payments system.
In 2014, Jordaan launched MonteGray Capital to invest in disruptive start-ups. Now, his own business is set to shake up the banking industry.
“It has been an incredible privilege to start with a blank sheet of paper and develop a bank from first principles. We will have no legacy technology and no reliance on income streams that should not exist, like electronic banking fees. The functionality of the app will be far richer than any bank we have seen locally or abroad,” he says.
Though, like most banks, Bank Zero will have an app and a card, it will not have a branch.
“Branches are old-fashioned. If you could design a bank from scratch you would never think of doing it around paper and bricks and mortar. Just like WhatsApp and Facebook don’t have branches, the bank of the future will be mobile&#8230;” he says.
In addition to South Africa’s big four banks – FNB, Standard Bank, Absa and Nedbank – Adrian Gore’s Discovery is launching a bank later this year. Is there room in South Africa for another bank?
“South Africa has 33 banks and the sector is highly sophisticated and competitive. The fact that [South Africa’s] bank fees are high in international comparative terms means that there is still a lot of room to lift the competitive intensity,” says Jordaan.
To differentiate itself, Bank Zero will only cater to those with smartphones and tablets.
Jordaan is intent on making his bank technologically innovative. He learned this lesson the hard way when he was chairman of Mxit. The messaging app was blown out of the water by WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.
“It is a powerful lesson why businesses must build for the future rather than hang on to the past. That is why Bank Zero will be built for smartphones and tablets, rather than for dumb phones.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/homepage/2017/06/27/cash-falling-fashion-will-disappear-forever/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Cash is falling out of fashion – will it disappear forever?</a>
“In a few years the only phones that will be sold will be smartphones. Today there are entry-level smartphones available for less than $40 but this could still halve in three years,” he says.
If Jordaan had his way, in the near future, brick-and-mortar banks will be as redundant as those dumb phones.

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Banking On Technology: New Mobile Bank Set To Launch

The time for an intervention of the workplace has arrived. The traditional office as we know it, bound by a desk with set working hours, being present for meetings, and processing paperwork, is no longer functional. Technological advancements have changed the way people work so that it’s no longer where it gets done but that it gets done. These are some of the key insights shared by Deloitte in a series of reports released towards the end of 2016.
One of the reports revealed that the work place of the future will be mobile and not bound by location; it will be independent (contractors); more people will be working from home; and co-working spaces will be an alternate to working from home; all this ties in with a traditional workplace no longer being functional.
The future is mobile
Technology such as laptops, tablets, smartphones; wireless connectivity; and networking software will be a key driver to this paradigm shift. Mobile manufacturers are catering to this – the new Samsung S8 offers a “Dex” mode that lets you switch to a desktop mode by attaching a few peripherals to its smartphone. According to Deloitte, many workers may still have a designated office space for themselves but they are treating work as something they do rather than where they do it.
Not bound by location
The combination of portable devices, WiFi and modern software solutions, means employees can work from anywhere and don’t necessarily have to come into an office, or sit in traffic to get there – an issue South Africans can identify with. As more companies shift to cloud-based or custom solutions, it means one can work from any location yet still collaborate via shared documents in the form of Google Docs, Office 365 or Dropbox, to name a few.
Co-working spaces
There has been an increase in co-working spaces in South Africa with companies renting out ‘hot-desks’ to freelance individuals. These spaces come with desks, phones, high-speed internet, boardrooms, meeting areas, coffee, and whatever other amenities are required to work from ‘anywhere’. Provided one isn’t bound by specific machinery; one could find themselves sharing office space with individuals from varying industries. Access to a set-up with all amenities is usually tied to a daily/weekly/monthly/annual fee, offering greater flexibility for contract work.
Gig economy
The gig economy is one of the major elements of the workforce of the future. It is where independent contractors and freelancers will be used for short-term projects, and also ties in with not being bound by location. If a job can be done remotely with the right hardware and software, a greater pool of employees are available for the picking. With people changing jobs more frequently, the gig economy is said to be an evolution of this. Additionally, businesses save on other costs such as office space, training, and employee benefits.
No more paperwork
Going digital or moving to the cloud means no more unnecessary paperwork, saving businesses a huge chunk in costs. All it takes is moving to smarter solutions such a digital HR software; electronic contracts; accounting software; online project management tools; collaborating via shared documents, and online video chats instead of face-to-face meetings.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2016/02/01/inside-house-future/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Inside The House Of The Future</a>
Could this work in a South African context? Forty-year-old Daniel Calbacho, Managing Director of RED Marketing based in Illovo, Johannesburg, took an interesting, non-traditional approach with his company. He “fired” all his staff and re-hired them as independent freelancers.
Calbacho manages a team of young writers and recognizes that people are all different, have a life outside of standard working hours and want to pursue their passions as part of their lifestyle.
“Each person in the business is encouraged to see themselves as an entrepreneur, and focus on their predominant skillset, which is linked to their passion to earn a living.” His team comprises of individuals who are motoring journalists, photographers, writers, bloggers and even a pop singer.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/technology/2015/02/01/is-there-a-future-in-cellphones/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Is There A Future In Cellphones?</a>
They are also encouraged to grow at their own pace, and if they’d like to earn more, they don’t have to wait for an annual increase.
“Millennials are about instant gratification – ‘I want this now’. If someone in the team would like to earn a specific amount, we work towards that. Obviously this means taking on more work, much like earn-as-you-go.”
RED Marketing has offices with all the mod-cons, allowing the team to use its facilities at leisure. Cost saving for the company has presented itself in the form of equipment, bonuses, and benefits. As independent contractors, the team supplies their own laptops, cameras and smart devices, which they’ve insured. “Bonuses are no longer a cost consideration albeit we do believe in sharing the company’s profits for outstanding work, and there are no costs for medical aid or pension.”
Skills development has not stopped, says Calbacho. “Every three weeks the team gathers and a person within the group presents knowledge or a skill they’ve been elected to share.”
Leave has also become a secondary HR issue, with each team member allocated 18 days a year to take off completely. “Days are logged, not scrutinized; and most of them don’t take all of it because they are free to manage their time without the construct of a nine-to-five job.”
Calbacho says what they are doing currently works for the business. “The company is successful because the team is happy. Our main focus is delivering the best product to our clients.” &#8211; Written by Nafisa Akabor

The Workplace Of The Future – Or Now?

Over the past decade, Kenya has taken considerable steps towards deepening financial inclusion. This is reflected in the 2016 FinAccess Household Survey which shows that slightly more than three-quarters of Kenyans are now formally included by the financial system, which is a 50% increase over the past 10 years.
According to the report, the percentage of Kenyans relying on informal services providers decreased from 32.11% in 2006 to 7.2% in 2015. Thanks to technology, 18% of Kenyans now use new mobile banking services such as M-Shwari and M-Pesa, a scenario that has pushed the proportion of bank account users to 38%, up 10% from 2013, while traditional bank accounts have decreased.
Despite the significant progress seen towards enhancing financial inclusion, there is much less success in the use of investment products, such as shares, mutual funds and treasuries. The study showed that the use of investment products decreased to 10.6% in 2016 compared to 11.6% in 2013. Findings by the same survey also revealed that the number of Kenyans familiar with the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) stood at only 38%. It seems that a lack of awareness could be why less than 30% of daily market transactions at the NSE are attributed to local individual investors.
But there is hope. Mobile phone platforms are being used to increase awareness and participation. Data shows that 26% of Kenya’s adult population own a smartphone or other smart devices. The uptake of mobile banking services has led to an increase in the banks’ penetration in the past 10 years, from 14% in 2006 to 38.4% in 2015. Investment managers, stockbrokers and insurance companies will also be buoyed by market studies that show that 71% of the population uses financial services provided by mobile financial service providers. This is a clear sign that mobile phones are the best way to encourage investments.
In light of this, the Kenyan government is launching the mobile-traded government security, M-Akiba. Kenyans with as little as $30 will be able to bid for the upcoming five-year income tax-free bond using their M-Pesa accounts. Investors will rejoice; M-Akiba returns are expected to be better than the current fixed deposit rates and most money market accounts. Stockbrokers have not been left behind either – at least three of them have recently launched mobile apps aimed at retail investors looking to buy shares, monitor their portfolio holdings and check account balances via their mobile phones.
But, the road ahead is not without obstacles. One is the low incomes among Kenyans. According to household survey, 75% of adults earn less than $150 per month. This may hinder most Kenyans from taking up financial products. A lack of trust among women towards formal financial institution is another major challenge. According to the latest quarterly report by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA), women account for merely a third of the total number of investors. Low levels of education in the country are also an issue, with 60% of the population not completing a secondary level of education. With this in mind, it could be daunting when it comes to selling sophisticated financial products, such as derivatives and exchanged traded funds. Even among the educated, stakeholders will have to fight to shake off the persistent fascination with real estate.
At least Kenya is showing resolve to deal with the challenges. There is a big chance to make real changes to how people invest; all that is needed is a phone.

More Phones more finance

They call themselves Geeks on a Plane and they landed in Africa with hope and money in the middle of uncertainty. Many of these investors and entrepreneurs are based in Silicon Valley, one of the biggest US business hubs, known for its start-up ecosystem, high-tech innovations and scientific developments. They have been touring Africa looking for investments.
“Successes are infrequent, maybe 20 to 30 percent of our investments will probably return some capital but the majority of the significant outcomes will be less than 10 percent of our portfolio and the really big outcomes will be under one and two percent,” says Dave McClure, the founding partner of 500 Startups, the venture capital and seed fund accelerator that organized Geeks on a Plane.
The company was launched seven years ago. It has created business opportunities for about 18,000 companies, making around 500 investments a year, says McClure.
“This is our eighteenth trip around the world. We usually take between 20 and 40 people to the different markets in the world and try to expose them to what is happening. We learn about the local market, we meet entrepreneurs and investors, and we tell them what is happening back in Silicon Valley. It’s a great way to get to new markets and meet new people.”
It has been four years since the first investment in Africa. Since then there have been at least 10 investments in sub-Saharan Africa, in payment infrastructure, mobile technology and services. The investment, per company, ranges from $25,000 to $100,000. McClure says some of their investments have failed, but they encourage companies to work hard to break even, as soon as possible, to attract other investors.
<div id="attachment_31484" style="width: 210px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31484" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-31484 size-medium" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/3W0A0759-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/3W0A0759-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/3W0A0759-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/3W0A0759-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/3W0A0759.jpg 683w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />Dave McClure</div>
“To create the right risk appetite [is all] about hope and trust. When you think about trust, it’s when you sort of build a network of investors together… We have investors coming in and spending three weeks with us and we showcase some of our start-ups and what we have seen is that those people that are meeting for the first time are creative, so of a similar interest. One of the companies didn’t raise the money before, but with the class they raised $500,000,” says Bedy Yang, the Managing Partner at 500 Startups.
“You often see that intersection with a local founder and a local investor, it is not only among people on the same trip and same small circle, but the idea we open those circles. The reason we come to Geeks on the Plane is we want to map up those circles and narrow the trust quickly and say ‘I want to do something people believe in and write the cheques’.”
Monique Woodard, one of the first black female venture capital partners in the United States, says the best women in business are African women. Despite this, they are often rejected by banks and investors.
“I would say they need to start [considering women entrepreneurs] because I am coming to take those deals… The position of women in business in Africa is quite good when you look at large corporations or family run businesses. When you look at start-ups, we are still at the very beginning of seeing women entering,” she says.
Woodard says in a developing market they first look at telecoms, transportation, broadband, financial services, e-commerce and media.
“The sub-Saharan ecosystem is still emerging and developing market. There’s a playbook of how the developing markets of sub-Saharan Africa can grow and we have done it in other areas as well. I expected it to be different but not impossible,” says Woodard.
Woodard acknowledges fewer girls are taking science and mathematics at school but says she’s hopeful that will change. They have partnered with companies, like Andela in Kenya, to train and place women in the software development industry.
“That’s not something unique to Africa, that’s very much across the board. So, there are things we should be doing, figuring out how to encourage girls to continue with computers science degrees and then continue to be in the tech industry and start their own companies. When it comes to education, we play are role in investing in companies that provide education outside the public school system,” she says.
The company has helped many in Africa, including Hanan Abdel Meguid, an Egyptian businesswoman. In the early 1990s, Meguid, then a student at the American University in Cairo, took a leap of faith when she enrolled for a computer science degree despite not being familiar with computers. She discovered the field was male-dominated, but she stayed in the course.
“I started my first company with friends, right after university, because our dreams and our capabilities were much bigger than the opportunities in the market. A similar experience is happening for Arab youth this day. IT has become a catalyst for change,” says Meguid, who’s now based in Silicon Valley and mentoring in advisory and seed investment programs.
500 Startups has an appetite for risk – amid the turmoil of the week they landed in South Africa, it was just as well.

Risk? So What?

We drive to Tshepo Sedumo’s home in Atlasville, an affluent part of Boksburg, east of Johannesburg, to learn about the loud speakers he makes in his quiet neighborhood.
We get lost and suspicious security guards start trailing us before we find his double-storey house. Sedumo welcomes us in and offers us something to drink.
The 24-year–old entrepreneur, from the Free State province, is tall and light-skinned, and runs his business from home.
When he was growing up, his family of five moved from province to province as his father found work around the country. In 2001, his father secured a job as an accountant in Johannesburg; from then on the City of Gold was home.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-medium wp-image-4630" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/IMG_20160801_160410-300x197.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="197" />
“My life began when we came here; I made a lot of changes, new schools, new environments, big city, it was meant to be,” says Sedumo.
He was always a DIY person as a young boy; he liked messing around with things he found around the house. That’s because he never really had toys, he says. Sedumo passed the time by putting random things together which he enjoyed and kept him off the streets.
In high school Sedumo learned new skills and started using power tools, like drills. However, he was an accounting student – he studied BCom finance at varsity, but still did handy work in his spare time. Later, spare time became full time as Sedumo dropped his studies to pursue a business making boomboxes.
It was a simple start – it all began with wooden boxes and hinges. Sedumo put computer speakers in the boxes and connected them to the iPod he had recently bought.
It wasn’t the best design but it worked well and people loved it, he says. Encouraged by this, Sedumo wanted to improve his product and make his speakers sound better.
“As time went on, I added moulding on the inside to make it steadier; I worked on it to a point where I actually messed it up. I overworked it,” he laughs.
He kept trying different styles but couldn’t settle on something he was happy with, until he went to YouTube for ideas to better the speakers.
In 2013, Sedumo, for the first time, tried to build something that is battery powered.
“Most of my information didn’t come from school. I learned, on the internet, of a few things, bought some components online and built something that was ugly but powerful and worked with auxiliary. A year later, I decided to use a car stereo and built it into the ugly speakers and that boosted the power and had auxiliary, a SD card slot and USB; it was great,” he says.
YouTube is where his idea was sparked. He saw a boombox made from cardboard, but Sedumo thought it would look better in wood and gathered more research online.
In 2014, he built his first boombox, using wood and veneer. It worked well, the sound was great and it was portable. His friends suggested he make a business out of it.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-medium wp-image-4629" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/IMG_20160801_152723-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" />
“For me it was just to have a sound system and to impress girls, and that’s how I started to lose interest in my studies,” he says.
Sedumo failed his second year and decided to take a break. He turned his attention to boomboxes and has never looked back. His heart was never in school, his passion was in boomboxes and his business Grove Audio was born.
He took it seriously, experimenting with different styles, builds and material, including a backpack boombox.
Sedumo loves hip-hop and associates the music with a boombox. He says the boombox also brings back nostalgic memories for people older than him, like his mom, who owned one when she was younger.
In 2016, Sedumo released a range called Grove Audio G2 (Groove 2). Priced at R2,000 ($150), and able to play for 10 hours using Bluetooth, they sold out within a month.
“I want to differentiate the boomboxes; there is the G series and the S series which are special boomboxes and in 2017 I want to come with the R series; large boomboxes for rent to house parties, etc,” he says.
Sedumo’s custom-made boomboxes are available online, and occasionally at pop-up markets around Johannesburg, and selling internationally.
Sedumo is making a name for himself by creating old-school boomboxes with modern technology. Like the songs they play, these boomboxes are sure to be a hit.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-4628" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/BoomBox-328-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" />

The Sound Of A  Booming Business

It was an idea that inspired a doctor to walk out of his practice. Dirk Koekemoer, the founder of biomedical engineering company eMoyo, spent the next 18 years building a device that helps tens of thousands to hear – all they have to do is sit under a tree and listen.
&#8220;It was 1999, I literally sat in practice and realized this is going to go on forever. I was going to see 30 patients a day for the rest of my life. I wanted to be able to treat thousands. I cancelled all my appointments that day and took the bold move to start a company,&#8221; says Koekemoer.
It cost Koekemoer $1.2 million and saw the birth of the KUDUwave, a mobile audiometer that looks like a set of headphones. Its size and the fact you can use it under a tree made it a game changer.
&#8220;A basic sound booth, at minimum, would cost R35,000 ($2,600). They can be the size of a fridge and are good for screening. But, the moment you want to do proper audiology the booths go up to R250,000 ($18,700). Then the moment you look at mobile audiology you need two booths on a mobile trailer, with a 4&#215;4 and on a heavy trailer. You are looking at costs of R500,000 ($37,000).&#8221;
The R65,000 ($4,800) headphones are cheap and smart. They won’t operate unless the conditions are just right. One of the best places to use them is under the shade of a tree, just as well as Africa has plenty of them. They are used in the rural areas, like Zambia, where audiologists need to get around.
&#8220;Open air testing, in an area with open windows or under a tree, is the best for ear testing. A booth needs ventilation, it needs soundproofing and probably doubles the costs.&#8221;
&#8220;There are 3.5 billion people in the world that don&#8217;t have access to adequate equipment. I thought let&#8217;s create devices that can actually do the tedious things that a doctor and a nurse have to do that don&#8217;t need brainpower,&#8221; says Koekemoer.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 360 million people have hearing loss and most of them live in low- and middle-income countries.
&#8220;It&#8217;s a huge need. There are 30 million people in this country with hearing problems, 2 million need hearing aids. There are not enough audiologists and there are not enough facilities,&#8221; says Koekemoer.
&#8220;Hearing loss is a serious problem. It causes dementia and depression. Also isolation, especially in the elderly; literally their life expectancies shorten if they are unable to hear well.&#8221;
In Khayelitsha, a township 28 kilometers south east of Cape Town, this is a common challenge. This is also where we follow Koekemoer to meet with head audiologist Shireen Martin, of the Khayelitsha Hospital, who has been working with the device since July.
Koekemoer’s device has transformed the way audiologists, like Martin, work. Employed by the South Africa’s Department of Health, Martin uses the device to test patients’ hearing loss in multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB).
&#8220;At first I was against the idea. I think there was a lot of speculation about it. It has to do with changing the way people work and think. I was used to sitting in a booth, sitting with a patient one-on-one. It kind of made me adverse to the idea of a mobile audiometer.&#8221;
The department employs decentralized TB treatment, which means Martin needs to travel to treat patients.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t have access to any other audio equipment. With many TB clinics that decentralized their treatment and initiation of MDR-TB, many patients are not able to go to an audiologist, with them being so far away,&#8221; she says.
Martin is the only audiologist who operates here and sees up to 60 MDR-TB patients a month.
&#8220;[Patients] do appreciate it. Because it is not far away from home, they don&#8217;t have to wait long for transport to take them to far-away hospitals. Bringing the service to them is the importance of primary healthcare, not just audiology.&#8221;
MDR-TB patients need to be monitored carefully. Hearing loss can be a side effect of the drug used to treat the disease.
&#8220;Some can lose their hearing in as short a space as a month,&#8221; says Martin. &#8220;It&#8217;s devastating, especially if it happens in a short space of time. That&#8217;s why counseling is very important; so patients know what the early signs are and the importance of them coming back.&#8221;
Koekemoer believes Martin&#8217;s work is a mere drop in the ocean, considering there are 20,000 MDR-TB patients in South Africa and the disease is very infectious.
&#8220;It&#8217;s scary. Patients can&#8217;t just jump into a taxi with their disease. They need special transport. It’s why it makes sense that the audiologists go to them,&#8221; says Koekemoer.
Koekemoer&#8217;s dream started on an even grander scale – a full mobile body scanner. It was a eureka moment in his small home office in Pretoria.
&#8220;One night at two or three o&#8217;clock in the morning, I was sitting at my desk and I started drawing a picture. It was a horrible picture. It was a full solution on how to examine a patient as good as a GP would examine a patient. Things you had to put on a patient. It wasn&#8217;t like the Star Trek scanner version you see in movies, but we are getting there,&#8221; says Koekemoer.
Koekemoer has learned the business of building medical equipment is tough.
&#8220;In 2001, when I started developing these medical devices, it was so difficult. Voice over IP wasn&#8217;t even legal then. In that type of environment, it was difficult just to find information on audiometers. At that stage I was doing deep searches on university FTP sites. I had to invent my own software to actually find the information. Now it&#8217;s easy. The rate of inventiveness increases significantly.&#8221;
Patents are expensive. According to Koekemoer a single patent costs R1 million ($75,000), and a further R500,000 ($37,000) every year after. It still doesn&#8217;t protect your devices; poached product designs are common. It can be as simple as changing a small part. Koekemoer says that in the field the headphones have a two-year advantage before similar devices appear.
&#8220;The problem is KUDUwave had got about 16 patents. It&#8217;s better to take that money and get first-mover advantage. If I can give any advice to any entrepreneur, just give up on thinking you are going to protect yourself on patents. Just get the flipping thing in the field.&#8221;
&#8220;You need to be fast, constant improvement and add additional things to the KUDUwave. In the next few days we are adding a crosscheck that will allow calibration of the device in the field.&#8221;
Next is getting the product certified. With huge backlogs worldwide, inventors struggle to get their products on shelves. The process can add years of painful delay. The South African Bureau of Standards (SABS), the governing body which approves devices in the country, has no facilities to test the device as it is so unique.
&#8220;We need alternative European certification which can take five months just to get a quote for audit. It is really difficult to say no every day and not go to the US, where it is so easy to get FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approval. FDA registration doesn&#8217;t count in South Africa, but it’s accepted in the rest of the world,&#8221; says Koekemoer.
Despite the uphill battles, Koekemoer is adamant that Africa is the place where his device can make the most difference.
“Re-engineering healthcare, that is what we are doing.”
So, when you see a patient with a set of headphones on while sitting under a tree, chances are they are taking a test that could change their lives.

Huh? Say That Again?

IIt’s a sunny Thursday, and I am at the Mobile Military Health Formation of the SA Military Health Service in Pretoria, South Africa’s capital city, to meet Limpopo-born Molatelo Nkoana, a 31-year-old woman who has dodged more bullets than most.
Nkoana’s running a little late, but then she arrives, sallying into the boardroom. She is on duty and in uniform, and proceeds to tell me about her life and the career she almost embarked on.
After completing her secondary education, Nkoana says she first went on to study and train as a nurse. But that wasn’t to last long; she gave it up midway – to join the military, a decision she would never regret.
“Basically, it was about the money, I was young and wasn’t getting enough money, so I went on the market,” says Nkoana.
The enthusiastic 22-year-old applied, and was recruited three months later, reporting to the Thaba Tshwane military base in Pretoria for basic training. She also trained in Kimberly, Bloemfontein and the Western Cape.
Nkoana had thought only the physically fit could join the military, but soon discovered it offered multiple careers one could explore. With her nursing background and experience, Nkoana chose to be a paramedic.
In March 2013, Nkoana was one of the 200 soldiers of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) selected to go to the Central African Republic (CAR) as part of South Africa’s peace-keeping mission there.
They would go on to fight a series of battles outside Bangui in the CAR. And Nkoana was the only woman on the frontline.
Michel Djotodia, leader of the rebel alliance, Seleka, had declared himself the new president of CAR and forced the then serving president, François Bozizé, out of the country.
It wasn’t going to be an easy task for the SANDF.
Nkoana takes me back to noon on that fateful Friday on March 22, 2013 when she first spotted the rebels; she remembers it all like it was yesterday.
She literally transports me to CAR with her vivid detailing of the series of events that unfolded. As she relates this story of death and danger, I hear the bullets, the gunshots and the rebels roar; I see the ravages of war in CAR.
Nkoana was amongst the first to see the rebels attack.
“We saw a civilian running away from those people, the rebels. I was at the gate of the base’s duty room. I ran to the sick-bay as a medic and told the people that the rebels are coming, the rebels are coming.”
When she reported it, nobody believed her. But she persisted, proceeding to gather her bulletproof vest, helmet, and weapon.
Her fellow soldiers only believed her when the Officer Commander (OC) ordered them to prepare and check what was happening outside the base. He tasked a team from the special force.
Around 5PM, this team was ambushed by the rebels, but they fought back tenaciously, and the rebels fled.
Three men of the special force team returned injured, one shot in the chest, the other had sustained a fracture in his femur and the third was wounded.
For the first time, the base knew it was rough outside.
“As medic personnel, we took them to civilian hospitals outside to get other doctors to help us,” recalls Nkoana.
Around 10PM the following day, the rebels came back again firing bombs. The SANDF could hear the entire din from their base. The Sergeant Major asked Nkoana to go with them to replenish food for the soldiers who had been on night vigil.
She grabbed her medical bag, helmet, bulletproof vest, weapon and left with the men, not hesitating for a minute.
It was around 12PM, when she along with the others drove 15-20 kilometers to the location of the stranded soldiers; it was quiet when they got there, but as soon as the rebels saw the SANDF vehicles, they started shooting again.
“We went out of the car and took cover, and then we started shooting back. While fighting, I managed to get one of the guys that was injured and suggested I take him back to the base because he could not run, fight or do anything,” she says.
The OC opted otherwise and Nkoana and the injured men had to wait even as the bullets rained over their heads.
At 5PM, as they were heading back to camp, the squad was ambushed again. This was when a number of lives were lost, says Nkoana, for the first time sounding emotional.
They did what they did before: stop the vehicle, step out and take cover.
As Nkoana was taking cover, one of the soldiers had been shot in both legs and was screaming out for her. She bandaged him but the chaos was far from over; yet another soldier was calling for one of the two medics that were there. He had almost missed a bullet but it had grazed his neck.
By then, Nkoana and the other medic could see dead bodies all around them. The injured soldiers shouted to them to leave because they were going to die.
“We told them we can’t leave. We are still alive and we can at least take cover with you. Let’s move to a safer place; the guy that was shot in the legs said he couldn’t walk and we should leave him there.”
The team refused and carried him to safety.
Around midnight, the OC called from the base asking for Nkoana. Many of the soldiers were already back at the base, but the young woman had stayed on with the other fighters.
“When they called, I switched off my phone because it was loud and we could hear the voices of the rebels from where we were hiding.
“I switched the phone back on and sent a message telling them ‘we are here, we are hiding, we’ve got two patients and we cannot get out of this cover’.”
Nkoana had full faith she was going to return home to her son in Senwabarwana, her hometown in South Africa’s Limpopo province. It kept her alive.
She thought she would be running on foot back to the camp because there was nothing that could rescue them.
Many soldiers died, but many of the rebels also died, so there was not going to be any mercy towards the SANDF.
Nkoana then received a text advising her and her patients to remain in hiding and stay calm. Around 4AM, she received a call asking if they were still undercover; they were then instructed to somehow make their way to the airport.
“The commander of the rebels was requesting the SANDF to go back to their country,” she says.
But Nkoana and the injured soldiers had to travel another 15 kilometers to the airport; she was still unsure of their safety. Their hideout was next to a tar-road and the rebels were driving up and down firing bullets into the sky.
A peace agreement had been signed, so the soldiers could go back to camp; get their belongings and head home to safety.
“[But] we were not sure the people in the streets knew of the peace agreement because if they see us they will shoot us; the agreements were done at the base and not in the streets,” says Nkoana.
They refused to come out of hiding.
They heard the Casspir (armed ambulance) that was sent to fetch them and the bodies of the dead soldiers, but they were still unsure if it was safe to surface. The vehicle went up and down, back and forth, looking for them.
“Around 7AM, the next day, we decided to go. They sent me a message to just surrender; I then told the guys ‘the Major says we should surrender’. I was the Corporal by then and the guys asked if we should shoot. I told them ‘no, because if you shoot one bullet, they will kill all of us’.”
Nkoana took command of the situation, complying with her superiors at the base.
The drama didn’t end there though.
Just as they got on to the road, the rebels came after them and took their weapons, bulletproof vests, ammunition and they were instructed to lie down. They then had to stand up and walk in a single file not knowing where they were being taken.
On the way, they climbed on to a bakkie (pickup truck) driven by other rebels which took them to their base. The soldiers at the base had started packing, and they had to pack up too. They were all then taken to the airport to head back home to South Africa. Finally, it was all over.
Nkoana was a 27-year-old woman who defied death at the hands of the rebels. She was honored with a bravery medal, invited to the opening of Parliament in South Africa in 2014 and was given the Sword Of Peace.
Like Nkoana, another South African woman was also honored for her bravery fleeing the rebels in CAR, with an equivalent of R3 million ($323,000 at the time) supporting the mission, in her bag.
Susette Gates, a mother of two sons, currently living in Pretoria, was deployed as the financial officer of the South African mission in CAR in charge of payroll. Before being employed by the SANDF, she had been a hairdresser, she says, laughing, when she speaks to us.
Like most people looking for jobs, she had applied for an open post at the Wonderboom military base and been accepted; she continues to work here.
I meet her at this base – she’s not in uniform – and in her own office adorned with family portraits, certificates and medals.
She was the only other woman besides Nkoana selected for the CAR mission. Those fearful moments in CAR are forever etched in her memory.
When the rebels were attacking the SANDF, Gates was watching a horror movie on her laptop at the base. Little did she know the horrors unfolding around her.
Ironically, she was informed about the chaos in CAR on the phone by her sister in South Africa. Only then did she realize there was no electricity and people had left their homes at the camp.
She called out to everyone but was the only one left. She was later relocated to another place where she spent the night.
“The next morning, I went back to get my belongings. The next thing the rebels were in the base and they took everything, they even took the cars,” she says.
“If they could grab food, clothes whatever. I had my money with me; they opened my bag and asked what it was. I told them it was clothes and asked if I could keep it, but the bag of money was under the clothes.”
Gates was released and managed to get away with the R3 million; the money she had hidden under her clothes and that belonged to the SANDF.
The trip to the airport was grim because all she saw was a dry and dirty town, gunshots going off in the background. On the flight back home, she knew there were dead bodies of colleagues on the plane. Gates almost kissed the ground when she landed in South Africa, she says.
Both these women returned as heroes and were honored by South Africa’s Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula in 2014. Of the 185 soldiers who survived the war, the two women stood out amongst the men. Today, there are other women fighting the rebels in the CAR like they did, risking their lives and saving the lives of the men around them.

Molatelo-036

Heroes Among Men

Its 6AM and Clive Makumbe just arrived in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare. He has traveled 300 kilometers, from his small farm in Masvingo, just to withdraw money. Banks in his town are dry as Zimbabwe suffers cash shortages. When we bump into each other, this is the sixth bank he has tried to get money from.
“I am preparing for the planting season because that’s how we survive. I ordered farming supplies but I haven’t been able to make payment for over a week because there is no money, that’s why I decided to take a bus and come here,” says Makumbe.
Once again, he is out of luck. This bank has money, but he can only withdraw $100 per day. He needs $2,200 to pay a supplier.
His only hope is mobile money.
“I am going to ask friends to lend me whatever they have, so that I can give my supplier at least half of the money I owe, so I can begin working. I know if they send it via EcoCash, I will be able to get it because EcoCash always has cash, unlike the banks.”
Like most mobile money services in Africa, EcoCash helps the unbanked save and move money through their phones.  According to Makumbe, in Zimbabwe, it’s better than a bank.
“Banks are unreliable. It’s so bad that we can’t send money out of the country even via internet banking. You have to do long applications to even be able to do that. Most of our suppliers are out of the country and paying them is a nightmare and some of them don’t want to do business with us anymore.”
With EcoCash, Zimbabweans can withdraw money from any MasterCard ATM in the world, they can make payments to one another through the mobile service and they often have cash available for withdrawal. Now they can also save some money on their phones.
“Zimbabwe has a poor savings culture. People don’t trust banks. A decade of hyperinflation left people’s savings in bank accounts wiped off to almost zero and now with bond notes coming, the same will happen.”
With EcoCash’s mobile wallet, which already has more than 1.5 million customers earning interest on all amounts starting from as small as $1, Makumbe says he and his friends always know they have money that they have access to when needed.
“We have a club of six where we each contribute $50 a month. We can track all transactions through our phones and when we need the money, at least there is a guarantee that you can get all of it without limits. We plan to buy groceries and share them at the end of the year,” says Makumbe.
“Group savings culture for specific purposes or asset investment is a common phenomenon in Zimbabwe, but the target segment is largely unrecognized and underappreciated. EcoCash Savings Club is intended to reward this diligent savings behavior, as well as become an enabler for access to other services, such as mobile credit. It also offers an opportunity to extend EcoCash mobile money agency businesses to groups of people that are creditworthy, but have been long marginalized,” says Natalie Jabangwe-Morris, Chief Executive of EcoCash.
Mobile money services thrive in most parts of the continent.
According to Sebastian Wolf, a Uganda-based economist for the International Growth Centre, the increase in mobile money transactions has increased the rate at which money is used as well as the money multiplier.
“This has made inflation in East Africa more difficult to predict and would argue for choosing inflation targeting over reserve-money targeting in East Africa. In terms of inflation, mobile money seems to bring gain without pain,” he says.
By making small commissions on millions and millions of transactions, mobile money is big business in Africa. Data also shows big opportunities for boosting financial inclusion among women and poor people, according to the Global Findex.
For MTN, a South African mobile service provider, the product’s revenue increased by 40.8% and performed well in Uganda, Ghana, Rwanda and Benin. Although successful in most parts of the continent, mobile money has failed in South Africa. MTN has pulled the plug on its local mobile money business. The problem is three quarters of South Africans have bank accounts. Vodacom also scrapped its M-Pesa service in South Africa after a disappointing take-up among users.
“Vodacom’s decision is based on the fact that the business sustainability of M-Pesa is predicated on achieving a critical mass of users. Based on our revised projections and high levels of financial inclusion in South Africa, there is little prospect of the M-Pesa product achieving this in its current format in the mid-term,” says Shameel Joosub, Vodacom CEO in a statement.
It was a smart decision.
Earlier this year, Vodacom only had 76,000 active users in South Africa compared to 9.7 million mobile money users across Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique and Lesotho at the end of 2015. Revenue from M-Pesa in the financial year 2015/16 grew by 19% to R1.63 billion ($114 million), while Vodacom’s group revenue climbed 7.5%.
“We remain of the opinion that opportunities exist in the financial services environment and we will continue to explore these,” says Joosub.
And they are.
In other parts of the continent, Vodacom is trying to squeeze more revenue out of the financial service sector by encouraging users to sign up for M-Pawa, a mobile banking service. Already, it says, 15% of its money base is signed for M-Pawa. In Bangladesh, the fastest-growing financial services company is a mobile money provider called bKash. Less than four years after launching, it processes about two million transactions per day, with a total value of nearly $1 billion each month.
“By 2030, two billion people who don’t have a bank account today will be storing money and making payment with their phones. And by then, mobile money providers will be offering the full range of financial services, from interest-bearing savings accounts to credit to insurance,” says Bill and Melinda Gates in their annual letter.
With mobile money, people like Makumbe may not need to go back into town ever again.

Banking At Your  Fingertips

It’s a mixed bag of black investors; a former civil servant, an engineer, an IT specialist and a car leaser. They are united in taking the risk of bringing the craze of pay-as-you-drive car rentals to Africa. Their company, Locomute Shared Mobility, has sunk $3.4 million into it.
In June, Locomute will have 50 vehicles running on the road in Johannesburg; in three months, Cape Town and Durban will follow.
Sibusiso Xaba, the chairman, is guiding a group of young, black entrepreneurs in their thirties. For more than a decade, Xaba was a civil servant and director general in the Department of Arts and Culture. In January, in his forties, he took the leap as an entrepreneur.
“For every car that is shared, 15 people won’t necessarily have to buy a car. The convenience our service gives to the customers makes it outstanding compared to our competitors. It gets rid of debt capital, no e-tolls, no maintenance costs, you pay as you drive,” says Xaba.
In the competitive world of car rental, Kuthula Mkhize, the general manager, says it’s mainly for business types and visitors.
“Our target market is the executive person who flies into OR Tambo International from Durban and uses the car while in Johannesburg for the meeting and comes back to airport,” says Mkhize, who worked in the car rental business for eight years.
Technology is key. Before you can use Locomute cars you register on the internet or using a cell phone application for a few dollars.
“Subscribed members will reserve a car online or via the Locomute application. It’s a 24/7 access to a pool of vehicles located within designated zones called Locoparks. You only pay for the time you used the vehicle. We are responsible for the fuel, insurance and you leave the car where you desire,” says Xaba.
“This is an in-city service. You are not allowed to take the car in Johannesburg to Bloemfontein. We have technology to monitor our cars and we will immediately know what happens to each and every car in our fleet. If a car is stolen, we will be able to track it in no time,” says Mkhize.
“Before Gautrain was introduced, people drove cars to the airport, not because they wanted to but because they had no choice. Gautrain brought the service that was needed and today it is fully subscribed. So, if you give that person an option to drive our car from an office and leave it in a parking, he doesn’t have to worry about anything else,” says Xaba.
Martin Lydall, chief commercial officer for Imperial Car Rental, one of the biggest car rental companies in South Africa, says competition is good. In South Africa alone there are 60,000 rental vehicles in a business worth around $380 million, he says.
“This is probably the most competitive business in the world and South Africa is among the leading countries. We are business people and competition makes business effective. We are not concerned about the new companies. We have been competing with the small and big companies. It helps to evaluate your competitors and see where you need to improve in your own business,” says Lydall.
Derek Watts, FORBES AFRICA’s motoring correspondent, says there’s space for new players.
“We get used to the way of operations but if they establish a good name people will use their service. The transport system in South Africa changes by the day. It would be interesting to see, as long as you free people from insurance which this company is promising, then people will use the service,” says Watts.
Xaba hopes so.

Driving All The Way  To The Bank

Kharkov, the second largest city in Ukraine, is the unlikely location where Oke Okaro was baptised in the world of business during the Soviet era. In 1990, Okaro left Nigeria, as a teenager, on a scholarship to study electrical engineering at the University of Kharkov. Since then, he has had a rollercoaster career that has seen him grow from a trader in consumer products, such as Sony’s Walkman and Nike high-top sneakers, to the C-Suite of global finance and media technology corporations.
Along the way, he branched out as an angel investor and technology entrepreneur. Today, Okaro is a hands-on investor in several fast growing start-ups in Nigeria, including Gloo.ng, an online retailer of household goods, and ACE (Africa Courier Express), a technology-enabled logistics company.
Okaro’s journey began when he decided to abandon his academic scholarship to study computer science in Britain.
“When I left Kharkov, I was 16 and only had $200 in my pocket. I moved to London with the understanding that I had taken the decision on my own account and as a result, I was fully responsible for personally supporting every aspect of my life; I had to make it work on my own and failure was not an option. I didn’t have anyone in London and upon arriving roughed it out day to day, figuring out where I’d sleep and find the next meal,” he says.
“I did pretty much every odd job you can think of. I worked as a bricklayer, cleaner, security guard, bouncer, nurses’ assistant, fast food and electronics sales person; pretty much everything. However, I never for one second lost focus of the prize which was to get my degree in computer science.”
After graduating in 1996 and working in Britain for a year, as a software engineer, Okaro, ignoring advice from friends, quit his job and moved to New York in pursuit of the American dream.
Once again, he didn’t know anyone in the city and camped out in the student hostel at Columbia University. Within a few weeks, he landed a job at a major financial securities firm, Greenwich Capital Markets, where he worked as a software engineer designing and building fixed income derivative trading systems. After three successful years, Okaro once again decided it was time for a new challenge and set his sights on an MBA. He applied and was accepted to the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.
In the summer of 2001, while on the program, Okaro took up an internship with Qualcomm and landed in the mobile sector just as the telcos in the United States (US) were starting to invest in their data networks.
“At Qualcomm I got the privilege of working on one of the first mobile apps in the US, and also the rollout of the first mobile application development and distribution platform, BREW, (Binary Runtime for Wireless). This was 2001, six years before the iPhone and seven years before the App Store. Back then, Japan was the market leader and the US market was in its infancy. People in the US hadn’t even got into texting much. Despite this, from seeing what was starting to happen in Japan and from my experience working hand in hand with the leading US telcos at the time, Verizon and Sprint, I knew mobile was going to be huge in the US and much bigger than in Japan. This was when I knew I was going to be the mobile guy.”
MBA degree in hand, Okaro went on to explore turnaround venture opportunities. However, this proved unsuccessful and he counted his losses and moved on. He then joined a global sport media company, where he started its mobile business and led the design, product and engineering teams. Okaro created a portfolio of pioneering and award-winning products that set the standard in the mobile content industry.
Within a few years, his products had gained a massive global audience and were generating annual revenues in excess of $75 million. Recognizing his trailblazing achievements, Apple’s executive leadership invited Okaro to join them onstage during the iOS 3.0 launch event at Apple’s Cupertino headquarters in 2009. After six years, Okaro moved to another global media company in 2010, this time a finance organization, where he started their consumer mobile and connected devices business and again produced outstanding results. In a short time, his creations amassed a monthly audience of 17 million unique users, generating multi-million-dollar revenues and winning a host of industry awards, including app of the year from Apple.
Though successful, Okaro had always wanted to be involved in Africa’s technology revolution. To test the waters, he developed the first football mobile application in 2007, and targeted it at Africa. Observing the encouraging uptake, Okaro sensed the opportunity and decided to get involved.
“The [football] app made it pretty clear to me, as far back as 2007, that people in several African countries valued quality content and a great experience. Having seen this at the start of the mobile content revolution in the US, I wanted to get more involved as an entrepreneur but couldn’t because I was employed full time. I struggled with this for a really long time then it finally occurred to me that the most effective way to play in the market was as an investor in talented entrepreneurs with exciting digital ideas,” he says.
Leveraging his network of contacts, Okaro sought and cultivated relationships with entrepreneurs on the continent which led him to make first-round investments in a number of startups.
From his vantage point, Okaro sees abundant opportunities for innovation in Africa, especially around mobile technology.
“Observing from the sidelines, the telco’s are well positioned to be at the forefront of the technological revolution on the continent, but it appears they don’t have the vision or talent in place to think through and execute in a way that has never been done. No market, except Japan when it started, has similar characteristics with African countries. Just like it was in Japan, the majority of people who come online in Africa, will come online on a mobile device and for many, their entire digital existence will be on a mobile device.”
“This presents an incredible opportunity. They need to understand that if they want to maintain their leadership position in the market and play a pivotal role as a broader participant in the economy, it is imperative that they create a frictionless enabling environment for entrepreneurs and new businesses.”
Declining to elaborate on his next challenge, Okaro offers a confident smile,  leaving no doubt  about its success.

‘Failure Was Not  An Option’

No nonsense businessman George Prokas was taught from an early age that you need to stand up for yourself. During his dispute with South African network provider Cell C that is exactly what he did, he literally took it to the streets.
“If you’re first in the queue, you’re first in the queue,” says Prokas.
In 2012, Prokas applied for two cellphone contracts for his children. In 2013, one of the phones needed to be repaired. Being a relatively new phone, Prokas handed it in to the network provider in expectation of a new phone. What he got was the run around.
“Eventually we were getting bounced from pillar to post. After about eight months, I kept going back to the store. I went there, my daughter went there, my wife went there. I screamed the whole of Sandton City (shopping mall) down. We were just falling on deaf ears and in the meantime I was paying the account, I didn’t have the phone but was still paying for the account. The last time I went to Cell C, I had an argument with a guy who runs the store after telling him I was going to stop paying. He laughed at me and said ‘you can’t stop paying because you signed a contract’. I said ‘I beg your pardon; I put my surname on a piece of paper to honor an obligation on a service you have not given me, until I get the phone back I am never going to pay,’” he recalls.
Prokas kept his word and stopped paying for the phone he did not have. A few months later, Prokas walked into a dealership to purchase a car for his wife, the bank turned him down, he was furious. The reason for the rejection was emailed to him soon after and he could not believe it. Cell C had listed Prokas with the credit bureau because he stopped paying for the broken cellphone account.
Prokas tried to solve his problem. He called the Cell C call center, he sent emails and he even tried to locate the owner of the store he was dealing with. With no joy he decided to take more radical action.
He placed a banner – that cost him over R60,000 ($5,200) – on a very busy intersection in Johannesburg. It read: Cell C – the most useless service provider in SA.
Prokas warned Cell C about the banner but they did not budge.
“I sent the mock-up of the banner to Cell C via email. I said ‘if you don’t solve my problem this is what’s going up’. I was looking for a solution and somebody to talk to,” says Prokas.
With his lawyer by his side, Prokas did as promised and put up the banner. Soon after, the banner broke out on social media and Cell C went to court. The High Court in Johannesburg dismissed an application for an interdict by the service provider to have his banner removed. Prokas won the case, got his legal fees covered and kept his banner.
“Cell C had acted incorrectly, they never addressed his concerns, not once,” says Raymond Druker, Prokas’ lawyer.
“What George has put up on that banner was not defamatory, it was fair comment.”
According to a study done by global market research agency Ipsos, the banner brought home that most people have become accustomed to inferior service.
“He (Prokas) basically vocalized what I think a lot of people are experiencing but they don’t have the means or the personality to do what he did. He set such a precedent by doing what he did,” says Renita Kramer, Head of Loyalty Research at Ipsos South Africa.
Ipsos adds that it’s become more important than ever for companies to pay attention to their customers and solve their problems.
Sifiso Falala, CEO of Plus 94, a market intelligence company, has recently released the Plus94it app, a mobile app that allows South Africans to share their experiences in the service industry with the people responsible for those experiences. The app receives over 1,000 comments a month.
“The majority of the consumers that come on to the app are frustrated. We get things like they are too big to care about the little guys, once they concluded the sale they are not concerned with the quality of the product or service,” says Falala.
“Mobile telephonic companies and network service providers tend to really irritate people to a large extent.”
“There has always been a principle in law that contracts can’t be against public policy, but the overriding law in South Africa is that people are bound by what they sign. But you can’t require people to pay when you don’t give them the service they’re paying for. But it hasn’t gotten to the point where if you get bad service you are legally entitled to stop paying. There is a lot of development that has to happen along those lines,” says Druker.
Cell C responded to the matter by saying: “Cell C has resolved the matter with Mr Prokas and has nothing further to add over and above what has already been communicated through various media channels. Cell C is continuously improving its customer service across the various touch points of the business, including the franchises.”
Otherwise the banner of indignation could rise again.

Revenge Of The Frustrated Customer

Alpesh Patel has a sharp eye for business and a silver tongue. It’s easy to believe the mobile entrepreneur is king of the corporate jungle. What’s hard to believe is that he was born in a real jungle when his parents were on a Safari in Uganda.
“So I’m a real bush baby,” jokes Patel in the CNBC studios, a few blocks away from his home in Sandton, South Africa.
Patel is the founder of Mi-Group. He’s sold over 1.5 million of Africa’s first branded smart phones, the Mi-Fone. He’s also launched a credit card for Africans with Visa, MasterCard and Western Union.
The man, whose company generates revenue of $20 million, has been on a journey longer than the Great Migration of the Masai Mara. Patel grew up in Uganda among a family of cinema owners. His grandfather bought the Odium Franchise. As part of the deal the likes of Steve McQueen and John Wayne came on safari holidays and shared lunches with them.
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It was cruel fate that ripped this lavish lifestyle from his family in 1972. Idi Amin, the then president of Uganda, ordered the expulsion of the country&#8217;s Indian and Pakistani minority. Within 90 days, with nothing more than the clothes on their back, a $100 and a couple of pillows, Patel’s family were marooned. They flew to Britain, bound for a detention center along with 27,000 other Indians.
“I went from a lifestyle of being in the cinema to my mother working three jobs and my father as a state worker. The United Kingdom was not a very friendly place for us,” he says.
It did bring fame, says Patel. The BBC filmed him holding his blanket as he left the plane; the scene became an iconic shot throughout the world.
Patel claims entrepreneurship is in his blood. At school he would sell leather handbags, brought back from Morocco on holidays, to Nigerian vendors in London. After graduation, Africa drew him back; this time selling first generation mobile phones. Patel describes them as the giant bricks of the 1990s. His big break came with an order for 183 cell phones from a businessman in China. The only provision for the deal was that he had to be there to hand over the box. He saw a gap in the market and flew to Asia to sell more. By the age of 23, Patel made his first million, being one of the first people to sell mobile devices in that continent.
His worst day was on the horizon. A combination of a lavish lifestyle in Hong Kong and competition as big mobile brands woke up meant Patel’s days were numbered. Mobile giant Nokia came to China in 1993. The stiff competition sucked Patel’s market dry, he says.
“I was young. My biggest mistake was not investing in the business. I thought I could keep going the way I was. I was a millionaire at 23, but I lost it all. It kind of wakes you up. If you are not mature enough to handle that oncoming challenge you immediately self-destruct and that’s what happened to me. You wonder how you are going to take on the big guys. You lose faith. Everything starts going bad. Deals wouldn’t work out. Suppliers would come in with something cheaper. My income was getting less; meanwhile my lifestyle was still being maintained. Savings started dwindling.”
Although I was offered a lot of opportunities at the time, I didn’t see them. I was offered one of the first chain stores in Hong Kong for internet cafes, and I was like ‘what is that?’ It’s opportunities that you get presented that you don’t have the vision to take. If you are the first to sell phones in China you should be the first to do many other things. But I didn’t,” he says.
Patel returned to South Africa with nothing. He worked his way around the telecommunications arena as a manager for Motorola and the Harris Radio Corporation.
“Every day is my worst day. The easiest day was yesterday. Problems come all the time but I looked at them as opportunities to fix,” he says.
Patel’s biggest lesson he learned was that he needed to sell like a corporate.
“I went back to the basics. I was selling products with nothing but a suitcase and a bunch of brochures&#8230; In three years I sold five million units in Africa with Motorola. It was tough… I think it’s what I needed. I never had that corporate experience. To be where we are today you need to have some experience. Unless you are a fantastically talented singer, you need to get some training somewhere to know how the system works,” he says.
Armed with the knowledge of the African market, Patel launched his own company in 2008, the Mi-Fone brand of mobile devices; a new name in a fast-growing emerging market. They sold 200,000 units in the first year. In 2013, they have sold over a million.
“I put my life savings into it. I’m my own angel investor. We don’t have any private equity. We are living proof that you can build a business today in Africa, a pan-African business, with zero,” he says.
With his cell phone brand growing, Patel is not done. Last year, he launched a Mi-Card credit card. Patel says his plan is simple: if you want to give people power, give them a cell phone in the one hand and a credit card in the other.
“Despite the millions that are made in this market, [Africa] it is still seen as a dumping ground for older technology. One of the biggest challenges we face is being an unknown brand in Africa. There is a perception that it’s a cheap Chinese phone, but Apple is also made in China. Apple is so successful because they have created a brand experience. My mission is to create a brand that caters for mass-market African consumers as opposed to rich guys in the West,” he says.
Beaten and bloodied, Patel is as tenacious and as rugged as the Ugandan bush he was born in.

Born In The Bush,  Raised In The Corporate Jungle

When Marlon Parker, 36, founded Reconstructed Living Lab (RLabs) in the poverty-stricken township of Athlone near Cape Town, where unemployment, gangsterism and drug abuse are rife, his main aim was to give people hope. He quickly realized the best way to do this was to create sustainable ways of income generation.
In 2008, Parker launched a volunteer-driven IT and social media training program for the many unskilled people in his community. The RLabs Academy, as he called it, has trained more than 14,000 people in the past five years. It offers 15 courses, from technology to entrepreneurship, social innovation and project management.
As the program grew, Parker launched Living Labs, a sideline project where newly trained people create mobile and internet solutions for social change. Products include mobile chat platforms, crowd-sourcing mobile applications for consumer pricing data, mobile publishing and web data analytics applications.
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“I realized that the human capital we are creating is a major resource. We could compete with other service providers. We started selling our products to companies, or hire out consultants to firms that want to leverage their social and digital media strategies,” says Parker.
Parker realized that RLabs, which employs 70 full-time staff, needed to think entrepreneurially to sustain itself in the long-term. In 2010, he started an entity to sell Living Labs’ community-focused technologies to the private sector.
“We get ideas to a stage where they can become businesses in their own right,” he says.
One of those successful ideas is Jammix, a counseling service application that allows people to chat to a counselor using a text messaging system on their cellphones. More than three million people in poor communities have been using the service.
“When we saw how popular and useful the application was, we commercialized the technology and sold part of it to external investors for a substantial amount of money,” says Parker.
Another RLabs invention is Uusi, an application that allows artisanal, semi- and unskilled workers to browse job ads on their cellphones. The free service, financed by advertising, has been used by more than 300,000 people, with one out of five finding work.
“The best thing about the application is that it was developed by a man who was unemployed for almost 20 years. He was trained by RLabs and now makes money helping others find jobs,” explains Parker.
When Parker realized how many ideas developed in the Living Labs had the potential to become businesses, he launched an incubation program. Every year, RLabs selects seven or eight product ideas and, with a financial injection of $20,000 each, grooms them into fully-fledged ventures within nine months.
In just over two years, RLabs incubated 22 businesses. It owns a small equity stake in each of them, using the profits to fund new ventures.
“Of those 22 businesses, we already sold three and managed to make 10 times our investment back,” Parker says with pride.
Today, Parker replicates the RLabs model by incubating other social enterprises through impact investing and social franchising around the world.
“We have expanded to 20 countries, mainly in Africa, but also in Europe, Southeast Asia, Canada and Brazil. For us, it’s amazing to see something that started in the Cape Flats to be used in the United Kingdom,” he says.
In South Africa, RLabs created more than 1,000 full-time jobs through its offshoots. By the end of the current financial year, the social enterprise expects to make $1 million.
Parker keeps pursuing new opportunities. His goal for the next two years is to establish RLabs on seven continents.
“The only problem is who will be going to go to Antarctica,” he jokes.
“If you create something that has a big impact, it makes a big echo. I want to create something that echoes into eternity.”
Parker has a skill for creating something out of nothing, because he was once an unskilled worker from South Africa’s poverty-stricken Cape Flats.
“I grew up in the typical scenario: single parent, lots of siblings, all living in my grandmother’s house, in an area where there were gangs, lots of drugs and hardly a future,” he says.
Although he was the first in his family to complete high school, there was no money to attend university. As the eldest of five, Parker was expected to contribute to the family income and took a job pushing trolleys at Cape Town’s international airport. Despite his slim prospects, Parker kept dreaming. He remembers yearning to join the middle class.
“My biggest ambition in life was to get a job where I can wear a shirt and a tie.”
For two years, he saved every penny until he had put aside $50—just enough to pay a university administrative fee.
Parker quit his airport job to study computer programming at the Cape Town Peninsula University of Technology. Because he was broke, he walked the 20-odd kilometers to and from campus every day.
What saved him from falling into deep debt was his knack for statistics—a subject most students struggled with. He became a statistics tutor before graduating, at the age of 21, financing his studies along the way.
Parker worked as a business intelligence consultant for an IT company for a while, and later as a full-time lecturer. But his entrepreneurial spirit propelled him to do something bigger.
“I wanted to use technology to bring about social change. Although the term social entrepreneur wasn’t even coined yet,” he says.
With RLabs, he has done good and made a profit.

Tag: Mobile

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