Research, ideas, and leadership for a more secure, peaceful world
Technology and Development in Africa, Science and Technology for Sustainable Development, Communications Technologies, Thowte Digital Certificates
Biographical Sketch: Mark Shuttleworth is an African entrepreneur with a particular interest in the way communications technology will reshape Africa's social, political and economic landscape. He was born and raised in South Africa, studied Finance and Information Systems at the University of Cape Town, and founded Thawte immediately after graduation. Thawte grew into the largest issuer of digital certificates for secure e-commerce outside of the USA, having certified about 42% of the world's secure e-commerce web servers. Thawte was acquired in February 2000 by VeriSign Inc., and as a result Mark is now effectively unemployed, but by no means idle. Mark's role in the creation of Thawte, together with his interest in communications technologies and his Afro-optimism has pushed him into the spotlight as a commentator, speaker and leader of the new economy in Africa. He has since founded HBD, a "business catapult", which will focus on the creation of new African enterprises that are global in scope but headquartered in Africa. He also has a number of non-profit initiatives in education and politics under development
