Startups
INTERVIEW Africa’s Business Heroes Awarding $1.5-Million to Africa’s Next Top Tech Entrepreneurs
Image sourced from China Daily. /* custom css */ .tdi_4_240.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_240.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } The worldwide pandemic has spurred digital transformation across the African continent. Tech is booming in Africa, it is all too clear to see. Now more than ever, driven African entrepreneurs and startup founders are innovating new waves into the ocean of technology. All they need is funding. Enter: The Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH) initiative – Alibaba founder Jack Ma’s flagship philanthropic program is spotlighting and celebrating the continent’s top entrepreneurs and startups. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_600.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_600.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Africa’s Business Heroes is calling for applicants to the ...
Cape Town Tech Startup Secures $14.5-Million More in Funding
“In emerging-market megacities, hundreds of millions of people use public transport to get where they need to go. Before WhereIsMyTransport, there was no central source of data for these networks, despite their size, scale, and importance,” reads a blurb on the startup’s official website. “WhereIsMyTransport helps people understand mobility in emerging-market megacities. We’re trusted by industry leaders like Google, the World Bank, and WSP.” Founded in Cape Town in 2015, the tech startup focusing on mobility creates data maps for formal and informal public transport networks in cities and uses this data and tech to improve the public transport experiences of commuters. WhereIsMyTransport hopes to make public commutes more reliable, predictable, safe, inclusive and more accessible to indiv...
4 Fresh Venture Capital Trends Shaping New African Investments
/* custom css */ .tdi_4_d6c.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_d6c.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } With the second half of 2021 approaches and COVID-19 vaccinations roll out across the globe, albeit at varying rates, Ian Lessem, Managing Partner at HAVAIC, investors in early-stage, high-growth technology businesses, considers the trends making an impact on the African Venture Capital landscape. Homegrown Solutions With the world having adjusted to new ways of shopping, learning, and doing business as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the appetite for solutions that solve real, tangible problems are without a doubt the best opportunities for growth. Solutions that offer people and organisations better ways of living and working with less friction will reign supreme. In the Afr...
9 out of 10 Kenyan SMEs Use M-Pesa for Payments, via New Survey
Image sourced from WeeTracker /* custom css */ .tdi_4_9b7.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_9b7.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } A new survey conducted by Amethyst Consultants on SME perceptions of banking products in Kenya showed that up to 95% of SMEs (9 out of 10 companies) in the country use M-Pesa, Vodafone’s mobile money service, according to Business Daily Africa. The survey, commissioned by SNDBX, took place between the months of March and April 2021 and included 131 small to medium enterprises (SMEs) across 17 “key sectors”. “The survey highlighted that SMEs continue to be resilient through the pandemic season and a third [of SMEs] are looking forward to a better future in 2021,” says Amethyst Consultants Founding Director, Sharon Mbugua. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_7f1.t...
How Blockchain and Crypto Can Lessen Financial Exclusion in Developing Countries
/* custom css */ .tdi_4_8ce.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_8ce.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } While the COVID-19 crisis has reversed the recent global poverty reduction, according to the UN and other experts, it has also sped up financial inclusion via mobile financial services apps provided by crypto, blockchain and FinTech startups. Many people worldwide take for granted the services billions of others struggle to access. In their book “Financial Exclusion and the Poverty Trap,” authors Pamela Lenton and Paul Mosley assert that one of the main causes of poverty is financial exclusion, which they define as the inability to access finance from mainstream banks. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_d8d.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_d8d.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } ...
Nigerian government virtually inaugurates seven digital economy projects in five zones
The Federal Government on Friday in Abuja virtually inaugurated seven Information Technology (IT) projects located in five geo-political zones of the country. The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, said at the event that they were part of efforts to consolidate on implementing the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS). Pantami said that the projects were in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s key agenda, which included economic development, security and fight against corruption. Newsmen report that the projects were actualised by parastatal agencies under the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy. The projects commissioned included a Community ICT Centre in Dutse, Jigawa, for North West; an IT Hub at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University,...
CPN president: Digital technologies efficient in sustaining social, economic development
The President and Chairman of the Council of Computer Professionals (Registration Council of Nigeria), Professor Charles Uwadia, has disclosed that digital technologies have proven to be efficient in sustaining social and economic developments. According to him, during the COVID-19 pandemic, digital technologies played an indispensable role in sustaining social and economic activities. He said though challenges and risks also emerged in the course of embracing various digital innovations but its applicability were proven to be efficient. Uwadia, who spoke at a virtual press conference, to unveil activities lined up for the forthcoming 2020 IT Professionals’ Assembly, with the theme, “Harnessing Digital Technologies for Social and Economic Recovery”, said the assembly which is the 15th edit...
5 Cybersecurity Tips for Startups
Sourced from International IDEA From 2020 being dubbed ‘the year of the side hustle’ to small businesses grappling to maintain continuity and profitability, despite these unprecedented times there has been a significant uprising in entrepreneurial activity the world over. Startups tend to be created by people who burn with an idea and want to put it into action as soon as possible. Money is usually tight, and expenses run high, what with product development, promotion, and all the rest of it. When managing priorities, emerging businesspeople often neglect matters related to information security. Many startups try to save on security, confident that a small company with limited resources holds no interest for cybercriminals. The truth is anyone can fall victim to cybercrime. Firstly, becaus...
NCC remits N362.34 billion into Nigerian government’s consolidate revenue fund in five years – official
Fix Africa News Magazine The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), remitted N362.34 billion into the Federal Government Consolidate Revenue Fund (CRF), from 2015 to date, Prof. Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, has said. Danbatta, who spoke at an interactive session on Friday in Abuja, said that the revenue was realised through spectrum fees and operating surplus, which he noted helped to boost the revenue generation drive of the present administration. Danbatta also said that NCC had continued to collaborate with academics to support the development of the innovative services and life-changing solutions with the use of information and communications technologies to promote indigenous content. “ The Commission has so far released N336.4 million as research grants to the ac...
Google announces $10 billion ‘digitization fund’ for India
Agence France-Presse Alphabet’s Google on Monday said it will spend around $10 billion in India over the next five to seven years through equity investments and tie-ups, marking its biggest commitment to a key growth market. The investments will be done through a so-called digitization fund, highlighting Google’s focus on the rapid pace of growth of apps and software platforms in India, one of the world’s biggest internet services markets. “We’ll do this through a mix of equity investments, partnerships, and operational, infrastructure and ecosystem investments,” Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, said on a webcast during the annual “Google for India” event. “This is a reflection of our confidence in the future of India and its digital economy.” Google has already made some direct and indirec...
Security Flaw in Health Startup Exposed User Accounts and Medical Information
Sourced from LogBox. LogBox, a South African medical data startup that claims it is an “absolutely secure” way to replace paper forms and documentation in sharing patient data with doctors, has exposed user accounts and sensitive patient data following a lapse in security. Anurag Sen, a security researcher, found an exposed database belonging to the company. The database contained account access tokens for thousands of LogBox users, which if used would grant full access to the accounts and the information therein of users without even needing to input a password. Sen had reported to LogBox that their database has been exposed, but did not hear back. TechCrunch writes that the database has been pulled offline as soon as it reached out. LogBox’ database leak comes just as the country’s new d...
HealthTech Startups in Africa Reach All-Time High
Sourced from Getty Images. There are currently 180 actively operating health-tech focussed startups across the African continent, according to the High Tech Health: Exploring the African E-health Startup Ecosystem Report 2020 report, released by Disrupt Africa. According to the report, this number of startups has grown by 56.5 per cent over the last three years and has seen significant investment despite the COVID-19 pandemic as more than half of all funding to have gone into the space in the past five years was transacted in the first half of 2020. So far this year, e-health startups have raised over US$90 million. “Interest in the e-health space in Africa has accelerated in the last 18 months, and with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a sudden spotlight on e-health startups,...
