Mobile penetration in Africa

With still 2/3 of the population yet to join the mobile revolution, Africa remains one of the most attractive & growth telecom markets...

A recent article from Mobile World Live Briefing (8/11/2012) confirms that only 1/3 of the African population is a mobile subscriber; when one considers 'unique' individual. This is about 1/2 of the Africa's penetration rate, as most subscribers own 2 SIM cards.

The largest mobile penetrations in term of size are in West Africa (driven by Nigeria's population) & in the Magrebh region (Morroco, Egypt, Algeria). Eastern (Kenya) & Southern Africa (RSA) follow closely. The real interest is the double digit growth percentage in the whole continent: 15% average, with many at 18-23%.

However, one needs to keep in mind that each African subscriber hold in average 1,96 SIM card (compared to 1,85 global average). This is common in most emerging economies. Users wants to optimally benefit from numerous low-cost deals & marketing actions, driven by agressive price wars. This is one of the (positive?) side effects of deregulation, privatization & open compettions.

Rural Africa is where true intrinsic growth will take in the near future.

This raises serious infrastructure challenges. Although there is coverage in the rural areas, extending & expanding the base-stations park is a significant invetsment (with a long term return!) for African telco's. And one knows the somewhat erratic power grid supplies in Africa! One consides "Green Power" as a friendly alternative to address the energy constraints of most African countries; and as such, support the telecom infrastructure growth requirements. (also see GSMA report "Green Powe for Mobile" - 2012).

So plenty to do; plenty to invest; plenty to benefit.... let's all get to work!!
As always, let me know your views...

Open Innovation Africa Summit - Nairobi, Kenya

The Open Innovation Africa Summit 2012 will convene regional innovators, policymakers, and other stakeholders to share their knowledge, network, and coordinate on initiatives to deploy information and communication technologies (ICTs) for development in Nairobi, Kenya, May 28-30.

Sponsored by the Worldbank InfoDev, Nokia Africa and Capgemini, this summit is organized to cultivate collaboration and promote a reflective mindset among the African innovation ecosystem stakeholders and leaders by enabling a living dialogue and exchange of ideas from which practical outcomes and actions can be jointly agreed and pursued. It is a platform to continue high level debates among stakeholders (policy makers, innovators, entrepreneurs, financiers, researchers, etc.) on national or regional strategies that support strengthening of innovation ecosystems and emergence of African entrepreneurs and innovators.

The discussions will be facilitated by Capgemini’s facilitation methodology – Accelerated Solutions Environment – and supported by their team of facilitators. To date, more than 350 participants with the largest majority registered to the Mobile Information society content stream that I'll lead & facilitate. Topics covered include:

• Monetisation of mobile content & services
• Business Models for mobile content & services
• Distribution and marketing of mobile content & services
• Mobile Ecosystems / Platforms
• Intellectual Property Protection
• The Role of Mobile Network Operators
• The Role of incubation networks & innovation enablers

http://research.nokia.com/page/12248

Luxe Retail vs. Webshop

To what extend is luxe consumerism retail relevant for online customer experience?

Check our Peter Marino, retailshop architec for hyper-luxrious top brands like L-Vuiton, Dior, Channel, etc. Dismiss his dressing appearance for what it is, but do pay attention to his work, his ideas & concepts about shopping experience and you might have some new insights. I did!!

Combining retail & amusement in an unique & attractive context (a.k.a "retailment or entertailment" - also see sociolog G. Ritzer's book revolutionising the means of consumption -USA 1999), take the now well-know ideas of concept/flagship stores to the next level.

 http://www.petermarinoarchitect.com/www/#/featured

He thinks that "Applestores look like Ikea stores: not enought emotions!" Peter believes that creating places where people feels so well & at ease that they'd rather stay for 1/2 day than for several minutes, must be the ultimate goal of a successfull shop.

Fine, but what all that has to do with digital customer experience?

Peter - "webshop will never replace offline shopping becase it lacks the emotional experience".
Y. Carcelles, CEO L. Vuitton - "People don't come to our store solely to shop, but more importantly to experience a special way of life and feel special"

So, shouldn't one reconsider the "1-click" shopping mantra of most of the current webshop?
Why not re-consider our common assumption that the fastest way a webshop can lead someone to conclude a purchase, is the ultimate measure of its value, success and efficacy?

One needs to bring back Emotion in the online shopping experience, not just efficiency. And this requires a transformation to how buinesses approach their end-to-end digital customer liflecycle.

Amusement, Surprising, Emotional, Spiritual, Gaming, Community, Bounding... all must be part of the key criteria for a successfull transformation of a business digital reatil presence; not only SEO, visit traffic &/or click-trough-purchase metrics.

What do you think? your views are welcome...

3 questions before starting a digital transformation?

All your executive peers talk about it. It's one of the most covered topics in prominent business magazines. It's amongst the top 20 "most followed" business tweets worldwide. Many of your employees (the new & young ones, but also the middle managers and senior experts) are furiously engaged in it; not only at work but also at home as consumer & user. It's an avoidable wave of change, innovation, risks and opportunities.

It is the Digital Revolution: letting the full power of the world wide web become an intrinsic part of the business fundamental fabric itself.

But before you embark on the digital business transformation waggon, one must ask her/himself 3 core questions:

1- What do I personaly know & understand of these matters? What's my own "Individual Digital Footprint""

2 - What's my business actual "Digital Maturity" level? And where could/should it be in the near future, considering my competitive market forces?

3 - Is there any potential future value (financial &/or qualitative) of embarking on such journey, for my journey? Why is "Do Nothing" not a true option?

Obviously, it is not about having the correct answer to these 3 questions that really matter!

Thinking & exploring these topics do release enough entrepreneurial energy to stimulate any business owner to take a new and critical look at its current & future role in the digital economic value chain; and decide on the ultimate & true question:

- Do I Play In, or Do I Watch From The Sideline?


so what will it be....

Why this blog?

 This is my business blog.

Just a place to collect & share my views, insights about business digital transformation, professional education and training as a mean to achieve strategic transformation through people; and facilitate a conversation amongst likeminded thoughtleaders.

Feel free to read, contribute & broadcast...

jeandiopconsultancy.com