Already operational in Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya, the mobile app’s founders now prospect in Europe, India, and Australia. They want to make the app a reference in the car industry.

On Feb 4, 2022, the South African start-up secured $1.3 million in a follow-on round that recorded the participation of Kalon Venture Partners, Launch Africa Ventures, IDF Capital, Allan Gray E2 Ventures, and AlphaCode. The first three investors had already contributed an undisclosed amount during Carscan’s seed round in October 2020. 

Carscan is an augmented reality (AI) mobile application with integrated artificial intelligence (AI). It creates an accurate, reliable, complete, and traceable exterior or interior scan of a car. Launched in 2019 by Obins Choudhary and Chander Prakash, it helps actors of the car market buy, sell, lease, maintain, insure, finance, and auction cars with confidence.

With a database of over two million pictures of cars in different conditions, the app's technical inspection of cars helps detect modifications, dents, scratches, etc., estimate the overall condition of a car and estimate the extent of repairs needed in real-time. The app is also useful for insurers and individuals.

Chander Prakash, the co-founder of Carscan, said the company “is working with some local and international clients and has been developed in conjunction with one of the largest players in the automotive sector in South Africa.”

Explaining their interest in Carscan, Clive Butkow, CEO of Kalon Venture Partners, said the startup has demonstrated exceptional talent and its solution solves a large problem across industries. He said the new round is “testimony to the growth of the company and the Carscan’s team’s ability to deliver a solution solving a large problem across industries.” 

Within three years only, Carscan has grown considerably. The App is already available in Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya. This, its founders hope to expand to the European, Indian and Australian markets. 

Ruben Tchounyabe

Under the digitalization process it initiated in recent years, the Ghanaian government announced the launch of an electronic travel card for public officials and envoys.

According to Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, who introduced it last February 4 at the closing ceremony of the Annual Conference of the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) in Cape Coast, the new instrument aims to bring further transparency and accountability in the use of public funds.

“Since independence, public officials were provided cash for their impress when they travel. This system had many associated problems, including the risks of carrying cash and fraud in the disbursement of impress […] Today, that era is coming to an end with my launch of the e-Travel Card to facilitate the cashless disbursement of travel allowance and other payments for local and foreign trips of public officials,” he said.

The Vice President said the solution will eliminate the risk of carrying cash, enable the timely retirement of accountable impress, and ease improved monitoring and control of budgetary allocations for all official travel to avoid overspending. The e-travel card was developed in partnership with Fidelity Bank. It aligns with the government strategy in place since 2006 to improve governance and development through ICTs.

Adoni Conrad Quenum

Several African countries have taken on extra debt last year to improve their digital migration readiness. Investing in the right sectors is now the next important step to hit the target. To help the countries better identify the priority sectors and make the best choices in terms of investments, Sundar Pichai (pictured), Head of the US tech giant Google, suggests four steps to follow.

In an op-ed published yesterday February 7, he reported that Africa, like India a few years ago, has the potential to boost its development by investing smartly in ICTs. He says the continent is already on the right path as it enjoys a large, full-of-energy, and ICT-savvy youth.

The very first step, according to him, is to expand affordable and reliable connectivity across the continent. He believes that many Africans will be left out if they do not have access to connectivity. “We have seen during the pandemic that digital connectivity is a lifeline, helping people find essential information and connect to critical services,” he said.

He secondly suggests that governments and relevant authorities support businesses of all sizes in their digital migration processes so that the digital divide is closed. “Closing that gap means enabling businesses to move online, training more people to pursue careers that depend on technology, and ensuring that companies take advantage of cloud computing,” Sundar Pichai added, stressing that “companies should invest in products and solutions that are fit for Africa, and African governments need to adapt regulatory environments and their own development strategies to be digital-first. Small businesses need to be at the center of digitization and training efforts, as they employ around two-thirds of the continent’s formal workforce.”

A third step will be to invest in African entrepreneurs to stimulate innovation and growth. He finally called on African governments to support nonprofits and institutions striving to address communities’ challenges through technologies.

In 2021, Google made a $1 billion investment in Africa to back the continent's digital transformation. This comes in addition to several other investments made on the continent over the past four years by the company.

In its joint report with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), "e-Conomy Africa 2020 - Africa's $180 Billion Internet Economy Future," Google points out that Africa's Internet economy has the potential to grow to $180 billion, or about 5.2% of the continent's GDP, by 2025 with an economic potential of $712 billion by 2050.

Muriel Edjo

National health systems must adapt to technological developments. This is something every country around the world realized with the COVID-19 pandemic. Sierra Leone, which has been making efforts in this regard since 2019, now explores international partnerships to quickly bridge the mismatch between its health system and technological developments. 

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is offering Sierra Leone its digital health expertise. The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention revealed this on Monday 7 February after the two countries' respective health ministers, Mohammad Salim Al Olama (UAE) and Austin Demby (Sierra Leone) discussed the matter while recently meeting in Dubai. 

During the meeting, Mohammad Salim Al Olama briefed the Sierra Leonean minister and his delegation on the UAE's achievements in digital health services and health innovation, in line with efforts to fight diseases, improve health education, promote healthy nutrition, etc. The official also spoke about the UAE government's progress in health data management and health information systems development. 

Sierra Leone has one of the worst health systems in the world, according to the 2021 Global Health Security (GHS) Index. Produced by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), the John Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, working with Economist Impact, the GHS Index assesses 195 countries across six categories, 37 indicators, and 171 questions. Using publicly available data, the index compares health security in featured countries, based on their capabilities to prevent diseases, the number of doctors, the number and quality of health facilities, etc. In last year's rankings, Sierra Leone was 116th with a score of 32.7 out of 100. 

Leveraging digital technologies to improve its public health system, Sierra Leone will have to invest heavily in its internet infrastructure. The country's internet penetration rate currently stands at 25% only, according to the Hootsuit and We Are Social Digital Report. 

In 2019, Sierra Leone became the first African member state of the World Health Organization (WHO) African region to fully digitize its disease monitoring system. The project was started with the WHO's support and was successfully deployed in all 14 districts of the country as well as in all its public health facilities. 

Muriel Edjo