Episode 161 - Charting Africa’s Digital Transformation with Balancing Act's CEO Russell Southwood

In this episode, I sit down with Russell Southwood, CEO of Balancing Act and author of Africa 2.0 and the Africa Interconnection Report 2025, to unpack 20+ years of telecoms, internet, data centres, AI, and policy across the continent. We go from Celtel and M-PESA to today’s cloud & AI wave—and the human and cultural factors that make (or break) adoption.

Chapters
00:00 Intro01:30 Russell’s origin story (SOAS, Kenya at 7, early digital influences)07:18 Founding Balancing Act & the weekly Africa telecoms newsletter10:33 Lessons from the books (Less Walk, More Talk; Africa 2.0)17:53 E-commerce’s long runway & the digital divide (2G ↔ smartphones)21:28 Extending rural coverage (AMN, iSat, Vanu, Neuron & more)27:22 Data centers, cloud & AI — key takeaways from the Interconnection Report33:29 OTT regulation: innovation vs. control, free speech, shutdowns37:26 Broadband today, cable resilience & the rise of home internet40:45 Startups that last: solving real problems, not just raising rounds43:51 Government, talent & delivery (why execution matters)45:23 Looking ahead: energy constraints, AI realism & practical optimism53:20 Closing

What you’ll learn

• • How people—not pipes—ultimately drive tech adoption in Africa

• • Why data centres are reshaping the ecosystem (IXPs, neutrality, sovereignty)

  • How to balance OTT regulation without stifling free speech or innovation

  • The real blockers: literacy, energy, policy capture—and what’s changing

  • How enduring African startups think about users, utility, and scale

  
  

  About Russell Southwood
  CEO, Balancing Act. Veteran analyst of African telecoms, internet & media. Author of Africa 2.0, Less Walk, More Talk, and lead author of the Africa Interconnection Report 2025.

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