Financial services group, Old Mutual, is offering 17 complimentary scholarship tickets to the Tech4Africa Conference 2010 to students studying in the information technology, Web, technology or digital fields.
Tech4Africa, organised by Technovated, is the premier conference and workshop for anyone who wants to understand where technology in Africa is moving.
Students who are interested in attending the event in August will be able to apply for the sponsored tickets by email. The tickets will be allocated to those that provide the most convincing motivations for why they should attend Tech4Africa.
It’s a rare opportunity for students to learn first-hand from world-class business and technology thinkers from across the globe. The conference will inspire students by highlighting the possibilities and opportunities Africa offers in the Web and technology space. Students will gain practical insight and first hand knowledge into how ideas can be turned into realities; about the funding landscape in Africa; what cloud computing, Web 2.0, the mobile Internet and other emerging technologies mean to societies; how the most successful African technology and Web businesses are leveraging technology; which new Web and technology-related business opportunities are emerging in Africa and the rest of the world; how the Web can help African societies to succeed and how start-ups can be built to compete on the global stage.
Clay Shirky - one of the world’s leading thinkers and writers on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies - along with Matthew Mullenweg - the founding developer of WordPress, the blogging software that runs millions of Web sites around the world - will be the keynote speakers at the inaugural Tech4Africa Conference. Shirky and Mullenweg join a stellar line-up of top international speakers – including leaders from organisations such as Twitter, Mozilla, digg and Yahoo! – and African technologists from companies such as PesaPal, Ushahidi, Obami and many more.
“Old Mutual and Technovated have the goal of empowering the next generation of technology and digital students in South Africa with the knowledge they need to compete on the global stage,” says Gareth Knight, MD of Technovated. “The students that receive these tickets will learn from the best in the world, network with big industry players, hear about new technologies and find out what Africans are doing with the Web, mobile and other emerging technologies in real world settings.”
Tech4Africa runs from 12-13 August 2010 at The Forum in Bryanston. Workshops will be held on 10-11 August. The event is targeted at business professionals and technologists from businesses of all sizes, from entrepreneurs and start-up owners through to professionals working at large organisations.
*Should you be a student who wishes to apply for an Old Mutual Scholarship ticket, please email your details along with a 200 word motivation about why you should be awarded one of the tickets to scholarships@tech4africa.com by close of business on 16 July. Students studying in the areas of information technology, Web, technology or digital at tertiary institutions may apply. More details are available at http://www.tech4africa.com
About Technovated
Technovated is a leading Web 2.0 provider in South Africa and London. Technovated enables content management, delivers e-commerce stores and search engine marketing, provides social media management and stimulates growth for foreign markets through authentic user engagement. http://www.technovated.com/
About Gareth Knight
Gareth is a digital maven and open source evangelist. Educated as a zoologist, he is a veteran of two dot com crashes in London, one web 2.0 acquisition, and runs Technovated.
Previously, Gareth served in London as Director of Product Management for MyHeritage.com, a global family genealogy company based in Tel Aviv.
Before joining MyHeritage, Gareth landed seed funding from London’s top early stage investors to co-found Kindo.com, a global family social network with an international team spread around the world. He then led the Product team in London to roll out a localised version of Kindo in 17 languages within 6 months, as well as an aggressive search engine campaign, both of which resulted in users from circa 220 countries and an enviable growth rate.
Kindo was voted one of the top 3 most promising Internet companies in the UK for 2008, and was later acquired by MyHeritage in August that year.
About Tech4Africa partners
Both global and local leading companies from a variety of industries will support Tech4Africa. Delegates will have the opportunity to interact with industry leaders in the vibrant expo environment at the conference.
Tech4Africa partners include:
Zoopy: Official Social Media Partner - http://www.zoopy.com/
Digital Edge: Official Podcast Partner - www.thedigitaledge.co.za
Old Mutual: Scholarships Partner - www.oldmutual.co.za
Seedcamp: - http://seedcamp.com/