The 2nd edition of the B2B Digital Day, organized to let companies discover the latest digital trends and technologies in Côte d'Ivoire, will be held in Abidjan next June 22.
The event, organized by marketing and business development consultancy agency Yadec Consulting, builds on the objectives of the first edition, which was to encourage actors of the Ivorian markets to adopt digital technologies to transform and grow their businesses.
The theme chosen for the B2B Digital Day 2023 is: "Business Digitalization: Practices and Tools."
In the digital era, data generated by internet users are raw materials for various multinationals. Restricting its misuse is a security issue, particularly in Africa where regulations are somewhat lax.
The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) announced on Monday (May 22), a €1.2 billion fine against Meta Platforms Ireland Limited. The fine was imposed over the violation of Article 46 (1) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in relation to the unlawful processing and storage of European Facebook users’ data in the U.S.
Meta Platforms Ireland Limited is allowed five months to "suspend any future transfer of personal data to the United States," six months to stop "the unlawful processing, including storage, in the United States" of the transferred EU personal data. The Irish CPO's decision comes in the week marking the fifth anniversary of the GDPR, which became effective on May 25, 2018.
The decision issued Monday by the Irish regulator is the umpteenth in a series of fines that stems from a multitude of complaints filed, since 2011, by privacy activist Max Schrems.
It calls on African authorities to regulate the management of African users’ private data by multinationals such as Facebook, Amazon, and Google ... whose services are used by hundreds of millions of people on the continent.
The African Union Convention on Cybersecurity and the Protection of Personal Data adopted on June 27, 2014, which aims to protect personal data is yet to become effective. As of April 11, 2023, it was ratified by 14 countries. The last country to ratify it was Côte d'Ivoire, on March 8, 2023. As per Article 36, one more ratification is needed for the text to officially become effective.
Muriel Edjo
During the coronavirus pandemic, the African ecommerce industry grew quickly, affecting related sectors, including the delivery segment whose solutions have multiplied across the continent.
Wiikko is a digital marketplace developed by a Congolese start-up. It connects consumers to various businesses and provides parcel delivery for commercial transactions.
Through its mobile app -available on Playstore and Appstore, users can sign up for a Wiikko account and access the listed stores, including fast-foods, restaurants, and supermarkets.
When users complete their purchase, the startup also takes care of the last-mile delivery, thanks to its delivery drivers. Right from the app, users can provide every information required to ensure smooth deliveries. Wiikko is committed to ensuring that deliveries are made within the hour by trained professionals. "We have helped over 50 drivers provide better delivery service through training. Before Wiikko, most of them were unregistered motorcycle cab drivers," the platform says.
The startup claims more than a thousand merchants on its platform, more than 50,000 delivered orders, some 25,000 users, and more than 16,000 active customers. Play Store data corroborates the user numbers as the Android version of the app has already been downloaded more than 50,000 times.
Currently, Wiikko is active in Kinshasa, the largest city in DRC with 16 million residents. According to founder Eric Bemba, in DRC, the startup targets the 5 million and counting active social media users. It also plans to expand outside the country in a later phase.
“Our vision is to become the pan-African delivery service with one of the largest networks of merchants and delivery partners on the continent to promote sustained, shared, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent employment for all," Wiikko says.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
The incubator and accelerator supports tech startups, providing resources and coaching to help startups grow.
Zixtech Hub is a business incubator and accelerator based in Cameroon. Officially established in 2017 by Paul Mbua, it aims to become a hub where people turn ideas into businesses. As such, it provides young people with the skills, information, training, network, and tools to create sustainable businesses.
It supports companies that develop greentech, cleantech, agritech, healthtech, logitech, fintech and edtech solutions. Its incubation program, called ZixtechCubation, focuses on “ideation and growth” and includes three months of “guided both self-paced and Expert-led sessions.”
Zixtech Hub has initiated several acceleration programs, including Agritech Accelerator and Greentech Accelerator. The former connects agritech startups with mentors and experts while the latter focuses on greentech startups.
In addition to these programs, the support agency has developed an innovative, hands-on entrepreneurship academy called Startup Academy to foster innovation and creativity. It also offers mentoring sessions -Mentorship Hour- with startups and entrepreneurs facing various challenges in the ecosystem.
In addition, Zixtech Hub offers consulting services to governments, non-governmental organizations, business support organizations, and companies with experienced professionals in their field. The incubator also offers web development services, ICT solutions, digital marketing, and artificial intelligence solutions.
For its activities, Zixtech partners with international and national agencies like the European Union, AfriLabs, International Trade Centre, Enrich in Africa, Digital Africa, and GIZ. It covers more than 17 countries. It also collaborated with some 60 clients on 45 projects, claiming a 100% success rate.
Melchior Koba
Orange launched Djoliba, West Africa's first pan-African backbone, in 2020 to support the digital ecosystem and meet the growing need for connectivity in the region.
Broadband connectivity provider Angola Cables and telecom operator Orange recently signed an infrastructure-sharing agreement on the West African Djoliba backbone. The collaboration allows Angola Cables to leverage Orange's Djoliba network to strengthen its presence in French-speaking West African markets.
“Access to the West Africa Djoliba network and our robust submarine infrastructure broadens the capability of businesses to access international markets and offers expanded traffic destinations across West Africa and other parts of the world,” said Rui Faria, Angola Cables’ global commercial director.
The Djoliba network was unveiled in 2020 by Orange. It is the first fully secured network in West Africa with more than 10,000 km of terrestrial fiber optic network, coupled with 10,000 km of submarine cable. It gives very high-speed offers (up to 100 Gbit/s) and a 99.99% availability rate. This network covers 16 points of presence with a mesh of nearly 155 technical sites and links 300 points of presence in Europe, America, and Asia.
Thanks to the agreement with Orange, Angola Cables will combine this new capacity with its global network of international submarine cables such as WACS, SACS, MONET, and EllaLink to offer secure, low-latency connectivity, digital and cloud services to businesses in the region.
The partnership is part of the strategy launched by Angola Cables in 2020 to increase partnerships and investments to meet the growing demand for broadband connectivity, in Africa and beyond.
Samira Njoya
The digital economy is already disrupting the labor market in Africa, where a significant lack of basic, intermediate, and advanced digital skills still exists. To address this skills gap, educational institutions are exploring the educational segment. Additionally, some other companies are also getting involved, albeit for different purposes.
Since its inauguration in October 2021, Orange Digital Center (ODC) has trained 1,900 individuals, including 60% women, in digital skills in Madagascar, according to Frédéric Debord (photo), CEO of telecom operator Orange Madagascar. More than 600 of the learners from this digital skills acquisition center were professionally inserted, we learn. According to Frédéric Debord, the Malagasy-based ODC is the only one in the 15 similar centers across Africa to have achieved such performance.
The executive made those comments at the 12th edition of the Conference on Digital Transformation in Africa (ATDA), held on May 19-20, 2023 under the theme "Human Capital: Catalyst for a successful African digital ecosystem.” During this international meeting, Frédéric Debord called on African digital actors to invest in training nearly 650 million individuals in digital skills on the continent by 2030.
According to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), more than 230 million jobs will require digital skills by 2030 in sub-Saharan Africa, which will translate into nearly 650 million training opportunities. The institution points out that digital skills will be among the seven most important skills in the future. Yet the current workforce does not have an adequate supply of these skills, and the gap between supply and demand, which is larger in sub-Saharan Africa than in other regions, is likely to grow.
For now, African education systems are not being reformed fast enough to take those realities into account. However, private training organizations are already moving to meet the needs with fee-based training. Sometimes, the trainings are free, thanks to investments made by companies as part of their social commitment.
For instance, under its corporate responsibility, Orange has deployed 42 women digital centers, in addition to its ODCs. The centers have helped train more than 10,000 unqualified and unemployed women in digital skills. The group has also deployed 240 Digital Schools in Madagascar, and more than 400,000 students and teachers are benefiting from the program, which aims to improve the quality of education, promote equal access to digital education and encourage the use of digital tools in schools.
The solution is the result of one of its co-founders’ experiences. Indeed, when her grandmother got serious burns and was to be hospitalized, there was no one to assist her at the hospital since her parents also had chronic diseases. That is how she decided to create a solution to avoid such pain for others.
Mbombo Home Care is an e-health solution developed by a Cameroonian start-up, founded in 2019. It allows elderly and dependent persons to get home healthcare services.
"Mbombo Home Care assists elderly and dependent people in Cameroon every day. We have a personalized approach to home care and choose the best options to meet your expectations," it says on its web platform.
Currently, it has no mobile app. So, users need to visit its web platform to book its services. Once they click on the “Book an appointment” option on the web platform, users are redirected to a Whatsapp account where they can discuss their needs.
Among other things, Mbombo Home Care offers geriatric and general consultations, nursing and life support services, physical therapy, and even daycare services. The healthtech also rents or sells wheelchairs, anti-scarring mattresses, canes, walkers, and crutches.
In 2021, it had a team of about twenty people, of which 90% were women. They included doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers in the cities of Douala and Yaoundé. Despite the negative impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on its activities, it has continued to grow.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
With its coworking spaces, incubation and mentoring programs, as well as training and consulting services, DoniLab supports tech innovation and entrepreneurship in Mali.
DoniLab is a Mali-based business incubator founded in 2015. It is led by Tidiane Ball, a medical professional and entrepreneur. The incubator helps startups turn their ideas into minimum-viable products. It focuses on business sectors with high innovation potential such as information and communication technologies, health, and social innovation.
Through its coworking space equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure, DoniLab offers entrepreneurs the opportunity to work in a comfortable space while benefiting from a range of services and high-speed Internet access. It also offers a digital fabrication lab -which serves as a learning space- and helps entrepreneurs, professionals, and established or yet-to-be-established companies get reliable information on their markets.
The incubator has initiated several programs, including Doni Green, an online climate change course for entrepreneurs, students, and professionals. The program aims to promote the development of the green economy through youth entrepreneurship in Mali.
DoniLab has supported other programs such as the Anwkathon Green Economy, a hackathon that aims to promote sustainable development by encouraging the youth to adopt green solutions. The incubator also supports Youth Connekt Mali, a program that aims to encourage youth entrepreneurship and involvement in development actions.
To reach entrepreneurs in rural areas, the incubator has created three additional hubs apart from its Bamako headquarter. On Saturday, May 20, at its Sikasso hub, it organized a training session on the production of hydroponic green fodder for entrepreneurs in the agriculture and livestock sector.
To date, DoniLab has incubated and accelerated 298 companies. It has also helped create 292 jobs -thanks to supported companies- and organized 35 events. The companies incubated by DoniLab have raised more than CFAF830 million ($1.3 million).
It is supported by several partners, including AfriLabs, the U.S. embassy in Mali, Afric'Innov, the World Bank, the International Organization of la Francophonie, and the French Development Agency (AFD).
Melchior Koba
Before launching MyFeda, the Beninese startup behind the solution had developed a popular payment aggregator. This new technology aims to facilitate online transactions.
MyFeda is a fintech solution developed by Beninese startup FedaPay SAS. It allows users to send and receive funds and make online payments anywhere in the world without a bank account.
"MyFeda is a mobile solution that allows you to manage your money daily. Whether your money is on your mobile money account or a card, MyFeda allows you to control all your expenses whatever their nature (online, or in a brick-and-mortar store),” the solution indicates on its web platform.
To access its services, users need to first download its mobile app (Android or iOS version) and create their MyFeda accounts. The process can be completed in just a few minutes.
With MyFeda, users can send and receive funds via mobile money in Benin, Togo, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Guinea. They can also send funds via Western Union and MoneyGram or make bank transfers using MasterCard and Visa cards. The solution also provides access to a virtual Visa card.
Each MyFeda account is managed by the Lagos-based pan-African bank, United Bank of Africa (UBA), and linked to a card from the same bank.
A monthly subscription fee is required to use the services offered by MyFeda. Since its launch, the Android version of the app has been downloaded more than 5,000 times, according to PlayStore data.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
Since 2020, Internet traffic and demand for broadband connectivity have been growing steadily in Africa. According to some institutions, IXPs could be a solution to localize traffic and improve connections.
The non-governmental organization "Internet for All" and the German company DE-CIX, in partnership with the Digital Development Agency (ADN), are set to launch Africa Congo Internet Exchange (ACIX), the largest Internet exchange in Central Africa, in Kinshasa today Monday.
“ACIX, Africa Congo Internet Exchange, provides an interconnection ecosystem for Central Africa to fulfill the growing interconnection needs of companies and end users – high-quality affordable connections for a better user experience, and for a more interconnected digital future,” ACIX explains in its “About” page.
The exchange is launched in the context of increasing Internet traffic across Africa, driven notably by digital transformation and new digital consumption patterns. According to the Internet Society (Isoc), Africa should invest more in Internet exchanges (IXPs) to improve connectivity on the continent and reduce access costs. To back its recommendation, in its report “Anchoring the African Internet Ecosystem: Lessons from Kenya and Nigeria’s Internet Exchange Points Growth,” the NGO indicates that Nigeria and Kenya boosted “the levels of Internet traffic that is locally exchanged from 30% to 70%” between 2012 and 2020 thanks to IXPs.
By enabling the local exchange of Internet traffic, IXPs save on large, recurring, and expensive international IP transit costs, reduce Internet costs, and significantly improve the quality and availability of connectivity, which in turn improves ISP revenues.
In that context, ACIX will be extremely useful. It is based in the DRC, the second largest country in Africa with nine border countries that have clearly stated ambitions for transnational and continental connectivity.
The exchange point is also part of the African expansion plan of the Deutscher Commercial Internet Exchange (DE-CIX), the world's largest Internet Exchange Point (IXP) in terms of traffic.
Samira Njoya
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He has managed businesses in over 25 countries. With over 20 years of experience in retail financing, he develops solutions to facilitate access to credit for SMBs and underserved individuals.
In the recently booming fintech ecosystem in Africa, Chidi Okpala (photo) is undoubtedly one of the entrepreneurs marking the ecosystem. He is the founder and CEO of Asante Financial Services Group, a Kenya-based fintech startup founded in 2018.
His startup offers credit solutions with a focus on advancing the independence and financial well-being of underserved SMBs and individuals in Africa. The neo-bank provides funds to small businesses to help them manage their daily operations. It offers financing to licensed mobile money agents and provides loans to finance its customers' insurance premiums, ensuring maximum convenience and protection. To date, it has operations in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, and Rwanda and plans to expand to seven more countries by 2025.
Its founder, Chidi Okpala, studied finance at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology where he graduated with a B.sc. He also holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Nigeria (UNN Nsuka) and a Sloan Master of Science in Management from the London Business School.
Since June 2022, he is a member of the international board of directors of Medair, an organization that helps vulnerable people in isolated and devastated communities survive crises and recover with dignity.
Before founding his company, the entrepreneur worked for major financial institutions. Among others, he was the managing director in charge of retail banking in 19 markets in Africa for the UBA Group between 2010 and 2012. Over the three following years, he was the president and CEO of Airtel Money, where he grew the mobile money business into one of the continent's largest retail financial service providers. From 2016 to 2018, he also worked for Atlas Mara Ltd as managing director of the fintech and digital segments.
In 2022, Asante Financial Services Group was awarded the Neobank Rising Star Award for East Africa at the 8th Africa Bank 4.0 Awards ceremony.
Melchior Koba
Last week, U.S. group META announced the upcoming deployment of the Metaverse in Côte d’Ivoire. At a forum in Abidjan, last Friday, Balkissa Ide Siddo, Meta Public Policy Director for Sub-Saharan Africa, said the metaverse could help medical students practice surgery. It could also make classes engaging and fun.
On Monday, May 15, 2023, Maurice Lévy, former head of French multinational communications company Publicis, inaugurated a new digital art platform called "YourArt" at the modern art museum Palais de Tokyo.
According to the former executive, YourArt wants to become the world's leading art and tech platform, allowing professional and amateur artists to showcase and sell their work.
Senegal held the first edition of “The Digital Week - Senegal Connect” last week, from May 16 to 20. The event, held in Dakar, gave startups the opportunity to showcase themselves before politicians, potential investors, and the general public as a whole. Some of the most promising were celebrated with awards.
Earlier last week, Caytu Robotics won the presidential award for digital innovation during the first edition of The Digital Week-Senegal Connect. The robotics startup, founded in 2020, is thus the second startup to ever receive that award. It seduced the jury with its technology that allows users to remotely control robots from anywhere in the world. With that award, Caytu Robotics went home with a CFAF30 million ($50,000) grant to support its growth.
“Today, remote outsourcing is primarily concerned with non-tangible digital skills such as software and digital content development. CAYTU closes the gap between remote digital outsourcing and onsite physical experience, enabling the distribution of skills and hands-on expertise to distant geographic locations where they are needed. [...] CAYTU’s Robotics Platform is the world’s first crowdsourced Robotics as a Service solution. Our software is robot-agnostic and therefore can integrate any robotics hardware/application through our API,” the awardee explains on its web platform.
Caytu has a mobile app from which users can issue commands. Currently, it is carrying out its pilot phase at Brigham Young University (BYU) in the United States. During that phase, previously selected students and staff can order food at the university restaurant. Once the order is received, in Dakar, the Caytu team remotely controls the robots to deliver the ordered food.
“We implement an AI-Human Collaborative Shared Control approach to put the human touch at the center of robotics and therefore unlock the full potential of robots and create new opportunities for individuals and businesses. We have made teleoperation as intuitive and easy as it can be; simply using our Android & iOS app, anyone with a mobile phone can become a CAYTU Pilot,” Caytu explains.
Brigham Young University (BYU), a private research institution, was chosen to host the pilot phase of Caytu because of robotics professor Benjamin Terry, a BYU professor involved in the project. He joined the project to collect data to better understand human-robot interactions. In the long run, Caytu wants to create a global network of autonomous delivery robots. Still, for now, after BYU, the Senegalese startup intends to expand to other universities around the world.
Adoni Conrad Quenum