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David Frankel played a pioneering role in the commercial development of the internet in South Africa as co-founder and CEO of Internet Solutions. Since then, he’s gone on to a successful investing career in the US, where he is co-founder and managing partner at Boston- and New York-based Founder Collective, a seed-stage venture capital fund whose successful investments have included Uber Technologies, Brontes (sold to 3M) and PillPack (sold to Amazon). Frankel, widely regarded as one of the most successful entrepreneurs to come out of South Africa’s technology industry, joins TechCentral editor Duncan McLeod on TCS Legends to chat about: • His career, and how the Internet Solutions opportunity came about; • What it was like in the early days of the internet in South Africa; • The fight he led, with Mark Todes, against Telkom’s attempts in the 1990s to monopolise the internet industry – and how the industry won the battle; • The cast of characters at Internet Solutions, including brothers Ronnie and Alon Apteker, that made it a special place to be at the time; • Whether he was really offered the job of CEO of Dimension Data; • His studies at Harvard Business School; • The creation of Founders Collective, and why Boston is a great place for a tech-focused venture capitalist to be; and • His views on South Africa in 2024 and his continued connection to the country. Don’t miss this insightful interview with one of South Africa’s leading entrepreneurs, exploring the role he played in the heady days of the internet in South Africa and what it took to build a successful investment career in the US. We apologise for the audio quality issues in this episode. TechCentral

In this special episode of the TechCentral Show (TCS) – presented by MTN Business – Duncan McLeod chats to two South African biohackers, Daniel de Kock and Jarryd Bekker, about why they have voluntarily installed microchips in their bodies. Respectively the chief technology officer and CEO of Riot Network – the wireless broadband specialist that is building low-cost networks in underserviced areas, including Olievenhoutbosch in Gauteng – they tell TechCentral about why they chose to implant the chips and what they’re used for. The pair, who both profess a desire to receive brain implants from Elon Musk’s Neuralink, explain how they started augmenting their biological bodies with electronics, what’s involved, the information they’re able to glean from the chips, and where the fusion of human biology and electronics is headed over the coming decade. In the interview, Bekker and De Kock unpack how electronic circuitry in the human body can help detect and manage serious health issues, and the impact this could have on fighting disease and prolonging people’s lives. The two discuss a range of issues related to biohacking, including: • What’s involved when it’s time to upgrade the chips; • How one goes about having them installed; • The growing online biohacker community; • Integration with artificial intelligence; and • Much more. Don’t miss this offbeat but fascinating discussion! TechCentral

From the internet of things (IoT) to private 5G networks, MTN Group has a lot to offer public sector organisations, according to David Behr, CEO of MTN Converged Solutions. Behr, a stalwart of the local ICT industry and a recent recruit to MTN, tells TechCentral’s TCS+ business technology show about the solutions that MTN Business offers its government clients, including smart government solutions, IoT (for example, for smart metering) and private 5G (which has strong applications in areas such as healthcare and education). Although some government processes have been automated successfully and improved using technology, many areas of the public sector are still quite manual and paper-based, and modern technologies offer an opportunity to reduce administrative overheads and improve service quality for South African citizens, Behr explains in the interview. In this episode of TCS+, Behr unpacks: • The state of spending on ICT solutions in South Africa’s public sector, and where spending should be directed; • What further role technology can play in improving government’s work and the effective management of government services; • The role of private 5G networks in the public sector; • The state of cybersecurity in government and what more can be done to protect public sector systems from attack; and • The public sector opportunity in the rest of Africa. If you work in the public sector, be sure not to miss this important conversation. TechCentral

TechCentral is thrilled to bring you an interview with Mike Lawrie, a pioneering figure at Rhodes University who helped bring e-mail and later the internet to South Africa. In this episode of TCS Legends – the podcast series that features interviews with (and about) some of the leading figures who helped shape South Africa’s technology sector into what it is today – TechCentral editor Duncan McLeod sat down with Lawrie to chat about the ground-breaking work that happened at Rhodes University in the early days of the internet. In this episode, Lawrie shares wonderful anecdotes about that time at Rhodes, and why the Eastern Cape university was able to achieve things its bigger rivals in the cities couldn’t – or wouldn’t – during the height of apartheid. Lawrie remembers many of his colleagues at Rhodes at the time, and the role they played in connecting South African universities to e-mail, and later to the internet. Episodes 1 and 2 of TCS Legends featured well-known investor and businessman Duarte da Silva, who reminisced about some of the business leaders that helped build South Africa’s tech industry. Episode 3, featuring Hein Engelbrecht and Carlos Vizcarra, turned the focus to the late Mustek founder David Kan. TCS Legends is a by-invitation-only, editorially driven tech show that builds on TechCentral’s credible, market-leading podcast productions. TCS Legends is powered by Mitel. For all your unified communications and customer experience needs, visit Mitel.com. TechCentral

Paratus Group is rapidly emerging as a major player in the telecommunications industry in Southern Africa. But who’s behind Paratus, and what’s its history? From landing Google’s Equiano subsea cable in Swakopmund and building a new fibre route between South Africa and Namibia – providing a new data corridor between Gauteng and the world – to working with Meta Platforms to wire up Zambia and building expansive satellite ground stations, the Namibian-born group has its eyes firmly set on becoming a significant telecoms player in the region. In this episode of the TechCentral Show (TCS), TechCentral editor Duncan McLeod chats to Paratus Group chief commercial officer Martin Cox about the company’s origins (although founded in Namibia, it cut its teeth in Angola), its current footprint and its future growth plans. Among other topics, Cox discusses: • The impact of the recent subsea cable breaks in West Africa and the role of diverse routes in reducing the impact; • Paratus’s new fibre route from Swakopmund to Johannesburg, which runs through Botswana – its significance and what was involved in its construction; • The group’s footprint in South Africa, including its new satellite ground station in Irene, near Pretoria; and • Paratus’s culture, and why its management team is happiest in “the trenches”; and • Whether a listing for Paratus Group could be on the cards at some point (its Namibian operation is already listed in Windhoek). Don’t miss the discussion! TechCentral

A dusty township in Gauteng is the site of a South African-developed mesh network that could change everything. Read the full story at https://techcentral.co.za/internet-revolution-in-olievenhoutbosch/241698/ TechCentral

David Kan, the late founder and former CEO of Mustek, is the focus of episode 3 of TechCentral’s new podcast series, TCS Legends – powered by Mitel. In this episode, TechCentral editor Duncan McLeod is joined by Mustek CEO Hein Engelbrecht and Carlos Vizcarra, CEO of CPS Technologies, who was close friends with Kan for decades, for a wide-ranging discussion on the man’s life and achievements. Kan founded Mustek in 1987 as a technology importer and distributor, and the company quickly became known for its locally manufactured line of Mecer PCs. Today it’s one of the country’s biggest technology distributors, and is listed on the JSE. Kan, who passed away in 2022 at just 62, was born in Taipei. He worked various menial jobs in his native Taiwan, including as a dishwasher, truck driver and removal company worker. After matriculating, he left to study mechanical engineering in the US at Pittsburg State University. In 1986, he moved to South Africa where his father was working a Taiwanese diplomat. He worked for a time at a cutlery manufacturing company before attending his first PC expo in Johannesburg. It was there that he met the MD of a Taiwanese company called Mustek Corporation. The MD of that company, Owen Chen, wanted to set up a warehouse in South Africa – Mustek in South Africa was born. He went on to establish one of the first PC assembly lines in South Africa. In this episode of TCS Legends, Engelbrecht – who joined Mustek in 1997 as group fin0ancial manager – and Vizcarra, with whom Kan formed a business relationship in the early days of Mustek, pay tribute to Kan, and share personal anecdotes about the man and his life. Vizcarra discusses the origins of Mustek, the early days of the PC industry and touches on the development of the Springbok, a South African-built clone PC brand that predated Mustek’s Mecer line. In the interview, you’ll hear about: • Mustek’s early days building PCs in Garankuwa and why local assembly made sense in the era of sanctions; • How Kan and Vizcarra became close friends, despite competing with each other in business; • How Engelbrecht met Kan, and his first impressions of the man; • Vizcarra and Engelbrecht’s favourite memories of Kan; • What drove Kan, a foreigner to South Africa, to business success – and how he became to embrace his adopted country; and • What he was like to work for; This episode of TCS Legends includes special bonus content: a full audio interview that TechCentral had with Kan in June 2017. Don’t miss the episode! TCS Legends is powered by Mitel. For all your Unified Communications and Customer Experience needs, visit Mitel.com. TechCentral

Data and identity governance should be a top-of-mind issue for business leaders in 2024. CYBER1 Solutions MD Jayson O’Reilly and senior cybersecurity architect Christiaan Swanepoel share their insights on this important topic in this episode of TechCentral’s business technology show, TCS+. They kick off the discussion with a definition of the topic, and why it’s critically important that companies get data and identity governance right in a world of significantly heightened cyber risk. It’s by no means a new focus area – indeed, many organisations have been trying to solve this for years, decades even, showing just how difficult it is to get right. O’Reilly and Swanepoel discuss how the threat landscape has evolved over time, and the risks organisations face if they overlook data governance protocols. In this TCS+ episode, they also tackle these key questions: • What are examples of the tangible consequences of disregarding data governance and the direct implications for personal security? • Identity has been a focus for many organisations for the past 10 years or longer, so why does it remain a problem to be solved and what are the roadblocks in getting it done right? • How does the mishandling of personal information compromise privacy? • In what ways do emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence and the internet of things complicate Identity governance efforts. • What is the impact of legislation such as South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act and Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation, and what’s next on the horizon from a regulatory perspective? Don’t miss discussion on a topic of critical importance to modern, data-driven organisations. About CYBER1 Solutions CYBER1 Solutions is a cybersecurity specialist operating in Southern Africa, East and West Africa, Dubai, and Europe. Its solutions deliver information security; IT risk management; fraud detection; governance and compliance; and a full range of managed services. It also provides bespoke security services across the spectrum, with a portfolio that ranges from the formulation of its customers’ security strategies to the daily operation of end-point security solutions. To do this, it partners with world-leading security vendors to deliver cutting-edge technologies augmented by its wide range of professional services. Its services enable organisations in every sector to prevent attacks by providing the visibility into vulnerabilities they need to detect compromises rapidly, respond to breaches and stop attacks before they become an issue. Visit www.c1-s.com for more. TechCentral

Vinolia Singh, chief people officer at JSE-listed workplace solutions provider Adcorp, joins the second episode of a series of interviews about enterprise cloud software provider Workday. In this TCS+ interview, grouped under the theme of “change makers”, Singh is joined by Kiv Moodley, MD of Workday South Africa, to unpack how the nature of work is changing, especially following the end of the Covid pandemic, but also as a new generation –with very different ideas about the nature of work – joins the workforce. In the conversation, Singh unpacks several of the trends impacting the future – and nature – of work, and how these trends are affecting Adcorp, and how her role as chief people officer is evolving. “The world of work has become boundaryless. We have to become more flexible,” she says of employers. “Companies need to become more innovation to acquire the skills they need.” Singh and Moodley tackle key themes around this topic, including: • How technology is enabling Adcorp’s business objectives; • How Workday’s solutions have allowed Adcorp to deal with challenges such as the skills shortage in South Africa; • The reception to these solutions among Adcorp employees; and • How the technology has allowed Adcorp to adapt to a rapidly shifting environment; Don’t miss this insightful interview on the future of work and the role of technology in managing change. TechCentral

Persetel’s Roux Marnitz, Altron’s Bill Venter, Vodacom’s Alan Knott-Craig and Datatec’s Jens Montanana are all undisputed business legends in South Africa’s ICT industry. The four – all now retired except for Datatec CEO Montanana – are the subject of episode 2 of TechCentral’s new fortnightly technology show, TCS Legends. This episode, the second part of an opening double header, features insights from investing legend Duarte da Silva about the four businessmen who had an outsized impact of the technology sector in South Africa. The show, the latest from TechCentral — the home of real technology journalism in South Africa –showcases people who achieved great things in (and for) the local tech sector. In episode 1 of TCS Legends, Da Silva – a well-known industry figure who was once the country’s top IT analyst (at Merrill Lynch) and who founded Macquarie First South – unpacked the Dimension Data story, with a focus on former CEO Jeremy Ord. Find that episode at techcentral.co.za. TechCentral

Protecting sensitive company information through data loss prevention (DLP) tools has become paramount for many organisations. But doing so without impacting employee productivity can be a big challenge. In this episode of TCS+, Next DLP executives Chris Denbigh-White (chief security officer) and Fallon Steyn (regional sales manager, South Africa) are joined by their customer, LRMG, to discuss this crucial topic in greater detail. LRMG’s information security officer, Nadia Veeran-Patel, unpacks how the company has used Next DLP’s technology to secure its data while ensuring workflows aren’t impacted and productivity isn’t affected. In the episode, Veeran-Patel kicks off the discussion with an overview of LRMG’s areas of focus and why they decided to engage the services of Next DLP. Denbigh-White and Steyn discuss the critical challenge of how best to harmonise user-satisfaction with securing sensitive company data, all without compromising operational efficiency. Steyn delves into a recently published piece on how Next DLP’s Reveal platform helps chief information security officers focus on their priority areas: visibility to risk, information governance and auditability. The conversation rounds off with a discussion on the positive changes LRMG has seen since implementing its information rights management programme with Next DLP and how employees have responded to the changes. If you’re in any way involved in securing your company’s data, don’t miss this important and insightful discussion. TechCentral

South Africa has a new data consultancy. Called Calybre, it’s headed by CEO Alexa Bisschops and is positioned as “the best partner for any company’s data people”. Bisschops joins TechCentral’s TCS+ show to chat about the launch of the company, its co-founders and their backgrounds, and why the company believes the market is ripe for the launch of a “next-generation consultancy”. In the interview, Bisschops unpacks: • The background to Calybre and its market positioning; • What a next-generation consulting company does exactly, and what makes it different to traditional technology consulting firms; • The plans for Calybre’s growth in 2024 and beyond; • How Calybre works with technology companies; • What a typical client engagement looks like; • The impact of artificial intelligence in the consulting space; and • Much more besides. Don’t miss this insightful discussion about an exciting new player in the local – and global – data consultancy market. TechCentral

Well-known investor and businessman Duarte da Silva joins TCS Legends to discuss Jeremy Ord, Roux Marnitz, Alan Knott-Craig, Jens Montanana and Bill Venter. -- Well-known investor and businessman Duarte da Silva is the guest in the inaugural episode of TechCentral’s TCS Legends, a new video podcast series focused on legendary figures who helped shape South Africa’s technology industry. A two-part scene setter for the rest of the limited series, Da Silva – who knows many of the individuals who built businesses in the country’s tech space after 1994 – shares his insights into the (often colourful) characters who helped define the country’s ICT sector into what it is today. TCS Legends, which is powered by Mitel, has a great line-up of guests secured over the coming months. But in episode 1 – the first of a double header with Da Silva – we delve into the people, the deals and sometimes the scandal that helped define an industry. Da Silva, an avid investor who serves on a number of company boards, is a former director of Merrill Lynch – where his hefty analyst reports on JSE-listed tech companies in the 1990s had company CEOs lapping up his insights, and more than a little fearful about what he might write about them. He also founded Macquarie First South, among other enterprising ventures, and possesses encyclopaedic knowledge of business in South Africa. A legend in his own right, Da Silva shares often-amusing tales of deals (some of which went horribly wrong), corporate shenanigans and plenty more besides with TCS Legends. In the show, he chats about many people and companies, but the primary focus is on five individuals: • Jeremy Ord at Dimension Data (now NTT Data) • Roux Marnitz at Persetel (now BCX) • Bill Venter at Altron • Jens Montanana at Datatec • Alan Knott-Craig at Vodacom The show is hosted by TechCentral editor Duncan McLeod, who said of the interview with Da Silva: “If you are, or have ever been, involved in South Africa’s IT industry, this is one show you simply do not want to miss!” Part 2 of the interview with Da Silva will be published on Monday, 4 March 2024. TechCentral

South African firm Hydrox Holdings has developed a new way of extracting hydrogen for use in cars and other applications that it believes will help usher in a new era of plentiful clean energy for the world. The company, based in Pretoria, has won a number of awards and other accolades for its patented intellectual property, which involves extracting hydrogen from water using a "membrane-less" electrolyser technology that it has developed and now patented globally. Corrie de Jager, the CEO and founder of Hydrox Holdings, joins the TechCentral Show to chat about the progress the company has made in recent years in developing the technology - and why he is now looking for investors to help commercialise it. De Jager, who has been working on the technology for more than two decades, claims the technology could help move the world to non-polluting and mass-scale hydrogen fuel cell-powered cars more quickly by dramatically reducing the cost of producing hydrogen gas from water. In this episode of TCS, he unpacks: * Where the idea to build a membrane-less electrolyser came from; * The proofs of concept the company has launched; * The hurdles that Hydrox's team has had to overcome while developing the technology; * The cost and production advantages of membrane-less electrolysers; * Why hydrogen could be the next big thing in the field of energy; * What's stopping the widespread adoption of hydrogen fuel cell-powered cars; and * Where Hydrox plans to take the technology and how it intends to commercialise it. Don't miss a fascinating interview about a potentially ground-breaking South African innovation. TechCentral

TechCentral, the publisher of South Africa’s leading business technology podcasts, is thrilled to announce the launch of TCS Legends. The new show will feature interviews with (and about) some of the leading figures who helped shape South Africa’s technology industry into what it is today. As the show’s name implies, we’ll be interviewing leading figures who achieved great things in – and for – the tech sector in South Africa. From PCs to IT services and software to telecoms, TCS Legends features some of the leading figures in the industry over the last 30 years. With season 1 launching later in February, TCS Legends is a by-invitation-only, editorially driven tech show that builds on TechCentral’s credible, market-leading multimedia productions, including the TechCentral Show (TCS) and TCS+. TCS Legends is powered by Mitel. For all your unified communications and customer experience needs, visit Mitel.com. TechCentral

Big changes are coming to the way companies build and manage their network infrastructure. This is a key discussion point in the latest episode of TechCentral’s TCS+ technology show, featuring subject matter experts from Dimension Data – soon to be NTT Data – and Cisco. NTT’s 2022/2023 Global Network Report found that 70% of CEOs surveyed indicated that a lack of network maturity was negatively impacting business delivery. But what’s the solution? To unpack that question in some detail, TCS+ spoke to four experts in the field: • Prashil Gareeb, vice president of MNCS, Dimension Data; • Paul Mende, director of managed networking product management, Dimension Data; • Adesh Baboolal, acting client partner director: managed services, NTT South Africa; and • Aadil Hassim, sales specialist for enterprise networking and software, Cisco South Africa. Gareeb kicks off the discussion on the brand changes taking place at Dimension Data – including the renaming of the company – and what they mean for the business and its clients. He also unpacks the longstanding relationship between both Cisco and Dimension Data and Cisco and the NTT Group. The panellists then unpack: • Why many companies have failed to pay sufficient attention to networking. Why is it important to get networking right in the modern cloud era? And what role does this play in digital transformation initiatives? • The advances in wireless networking compared to traditional cabled networks; • How Dimension Data – soon, NTT Data – can help companies with their network modernisation efforts, including a look at what Dimension Data offers the market in terms of managed network services through the NTT Spektra solution; • The relationship the Cisco and how the organisations are working together to solve customers’ problems; • The advantages – and potential pitfalls – of a network modernisation project, including a look the security considerations; and • The benefits of outsourcing network management. Don’t miss this insightful discussion! TechCentral

Andile Ngcaba’s Convergence Partners last week announced it was buying storied South African IT services group Datacentrix from Alviva Holdings for an undisclosed sum. Datacentrix’s long-serving CEO, Ahmed Mahomed, joins the TechCentral Show (TCS) to discuss the acquisition, how it happened, why Alviva decided to sell and what the future holds for the company. In the show, Mahomed unpacks: • Datacentrix’s history, when it was founded, its JSE listing and the acquisition by Alviva; • The business’s key focus areas today; • What the Convergence Partners deal means for the future of Datacentrix; • How Datacentrix will work with Ngcaba; and • Whether the company might head back to the JSE at some point. Don’t miss the discussion! TechCentral

As South Africa experiences tough economic times, employers and workforces alike can benefit from solutions like telemedicine. In a nutshell, telemedicine is the remote diagnosis and treatment of patients by using ICT. This allows an individual to seek a doctor’s advice about non-emergency situations that don’t require an in-person visit. In this episode of TechCentral’s TCS+, Guardian Eye AVA specialist Justine Pillay chats to host Brendan Haskins about this powerful new combination of technology and telemedicine that is set to shake up the way primary healthcare is handled in South Africa. The solution by Guardian Eye, dubbed “AVA”, is an innovative asynchronous internet-of-things medical device and telemedicine platform that is set to bring positive change to the local healthcare industry. According to Pillay, the AVA medical device, powered by IoT, is bridging a gap in the workplace by improving access to care, cutting costs and boosting efficiency in healthcare delivery for everyone involved. The offering is aimed at companies with more than 150 employees and is a first-to-market in Africa. Collecting vital data The AVA Guardian Eye link features remote monitoring of patients by gathering and saving all historical medical data and images, and other forms of communication, allowing healthcare providers to deliver care outside traditional in-person visits. In addition, by using the "Higo Pro” connected e-health care product, AVA can be used to collect vital data from an employee who is feeling unwell. These vitals are then sent to an online healthcare professional to make an initial assessment – generally within a waiting period of only 30 minutes. All medical exams are carried out by a nurse or a trained AVA “champion operator”, with data sent to a qualified doctor for a final diagnosis. If warranted, the doctor will give the employee a prescription for medication and a sick note they can send to the HR department. Benefits for all In this way, AVA saves the employee time by reducing travel and waiting-room times. They can also save money by receiving this unlimited access to a healthcare provider as a work-sponsored benefit, rather than having to pay for their doctors when needed. For employers, Guardian Eye’s AVA can keep digital healthcare records for all members of staff, and increase motivation and morale through the provision of a quality employer benefit. Productivity is also increased, and sick leave is reduced through the provision of onsite telemedicine. Don’t miss a fascinating discussion. TechCentral

Kena Health took top honours at the recent MTN Business App of the Year Awards. Its chief technology officer, Pheello Maboea, tells the TechCentral Show (TCS) about the telehealth start-up’s journey so far. Founded by Saul Kornik in 2021, Kena Health aims to improve the reach of quality healthcare services by digitising access to primary healthcare professionals. The TCS interview, hosted by TechCentral’s Nkosinathi Ndlovu, delves into: • Barriers to telehealth adoption in South Africa and how new entrants are legitimising the industry; • The challenges of designing applications for two very distinct audiences – highly technical medical staff on one hand and vulnerable patients on the other; • How the company approaches talent retention and recruitment in what can be described as a seller’s market for technical skills; • How emergent technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence are going to disrupt healthcare provision; and • What winning the MTN Business App of the Year means for the start-up. Don’t miss a fascinating conversation on the future of healthcare. TechCentral

As we approach 2024, KnowBe4’s content strategy vice president Anna Collard joins TechCentral’s TCS+ show to unpack reflections drawn from the world’s leading security events, as well as dialogues with industry leaders, academics and government representatives. TechCentral