Announcing the 2012 MIT Africa Innovate Conference
0MIT Sloan School of Management’s Africa Innovate Conference to spotlight growing African influence and booming mobile, media and entertainment markets.
On April 14, 2012, the Africa Innovate 2012 Conference hosted by MIT Sloan School of Management at the Institute’s famed Media Lab on its Cambridge campus will spotlight the role of these economies in Africa’s growth potential along with some of the continent’s newest initiatives in technology. Panels will focus on:
Lights, Camera, Africa!
Africa is home to the third largest film industry in terms of revenue, and second only to Asia in cell phone penetration. How are innovations in digitized content and new distribution models opening doors to a captive audience?
Mobile Technology: Economic Growth and Entrepreneurship
What innovations have been effective in promoting economic change? What does the future look like for mobile entrepreneurs in Africa?
Yielding Results: Innovations in the Agriculture Value Chain
What new technologies, business and financing models, community engagement and policy approaches hold the potential to support the livelihood of more than one billion people?
China and India: Pros-and-Cons of the New South-to-South Cooperation
With its rapid economic growth and young workforce, Africa is becoming the new frontier in the race for new markets. What is the next chapter in their growing relationship and how will it determine the shape of Africa’s future?
Slated keynote speakers are Former President of Zambia, His Excellency Rupiah Banda, George Monyemangene, the Consul General of South Africa to the US, Ben Murray Bruce, CEO of Silverbird Group, one of Africa’s largest entertainment companies, and Cina Lawson, Togo’s minister of Post and Telecommunications. Lawson was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in March 2012.
Panelists will include:
- Ndubuisi Ekekwe, founder, African Institution of Technology
- Tunde Kehinde, co-founder, Bandeka.com
- Mazunzo Chaponda, CTO, Mobile Financial Services Africa
- Sunil Tandon, head, Tata Teleservices Limited (TTL)
- Dr. Martyn Davies, Director, China Africa Network
- Yasheng Huang, China Program Professor in International Management, MIT Sloan
- Robert Paarlberg, member, Board of Agriculture and Natural Resources
- Dave Ramaswamy, international investment aid, Karaturi Global
The conference will launch with a series of fast-paced “Vision Talks,” a forum a designed to ignite the sparks of big ideas for business in Africa from front-of-the-pack leaders. Selected Africa Focused Entrepreneurs will also be presenting their business plans to win the final prize of the Enterprise Africa Business Plan competition.
Conference sponsors are Brand South Africa, the Boston Consulting Group, and the Legatum Center for Development & Entrepreneurship.
For more information and to register, please visit www.mitafrica.com or katekrontiris.tumblr.com
About the Africa Business Conference
The MIT Sloan Africa Business Conference is a new, student-organized event bringing together innovative leaders in the areas of academia, entrepreneurship, technology, energy, finance, government, and media and entertainment. With a focus on development and the sustainability of the African continent, this yearly conference invites speakers share their views and discuss the opportunities and challenges that are shaping the future of the region. The conference expects to
host more than 300 people this year, including business leaders, students and scholars from MIT and other leading institutions.
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CP-Africa is a media partner for the 2012 MIT Africa Innovate Conference
