The Eastern, Southern and Central Africa communications solutions provider notes the appointment is effective from 1st January 2021.
Deon Geyser will be responsible for overseeing the strategic repositioning of the company as Liquid Intelligent Technologies. Providing an integrated technology capability that enables customers to transform their business through new intelligent technologies.
I am truly honoured to be chosen to lead the business into the next stage of its strategic development. Geyser shares commenting on his new appointment.
“Liquid has a ground-breaking view on transforming business through technology. Supported by a strong and talented team, a solid customer base and an exciting customer value proposition. I look forward to continuing building out its growth and to unlock value for shareholders and broader stakeholders alike.”
Group Chief Operating Officer Mr. Ahmad Mokhles notes, we are delighted to welcome Deon to Liquid Telecom South Africa.
“He is a proven leader. His strong knowledge of both the local market and the continent, extensive management experience in both the public and private sector and the track records in digital transformation makes him ideally placed to continue Liquid’s next chapter of growth and sustainability. As well as to achieve its successful repositioning.”
Deon Geyser holds a master’s degree in engineering management. As well as bachelor’s degrees in Electronic Engineering and IT from the University of Johannesburg. Prior to joining Liquid Intelligent Technologies, he has held senior management positions at Siemens and Millicom International Cellular (Tigo). His most recent position being that of Head of Southern Africa and Vodafone Africa for Nokia since 2014.
Checkout other stories making the news across the region.
Update: New date for Nigeria event announced. Watch the full Kenya event below.
Join Microsoft Africa Development Center software engineer and program managers as they share their journey and experiences. Also, get to know the Microsoft product and services they are and have been working on. Finally, find out what it will take for you to join them in this virtual meetup.
There will be two virtual meetup sessions for each site location. The site in Lagos focuses on building Microsoft AI and Mixed reality services. Whilst the Nairobi team builds solutions and experiences for Windows and Microsoft 365. Click to register to participate in the event. There will be a Q&A session. so come with questions.
Introducing the Africa Development Center in Nigeria will now take place on the 4th of March 2021, 5:00 pm-6:00 pm (GMT+1). It was earlier scheduled to take place on Wednesday, 21 October at 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm West Africa Time (GMT +1). But due to the end SARS protests Microsoft has since postponed the Nigeria event and will be announcing a future date.
“Our team has been thoroughly assessing the recent situation (ENDSARS protest) in Nigeria, and based on the latest news, we decided to postpone our live event for a more suitable date in the future. We will come back with regular communications regarding the potential date of the event.“
Missed the Nairobi, Kenya event? Watch the it below.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella notes the Microsoft Africa Development Center will be at the forefront of building innovative solutions that benefit Africa and the entire world.
This year the Microsoft software engineers in Africa celebrated their first anniversary. The Lagos team also saw Azure Object Anchors mixed reality service for HoloLens become available in private preview as announced at Microsoft Ignite 2020.
Update February 22 2021, 6:40 PM GMT: Article updated with the new date and time for Nigeria event.
Update October 16 2020, 6:00 PM GMT: Article updated with additional details on the postponement of Nigeria event. Update October 16, 6:00 PM GMT: Article updated with additional details on the postponement of Nigeria event. Update October 27 2020, 2:30 PM GMT: Article updated with Youtube video of the Nairobi, Kenya event.
Amazon is announcing a new Amazon Web Service (AWS) infrastructure to be located in Kenya. The new Edge Location in Kenya will be part of the Amazon CloudFront Content Delivery Network (CDN).
The Amazon Web Services Team made the announcement introducing new infrastructure in Eastern Europe and Kenya.
Amazon’s CloudFront service accelerates content delivery to users worldwide, with low latency and high transfer speeds.
The Kenya Edge Location will reduce wait time for end-users in the region when they visit a website, watch an online video, play a game or buy a product online, or download an app.
For businesses and developers that will mean less time to deploy services and solutions bringing satisfaction to clients.
We’re excited to announce the AWS infrastructure launch of new Amazon CloudFront Edge Location in Kenya.
Chinese technology company Huawei is partnering with digital payment company Mondi Pay to bring seamless, contactless payments to customers in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region.
The partnership will give Huawei customers a simple, fast and secure way to pay for online services using their mobile phone without a card.
Mondia Pay will launch on HUAWEI Mobile Services’ (HMS) AppGallery as an e-wallet service in the MEA Region. With the service available in about twenty countries in Africa. These include Egypt, South Africa, Tunisia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Madagascar, Liberia, and Botswana.
Mondi Pay notes the strategic partnership will allow for increased direct carrier Billing service (DCB) coverage. And IAP (In-App Purchase) kit capabilities for global developers.
This is an endorsement of Mondia Pay’s industry expertise and deep routed knowledge of Africa. Notes Simon Rahmann, CEO of Mondia Pay, Speaking about the partnership.
“Customers across the continent will benefit from our fully integrated digital payment technology to make frictionless payments in a fast, safe and secure manner. We also support the natural progression towards cashless societies, fast-tracked by current affairs such as COVID-19.”
Adam Xiao, Managing Director, HMS and Consumer Cloud Service for Huawei Consumer Business Group MEA says the partnership is part of Huawei’s ongoing commitment to making it easier for local and global developers offer their services to millions in the MEA region.
“We welcome the opportunity to partner with Mondia Pay. To provide Huawei users across the MEA region with even more payment options. Mondia Pay allows for contactless payments without the need for bank cards in a safe and secure manner that protects the privacy of users,” he continues.
What do you think about the new Huawei Payments partnership? I’ll like to know your thoughts, share them with me in the comments.
Safaricom PLC today unveiled a new mobile application (app) tailored at customers lifestyle. The new app comes with a new user interface, enhanced security and puts the user in control. It also promises an excellent experience.
Safaricom Head of Digital Products and Services, Fawzia Ali Kimathi, led the virtual launch event. Showcasing new and exciting features of the new mySafaricom app. She noted that this was a journey that began in October 2018 in response to customer feedback about the existing app.
Prior to the official release, about fifty thousand customers have tested the app. It has been in beta testing since February 2020, Fawzia shares.
“We are very excited about this journey. It’s taken us a couple of months to get here. We welcome your feedback, both good and bad. We have adopted the agile methodology … so we will be releasing something fresh and new every two to three weeks”.
Fawzia Ali Kimathi
Speaking on some of the innovations the app brings she shares that customers who prefer to use the voucher card, can scan the 16 digits and it will automatically pick the digits and top up.
The new app will allow customers to choose five services in the favourite icon.
Postpaid customers can now see their usage during the month. They can see their credit limit, balance, make payments and increase or reduce limits.
Prepaid Safaricom customers will be able to see their airtime, data, Bonga and SMS balances. Topping up on any of the services happens right on that page from the new app.
A feature to know your data usage is currently available on the Safaricom mobile web app and will be coming soon to the mobile app.
Online social media and networking company, Facebook, announces it will open its first engineering office in Africa. The new office will be located in Lagos, Nigeria and will become operational in the second half of fiscal year 2021.
Facebook Lagos office will support the Sub-Saharan region and contribute to the African technology ecosystem. It will also tap into Africa’s budding developer talent pool to build products for the continent and beyond.
This will be the company’s second office on the continent. After opening the first in Johannesburg, South Africa back in 2015.
Like the Johannesburg office, the Facebook Lagos office will house teams across sales, partnerships, policy and communications. With the Lagos, Nigeria office becoming the first in the region to house an engineering team.
“This is where a lot of the future is going to get built“
Mark Zuckerberg
We are continuing to invest in and support local talent shares Nunu Ntshingila, Regional Director, Facebook Africa. The office will be key in helping to expand how we service our clients across the continent, she continues.
“This is where i think a lot of the future is going to get built. … The key thing is that you are building this. … We are at the beginning of this journey. … The more we can do to empower folks here to build the future, that’s the better that we can do. … Of course, we will invest more in the future.”
Ime Archibong, Facebook’s Head of New Product Experimentation noted the new Facebook engineering office presents exciting opportunities.
“The opening of our new office in Lagos, Nigeria presents new and exciting opportunities in digital innovations to be developed from the continent and taken to the rest of the world. All across Africa, we’re seeing immense talent in the tech ecosystem. I’m proud that with the upcoming opening of our new office, we’ll be building products for the future of Africa, and the rest of the world, with Africans at the helm. We look forward to contributing further to the African tech ecosystem.”
