#MWWA2011: Pre-Conference Chat with Matthew Dawes, Event Organizer

Yesterday, I sat down for a cup of tea at the cafe by the swimming pool at Eko Hotels with Matthew Dawes, the conference organizer of the best mobile web event ever in Africa.

I’ve known Matt since 2009 (well, digitally) when he organized the first Mobile Web Africa conference in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Since then, we’ve been ‘digital friends’ and have even talked about having a beer or two together (I owe you one, Matt).

Within the past 18 months, Matt has successfully organized a series of mobile web events in Kenya and South Africa.

But Matt has always been keen on bringing the event to West Africa, particularly Nigeria and because of my keen interest in building a tech and mobile eco-system in Nigeria, I agreed to partner with him in bringing the first ever mobile web event to Nigeria this year.

So I finally caught up with Matt face-to-face and he shared his passion for organizing these events in Africa, his experiences so far, and his high hopes for mobile web growth in Africa.

“I set up All Amber (in June 2009)…to organise events in Africa as opposed to more profitable ones in Europe because I’m a massive believer in the potential of the mobile web/apps in Africa (and I like to travel a bit as well)”, says Matthew.

Matt also shared how the drive for the Mobile Web event series was kick-started after a chat he had with Vincent Maher, co-founder of MoTribe and The Grid, on the huge potentials and opportunities around the mobile web in Africa.

Today, his mobile web event series has attracted a lot of encouraging testimonials such as that of Brett St. Clair, Admob’s Country Manager in South Africa, quoted here:

“My first experience of an all amber event was very, very positive – great turnout, great interaction and great format. I’ve been to a few conferences and simply put this was the best.”

Matt is also thrilled to see Samsung, Nokia and BlackBerry join the event sponsors list as well as speakers from Google, Goal.com, Glo Mobile, RIM and MIH, amongst others.

In the past, Matthew ran the Commonwealth and Telecommunications Organization (CTO) events, and is bringing a lot of experience as a renowned conference organizer to this year’s event.

You can even feel his positive energy and enthusiasm about this year’s event from his remarks below:

“Everything is in place for this to be a truly stand-out event. Everyone I have spoken to has been very positive about this event coming to Nigeria, Africa’s biggest mobile market. All the ingredients are there for Mobile Web West Africa to seriously contribute to both the future direction of data usage and services and the expansion of the mobile ecosystem. I have no doubt that this is exactly the right time and place for this event.”

Matthew is such a great guy and someone I’d love to work with in organizing future conferences in Africa.

At Mobile Web West Africa, I’m hoping to catch Matt on the lens, so if you have any questions for him, please drop in your comments, @TechLoy, @loyokezie or send a DM:)

I’ll also be speaking on the second day of the event and will be on a panel session too.

If you haven’t yet registered for the event, here’s your chance to contribute to the mobile web eco-system in Nigeria!

See you there!

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