Bloomberg's Former Head Of Mobile Oke Okaro On How Smartphones Will Fuel Innovation In Africa 2.
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| Oke Okaro |
New businesses and industries are going to be built entirely around mobile devices. In the U.S and Europe, the web was built around desktop users and 99.9% of the digital properties today are desktop companies which support mobile. In Africa, it will be the reverse with mobile leading the way and this is where the breakthrough innovation is going to come from. This is why I’m convinced that a large proportion of the most innovative digital companies of the future will come from Africa.
You’re now an Angel Investor in your own right. What sort of companies/technologies do you favor when selecting your investments?
I’ve primarily focused on businesses where I have deep knowledge, experience or passion, and where modern technologies are central to their operations. This includes businesses in the consumer internet, retail, logistics, education and health care sectors. I generally only get involved with businesses where I can add more value than a cheque. So far, it’s been working well.
What does innovation mean to you?
It means setting the new standard. It means creatively solving a real problem in the market in an original, thoughtful, elegant and commercially viable way. It means creative destruction; throwing out the old because you can and without inhibition or pre conceived notions, rebuilding a new and better mouse trap. It means leadership.
Of all the mobile technologies you’ve developed over the course of your career, which one was the most exciting and why?
Interestingly enough, the
thing that excited me the most failed as a business because the business
model was flawed. It was the ESPN Sports Phone service, an MVNO (mobile
virtual network operator) which launched in Feb 2005. While the
business didn’t succeed, its premise was spot on; sports fans
desperately wanted sports on their phones. It was one of the most
exciting projects for me because I got to design and build a
revolutionary award winning sports app that set the industry standard
for content experiences on a phone before anyone else in the world did
it. I also got to build an entire telecommunications data infrastructure
to support the project along with an AppStore. While the initiative
ultimately failed, the learnings were invaluable and it formed the
foundation for all the success that followed. I worked in close
partnership with all the telcos and creatively used the power of sports
on phones to drive the growth and adoption of their data plans and
services. Looking back, it’s amazing to think of all the things we
tried, the things we got done and how big the market has since become.
It’s still in the early stages so not quite ready to share yet but I’ll happily let you know when we’ve made much more progress.
What will your African legacy be?
I hope it’s that I helped improve the quality of life through the creative application of technology.
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