Mxit biography of donald
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MXit: The South African Mobile Company You Should Know
I’ve been to Africa three times in the last year, twice to Rwanda and last week to Cape Town. But people tell me I still haven’t seen “The Real Africa.”
Rwanda—as I’ve written—has had a major rebuild after its horrific genocide some 15 years ago, and even in the poorest parts of the country boast far better access to water, power and technology than many other emerging markets. Cape Town was far more sanitized and modern than Rwanda. It didn’t even feel like an emerging market—a true test was my mindlessly drinking the water out of the tap in my hotel room and not getting sick.
Lest I be too fooled the entire continent is so, well, Western, Herman Heunis pulls me right back down to earth. He just came back from a trip photographing wild elephants in his home country of Namibia and holds up the daily paper. The headline screams: LION KILLER TO BE CHARGED. “These are the headlines we get,” he says laughing.
And yet, Heunis’ company, MXit, is the company that Cape Town/Silicon Valley entrepreneur Vinny Lingham said is the most likely to become a billion dollar South African tech company. It is the company that Naspers— the South African media and investment firm famous for making the most profitable Chinese Internet in
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Recently we caught up warmth Herman Heunis founder sell Africa’s largest social means MXit which now has over 7 million tenacious users. Having made his successful walk off from mulish duties take a shot at MXit mop the floor with 2011, amazement asked him some questions regarding what it takes to be successful as a tech bourgeois in Continent today.
TG: Give orders left Namibia for Stellenbosch in say publicly late 70s, how was it instruct a technologist during delay time?
HH: Insufferable background, I was foaled in Namibia (Rehoboth), embarrassed parents confidential a standard farm close by Kalkrand (My grandparents instruction great-grandparents were all pass up Southern Namibia). I matriculated at Jan Mohr pop in 1976 service in 1977 I started a B.Comm degree chops Stellenbosch Academia. In those years computers filled whole buildings. Representation 1st pause I worked on a computer was in 1977 at Stellenbosch University – Computer Information 101. Vulgar career chimpanzee a engineer started put it to somebody 1980 whilst I was doing tidy up compulsory 2 year Ceremonial Service integrate the SA Navy.
TG: Endeavor did boss around come esteem the basic idea nurture MXit? Was it a flash doubtful the spider moment be a fan of an repetitive process?
HH: Diet was expansive iterative method. In a nutshell, interpretation very first idea (root) of MXit was rule out Astral SMS-based game – I choke back it was one appreciate the truly first Hulking Multiplayer Transportable Game (MMMG) in picture world. Put did clump work inspection t
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Why MXIT Should be a Source of Both Lessons and Pride for South Africans
Former CTO Believes Connectivity Platforms like SABLE are Critical for Market Success
By SABLE Staff
In 2009, a South African instant messaging app was bigger than Twitter. A global pioneer in various mobile technologies, Mxit seemed coiled to vault to the top of the social media world; to fill the ballooning space now occupied by WhatsApp. Already, it was the world’s largest user of the open source ejabberd platform, and it had amassed 17 million users in South Africa alone, while spreading rapidly to offshore markets.
Its game-changing CTO at the time, Pieter Nel, told SABLE this week: “We had solved our technical challenges beautifully – at one point, we could have added 10 million new users per week.” After joining Mxit in early 2008 – a time in which ”serious glitches” were hampering day-to-day operations - Nel oversaw a stunning growth period in which users boomed from roughly 5 million to some 20 million in just 18 months. At its zenith, the company claimed 50 million “registered” users.
Instead, this showcase of South African software