Top African Social Networks

Social Networking and social media are growing in significance and have become an integral part of the digital lifestyle. When the terms ‘social networks’ and ‘social websites’ are used, the likes of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube all come to mind.

But online research shows that there are a myriad of social networks that have been developed and introduced in Africa (many originating inSouth Africa), specifically to meet the requirements of local users.

Some are focused particularly on regions, others encapsulate everything that the continent has to offer.

IT News Africa has delved into the look & feel, content and functionality of some of the African Social Networks that are out there, and listed, what we believe, to be a few of the best around.

AfricanZone (www.africanzone.com)

This is a portal that offers free online services to Africans, including a social networking facility to meet people, a business advertising and promotion section, as well as the opportunity to list products and services. There is a distinct business feel to the site, but it offers a balance between personal and professional pursuits.

Blueworld (www.blueworld.co.za)

A South African focused social site that features a number of interactive functions – from a chat room, mini-blogs, videos and profiles. Although there is a lot of content and a healthy dose of multi-media, the browser is unlikely to struggle because the look & feel is neat.

AfricanPlanet (www.africanplanet.com)

Visually striking, this website is a membership-driven social network that aims to bring people from all over the continent together. True to many ofAfrica’s social network offerings, AfricanPlanet facilitates both personal and business content.

Bongoline (www.bongoline.com)

The website’s name is certainly striking and its aim is to serve as an online community catering to the needs of Tanzanians. It offers a host of multimedia including blogs, music, chats and forums.

Motribe (www.motribe.com)

The mobility concept comes through earnestly on this site. Organisers encourage users to build their own communities, and the site has been established to help users, brands, agencies and publishers to construct and manage their own mobile social communities.

Afroterminal (www.afroterminal.com)

Designed with the purpose of facilitating communication between Africans all over the globe, Afroterminal has a strong interactive flavour – with various forums that members can use to keep in touch. There is a rolling image panel of featured members, and new member section, as well as topics for discussion.

Yookos (www.yookos.com)

Yookos (You Own Your Kosmos), a uniquely African social networking site, believe now is the time to use emerging technology to offer the best ofAfricato the world. What started as a large-scale online platform to network and encourage prayer among people, has now emerged as a corporate entity with operational head quarters inSouth Africawith presence in 160 countries and 6 million registered users.

Mxit (www.mxit.com)

A formidable player in the social networking space, Mxit lives up to its reputation as a zone where people can blend a number of multi-media applications. Music and mobility are central themes on this site, and it offers the browser a number of facilities through which to engage fellow users.

Top Ten Executive Recruitment Websites In Africa

Finding a new vacancy can be a daunting task, especially with the world’s economy in a slump. In order to make the transition from one job to the other as smooth as possible, a number of executive job search websites have been established to help prospective employees search for the best placement.

Finding a new vacancy can be a daunting task, especially with the world’s economy in a slump. (image: stock.xchng)

Placement and job recruitment websites often span a number of industries and offer job placements for almost every level of employment – but a small selection of recruitment websites offer their services to executives looking to expand their portfolios.
1. Careers in Africa 
Operating for the last 10 years, Careers In Africa is an international recruitment consultancy that specialises in recruiting high-calibre, internationally-based candidates from Africa back into jobs within their home countries. The site is easily navigated, with relevant information instantly available to would-be employees. The industries covered by Careers In Africa span IT & Telecoms, Banking & Finance, Management Opportunities, Sales & Marketing, amongst others. The website has a modern look and feel and easy navigation panels makes finding the right information effortless.
2. Executives in Africa 
Executives in Africa is exactly what its name suggests – a vacancy portal for executives in Africa. “With an extensive international network, combined with the understanding of recruiting into local markets in Africa, we offer an unrivalled ability to deliver our clients’ needs for hiring C-level executives across the continent,” reads a statement on the website.  They cater for job placements in a number of areas including Telecommunications, FMCG, Financial Services and Oil & Gas, and have worked on mandates in Algeria, Angola, Cameroon, Chad, DRC, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda and Zambia.
3. Woodburn Mann Executive Search 
According to their website, “the majority of executives identified in an executive search are not actively seeking a new position, but are identified through the discreet research process as the most viable candidates for a particular managerial role.” Based in Johannesburg, South Africa and operational for the last 30 years, Woodburn Mann conducts executive search assignments for Main Board Non-Executive Chairman and Non-Executive Directors, executive search for remuneration levels above R900 000 per annum and short-term contract executives. Judging by the website’s design, it is clear that they are aiming for a professional business look, with standard designs and minimal fanfare.
4. CA Global Africa Recruitment
CA Global has Africa recruitment expertise in the majority of African countries. The company places executives in mining, oil and gas, banking, finance, telecoms, IT, engineering, construction, power and energy, to name a few. “With a presence on three continents, CA Global enjoys a truly international corporate footprint, ensuring rapid and efficient delivery throughout its key markets. Additionally, assisting Canadian Oil & Gas, Mining and Engineering and general firms with their extensive needs across the African continent, the Geneva team focuses on pro-actively sourcing quality staff for Africa’s Francophone countries,” they state in their website. With a clean design and easy functionality, the site drives the message home (although there are some spelling mistakes in the website’s text).
5. Search Specifics 
A clean and easy-to-navigate site awaits visitors to the “leading Black Owned executive search firm”, a site that offers users the opportunity to browse for vacancies and submit their CV for review. The 100% black female owned executive search firm describes their clients as high-performers who take a long-term view of their careers and their search practice is committed to maintaining a level of confidentiality, ethical behaviour and professionalism. Although they do not have a wide variety of jobs available at the moment, the website is very enjoyable.
6. Executives On The Web
Although Executives on the Web is based in the UK, they specialise in placing executives across the globe in a number of countries, which includes South Africa, UAE, Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. When users enter the site and click on the South African icon at the bottom, the site will display all the current executive positions available in Africa – not just South Africa. Users will also be able to build and update their CV on the website, making it easier for prospective employers to gather the necessary information. The website’s design is a bit old-fashioned, but it gets straight to the point and browsing is easy.
7. CareerJet 
CareerJet is one of the most well-known job portals in South Africa, but its executive vacancy section is not updated as frequently as the rest of the site. Nevertheless, it covers a number of industries, mostly in South Africa. The website’s design is very minimalistic and almost boring, but it delivers the posts in an easy-to-read fashion.
8. Find a Job in Africa 
With a very basic view, the website allows prospective employees to browse for vacancies within a number of industries. Users will also be able to upload their CV to the website’s database, making it easier for employers to search for the right candidates. The site caters for most of Africa, although there might not be job postings in the selected African country.
9. DAV Professional Placement Group
With 37 years in the recruitment business, users may be forgiven for thinking the website’s design was last updated in 1982 - but DAV has all the functionality that an executive might need. Their Management & Executive Search Division places candidates in jobs ranging from middle management and executive positions to board level appointments, across many industry sectors. Despite its old design, the website reads easy and is frequently updated – with hundreds of positions available.
10. Tip Top Job 
Despite its name and unfortunate website design, the website caters to executives in almost every industry. In accordance with what has come to be standard practice, users will also be able to upload their CV as a well as browse for vacancies across the world. The website does have a dedicated section for South Africa, but the rest of Africa is covered within the main site. With 5 million page impressions, 2.5 million active candidates, and 400 000 jobs available at any given time, Tip Top Job is one of the most popular job sites around. Just a pity about the archaic design…

Top Ten tech start-ups in Africa

Many technology start-ups in Africa had humble beginnings and while many businesses start at the bottom, there is nothing wrong with dreaming big.


Africa has huge potential when it comes to technology start-ups (image: stock.xchng)

Here are some of the hottest technology start-ups from across the African continent and we believe they have what it takes to make it big in a world dominated by large international corporations with well-established business models.

1. Afroterminal.com(Nigeria)
Started by two Nigerians in 2009, Afroterminal aims to connect Africans worldwide. It is a Facebook of sorts, where users can upload videos, pictures and music, and share them with everyone on the network. In early February, the site had members in 50 African countries, while sporting numbers from 164 countries across the world. From a business perspective, Afroterminal offers networking features such as classifieds, e-business cards, events and an e-commerce section allowing members to buy African music, books and movies.

2. ForgetMeNot Africa (Zimbabwe/UK)
ForgetMeNot is a Messaging platform that has already been adopted by six major mobile operators in Africa. Their system’s biggest draw card is allowing users internet access via SMS. According to their website, the “platform bridges the gap between PC and mobile messaging by providing internet messaging on every mobile phone via eTXT’s”. The software has been so well-received that it won the best innovation prize at the annual Mobile Entertainment Forum’s (MEF) Meffy Awards.

3. Dropifi (Ghana)

Dropifi is a nifty web messaging platform helping companies analyse, visualise and respond to incoming messages from contacts. The platform allows users to analyse information, comments and feedback from a central dashboard, allowing you insight into negative and positive responses. The company also won the Accra Startup Weekend competition in 2011 for their efforts.

4. Prices.com.ng (Nigeria)

Being a consumer in a tough economy can be a daunting task, but Prices.com.ng aims to ease the decision-making process by providing users with up-to-date price comparisons. The website focuses on the pricing of appliances, books, computers, electronics, games, phones and Bulk SMS, presenting them in an easy-to-read format.

5. Paga (Nigeria)

Pagatech was founded in early 2009, aiming to transform lives by delivering innovative and universal access to financial services across Africa. Paga is their first product offering and is an interoperable mobile payments platform allowing any person with a mobile phone to electronic transactions, turning your phone into an electronic wallet.

6. BongoLive! (Tanzania)

BongoLive! is a mobile SMS services company. Users register, build up a profile and receive information on great deals from BongoLive! free of charge. “We believe that there is much more to be unleashed from the power of mobile and we want to create services that empower businesses, NGOs, government and consumers,” the site says.

7. Bandeka

Creators Yaw Boateng and Tunde Kehinde, brings you a social network with a difference. While it might be similar to sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, Bandeka caters for “well-educated, successful, professional Africans” users. The site is by invitation-only and users have access to all the usual functionality associated with social networks — as well as a match-making section.

8. TwinPine (Nigeria)

Nigeria’s latest mobile advertising network reaches millions of African consumers throughout Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya. Vanguard mobile, MTN, Jobberman and Pepsi have all employed their services. According to their website, they “currently serve advertising on the top Nigerian and international mobile publishers in the categories of news, sports, business, entertainment, sport and social networking”.

9. PesaPal (Kenya)

Mobile banking is increasingly becoming indispensable to many Africans, especially the unbanked. PesaPal is a mobile banking aggregator making it easier for users to buy and sell goods on the internet using M-Pesa, Zap or credit cards. The application also keeps financial records and contact information.

10. Hummba (South Africa)

Hummba is a social network for travellers that offers members access to free downloadable audio travel guides and the ability to share their travel experiences. Compatible with iOS and Android, the app boasts over a 100 cities’ worth of audio.

Kiswahili Office 2010 language pack released in Tanzania

Software maker Microsoft has released a Kiswahili version of its popular productivity suite Office 2010 in Arusha, northern Tanzania.


A screenshot of Office 2010 (image: Microsoft)

The Kiswahili Local Language Pack is also backward compatible with previous versions of the suite (Office 2007 and Office 2003), and was introduced to compliment the Swahili version of Windows 7.

“For current users, the Swahili pack is free; anybody with genuine Microsoft Office software can download the extra language plug-ins from the internet,” said Microsoft’s Citizenship and Regional Education Manager for East and Southern Africa Dr Mark Matunga.

“We believe technology has an increasingly important role to play in the maintenance of linguistic diversity, not only to promote mutual understanding and dialogue, but also to strengthen local economies,” Matunga added.

The availability of Office 2010 in Kiswahili will enable over 50 million speakers in East Africa and Central Africa to participate effectively in economic development through ICT. With over 5 million native speakers and more than 50 million Africans speaking Kiswahili on a daily basis, Kiswahili is undoubtedly the most widely understood language in Africa after Arabic. The availability of Microsoft Office 2010 in Kiswahili is a remarkable step towards elimination of language as a barrier to technology access.

Most sought-after IT skills for 2012

With information technology being an essential part of any business, there are a number of skills that companies will be looking out for in 2012. Computerworld conducted an IT survey, and asked 353 IT executives in the United States to list the skills that will be most sough-after in 2012.


The results indicated that software developers, project managers and networking specialists will be among the skills in demand.

The sought-after skills for 2012 from Computerworld’s survey:

Programming and Application Development –61% of IT executives indicated that they plan to hire programming and app developers in the next twelve months.

Project Management – There is a need for project managers who oversee and monitor projects, with the added skill of identifying users’ needs and translating them for the IT staffers – the increasingly popular business analysts.

Help Desk/Technical Support – According to the survey, mobile operating systems (hence Android, iOS, BlackBerry OS, Symbian, etc.) have added a new dimension to help desk and tech support.

Networking – Networking specialists with skills in virtualization and cloud computing projects are in high demand. VMware and Citrix experience will be particularly valuable.

Business Intelligence – Computerworld interprets this uptick to a focus shift in many companies, from cost savings to investing in technology. That will be nice if it pans out that way.

Data Center – Virtualization and cloud computing is driving the need for IT professionals with backgrounds in data centre operations and systems integration.

Web 2.0 – Technical social media skills will be in demand, with .Net, AJAX and PHP as key back-end skills, with HTML, XML, CSS, Flash and Javascript on the front end.

Security – Security remains a big concern to IT executives, and security experts remain in high demand.

Telecommunications – IP telephony skills are growing in popularity, specifically professionals with Cisco IPCC call centre system experience.

On the other side of the spectrum, IT managers where ask “what skills they wish their newest hires had picked up while they were still in college” in a separate survey. The result showed that the understanding of basic business functions and technology basics were desirable.

The results were as follows:

An understanding of basic business functions – While new computer science graduates can program, they did not understand underlying business functions like accounts receivables, logistics and operations or marketing plans.

Experience with enterprise systems integration – Students are not schooled in the IT processes that businesses use.

Knowledge of emerging enterprise technologies – Business intelligence (BI) and cloud computing are two the emerging tech trends that are high priorities to enterprise IT managers these days, but those topics haven’t trickled down into college curricula yet.

The tech basics – There is a decline in the ability of college graduates to handle simple tech tasks.

The ability to work as a team – There is a lack of skill when it comes to collaborative work.

Familiarity with legacy systems – Newly qualified workers don’t have a good knowledge of legacy systems nor an understanding of Cobol, Customer Information Control System (CICS) and other mainframe skills.

Real-world perspective – “New college graduates tend to think in a tunnel, concentrating on the best technology without considering what’s best for the company’s fiscal constraints or employee population”.

Africa expected to have 4G networks as early as 2012

Mobile carriers worldwide are steadily upgrading to Long-Term Evolution (LTE) networks that support high-speed wireless services as an increasing number of consumers use tablet computers and Smartphones to access the internet. Due to Africa’s growing mobile phone market, an Ericsson executive believes the African market will have its first LTE (better known as 4G) network as early as 2012.


Bob Collymore, Safaricom CEO

Initially, the network would be unveiled in the larger urban centers where the demand for high speed internet access is constantly growing.

“You will see the first networks going in 2012 already to a certain small degree,” said Lars Linden, head of Ericsson in sub-saharan Africa to Reuters. “It will surprise me if the big dragons such as MTN, Vodacom, (Bharti) Airtel and all these big brands, it will surprise me if they do not do anything,” Linden told Reuters.

Africa’s poverty levels mean that many users remain lower end text and call users. There is however an increasingly tech-savvy market growing among the younger people in Africa, increasing the demand for data availability in the continent.

African telecom giants MTN and Vodacom are already running trials in South Africa and Kenya’s Safaricom is also testing the technology.

Top 10 Telecoms Leaders in Africa

Africa’s Top 10 Telecom Leaders, based on their executive achievements and their companies’ business performance. Africa’s ICT business leaders have made great strides in building successful African Telecommunications companies and innovation has played a crucial part in their success.


Here’s our list of top 10 African Telecom Leaders, in no particular order:




Naguib Sawiris, Orascom Telecom CEO

1. Naguib Sawiris

Naguib Sawiris is the Executive Chairman of Orascom Telecom Holding (OTH). He is also the executive chairman of Wind Telecom and chairman of the board of Wind Telecomunicazioni SpA (Italy).

OTH launched the first mobile operator in Egypt, Mobinil in 1998. OTH has 20,000 employees and manages 11 GSM operators around the globe. Naguib Sawiris is the eldest of three brothers. His brothers are Nassef Sawiris and Samih Sawiris. He is the son of Onsi Sawiris who established the Orascom Group.

In 2010, Naguib Sawiris was listed in Forbes magazine as the 374th richest person in the world, with a personal wealth of US$2.5 billion. Naguib Sawiris holds a Diplom (similar to a Master’s) in Business Administration and Mechanical Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland and the Abitur (diploma) from the German Protestant School, Cairo, Egypt.

2. Mohamed Abdel Rehim Hassanein

Mohamed Abdel Rehim Hassanein is the CEO and Managing Director for Telecom Egypt (TE). Mohammed was promoted to Senior Vice President (SVP) and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) responsible for overseeing all network technology related functions across the TE Group including planning, implementation and operations and maintenance.

He has worked for TE in technical and managerial roles for nearly 35 years, most recently as VP for Operations & Maintenance, a role he was appointed to in 2001. He has been with the company in various managerial and technical positions since 1976, including General Manager of the First and Third Zones of East Cairo, then Sector Chief of East Cairo Zones. He holds a B.Sc. in Communications Engineering from Al Azhar University.





3. Alieu Conteh

Alieu Conteh is the Chairman of Congolese Wireless Network and the developer of the nation’s (Democratic Republic of Congo) first Global System for Mobile communications digital network.

Conteh Schooled in London and California State University, Long Beach. Conteh’s business reputation on the continent has grown over the past twenty years by founding and operating a successful commodity business.

Conteh continues to lead the team in building out the infrastructure in the Democratic Republic of Congo while maintaining his focus on the acquisition of additional license franchises.







Mike Adenuga, Globacom Founder, Chairman and CEO

4. Mike Adenuga

Mike Adenuga is the Nigerian Chairman and CEO of Globacom, popularly known as GLO.

Adenuga’s rise to wealth and accompanying fame is an interesting story. His resolve to succeed against all odds started when, while in America, he worked as a taxi driver and security guard to sustain himself in school.

Adenuga had his secondary school education at the Ibadan Grammar School, Ibadan, Oyo State, before proceeding to the North-Western University in Oklahoma and Pace University, New York, both in the United States where he studied business administration.

GLO is privately owned by the Mike Adenuga Group which also consists of Equatorial Trust Bank (ETB), Conoil PLC, a petroleum marketing company, and Conoil Producing, a crude exploration company.

5. Etinne Kouadio

Etinne Kouadio is the MD of Alink Telecom Côte d’Ivoire. Alink Telecom is a leading pan African Telecommunications Group operating in 12 countries. Alink Telecom has positioned itself as a major provider of Data and VoIP in Western and Central Africa.

Kouadio has developed Alink Telecom as MD for Niger and Ghana business units before joining Côte d’Ivoire.

Kouadio has 10 years of experience in marketing and selling Telecom products and services. He graduated from the Top School of Business Management of Abidjan in 1999. He holds a Certificate of Business Language Proficiency from University of Brighton, England in 1998. He has been a key note speaker in GSM West Africa in Dakar.



6. Steven Evans

Steven Evans is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Etisalat Nigeria. He has a depth of experience directing service providers across the globe. Evans was formerly CEO of BT Mobile and Director of Wireless Broadband at BT Mobile.

Evans has over 20 years global mobile telecommunications experience.





Sifiso Dabengwa, MTN Group CEO

7. Sifiso Dabengwa
Sifiso Dabengwa is MTN Group CEO. Dabengwa previously served as CEO of the Nigerian business, where he is now director, after a stint as MD of MTN SA.

Before joining the telecom company in 1999, Dabengwa headed Eskom’s distribution division, where he controlled a multibillion-rand budget in a division employing 17 000 people and generating revenues of more than R20bn/year (about US $ 2.5 bn).

Dabengwa is the former chairman of the Dawn Suite Hotel Group. He previously served on the boards of Peermont Global and Impala Platinum Holdings.

Dabengwa is an electrical engineer by training. He obtained his junior degree in engineering from the University of Zimbabwe, and has a Wits MBA.



8. José dos Sontos

José dos Santos is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Vodacom Mozambique. He has over 20 years experience in the telecommunications industry, involved mainly in the GSM business.

José has spent several years outside South Africa, mainly in Tanzania and Mozambique. He has a very good understanding of the low-end and emerging markets, having been directly involved in the conceptualization and implementation of innovative products.

During his career, José held Management positions in various companies including Message Link, Auto Page Cellular, Cell C, Vodacom Tanzania.

José is a member of the South African Institute of Directors and a member of the South African Institute of marketing Management (IMM).




Bob Collymore, Safaricom CEO 

9. Bob Collymore

Bob Collymore is the CEO of Safaricom, Kenya’s biggest mobile-phone company. Prior to joining Safaricom, Bob was the Chief Officer for Corporate Affairs in Vodacom Group responsible for the Group’s Corporate Communication, Ethics and Compliance, Legal, External Relationships and Corporate Social Responsibility. Prior to that, he was Vodafone’s Governance Director for Africa where he was responsible for developing and driving Vodafone’s strategy for its investments in Africa as well as representing Vodafone as a key direct foreign investor in a number of African countries. Bob has more than 25 years of commercial experience working in the telecommunications sector.

Collymore now lives in Kenya after relocating from South Africa where he has lived for the past 3 years and had spent the previous 3 years living and working in Tokyo as Vodafone’s Director, Consumer Marketing (Asia), overseeing the development and alignment of Vodafone’s Japanese business. His previous roles included Global Purchasing Director for Vodafone and Purchasing Director for the Dixons Stores Group, one of the UK’s largest electrical retailers.

Collymore is also a trustee of Holding companies in Kenya and Tanzania for M-PESA, Vodafone’s pioneering money transfer service.




Mickael Ghossein, Orange Telkom Kenya CEO

10. Mickael Ghossein
Mickael Ghossein is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Orange Telkom Kenya. Ghossein has over 28 years experience in the telecommunications industry. Previously he was the Group CEO of Jordan Telecom, Mobilecom and Orange Reunion.

Ghossein has worked for Mobilrom as the Chief Commercial Officer and Marketing and Chief Officer. He worked for the France Telecom Group between 1991 and 1997 as director of EUTELTRACS activities, director for the marketing bilateral department and director of business department.

Other companies he has worked for include Enterprise General de Telecommunications and Thomson CSF cooperation.

Ghossein holds a Master of Electronics Electrotechnics Automatisation from University of Lyon, holds an engineering diploma from The Institute of Superieur Electronic Nord and DEA signal processing from the University of Valenciennes.

Sources: the Africa Report, African Success and African Wireless