On Twitter Hersman is known as @whiteafrican – he grew up in Kenya and Sudan and these days lives in Nairobi. If you’re looking into innovation in Africa you can’t go past Hersman. He’s an expert on the technology landscape of the continent – which is completely different to Europe or the USA. At the recent German internet conference, re:publica, Hersman presented the prototype of a mobile router designed to provide an internet connection even in remote and  difficult conditions. This battery powered device called BRCK can switch between ethernet, WiFi, and 3G or 4G mobile phone networks and allow up to 20 users to connect to the internet. DW Akademie’s Steffen Leidel caught up with Erik Hersman at re:publica in Berlin to talk about innovation in Africa.

Do you think the new Silicon Valley or Silicon Valleys of the future can be in Africa or Latin America?

It’s not a simple question. In short, yes I think that there are going to be clusters of technology, innovation and entrepreneurship in Africa and Latin America, and Asia and elsewhere, but it’s going to have a different flavour and different feel than just the Silicon Valley model. I think the models will differ because the cultures differ and the people differ.

But what flavour would it be?

In Africa we see a lot of mobile focus on things. And also we have a different type of investment climate. So I don’t know if the model would look more like Israel in the future. Israel is very much focused on education around technology, heavy local investment in technology and then in spinning those companies out or selling them to other markets. It’s an interesting model. I think rather than trying to grow these huge vertical companies, in maybe South America or Africa, it might make more sense to, at first anyway, grow companies to a certain level and then figure out how they fit into the world stage, and then go to the market that best suits them. My best example of this would be South Africa. What they tend to do is start up a company and then move half of the company to maybe San Francisco or the UK. They will have those guys working on the business and operational side and their development team or the product team will be still back in South Africa. So they can still take advantage of connections on one side but production costs on the other. So you have to think about the ecosystem, you actually have to think about the products too first, because each company has to answer these questions on a very visceral level in order to stay alive and they have to answer the questions about capital, reach and costs of doing business. I know that’s a very long answer – it is a complicated question and the models are still being figured out.

You talked a lot about Afrilabs and the growing network of people in Africa doing innovative things, so where does the power of innovation come from? Is it just western companies bringing their know-how to Africa or is it something else?

Innovation is something that is a human trait – it’s not just a product. It’s what people do. So don’t do innovation: innovate.  It’s an action, a verb – it’s something that you do. Products can be innovative but it’s a people thing.  Is there more innovation in products or services in Europe or America?  Actually I don’t think so at all. There are different types of innovation that are happening and it is just recognised and talked about more in the West than it is in places like Africa and Latin America. I showed a map in my presentation of a kind of a global innovation landscape across the world and you will see big empty patches in certain continents. And again, it is not because there is no innovation happening there, it’s just that they do not count because there is no pattern for them.

So is it possible to accurately measure innovation?

The way of measuring innovation is skewed in the favour of western nations. The definition of an innovation index and how it’s defined right now is around patents. When you have 70% of your economy based on informal sector work, that does not mean that they are not inventing new things and innovating on other products or services, it just means that they are never going to be registered as patentable or they are never going to be patented there. The cost of patenting alone is much too high, much less the chance that you can actually protect it if you were to protect it. So why would you spend the money to do it? Instead of using just patents as a way to measure innovation, there needs to be some other measurement indicators if we want to truly measure innovation across the globe.

Are tangible indicators a problem for you in the same way the media development sector looks for indicators? Is it a problem for what you are doing, particularly for seeking funding?

I think there it goes deeper. The narrative about Africa, in Europe in US where a lot of foundation money comes from, is still of this Africa of the 80s and 90s. It is still hard for some of the groups that represent capital, even investment capital, not just foundation capital in the northern continents, to understand what is going on. So first they have to understand the narrative, and then they have to think about how they could invest in that future.  We are starting to see some change and understand that a little bit better. For example, GIZ flew in the Afrilabs managers – some  15 tech hub leaders from across Africa. I think 13 different countries are represented here in Berlin [at re-publica] which is an investment by a development organisation, a foundation type organisation, into Africa because all of us have not met before in person. So this is a chance to really create some bonds between us and hopefully that will mean greater acceleration in learning about how to run tech hubs better and that would then trickle down to people who are using the tech hubs and we will see better start-ups, better freelancers, better cooperation between not just the hubs but the companies who are at these hubs.

How would you pitch the new narrative of innovation in Africa?

This generation of Africans is looking not for handouts but to create businesses and grow their own part of Africa. That does not mean that there is not room for outside players to invest. But it does mean that this has to come without so much of the agenda driven by outsiders but driven by insiders – driven by Africans themselves.

What’s your thoughts about the digital divide? In many parts of the world the internet is a force for change but not everyone has internet access, or it’s too expensive.

Well, there is water and there’s internet, there are mobile phones and there is food and there are all these things. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs still stands: you need to have shelter, food and water and security before you have some of these other things. But sometimes, mobile phones and internet can help provide those for you. There is also this digital divide term that is interesting. Is it the division between rich and the poor, or is it between urban and rural? I lean towards the second. I say the digital divide is much more between urban and rural because you can be poor in a major city in Africa and still have connectivity or you can still have a phone or have access to one. But sometimes in the rural areas you can have more money but have a lot more difficulties with connectivity. So I think urban and rural is actually more important right now than rich and poor on the digital divide side.

Do you expect a mobile internet revolution with the move from feature phones to smartphones in Africa, or will SMS continue to play an important role.

Ushahidi’s protoype BRCK for mobile connectivity

I think the simple technology is still the default – the lowest common denominator. SMS and USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) is the reason why M-pesa – the world’s biggest money system is based on USSD.  There is a reason why the majority of discussion happens via SMS, but it is changing. There was an inflection point reached last year where Android devices started to penetrate to a certain level and what that has culminated in is things like Safaricom in Kenya decided that they were no longer going to sell feature phones in their stores but they were only going to sell smartphones. There are chat apps like WhatsApp and things like  Mxit in South Africa which have really started penetrating the market, which means that people are using the data channel for even chatting now, meaning less direct text messaging will happen. The early indicators are that we are moving towards the data channel, therefore smartphones will penetrate.

What is the importance of a player like Google in Africa?

It’s massive. Google, Intel, Microsoft, all the big corporate tech companies, and Samsung of course. Those four in particular have had a huge impact on both the decreasing cost of the devices, decreasing cost of the data channels itself and penetration across the sector because they do some of the advertising too. So, I mean the corporate [giants] have driven this.

You work on Ushahidi as well offer Crowdmap – tools that media companies can use, when you look at media companies, how would you advise them to embrace technology?

That’s a good question and the answer is that these crowd technologies are not going away and though they are awkward to learn how to deal with, the best time to learn how to deal with it is when everybody else is learning how to deal with it as well. So get involved and try it instead of standing back and waiting for the ecosystem to develop. Be a part of that ecosystem developing instead. Get involved now.

So should they bring in hackers? There has been a lot of discussion about “hacker-thons” where journalists meet and try to work with hackers.

The answer is never to keep doing what you are doing. The answer is try something different because if you just keep doing what you are currently doing, you are going to be quickly irrelevant. So sure, reach out to the different technology groups. Reach out to do some events around technology – the hacks/hackers kind of thing for journalism and technology – that’s a really great platform.

Below is a round up of recent articles. But first here’s something visual to get a picture of this trend.

This map from Africa Hubs, (built very appropriately on the Ushahidi platform that has gone far to establish Nairobi on the African tech and mobile app scene) shows the location of some 59 technology hubs on the continent.

Let’s hope that Africa Hubs continues to evolve and charts the progress of tech hubs in Africa. For journalists this can be a good resource for story ideas and contacts – the “reports” include addresses, Facebook pages and Twitter handles.

If technology or business is on your beat, follow the Twitter search hashtag #africahubs – another potential source for story ideas and contacts.

Hubs that support a tech-savvy, innovative and creative environment can also be good for media and journalists. If you’re working in a city where one of these new tech hubs have sprung up, let us know if you or your broadcaster 0r newspaper are collaborating on local projects.

BBC: From Kenya to Madagascar: The African tech-hub boom
Eric Hersman,  the co-founder of Ushahidi, offers his insight into a new African generation ” trying new ideas and taking to technology”.

BBC: The workplaces building Africa’s business future
C0-working spaces such as the Mara Launchpad in Kampala offers the right location and facilities for start ups not only to work in but to be taken seriously by investors or clients.

Guardian: West Africa’s technological revolution driven by mobile phones
Innovation is not just happening in East – Google has an office in Lagos, Nigeria. And, “a new breed of home-grown entrepreneurs is adapting technology to local challenges” such as mobile phone innovator SlimTrader.

CNN: How ‘Afropreneurs’ will shape Africa’s future
Idris Ayodeji Bello calls himself an “Afropreneur”. The 33 year old Nigerian co-founded the tech hub Wennovation in Lagos. Bello says his mission is to “enable access to information so that people can tap into their own creativity to solve their problems without having to rely on government”.

Economist: Upwardly mobile – Kenya’s technology start-up scene is about to take off
“Investors are not the only people putting money into Nairobi’s start-ups. The city is brimming with aid agencies, development funds and foreign NGOs eager to shell out shillings.”

Author: Guy Degen

The last part of his journey takes him to Singapore, Tokyo, Beijing and finally to New York and San Francisco. Pisani secures the funding of his project Winch5 (stands for Wave of Innovation and Change on 5 continents) himself by selling his articles to dozens of clients worldwide. He reports on his trip in a number of well-known publications such as Le Monde, El País, Folha de São Paulo or Clarin in Argentina. He also blogs for the Telefonica foundation and for the consulting firm Capgemini. Pisani is fluent in five languages. He was a Nieman fellow at Harvard University and a visiting professor at the universities of Berkeley and Stanford. His articles have been published in more than 100 newspapers and magazines all over the world. The knowledge of many languages and his flawless reputation as a journalist help him to promote his work worldwide.

You lived and reported on technology in Silicon Valley for many years. Today, you are saying that in just a few years time, technology will no longer be coming from Silicon Valley but rather from other places in the world. How did you get this idea?

There are a number of reasons for this. On the one hand, Silicon Valley has lost its dynamics. I’m not the only one who sticks to this opinion. For example, Dave Winer, one of the founding fathers of blogs, or Nick Denton, the founder of Gawker.com, have come to the very same conclusion. They left for New York because the city is much more dynamic. In the meantime, others also show their frustration.

I can still remember an interview in 1996 with Jerry Yang who founded Yahoo. At that time, his bicycle was standing in the first office which Yahoo rented and the first employees were sleeping there, as well. So Jerry Yang said to me: “I want to change the world and become a billionaire.” Today, Silicon Valley still doesn’t exhibit a lack of highly qualified people, with the only difference that they just want to become rich. The uncompromising desire to change the world is no longer there. On top of this, the challenge to increase personal productivity, which motivated people before, has been overcome. Personally, I think that there are actually too many ideas which have already been developed in recent years, especially those regarding Web 2.0.

However, the situation is quite different in other parts of the world. There are people all over the world who have recognized innovation as a source for growth and development. They are looking for venture capital and trying to gain the necessary qualification. Today, you need increasingly less capital to found a start-up and you can cooperate with like-minded persons from all over the world through the Internet.

Which places have surprised you most?

You can find geeks anywhere, including the poorest and less developed places. I was mostly impressed by the people in Accra, Ghana and in Nairobi. In the Middle East, I was particularly impressed by Lebanon and Israel. I have no doubts that Israel is soon to become one of the leading IT nations. I was also extremely excited by Recife in Brazil. The city attracts smart people and start-ups from the whole country, as well as from abroad and has become the third most important technology location in Brazil.

Can you name a couple of examples for the initiatives we should keep an eye on?

There is a company in Ghana named NandiMobile. It helps other companies offer a better service to their customers through SMS and artificial intelligence. Another example would be a start-up Mpedigree which helps you check if a medicine is genuine or counterfeit.

Also, there is ShopAfrica53.com, an online shop which helps local African companies to bring their products to the market. The shop was founded by Herman Chinery-Hesse who was introduced to me as the Bill Gates of Africa.

In Nairobi, there is a money transfer system M-Pesa belonging to Safaricom, whose importance still can’t be estimated properly. M-Pesa allows you to make transfers through your mobile phone. That means you can go to a market in Nairobi and pay with your mobile phone, which would be impossible in Paris. These are only a few examples from the long list.

Who are the people making these innovative ideas come true? There is often criticism that the innovations of western industrial nations are still dominating the market and that a lot of initiatives in the developing nations have been launched by the Europeans or Americans who do nothing but bring already developed projects to the local markets.

Well, at the time when the information technologies were at an early stage, there were many professionals from the North or people from the South who had been trained in the North. But this phase is almost over now. In any case, there’s no reason to distrust a Kenyan, Lebanese or an Indian just because they have spent a couple of years in the United States or in Britain.

We live in an open world and anyone can receive their education and learn new things wherever they want to. What’s crucial is that those people return to their home countries and work there to help their fellow countrymen solve their problems. And that happens. For instance, Adel Youssef from Egypt, the founder of Intafeen, who is a former Google fellow and developer of My Location, has come back to Egypt to program this Arabic geolocation service.

Many of those who criticize the above mentioned developments forget one thing: that the best ideas in Silicon Valley as well as in other northern countries come from the best brains in the South. Many of the start-up founders in the region of San Francisco Bay of the last 30 years were born outside the USA. An example here would be one of the co-founders of Instagram, who is a brilliant developer from Brazil.

Under which conditions can an innovation come into being?

First of all, you need geeks. Many of them have taught themselves programming in the Internet, that’s why an Internet connection is important. And you need a company and money. Many founders start with the money which their families or friends give to them. Problems often occur when there is a need for the second and third round of financing.

The mobile phone is changing the world in the way no other technical device has ever done. How far has it changed societies in the developing countries?

In my view, Africa is ahead of western Europe and the US in a fundamental way: we still see mobile as a complement while they have already made it their strategic means of access to information and communication.

Everybody has a mobile phone because it is cheap. The share of smartphones is between one and five percent which is extremely low. However, there are a lot of innovative approaches regarding the use of SMS. Feature phones are quite popular and can be used in a number of sophisticated ways. That is where we can learn from the South.

• You can follow Francis Pisani and read his reports on Twitter: @francispisani.
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