News & Opinions

Be it financial inclusion, education, healthcare or social reform, mobile was the key word associated with discussions around these topics at the World Economic Forum on Africa 2013, held in Cape Town this past week.

Mobile is perhaps a distinctly African opportunity.  The fact is that more people have mobile phones in Africa than they have bank accounts.  Africa has more than 650 million mobile phone subscribers, which is more than the US or the European Union.  And it’s a market that has grown exponentially.  According to the World Bank, since 2000 the mobile phone market in Africa has grown 40-fold, from 16.5 million.

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The debate around the penetration of women into executive positions across public and private sector remains a healthy one, and one that it would seem no concrete solution has yet to be found.

Attending the ‘Working Women: from Talent to Leadership’ session at the World Economic Forum on Africa 2013 last week I was struck by two initial thoughts. Firstly, just how few men there were in the audience – the brave few in this session made up about 10%. Secondly, by just how passionate, vibrant and inspiring the women were. There was a diverse grouping of political and business leaders, entrepreneurs and civil society who contributed to a lively discussion.

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Shaping norms and values in Social Media – Democracy is messy, certainly in the media space

On May 8, I was asked to participate in a panel discussion around ‘Shaping Norms and Values of Social Media’, I was to share the World Economic Forum stage with Minister of Communications Dina Pule, the Executive Chairman of MultiChoice, Nolo Letele and two highly regarded representatives from Africa.

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In a time of war, whether declared or not, how much access do you, as a citizen, have to critical information? After the recent debacle in the Central African Republic there was an outcry from the general public that they should have had greater access to sensitive information relating to the SANDF operations in the CAR. But where is the line. How much information can you share with the general public to keep them happy while still ensuring the safety of the troops on the ground?

This is a question that has been asked many times but at the beginning of the twentieth century it wasn’t too much of a focus, but as technology advances so does our thirst for knowledge.

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One of the challenges that all communicators experience during a crisis is balancing transparency and the need for authentic responses with the requirements of legal teams protecting a business’s liability when trouble comes knocking.

Recently we saw a crisis explode on Twitter pertaining to a large global brand. The legal team took too long to approve the recommended responses to those defaming the brand on this most public of forums. The result was that the issue escalated, with key influencers weighing in on the conversation while the brand remained silent at the crucial time when they could have filled the void with facts and an authentic message.

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Ah, life used to be so much easier for companies in the good old days before The Digital Revolution came and took over the world. They controlled the world: they could tell people what they did, and what they should think about them.

How times have changed. Radically. Irrevocably.  Suddenly, people buy stuff based on what they think of a company as much as the product itself – and those perceptions are being shaped by a vast network of fellow-consumers, partners and communities.

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