E-Business
IT Leaders’ Challenges: A Shortage Of Talent And A Need To Reinvent Cultures
By Keith Fenner, VP: Sage Enterprise Africa & Middle East
African CIOs must master the difficult balance between managing the risks of deploying immature technologies and those of being left behind by emerging, disruptive trends if they are to help their businesses drive profitable growth in the years to come.
That’s one of the key insights I took from Gartner Symposium/ITxpo in Cape Town, where many speakers focused on the state-of-play in the Internet of Things (IoT), the blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.
These disruptive technologies will transform the way we do business over the next five to 10 years, yet they are not quite ready for prime-time deployment. African organisations have a few years to experiment with the tech in non-critical applications so that they are ready when the technologies burst into the mainstream.
IoT plus blockchain will enable a wide variety of new business opportunities in the future. Though they are evolving, they have a decade or more before they are truly mature.
A lack of standardisation, the business process changes it will demand, and the impact of large ledger sizes on network and computing resources are among the challenges for blockchain. IoT, meanwhile, raises concerns of the diversity of the hardware in use, power consumption, network performance and privacy.
It’S Time To Experiment (And Learn)
Those factors preclude massive investment and wide deployment for business-critical applications. This is a time to conduct many small proofs of concept to develop best practices and build the organisational capacity and infrastructure for tomorrow’s digital business models. Constant experimentation and innovation are essential if companies are to keep up with the rate of change.
We recommend doing 6-8-week experiments to start the digital transformation journey. Fail fast, fix, and move on. But organisations that start this journey will find themselves challenged by a shortage of digital talent, difficulties in scaling up small-scale experiments and a need to reinvent organisational cultures for constant innovation.
Where Is The Talent?
The shortage of skills in emerging technology areas was a key theme of the conference and of the conversations I had with many attendees. Organisations need strong in-house technical knowledge and skills in IoT and blockchain to manage vendor risk in these emerging areas. Companies need people able to evaluate the specialist offerings from niche vendors so that they can make good choices in a complex and constantly changing landscape.
One thing’s for sure: top quality IT talent has never been in more demand, so make sure your business is set up to attract and retain it.
Innovation As Part Of The Culture
Many large organisations are treating innovation and disruption as separate disciplines because of the challenges of driving change in an established business and securing the right skills.
Companies are pursuing a range of strategies to drive innovation in their businesses, ranging from setting up venture capital funds and incubators, investing in tech and digital companies, running innovation challenges and forming strategic alliances with tech companies.
However, it’s not enough for the techies to know about the technology, or to build innovation hubs within the business to play with disruptive new solutions. Blockchain and the IoT will one day affect everyone from risk and compliance to production to sales to finance. Every team needs to start to understand what these technologies mean for the company’s future, and adopt innovation as part of its mandate.
It can’t be stressed enough that innovation can’t happen in isolation — it must be part of the organisation’s culture. The IT team needs to develop new skills and change its culture to support the organisation as it integrates new technologies into the business. They will need vision and storytelling skills to help the organisation prepare for this change.
E-Business
Kaduna, Google Launch First AI Training in Hausa Language
Kaduna State Government, in partnership with Google and Data Science Nigeria (DSN), introduced the inaugural “AI for Beginners in Hausa,” marking the first instance of artificial intelligence (AI) training in a local language.
Sen. Uba Sani, Kaduna State governor, expressed profound gratitude to the partners for building support for women to use technology in harnessing the socio- economic development of the state and the country as a whole.
Represented by Dr Hadiza Balarabe, deputy governor, at the launch of Arewa Ladies for Tech and the mural unveiling of the AI for Beginners Learning Video series, Sani, said AI is not just the future; it’s the present.
According to him, Google pledged a $1.5 million grant to empower 20,000 Nigerian women and youths from underserved communities with essential 21st-century skills. This includes a plan to train 5,000 women and girls in areas such as data science and artificial intelligence through the Arewa Tech4Ladies initiative.
Mr. Olumide Balogun, director of Google in West Africa, said in his welcome address that Google’s mission was to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.
Balogun said that this initiative was a commitment to enhance the representation and inclusion of women in the tech sector.
Dr Bayo Adekanmbi, chief executive officer of DNS, explained that by making AI education accessible in Hausa, the partnership was creating opportunities for innovation, entrepreneurship, and social impact.
Presenting a paper tagged, “AI in Education”, Dr Kashifu Inuwa, director-general of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), said a lot had been missed because AI was not being taught in the local language.
The DG was represented by Dr. Ahmed Tambuwal, head of the Digital Literacy and Capacity Building Department of NITDA.
E-Business
Chowdeck Secures $2.5M Seed Funding to Optimize On-demand Food Delivery in Nigeria
Chowdeck, Nigeria’s on-demand delivery service, has secured $2.5 million in seed funding to optimize its operations and support expansion into more cities across the country.
The seed funding round included investment from YCombinator, Goodwater Capital, FounderX Ventures, Hoaq Fund, Levare Ventures, True Culture Funds and Haleakala Ventures. Simon Borrero and Juan Pablo Ortega (co-founders of Rappi – Latin America’s largest online delivery platform), Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi (co-founders of Paystack – one of Africa’s leading fintech companies. Acquired by Stripe for $200m), Sudeep Ramani (Sportybet), Ayo Arikawe (Thrive Agric) and Karthik Ramakrishnan (Amazon) also participated as angels.
Since launching in October 2021 after the COVID-19 lockdown in Lagos, Chowdeck has acquired more than 500,000 users and more than 3,000 riders (typically earning the same as senior civil servants in Nigeria) that serve 8 Nigerian cities (Lagos, Abuja, Ibadan, Port-Harcourt, Ilorin, Benin City, Abeokuta and Asaba).
This new funding will enable Chowdeck to double down on its market leadership in these cities and lay the groundwork for further expansion into other Nigerian cities.
Driven by a combination of increased smartphone and internet penetration, improved payment systems, evolving consumer preferences and a range of other factors, there has been a significant growth in on-demand delivery services in Nigeria in recent years.
For example, heavy traffic in major cities makes it challenging for people to shop for groceries, meals, or other goods, increasing the attractiveness of delivery services that can save time.
This growth trajectory is poised to continue as many of the challenges that hampered previous attempts at providing on-demand delivery services are fixed.
Chowdeck is the fastest delivery service operating out of Africa today, allowing consumers to buy food and have it delivered to their doorstep in 30 minutes, on average.
The startup has built an effective logistics operation that food vendors can leverage to seamlessly deliver meals to customers while also providing consumers with an easy platform to order meals from their favourite restaurants in their city.
The startup has also partnered with a wide range of leading quick-service restaurants such as Chicken Republic, Burger King, Bukka Hut and more to drive sales, provide logistics infrastructure and other services to enable enhanced customer experiences.
Femi Aluko, CEO and co-founder of Chowdeck, said, “We know that Nigerians love good food, and we just want to make it as easy as possible for them to access the food they desire.
Chowdeck was birthed to fulfil this purpose and we are committed to delivering truly excellent experiences for our customers, vendors and riders. We are pleased with the success we have achieved to date and excited to have raised these funds that will enable us to replicate that success in more parts of Nigeria, and add value to our customers, vendors, and riders in as many ways as we can.”
Shola Akinlade, CEO and co-founder of Paystack said, “Chowdeck is not only addressing the crucial need for an efficient and reliable on-demand delivery service in Nigeria, the team embodies innovation and a commitment to excellence.
It is a privilege to be part of their journey and I look forward to celebrating more success with them in months and years to come.
Apart from investing financially into the company, our experience with building Paystack puts us in a great position to provide a lot of practical support and I am excited to see what it is to come from the Chowdeck team.”
June Angelides, Partner at Levare Ventures, said “Chowdeck has quickly become a household name across Nigeria, priding itself on very high standards of execution. They are addressing a large and complicated problem, especially in Africa, delivering goods at record speed.
I am excited that they have proven that the opportunity is there beyond restaurants and supermarkets. The team have secured landmark partnerships with Shoprite, Chicken Republic and KFC, a sign of their grit. Their customers love them, their riders love them. There’s so much more to come and I’m excited to be with them on the journey”.
E-Business
Konga Launches Tech Month with Incredible Discounts
Konga, Leading e-commerce giant has announced its highly anticipated Konga Tech Month starting from Wednesday, May 1, until Friday, May 31, 2024. This good news is not only for tech enthusiasts and bargain hunters but also for home appliance lovers, as this year’s edition goes beyond gadgets to feature home, office and lifestyle essentials.
Konga Tech Month has become a major event in the Nigerian shopping calendar. This annual sales extravaganza is widely regarded as one of the biggest gadget sales in the country. It offers a treasure trove of tech devices at unbeatable prices, attracting a massive audience eager to snag incredible deals on a wide range of products.
This year’s Konga Tech Month boasts an impressive selection of devices across various categories. Whether you need a reliable laptop, phone or a professional upgrade to your office and household with authentic appliances, Konga Tech Month has something to suit every need.
Throughout May, Konga’s customers will stand the chance to take advantage of special discounts on original printers, dependable power solutions and generators from companies like iTEC and iPower Inverters, mobile phones, refrigerators, inverters, and much more at up to half the price. Many freebies and deals will also be on offer for the fastest fingers in the Konga Flash Sale.
“Konga Tech Month is a testament to our commitment to providing Nigerians with access to high-quality yet affordable tech products,” said Mr Nnamdi Ekeh, CEO of Konga. “This year’s event promises to be even bigger and better than last year, so we are thrilled to get started. Thanks to Konga Tech Month, we can accomplish our mission of making cutting-edge technology available to everyone no matter their budget.”
The competitive pricing and special deals offered during Konga Tech Month are available for students, institutions, and organizations. Whether it’s outfitting a computer lab, updating office technology, or providing students with affordable laptops, Konga Tech Month offers a cost-effective solution.
A satisfied shopper from the last edition shared her excitement saying, “The Konga Tech event last year was incredible! I was able to get the high-performance laptop I’d been eyeing for months and at a price I couldn’t believe. The discounts were amazing, and the selection was huge. Plus, being able to choose between online shopping or visiting a Konga store was convenient and made shopping easier. I’m looking forward to Tech Week this year. I’ve been eyeing a new microwave and phone, and I know Konga will have the finest deals in town.”
Konga Tech Month offers a smooth shopping experience for everyone. Customers can browse the extensive selection of discounted tech products online at the Konga website (https://www.konga.com/) or visit any Konga retail outlets nationwide to experience the deals firsthand.
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