News


AREI hosts industry for business breakfast

28 August 2019 News

Attendees of a business breakfast hosted by AREI (Association of Representatives for the Electronics Industry) on 24 July were treated to an inspirational talk by computer scientist and entrepreneur Stafford Masie, and an overview of the DTI’s (Department of Trade and Industry) incentives offering given by Ntokozo Mthabela, director for BPS and electrotechnical industries within the industrial development division.

Masie worked for Telkom in the 1990s as a technology analyst, instructor and software developer, followed by a move to Dimension Data. He then launched his first tech startup and shortly afterwards moved to the USA, where he went on to play a significant role in the global open source software arena. After returning to South Africa, he launched Google’s South African presence in 2007 and became the company’s regional Africa director.

Masie shared his experiences, thoughts and vision for the technology sector with the audience, as well as some of the projects he’s currently involved with. These include the founding of Thumbzup, the company that invented the Payment Pebble and Payment Blade which were launched in South Africa as the Absa Payment Pebble and the Absa Payment Handset, and have also been successfully exported and launched in Australia and New Zealand.

Stafford Masie
Stafford Masie
Ntokozo Mthabela
Ntokozo Mthabela
AREI chairman, Erich Nast
AREI chairman, Erich Nast

Masie also shared his insights into disruptive technologies such as Bitcoin, the effects they have on society at large, and the importance of people working in the technology sector to come to grips with their implications.





Share this article:
Share via emailShare via LinkedInPrint this page

Further reading:

Technical resource centre for smart cities
News
Mouser’s infrastructure and smart cities content hub features comprehensive articles, blogs, eBooks, and products from Mouser’s technical team and trusted manufacturing partners.

Read more...
UFS Flash named Best in Show
EBV Electrolink News
KIOXIA Europe GmbH was named as winner in the Memory & Storage category of the Embedded Computing Design (ECD) electronica Best in Show Awards at the recently held electronica 2024.

Read more...
Save the date for Securex South Africa 2025
News
Home to Africa’s largest collection of security solutions, Securex South Africa returns to Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand from 3 to 5 June 2025.

Read more...
Trina Storage ranked in top 10
News
Amidst the global energy storage market, Trina Storage has once again earned recognition from authoritative institutions with its outstanding innovation capabilities and global layout.

Read more...
2025 outlook for DRAM is poor
News
According to TrendForce, weak demand outlook and rising inventory and supply forecast to pressure DRAM prices down for 2025.

Read more...
Price hike to challenge energy reforms
News
Eskom’s proposed 44% price hike could undermine renewable energy gains despite tech innovation.

Read more...
IO Ninja debugging tool
RF Design News
Tibbo has released a major update to IO Ninja, its versatile communications debugging tool for Windows, Linux, and macOS.

Read more...
Young SA robotics team takes world title
News
In a demonstration of innovation and teamwork, Texpand, a South African youth robotics team based in Cape Town, recently made history by winning the 2024 FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) World Championships.

Read more...
From the editor's desk: A brave new world
Technews Publishing News
The technology Tesla currently uses in its cars from the batteries, power electronics, controllers, through to the mechanics, gearboxes, and the AI inference computer and software have are incorporated in the development of Optimus, allowing the development of the robot to gain impressive features in a relatively short time span.

Read more...
Seven Labs partnership enhances local electronics distribution
Seven Labs Technology News
Aimed at revolutionising the electronics distribution landscape in South Africa, Seven Labs has announced a partnership with LCSC, one of China’s most reputable electronics distributors.

Read more...