KAMPALA

MARCH2010

Day Two

WIRELESS EXCELLENCE
The importance of multi-sector partnerships
Like the sessions on Infrastructure Excellence from the day before, it
quickly became clear that for ICT convergence and innovation to drive
positive change in Africa, ICT stakeholders must appreciate the impor-
tance of multi-sector partnerships. As each telecoms operator, govern-
ments, regulators, ISP’s, policy makers, practitioners, industry leaders
and solutions providers of the African communications industry seek to
find their unique blend of optimum productivity and innovation, they must
manage high capital investments without losing out on innovation. This is
best achieved through collaborative efforts.
Dr. Tim Kelly, Lead ICT policy Specialist for the World Bank, began the
session by outlining the 1 Billion subscriber benchmarks since 1976 to
the present. The forecast for the next 1 Billion target (2009 -2010) would
be first time users living on $2 a day as well as growth from multiple
subscriptions for existing users. He also clarified that while growth in
the ICT sector doesn’t have a causal relationship with GDP growth, it is
a useful marker, taking into account country regulatory policy and socio-
economic factors present, in anticipating corresponding growth in GDP.
Also present was Henk Kleynhans, Chair-
man WAPA, with a motivating presentation
on WiFi cowboys and innovative solutions
provided by WiFi technology where other
platforms may not suffice. Dennis Mugwan-
ya, VP Africa Andrews Wireless, anticipates
a future where user expectations such as
constant connectivity, need for location en-
abling devices, empowered smart phone
usage will drive wireless revolution. Nico-
las Baravalle, VP Africa SES WORLD SKIES,
gave an informative presentation on the
growth opportunities for global fixed sat-
ellite operators with a commitment to the
industry in Africa which eventually trickles
down to rural communities.

In addition, the CTO for UTL, Tesfai Menghistab, tempering the excite- Follow THE SUMMIT
ment regarding Africa as the fastest growing ICT market informed del-
egates that “Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) will decline as usage in- @DASummit2010
creases both in terms of number of users and amount of data consumed
per user”. Future growth is going to be in the rural area amongst those
earning less than $2 a day. An overview of the opportunities shared in http://digitalafricasummit.wordpress.com
the face of these challenges were: the need for Africa to begin develop-
ing solutions to her own problems, it is shortsighted not to support re-
source and knowledge consolidation, begin looking at the mobile phone
as communication medium services beyond voice and data, and lobbying
the government on policy matters that impact general research and de-
velopment direction amongst other opportunities. Overall the telecom
sector must take leadership role in education and policy.

digital africa summit 9-11 March 2010 - engaging positive change

 PROCESS EXCELLENCE: A NEW APPROACH
“Organisations of all sizes, sectors and levels of maturity have an imperative to max-
imise shareholder value through the excellent management of resources. Delivering
customer value through investment in technical infrastructure is part of the story
and successfully creates short-term competitive advantage, until the competition
catches up, or a new player enters with fresh financial backing and skilled overseas
staff.”

knowledge and to enable attendees to:

• Identify and track the processes which hold your people

back from performing at their best
• Prioritise improvement activity to maximise return on
resource and time invested
• Leverage the knowledge within your own teams to drive
continuous improvement
• Make process optimisation part of the DNA of your or-
ganisation

These skills, knowledge and capabilities will eventually lead

This is one of the opening prem-
ises of the 360 Performance Matrix
that Dillon explains at the start of his
Master Class at the Digital Africa,
Process Excellence track. He con-
tends that consistent, sustainable
and profitable growth is achieved
only by organisations who make a
conscious and controlled evolution
to fast-paced, flexible and innovative
states; developing leaders who are
able to set clear direction and people
who are skilled to analyse informa-
tion for executing quick decisions.
Master Class was titled, “Process
Excellence for Increased Perfor-
mance and Productivity: Transform
the way your workforce thinks about
processes, to deliver true perfor-
mance.” He presented the tools and
to Class, enabling delegates to drive consistent, sustainable and
profitable performance improvement at individual, team and
organisational levels.
The presentation was an interactive session that called at-
tention to the continent’s greatest niggling deficiencies like the
absence of infrastructure; resources, corruption, poor leadership
and external influence from abroad.
Dillon, a powerful performance coach with inspirational flair
for change management that has motivated FTSE250 and For-
tune500 business leaders with their teams through high-profile
pioneering transformation programmes, is passionate about im-
mediate, lasting results which he delivers to private, public and
third-sector organisations through a relentless focus on measur-
able benefits.
“The 360 Excellence Matrix offers senior executives from the
public and private sector a flexible, pragmatic framework of
learning and coaching that will help you achieve structured, sus-
tainable business growth, satisfied customers and higher profits
through the achievement of performance excellence”, he said at
the end of the Master Class.

digital africa summit 9-11 March 2010 - engaging positive change


AFRICA IS A SLEEPING GIANT
Gama Roberts is a consultant and
country coordinator for Crisis Man-
agement Initiative(CMI) in Liberia and
presented on day 2 at the summit about
Public sector innovation. Our writer,
Albert Ahabwe caught up with him and
here is an excerpt of their conversation.
AA: So what is CMI, what exactly do you
do?
GR: CMI was basically started by the
former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari
on the premise of peace, conflict resolution
and dialogue, values which won him a No-
bel Peace Prize. We therefore benchmark
on these very values and aim to provide a
pool of solutions through which people in
our target populace can solve the problems
that affect them quickly.
AA: Where does CMI operate right now
and what platforms do you use to carry your
message across?
GR: Currently we operate in Liberia where
I am coordinating the ‘Governance out of
the box’, but we have activity going on in the
Black Sea nations and even in Ethiopia. We
hope to broaden our horizons since there
are a lot of people affected by various forms
of crisis.
AA: These are difficult times, especially
in what can be called the ‘crisis sector’. The
world is faced with natural disasters like
Haiti, Chile, Turkey and now Uganda; even
the conflicts in Central Nigeria. How do you
see help coming in terms of crisis manage-
ment?
digital africa summit 9-11 March 2010 - engaging positive change
GR: There is unlimited potential
for everyone to create a solution in
WORD BYTES
the world. People have ideas which
“Today’s bandwidth hog
most of the time, they do not put to
use yet they would be highly useful to is tomorrow’s average
the cause of post crisis redemption. user”
For instance the emergence of all - Dennis Mugwanya, VP
these social networking platforms like Africa Andrews Wire-
facebook, twitter or USHAHIDI; these less on the wireless
are clear goldmines for information
revolution.
exchange that could easily help us
solve our various worries.
AA: Most of our governments in
3rd world countries are highly cor- Without Intellectual
rupt, poor service delivery and high Property (IP), we will
levels of bureaucracy. How do you see
remain consumers and
solutions being acquired in the CMI
sense? thus always be depen-
dent
GR: Civil society, it is our answer. - Tesfai Menghistab,
It is very perplexing how we keep CTO-UTL on creating
thinking that all help and solutions
innovative wireless
should come from the government.
ecosystems
These private sector practitioners
and the local populace have to hold
the government to its responsibility
to provide services in a timely and ef-
fective manner. The population should We should see more
empower civil society with the man-
SMEs in the mobile
date and ability to demand as much
applications game. Op-
from government. Only then shall we
have timely solutions to our problems. erators are conserva-
tive and do not take as
AA: Finally, how do you view the many risks
Digital Africa Business Summit in -Jari Tammisto, CEO,
terms of importance to Africa?
Mobile Monday on the
need for local smes to
GR: It goes a long way in broadening
be part of innovation
the horizon as it gives opportunity to
people to showcase innovations that
they have come up with. This shows
Africa as a sleeping giant with a lot of
unexploited potential which if ex-
ploited to its true lengths would go a
long way in developing our continent.
The faster and more effectively we
utilize opportunities like this summit,
the sooner Africa will stop being just a
consumer but a producer too.
 “DontMiss”
8:00 - 9:00
Master-class Process Excellence
Dillon Dhanecha –

8:00 - 9:00
Master-class Knowledge Excellence
Dr Madan Rao

9:00 to 9:15
COFFEE/TEA/SMS/EMAIL

Digital Africa Summit - Day Three Start

9:45 – 10:10
Convergence Evolution
IBM - General Manager East Africa - Tony
Mwai

10:10 – 10:35
Managing Converged Networks

MASTER CLASS
KDN – CEO – Kai Wulff

10:35 – 11:00
The Convergence Revolution
MTN Uganda – CEO – Themba Khumalo

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
4:10 - 4:30
Taking the master class on Knowledge Management (KM), specifically knowl-
Next Generation Internet Opportunities
edge transfer and learning, the Summit Chair, Dr. Madan Rao, expounded on the
Google - Regional Lead Sub-Saharan Africa -
value of collecting and synthesizing KM not just to come up with organizational
Joseph Mucheru
best practices but to use KM for innovation.
4:30 – 4:50
Next Generation Internet IPTV & Beyond These are 5 keys forms of knowledge transfer: Serial transfer, Near transfer, Far
Nagravision - Sales Manager - Guillaume transfer, Strategic transfer, and Expert transfer depending on the circumstances.
Hallez While forms such as Strategic transfer rely on intense, specific, and continuous
knowledge from an expert, Expert transfer would take on a mentorship model over
4:50 - 5:10 a period of time to impart knowledge from one team member to another.
Africa’s Internet Revolution
Africa Online – MD Uganda - Joseph Barungi
Participants shared KM challenges such as team members who hoard knowl-
edge because they do not want to lose their sense of power or leverage on upcom-
5:10 – 5:40
ing opportunities in the organization. There were also obstacles due to quality of
Keynote Address:Communications Excel-
lence Driving Positive Change
communication. For instance text messages which are a wonderful tool for KM
Pacific-Tier Communications – CEO - John
have generated a new language or perhaps are hastening the “linguicide” of the
Savageau English language. This can be a barrier to KM.

5:40 – 6:10
Keynote Address
Digital Africa; The Next Decade
Minister of Information and Communications
- Nigeria - Professor Dora Nkem Akunyili
Nevertheless, KM has useful applications for creating an organization’s best
practices, knowledge sharing at multiple levels in an organization, using differ-
ent KM tools for project management and creating organizational culture. Dr. Rao
encouraged continued discussion with master class participants so that specific
African KM applications could be discovered as well as tapping the unlimited po-
tential for innovation.

digital africa summit 9-11 March 2010 - engaging positive change