COVID-19 News
4 Exciting Insights into How E-Commerce is Creating Jobs in Ghana
In 2020, the unemployment rate in Ghana was at approximately 4.51% of the total labor force. The unemployment rate is the percentage of a country’s labour force that is without jobs but are available to work and actively seeking employment. This is an increment from 4.16% in 2018 and 4.22% in 2019. Graduates from tertiary education, all genders in Ghana was reported at 10,9874 Persons in 2018 and this number increases year on year. Maybe in comparison to other developing countries, this seems like it’s encouraging. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_2c7.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_2c7.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } However, if we take a closer look at the active labour force of Ghana which stood at almost 13-million in 2020, we begin to get a clear picture of how discouraging thi...
The Real Cost of Not Engineering for Agility
Natasha Anderson, Practice Lead: Software Engineering Standard Bank Group. /* custom css */ .tdi_4_2a2.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_2a2.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } As Practice Lead for Software Engineering, I have always seen my role as being a champion for engineering improvement, promoting collaboration and continuous learning among the engineering community in my organisation. While these foundational aspects are important to organisations that leverage technology as a business outcomes enabler, the continuous pressures of a fast-changing world, exacerbated by COVID-19’s impact on our economy has allowed me to view the relationship between engineering and business success through an additional lens, which I wish to share with you. As the pandemic unfolded in the p...
How Mobile Money is Supporting Merchants in Emerging Markets in Sub-Saharan Africa
Image sourced from WeeTracker. /* custom css */ .tdi_4_3a1.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_3a1.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } While the world continues to deal with the challenges of the pandemic, it is emerging markets such as Sub-Saharan Africa that have faced the biggest challenges. According to the World Bank, Sub-Saharan Africa has been hit the hardest by the economic impact of COVID-19, with an estimated 23 million people in the region projected to be pushed into poverty by the pandemic. SMBs Need Support with Challenges Caused by COVD-19 /* custom css */ .tdi_3_0ed.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_0ed.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } While there are some sectors in the region that have accelerated their adoption of digital technology throughout the pan...
Investing in STEM Crucial for African Countries to Benefit from 4IR
Image sourced from STEMpedia. To ensure African economies benefit fully from the fourth industrial revolution (4IR), and the data economy it will bring, there are several trends that industries on the continent need to fully embrace. These include artificial intelligence, cloud, machine learning and the Internet of Things. Enabling the utilisation of these, however, requires two pivotal focuses. The first is an investment in infrastructure. The second is Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) skills development, so that African economies have the core competencies needed to participate in the data economy, says Adesh Nathalal, Education Manager at SAS in South Africa. The clock is ticking. By 2030, the above needs to be accomplished to ensure African economies can leapfrog devel...
New Renewables Offer Energy Security for SA’s Beleaguered Economy
Sourced from Saur Energy. /* custom css */ .tdi_4_bb6.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_bb6.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } In a bold move last year, the South African government launched an emergency energy procurement plan with a view to relieve the current energy crisis and limit load-shedding. The shortfalls are currently partially alleviated, however at great expense, as there is extensive use of diesel-based open cycle gas turbines. Such fossil-fuel-based contingencies undermine our ability to reduce carbon emissions, curb global warming, and achieve sustainable development. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_b0f.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_b0f.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Dubbed the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Program (RMIPPPP), t...
Uber South Africa is Offering 100,000 Free Rides to Get Teachers Vaccinated
Sourced from CNet. /* custom css */ .tdi_4_09d.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_09d.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } The South African government has fast-tracked the vaccine rollout for teachers and staff at schools across the country. Educators and staff of schools will begin receiving their COVID-19 jabs on Wednesday 23 June in a two-week push project aiming to administer 582,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine. Teacher Vaccines Fast-Tracked Fast-tracking the rollout for teachers and schools staff is a major step in managing the country’s school system that has become embattled since the pandemic began in earnest. Thousands of teachers have succumbed to COVID-19 since March of 2020, and students have been living in anxiety of school closures and from h...
More than Half a Billion 5G Subscribers Expected by End of 2021 via New Report
Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company, Ericsson projects that 5G mobile subscriptions will exceed 580-million by the end of 2021, driven by an estimated one million new 5G mobile subscriptions every day. The forecast, which features in the twentieth edition of the Ericsson Mobility Report, enhances the expectation that 5G will become the fastest adopted mobile generation. About 3.50-billion 5G subscriptions and 60% 5G world population coverage are forecast by the end of 2026. However, the pace of adoption varies widely by region. Europe is off to a slower start and has continued to fall far behind China, the U.S., Korea, Japan and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) markets in the pace of 5G deployments. 5G is expected to surpass a billion subscriptions two years a...
6 Surprising Future Tech Norms Shaped by the Pandemic
Image sourced from Texas News Today The move to handling essential elements of everyday life online, prompted by the global COVID-19 pandemic, will remain a fundamental reality for people around the world long after the pandemic has passed, a comprehensive new consumer report by Ericsson predicts. The Future Urban Reality, the Ericsson ConsumerLab report is Ericsson’s largest consumer study to date. It reveals key insights about what consumers believe will happen beyond the pandemic to the year 2025. Representing the equivalent opinions of 2.3-billion consumers across 31 markets worldwide, the report predicts that consumers will not only continue to manage routine activities – such as remote work, e-learning, e-health and online grocery shopping – online but will also add an average of 2.5...
Ghana Sees Huge Surge in Digital Communications with COVID Pushing Customer Experience
Image sourced from Goobjoob Education. To a large extent, enhancing the customer experience (CX) has been a game of catch-up for most organisations in Ghana, until the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic which significantly accelerated the uptake of digital channels by enterprises last year. As the pandemic drove consumers to avoid traditional physical interaction with brands, so many corporates were forced to move their services and products online. For example, many insurance companies that used third-party agents before the pandemic are now adopting digital channels at a significant rate. This is to allow customers to buy policies online, via Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) or through a mobile app or website. Not only was the adoption of digital channels significantly accel...
IT Teams Facing Cyber Threats in 2020 – 5 Vital Insights
Image sourced from CIO. “Around the world, 2020 was an unprecedented year for IT teams,” said Chester Wisniewski, principal research scientist, Sophos. IT professionals played a vital role in helping organizations to keep going despite the restrictions and limitations necessitated by COVID-19. Among other things, they enabled education institutions to move learning online, retailers to switch to online transactions, healthcare organizations to deliver digital services and care under incredibly tough circumstances, and ensured public entities could continue to provide essential services. Much of this will have been done at high speed, with limited equipment and resources available and while facing a rising tide of cyberattacks against the network, endpoints and employees. To say things were...
AstraZeneca Partners with South African BrandMed to “Improve Treatment Outcomes, Patient Experience”
Image sourced from Market Watch. /* custom css */ .tdi_4_80c.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_80c.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } The COVID-19 pandemic and the growing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have compelled healthcare stakeholders to explore new ways of improving health systems, stimulating the advancement of healthcare ecosystems that focus on enhancing the patient experience, improving treatment outcomes, while at the same time reducing expenses and treatment timelines. AstraZeneca South Africa Partners with BrandMed AstraZeneca South Africa announced this week that it will be providing sponsorship to BrandMed towards the establishment of fifteen BrandMed Syntro-P Health Centres of Excellence as part of its commitment to work towards a future where all p...
How COVID-19 Has Driven a Cashless World Through Contactless Payments
Image sourced from PYMNTS. /* custom css */ .tdi_4_560.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_560.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, contactless payments have become the world’s preferred payment method. In addition to being safer from a viral transmission perspective, contactless payments are also faster, and integrating multiple contactless payment methods assists small businesses to better maintain financial liquidity. While choice in payment methods boosts Customer Experience (CX), we still have a way to go before South Africa fully embraces cashless payments. This will necessitate educating the population on card security and business owners on the benefits of contactless payments and the reduction of cash on hand. Formal vs Informal Trading /* c...
