Brief (458)
The Global Tech Africa (GTA) Conference 2024 invites innovators and stakeholders to leverage AI to transform Africa’s tech landscape.
The event is scheduled for July 24-26 in Lagos, Nigeria. It aims to facilitate partnerships, investments, and capacity building.
The Mastercard Foundation, in partnership with the Federal Government of Nigeria, will host its first EdTech Conference from July 8 to 10, 2024, at Abuja's Hilton Transcorp.
Themed ‘Education Technology for Resilient and Inclusive Learning in Africa,’ the event aligns with the African Union’s Year of Education and focuses on EdTech trends, policies for fostering innovation, and its role in solving educational challenges across Africa.
Accelerex, a leading African fintech company, has launched the “Pay with Fingerprint” solution, Nigeria's first biometric-enabled PoS payment system.
Designed to address card fraud and eliminate the need for physical cards, the technology allows bank account holders to make secure payments using their fingerprints at merchant locations.
BFA Global, FSD Africa, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) have chosen ten startups for the Africa Blue Wave and Regen Wave initiatives, BFA Global announced on July 1.
Selected startups, each receiving $55,000 in funding, span Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, and Tanzania, addressing challenges like the fish trade, environmental pollution, renewable energy certification, eco-friendly fertilizers, waste management, clean cooking, cold storage, and sustainable drainage solutions.
The Creative Industries Initiative for Africa (C.I.I.F.A.), in collaboration with Google, announces the launch of the second Engage Nigeria cohort.
Engage Nigeria offers training in music business, production, event planning, cinematography, animation, graphic design, and content creation. Participants benefit from mentorship and networking opportunities to enhance career readiness.
Application is open to individuals aged 17- 35.
Angel Fair Africa, the event linking African entrepreneurs with investors, returns for its eleventh edition on November 7-8, 2024. The gathering will unite accelerators, incubators, businesses, and investors from across the continent, aiming to foster deals and partnerships in the vibrant startup ecosystem.
Launched in September 2013, Angel Fair Africa has been pivotal in catalyzing investment across Africa, having been hosted in cities like Johannesburg, Lagos, Accra, and Cape Town.
Colombian fintech Minka has expanded into the East African market to facilitate global purchases for Africans by enabling global merchants to accept local payments, such as mobile money or cash.
Minka's model employs in-house financial protocols to accelerate money transfers between banks by creating a common language for different payment systems, simplifying the reconciliation process.
VezoPay has introduced Africa’s first smart ring, revolutionizing contactless payments across the continent.
This ring offers quick, secure payments in just a second, connecting seamlessly to any terminal using advanced NFC tokenization to encrypt data, approved by Visa and Mastercard.
On Monday, July 1, Senegalese Minister of Public Service and Public Service Reform (MFPRSP), Olivier Boucal, and the rector of Cheikh Hamidou Kane Digital University (UN-CHK), Moussa Lo, signed a partnership agreement. Under this partnership, UN-CHK will provide its digital expertise to the MFPRSP for transforming the public sector and digitizing public services. The partnership also includes training and capacity building for public service employees in the digital domain, among other initiatives.
On Wednesday, June 26, the West African Monetary Institute (WAMI) launched the Unique Banking Identifier and Digital Interoperability Project in Guinea, The Gambia, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. Financially supported by the African Development Bank, the project aims to develop the financial system of the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ), promote economic growth, reduce poverty, and enhance financial inclusion for successful economic and financial integration in West Africa.
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On Thursday, June 27, Kalil Konate, the Ivorian Minister of Digital Transition and Digitalization, and Téte António, the Angolan Minister of Foreign Affairs, signed a cooperation agreement during Angolan President João Lourenço's visit to Côte d'Ivoire. The agreement aims to pool efforts to enhance the use of technological tools and improve public service delivery in both countries.
On Wednesday, May 29, the UK-based venture capital firm Leo Lion opened applications for its Future of Capitalism 2024-2025 contest. This global competition offers up to $1 million in investment to startups developing technologies aimed at improving business operations. Applications close on September 30, 2024. Eight finalists will be invited to London for Pitch Day, which will take place in February 2025.
On Tuesday, June 25, Beninese Minister of Digital and Digitalization, Aurélie Adam Soulé Zoumarou, inaugurated the Technical Committee for Startup Labeling. Composed of seven members appointed for a renewable two-year term, the committee will be responsible for receiving and reviewing applications from micro, small, and medium enterprises. It will periodically publish the list of labeled startups, notify applicants of the decisions resulting from the application review, and issue decisions on the revocation of granted labels.
In June 2024, Ecobank opened applications for the seventh edition of its Fintech Challenge. This competition invites both mature and startup fintech companies to collaborate with the bank for a chance to win a grand prize of $50,000. Finalists will have the opportunity to integrate their solutions into Ecobank’s network, which spans 35 African countries. Applications close on July 7, 2024.