South African Simon Dingle has worked with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies since 2011, designing products that make it easier to engage in an increasingly digital world. He has proved to be especially gifted at using his broadcasting, writing and speaking talents to make complex crypto-related matters simple for audiences all around the world
Simon previously led the product team at one of the world’s earliest Bitcoin exchanges and spearheaded collaborations on several other popular fintech products. Today, he spends most of his time designing and investing in projects that "make money more fair".
Simon is a passionate cryptocurrency proponent who believes that "a new kind of money" can save the world from tyranny and allow global citizens to trade without needing to rely on greedy third-parties. In this sparky conversation with Andile Masuku, he unpacks some radical ideas contained in his book entitled, In Math We Trust – The Future of Money, and makes a case for why we should all trust math instead of putting our faith in banks and governments.
At the fringes of Afrobytes Tech Marketplace 2018, Andile Masuku caught up with virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) evangelist, founder of the Lagos-based Ìmísí 3D and co-founder of the We Will Lead Africa initiative, Judith Okonkwo, to take in her compelling arguments for why VR tech ought to be more enthusiastically embraced across Africa.
Listen in to hear how Judith and her team at Ìmísí 3D - an "Extended Reality (AR/VR) creation lab dedicated to growing a community of AR/VR developers in Nigeria" - are working to turn 3D adoption sceptics into believers by creating market-relevant solutions using AR/VR tech, and providing educational and engagement experiences with AR/VR.
As Managing Director of Thomson Reuters Africa, Kenyan-born Sneha Shah oversees the firm's Financial, Risk, Tax and Legal businesses across the continent. Initially founded as a news agency in 1851, today Thomson Reuters is frequently cited by media watchdogs as an "invisible information giant" worth monitoring closely as it delivers unprecedented amounts of data, along with automation and digitisation solutions to financial institutions, governments and corporates around the globe.
Sneha holds a BA (Hons) degree in Politics with International Studies from the University of Warwick in the UK and prior to joining Thomson Reuters in 2001, she was a Commodities Trader for Cargill in South Africa and traded money markets and foreign exchange at CFC Bank in Kenya. Sneha is a member of the Board of the US Chamber of Commerce US-Africa Business Center, the One Young World (PYW) Africa Local Organising Committee, the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and the African Leadership Network (ALN). She is also a Steering Committee member for 30% Southern Africa and actively involved in the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa's Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (PACI).
In this conversation with Andile Masuku - taped at a corporate-backed gender equality event called Voices of Change hosted in Sandton recently - Sneha demystifies Thomson's operations by explaining the firm's business model and unpacking their Africa growth strategy. Listen in to hear how Sneha and her team are working to keep Thomson relevant and profitable at a time when very few large data, insights and technology-focused corporations seem content to stay in their lane. Also, Sneha's elucidation of the "firewall" between Thomson's news and consulting businesses is well worth a listen.
