…criteria includes size of the event, caliber of speakers and the social presence.
This year has been eventful, with many high-profile tech events focusing on essential issues and engrossing discussions about how the ecosystem should change to accommodate the unique features of the continent.
In this regard, we have constantly brought you tech events to look out for throughout the year that you can attend to expand your network, share knowledge with key industry players and experts, and even have fun.
Now that the year is gradually ending, we think you should know the tech events that made the wave and ranked highest this year.
The criteria used to determine the tech events we consider the biggest are: the impacts of the events on the ecosystem, the calibre of the speakers and the overall population of the event attendees.
1. Africa Tech festival, Cape Town
The Africa Tech Festival is arguably this year’s biggest tech event to happen in Africa, given its coverage and scope, the attendees, the speakers and its impact on the social space in Africa.
The festival is a vibrant forum on how technology and innovation are catalysts for economic development, presenting 12 streams of curated, business-critical content divided between two main anchor events – AfricaCom and AfricaTech.
The main event, AfricaCom, explored digital inclusion, connectivity infrastructure, and telecom modernization. Investment in digital infrastructure, telecommunications, the Sustainable Development Goals, green ICT, and many others.
AfricaTech is a 4IR deep dive into how cutting-edge technology fusion across industry verticals enables enterprise transformation. Priorities included AHUB: Talent, Skills, and the Future of Work, Fintech, Blockchain, and MFS, among other topics.
These conversations are pivotal to sustaining a vibrant tech ecosystem in Africa by creating a talent pool and enhancing the skills-sets of individuals, ensuring a more comprehensive digitization coverage and building a tech hub that competes with that of developed countries globally.
This year’s event was held in Cape Town, South Africa, and it attracted more than 25,000 registrations, 12,000 in-person attendees, 8,600 online participants, 5,400 participating companies, and 400 or more industry thought leaders.
The tech event hosted over 300 innovative exhibitors, 1,100+ startups, and 300+ exhibitors, achieving a 45% Buyside audience, with over 110 nations represented and over 1,600 VIPs.
Notable speakers at the tech event included: Alderman Geordin Hill-Lewis, Executive Mayor of Cape Town, Dejan Kastelic, CTO Vodacom, Nic Rudnick, Group CEO Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Funke Opeke, CEO MainOne, Nika Naghavi, Executive Director MFS Africa and Andile Ngcaba, Founder and Executive Chairman Convergence Partners.
Others are Amadou Diallo, CEO of Middle East and Africa, DHL Global Forwarding, Nitin Gajria, Managing Director, Sub-Saharan Africa, Google, Alderman James Vos, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth and many more.
2. Art of Technology, Lagos
Art of Technology (AOT) Lagos is arguably one of the largest tech events in Nigeria, which brings together key stakeholders from the public and private sectors to discuss policies and initiatives that will pave the way for the evolution of a more innovative, digital, efficient, and competitive Lagos.
The fourth edition (4.0), held this year, was organized by Eko Innovation Centre NG & Lagos State Government. It focused on Talent Acceleration and A Smarter Lagos. Creating a 10-year roadmap to widening the talent acceleration pipeline to achieve talent sustainability that will deliver the Smarter Lagos.
Lagos has been described as the heart of Nigeria’s growing startup ecosystem, with its startup ecosystem valued at $ 9 billion. The focus of this year’s event could not have come at a better time when key policies that will help the city maintain its status are needed.
Over 32,000 people from 109 nations across six continents registered for the event, which took place on December 8 and 9 at the Landmark Event Centre in Lagos. It hosted guests like Dr Femi Hamzat, the deputy governor of Lagos State, and Mr Hakeem Fahm, the honourable commissioner for science and technology in Lagos State.
Speakers at the tech event included; Sumch Tarek, Managing Director BDTASK; Abubakar Suleiman, CEO of Sterling Bank; Rishon Chimboza, Managing Director of Africa, Tony Blair Institute for Global Change; Mohamed Yahya, Resident Representative UNDP Nigeria, and others.
3. Technext Coinference, Lagos
Technext Coinference is the largest Blockchain gathering out of Africa.
At the maiden event last year, speakers and panellists discussed the theme: Reimaging the future of finance. It had a list of key players in the African crypto ecosystem to discuss the possibilities of cryptocurrency in Africa and encourage the audience to position it for future leverage.
This year’s event centred on the theme: Blockchain and DeFi: Beyond the Hype, and the scope of the conversation covered the possibilities of Blockchain, Crypto, Web3 and the DeFi for Africa.
According to Chainalysis, a blockchain forensics firm, Africa’s cryptocurrency market grew by over 1200% between 2020 and 2021. Additionally, four African countries – Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Tanzania all rank in the top 20 for global crypto adoption.
The theme of this year’s Coinference helped to provide a frontier and insight into the future of Blockchain technology for the continent as experts in the industry shared ideas in different sessions.
The event was one of the largest tech events this year, with over 4,000 registrations. It had almost three thousand people in attendance, with only about 600 joining virtually.
Speakers that headlined the tech event include; Hanu Fejiro, CEO and Founder, Patricia; Sandi Bitenc, Chief Executive Officer, 3air; Obi Emetarom, Co-founder and CEO, AppZone; Deji Awosika, Founder, Web3 Bridge; Famous Ehichioya, CTO, Youverify and many more.
Polygon, Hashgreed, GIGXPAD, Bitmama, WhiteBit, Luno, Vibra, and Basira were the sponsors of the Coinference. Some of the others are its media partners, such as Pulse, RipplesNigeria, and Nigeria Info.
4. Techpoint Build 2021, Lagos
Techpoint Build has been hosted for five years in a row, with over 5,000 people attending each event since it started in 2017. Although tagged the 2021 edition, this year’s event was held on the 22nd of January 2022 at Landmark event Centre, Lagos.
Techpoint Build is accustomed to having focal goals for each year’s conference. This year’s theme being “The Next Frontier,” expectations for the conference were hinged on a four-point agenda viz:
…the networking possibilities and benefits, the competition between startups, exhibitions that give startups the opportunity to engage participants and enlighten them about their products, and an award ceremony to celebrate outstanding technology, startups, investors and entrepreneurs in the industry.
The tech event had notable speakers like Adia Sowho, MTN Nigeria’s CMO, who took the keynote address on the theme. Others include Ifeanyi Duru, VP at Monnify, Dare-Johnson, CEO of Healthtracka; Ikpeme Neto, CEO of Wellahealth; and Abimbola Adebakin, CEO of Advantage Health Africa and Ruth Iselema, CEO of Bitmama.
A significant part of the tech event was the Pitchstorm competition, showcasing many notable startups riding the next frontier wave. With seven semi-finalists pitching at Techpoint Build 2021, a Ghanaian company, WorldTech Consult emerged winner, carting home $10,000.
5. The Africa Tech Summit
The Africa Tech Summit in Nairobi is a summit that connects tech leaders from the African ecosystem and international players under one roof.
Since its inception, the Tech Summit has hosted over ten events in Kigali, London, Washington DC, and Shanghai.
This year’s edition was hosted in Nairobi, Kenya, from February 23-24.
The tech event provides a platform for networking with key stakeholders, including tech corporates, mobile operators, fintech, DeFi & crypto ventures, investors, leading start-ups, regulators and industry stakeholders driving business and investment forward.
As in its previous summits, this year’s event had a three-in-one (3-in-1) summit, which bothered on various themes. The themes were; Africa Money and DeFi Summit, Africa Mobile Summit and Africa Startup Summit.
According to Statista, the number of startups in Nigeria was estimated at around 3,300 in 2020, the highest number in Africa. South Africa and Kenya counted approximately 660 and 600 startups in the same year, respectively. Other key African markets for startups were Ghana, Morocco, Tunisia, and Rwanda.
As innovations spread across the continent, the right policies, discussions, and supervision must be consistently employed to keep the industry well and raise the calibre of innovations produced.
Similar considerations apply to decentralized finance, which is rapidly gaining acceptance because it usurps the traditional centralized finance systems that have long been in use on the continent.
The conference had over 500 delegates, 350+ companies, and over 150 speakers who engaged in conversations around each themed topic.
Original Source: Technext24