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considerable impact on individual lives. It is
that impact that you must look to positively
transform, to achieve exponential innovation.
Apart from building solutions,
what are the other components of
the ‘three-pronged approach’ to
exponential innovation?
Acquire. Look at your landscape. The rise of
fintechs and startups is disrupting virtually
every industry, not just the tech sector. In
the past year, more than US$1 billion has
been raised by African startups so far, with
83 deals exceeding US$1 million, according
to VC4A.
Thanks to hyper-digitalisation, these startups
have far greater access to consumers than
was ever possible before. It is important to
view these players not as competition, but
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as potential strategic partners that can help
you achieve exponential innovation.
A good example is Standard Bank’s
acquisition of the majority stake in Firepay
– the startup behind leading mobile
payments product SnapScan. This is a
clear indication of how a bank, which has
already established brand recognition,
customer trust and a distribution network,
is benefiting from the agility and customer
design capabilities of a fintech.
More fintech players mean more innovation
– making the global digital payments space
competitive enough that the next massive
disruption is just around the corner.
Collaborate. Technology giants no
longer work in silos, but rather encourage
knowledge-sharing with each other
and collaboration so that the world’s
technologies can talk to each other. Let me
give you a world-famous example. When
Apple decided it wanted to launch the Apple
Card, Mastercard didn’t shy away – we
became its global payments network.
Similarly, many technology-based startups
and consumer-facing apps only work thanks
to established companies partnering with
them. For example, popular apps such as
Mr D and Uber enable consumers to
purchase their food and travel anytime,
anywhere simply from their smartphones.
For this to happen, several stakeholders
need to work together. The app itself needs
to ensure that the consumer has an easy-
to-understand user experience that allows
them to make the purchase seamlessly.
The telecom provider needs to ensure that
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