The Financial Data Exchange is celebrating its milestone two-year-old anniversary this week after launching in the Fall of 2018 with a goal of unifying the entire financial industry around a secure, common, interoperable and royalty-free standard for user-permissioned data sharing.

“Our work has really just begun, but never in my wildest dreams did I think that FDX would grow this fast and accomplish this much in just two years,” said FDX Managing Director Don Cardinal.

FDX began with just 21 founding member companies that included fintechs, financial institutions, financial data aggregators, and a few financial industry groups. Since that time, FDX has grown to 153 member organizations and is active in the US and Canadian markets along with members around the world. FDX members also now include several consumer advocacy organizations, a wide range of fintechs, financial institutions of all sizes, payment networks, ecosystem utilities, financial industry stakeholders and a growing number of academics, researchers and financial data ecosystem luminaries.

“The success and growth of FDX shows that even in an industry with fierce competition, market participants can come together to work on technical standards that empower consumers and achieve efficiencies in the market. If the last two years is any indication, FDX has a bright future ahead of it,” said Steve Smith, CEO and Co-Founder of Finicity and Co-Chair of the FDX Board.

FDX’s goal of defining technical standards that will enable financial data sharing to be more consumer controlled, accessible, transparent, traceable and secure has never been in question, but accomplishing this work has involved thousands of hours of work across the financial industry through FDX’s many Committees, Working Groups and Taskforces. Specifically, FDX is on Version 4.2 of the FDX API, which now includes the most comprehensive API representation of US tax forms globally. FDX will also soon be releasing User Experience Guidelines 1.0 for implementers of the FDX API that describe the permissioning process for end-user to grant consent to access their data, and will also release an industry Taxonomy to better define ecosystem roles and concepts. Finally, and in an industry first, FDX’s first user-permissioned data sharing Use Case for Personal Financial Management (PFM) will soon provide end-users with access to data they need to manage their personal finances while ensuring data minimization so that only necessary data is shared.

“It’s exciting and rewarding to see the financial ecosystem rally around the mission of FDX. We all want our customers to have control and flexibility over their finances and their financial data and the member organizations of FDX continue to enable this via the FDX API. This will only serve to promote even further innovation to help our customers,” stated Ben Soccorsy, Senior Vice President in the Strategy, Digital and Innovation Group at Wells Fargo and Co-Chair of the FDX Board.

All financial data accessed through the FDX API standard is user permissioned and no financial records are accessed with the FDX API without a consumer’s full permission and control. Further, FDX seeks to provide benefit and market efficiencies to financial services entities of all sizes. The FDX specification is free to download and use, and the common and interoperable nature of the FDX API creates economies of scale for API-based solutions to be developed. This will allow even the smallest financial institutions and fintechs to compete on a level playing field in user-permissioned data sharing.

VoxSmart, the global leader in Communications Surveillance has selected two markets experts to create a new Markets division. Andrew Stone and Lloyd Jensen will help VoxSmart further strengthen their products and services for Financial Markets participants.

The decision will enhance VoxSmart’s research and development capability as well as improve product development and customer success during an aggressive period of growth for the company and follows a strategic partnership announcement with US-based global trade surveillance and risk management firm Eventus Systems as well as a $7M funding injection from NatWest.

As the financial sector adjusts to new working practices, the purpose of the new Markets division will be to better understand the evolving market requirements and what customers’ will need from modern surveillance tools and technology in tomorrow’s surveillance landscape.

Shaping technology through a Markets’ lens is not an unfamiliar task for Andrew Stone who joins from pricing and analytics start-up NEX Data where he was the Global Business Manager. Prior to NEX, Andrew worked for TPICAP helping the interdealer broker transition broker trading technologies leveraging decades of experience in bond trading. Andrew also held the role of Senior European Government Bond Broker and Head of Fixed Income Products for e-Commerce at BGC Partners, one of the world’s leading Inter-Dealer Brokers.

As a previous end user of VoxSmart products, Lloyd Jensen joins from BGC Partners. Lloyd brings over 25 years of broking and trading experience from HSBC and Société Générale where he covered many of the global exchanges and trading venues across Fixed Income, FX, Equities and Commodities. Most recently, Lloyd transitioned into Compliance to work in Trade Surveillance and Monitoring as a Market Specialist.

Andrew and Lloyd will be tasked to build out the VoxSmart Markets division by leveraging their decades of industry experience. The Markets division will be responsible for influencing and improving the customer experience and market fit for VoxSmart’s product suite, which includes award-winning mobile capture, voice and eCommunications surveillance and Automated Trade Reconstruction software

Oliver Blower, Group CEO at VoxSmart, comments: “Forming a Markets division is a reflection of our continued commitment to the financial services community and we are immensely proud to have assembled a team with the breadth of knowledge and expertise required to ensure our products remain relevant and resilient for our customers. I’m delighted to welcome Andrew and Lloyd to VoxSmart to help us continue to understand the marketplace and deliver on our goal to become the global standard for communications surveillance.”

Singapore-based peer-to-peer (P2P) investment network SeedIn today announced its rebranding to BRDGE. With the rebranding, BRDGE will be able to better reflect the company's mission to serve Singapore's small and medium enterprises (SMEs) not just through financial support but with the long-term aim of providing the public with numerous opportunities to support their favourite local businesses.

The announcement comes after BRDGE's recent MOU signing with V3 Fintech, a unit of V3 Group which develops digital and financial technology. Other partners include local cybersecurity and fintech firms including ISTARI International, Ensign Infosecurity, and Auto-Wealth. V3 Fintech is additionally part of the Beyond consortium, one of the bidders for Singapore's digital full bank license. Under the MOU, BRDGE will collaborate with V3 Fintech to enhance the suite of liquidity solutions available to SMEs, and help to create awareness among SME communities on innovative ways to address liquidity challenges and funding gaps.

SMEs in general are much more sensitive to economic headwinds due to increased competition, fluctuating market demands, technological advances, and capacity constraints surrounding information, innovation and creativity. However, these enterprises make up the bulk of Singapore's economic success, contributing to nearly half of the country's GDP and providing jobs for about 65% of the workforce.

Kevin Wong, CEO of BRDGE, said: "As an SME ourselves, we are acutely aware of the day-to-day challenges that SMEs face in terms of accessibility to credit and mobility in pivoting to alternate business models. Rebranding has allowed us to stay committed to our mission of serving as many SMEs as possible. It has also enabled us to grow Singapore's fintech ecosystem by providing additional financing solutions to businesses seeking more options in funding, so that they can seize more opportunities for growth. We hope to take digital financing further, and to become not just another crowdfunding platform, but one that is able to exhibit foresight and build trust to help fellow local businesses and entrepreneurs grow."

A Trusted Platform and Community

Since 2014, BRDGE has helped fund over SGD72 million in capital to Singaporean SMEs. Its proprietary credit scoring system  and community spirit of BRDGE's members has earned it positive accolades and endorsements from investors and businesses alike.

Through BRDGE, the application process for SMEs to obtain credit for short-term financing to grow their business has been simplified, providing greater access to both businesses as well as investors looking for short-term investment deals. The company also helps structure loans, ensuring that businesses are able to explore greater options to manage their cash flow and long-term sustainability, even during unprecedented periods.

This flexibility has allowed SMEs in BRDGE's portfolio, such as F&B businesses Outbar, Harivenikas, and events manager Dreamland Productions to tide through the difficulties brought on from the Covid-19 control measures enacted earlier this year, until the regulations were gradually relaxed, allowing businesses to resume normal operations. Additionally, the ability to avoid any penalties incurred from early repayment of loans, such as in the case of F&B business Atas Food, remains an attractive option for SMEs especially in times when companies have to be stringent with their financial discipline.

Benefitting Local Businesses with #KEEPUPTHEGOOD and WeConnect

SMEs today are facing additional financial difficulties due to Covid-19, with many businesses struggling due to a lack of income. #KEEPUPTHEGOOD, an initiative by BRDGE and media and technology marketing agency Unravel Studios, aims to help tide SMEs through this period, by providing resources to help them continue to contribute to Singapore's economy and sustain livelihoods.

Being an SME, BRDGE understands that besides securing funding, it is also important to maximise the use of the funds, especially during challenging periods. Through this partnership, SMEs who receive funding will also be provided with complimentary support for one month to fulfil their marketing objectives.

BRDGE has also been actively connecting SMEs to opportunities and initiatives beyond funding, such as organising WeConnect, a networking event for SMEs to develop partnerships and engage one another.

Expansion into Indonesia

Moving forward, BRDGE has also announced intentions to expand operations into Indonesia and is currently in the process of securing regulatory permission from the relevant authorities.

This move represents BRDGE's continued commitment to support SMEs both locally and regionally by bridging gaps between the companies and investors in their respective countries, and is part of BRDGE's vision to benefit underserved SME markets by building businesses, creating jobs and stimulating economies.

For more information on BRDGE, visit www.brdge.tech.

New research from Tech Nation and Dealroom reveals that investment into UK impact startups increased 9.5x between 2014 and 2019. UK impact startups have raised €1.4B so far in 2020 with Cleantech and Climate tech companies raising the most capital of all UK impact startups. 

The biggest rounds for UK impact startups in 2020 include Octopus Energy, Arrival, Connexin (Hull), Tokamak Energy (Abingdon), Compass Pathways, Cera, Highview Power, FiveAI (Cambridge), The Meatless Farm Company (Leeds).

It comes as Tech Nation and Dealroom launch the  Impact and Innovation database, that catalogues 4,939 startups and scaleups, 7,472 funding rounds, and 232 exits of innovative companies addressing the world’s most pressing challenges. 

George Windsor, Head of Insights at Tech Nation, commented: “UK impact tech firms have come on leaps and bounds over the last six years - with nearly 10x more investment made into groundbreaking companies in 2020 than 2014. UK tech must continue to play a key part in tackling some of the world's toughest challenges, including  climate change. This revolution is happening right across the country. Tech Nation is pleased to work with some of the leading companies in this space through our world-first Net Zero programme - ensuring that companies working in this sector can scale to have the greatest impact.”

The data also reveals that European startups are more impact-focussed than their global peers. €6B was invested into European impact startups in 2019, making up over 15% of all VC investment in the region. This research shows that what was once fringe investment and innovation activity is finding traction and proven success in Europe, becoming a core part of European innovation ecosystems.

Climate tech startups, which includes electric vehicles, have attracted the most investment within the Impact sub-sector, with European players emerging as global market leaders. European companies working to tackle climate change and its impacts have attracted €9.8B in VC investment in the last five years. 

Impact innovation startups are also fueling growth and job creation. Crucially, these startups are actively hiring, the Impact & Innovation database lists over 2,100 jobs in impact startups that are currently hiring in Europe - over 390 of these are in the UK. 

The Impact and Innovation platform will bring together startups, investors, non-profits, governments, and corporates in one open-access data-driven platform. The new mapping of the global impact and innovation ecosystem will facilitate data-driven policy and decision making, the sharing of cross-industry knowledge, and will foster the partnerships required to help next generation innovators succeed on the global stage.

Private equity firm Grafton Capital has invested £7 million into Third Financial, the fast growing, innovative investment platform and software provider. Grafton Capital’s investment takes it to majority ownership of the business, with £1.5m of fresh capital being injected onto the balance sheet. The deal follows previous investment rounds in 2015 (£2.5m), 2016 (£1.5m) and 2019 (£1.25m) to support the expansion of Third Financial’s infrastructure and outsourcing platform, which sits behind many of the UK’s leading wealth managers, IFA networks, family offices and disruptive fintech firms. This next phase will see a focus on accelerating the growth of the platform while meeting the evolving demands of the market.

Third Financial originally achieved rapid success with ‘Tercero’, its comprehensive, integrated, CRM and portfolio management system for wealth managers - which remains a key part of the business with a sizeable blue-chip client base. In 2016, Third Financial launched its investment platform business and this has quickly achieved significant traction among a broad range of investment firms. 

The platform combines the established Tercero system with an efficient, flexible, client-focused outsourcing and custodial operation. This new service - the fintech behind the fintechs - allows its users to support their own clients with market-leading software, while instilling confidence that their operational activities, and client assets, are in safe hands. The technology also enables them to launch a white-labelled direct-to-consumer (D2C) investment platform, or to incorporate the service within their own client-facing app via a comprehensive set of APIs.

Ian Partington, Group Chief Executive Officer at Third Financial, said: “Our vision for the company is to be the go-to provider of technology and custody services for investment firms. While the backbone of our operation is the servicing of traditional wealth managers and advisers, there is also a huge appetite from a raft of exciting fintech companies that require back-end operations, custody and infrastructure to help them bring their innovations to market. Our FCA-regulated service gives all of our customers a cost-effective and holistic solution which is continually updated with new features in response to client needs.

We have a terrific bond with the team at Grafton Capital - and are grateful for the obvious confidence they have in our business - and this further investment reflects that relationship. It’s a real positive to add resilience to our balance sheet, during this volatile time for our industry, and this transaction simplifies our ownership structure.”

Edward Barroll Brown, Founder and Managing Partner at Grafton Capital, said: “We have a long-standing history with the team at Third Financial, dating back to 2015. Since its launch, the platform has been achieving steady annual growth of 40 to 50 per cent, and more recently has done so whilst maintaining profitability - pretty impressive in this economic climate. This investment is about backing Ian and his team to continue on this path of profitable growth. We are confident in the trajectory and the opportunity to serve more great businesses with Third Financial’s market leading infrastructure platform. 

Grafton Capital invests in leading technology businesses in growth across Europe, and looks to back exceptional founders and management teams, which is certainly what we have here at Third Financial. We typically make minority growth investments, but are delighted to close this growth buyout, which we are able to do in order to fulfil the needs of the company and leadership team.”

Funding Options, the leading marketplace for business finance, and fast-growing ‘rebels of accountancy’ Cooper Parry have joined forces to provide financial solutions for ambitious scale-ups and SMEs. 

Sharing a vision to make access to growth funding fast and as frictionless as possible, the strategic relationship will see Cooper Parry utilise Funding Options’ platform to source debt-based products for clients in need of working capital. 

Rooted in the Midlands and London but operating nationally with various regional hubs, mid-tier accounting firm Cooper Parry is seeking to build on its burgeoning reputation in the SME and scale-up community by removing bureaucracy and delay from securing vital funds. 

Funding Options has a roster of more than 200 lenders and the ability to help businesses access lower-cost funding solutions fast - its record for application to approval is under three minutes. The partnership will see Funding Options become the marketplace of choice for Cooper Parry’s team when it comes to securing debt-based facilities.

In April this year, Cooper Parry launched a Technology & High Growth team in London following the arrival of Steve Leith, who spent 20 years at Grant Thornton leading their Fast Growth team. Sarah Abrahams, Head of Raising Finance, and Nick Hawkins, Associate Director, also made the switch to Cooper Parry, bringing a new fundraising offering to support clients and businesses through Seed and Series A funding rounds. 

Recently, Cooper Parry has been building its Early Stage team, focused on accounting and growth advisory. The firm also launched its ‘CP Futures’ proposition - a team working with early stage, scale-up and high growth businesses, helping them navigate finance, strategy, technology, fundraising, and culture challenges. 

Cooper Parry will utilise Funding Options’ proprietary technology, which uses a unique algorithm and open banking to match companies with suitable lending options. Businesses will be able to access small business-friendly loans that meet their needs from a variety of alternative and mainstream lenders offering products such as revolving credit facilities, merchant cash advance, invoice discounting and asset finance.

Simon Cureton, CEO of Funding Options, said: “Cooper Parry has demonstrated with its recent talent acquisition and expansion that it shares the level of ambition we have at Funding Options, together with a deep desire to support SMEs in a difficult climate. Businesses and accounting firms using our marketplace do so because of the level of choice we can offer, as well as the speed with which we can facilitate loans.”

Steve Leith, Partner, CP Futures, Scale Up & High Growth at Cooper Parry, said: “A core part of our strategy is playing a key role in connecting the ecosystem of partners that support early stage, scale-up and high growth companies. Much time is wasted by companies in the growth phase assessing where to get support and understanding who will deliver the best value right across their growth agenda. The partnership with Funding Options was a no-brainer for us, giving the CP Futures team the ability to connect companies to debt finance quickly and efficiently through the UK’s leading funding marketplace.”

Sarah Abrahams, Director, CP Futures, Raising Finance at Cooper Parry, added: “As an advisor to ambitious businesses on funding strategy, it is important that we provide all the tools and support around accessing finance on the right terms to fuel our clients’ growth. Partnering with Funding Options helps us to span our advice across seed to growth capital deals, pairing our unrivalled expertise in the equity market with Funding Options’ unique access to debt facilities. It’s great to be working with a like-minded team that shares our passion at CP Futures for helping growing businesses to scale.” 

SEI (NASDAQ: SEIC) today announced enhancements to its Archway Platform^SM to automate alternative investment data workflows involving a strategic partnership with Canoe Intelligence (Canoe), a financial technology company focused on reimagining data management processes for alternative investors and capital allocators. SEI Family Office Services, a division of SEI focused on delivering technology and technology-enabled services to family offices, including seven of the top 15 wealthiest American families, and financial institutions serving ultra-high-net-worth families, is part of SEI’s Global Wealth Management Services business, comprised of market-leading, innovative solutions designed to support the future growth of investment and wealth managers globally.

“As a part of our long-term vision for the Archway Platform, we have prioritized building data connectivity and integrations with complementary family office solutions that improve core business functions for our clients,” said Paul Freeland, Managing Director of SEI Family Office Services. “Family offices have a critical need for increased efficiency and automation of the otherwise manual activities associated with alternative investment data collection. We are excited to leverage Canoe’s automated workflow processes to enable our clients to receive extracts of their alternative investment data across statements, funds and managers for electronic import into the Archway Platform.”

As family offices continue to increase allocations to private equity, hedge funds, venture capital and real estate, they are seeking solutions to simplify the data aggregation required to report alternative investment performance and more efficiently complete the associated accounting. Through this strategic partnership with Canoe, automated workflows, such as document collection, data extraction and data delivery, can be integrated into SEI’s proprietary Archway Platform, allowing its users to achieve greater efficiency in their alternative investment data processing. By leveraging these integrated tools, clients are able to seamlessly input, track and report on alternative investment data as a part of their broader investment portfolios.

“We are thrilled to partner with SEI and continue enhancing the technology and tools available to family offices and wealth managers allocating to alternatives,” said Michael Muniz, Partner and Chief Revenue Officer at Canoe Intelligence. “By working together, we are not only able to help SEI clients automate document collection, improve data extraction and validation accuracy, and automate delivery into the Archway Platform, but we are also able to help increase transparency and control over their entire alternative investment document workflow.”

Kneip, the global leader in fund data management, today announces it has joined TISA’s Universal Reporting Network (TURN). TURN is predicted to cut data and analytics costs for asset managers by between 80-90% per annum from year one and the utility, powered by Atos, aims to ease regulatory reporting requirements of MiFID II. The collaborative blockchain solution will be rolled out across Europe this quarter.

Kneip is on a mission to make it easier for its clients to stay compliant and is a member of other similar associations to provide accessible solutions to Europe’s regulatory requirements. Kneip has joined TISA’s Universal Network as the solution will ease regulatory reporting requirements of MiFID for asset management. Through Kneip’s involvement, all Kneip’s clients will have access to the EMTs (European MiFID II Template) on a real time basis and this will be of a high and consistent quality.

Currently, this exchange of information is inconsistent and sometimes firms struggle to obtain all the data they need from other firms to enable disclosure of all costs. TURN will ensure better transparency of funds so that they can be more easily and accurately profiled. This will allow for better comparison between funds on both the genetic make-up of the fund and its costs. The availability of more transparent profiling is in response to demands by retail investors. With the industry seeing a significant increase of interest in ESG’s, this will also ease pressure on firms when ESG reporting obligations become mandatory next year

Commenting on Kneip’s involvement, Lauri Paal, Chief Product Officer at Kneip, says: “We are delighted to be a founding partner of TISA’s Universal Reporting Network - TURN. At Kneip we are absolutely determined to solve our clients’ problems so recognise how valuable it is for the industry to come together and help make it easier for asset managers to comply with the ever-changing regulatory world and to make fund distribution more effective.

“This collaborative blockchain solution is a great step in the right direction. It will make reporting and exchange of data simpler and more efficient, as well as encourage asset managers to share and have access to EMT data. Our belief is that this will help drive EU data standardisation which will ultimately improve outcomes for investors. We’re looking forward to working closely with TURN on this journey to create a fully transparent way of data reporting and make positive changes for our clients and the market as a whole.” 

Gary Bond, CEO of TURN, said: “We are thrilled that Kneip has joined the TISA Universal Reporting Network as another notable founding member, to help build and test this industry-led and run utility. The impact will be substantial, for all types of firms working in this space, including the UK, the EU and Switzerland. The utility is clearly a sought-after ambition as we have been working with our members, including European asset managers, distributors, platforms, and IT firms to identify and address their needs through TURN.”

Fireblocks (www.fireblocks.com) announced today that its institutional customers, which includes exchanges, lending desks, banks, OTC desks, liquidity providers and hedge funds, have now transferred more than $150 billion in digital assets using its platform. To meet the growing adoption of digital assets and real-time payments, Fireblocks will be expanding its operations in Europe beyond London, adding two new offices in France and Germany. 

The European Union has become the latest jurisdiction to take steps to accelerate the region’s cryptocurrency adoption. In September, the EU’s executive branch introduced proposed rules to provide legal guidance and clarity for corporates and investors to adopt cryptocurrencies. This year alone there has been a surge in new consumer-facing crypto products such as crypto credit/debit cards and systems for vendors to convert crypto into fiat, which points to growth in the market and new opportunities for entrants. 

“The EU region is seeing increased interest from institutions as new regulatory clarity provides a framework for how to compliantly operate in the digital asset space,” said Michael Shaulov, CEO of Fireblocks. “We are excited to expand our footprint in the region to help our customers launch product offerings for digital asset support and provide the tools that will steward this next phase of growth, innovation and adoption.” 

Fireblocks has inaugurated its entry into Europe with fintech leaders, Revolut, B2C2 and AMDAX, the first digital asset exchange registered with the central bank of the Netherlands, alongside 20+ institutional customers utilizing Firebocks’ next-generation wallet technology – built with MPC-CMP that is proven to be more secure and operationally superior to multi-sig or standard MPC. 

For these digital banks and fintech companies, Fireblocks provides the secure rails and wallet infrastructure to enable them to introduce creative products and services, generate  new revenue streams and help introduce real-time global payments and other innovations to modernize payments services.

“We checked a lot of custodian solutions on the market, and by far the best one for us was Fireblocks,” said Melvin Lazeron, Co-Founder & Director of AMDAX. “Their solution not only has cutting-edge tech with its MPC technology (enabling more client flexibility and control), but it also greatly decreases our administrational burden and vastly increases our settlement speed. On top of all of that, Fireblocks enables us to offer the most comprehensive digital asset insurance to our clients. This gives our clients a much better and safer experience and results in a more mature market.”

In connection with this expansion, Fireblocks has appointed Jason P. Allegrante as its first Head Regulatory Counsel and Global Chief Compliance Officer.  Mr. Allegrante brings over a decade of experience advising on global regulatory issues relevant to Fireblocks’ expanded business to the role, and he will be responsible for supporting the Fireblocks team across a broad portfolio of legal, regulatory and compliance matters.  Prior to joining Fireblocks, Mr. Allegrante held senior in-house legal positions at fintech startups, practiced law at the firms Davis Polk & Wardwell and Linklaters LLP, and served in the Financial Institution Supervision Group of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Globally, there is much hype around 5G.  In Africa, whilst that conversation undoubtedly has its place, solutions to Africa’s connectivity still require consideration around legacy 2G, 3G and even 4G networks, which remain the continent’s predominant connectivity sources.   Taking a look at the global state of play of 5G and its place in Africa, or not, this year’s 5G Africa series, will form part of the virtual Africa Tech Festival. 

An action-packed 5G Africa will host two days of compelling content on Tuesday 10^th and Wednesday 11^th November 2020. Some of the key sessions to watch out for include:

• Service provider interviews with Charles Molapisi, the MTN Group Chief Technology & Information Officer and Dejan Kastelic, Chief Technology Officer for Vodacom Group and a member of the Vodacom Group Executive Committee, both of whom will share their respective experience of launching 5G networks
• Panel Discussion: The 5G to the home opportunity; how FWA is changing the telco services landscape.  The moderator will be Thecla Mbongue, Senior Analyst, Omdia, with panellists:
  • Jorge Mendes, Chief Officer: Consumer Business Unit, Vodacom Group
  • Giovanni Chiarelli, Chief Technology and Information Officer, MTN South Africa
  • Herve Suquet, CTIO MEA, Orange
• Panel Discussion: SES Industry Days Africa 2020: Technologies that will Transform Telecoms and 5G featuring the below speakers:
  • Sigal Barda, VP Product, Head of 5G Portfolio, Ribbon
  • Nicholas Naidu, Managing Executive: Technology Strategy, Architecture & Innovation, Vodacom South Africa
  • Imran Malik, VP, Global Sales Fixed Data, SES
  • Schalk Visser, CTO, Cell C.

Both days will also host a series of roundtable discussions: Available to all 5G Africa attendees, these informal, Chatham House Rule, interactive discussions will provide the opportunity to reflect on the day’s presentations and engage in conversation with peers on a given topic, moderated by industry analysts on the topics of:

• Fixed wireless strategies, pricing and marketing
• Private networks in Africa
• Cost management for 5G
• The mobile edge computing in Africa.

Vodacom, who launched the first Fixed-Wireless 5G services in Lesotho in 2018, also launched Africa’s first commercial Mobile 5G Network in South Africa in 2020, to help meet heightening demand for Mobile and Fixed-Wireless connectivity during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Commenting on the ability of 5G to move Africa forward, Dejan Kastelic, Group Chief Technology Officer, Vodacom Group said: “5G is a key enabler of our rapidly evolving digital society and will offer exciting solutions in the near future to support healthcare, education and agriculture across the continent. Spectrum allocation, however, remains critical in bridging the digital divide and ensuring the international competitiveness of African economies. I look forward to sharing Vodacom’s insights into the world of 5G and what lies ahead during my keynote address at 5G Africa.”

Other speakers worth noting at this event also include:

• Peter Ndegwa, CEO, Safaricom
• Mugo Kibati, CEO, Telkom Kenya
• Kris Senanu, Managing Director, Telkom Kenya
• Razvan Ungureanu, Chief Technology Officer, Airtel Africa
• Hugo van Zyl, CTO, Telkom
• Joel Randrianasolo, CTO, Telma Madagascar
• Shoaib Khan, CTO, Cable & Wireless (Seychelles)
• Chris White, Electrification Manager - Europe, Ford.

Taking place online this year, the virtual Africa Tech Festival incorporating AfricaCom and AfricaTech, will provide ample opportunity for insight, business operational adjustment and an eye as to the opportunities presented by the digital shift. 

To register for a FREE delegate pass – click HERE

For further information please visit the 2020 website

Media accreditation is now open: https://registration.gesevent.com/survey/06t0kg4kkf2ei.