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Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Bekker urges Africa to innovate with Internet


South African new media entrepreneur, Mr. Koos Bekker has urged African media to innovate with the new media based on the Internet technologies.

He also declared that the future warfare is on the Internet, and Africa requires quick catch-up with Internet exploration to meet the global sustainability challenges of its media and people.

Koos Bekker speaking @ Highway Africa confab 2011
Bekker in his keynote at the just ended Highway Africa 2011 which held at the Cape Town International Conference Centre (CICC), Cape Town South Africa, on  ‘How do we innovate in the media’ said that in this era, media needs to be innovative in order to catch-up with technologies that are unveiled into the market place at short intervals.

According to him, apart from reporting these innovations, media needs to be part of the trend so as to increase viability to the citizenry.

As part of the revelations, Bekker said that media should embrace Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and in particular the new media technologies based on the Internet and mobile devices.

For him, the future of media is in the new media which hinges on the Internet evolution in Africa, insisting that African countries must open up their Internet space to pave the way for more people to come in and get involved.

“The future ware is on the Internet,” he asserted, noting that all the ages, innovators are not the techies but simply inspired people who want to make a difference.

Additionally, he said, that none of the known innovators are the originators of the concept that eventually made them popular and wealthy at the same time.

He, therefore, tasked media practitioners on the continent to be innovative.

Earlier, welcoming participants to the three-day Highway Africa conference 2011, the director, Highway Africa, Mr. Chris Kabwato, said the theme, ‘African Media and Global Sustainability Challenge’ is in tandem with the forthcoming United Nation’s organized Climate Change, tagged COP 17, due to hold in Durban, South Africa in November this year.

He noted that with the dramatic melting down of the glaciers of the arctic, the droughts ravaging the continent, the floods in the Americas and a temperatures rises may have provided drama for television and other media, but the issue of global sustainability calls for drastic and comprehensive response from the media.

He pointed out that whereas the international media as represented by the various broadcasting networks have woken up to the stark challenge facing the world, Africa media remains hesitant and unhurried in training its eye on the sustainability challenge.

Thus, holding of the UNFCCC COP 17 Climate meeting in Durban, this November would provide Africa media and other key stakeholders a unique opportunity to galvanise various key actors.

Remmy Nweke

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