Digital Services Africa opened yesterday, 25 June 2013, providing a forum for players in the ecosystem to discuss how to make the most of it: what services will drive the market, how to monetise them, what partnerships will work best?
The conference opened with a session on innovation and entrepreneurship, followed by a panel on partnerships between operators and new players. The afternoon sessions looked at mobile money services and digital music.
The variety of companies represented among the speakers and in the audience provided great debates and networking opportunities: operators (Orange, MTN, and Vodacom), OTT players (Google, Iroking, Spinlet, and Mxit), financial services companies (Standard Bank, Pbell, Wizzit, and Zunguz), app companies (People Input, Rlabs), and solutions providers (Spice and Jinny Software).
The debates not only showed the great amount of innovation taking place in Africa's digital market: they also gave an opportunity to discuss how the market is shaping up and how the different players are gearing up for the many opportunities it offers.
The second day, 26 June 2013, will look closely at content and apps, with a panel on social media (including speakers from Mxit, 2go and Google), one on content (with representatives of Bozza, DSTV, BBC and Umuntu), a session mobile marketing and the AppGig led by event partners Mobile Monday.
For more, go to http://digitalafrica.comworldseries.com.
