They are the movers and shakers, people who continue to influence and impact the broader African Information and Communications Technology industry in a big way. Their actions have made others sit up and take notice … they are the ‘headline grabbers’.

ICTCatalogue.com put together a list of people who, we believe, continue to exert their influence on the direction of the ICT industry at large, particularly within emerging markets throughout Africa.

These individuals have been singled out for the relevance of their words and actions, and the impact this has had on the growth of the broader industry, as well as on the standing of their respective businesses in the market.

They have been ranked in accordance with general news coverage and level of activity.

They have made an impression and there is every reason to believe that they will continue to influence the sector going forward.


Jason Njoku, founder and CEO of iROKO Partners (Nigeria)

The rising influence of ‘Nollywood’ within the global cinema industry is a topic of much discussion in the media. The African Report has identified Jason Njoku, founder and CEO of iROKO Partners, as one of the 50 most influential Africans.

Njoku is widely acknowledged for bringing Nigerian entertainment to the world, via the Net. In iROKO Partners, Njoku has helped to raise the profile of ‘Nollywood’ and Afrobeats within the international film and performing arts industry. The company is marketed as the world’s largest online distributor of African movies and music.

iROKO Partners was launched in December 2010 and according to its website, the company has built a global audience of over 6 million unique users from 178 countries.

In October this year the company emerged victorious in a domain name infringement case regarding one of its trademarks.

iROKOtv, one of the company’s brands, recently celebrated its first anniversary and reportedly owns licenses to over 5 000 Nollywood movie titles.

Stafford Masie, founder of Thumbzup (South Africa)

38-year-old Stafford Masie has been in the technology industry for many years and recently made headlines after establishing Thumbzup, a local payment innovations company.

A noted speaker and renowned entrepreneur, Masie is passionate about the development of local technology that will address local needs.

The business grabbed the attention of the domestic market when it struck a deal with South African bank Absa based on the integration and application of the Payment Pebble, a world-first, plug-in mobile payment device.

Under the agreement, Absa is set to provide its Payment Pebble as a value added service to all small business owners and merchants on-the-go with availability scheduled for early 2013.

Omobola Johnson, ICT Minister (Nigeria)

The regulation of Nigeria’s telecommunications sector has been covered extensively, both locally and internationally.

At the centre of regulation, dispute over quality of service, challenges faced by operators and government’s official stance, as well as that of Nigeria’s Communications Commission (the NCC), is the country’s ICT Minister, Omobola Johnson.

The Minister has been quoted in numerous reports about the country’s competitive and growing telecommunications sector, specifically focused on the issue of fines on telecommunications service providers in order to address efficiency issues and secure quality of service for consumers.

Naguib Sawiris, founder of Orascom Telecom Holding SAE (Egypt)

Naguib Sawiris is the founder of Orascom Telecom Holding SAE and is reported to have a net worth of $2.5 billion.

Most recently, Sawiris made headlines following media reports announcing a deal between himself and a Tunisian businessman over the sale of Egyptian satellite news channel ONTV.

It was reported that Tarek Ben Ammar and Sawiris agreed on the deal, although neither side has announced the financial value of the agreement.

According to a statement from Ben Ammar, the aim with the purchase is to create “the first independent pan-Arab TV group” across North African and the Middle East.

Chief Executive of rlg Communications, Roland Agambire (Ghana)

There is no doubt if we are to talk of ICT revolution or company in ghana or building ICT in Ghana, RLG communication is on Top of all. In-terms of making impact within Ghana economy. it is a subsidiary of the AGAMS Group of Companies

Rlg Communications is a Ghanaian-owned limited liability company engaged in the production of communications equipment such as mobile handsets, electronic notebooks, tablets, laptops, LCD TV monitors and more.

Besides the product range that they offer rlg is also engaged in capacity building and training programmes in collaboration with Ghana’s Ministry of Youth and Sports as part of the National Youth Employment Programmes (NYEP).

Recently rlg PRESENTS 60,000 LAPTOPS TO BASIC SCHOOLS

The CEO Roland Agambire have won several wards including the Marketing Man of the Year award by the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG).
The 38-year-old man who hails from Sirigu in the Kassena Nankana, one of the poorest districts in Northern Ghana and has widely been acknowledged as one of the most successful young entrepreneurs on the continent.
His rlg business which he began a decade ago now has presence in Nigeria, the Gambia, china and Dubai.
He chairs the AGAMS Group made up of 8 integrated companies.

Elon Musk, entrepreneur and creator of SpaceX (South Africa)

Africa’s own engineer, entrepreneur and creator of Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), Elon Musk has proven what can be achieved when innovation and creativity are expertly blended.

The company’s SpaceX Dragon recently successfully completed its first commercial cargo mission to the International Space Station.

In May the company’s SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule grabbed international headlines by successfully launching from Cape Canaveral in the US and becoming the first space launch by a private company in the history of space flight.

SOURCE: http://ictcatalogue.com/africas-top-six6-ict-newsmakers-in-2012/

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