As the CEO of a company specializing in application development, artificial intelligence, and connected devices, he creates practical technological solutions for people. His latest innovation is a tracking bracelet that enables Muslim pilgrims to always find their way around Mecca.
On May 25, 2023, Guinean tech company Continental SOFT unveiled a new GPS tracking bracelet specifically designed for Muslim pilgrims. The product, called Smart Hajj 2.0, uses cutting-edge technologies such as GPS, QR codes, mobile connectivity, and advanced tracking algorithms to prevent users from getting lost while performing the annual Islamic pilgrimage (Hajj). It is made from nylon and plastic, making it resistant to bad weather.
"Each pilgrim is equipped with a discreet, lightweight, and easy-to-wear tracking device, which continuously transmits his or her geographical position. A mobile application also tracks the pilgrim’s moves. If lost, the latter can simply flash the QR code to instantly check the guide” and get the route to take, explained Mohamed Souaré, the brain behind the innovative product and founder/CEO of Continental SOFT.
Apart from Smart Hajj 2.0, the Guinean innovator has developed several tech products. They include Smart désinfectant - Covid-19, a disinfection tunnel designed to combat the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. He is also behind Calculatrice N'ko, a calculator using the N’Ko alphabetic script, and Smart School, an intelligent machine capable of detecting students’ location and informing parents in real-time. In 2020, thanks to Continental SOFT, he was awarded the Katala Award issued by Covid Hero.
Melchior Koba
In 2019, DRC published its digital transformation program, focusing mainly on the development of the digital economy to improve its contribution to GDP. To successfully implement that goal, it is counting on partnerships with countries like China whose digital economy contributed 41.5% to GDP in 2022.
China and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) recently signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen digital cooperation. The memorandum was signed in Beijing, last Friday, by Congolese Digital Minister Désiré Cashmir Eberande Kolongele and Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Qin Gang, on the sidelines of President Félix Tshisekedi's visit to China.
"We both expressed our desire to enhance cooperation through win-win partnerships that will be mutually beneficial for our people. Our relationship has greatly evolved. In the DRC, many things symbolize the friendship between our two countries,” said President Félix Tshisekedi.
On Sunday, May 28, at the end of the Congolese president's visit, a new agreement was signed in Shenzhen between the Congolese government and tech giant Huawei. It aims to promote digital transformation in the DRC, particularly the digitization of government services. According to President Tshisekedi, it will enable the development of several areas, including energy, education, health, public finance, and security.
The partnerships signed during the visit are fully in line with the 2025 Digital Transformation Plan, published by the government in 2019. That plan aims to leverage digital technologies to improve integration, good governance, economic growth, and social progress.
Let’s note that President Félix Tshisekedi's visit to China is part of the celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and the DRC.
Samira Njoya
The innovative project, a first of its kind in Africa, is launched to train the youth to prepare for the digital future and develop the digital economy.
On Saturday, May 27, Guinean Prime Minister Bernard Goumou (photo, center) officially launched the construction of a digital village in Ratoma, Conakry.
According to the government official, the digital village aims to make Guinea a major player in Africa’s digital revolution and an internationally competitive country.
The infrastructure will span over 46,707.12 square meters. It is co-funded, to the tune of $14.6 million, by the telecom regulator ARPT, the National Agency for Universal Service of Telecommunications and Digital (ANSUTEN), and the National Development Budget (BND).
It will host four academic and one administrative block, two buildings to house students, an amphitheater, a library, a teachers' residence, a sports center, secondary buildings, external landscaping and roads, and miscellaneous networks (VRD). It is expected to be completed within 12 months.
According to the initiator of the project, Vocational Minister Alpha Bacar Barry, the digital village will offer ongoing ICT training from primary school through to the university level. In addition to the digital education center, the village will also have a digital entrepreneurship center and a research and development center.
This ambitious project, the first of its kind in Africa, will stimulate the development of the digital sector and train a generation of Guinean talent capable of meeting the challenges of technological innovation. It will also draw the country closer to meeting its goal of creating a generation of digital champions to be able to fully capitalize on the global digital economy for growth by 2030.
Samira Njoya
Common law is practiced in some 80 countries around the world. Lawyers can therefore refer to court decisions in these countries to defend their clients more effectively. However, accessing such information can sometimes be tedious. Hence the importance of Judy Legal.
Judy Legal is a digital solution developed by a Nigerian start-up. It gives lawyers easier access to case law from common law countries (around 80 countries), particularly Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana, to help them defend their cases in court.
It aims to be the “most comprehensive, most utilized database of case judgments in the world.”
“Our mission is to support the legal profession and the administration of justice by providing a law reporting service in a convenient form and at a moderate price,” it says.
With its Android and iOS apps, users can access its services once they set up accounts and buy a premium subscription. The type of services they are given depends on their subscription type. The startup has three premium subscriptions. The basic subscription costs $25 monthly and allows services like choosing a database, refining cases by date, court, country, and subject matter, and also highlighting comments. There are also the standard ($50 monthly) and premium ($150 monthly) plans besides the basic plan.
Since its launch, the Android version of its mobile app has been downloaded more than 10,000 times. In 2018, Judy Legal was one of the winners of the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) program, going home with a $100,000 check. Two years later, it was selected to take part in the fifth cohort of Google for Startups Accelerator Africa.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
The incubator encourages and supports businesses that solve socioeconomic problems in their communities. It particularly focuses on women-led or owned businesses.
Wennovation Hub is a start-up incubator and accelerator working to create high-impact businesses. It was established in 2010, in Nigeria, and officially opened in 2011 to help achieve sustainable development in Africa by encouraging youth innovation.
Born of a partnership between venture capital firm LoftInc Capital Management and the non-profit organization Africa Leadership Forum, its role is to train innovators through tailor-made programs that turn ideas into successful businesses. It focuses on high-impact sectors such as education, agriculture, healthcare, clean energy, and infrastructure, among others, and emphasizes job creation in its programs.
It also offers modern coworking spaces at its three Nigerian campuses based in Ibadan, Lagos, and Abuja. The spaces are equipped with the essential technical tools that bright minds need to come up with business ideas. It also offers office space to entrepreneurs and founders, small and medium-sized enterprises, middle managers, freelancers, and creative artists.
In November 2022, the incubator announced its expansion outside Africa, starting with Barbados. In partnership with youth empowerment organization The Next Economy, it recently launched an incubation program targetting early-stage companies founded or co-founded by women.
To date, Wennovation Hub has supported over 450 start-up teams and more than 150 women-led businesses, creating more than 12,500 jobs in the process. They include Asusu, which promotes the digitization and financial inclusion of cooperatives, and Afrimash, which is an online destination for farmers looking for poultry, fish, and livestock.
Its partners include AfriLabs, LoftInc Group, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Lagos Angel Network, Emory University, Total Energy, and the University of Ibadan.
Melchior Koba
South Africa, like most African countries, faces growing demand for high-speed connectivity amidst accelerated digital transformation. Data service providers need more capacity to meet this demand.
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) announced, Tuesday (May 23) it has released the lower 6GHz frequency band (5925-6425 MHz) to allow the provision of high-speed Wi-Fi connectivity.
According to the regulator, the additional spectrum can support more simultaneous connections, offer reduced latency, and provide faster data speeds, resulting in less interference, especially in potentially congested high-density areas and campuses.
The operation was completed through an amendment of Schedule B of ICASA's 2015 radio spectrum regulations. The Regulatory Authority began the process last December, following pressure from Internet service providers in the Rainbow Nation months before.
According to the Wireless Access Providers Association of South Africa (WAPA), the opening of the 6 GHz frequency band is expected to enable the deployment of Wi-Fi 6E, the latest Wi-Fi technology, bringing in as much as $57.76 billion to the country over the next 10 years.
“Overall, the implementation of the lower 6 GHz frequency band is expected to provide significant improvements, more robust and reliable wireless communications, and an enhanced user experience for both the consumers and businesses throughout the country,” the ICASA writes.
Isaac K. Kassouwi
Aware of the challenges faced by small-scale farmers, he co-founded Pula to provide insurance products to people who need them but have never bought any.
Thomas Njeru (photo) is a Kenyan entrepreneur and co-founder of insuretech Pula. He graduated from the University of Nairobi, in 2009, with a bachelor's of Actuarial science. In 2015, he got a chartered financial analyst degree from the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India University. In 2018, he graduated from Strathmore Business School with a Master of Commerce.
His insuretech, Pula, operates in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. It handles insurance product design, risk placement, farmer and herder training, and claims assessment. It offers three main products, namely Yield Index Insurance (YII), Hybrid Index Insurance, and Indexed Livestock Insurance (IBLI).
Its yield index insurance covers all yield-related risks. Among other things, it insures the value of purchased inputs in the event of low yield. Its hybrid index insurance is a combination of weather index insurance (WII) and yield index insurance (YII), offering farmers comprehensive coverage by maximizing the benefits of both insurance products.
The third product, indexed livestock insurance, is an asset insurance program that covers farmers when pasture is inadequate, often due to drought or delayed rainfall. Since 2015, Pula's products have impacted more than 6.7 million smallholder farmers. Thomas Njeru, the man who made that possible, entered the insurance world, in 2009, as an actuary at UAP-Old Mutual Insurance Group. In 2011, he joined Aon Hewitt as a consulting actuary. Then, in 2012, Deloitte South Africa hired him for the same position. About two years later, he was promoted to the position of director of actuary and coinsurance advisory. In 2019, the New York Times named him one of the global agriculture visionaries.
Melchior Koba
The Innovation Village aims to create a new generation of entrepreneurs who solve industry and community challenges. In addition to the collaborative framework it provides for its members, it organizes events and programs to facilitate their development.
The Innovation Village is a springboard for entrepreneurs and innovators that strive to solve Africa’s most processing problems. Founded by C.K. Japheth, in 2015, it is a coworking space that offers business incubation and acceleration services to start-ups.
It aims to foster the emergence of a wave of businesses that not only have a measurable impact on the world but also significantly improve the lives of everyone on the planet. The incubator targets startups in the agritech, insurtech, energy, edtech, fintech, tourism, healthcare, supply chain, manufacturing, and media segments.
It implements several programs and initiatives, including the Uganda Innovation Week 2022, which brought together 1,000 participants, over 80 speakers, and more than 50 exhibitors. It also organizes the DataHack4Fi, an annual innovation competition that promotes evidence-based decision-making to improve the delivery of financial services to low-income people.
The incubator also organizes events to enable successful entrepreneurs to share their experiences. One such event is VILLAGE SOIREE, set to take place today, May 26.
To date, it has supported 2,000 entrepreneurs, including 40% women, in six segments. It also boasts a community of 140 start-ups, over $3 million raised, and 100 events hosted.
The startups it supported include Safepay, a digital payment solution for public transport users, UGIT Engineering and Consulting, a company offering consulting, engineering, and design services, and Infinity IcT Solutions, which aims to become a data center by providing quality information technology services.
Its partners for various activities include The Mastercard Foundation, Liquid Telecom, MTN, and UNCDF.
Melchior Koba
He is an expert in digitization, business strategy and development, and digital banking. With AgroSfer, he digitizes agriculture, providing appropriate solutions to the needs of cooperatives, agribusinesses, and governments.
Francis Dossou Sognon (photo) is a Beninese entrepreneur set on revolutionizing agriculture across Africa. In 2019, the industrial and systems engineering graduate founded AgroSfer for that purpose.
Through the agritech company, he designs and implements data-driven strategies to improve the agricultural value chain on the continent. He supports agricultural cooperatives, collects data in the field, and provides tailor-made support to small-scale farmers to help build sustainable supply chains for food industry players.
Currently, AgroSfer operates in Benin, France and Côte d’Ivoire. To help at least three million farmers easily sell their products to manufacturers by 2025, it developed a digital marketplace to connect farmers with international buyers. For the time being, it has reached some 20,000 farmers.
Francis Dossou Sognon is also one of the co-founders of Acumen Network, an African digitization company that aims to help businesses, governments, and non-governmental organizations effectively address the challenges they face in transforming their activities.
His professional career began in 2006 at Valeo, an automotive supplier, where he was a lean engineer. He worked at Mastercard Advisors in the information services sales office in 2015 and as business development support between 2016 and 2017. In 2017, he joined Illicado, a forerunner in the French voucher market in France, as a digital program manager.
Melchior Koba
Nigeria, with its 218 million population, needs 363,000 doctors to reach the WHO’s recommended one doctor for every 600 residents. With the ratio becoming less attainable, authorities have decided to leverage the power of tech tools.
Last week, the Nigerian Federal government inaugurated NigComHealth, an e-health solution. The solution was developed in partnership with NigComSat, a Nigerian ICT and telecommunications company, Sawtrax, a Nigerian software company, and Ethnomet, a Canadian health technology start-up. The aim is to provide people, especially those in rural and remote areas, with better access to health care.
“The doctor-patient ratio in the country is getting worse, with a physician attending to more than 5,000 patients. This represents a stark contrast with WHO’s recommendation of one doctor to 600 patients. With 218 million people to cater to, Nigeria requires at least 363,000 additional doctors to meet this target,” which NigComHealth is expected to achieve, according to Professor Salahu Junaidu, the Chief of Staff to the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy.
For several years now, the country has been the hotspot for the tech revolution in Africa. In the health sector, the number of healthtech solutions is multiplying and increasingly becoming a viable alternative to people with low or no access to health services. The solutions contribute to the achievement of the third sustainable development goal, which aims to ensure health and well-being for all by guaranteeing, among other things, universal access to medical coverage and health services.
However, despite the efforts, e-health solutions are not yet accessible to most rural populations. According to the GSMA, Sub-Saharan Africa had a 28% internet penetration rate in 2020. In addition, Nigeria particularly has the highest internet exclusion index in the world, according to a study published by World Data Lab in 2022. According to the same source, about 103 million people (out of a population of about 218 million) are "Internet poor," meaning they cannot afford the minimin Internet bundle.
In that context, if no additional measures are taken, NigComHealth, seen by politicians as the tool to resolve the desperate health access issue, may be just another healthtech solution in the Nigerian tech landscape.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
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Concree offers virtual and in-person incubation programs to foster entrepreneurship in Africa.
Concree is a Senegal-based incubator, which designs and manages solutions and programs to help early-stage startups grow from ideation to scalable business models. It was founded, in 2014, by Babacar Birane, a project manager by training, and Abdoul Sy, its chief technology officer.
The incubator focuses on developing the creative potentials of its coachees, supporting determined entrepreneurs in their efforts to create innovative, sustainable, and impactful businesses. It is always in support of selected entrepreneurs from the ideation stage to the first sale.
It has developed several coaching solutions, including LezGo, LezGo Light, and Wekomkom. The latter is an open incubation platform designed to help startups transform their ideas into products ready to be taken to markets. It connects entrepreneurs to upskilling, financing, and business development opportunities.
LezGo allows entrepreneurship support institutions to attract entrepreneurs and work in perfect collaboration with their incubation team and entrepreneurs and also review and improve their coaching activity.
LezGo Light, on the other hand, fosters collaboration and empowers users with dynamic tools. It also allows users to measure the impact of their coaching with monitoring and evaluation tools.
Apart from its tech solutions, Concree also collaborates with partners on entrepreneurship support projects. One of those projects is the Falling Walls Lab (June 8, 2023), an event during which participants present their innovative ideas. In its eight years of existence, Concree has supported 250 entrepreneurs through its programs, 3,000 entrepreneurs through its digital solutions, and worked with 20 institutional clients. Among the start-ups supported by the company are Aywajieune, an online platform that facilitates the purchase of fish and seafood, and Tolbi, a Senegalese agricultural technology company.
Melchior Koba
Over the past two years, several strategic sectors of the Malagasy economy have adopted tech tools to transform operating models. Even in the agricultural sector, authorities who are aware of the need to transform the sector for more efficiency are gradually encouraging the adoption of those tools.
Last Saturday, two Malagasy Ministries signed a partnership agreement with the local association Agritech Madagascar to accelerate the use of ICT tools in the agriculture sector. The two Ministries concerned were the Ministries of Agriculture and Livestock (MINAE) Digital Development, Digital Transformation, Posts and Telecommunications (MNDPT)
That agreement aims to pool resources, skills, and experiences to accelerate the modernization of the rural world and facilitate farmers’ access to information and means to develop their activities.
"Actors in the agricultural sector are unanimous on the need to digitalize agricultural services. Digitization is also an important element for the transformation and improvement of agriculture in Madagascar," said Minister of Agriculture Harifidy Janset Ramilison.
The Malagasy government pays special attention to agriculture in the country. In recent years, it has taken several actions to boost efficiency in the sector. According to the World Bank, the agricultural sector remains the "backbone" of the Malagasy economy, accounting for 70% of total employment and 29% of GDP.
The new partnership was signed on the sidelines of the Conference on Digital Transformation in Africa (ATDA). It will back the projects underway in the country, including the distribution of digital cards to farmers, the implementation of a system of traceability and identification by electronically readable forgery-proof loops, and the development of the national strategy for the digitalization of agricultural services.
Samira Njoya
After working for five years in American firms such as Yahoo, Bassem Bouguerra decided to return to his country, Tunisia, where he launched a start-up shortly before the Covid-19 pandemic.
IntiGo is an e-mobility solution developed by a Tunisian start-up. It allows users to book taxi scooters and vehicles for hire for their errands and package deliveries. The Tunis-based startup was founded in 2019 by Bassem Bouguerra and Nebil Jridet. Since its launch, it has raised $1.6 million to develop its technology, expand its offerings and accelerate its growth in Tunisia, among other things.
"We provide our customers with comfortable and [most modern] cars. We also offer coupons and do not increase prices during peak hours," explained Bassem Bouguerra.
Via its mobile application -available for Android and iOS devices, users can signup to access its services. For a lift, users enter their destination and get quotes for every transportation means available. Then, they can choose the means they want and even filter based on drivers’ ratings or the nearest ride.
In addition to urban transportation, the startup deals with package, grocery, and food delivery. It has seven warehouses where items can be stored. During the coronavirus pandemic, the startup recorded a boom in the number of weekly deliveries. But, after that period, it went from an average of 2,000 to 600 deliveries weekly.
By 2023, IntiGo was claiming more than 200,000 runs and 60,000 app downloads. According to Play Store statistics, its Android app has been downloaded more than 50,000 times, which corroborates the figures put forward by the start-up. IntiGo has expansion plans but, it wants to wait for the right timing, the right destination, and the right product that can compete in international markets.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
After going through an incubation program in 2022, the Kenyan agritech launched its pilot phase in February 2023. Then, with its partners, it decided to proceed to the official launch this month.
Tawi is an agritech marketplace developed by a Kenyan startup. It allows hotels, restaurants, caterers, schools, and hospitals, to directly access fresh produce from small-scale farmers via its web platform. The startup, founded by Cherotich Rutto, launched its platform in 2023 after incubating with SC Ventures, a subsidiary of British bank Standard Chartered.
“Tawi will connect our farmers to an estimated Sh200 billion (US$1.6 billion) market opportunity. Through this platform, farmers will earn more for their produce while also improving the supply-chain efficiency of high-quality products to commercial clients," said Cherotich Rutto, the founder and CEO of Tawi.
The solution does not have a mobile app yet. So, users need to visit its web platform to register either as buyers or sellers.
Between February 2023 when it started testing the platform and May 2023 when it officially launched, Tawi has registered more than 1,000 farmers, and 250 commercial kitchens and made more than 1,000 deliveries.
Deliveries are managed by the startup’s logistics teams, 12 to 18 hours after the orders (a minimum of Ksh2,000 or $14.71) are completed.
The agritech ensures that at least 25 percent of the farmers it partners with are women and youth and that 90 percent of the produce comes directly from farmers. It also plans to integrate financial services like loans and microinsurance, as well as agronomic assistance to spearhead the adoption of good agricultural practices. For the time being, the startup, launched on May 9, 2023, has no expansion plan.
Adoni Conrad Quenum