Tech (524)
Fifty African startups have benefited from the program’s technical and financial support over the past five years. Its beneficiaries have already raised more than US$150 million in funding.
Incubator Startupbootcamp AfriTech issued, Monday (August 29) calls for applications for the third cohort of its ASIP Accelerator Program. Applications are open till November 11 for the program, which will run from February 20 to May 25, 2023.
To be considered, start-ups must be formally established and have at least two people working on the project and devoting at least 50 percent of their time to it. They must also generate revenues from the product and services they offer.
For this new edition of ASIP Accelerator Program, the targeted sectors are AgriTech and Supply Chain, FinTech, IoT and Connectivity; Machine Learning (Data Analytics), Cybersecurity, CleanTech and RegTech.
The ten early-stage startups selected at the end of the selection process will benefit from intensive coaching, pilot, and proof-of-concept opportunities that will open doors to longer-term business deals.
Each of them will receive €15,000 in cash as well as over €500,000 in credits and will benefit from exclusive partnership agreements with leading technology providers such as AWS, Google, Miro, Hubspot, and many others.
Five of them will be fully funded and supported by the EiA project and receive more support including access to the Euroquity community, networking events, monitoring, etc.
For this new edition, the incubator has the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO), the Senegalese General Delegation for Rapid Entrepreneurship of Women and Youth (DER/FJ), telecom operator Telecel Group, and Enrich in Africa (EiA) -funded by the European Commission's Horizon 2020 program- as its partners.
Muriel Edjo
In Africa, access to affordable loans is mainly the daily challenge faced by small businesses. In recent years, fundraising has emerged as one of the main sources for them to access the required capital and expand their businesses.
Scalable digital lending platform Pezesha announced on Tuesday, August 30, that it has secured US$11 million in pre-series A investment.
“We are excited about attracting institutional investors led by the Women’s World Banking Capital Partners II to harness our growth plans and push our mission to the next level. We are equally excited that WWBCP II intentionally invests in women, which allows us to cement inclusivity in our growth plans as a sustainable path towards our vision of building Africa’s MSME lending infrastructure,” said Pezesha founder, Hilda Moraa.
Pezesha was founded in 2017, in Kenya. It connects SMEs and financial institutions, helping the former raise working capital. Doing so “encourages meaningful financial inclusion and reduces inequality in access to formal financial services.” Pezesha also provides financial education and debt counseling to MSMEs to help them improve their credit score and have responsible borrowing habits as they move up the Pezesha financial ladder.
The additional capital, consisting of $6 million in equity and $5 million in loans, will enable it to expand its operations in its core East African markets and explore opportunities in new Sub-Saharan African markets.
The fintech claims to have more than 200,000 partners to date and over 100,000 loans made to MSMEs in Kenya, Uganda, and Ghana.
Samira Njoya
Zanzibar is known as one of the best tourist destinations in the world. The country wants to take advantage of this reputation to develop partnerships and become a technological innovation hub par excellence in Africa.
E-commerce platform Wasoko and the government of Zanzibar launched, Tuesday (August 30), the Wasoko Innovation Hub in Fumba. According to Wasoko, the hub aims to attract tech companies to the country and even woo them into relocating.
“As a Pan-African tech company, Wasoko has been looking for a location where we can bring together the best talents from across the continent and beyond to innovate and develop new products and services for our customers. While we considered more traditional centres such as Dubai and London, we were ultimately committed to the belief that technology for Africa should be built in Africa,” said Wasoko CEO Daniel Yu.
A few years ago, Zanzibar initiated efforts to accelerate its digital transformation. One of the initiatives taken was Silicon Zanzibar, which has Wasoko as a founding partner. Through the partnership with Wasoko, the government wants to create an attractive environment for technology companies, researchers, and industry professionals.
The Wasoko Innovation Hub will specialize in developing tools to personalize the customer experience, improve delivery metrics, expand financial service options, and collect key data and information across the value chain.
The new center will contribute to the development of Fumba, help create numerous employment and career opportunities, and establish the island as a leading center for pan-African technology companies. It will also enable the country to secure more than US$15 million in investment over the next decade.
The Wasoko Innovation Hub will focus on developing world-class technology solutions that will boost the African e-commerce sector. According to Zanzibar's Minister of Investment and Economic Development, Mudrick Soraga, the hub is to be an ideal and suitable setting "for all technology companies and their team members to be based in Zanzibar."
Samira Njoya
The somewhat tense relations between Algeria and France over the past few months is gradually being normalized. The two countries now want to capitalize on their historical bond as well as development issues to boost those relations.
During his friendly and working visit to Algeria, on August 25-26 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron (photo, center) announced several cooperation projects between the two countries. In the digital segment, in particular, he unveiled a project aimed at creating a Franco-Algerian incubator. According to the French President, the aim of the incubator is to let the two countries share their knowledge and innovations.
“Algeria has so many talents, and so do French and Franco-Algerians. That is the reason I want us to join forces to develop a bridging system [...], develop training and facilitate exchanges and joint innovations by our two countries, why not in the whole region,” he said.
Besides a training and project maturation framework for tech entrepreneurs, Emmanuel Macron also mentioned the creation of a €100 million fund to fund startups since financing is a key factor in their growth and success. Public Investment Bank BPIFrance will set up the fund, allowing tech entrepreneurs to promote projects, he added.
During the working visit, business mogul Xavier Niel, who was also part of the French delegation, announced the forthcoming launch of Ecole 42, a free coding school. The school was announced in 2017 but its launch has been delayed up to now.
Muriel Edjo
The African Digital Hub aims to take advantage of Tunisia’s geographical and geo-digital positioning to create a global digital hub.
During the TICAD 8, held in Tunisia last August 27-28, volunteer organization Tunisian Smart Cities (TSC) presented African Digital Hub, a pan-African project aimed at connecting Africa to the world.
According to the TICAD 8 whitebook published by the Tunisian-Japanese chamber of commerce and industry, the digital infrastructure offers an opportunity to establish a set of digital cardinals on the African continent, ensuring “the inter-connection of Africa with the rest of the world through a sovereign mesh of submarine cables.”
For Akil Sadkaoui, manager of the African Digital Hub project, the infrastructure will help boost connectivity in Africa, “therefore allowing residents to capitalize on new value chains in a context marked by growing e-commerce and mobile payment activities at a time when artificial intelligence, cryptocurrencies and soon quantum networks are constant discussion topics.”
The African Digital Hub will be implemented following a public-private partnership model. During its first phase (US$307 million), Green's Data Cities will be built, forming the building block of a large backbone network that will benefit allied cities.
The project is expected to create some 500 direct jobs. It aims to create a green digital sector that leverages green energy sources and an academic research program. For connectivity expert Damien Bertrand, thanks to the African Digital Hub, Tunisia could become the northern gateway of a sovereign and autonomous Africa while Bizerte will be the building block of that gateway.
Let’s note that the Bizerte governorate (in Tunisia) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) have already launched the feasibility study of the first phase of the African Digital Hub.
Samira Njoya
Uganda has a high internet penetration rate. However, internet costs are still high, making the resource less affordable for many. The current plan to half the costs aims to make it more affordable.
The Ugandan government plans to reduce internet costs to promote the use of digital financial services and increase financial inclusion for vulnerable groups.
According to ICT Minister Chris Baryomunsi, the country will reduce the price of the data it provides through the national backbone by more than 50%, from US$70 per Mbps to US$30.
“We are talking about purely government internet. Once we cut down the cost at which government is selling to service providers, then they will automatically also reduce the cost that the end user will be paying and we think this will help in our efforts to digitize our economy,” he said last Wednesday.
By reducing internet costs, the country will support ICT innovation, and the development of digital financial services, communication, and e-government, among others. Several projects are underway to complement that measure. The most important of those projects is the National Data Backbone and e-Government Infrastructure project, with an estimated cost of US$75 million. It will connect the country’s major cities to a fiber optic network and connect ministries and administrations to the e-government platform.
The projects initiated are part of Uganda's Digital Acceleration Program, which aims to fill the current infrastructure gap and accelerate Internet penetration in the country.
Samira Njoya
In Africa, most schools teach lessons in official languages. Practically no courses are taught in local languages. Yet, researches show that teaching courses in local languages can greatly improve academic performance. This partnership may be an interesting experience.
Last Wednesday, Premium content streaming platform Ckrowd and Nigeria's Center synergies in areas of education, technology, and the dissemination and advocacy of knowledge for the Advancement of Education "School on Air (SOA)" signed a memorandum of understanding to offer digital STEM courses in local Nigerian languages, including Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, but also in French.
For Kayode Adebayo (photo, right), CEO of Ckrowd, the MoU is a starting point to "generate synergies in education, technology, dissemination, and advocacy.”
The initiative comes after research results showed that many Yoruba youth increased their knowledge retention in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics subjects by 65% when studying in their native language. The same is true for Hausa students whose knowledge retention increased by 250% after learning STEM in their native language.
The goal of this agreement is therefore to close the education gap on the African continent and provide opportunities that will help students gain the technical skills, professional knowledge, and attitude needed to excel and function globally with a comprehensive curriculum that will benefit the next generation.
According to stakeholders, the initiative will reach more than 40 million young Africans, particularly in West Africa. It will enable students from different backgrounds to access education, and learning opportunities to improve their livelihoods. Doing so will contribute to sustainable development goal number four which aims to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”
Kayode Adebayo explains that the MoU is just the beginning of numerous projects to improve the living conditions of “the next generations of young Africans.”
To fulfill that goal, Ckrowd intends to partner with various parties “to deliver true value to young Diasporans and Africans on the Continent” as well as create “unique and ad-hoc local solutions and innovation to advance African nations and harness the new dynamic of the digital age, content creation, technology, and education.”
Samira Njoya
In Africa, biometrics adoption is rising steadily. A growing number of countries are getting interested in biometric technologies because of their effectiveness to combat fraud.
The Togolese National Social Security Fund (CNSS) recently launched Biosecu, a facial recognition web application to attest that its beneficiaries (pensioners and annuitants) are well alive at specified dates.
With Biosecu, the CNSS wants to allow its beneficiaries to perform those mandatory checks remotely. That way, they will no longer be obliged to reach out to dedicated CNSS agencies.
"Facial recognition allows us to confirm that your face perfectly matches the biometric information held by CNSS Togo," explains the social security institution.
In recent years, the country has introduced several reforms including the payment of social benefits in the beneficiaries’ bank accounts. There was also a reform to check whether the beneficiaries (both within and outside the national territory) were alive as of a set date. This operation carried out bi-annually was aimed at preventing fraud.
According to a statement by CNSS director general Ingrid Awadé, the operation, which was previously suspended, in compliance with Covid-19 barrier measures, has resumed and will run from August 16 to December 31, 2022, for pensions and annuities to be paid during the first half of 2022.
"As of January 1, 2023, payment will be suspended for beneficiaries who have not performed the check, per the social security code,” she stressed.
In Togo, the CNSS is the pioneer of digitalization. It was the first to launch dematerialization with online form-filling and payment. With its facial recognition platform, it is innovating once again by leveraging technology to allow its beneficiaries to easily carry out its mandatory processes but at the same time combatting fraud.
Fiacre E. Kakpo
The funds will help build customer loyalty and boost retention. It will also help launch regional expansion.
Nigerian B2B platform Omnibiz announced, Friday (August 19), it completed its pre-series A round, raising US$15 million. The platform will use those funds to accelerate its growth, win customer loyalty and retention for more revenue.
The round, led by Timon Capital, had Ventures Platform, LoftyInc Capital Management, Chapel Hill Denham, Chandaria Capital, and Musha Ventures as participating investors. It consisted of US$5 million as equity participation and US$10 million as debt investment.
“We believe the smart informal retailer – not shopping malls - is the future of modern retail in Africa. By providing the capital, tools and logistics, we will enable retailers to offer great merchandising at an affordable price point to win their customers’ trust. This funding will allow us to quadruple the profitability of our retailers, build a scalable and profitable business, and take us one step closer to transforming African retail,” said Omnibiz co-founder and CEO, Deepankar Rustagi.
According to Techcrunch, Omnibiz will use the funding to double down on winning the loyalty of its retail customers and drive client retention.
Meanwhile, Disrupt Africa explains that by “employing its holistic strategy to become the primary B2B operating system for retailers – helping with last mile delivery, procurement, working capital, inventory management and operational tools for tracking sales, cost, prices and profit – Omnibiz projects a 4x revenue increase for its retailers.”
The company will begin its regional expansion this month, we learn.
Omnibiz was founded in June 2019. It allows retailers to place orders and have those orders delivered to their doorsteps free of charge. Retailers can place their orders via the company’s mobile apps, by chatting on Whatsapp or by calling a dedicated support number.
To date, the e-commerce platform connects retailers in Nigeria and Ghana to more than 200 brands while the goods are delivered by its network of over 70 logistics partners. More than 3,000 retailers use its platform daily, Omnibiz claims. With the information provided by the platform, retaillers can view inventory in real-time and avoid buying products that may prove difficult to resell.
For Nikos Katsaounis, Timpon Capital Partner, the Fast-moving consumer goods “ supply chain is fragmented, inefficient, and opaque. Omnibiz tackles all of these problems and addresses them with an efficient software layer that provides much-needed data on this otherwise obscure market and supply chain.”
Samira Njoya
Despite the ongoing crises and long-standing structural issues, the African startup ecosystem is still thriving. However, it is not yet up to par with the ecosystems in other continents, Europe, and North America namely. The initiative is aimed at helping reach its full potential.
UNDP Africa launched, Wednesday (August 17), timXLAGOS, the Nigerian chapter of Timbuktoo, an initiative aimed at investing US$1 billion of private and public funds to “spur the startup revolution across Africa.”
According to a UNDP release, the aim of Timbuktoo is to “get a lot of private and public sector partners to help set up eight Timbuktoo Hubs in places that are known to have strong startup ecosystems, such as Accra, Nairobi, Cape Town, Lagos, Dakar, Kigali, Casablanca, and Cairo.”
Timbuktoo was initiated in 2021, to contribute to UNDP Africa’s mission to transform the continent by leveraging its population, “especially its ambitious and dynamic youth.” Through the US$1 billion initiative, UNDP plans to help some 1,000 African startups grow significantly over the coming decade.
“The Timbuktoo approach will be based on finding, nurturing, and building African solutions put forward by Africa's youth that directly address one or more of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” UNDP Africa indicates.
To achieve that goal, the initiative will facilitate the construction of eight private-sector-driven Timbuktoo hubs across Africa. Each of them will focus on a key area -fintech, agritech, Healthtech, Greentech, Creatives, Tradetech and Logistics, Smart Cities and Mobility, or Tourismtech- and host a venture builder and a venture fund.
According to the UNDP release, “Timbuktoo has made significant progress since its inception.” It launched the development of University Innovation Pods (UniPods) in ten “lower-income countries” namely Benin, Chad, Guinea Conakry, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Togo, and Uganda. The universities will encourage innovation and design thinking. That way, they will prompt the development of strong startup ecosystems in those countries, making them worthy to host Timbuktoo hubs. They are expected to become operational by end-2022, we learn.
For Eleni Gabre-Madhin, UNDP Africa Chief Innovation Officer, “Timbuktoo is a big, innovative, and unique initiative to overcome the present vacuum in early-stage risk capital, to better integrate African innovation stakeholders from universities to corporates to investors, and to enable startups to embrace the African market opportunity.”
Samira Njoya
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Over the past five years, the number of start-ups founded and run by women has increased significantly in Africa. But, many problems still hinder the growth of those businesses. Various initiatives are being created by development partners to deal with those problems.
The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and Venture Building's Betacube program launched an incubation program, Tech African Women (TAW), yesterday (July 28). The program is focused on women-led technology start-ups still in the idea stage. Its first edition will target Ethiopia, Senegal, Tanzania, and Tunisia.
TAW aims to empower female tech innovators, leverage their skills to build strong tech companies from scratch, accelerate the transformation of their project ideas into validated business models, and develop alliances between different African ecosystems.
Applications are open until August 10, 2022, for Tunisia, and August 17, 2022, for Ethiopia, Senegal, and Tanzania at the official address www.techafricanwomen.com. To participate in TAW, applicants must be aged between 18 and 35 and be fluent in English or French.
Tech entrepreneurs selected for the program will take part in a 3-day intensive training and pitch competition organized in partnership with actors from each of their various local tech ecosystems. The winning team from each camp will receive a US$2,000 cash prize.
The top 2 startups from each country will then take part in a 2-month online incubation program to be prepared to enter the market and attract investments.
Later, in December, the top eight startups will take part in a pitching competition to select the best startup, which will win a cash grant of US$7,000.
The deal comes a few days after Benin officially introduced biometric ID cards, canceling the issuance of old cards.
Trade facilitation solution provider Webb Fontaine announced Monday (July 25), a deal with Beninese authorities to implement its Customs Webb solution. The new artificial intelligence-based solution will replace ASYCUDA World, the old IT system used by Benin customs.
The deal is the result of a partnership binding Benin and Webb Fontaine since 2018. According to Alain Hinkati, Director General of Benin Customs, “Customs Webb, Webb Fontaine’s Customs system, based on artificial intelligence, was chosen by Benin to continue the modernization of customs and optimize the trade environment.”
“Webb Fontaine’s ability to provide cutting-edge technology and digital solutions is a guarantee of success. With this new system, the objective of the public authorities to make Benin an exemplary platform in the simplification and transparency of Customs clearance procedures has taken a major step forward,” he added.
The deal to implement Customs Webb follows a decision issued by the Ministerial council on July 6, 2022. It is in line with the government’s ambition to make Benin a model country whose customs clearance procedure is clear and simple.
Customs Webb's main objective will be to interconnect all the main commercial platforms such as the single window, the community port system, and the electronic goods tracking solution.
In January 2018, Webb Fontaine launched the Single Window for Foreign Trade (GUCE), a platform through which pre-clearance and trade inspection documents can be requested.
With Customs Webb, Benin is taking another step toward the digital transformation of its public and private sector. A few days ago, the country officially introduced biometric identity cards, canceling the issuance of the old non-biometric card.
Samira Njoya
In Africa, the digital ticketing system is nascent. However, Morrocan startup Guichet wants to develop it further and conquer the whole of Africa.
Moroccan digital ticketing platform "Guichet" announced, Friday (July 22), the official launch of its Senegalese subsidiary. The new subsidiary, based in Dakar, is the result of a strategic partnership with a Senegalese operator.
For Guichet founder and CEO Ahmed Tawfik Moulnakhla, Senegal is a strategic market. "Morocco and Senegal are sister countries, whose exemplary relations embody an ambitious and inspiring model of South-South cooperation. By setting up [its subsidiary] in Dakar, Guichet wants to contribute to the exceptional dynamism of Senegal’s culture and entertainment industries by providing the public with smart ticketing solutions developed in Morocco,” he said.
Guichet, which has been operating in the Moroccan market for three years now, just passed the mark of one million tickets sold online. This is an unprecedented performance in the Moroccan entertainment industry. The ticketing platform wants to replicate this performance in the Senegalese market, which is its first step out of its native country, Morocco.
The Senegalese subsidiary is a test for Ahmed Tawfik Moulnakhla who wants to conquer the whole of Africa in the coming years.
Despite a difficult start, over the years, Guichet has managed to gain the trust of the Moroccan public by offering them the possibility to buy tickets online. The platform, which has Android and iOS apps, offers the possibility to buy tickets for concerts, sporting events, festivals, etc. In Morocco, it has organized more than 2,000 events.
Samira Njoya
Morocco embarked on a digital transformation journey years ago. Thanks to the various partnerships and agreements it has already signed, the country expects to digitize all of its public services by 2025.
In Morocco, the Ministry of Justice is moving to accelerate its digital transformation. Indeed, on Friday, July 22, in Rabat, Justice Minister Abdellatif Ouahbi signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Digital Transformation, represented by Digital Minister Ghita Mezzour.
In the framework of that memorandum, the Ministry of Digital Transformation will offer technical assistance for the implementation of the Ministry of Justice’s digital projects. The two ministries will also share experience and collaborate on human resource development. Notably, the memorandum will oversee the interconnection of the Ministry of Justice’s digital platforms and allow the Ministry of Justice to use digital participatory platforms.
According to Abdellatif Ouahbi, the digital transformation of the Ministry of Justice is a strategic move aimed at rendering its services more accessible to users. “In the coming months, the Ministry will redesign its websites and digitize its justice services,” he said. He explained that with digitalization, the justice system will be accelerated since data can now be securely exchanged in real-time between departments.
The acceleration of the Ministry of Justice’s digital transformation is in line with the country’s digital transformation strategy (Maroc Digital 2020 and 2025) launched in 2016. The national digital transformation strategy aims to reduce the divide. Its ambition is to digitize at least 50% of administrative procedures and connect at least 20% of Moroccan SMEs to the internet by 2025.
As Minister Ghita Mezzour explains, in its new development model, Morrocco considers the digitization of public services a tool to improve economic, social, and territorial integration.
Samira Njoya