Sound previously worked as a Consultant at Deloitte in Kenya, and then as a Technical Trainer and Infrastructure Consultant at InfoSys in Ethiopia.

He joined Microsoft as a Senior Consultant in 2003 and went on to become the Specialist Sales Unit Manager in 2010.

Sound also worked at Oracle in Kenya from 2013 to 2019 — first as a Senior Sales Manager and then as a Sales Director.

In this What’s Next interview, Sound joins Aki Anastasiou to discuss how private and public sector organisations in Africa can accelerate their digital transformation through the cloud.

He explains how the cloud provides innovation and agility to businesses of all sizes and unpacks which aspects businesses should focus on when moving to the cloud.

Sound then highlights the impact of digital transformation in the East Africa region and explains how 51·çÁ÷technologies are helping businesses in these regions to succeed.

Finally, Sound explains how businesses can get in touch with 51·çÁ÷to begin their digital transformation journey.

The full interview with SAP’s East Africa Regional Director, Hardeep Sound, is embedded below.

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The post What’s Next — SAP’s Hardeep Sound Talks About Accelerating Digital Transformation in Africa appeared first on 51·çÁ÷Africa News Center.

However, as East Africa’s economic engine kicks back into gear, the vital task of looking beyond immediate recovery toward longer-term economic growth and prosperity takes centre stage.

Today, the urgent question is: what investments into new tools, technologies and policies can be made now to build a stronger and more equitable regional economy in the decade ahead?

I would argue that the region could benefit most from investments into youth skills development, adoption of cloud technologies to unlock market expansion opportunities, and focused attention on the agricultural sector, which is critical to both employment and food security across East Africa.

Activating the youth skills pool

Africa’s abundant and growing youth population has been widely discussed as an opportunity for the continent to drive the world’s economic engine in the decades ahead. With populations in much of the developed world expected to decline during the 21st century, Africa’s surplus of youthful talent could play a vital role in preventing a skills shortage and ensuring ongoing economic growth.

However, much work needs to be done, and with urgency. A recent survey of tertiary education institutions in East Africa found that . Only 53% of respondents from Kenya – and only 17% in Ethiopia – indicated that their students often or always have access to a computer.

The growth of the digital economy and the automation of mundane tasks through technological innovation means low-skill clerical work is increasingly being done by machines and algorithms. For our region’s youth to have opportunities for successful careers that can help grow local economies, more emphasis needs to be placed on digital skills development that equips youth for high-value tasks.

Initiatives such as 51·çÁ÷Africa Code Week, which draws in millions of youths every year in a continent-wide effort at inspiring a love for digital technologies and coding, play an important role at the grassroots level. Vitally, Africa Code Week’s Train-the-Trainer program also equips teachers with valuable skills that can be transferred to youth throughout the academic year.

Graduate employment and skills development initiatives such as the Young Professionals Program helps to close the gap between academic knowledge and business-ready skills. This serves the dual purpose of providing career development and employment opportunities for youth and ensuring a steady supply of fit-for-purpose skills to public and private sector organisations.

Climate change raises stakes in food security

Agriculture remains one of the continent’s most important economic sectors, .

Data indicates a large reserve of untapped potential in the African agricultural sector. McKinsey estimates to add 20% to global grain and cereal supplies with several key interventions. These include yield improvements through better use of fertilisers, weather data and technology, as well as land expansion and post-harvest yield loss reduction.

Investing in appropriate tools, technologies and training could unlock vast economic growth for both the millions of smallholder farmers and their dependent communities as well as local economies.

Such support should be provided with urgency considering the growing impact of climate change on our continent. Recent data indicates that , a situation that will only be exacerbated as the changing climate unleashes adverse weather conditions including floods, droughts, more severe seasons, and wildcard events such as the recent locust swarms that have decimated farming activity across large parts of the region.

Tools such as 51·çÁ÷Rural Sourcing Management can play a vital role in empowering smallholder farmers with better data and knowledge while unlocking greater market opportunities.

Rural Sourcing Management is a cloud-based supply chain management tool that connects smallholder farmers to the agricultural value chain and has been used to significant effect in the region, including in deployments to support the Africa Cashew Initiative and the Uganda Coffee Farmers Alliance.

Leapfrogging legacy underdevelopment

Most of Africa lacks legacy infrastructure development in technology and connectivity, with key technologies from the previous wave of innovation, such as fixed broadband, having largely missed the continent.

While this has stunted growth and development in some cases, it has also created an opportunity now for public and private sector organisations to build fit-for-purpose infrastructure instead of having to repurpose outdated technologies.

As the African Union notes in its Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa, where the continent can adopt modern digital technologies faster and without hindrance.

Such efforts must include a focus on cloud technologies, as these scale more easily as enterprises grow and can more readily enable expansion into new territories or market segments.

The role of the continent’s specialist tech implementation companies cannot be overstated: as businesses increasingly look to unlock the benefits of the cloud, the implementers serve as partners and guides, helping organisations adopt new tools and processes without undue disruption to their operations.

Initiatives such as RISE with 51·çÁ÷further ease adoption by providing organisations with a tested model for deploying cloud technologies as well as best-practice playbooks that eliminate the trial and error associated with large-scale business transformation efforts.

The post Beyond Recovery: Tech’s Role in Building a Fit-for-purpose East African Economy appeared first on 51·çÁ÷Africa News Center.

Reflecting on the significance of Africa Day, we have accomplished much in terms of colonial liberation, but much work remains to be done in achieving liberation from persistent challenges such as poverty, inequality, and unemployment that continue to plague the African continent.

I am fortunate to work in the dynamic and vibrant technology space, supporting a wide range of businesses in various industries, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the African continent.

A common realisation in my travels and interactions with business leaders has been the enormous opportunities that the African continent possesses.

According to the , Africa has a population of 1.1 billion people, which is roughly equal to the combined populations of Europe and North America.

A resource-rich continent of youthful potential

Africa’s youthful population is expected to grow to 1.4 billion by the year 2030 and 2.1 billion by 2050. Roughly 70% of Africans are under the age of 30, compared to Europe where populations are aging and declining. This young population offers enormous opportunities for economic growth and innovation, but only if they are seized.

Other valuable resources are also waiting to be unlocked

data indicates that Africa has 30% of the world’s mineral resources and 65% of the planet’s arable agricultural land. South Africa, for example, holdsĚý90%Ěýof the world’s , while Nigeria and Libya are among the top ten countries with the largest oil reserves.

Africa also has the largest cobalt reserves, with the Democratic Republic of Congo accounting for more than two-thirds of global supplies. As the world transitions to green energy sources, cobalt has become a strategic resource, particularly in the automotive and power generation industries.

In certain types of innovation, Africa also leads the world

According to a into mobile payment banking, Kenya and Ghana have the second and third highest mobile payment usage after China, demonstrating Africa’s enormous potential. Mobile transactions account for 87% of Kenya’s GDP and 82% inĚýGhana.

To put this in context, the African mobile payment market could have 850 million customers by 2025, which is 100 million more than Europe’s total population.

The big question is why, despite a large young population and mineral resource wealth, does Africa continue to trail the rest of the world in its development?

Tech-enabled SMEs could power the continent’s growth

One of the solutions to driving Africa’s economic development could lie in the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector. SMEs have the potential to support development by creating jobs and driving economic growth. The burning question is: why are African SMEs so slow to adopt and leverage technology?

African businesses – and SMEs in particular – face significant challenges that include lack of access to capital, specialised skills, raw materials, and markets. A lack of adoption of new technologies is causing several issues for Africa’s SME sector, ranging from poor planning, a lack of forecasting capability, and lack of capacity to leverage the efficiency gains of artificial intelligence and machine learning. These issues must be addressed if we are to unleash the next generation of African business success stories.

Although technology is not the only answer to the question of building world-class competitive African businesses, it is one of the most accessible solutions to many of the challenges that businesses face. Returning to the mobile payment banking example, this innovation was the result of a clever useĚýof technology to address a fundamental challenge in both Kenya and Ghana: a lack of banking infrastructure.

Digital supply chains and business network solutions could unlock access to new markets for raw materials or finished products. Innovative use of technology – like what we’ve seen with mobile banking – could solve immediate challenges stunting SMEs’ growth and unlock a new wave of innovation across the continent.

Even though Africa continues to face numerous and complex challenges, there is no denying that the continent is brimming with possibilities. The time is now for African businesses to leverage technology as a strategic resource to fuel innovation and growth.

ĚýDumisani Moyo is the Marketing Director atĚý51·çÁ÷Africa. He is an avid scholar in technology, leadership, diversity, and sustainability. Dumi has extensive experience in technology and a Master of Philosophy Degree in Business Management with a specialization in Responsible Leadership.

Visit the 51·çÁ÷News Center. Follow 51·çÁ÷on Twitter at .

The post Can Technology be the Driving Force Behind Africa’s Development? appeared first on 51·çÁ÷Africa News Center.

Countries across East Africa are breathing a sigh of relief as pandemic-related challenges finally ease and the prospect of some form of normalcy emerges.

While the region avoided the worst of the health-related impacts of the pandemic,Ěý, andĚý.

The impact of the pandemic has prompted renewed calls for a transformation of East African economies to better suit the challenges and opportunities in the global economy.

However, the latestĚýĚýby the Brookings Institute points out that a lack of investment in science and technology has hampered Africa’s economic transformation at a structural and sectoral level, and stifled innovation.

But following a two-year period of disruption, the region has an opportunity to rebuild in a way that not only aids its economic recovery but also establishes a powerful foundation for the region’s growth over the coming decades.

Three vital sectors could hold the key to how well the region recovers over the coming years, namely manufacturing, tourism, and pharmaceutical.

Considering the important economic role that manufacturing plays in East Africa, investments into technologies that can foster greater global competitiveness in the region’s manufacturing sector could unlock much of this potential to the benefit of East African economies.

The focus should be on building Industry 4.0 capabilities that bring together next-generation technologies – such as artificial intelligence, robotic process automation, Industrial Internet-of-Things and predictive analytics – integrated to an intelligent core that can bring unprecedented control, predictability and efficiency to manufacturing operations.

Aspects such as quality control, plant consumption and energy management, smart warehousing, factory asset intelligence and overall performance management can be transformed with Industry 4.0 capabilities. Integrating manufacturing facilities with digital supply chains could further help alleviate some of the present challenges with the global supply chain and bring greater stability to manufacturing operations.

In a recent global study, 21% of manufacturers said theyĚý, while 19% cited productivity improvements of more than 10%.

As the region reboots a manufacturing sector vital to its economic prospects, smart investment into Industry 4.0 technologies could help the sector accelerate its growth and boost its global competitiveness.

Special attention, however, must be paid to developing innovative supply chain solutions, especially considering the global supply chain crunch that has seen shortages of goods in markets around the world.

Any efforts at digitising the manufacturing value chain through Industry 4.0 technologies must include interventions and innovations that bring greater transparency and predictability to the supply chain.

Pharmaceutical sector: closing the R&D gap

Research and development initiatives hold the potential of unlocking tremendous economic advantages and stimulating foreign direct investment.

However, Africa lags far behind the more developed nations in their R&D spending, with the result that the majority of product and service innovations driving African economies stem from outside the continent.

This R&D gap and lack of local capacity was on full display during the early stages of the pandemic when Africa’s lack of local pharmaceutical production and manufacturing capacity left most of the continent without access to life-saving vaccines.

Policymakers and industry leaders should look at the opportunities for greater regional investment into R&D and draw on international best practices. For example, 18 of the world’s 20 largest vaccine producers run their production facilities using 51·çÁ÷technologies, so local production facilities could draw on learnings from their global peers to avoid costly mistakes and fast-track success.

As with the manufacturing sector, pharmaceutical companies should support investment into digital transformation with efforts at gaining greater visibility over their supply chain.

While it is unlikely the pandemic will disrupt the global supply chain as it has over the past two years, other disruptive events are bound to emerge. Investing in tools that bring predictability to the supply chain will enable pharmaceutical companies to more easily adapt to further disruptions.

Tourism sector: safely opening the doors to international visitors

Prior to the pandemic, the tourism sector was a key economic driver for East African countries andĚý.

However, travel restrictions implemented to help curb the spread of COVID-19 in the region resulted in losses of 92% of tourism revenues, with arrivals dropping sharply from seven million in 2019 to little over two million in 2020. Further global travel restrictions as a result of the Omicron variant have only compounded the losses.

With Western countries now lifting many of their travel bans – and in some cases removing all mandated restrictions – East Africa needs to urgently work to re-establish the region as a prime tourist destination.

The introduction of theĚý, which integrates the testing and vaccination data of regional countries could help ease movement across East Africa and stimulate greater tourism industry revenues.

Using digital technologies to remove some of the friction inherent in post-lockdown international travel could further encourage international arrivals, while innovation in tourism experiences built on technological innovation could turn the region into a test case for how countries attract tourists in the year ahead.

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As the only region in Africa to avoid a recession in 2020, East Africa is poised for strong growth despite ongoing disruption from the pandemic.

While the exact level of threat posed by the newly-discovered Omicron variant of COVID-19 remains to be seen, the reaction from the global community – travel restrictions, potential lockdowns – could have a severe impact on the region’s economic fortunes.

For organisations and business leaders in the region, the emergence of new unknowns and potential disruptions should not distract from the urgent task of recovery following an immensely difficult near-two year period.

In particular, four key priorities could enable businesses to accelerate their recovery and achieve greater resilience against future disruptions:

Priority One: Digitise with haste

The past two years have marked a radical shift in consumer behaviour. In Kenya, for example, mobile money transfers grew by nearly 63% in 2020 . Service such as banking has seen accelerated digitisation, ecommerce adoption is growing, and hybrid work models mean most organisations have had to implement new tools to support employees working from home.

For smaller businesses, the impact of the pandemic has been disastrous. A survey undertaken between June and August 2020 found that . Ninety percent had experienced a fall in sales, and one in five workers in the sector had lost their jobs.

In Kenya, however, SMEs increased their use of digital technology to work around pandemic restrictions. Nearly half of SMEs in the country increased their use of digital platforms, while 13% are investing in digital technologies.

In its most recent East Africa Economic Outlook, the African Development Bank advises that the region should, among other measures, ‘‘.

Effective utilisation of cloud technologies, for example, could enable small and larger enterprises to test new digital channels and business processes that can then be quickly scaled to serve existing customers or reach new ones.

Priority Two: Build back better (and more sustainably)

In the early days of 2020, when countries implemented strict lockdowns and economic activity tapered off, global emissions dropped and, for a moment at least, it seemed as if the pandemic would be a catalyst for sustainability.

However, data indicates that . The recently concluded COP26 failed to inspire hope that major greenhouse gas emitters would suddenly change course and adopt more sustainable practices.

The changing climate will have a dire impact on East Africa. Recent data indicates that . More heatwaves and cyclones are expected to impact agricultural activities, while potentially driving vast locust swarms to the region, where they cause untold devastation to farmers.

Considering the importance of agriculture to the region’s economic prospects, it is essential that all efforts at economic recovery take into account the potential impact on the climate.

As another of the region’s most important industries, the manufacturing sector – – presents a golden opportunity for the region’s innovators to design more sustainable processes.

By ensuring sustainability is embedded in every manufacturing process, East Africa could achieve economic growth while limiting the severity of the climate impact on future generations.

Priority Three: Eliminate uncertainty

Even before the emergence of COVID-19, the world faced unprecedented uncertainty. The continued disruption caused by new digital technologies, the accelerating pace of modern life and a rapidly shifting global political landscape combined to create an environment where change was truly the only constant.

This situation is likely to continue and even become exacerbated by the pandemic, but organisations and decision-makers are not powerless. Organisations that can use data and analytics to gain a real-time, granular view over every aspect of the business can eliminate some uncertainty and improve the accuracy and quality of their decisions.

As the nerve centre of the modern intelligent enterprise, ERP solutions bring a level of clarity and control to decision-makers that is essential to effective leadership.

Integrating emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning unlocks further benefits, especially in terms of optimising business processes. Worryingly, , with Kenya ranked highest in a recent global study at 105 out of 158 countries.

As organisations design their post-pandemic business strategies, all efforts must be made to leverage technology as a tool to reduce uncertainty while unlocking opportunities for new gains in efficiency, accuracy and identifying entirely new business models.

Priority Four: Collaborate & innovate

Africa is no stranger to innovation. found that 13% of all new or modified technology that has been developed in response to the pandemic originated in Africa.

Driving innovation through the effective use of new technologies holds the promise of improving service delivery and boosting productivity. As countries and industries across the region rebuild, understanding the role technology plays in driving innovation is essential.

The region’s outstanding track record in the mobile payments space should serve as inspiration.

Millions of East Africans that were previously excluded from formal banking or credit services today use mobile money services to secure lending opportunities, repay loans and build transaction histories that can unlock access to other formal financial services. Entire ecosystems of products and services have emerged to deliver additional value to mobile money users.

Today, the region is in mobile peer-to-peer finance.

Other areas of innovation include the region’s use of technology to improve agricultural outcomes, for example through the use of SAP’s Rural Sourcing Manager, which gives smallholder farmers weather and market data, improved selling opportunities, and access to new markets.

Using the levers of regional and intra-African cooperation – through the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, or East Africa Community – could further accelerate the pace at which new innovations spread from one country or region to the rest of the continent.

Through ongoing collaboration among African nations, the region and continent could improve the speed at which it rebuilds its economy while unlocking a wealth of new opportunity.

The post Four Make-or-Break Priorities for East Africa’s Economic Recovery appeared first on 51·çÁ÷Africa News Center.

In Kenya, the official state agency responsible for social security chose 51·çÁ÷to support its growth, enable the expansion of its services to a greater share of the population, maintain the highest standards of quality controls across its operations and enable new customer-centric innovation.

According to the National Social Security Fund of Kenya CEO Dr. Anthony Omerikwa, the lack of integration due to disparate systems across its 61 physical locations created internal challenges. “Initially, each of our 61 branches had their own system, with no integration between departments. We chose to implement an ERP system to bring consistency across all our operations and support our growth as we expand access to our services to a greater share of the population. In light of the challenges created by the pandemic, we also introduced new mobile money payment options to reduce customer travel to banks.”

The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) is a Kenyan government agency that is responsible for the collection, safekeeping, responsible investment and payment of retirement benefits members/employees in both the formal and informal sectors of the Kenyan economy.ĚýThe NSSF guarantees its members basic compensation in the case of permanent disability, basic assistance to needy dependants in case of death, and a monthly life pension upon retirement.

Following an external review conducted by KPMG and commissioned by the NSSF board, a number of gaps were revealed in the organisation’s audit controls. “As a vital part of Kenya’s social security for both the formal and informal sectors, weĚýneeded to improve our governance, risk and compliance controls across our growing membership base and expanding national footprint. We opted for an 51·çÁ÷deployment as it would be an extension of our existing system.”

The NSSF currently serves five million members and receives KES15-billion in annual collections. The organisation had implemented an 51·çÁ÷enterprise resource planning solution between 2012 and 2013, which included 51·çÁ÷financial modules, supply chain modules, human capital management and payroll modules as well as integration to the broader state social security system.

Following the latest ERP implementation, the NSSF has gained real-time reporting capabilities across the organisation, with improved risk controls and greater alignment with its broader enterprise risk strategy. “We have also improved our ability to detect and prevent anomalies to reduce risk and prevent losses. Our overall financial performance has improved and our board audit committee has real-time access to the total performance of the organisation across all our operations.”

In 2020, the organisation partnered with Safaricom and Kenya Commercial Bank to enable customers on the NSSF Tenant Purchase Scheme (TPS) to make rent and service charge payments through M-PESA. “With this cashless payment solution, members no longer have to travel or queue at banks to make payments, reducing their health risks and delivering greater convenience to our customers.”

According to Dr. Omerikwa, the NSSF Strategic Plan required greater alignment with business operations to ensure ease of doing business with all stakeholders. “The new TPS payment process has reduced traffic into banking halls and NSSF offices, increased service efficiency and customer convenience, reduced turnaround time on service delivery and lowered our operational costs. In addition to payments, the service integration also provides NSSF with the functionality to reconcile tenant accounts and generate reports and statements. Overall it has been a hugely successful project that has enabled us to better serve our customers and meet our important mandate.”

Pedro Guerreiro, Managing Director for Central Africa at SAP, says the NSSF’s use of technology to improve the delivery of services to citizens bodes well for the organisation’s growth ambitions. “By putting technology at the core of its operations and leveraging the latest solutions to improve quality controls, the NSSF is well on its way to building intelligent enterprise capabilities that will support the delivery of essential services to Kenya’s formal and informal sector for the benefit of all its citizens.”

The post NSSF Innovation Strengthens Social Support to Kenyans appeared first on 51·çÁ÷Africa News Center.

Speaking from his more than 20 years’ experience at 51·çÁ÷in Europe, America and Africa, he asserts that digital transformation makes business sense. He adds that integrating enterprise-wide processes leads to better performance outcomes.

51·çÁ÷provides a suite of industry-specific enterprise application software to firms of all sizes, helping them to run at their best. For example, top utility firms in Europe and the United States (US), as well as a host of others in Africa, run on SAP. In fact, 99 of the 100 largest companies in the world are 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA customers.

“It is easy to find role models that run on 51·çÁ÷software,” says Mr Guerreiro, adding that the firm’s solutions are easy to adopt and fast to implement.

Mr Guerreiro reveals that Sub-Saharan Africa firms – including state corporations – that have transformed into intelligent enterprises are unlocking technology’s enormous potential and reaping the benefits.

After adopting SAP’s latest technology, they are improving operational efficiency, saving costs, maximising revenues, enhancing transparency, sharpening talent management and delivering significant shareholder value. This is because full or end-to-end automation gives managers a real-time view of the entire business, enabling them to make informed decisions that enhance the business’s agility in a highly dynamic, challenging marketplace.

However, as Mr Guerreiro observes, whereas East African firms have widely adopted enterprise resource planning (ERP), few have invested in specific, best-of-breed technology strategies.

“Awareness of the need for digital transformation is pretty good in the region, but the investments being made towards that objective still fall short in scope,” he says.

He urges managers and business owners: “If you are not embracing digital transformation, you are letting the opportunity for your colleagues, company and shareholders slip by, and you will be disadvantaged in the market. This was the case even before the pandemic but is even more critical now.”

He says business leaders should think of what they can do in their firms to make them intelligent enterprises.

Mr Guerreiro, who has more than two decades’ experience at SAP, has seen what modern technology does for businesses. He says the feedback from users of 51·çÁ÷business solutions is positive.

“They see the technology’s benefits and impact on their bottom line and their top line,” says Mr Guerreiro, adding that 51·çÁ÷solutions “can help you grow more resilient, more profitable, and more sustainable.”

SAP’s end-to-end processes, integrated into the 51·çÁ÷Business Technology Platform, run a variety of enterprises in the 25 industries the firm focuses on.

Some firms have gone a step further and use 51·çÁ÷on the cloud, saving themselves the time and energy they would have spent to store information on-site as well as to maintain the infrastructure. Moving to the cloud is the next opportunity for African organisations to transform and thrive.

51·çÁ÷also runs corporate social responsibility programmes that tap into its reservoir of ICT knowledge to empower future generations with the skills they need to drive in a digital economy.

Under the Africa Code Week (ACW) initiative and 51·çÁ÷Skills for Africa, the technology firm offers free ICT training to young people. This broad initiative is aimed at developing ICT skills in Africa as part of SAP’s global commitment to promoting education and entrepreneurship.

So far, it has trained 4 million youth across Africa on basic programming as part of ACW. “This training inspires the young people that ICT is fun and worth pursuing as a career,” explains Mr Guerreiro.

The Young Professionals Program (YPP) in Africa, established in 2021, is targeted at young graduates who are either unemployed or underemployed. It has graduated more than 1,600 talents across 20 African countries (including North Africa).

Skills for Africa covers 20 countries through either YPP or Dual Study Program (or both) in Africa: South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, Uganda, Tanzania, Angola, Mozambique, Rwanda, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Mali, Egypt

The training, Mr Guerreiro avers, is in line with SAP’s mission statement,ĚýTo help the world run betterand improve people’s lives.

The post SAP’s Vision for a Digitally Transformed Africa appeared first on 51·çÁ÷Africa News Center.

If you won the lottery right now, would you quit your job? For Pedro Guerreiro, the Managing Director East, West & Lusophone Africa at SAP, the answer is “absolutely not!” He adds, “Honestly, I like the kind of work that I do.” He has been with 51·çÁ÷for 23 years, steadily progressing and rising through the ranks. His favourite role was as Managing Director. A title he has held in Luanda, Angola; Lagos, Nigeria; and now, Nairobi. Pedro is a big advocate for work/life balance stating it is the key to success. “I think we need to acknowledge that people have lives.” That and keeping people on their toes while holding them to a higher standard. “I’m very demanding myself, so sometimes for me it is a challenge. I am not the kind of person who expects someone to be late.” Who keeps him on his toes? “My team. Or else they are
doing the wrong job!” As a CEO, his philosophy is “I work for you. You don’t work for me.”

Founded in Germany in 1972 by five former IBM employees, 51·çÁ÷was always destined for greatness. From accounting and payroll to their legendary ERP, the listed multinational has over 100,000 employees dotting the planet from Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, North America, and South America. One of these employees is Pedro and I assure you he is no cog on the wheel. He stands out. A surfer who marvels at the Ngong Hills and enjoys being with his wife and daughter, he was in Zanzibar not long ago, surfing waves on the outer parts of the reef. He maintains the best surfs were in Angola. Small wonder that when he was growing up, he wanted to be a surfer.

Below is our interview, condensed and edited for this publication.

What is an intelligent enterprise and why is that so important?

Intelligent enterprise is a fully integrated company in itself and outside of its boundaries. You have business processes from procurement, finance to maintenance, which is a normal thing in terms of what 51·çÁ÷does every day on an ERP site. But it is actually way beyond that. You have an intelligent entreprise end-to-end with your suppliers and customers. Everything becomes so smooth, transparent and organised such that your business flows. The whole process is automated. It is all about process.
That is what 51·çÁ÷is about.

You mentioned in our introduction that 51·çÁ÷is in several African countries. Are their needs similar across the continent or do you find differences based on geography and the people?

I would say the needs are very similar, but the cultures are different. I find some markets easy to work with on an entrepreneurial basis. Let’s say a country like Angola. They have a very entrepreneurial spirit. It is almost easier to have a conversation on digital transformation. The willingness is there.

In Kenya, they want more business value and push a bit more for innovation than in a market like Angola.

Is intelligent enterprise only limited to larger organisations? Do you work with SMEs?

We are committed to all customers.

SMEs are the backbone of many countries in Africa. We have large customers and many of them are our clients. But 80 per cent of our business is actually SMEs in Africa. It is definitely a key space for us. We have different products within our SMEs portfolio.

What are some of the examples you have of customers embracing digital transformation in Africa?

We have worked with Dangote Cement. As they find opportunities to launch in different industries and ventures – they are a very entrepreneurial customer – they wanted S/4HANA which is more aligned to intelligent enterprise’s endto-end integration with suppliers and both internal and external customers. They implemented this last year. They are building the largest refinery in Africa, creating over 250,000 jobs. This entrepreneurial perspective was already built into SAP.

When it comes to agriculture especially in Central Africa, we are doing quite innovative projects in the form of a Rural Sourcing Platform (RSM) which integrates every single micro-producer into the value chain. They register on the platform which is then aggregated and taken to the market. With intelligent enterprise you have very open sources.

We also use this platform for our CSR projects. For example, in Ghana, we use it to collect plastics across the country for recycling.

You shrink when working with an SME and expand when working with conglomerates. How do you do this?

The implementation of software is mainly done through a partner ecosystem. When you have the conglomerates, they become partners for a very complex project. Smaller customers start with a smaller scope, or they can adopt some of our solutions such as 51·çÁ÷Business ByDesign and 51·çÁ÷Business One. The latter is a small solution that is very easy to implement. It covers the main process of the corporate side allowing SMEs to scale.

Talk to me about the Rise with 51·çÁ÷initiative. What is it about?

We launched it early this year with our global CEO, Christian Klein. He had two things in mind:
• Reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) for our customers
• Accelerate innovation and business transformation

The Rise Initiative is about these two aspects. Either it gives value to the customer, or not. We do it on a case-by-case basis and we understand what makes sense for that specific customer. It transforms all 51·çÁ÷contracts into a cloud subscription product, which is not owned software, but it incorporates infrastructure. It is part of our strategy to move into cloud as well as reduce TCO with the customers, as well as accelerating business transformation.

What role does cloud play in your strategy for Africa?

It plays a big role. In five years, all our contracts will be pretty much cloud based. Cloud in Africa definitely has the capacity for businesses to grow. It is where we focus our customers.

Our strategy is cloud focused. It makes sense for us to build cloud in Africa. Businesses can really focus on the their core business, but they don’t have to focus on the pain which is to support IT infrastructure. That allows them to run the core business. More importantly, we are restructuring contracts with the customers to help them move into the cloud. You want the best engineer on your platform. One who is constantly trained. The scale of savings is also something we want to bring to African customers. Cloud for Africa is definitely front and centre and absolutely core to our strategy.

What is the one accomplishment that made your career?

I’ve been with 51·çÁ÷for 23 years. I have been able to transform all the territories I led within Africa. We impact our customers, we impact on people growth and P&L, plus the CSR initiatives. There are many rewarding aspects that have shaped my career as I progressed. It also helped me build my own brand and move to the next challenge.

Do you ever get impatient withĚýMillennials who want it now!

When I started working for 51·çÁ÷I thought I would work for two years. Back then there was this trend – do twoĚýyears on the job then freelance. The freelancers were making a lot of money consulting. I thought that would be my path, but it turned out very differently.

We happen to have quite a few Millennials because of our Academy. Candidates are selected very strictly, and we get very smart, bright young
people. Ideally, we send them to California for about six months and they would be trained wall-to-wall on the business, and they would be
incorporated into the company. There is always new stuff to do, working within SAP.

What do you think makes a good leader?

I think it is one who gives direction, and understand how to integrate everything. You need to manage downwards but also upwards. One
who creates a structure that is growing underneath them. They also need to be very direct, competent, have a lot of common sense. If possible, they need to have experience and be good at execution because that is how it is in our industry. If you don’t execute, the business does not flow, everything comes apart, you’ll come apart. Driving the key agenda is a good thing for this type of business.

What have been the best parts of being a CEO, and what are the worst parts?

The best thing is owning all aspects of the business, impacting growth of your team, customers and business. It is that wall-to-wall thing that I like. Looking at the overall business and trying to pull people together, relentlessly. That is what really drives me. To be honest, the worst part – I don’t see any. If you manage to do it, and still manage your work/life balance, there is no worst part.

What has working with 51·çÁ÷taught you about yourself over the last 23 years?

It gave me many rewarding experiences. I love the African culture and spending my time on the continent.

The post 51·çÁ÷Through the Eyes of a Managing Director appeared first on 51·çÁ÷Africa News Center.

Following a year of constrained growth – East Africa saw only meagre growth of 0.9% in 2020, compared to 6.6% in 2019 – economies across the region look poised to recover some lost ground.

According to , Kenya is expected to see growth of 6.3% in 2021, Ethiopia 4%, Uganda 3.7%, Rwanda 5.7% and Tanzania 5.2% in 2021.

While traditional sectors such as tourism took a heavy knock due to the lockdowns imposed as well as limits to international travel, the region’s tech sector proved resilient and could hold promising potential for accelerating the region’s economic recovery.

For example, mobile money, for which the region is considered a global leader, continued to perform well. Mobile money transfers in Kenya grew by 62.9% in 2020, largely due to social distancing measures that saw consumers shy away from cash payments.

The (healthy) state of start-up innovation in East Africa

The quality of fintech start-ups that has emerged in East Africa over the past decade has established the region as one of the continent’s most innovative.

Nairobi, long considered as a regional technology and trade hub, recently took a bold step toward also becoming a world-class financial hub with the launch of the Nairobi International Financial Centre. The centre could unlock a new era international investment into East Africa and its vibrant business ecosystem, by the UK government.

The region has also established vital innovation hubs to provide support and greater market opportunities for local innovators.

Rwanda’s provides an open space for collaboration and innovation, and brings together students, thinkers, and entrepreneurs to turn concepts into viable products and services. In Uganda, the incubation and innovation space provides similar support to local entrepreneurs, while has brought together innovators and some of the world’s leading organisations to accelerate start-up activity in the country.

And in Kenya, the , a brand new smart city spanning 2000 hectares and designed to create up to 100 000 new jobs, is currently under construction. Once completed, the smart city will play host to business processing outsourcing, software development, data centres, call centres, a university campus and residential units, schools and hospitals.

Supporting innovators and entrepreneurs

There is arguably a vital role that larger enterprises can play in supporting the region’s start-ups and fostering greater innovation.

In the energy sector, green energy innovation in investment into the continent’s transition away from fossil fuel energy. As large global enterprises shift to more sustainable practices and boost investment into cleaner technologies, partnerships with local innovators could prove beneficial and ensure knowledge and revenue is retained locally.

Building climate-resilient infrastructure – a growing concern for nations facing the escalating impacts of rapid climate change – holds a further investment opportunity of between $130-billion and $170-billion.

And investment into the circular economy could unlock not only new innovation, but an opportunity to reverse some of the more harmful and unsustainable business practices that are still prevalent today and establish the region as a leader in the fight for sustainability. Examples of circular economy innovation in East Africa abounds:

Kapa Oil Refineries, one of Kenya’s leading manufacturers of sustainably and ethically produced consumer goods, has established more than 1.5GW of solar power to reduce the impact of its operations on the environment.

Silafrica, the region’s largest packaging manufacturer, has embedded circular economy principles in its production processes, and today counts leading global companies such as Coca-Cola among its customers.

And CP Solar Resources, a leading solar power installer in Kenya, is providing households, businesses and manufacturers with turnkey solar power options to reduce the strain on Kenya’s power grid while advancing the growth of the local green economy.

Such examples point to a growing ecosystem of contributors to the circular economy, driven by the region’s Ěýmost innovative entrepreneurs and companies.

As we work together to repair the economic damage wrought by the pandemic and endeavour to build a more sustainable and equitable society, our world-class tech start-ups could hold the key to our collective success. It is vital that we provide them with the support they need to find solutions to some of our most pressing challenges.

The post Could Tech ‘Lions’ Prowling Silicon Savannah Hold Key to East Africa’s Post-Pandemic Recovery? appeared first on 51·çÁ÷Africa News Center.