Interviews

It’s been seven years since a little known games company in Stellenbosch, South Africa, was looking for a cheap alternative to SMS and invented the country's first mobile instant messenger service. MXit is now a legend with more than 20-million users in 120 countries which send an average of some 250-million messages a day. According to CEO Herman Heunis, what started out as a small team of eight people has mushroomed into well over a hundred staff after global expansion ...

Nic Dawes is the editor of the Mail & Guardian, one of South Africa's most respected newspapers. Memeburn sat down with him to discuss whether tweets are on-the-record, the effect that Twitter is having on the reporting of news, and whether or not he thinks it's a good thing. MB: Can the news be reported in 140 Characters? ND: Yes. Of course. It has been since the days of the telegraph. But ultimately the short bursts need to be supplemented with ...

Bob Skinstad has made a seamless transition from professional sportsman to media personality. With more than 11 000 followers on Twitter, Memeburn got in touch and asked him about his social media habits, who he follows and whether he has ever tweeted anything that he regrets. Memeburn: You were one of the first international rugby players world-wide to start actively using social media. How did it begin? Bob Skinstad: I think my new media interests were piqued when I was working at ...

Lars Reichelt, CEO of Cell C, announced some time ago a strong push by the mobile operator into innovation and social media. The smallest of the mobile operators, behind Vodacom and MTN, Cell C has caused a recent storm by launching a new advertising campaign, straddling both traditional and social media, involving popular comedian Trevor Noah. The campaign has attracted both praise and criticism, and quite an outburst in the blogosphere in particular. Reichelt must be one of the few ...

Alex Hunter is an independent digital ninja, brand consultant and angel investor who built a grassroots marketing campaign for Virgin America before heading out on his own. He shares his insights on getting large brands online, paywalls and what the future of online advertising might look like. MB: Should online publishers be looking at more innovative ways of generating revenue online? AH: There are so many digital options available; from wap sites and apps, to websites, to Facebook pages, to viral ...

Clay Shirky is crazy about Ushahidi. He thinks the crowdsource crisis tool is the perfect technology for demonstrating cognitive surplus in action --the positive power of what people can do with their free time and how it benefits society. But what other technology does Shirky rate and what’s his advice to local entrepreneurs Memeburn spoke to the best selling author on the line from New York. “In terms of technology, obviously the most exciting thing is what is going on ...

How exactly did Clay Shirky, the best selling author of “Here Comes Everybody”, connect Lolcats and Ushahidi to come up with the concept of “Cognitive Surplus”? The epiphany came after Shirky got pissed off by a television producer who famously asked him “Where do people find the time?”. The off-handed question was elicited by Shirky’s explanation of Wikipedia and issues raised by collaborative crowdsourcing. "No one who works in TV gets to ask that question,” Shirky shouted at the producer, ...

Agosta Liko, CEO of PesaPal, relocated to Kenya from the US to start Verviant, a software development company in Nairobi. Three years later, the team at Verviant launched PesaPal with a vision of enabling Kenyans to make online payments. PesaPal is making great strides in bridging the mobile and electronic payment divide in Kenya, and is set to expand to more African countries next year. Mark Kaigwa sat down with the CEO to discuss his perspective on doing business in ...

Named by Time Magazine as one of 2010's 100 Most Influential People in the World, Matt Berg is the technology director of ChildCount+, a ground-breaking mobile health (mHealth) platform that uses mobile phones to monitor the health of tens of thousands of African children. In between a hectic schedule that sees him flying regularly between Africa and the U.S, Matt spoke to memeburn.com about mHealth, open-source software and what the world can learn from Africa. MB: Childcount+ uses simple, standardised text messages to co-ordinate the ...

With her own savings, support from friends, and the backing of a UK Government Grant, South African entrepreneur Barbara Mallinson founded Obami, a social networking site that’s been developed specifically for schools and to facilitate e-learning. Mallinson has since brought Obami back to South Africa to try and make a difference in the country she’s always called home. Memeburn.com caught up with her to talk online education and where it is all going. Memeburn: What are the major trends you are seeing ...