The Afri-Tech summit to be held on 15 – 18 June this year will act as a catalyst for innovation, research and entrepreneurial mindset. With the conference spotlight on internet and digital marketing, beneficiaries, practitioners and industry pioneers will share on how real time communication has been enabled and used as a marketing tool.

The conference is expected to present learning and business opportunities for brands as well as media players to come up with new ways of effectively controlling the volume of digital content being developed.

Real time form of collaboration brings about feedback and reactions. The summit comes at a time when communication is not limited to print, radio and TV, but the internet as well.

“Digital marketing invades Kenya at a strategic time when the country is becoming an ICT hub,” says Catherine Ngahu, Kenya ICT Board chair. “It has reduced cost to consumers by introducing meta markets and meta mediaries. These two terminologies represent change from the traditional market behaviours to online shopping that we experience now.”

As part of digital marketing, Victor Ndiema, a social entreprenuer and CEO, of Finest of Rwanda considers social media branding as a powerful tool for enterprises. “Business entities need to set up a social media presence by linking different accounts together, which helps in building relationships with their clients,” he says.
The social media platform makes consumers focus around a brand, especially if they are given fresh content at all times. Interaction in this way brings new access to media, it will have a vast potential to transform the internet economy.

Skeptics like John Bosire an editor of Nation Media Group & University of Nairobi lecturer, think that businesses should monitor how people communicate in social networks. Industry players should learn from the upcoming conference new interests brought by the new media that need monitoring. “The industry needs to be socially responsible and communicate well, there is a need to have regulations,” says John.