TechCentral TechCentral (main feed)

Interview: Gustav Praekelt on using WhatsApp to fight Covid-19

Loading player...
Gustav Praekelt, founder of the Praekelt Foundation, the non-profit behind the department of health's wildly successful Covid-19 WhatsApp platform, joins the podcast to talk about the service, and how it ratcheted up more than two million users in short order.
Praekelt, a technologist at heart, explains what is involved in building something of this scale, including the challenges involved, and how the organisation is using advanced machine-learning technology to power it.
The platform has since been repurposed for a Covid-19 WhatsApp service for the World Health Organisation, which has seen 10 million sign-ups in a matter of days -- and growing fast.
Don't miss the conversation.
24 Mar 2020 English South Africa Technology · Business

Other recent episodes

TCS | How Optasia lends billions to people banks can’t see

Optasia will distribute more than US$6-billion in credit across its markets in 2026 – and it carries every cent of the default risk itself. In this episode of the TechCentral Show, CEO Salvador Anglada unpacks how the JSE’s biggest recent fintech listing actually works. Formerly known as Channel VAS, Optasia…
23 Jul 25 min

Everything you wanted to know about EVs but were afraid to ask

In the latest episode of Watts & Wheels with Wills, host William Kelly is joined in the studio by Greg Cress, automotive and e-mobility industry lead at Accenture South Africa, and Gary Scott of Scottify -- two of the longest-serving voices in South Africa's electric vehicle scene, and co-authors of…
22 Jul 19 min

Watts & Wheels with Wills: The rands-and-cents case for electric trucks

Aeversa’s John Ford unpacks the rands-and-cents case for electric trucks in this first of a new interview series. TechCentral is proud to present the first episode of Watts & Wheels with Wills, our new interview show about electric vehicles and the fast-changing world of e-mobility in South Africa. In the…
20 Jul 22 min

Watts & Wheels S1E7: 'Ferrari's EV breaks the internet'

Episode 7 of Watts & Wheels – TechCentral's electric motoring show – opens with mock outrage: the South African Car of the Year results are in, and the Alfa Romeo Junior didn't take the overall title. Hosts William Kelly and Duncan McLeod demand a recount – though they concede the…
8 Jul 1 hr 05 min

TCS | Pick n Pay’s Enrico Ferigolli on Penny, the AI that shops for you

Pick n Pay has switched on an AI shopping companion called Penny inside its asap! app, and in this episode of the TechCentral Show, retail executive for omnichannel Enrico Ferigolli takes editor Duncan McLeod through what it does and why it matters. Built on Google's Gemini models, Penny lets customers…
2 Jul 23 min
All episodes