The Africa Tech Summit attracts delegates from all over the world. This year, AppsAfrica singled out three people and asked them the same five questions. We met Victor Ekwealor, a tech-journalist from Nigeria. Aster Nao Koneko, who works for a solar lantern manufacturer in Nairobi; and Kondwani Alex Ntonya (Alex), a Malawi startup founder who lives in Dublin. Here are their responses:
Q1: How did you Travel to Kigali
Aster: I traveled to Kigali from JKIA Nairobi to Kigali by KQ flight.
Victor: I came from Lagos, took a flight from Rwandair…a 4 hour flight…then landed in Kigali.
Alex: I traveled with my CFO, we went to Malawi for a pre-launch for our mobile app and we came here to meet investors and to see how the ecosystem is doing in Africa.
Q2: Why did you decide to come to the Africa Tech Summit?
Aster: …because I wanted to network with other African startups and businesses, and learn more about the African market and the innovations that are taking place.
Victor: So I’ve known about the Africa Tech Summit for the longest time, I think since its inception. And I’ve always known about it from the insights perspective: conversations, networks..I knew it was going to be amazing and I’ve not been disappointed.
Alex: We wanted to meet players who are already in the tech space, investors to collaborate with them and other businesses to see how we can actually use our app in Africa.
Q3: What’s the most exciting/interesting thing you’ve learned so far?
Aster: I’ve learned that [innovation in the African market] is actually increasing each and every day, and there are alot of…innovations that are really improving lives and aiming towards sustainable development.
Victor: The panels are very insightful and…as a tech journalist I am aware of a lot of things, but hearing them firsthand from the people involved like the players, the startup founders, the regulators…there are things you would normally not know and hearing them from the people involved has been very insightful and very revealing.
Alex: I’ve met a lot of decent people and businesses. It’s amazing. I think that this thing should not even be done once a year, it should be done even more than once a year.
Q4: What is the future of tech in Africa?
Aster: I’ve learned that [innovation in the African market] is actually increasing each and every day, and there are a lot of…innovations that are really improving lives and aiming towards sustainable development.
Victor: The panels are very insightful and…as a tech journalist I am aware of a lot of things, but hearing them firsthand from the people involved like the players, the startup founders, the regulators…there are things you would normally not know and hearing them from the people involved has been very insightful and very revealing.
Alex: Africa is on steroids…it hasn’t had the same cycle of what the Americans did, what the Asians had we’re on a different space because every country in Africa is different, people are different…every single company that is going to build in Africa has a lot of issues a lot of problems, but they’re facing the facts. For example, if you look at Malawi it’s different than Nigeria. We do have different infrastructure problems, but the tech guys, they’re booming, the market is open. So I see a great future.
Aster Nao Koneko
Aster: Right now I am reading “Becoming a Better You” by Joel Osteen…I’ve learned that for you to become a better person you have to focus on yourself and by focusing on yourself you can ignore negativity from outside…
Victor: So I am reading “The Barracoon”. It’s a book by Zora Neale Hurston and it’s the story of the slave trade in Africa…basically it is the story of the last slave ship that left Africa. It’s very interesting and expository. It’s not a story exactly, it’s not fiction, it’s more like an account. What am I watching? I’m watching “Mind Hunters”… and it’s a crime drama, so it feels like it could be a crime novel. It’s very well written.
Alex: I’m watching “The Witch” on Netflix because I played the game and I want to know what’s actually going on in the actual movie. That’s it.
