A presentation given by Loren Treisman of the Indigo Trust during the Africa.com Conference 2012. The presentation looks at the growth of technology innovation hubs across Africa and the many opportunities they offer.

1. Galvanising and Supporting Tech
Communities
Dr Loren Treisman-Executive
Indigo Trust

2. • The Indigo Trust is a UK based grant making foundation that funds
technology-driven projects to bring about social change in Africa
• The Trust focuses mainly on innovation, transparency and
citizen empowerment
• We also support innovative tech-driven projects which
support development outcomes in any social sector including
the health, education, human rights and agricultural spheres
• We believe that if people have the ability to access, share
and create information, then they are empowered
to make positive changes in their own lives and communities

3. • The best solutions to Africa's challenges will be devised by
those affected by them
• Hubs galvanise the tech community, provide high speed
internet, host events & provide training & mentorship to
aspiring entrepreneurs
• Hubs have a catalytic effect on the number and quality of
successful projects and products which can be developed
in-country

4. • Collaborate, share, partner up
• Learn from others
• Obtain support, mentorship and training
• Access state of the art facilities
• Get exposure
• Bring together techies and social activists/civil society
• Stimulate both economic growth and social change
• Attract other investors and supporters
• Brand association

6. East Africa

7. West Africa

8. Southern Africa

10. Events and Training

11. • Identifying potential groups-setting up new hubs
• Establishing partnerships between techies and activists
• Core support for early stage hubs
• Making connections
• Providing consultancy & support
• Leveraging support from others
• Supporting collaboration between
hubs
• Supporting a new model for
development-more sustainable, private-public-charity

12. • Providing small, high risk grants to not-for-profit & social enterprises
which contribute towards social change at the early stages
• Enable entrepreneurs to pilot new ideas, with room for trial & error
• Invest in ‘public goods and services’, a category of projects that have
traditionally not attracted private investment due to market failure
• Some projects will achieve financial sustainability or make a profit,
others need on-going support

16. • The tech hub space is very new-impact will take time
• Take into account local context
• Achieving financial sustainability remains a challenge
• Access to finance for projects remains a challenge
• Local capacity remains low in some countries-need for
further training, incubation and other business support

17. • Data costs to end users of Apps are often prohibitively high
• Mobile operators and ISP providers could assist in
reducing these costs if effective business models are ID’d
• More focus needs to be placed on the wider regulatory and
policy environment in order to create a welcoming ecosystem
• There is a need for more hubs to spring up both in new
African countries and within the same country

18. Thanks for Listening
Any Questions?
Dr Loren Treisman
http://indigotrust.wordpress.com/
Twitter: @indigotrust
Loren.treisman@sfct.org.uk