With a growing number of Africans coming online, the continent’s digital economy is on the rise, with new
innovative disruptive technologies being offered, altering the way people live and work and leading to
entirely new products and services. The increase consumption of technology in Africa is creating
opportunities for organisations to expand into Africa, such as Uber which has recently launched its platform
in Dar es Salaam and Jumia which has launched its platforms across key markets on the continent.
Over the last fifteen years Africa has leapfrogged existing technologies. The widespread use of m-money
services like M-Pesa in many countries has developed in places where bank accounts are only held by a
minority of the population. The coming together of cheap smartphones, ever cheaper data and new online
content and services opens up a significant number of new opportunities for international companies and
investors.
Disruptive technologies are shaping the landscape of the financial services sector on the continent with
technologies such as the Pebble, a device used to accept card payments via mobile phones and the mpayment
service Paga in Nigeria, allowing the unbanked population to gain access to financial services.
This event, hosted by the BCA Technology working group and will be an opportunity to hear from keynote
speaker Jason Njoku, Founder and CEO of iROKO, who has pioneered the African digital content market
by bringing Nollywood (Nigerian cinema) to a global audience. iROKO has aggregated the world’s largest
online Nollywood content catalogue and is one of Africa’s largest internet TV providers.