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AFRICA'S DIGERATI: AYISI MAKATIANI, AFRICA ONLINECo-founder of Africa Online Ayisi Makatiani is at 33 one of Africa's youngest digital entrepreneurs. He graduated as an electrical engineer from MIT and worked as a consultant for NYNEX, a telecomms company owned by Bell Atlantic. At 28 he launched KenyaNet with two others. It was sold to the US Prodigy company and then bought back by its managers who decided to seek finance from UK-based African Lakes. This company has put over US$7 million into Africa Online. When Africa Online started it looked like it would be going into a wide range of countries across the continent. How many are you currently in and what's the range of subscriber levels? Africa Online is currently in 8 countries: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Swaziland, Namibia and Zimbabbwe. We are looking at entering more countries including Zambia, Nigeria, Senagal and Egypt in the near future. What does a country need to have for you to consider entering the market? Our entry criteria is usually based on potential market size (vis population size and demographic profile), positive trends in key economic indicators, availability and quality of telecomms infrastructure, potential of a country to form a hub for regional expansion e.g. Kenya for East Africa What about going into the crowded South African market? We are looking into various entry strategies for what is no doubt a large and potentially lucrative market You have spoken about your content plans for Africa Online. Can you describe how you see them developing? The revamping of www.africaonline.com http://www.africaonline.com is well underway and should see it turn out as the definitive gateway to, from and within Africa. We intend to have pan-African and multi-lingual content targeted at and audience both within and outside the continent. What sort of business model will you be using to make it all stack up? E-commerce? Advertising? Other? A combination of both. Who do you think will be the "early adapters" of e-commerce outside South Africa? Who will the surprise adapters be? Possibly the other large African markets - Egypt, Kenya, Zimbabwe. Nigeria may be a surprise adapter. How will becoming a fully-fledged subsidiary of African Lakes affect the company? It is a positive step as it will enable us to take advantage of the management and operational synergies available from the African Lakes Groups other divisions e.g. IT and e-business. How easy has it been to raise capital for an internet operation in Africa? There are difficulties but we have been able to convince our investors that our business model is feasible. Who do you see as your main competitors? Competition may come from various sources including other ISPs expanding into the pan-African space, telcos entering the ISP business etc. However, we have first mover advantage in a lot of markets and are well diversified geographically and by product lines to deal with these eventualities What are the main things holding back the development of the internet in Africa that could be changed if there was the political will? Improvements to telecoms infrastructure would be key. Next week: KWAMI AHIABENU II, AITEC - GHANA
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This page last updated on January 28 2004.
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