Recommendation Report on

Futures Lab conducted on Mobile Devices in Africa

Prepared for SAFIPA

July 2010
By

Mobile Tools
&

The Research Institute for Innovation and Sustainability

Contact Details:

Audrey Verhaeghe Henra Mayer

Tel: +27 12 844 0670 Tel: +27 12 844 0671
Cell: +27 82 578 0728 Cell: +27 82 323 7447
E-Mail: Audrey@riis.co.za E-Mail: Henra@riis.co.za

Website: http://www.riis.co.za
 FUTURES LAB IN ICT MOBILITY IN AFRICA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND ............................................................................................ 1

2. FUTURES LAB APPROACH ............................................................................................................. 2

3. STORIES FROM THE FUTURE ............................................................................................................ 3

4. OBSTACLE ANALYSIS .................................................................................................................... 6

5. TRANSFORMATIVE PROCESSES..................................................................................................... 7

6. QUICK- WINS ................................................................................................................................. 10

7. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................. 11

8. RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................................................................... 11

9. ANNEXURE A: REPORT ON THE CAPACITY BUILDING NEEDS FOR SMME’S AND OTHER ROLE PLAYERS
IN THE MOBILE SECTOR ......................................................................................................................... 15

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Table 1: Summary of obstacles..……………………………………………………………............…….............................…7

Table 2: Transformation process categories..……………………………….......................…............……………….….8

Table 3: Summary of transformation processes..………………………………………..................................………..9

Figure 1: Futures Timeline.......................................................................................................................10

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 Recommendation Report on the
Futures Lab conducted on Mobile Devices in Africa

1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

In May 2010 the South Africa and Finland knowledge Partnership on ICT (SAFIPA) contracted the
Research Institute for Innovation and Sustainability (RIIS) and Mobile Tools to conduct a futures lab on
the use of Mobile Devices in Africa. The purpose of the futures lab is to encourage communities and
organisations involved in innovation/ ICT and mobile devices to consider the future of mobile devices in
Africa.

The theme of the futures lab was the future of “Mobility in Africa in 2049” This report presents a
synthesis of the outputs of the futures lab held on 1 and 2 June 2010 for the ICT Mobile sector.

Futures thinking methodologies, as applied in the futures lab, are used because:

• Futures thinking is inherently proactive, reflecting the belief that the future is influenced by
today’s decisions and actions;
• Futures methodologies do not provide predictions and recognise that attempts to address the
future necessitates the management of uncertainty;
• Futures methodology strengthens integration between national level policy, innovation-related
policy and support measures at local level and in organizations;
• Futures methodology supports the creation of platforms that can enable triple helix
cooperation;
• Futures methodologies are a recognized means of developing regional ecosystems for
innovation as they support the building of shared strategic visions, increase Triple Helix
collaboration in the industry sector and support planning efforts; and
• Futures methodologies develop a well-informed context for current decisions by means of
dialogue involving all stakeholders.

In light of the above, 240 individuals from large and small businesses, academia and government were
invited, of whom 49 actually participated in the futures lab. Two virtual and physical networks consisting
of industry, academia and government were directly leveraged and engaged in the futures lab
programme. These are the SA Innovation Network (SAINE) and the Mobile Monday Network (Mo Mo
network). SAINE is a network of innovation players that spans the Triple Helix in Southern Africa. Mo
Mo is a network of practitioners and persons interested in mobile technology. Members of both SAINE
and the Mo Mo network were invited to participate. The futures lab was pre-empted by an informal

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discussion at a Mobile Monday Network event dealing with the future of mobility in Africa held at
Melrose Arch in Johannesburg. All those who participated in the networking event were invited to
attend the futures lab discussion.

SAFIPA created the capacity to conduct the Futures lab in the Meraka Institute of the CSIR. The Meraka
institute provided its time and expertise in leading the futures lab.

2. FUTURES LAB APPROACH

The futures lab was conducted as Phase One of a two -phase project on behalf of SAFIPA.

Phase 1: In this phase (1) a futures lab was conducted and (2) recommendations were made on the
development of the ICT mobility capacity-building program through capacity-building interventions and
the building of a Mobile ecosystem and platform.

This phase included:

• Setting the scene with invitees widely distributed on the SAINE and Mo Mo networks;
• A Mo Mo Network futures event in which two Finnish mobility experts shared their views on the
future of mobility in Africa;
• A two-day futures exercise with the Meraka Institute and SAFIPA. The Finnish experts remained
in SA to participate in the event. Forty nine (49) role players in mobility representing the Triple
Helix participated in the “Mobility in Africa” futures exercise. The capacity to conduct the
futures lab was created in the Meraka Institute and Meraka graciously offered its time and
expertise in developing the content of the Futures Lab. Two Finnish experts from Idean and
Nokia participated in this session, sharing their views on the future. The World Bank’s
representative for ICT Mobility also participated by means of a Skype session.
Process:

The following process was followed:

o Participants participated in an icebreaker about the future;
o A Paradigm DVD was discussed;
o A participatory session about themes for 2049 took place;
o A participatory session was held in which actors, issues, obstacles and drivers for the
main themes were identified;
o A futures story-creation session was conducted;
o A technology map for the period 2010 to 2049 was created; and
o Quick wins were unpacked in terms of actions, role players, policies, business models
and education;
• SAINE and Mo Mo consulted with their members regarding the capacity-building needs in
mobility in the African context; and
• The outcomes of the futures exercise were disseminated on the SAINE network.

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Outputs:

The following outputs resulted from the exercise:

• A Mobility in Africa futures recommendation report; and

• An ICT mobility capacity-building programme document.

Phase 2: The recommendations made in Phase One will be developed and delivered during Phase 2.

An ICT mobility futures lab and capacity-building through implementation of some of the
recommendations in the African context represent a unique endeavour undertaken to support the aims
of the SAFIPA programme.

3. STORIES FROM THE FUTURE

Seven stories about the future of mobility in Africa in 2049 were developed in the futures lab. In this
report only five of these stories are reported as two of them were not presented in a format conducive
to capturing of the detail. All seven stories identified the transformational processes required to make
mobility a reality, as well as the obstacles to this. All these themes are reflected in this report.

Story 1: Mandla Mafenya [2049]

Theme: Manpower / metabolic metamorphosis

This is changing our society from:

A high fuel consumption society to a high energy production society.

Hi, my name is Mandla Mafenya (“Power Hero”)

I live in an eco-friendly sky-rise building in Jo’burg. I am 28 years old. This morning, I woke up and
checked my metabolic status on my MPD (multi-purpose device). I realized that my energy credits were
low, because I had forgotten to turn off my heater before going to bed last night. To compensate for this
and to regain energy credits (to make my morning toast) I went down to the building gym (these days
we call them energy-generators) and put in 30 minutes on the treadmill. This charged my energy
account on my 'phone – enough for me to make my toast, keep my geyser going and save some credits
for later. After breakfast, I put on my NANO-TEXTM Nike-shoes and headed off to work. Instead of taking
the lift to go downstairs, I walked down the 4 flights and accumulated (via the shoes) another 1000
energy points. I stopped at the eco-kiosk on my way to work where my morning load (gym + walking)
was downloaded onto my community grid. At the eco-kiosk I also traded some of my energy credits for
an organic wheat-grass smoothy. I am proud to be responsible for my personal and environmental
health and for striving to create a carbon-neutral footprint. My good habits fuel my life and contribute
to the sustainability of my community. The MAN-POWER-APPTM is using everyday human activity to
save and generate energy.
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Story 2: Education's golden ratio 2049

Theme: Crowd-sourced Education

Once upon a time...

Devon woke up. It was a “school day”. He stayed in bed and his implanted mobile device tingled his
brain into action as the educational content streamed in via the content moderator. He learnt really well
as Mr Pitso, the moderator, ensured that the fantastic content, free and quality-laden, began Devon’s
typical 2049 learning experience.

The providers of this augmented reality brought learning alive in a cosmic storm of nano explosions by
disseminating knowledge of futuristic competencies. They earned credits on the 'edu exchange' as they
benefited society and ensured their success through the activities of Devon and of many, many others
like him. Credits can be swapped for a virtual space holiday and for an upgraded implanted mobile
device called the skill cap v.1.6.18.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the exchange...

Mr Pitso, the Avatar, did not sleep at all, in fact, he never sleeps as he manages nano crawling robots
clawing their way through new learning content which had been placed on the learning exchange
(inbox) in recent hours. Data from across the universe, including updates from latest space holiday
learning and insights into future competences are aggregated by the Avatar and released onto the
exchange to be translated into credits for providers.

A bidding war ensues between the brokerbots as they begin to define Mr Pitso's teaching day.

The real Mr Pitso wakes up. He turns on Devon's lesson device and is relieved to see Devon beginning to
gain insights, competencies and understanding of an ever-changing world that is now made so much
more tangible.

Story 3: A day in the life of Thabo Nkosi (2049)

Theme: Virtual Economy

Thabo wakes up in the morning to the sound of the number one track of his favourite radio station for
which he pays with his virtual money. While Thabo is dressing he gets an alert on his mobile device of
his son’s purchase of chocolates and a Batman comic book at the local department store. He realises
that his son does not have sufficient funds for the goods purchased and tops up his son’s account with
virtual money.

Thabo leaves the house to go to the fields where he works as a farmer. When he is half way to the field
he realises that he has left his mobile phone at the house. He stops at the local spaza store to pick up a
new device, which is very cheap. The device scans his facial features which biometrically identify and
authenticate him and automatically links all his applications and accounts to the new device.
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He is notified that the water pump has failed because of a broken gear and needs replacement. On his
way to the hardware store he gets the stock inventory on his mobile 'phone to see which store has the
gear in stock. He pays for the gear immediately via his mobile 'phone and an order is sent to the local
hardware store. He picks up the gear on his way to the field.

After he has fixed the pump he returns home to do what he loves most. Thabo loves singing and he
uploads the songs that he has written by singing into his mobile phone on the local social network.
Thabo makes a passive income from the tracks which people download and pay for.

Thabo ends the day watching the final of the soccer world cup, South Africa vs. Finland, on his mobile
device.

Story 4: One third of a day in the life of the Tiki family in Uganda

Theme: Automatic Audio/Visual Translations

(Ruwansari main town region)

Ocu wakes up at 04:00 (roused by the alarm on his mobile info. service).

He checks the weather service to see if it will rain today. He sees a note from his cousin that it is raining
in the neighbouring village. He uploads this to the BBC weather service in his own language. He will not
harvest his maize today.

Ocu’s wife Koti uploads the latest samp harvester manual onto the local info service server. She has
translated it for the community. At 06:00 Koti logs onto the Finnish medical advice service to get advice
on the rash that her son Ocutjie developed during the night. In her own language the medical service’s
automated voice guidance system tells Koti to take Ocutjie's temperature with her integrated device
thermometer. The system uses visual recognition to make the diagnosis.

At 08:00 the medical system calls Koti to give her the diagnosis. Ocutjie has chickenpox. It gives her a
local home remedy recipe for symptomatic relief and informs her of the visiting hours for the nearest
medical service.

Ocu's daughter Kotojie begins her mathematics class in her home language presented by Dr P Lapen of
Cambridge University in the UK. She will submit her task in her home language at 15:00. The system
translates it into English for review.

Dr Ball of the CDC in Colorado calls Koti at 09:18. He is doing research on chickenpox in Uganda. Koti
hears him in her home language and answers his questions in her own language. Dr Ball hears the
conversation in English.

At 10:00 Ocu's father, Oc, wakes up. His hearing aid gives him an audio-reminder to take his blood
pressure medication and warns him that this heart rate is irregular and that he should go to the nearest
clinic. He consults his service device to look up directions. He receives his directions by means of
normally understood symbols since he cannot read.

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At 11:00 Ocu logs onto the financial service to look up the current maize price. He receives an invitation
to a farmers’ weekly seminar being presented online at 12:00. When he logs onto the service it
translates the presentation for him including various technical jargon.

Story 5: A day in the life of Karabo

Theme: Education – Digitally Enhanced

At 6:00 sharp, Karabo's pillow buzzes with a signal from the virtual classroom that it is time to wake up.
This triggers her intelligent home to prepare her morning breakfast, bath water and lays out her clothes.

She proceeds to her virtual classroom environment, initiates connectivity from her private to her public
persona and joins her virtual mathematics class.

Today a mathematics subject matter expert from M.I.T. is delivering an advanced trigonometry course
to 7000 students across Africa.

At the end of the lecture Karabo's regular facilitator takes over the virtual session and stimulates
discussion amongst her class... in readiness for the virtual exam.

She sits her exam and is assessed dynamically as she enters her responses before the exam is sent for
final marking.

4. OBSTACLE ANALYSIS
The obstacles identified in the above stories from the futures lab. on “Mobile Africa 2049” can be re-
categorised as suggested Table 1 below. The first obstacle, “political and corporate interest” which
refers to policies, monopolies, financial structures and regulatory environments, was the obstacle most
frequently mentioned.

The obstacles and the frequency with which they occurred are summarized in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Summary of Obstacles

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Obstacles Frequency of mention
Political and corporate interest e.g. policy, monopolies, financial structures, regulatory environments 7
Costs/Funding/Finance 5
Food shortage/Poverty/illiteracy/Lower needs like health and hunger 5
Trust in technological issues content quality/infrastructure to facilitate communication/internet connectivity 5
Cross border obstacles e.g. lack of communication between governments, currencies, complexities, varying taxes 5
Lack of information and service from government to industry, academia and citizens 5
Behavioural change/Paradigms/Current mindsets/Mindsets 4
Privacy/Identity safety 2
Infrastructure e.g. schools 2
Trust/Potential abuse 2
Lack of electricity 2
Total 44

These obstacles represent the issues that prevent the futures stories becoming a reality. They identify
the challenges in Africa that need to be addressed in order to benefit from future Mobile devices.

5. TRANSFORMATIVE PROCESSES
The transformation processes that need to take place to enable the future mobility landscape to be
created are represented in Table 2. These have been coded and grouped for each story. The
transformational processes were identified by the participants as the processes that could be embarked
upon in order to facilitate the use - and disseminate the benefits - of mobile devices in Africa.

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Table 2: Transformation process categories

Story Transformation process Categorization Summary

Uncensored/free
connectivity as Mobile and satellite network coverage IT infrastructure Government services (2)
international
constitutional right Intercontinental connectivity IT infrastructure IT infrastructure (2)

Low-cost devices for accessing information Research & Development Education (1)
Public domain content (education, health,
government) Government services Research and Development (1)

Both free and commercial services Government services

Awareness and education process Education

Manpower/metabolic
metamorphosis Energy barometer - treadmill - bicycles Advanced technology Advanced technology (5)

Kinetic flooring Advanced technology

Ticking Advanced technology

Toll system Advanced technology

Credit system Advanced technology

Empowerment
Access, policy, technology opportunity Strategy Networking and connectivity (5)

Skills development Education Education (1)

Social participation in content delivery Networking and connectivity Government services (1)

Civic engagement Networking and connectivity Strategy (1)

Microfinance - the new micorfinance Government services

Personalisation Networking and connectivity

Emerging markets Networking and connectivity

Social capital/network cloud Networking and connectivity

Crowd sourced
education Brain interface device Advanced technology Advanced technology (3)

Content moderator Advanced technology Networking and connectivity (1)

Content creator Advanced technology

Stock exchange; Edu exchange Networking and connectivity

Virtual economy Mobiles in Africa to be drivers for change with
positive results Education Advanced technology (2)

Intelligent mobile handsets (user agnostic) Advanced technology Education (1)

Connectivity cloud Networking and connectivity Networking and connectivity (1)

Mobile ID - biometric for everyone Advanced technology Strategy (1)

CAZ system/universal service standards Strategy

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Automatic audio/Visual Handheld, implanted, wearable, integrated with
translations existing technology (displays, phones, etc.) Advanced technology Advanced technology (4)
'On the fly' language translation, provision of
health, commerce, education information without
language barriers Advanced technology
Translate information into most
relevant/understandable form (simplify numbers,
mapping, jargon) Advanced technology
Provided everywhere through mobile networks
translation done remotely/over "distributed cloud
intelligence", simplifies device Advanced technology
Education - digitally
enhanced Distributed open classroom model Strategy Education (2)

Combo: v irtual and physical Strategy Networking and connectivity (2)

Ubiquitous high speed connectivity Networking and connectivity Strategy (2)

Learning through VR-VR technology Education Infrastructure (1)

Experts and highly specialised teachers/facilitators Education

Multimedia interactions (video etc) Infrastructure

Assessment - peer computer, educators Networking and connectivity

The frequencies of the appearance of the transformation processes recorded and grouped above are
presented in Table 3.

Table 3: Summary of transformation processes

Transformation process

Advanced technology and R&D 15

Networking and connectivity 9

Education 5

Strategy 4

Government services 3

IT infrastructure 2

Infrastructure 1

From the above it can be deduced that technological breakthroughs (Research and Development),
together with networking and connectivity, are viewed as the most important transformational

9
processes to be addressed and embarked upon if Africa is to benefit from Mobile device use in the
future.

Figure 1: Futures timeline

6. QUICK- WINS
Participants were asked to map the technological breakthroughs and possible interventions required to
realize the scenarios as depicted by the stories for Africa.
The map represented a timescale that started in 2010 and ended in 2049. Groups were formed to focus
on 6 themes that represented pressing issues that could lead to progress or so-called transformations
that could lead to quick wins. The words “quick-wins” should be understood in the light of a 40 year
period in which a “quick win” could mean implementation taking anything from 1- 10 years.
The processes that could be translated into quick-wins in the futures context were translated into:

1. Free Universal Internet Access for Africa: ICT mobility will grow much faster in Africa if access and
connectivity could be free for the masses. ICT connectivity should be treated as a basic human right.
This view provides a platform from which many traditional approaches could be challenged and
from which new and novel markets that drive profitability could be discovered. Business models
could be derived from tax, advertising, donations, social returns, investment, international
agreements, standardisation of services and the removal of roaming charges.
2. Move from Handouts to Empowerments in the roll out of IT/ Mobile Applications in Africa: This
quick win could be realized if African communities became involved in the building, roll-out and
implementation of Mobile infrastructure. In the process they would develop skills and would donate
their time to uplift their communities. A huge platform of collaborators would have to be mobilised
and sustained.

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3. 2nd Generation ID: Actions needed to develop a second generation ID included the development of
a biometric security protocol, biometric device integration, ID authentication cloud, an independent
governance body, third party integrations and an Open Innovation platform.
4. Wireless Charging of Devices: Issues to consider for this quick win for Africa are: Usability,
scalability, safety and standardisation.
5. Carbon Credits on Consumer: This quick win might not be such a quick win as it entails a huge
human transformational process that could be driven globally. As carbon credits are placed on
organisations, the transformation to consumers might not be as arduous as it seems.
6. Virtual classrooms: This quick win needs political will, infrastructure, know-how and
implementation. As all the technology is in place, it is now simply a matter of commitment,
collaboration, time and effort.

The possible role-players who could assist in realizing possible quick wins were identified by the
participants. It is recommended that the role-players, as identified by this exercise, be called together to
participate in a futures exercise on the themes identified and that work committees be formed to lobby
government and for an improvement in cross-border co-operation. This exercise should take place at
the highest level.

7. CONCLUSION
The Futures lab. in Mobility in Africa was a pioneering event that added awareness and knowledge in a
loosely defined ecosystem that we can start to call “An ecosystem for ICT mobility in Africa”. A large
number of people were reached by means of invitations, participation, blogs, a survey and events that
delivered qualitative data that could be used as a basis to inform actions, discussions and themes for
taking the mobile device sector forward in Africa, as an innovation system in its own right.

If this work is to be taken forward the following recommendations should be considered.

8. RECOMMENDATIONS
The recommendations are presented in order of priority as agreed with SAFIPA:

Recommendation 1:
A capacity-building programme for role players in ICT Mobility should be developed. In this programme
the future scenarios should be used to promote innovation within the sector. The programme should

11
contain elements of business management, co-operation with larger organisations, pitching and
technology transfer. The programme should be modular and cohesive so that participants who would
like to participate in all the modules complete a cohesive programme while candidates that only want to
participate in specific modules can do so as the modules are stand alone in enough. The programme
should be designed that it provides good content, is interactive and has enough time between modules
for assignments and integration of the content. The programme should also provide a certificate for
candidates that finish the entire programme. The impact of the programme should be measured.

The following themes are the top recommended themes based on the Mobile capacity survey that was
done in the sector and based on expert analysis. The most important modules for the SMMEs in the
mobile sector are:

Technical Business skills:

• Business Entrepreneurship Skills (1 day)

• Funding Mechanisms and Pitching (1-2 days)
• Business Financial Skills(1 day)

• Technology Road Maps(1 day)

• Market Research (1 day)
• Open Innovation(1 day)

Technological skills

• Cell Phone and Mobile Device Operating Systems (1 Day)

• Mobile Learning(1 day)

• Payment/ Revenue Operator Billing (1 day)

• Future Opportunities Location Based Services (1 day)

• Cloud Computing (1 day)

It is recommended that the programme starts in November (or earlier if possible) and ends in April
2011 and cover as many as possible of the recommended themes.

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Recommendation 2:
An Open Innovation ecosystem (consisting of solution providers and solution seekers in mobile
applications) should be built and sustained in Southern Africa. The creation of a community that is kept
alive with real business challenges and solution providers is also proposed. This will include:
• Building a local network of solution seekers and solution providers in various technology related
areas;
• Establishing contacts between solution seekers with solution providers globally;
• Enabling crowd sourcing;
• Creating a platform for technology transfer where SA companies can respond to global Fortune
1000 company needs;
• Profiling innovation players; and
• Promoting and enabling open innovation within South Africa.

What is Open Innovation ?

Open Innovation, in short, refers to a set of defined processes and engagements with virtual and
physical networks to discover, isolate and implement innovative ideas, technologies, products and
capabilities from outside organisations to address identified problems / challenges. More
comprehensive descriptions show that Open Innovation is a paradigm that assumes that an organisation
can and should use both external and internal ideas, as well as internal and external paths to market and
promote their technologies.

Open Innovation enables organisations to encourage the global innovation community to help solve
organisations’ biggest challenges by significantly expanding its innovation network to solve these
challenges.

Advantages of Open Innovation

• It accelerates the innovation cycle;

• It provides access to new ideas and knowledge;
• It creates an R & D platform;
• It facilitates the finding of new suppliers and supplier networks; and
• It provides technology intelligence to organisations.

Recommendation 3
The following themes were identified as the “early” issues that could make some of the scenarios
possible:
• Free universal internet access for Africa;
• Wireless charging of devices; and
• Virtual classrooms.
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Possible role players were also identified by the participants. It is recommended that these role players
be involved in a futures exercise on the identified themes and that work committees be formed to lobby
government and cross border co-operation. This exercise should take place on the highest level.

Recommendation 4:
Virtual provocation: it is recommended that a video be produced by IDEAN about the scenarios created
for Africa. This video should be widely disseminated on the Internet. Further recommendations in this
regard are attached as Annexure A.

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9. ANNEXURE A: REPORT ON THE CAPACITY BUILDING NEEDS FOR SMME’S AND OTHER ROLE
PLAYERS IN THE MOBILE SECTOR

Report on the Capacity building needs for SMME’s and other

role players in the Mobile Sector

Table of contents
1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 17

2. Methodology and demographic data ........................................................................................... 17

3. Results......................................................................................................................................... 18

4. Recommendations....................................................................................................................... 22

Annexure A: Questionnaire ............................................................................................................. 23

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 List of figures

Figure 1: Employment of respondents ............................................................................................. 17

Figure 2: Business skills requirements of all respondents ................................................................. 18
Figure 3: Technology skills requirements of all respondents ............................................................ 19
Figure 4: Technology skills: Mobile sector employees ...................................................................... 20

List of tables

Table 1: Business skills comparison: Top 5 ....................................................................................... 19

Table 2: Technology skills comparison: Top 5................................................................................... 21
Table 3: Open question ................................................................................................................... 21

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1. Introduction

This survey was conducted as part of the South Africa - Finland knowledge partnership on ICT (SAFIPA)
Futures Lab project in the Mobile Industry. The purpose of this survey is to determine the capacity
building needs of SMMEs and other role players in the Mobile Industry. The results of the survey will be
used to develop training modules for role players in the Mobile Industry to improve their technology
and business skills. The study was based on information gathered from the Mobile Monday Networking
event which was held on 31 May and the Mobility Foresight Workshop on Mobility in Africa which took
place on 1 and 2 June 2010.

2. Methodology and demographic data

The original questionnaire was compiled by the Research Institute for Innovation and Sustainability
(RIIS). This questionnaire was distributed to several people employed in the mobile sector for
consultation and feedback before it was send to the wider mobile community. Feedback was received
from Mobile Tools, Nokia and the CSIR and the suggested changes integrated by RIIS. The final
questionnaire is attached as Annexure A.

The final questionnaire was designed electronically by RIIS and the link to the survey was send via e-mail
to the Mobile Monday Network, the RIIS mobile industry database (including employees in the mobile
sector who was invited and/or attended the Mobile Monday Networking event and the Mobility
Foresight Workshop). The link was also e-mailed to the South African Innovation Network (SAINe)
members and the IZAZI community. The survey further featured on the SAINe website during the
running period which commenced on 14 July and closed on 30 July. Figure 1 below clearly shows that
the survey was mostly completed by role players in the business sector.

FIGURE 1: E MPLOYMENT OF RESPONDENTS

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3. Results

The questionnaire probed two distinct capacity building fields. The first section of the questionnaire
probed business needs and the second part focused on technology capacity building needs. The results
of the two fields are discussed separately.

Business Skills:

Respondents were asked to mark a maximum of five business skills they would find most valuable for
additional training. Figure 2 shows that the majority of respondents (60.6%) indicated that they require
‘Business entrepreneurship skills’ (including planning, marketing branding and business skills). Almost
half (45.5%) of the respondents marked ‘Technology roadmaps and trends’ as a requirement followed
by ‘Future thinking’ (39.4%), ‘Funding mechanisms and pitching’ (36.4%) and ‘Market research’ (36.4%).

When analyzing the respondents employed directly in the Mobile Industry ‘Business entrepreneurship
skills’, ‘Technology roadmaps and trends’, ‘Funding mechanisms and pitching’ and ‘Market research’ and
‘Business Financial Skills’ were the five most popular required skills. The latter five business skills are
displayed by a brown colour in Figure 2 below. The 6th to 9th most marked skills according to
respondents from the Mobile Industry are ‘Futures thinking’, ‘Business strategy’, ‘Managing innovation’
and ‘Requirements for entering the African market’. These skills are depicted by an orange colour in
Figure 2 below.

FIGURE 2: BUSINESS SKILLS REQUIREMENTS OF ALL RESPONDENTS

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Table 1: Business skills comparison: Top 5

Table 1 above can be used to compare the skill requirements of people directly employed in the Mobile
Industry to those not directly employed in this industry. ‘Market research’ and ‘Business Financial skills’
are more popular with employees in the Mobile Industry than for people not employed directly in this
industry. On the other hand training concepts focused on ‘ Futures thinking’ and ‘Open innovation
principles’ were more popular with people not directly employed in the Mobile Industry.

The following additional business skill was mentioned as a training requirement:

Relationship management with Aggregators, Celcos and Application vendors

Technology Skills:

FIGURE 3: TECHNOLOGY SKILLS REQUIREMENTS OF ALL RESPONDENTS

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Respondents were asked to mark a maximum of five technology skills they would find most valuable for
additional training. In the Figure 3 above one can see that 48.5% of respondents require ‘Future
opportunities - Location based services’. This is followed by ‘Technologies – Cell phone and mobile
device operating systems’ skills with 45.5% and ‘Mobile learning’ which 39.4% of respondents marked as
a requirement. These latter three skill requirements are also amongst the top five required skills for
Mobile Industry respondents. ‘Payment/Revenue – in application billing’ was ranked fourth by the total
group followed by ‘Mobile internet bandwidth & speed’, ‘Payment/Revenue – operator billing’ and
‘Technologies – Web runtime / Web applications’.

‘Payment/Revenue – operator billing’ and ‘Technologies – cloud computing’ also classified amongst the
top five themes for Mobile Industry respondents. The top five skills pertaining to the Mobile Industry
respondents are coloured dark blue in the graph above, whereas the 6th to 9th most popular required
skill for this group are displayed in a lighter shade of blue.

FIGURE 4: TECHNOLOGY SKILLS: MOBILE SECTOR EMPLOYEES

In Figure 4 above respondents from the Mobile Industry are indicted separately to demonstrate the
most important technology skill for this group.

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Table 2: Technology skills comparison: Top 5

When considering Table 2 above it becomes clear that ‘Mobile internet bandwidth and speed’,
Payment/Revenue – operator billing’ and Technology – Web runtime / Web applications’ are equally
important skills (fifth most popular, all marked by 30.3% of respondents) for the total group. However,
‘Payment/Revenue in application billing’ are not classified amongst the top five popular required skills
for direct mobile industry respondents but is indicated among the top five for the total group.
Additionally ‘Payment/Revenue – operator billing’ are rated as the second most important skill by
Mobile Industry respondents, but the same is not true for non-direct mobility participants. However, for
this group ‘Security and privacy’ is indicated as important.

Additional technology skills mentioned once only by the group were:

1 ) Future opportunity - business/trading
2) Mobile application development
3 ) Mobile Web Advertising - Banner Display and Search

Table 3 below represents further suggestions from respondents regarding training modules to be
developed in the Mobile Industry.

Table 3: Open question

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4. Recommendations

N/A for public report

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