The agreement is the second cooperation activity carried out by Microsoft in Nigeria this year. In March, it announced the opening of its Africa Development center and Microsoft Garage in Lagos.
Global tech giant Microsoft will train five million Nigerians in digital skills. A memorandum of understanding was signed to that effect by Digital Minister Isa Pantami and the American multinational last Wednesday.
The agreement was signed on the sidelines of GITEX 2022, the Global Innovation Exhibition which opened on October 10 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. “[...] This new offer by Microsoft will go a long in achieving our dream of a digital Nigeria,” Minister Pantami commented.
"We value action once agreements are signed; we will ensure immediate commencement of the implementation. [...] We will continue to provide enabling environment and ensure that our regulatory instruments are developmental and flexible for Microsoft and other businesses to flourish," he added.
With an estimated population of 219 million, Nigeria is now the largest Internet market in Africa. Its very young population, renowned for innovation and creativity, has taken it to the forefront of innovation in Africa. As of January 2022, Africa had a total of seven unicorns, including five from Nigeria. For those reasons, the country attracts partnerships like this new MoU.
According to the minister, under the MoU, one million job seekers will be trained in the most relevant digital skills, while 1,700 master trainers will be upskilled and 200,000 learners certified. More than 5,500 developers will also learn how to leverage Microsoft Power Apps to build tech solutions under the Global Power Platform Bootcamp.
In addition, through the MoU's African Transformational Skills Portal, two million Nigerians will benefit from free digital skills that will improve the way they work, create employment opportunities and increase productivity. According to Microsoft representative Deen Yusuf, the initiative will create at least 7,000 jobs in Nigeria.
Samira Njoya
According to WHO, “every day, approximately 830 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth” and 99% of the deaths occur in developing countries. To prevent such deaths, in Senegal, a startup has developed a maternal health information platform.
Doom Yaye is a digital platform developed by an eponymous Senegalese startup. It allows new and expectant mothers access to maternal health information.
The platform is accessible only via its web interface where its blog posts inform on every topic related to pregnant and breastfeeding women. The posts highlight the various phases of pregnancy and what expectant women can expect during those phases. They also indicate the various development phases and expectations from childbirth to the baby’s eighth birthday.
Doom Yaye also has an online shop where users can buy baby items like clothes, shoes, books, toys, etc. It also allows parents to rent childcare and leisure items such as baby walkers, bathtubs, dishes, and high chairs. The rental period can go from 48 hours to six months and the start-up emphasizes that all rented items are disinfected.
To read maternal health information, users need no account. However, they need to register when they are moving to make purchases or rentals. In 2022, Doom Yaye won the national edition of the Orange Social Venture Prize, receiving a XOF5 million (US$7,405) check and validation for participation in the global round where it will compete with 17 other African and Middle Eastern countries.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
Together with his friends, who are also investors, he has helped many tech entrepreneurs in Africa and the Middle East gain access to funding. He is now back to his passion: tech entrepreneurship.
Ziad Mokhtar (photo) is an Egyptian venture capitalist and tech entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and managing partner of venture capital firm Algebra Ventures, founded in 2016 with Tarek Assaad and Karim Hussein.
By partnering with bold and resilient entrepreneurs, Algebra Ventures allows the creation of ventures that can have strong positive impacts on residents in Africa and the Middle East. Through its first fund, Algebra Ventures financed several startups -including Elmenus, Trella, Eventtus, Orcas, and La Reina- earning Ziad Mokhtar a spot on the board of the funded startups.
In September 2020, Mokhtar announced his withdrawal from the venture capital firm’s decision-making circle, remaining just the managing partner of the first fund. He aimed to renew his passion: tech entrepreneurship.
“Some might think that walking away from Algebra, given where it is now heading, is foolish. I sometimes thought that myself. But as foolish as it might be, I hope it sets me on a path to discover equally meaningful success,” he said that year. Months later, in July 2021, he founded a tech startup baptized expeditions.tech.
About twelve years ago, when he graduated from the University of Alexandria, he assumed a position as a software developer at Unilever (he left in 2003). Concurrently, he co-founded eSpace, an IT consulting firm he managed till 2006. In 2007, he was a product marketing intern at Yahoo. Then, the following year, the tech entrepreneur became an associate at McKinsey & Company in Egypt.
In 2017, while he was managing Algebra Ventures Fund I and sitting on the board of some 15 startups, he was appointed partner of Ideavelopers, the venture capital arm of financial service company EFG Hermes.
Melchior Koba
Last August, in Algeria, Emmanuel Macron and Abdelmadjid Tebboune laid the foundations for enhanced cooperation between France and Algeria in digital entrepreneurship and innovation. The memorandum seems to be one of the results of that groundwork.
French Development Agency AFD and state accelerator Algeria Venture signed a memorandum of understanding, last Monday, on the sidelines of the visit of French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne (photo, left) to Algeria. The memorandum reflects the two parties’ will to cooperate for the implementation of the Algerian government's strategic plan to develop the local tech ecosystem and strengthen interactions between the French and Algerian ecosystems.
According to Sophie Aubert, FAD country manager in Algeria, the aim is to "develop cooperation activities aimed at supporting the initiatives of Algerian incubators and accelerators nationwide. “
“We want to network actors of the Algerian and French start-up economy through field initiatives. We also want to develop joint initiatives -including knowledge production, and training programs- to support the Algerian startup ecosystem and, and its interactions with the French ecosystem,” she added.
The memorandum comes after French President Emmanuel Macron’s friendly visit to Algeria last August 25-27. It is in line with the startup/youth section of the Algiers declaration for a renewed partnership that encompasses all the major bilateral cooperation areas the two countries want to develop.
“We want to work while integrating a France-Algeria-Africa approach. We notably want to mobilize Proparco [the French development finance institution, ed. note] via its subsidiary, Digital Africa. Algeria has a developing ecosystem so, the aim is to enhance cooperation between the AFD and Algeria Venture for a common approach that is rewarding and profitable to every party,” Sophie Aubert indicated.
Muriel Edjo
In its bid to develop the Cabo Verdean country’s digital economy, the government has financed several projects in the framework of the "Cape Verde Digital Transformation Agenda".
The Red Cross of Cape Verde (CVCV) will digitize its social games, including lottery, lotto, and joker to raise more funds for its humanitarian projects. It presented the project to the Cabo Verdean government last Tuesday, October 11.
According to the CVCV president, Arlindo Carvalho (photo, left), the said project is the result of a strategic plan that places a special emphasis on new technologies to address humanitarian issues. Many novelties will be introduced, he added. They include the creation of a digital platform.
The digital transformation plan will end logistics hurdles by allowing players to place bets on the social games online, via their mobile accounts. Therefore, the CVCV will no longer have to transport physical bulletins before players can play and place bets.
The initiative will allow the institution to raise more resources for its social and humanitarian projects in Cabo Verde. The CVCV also plans to launch a continental platform and later partner with global gaming platforms.
The project, which is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2023, is in line with the government’s ambition to transform the country into a digital hub. According to Pedro Lopes (photo, right), Secretary of State for the Digital Economy, the country’s investment in digital projects like the social gaming platform is aimed at stimulating economic growth, expanding opportunities, diversifying the economy, and improving the delivery of quality services in the national digital economy.
Samira Njoya
Competition is fierce in the start-up market in Africa. Tech entrepreneurs offer various solutions to facilitate residents’ living conditions in several sectors and areas. In Ghana, this start-up wants to conquer several sectors.
ShaQ Express is a digital solution developed by a Ghanaian eponymous solution. It allows users to use a range of services including e-commerce, food delivery last-mile delivery, and e-pharmacy.
The solution has a mobile application (available for Android and iOS devices), which gives users access to all the services offered.
The startup also allows users to become sellers or couriers. For that purpose, they need to register an account by providing the usual information. Couriers are usually approved fast and then, they are free to approve or reject any delivery or errand they are notified of.
Sellers on the other hand will have to wait for a call from a ShaQ Express agent to activate their accounts. They then receive hands-on training on the various ways to sell through the application once integrated. Once added to the platform, they receive order notifications and, if the products ordered are available, they can accept the orders, package them and wait for a ShaQ Express courier to pick them up for delivery.
The Android version of the mobile application has already been downloaded more than 5,000 times on Playstore. The startup has been selected along with 5 other Ghanaian startups to take part in the MEST Express accelerator program organized in partnership with Mastercard Foundation. The program will last 20 weeks and each of the selected startups will receive a check for US$5,000.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
In major cities, waste management is a challenging task, particularly in Africa. The challenges led local entrepreneurs to implement tech solutions to facilitate the task.
Scrapays is a digital solution developed by an eponymous Nigerian startup. It allows households and firms to sell their recyclable materials. In fact, through the digital solution, the startup connects users -businesses and households namely- with its partners who register the users, collect the materials, and sort them. The agents then sell the sorted materials to Scrapays.
To reach even users without internet access, the solution is accessible via a USSD code. Anyone can then register either as a collector, an agent, or an individual seller and discuss waste management issues.
The startup claims it collected over 150 tons of solid waste in 2020, generating US$60,000 from them. The startup expects to earn more in the coming years with the creation of its service that allows individuals to set up and develop their waste recycling micro-enterprises. It is among the five startups selected for this year’s edition of the OceanHub Africa accelerator program.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
The serial entrepreneur has founded three ventures, two of which are now defunct. These lessons learned were valuable for the young innovator who is still pursuing his tech adventure.
Dare Odumade (photo) is a Nigerian tech entrepreneur and innovator. He is also the co-founder and CEO of Chekkit Technologies Corp, a tech company leveraging blockchain technologies to protect consumers.
His tech company, launched in 2018, offers a blockchain-based mobile app that helps track food and medical products' production and distribution chain in the consumer and pharmaceutical industries. “Chekkit developed a technology of blockchain-powered unique identities for every product so OEMs, CMOs, and Brand owners can record the history and trace the journey of their products from manufacturing to the last-mile customer,” reads Dare Odulade’s Linkedin about section.
Thanks to its mobile app, Chekkit Technologies Corp allows consumers to authenticate products they purchase by scanning the unique QR code on the said products. Manufacturers also receive information on their products’ purchase history and read quality complaints. They can use the data to identify and end counterfeit chains early.
In September 2022, Chekkit Technologies Corp was selected as one of the 30 start-ups to benefit from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Investing in Innovation (i3) program.
Its CEO is a serial entrepreneur trained at the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology in 2017. In 2010 and 2015, he founded and co-founded a social network called StrictlyUI and a music streaming platform called Sharebunk App (both are defunct). He also has a professional experience in both the public and private sectors.
From 2013 to late 2014, he was the operations manager for the energy company Cannes Energy Nig. Ltd, a site supervisor for construction company Geei Designs and Constructions Nig. From September 2014 to July 2015, during his national youth service, he worked as a geophysicist for the Benue State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency.
The tech entrepreneur is also a multiple award winner. In 2012, he was named an IT guru for StrictlyUI. In 2019, he received the award for the most innovative and best digital solution in Nigeria in the health sector at the United Nations World Summit Awards for Chekkit. With this recognition, he was able to sign partnerships with big tech firms like Cisco, Merck GmbH, Microsoft, and Facebook.
Melchior Koba
The news comes a month after the startup was selected to participate in the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund 2022.
Pan-African data intelligence company Stears announced Tuesday (October 11), the raise of US$3.3 million in its seed funding round. The round was led by MaC Venture Capital with participation from Serena Ventures, Serena Williams' investment company, and other investors.
“We know global professionals need our data and insight because banks, research firms, development organizations, and investors are already using our early products. Our customers tell us we are building a ‘systemically important’ company to address Africa’s data problem,” explains Stears’ CEO, Preston Ideh.
Stears was launched, in 2017, by three students who realized, by experience, that data and information about Nigeria, their country and Africa’s largest economy, were hard to come by. Combining their skills, they set up Stears to address this lack of information.
According to the CEO, the Stears website is the African version of Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters, two of the world's most trusted information providers. Stears identifies, combines, and markets the often missing, outdated, or poorly digitized data needed by traders, financial professionals, politicians, researchers, and even regulators.
In 2019, the team created Nigeria's first real-time election database, which was used by more than two million Nigerians to monitor the general election. After that experience, they raised US$650,000 in pre-seed funding.
With the resources raised during the seed round, Stears plans to collect data, perform in-depth analysis, and offer the analysis to their commercial customers in several ways beyond simply reported news. The company also plans to hire data scientists and analysts as well as industry analysts and expand in East and Southern Africa.
Samira Njoya
The second cohort is launched after the first of 30 startups from 10 African countries.
Pan-African healthtech accelerator HealthTech Hub Africa recently announced the launch of the second edition of the Africa HealthTech Challenge, a competition that awards and mentors Africa's most promising startups tackling local health challenges.
For this second edition, applications are open till October 22. The incubator will select 40 start-ups: 30 growth start-ups and 10 scale-ups. To be eligible for the challenge, applicants must focus on one or more of the following four thematic areas: cardiovascular health, breast cancer, virtual health and care, and optimizing data-driven decision-making.
They must also have teams of two or more full-time employees and be registered in an African country. “Teams consisting of both genders will be prioritized,” we learn. Growth startups must also ensure that they are not part of another accelerator program in the same year.
The 30 growth start-ups selected will benefit from a 10-month acceleration program that includes mentorship from two volunteer mentors for every start-up, coaching, and access to an interactive coaching platform, and invitations to networking events and hybrid events across Africa and beyond.
Apart from the acceleration program, scale-ups will also receive free access to world-class legal services, accounting, marketing, talent acquisition, accelerated fundraising, training, and media exposure.
The top three HealthTech start-ups will respectively receive US$50,000, 30,000, and 20,000 in grants from the Novartis Foundation.
Samira Njoya
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Demand for big data is growing in several sectors given its ability to help improve efficiency. A Mauritian startup is using it to revolutionize SMEs’ marketing strategies.
Rwazi is a digital solution developed by a Mauritian eponymous start-up. It allows companies to track their competitors using various data collected on the ground.
The startup behind the app was founded by Joseph Rutakangwa (photo, right) in 2018 in Mauritius. But, it is also operational in Uganda, Zambia, and Rwanda.
Thanks to its mobile app and its part-time staff, it collects data on various brands, markets, and sales points. The collected data allow its customers to monitor the evolution of competitors’ pricing strategies in real-time, after due registration.
For Joseph Rutakangwa, “companies subscribe to activate the cycle where they want to optimize distribution.” “For example, you are Coca-Cola, and you subscribe for us to provide you a live feed on the availability, visibility, and pricing of Coca-Cola versus Pepsi in Lagos, throughout the year. With this, you list and restock at speed to increase market share,” he illustrated.
In addition to giving clients the ability to track various data in real-time, real-time analytics and predictions allow the said clients to decide when to adjust their marketing policy. Rwazi employs more than 20,000 mappers in 50 countries in Africa, South Asia, and the Americas to perform reliable and relevant analyses for its clients. It also works with more than 500 companies. "We give small and medium-sized businesses [...] direct access to [...] customers’ psychographic details that can help [...] determine how to best serve them,” the startup explains on its web platform.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
He ventured into entrepreneurship early, making a name for himself in Kenya. He currently runs his fintech startup, which earned him the trust of several international investors.
Geoffrey Mulei (photo) is the founder and CEO of Tanda, a fintech startup created to improve access to financial services in Africa.
Through the startup, founded in 2018, Geoffrey offers several digital products. They include Tanda Trader, an app that allows businesses to collect payments, sell their digital products, and offer loans. There is also Tanda Pocket, a virtual wallet with virtual cards to make purchases, and payments as well as manage budgets and finances. Another product is the Tanda I/O, an application programming interface (API) that helps third-party companies collect payments.
On October 4, 2022, the Kenyan tech entrepreneur secured additional financing from HAVAIC and several other investors. The funds aim to accelerate the development of Tanda products, extend the startup’s footprint in Kenya and enter new east African markets like Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda within 15 months.
“Our new products and growing distribution will open up opportunities for Tanda and our ecosystem partners to continue solving challenges for the majority of Africans locked out of the formal financial services ecosystem,” Geoffrey said in a release announcing the funding.
Tanda claims partnerships with 58 banks and savings and credit cooperatives, four telecom operators, 12,000 merchants and agents with over 300,000 unique clients served, and millions of shillings in transactions processed. It plans to extend its network to 100,000 merchants and agents in Kenya.
In 2016, its founder was one of the finalists of the Anzisha Prize. Before founding Tanda, he co-founded and led Inkisha -an eco-friendly packaging manufacturer and distributor- between 2015 and 2017. In 2017, he joined myLotto Kenya as the head of merchant sales, building a merchant network. Currently, he is a supply chain consultant for Think Delus Limited, a big data management consulting firm.
Melchior Koba
Guinea, like most African countries, is digitizing its public administration. With its digital civil registration system, the country intends to acquire reliable data that would facilitate sustainable planning and development.
On Wednesday, October 5, Guinea launched the pilot phase of its digital civil registration system in ten municipalities.
During a workshop, in Coyah, between October 6 and 7, communal authorities and representatives of the legal, health, and religious communities discussed the process.
"Currently, we are finalizing the first module of the platform. This module consists of the digitization of the existing records (birth, marriage, and death records), the creation of a civil registration index based on the existing records, and the development of a plan for the automatic registration and digitization of future vital civil events. We are gathered here to review the module before the official handover, in the coming days," said Djenabou Touré, coordinator of the project aimed at reforming and modernizing civil registration.
Guinea faces civil registration document conservation problems. Several documents were lost due to fire and vandalism. The country took several actions to address the problems. The actions include the development of a 2018-2022 National Strategy for the Reform and Modernization of the Civil Registry with support from the European Union (EU). Despite the actions, much remains to be done.
During the pilot phase, the country will create an application that will help digitize and secure various acts with QR codes and barcodes, among other tools. The documents will be indexed (using a month-to-month index) in a central repository. "There are also plans to migrate all the remedial birth certificates issued by courts but not yet transcribed by municipalities.[We] will also do the same in health centers,” indicated Michel Luypaert, team leader for DXC, the company developing the digital civil registration platform.
The digital civil registration project began in April 2021. It is funded by the European Union under the Emergency Trust Fund and implemented by the Belgian Development Agency (ENABEL). The project -scheduled for completion in March 2024- will be implemented in Conakry, Kindia, Mamou, and the Guinean consulates in Paris and Brussels during its pilot phase.
Samira Njoya
The project aims to, eventually, interconnect all of Benin's universities and research centers with regional and international networks.
In Benin, ten universities and academic centers can now communicate, exchange, and share educational resources through the Beninese Education and Research Network (RBER). The network was officially launched at the University of Parakou last Thursday, October 6.
According to the country’s Minister of Digital Transformation, Aurelie Adam Soule Zoumarou (photo, center), the RBER is now the largest fixed network in Benin. "The RBER is not just about the Internet. It is first of all a network that interconnects universities, allows the exchange of digital and educational resources, and enables users to move from one university [or academic center] to the other and enjoy the same services,” she said.
After the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic during the academic year, the Beninese government decided to create a system that will facilitate access to information for more than 100,000 Beninese students with a broadband Internet connection, documentation, and online courses.
The first phase of the project was launched on June 30, 2022. Among other things, it enabled the construction of a campus network of 420 access points in lecture halls, laboratories, and offices. It also enabled the construction of two videoconferencing and IP telephony systems, the installation of a 1000 Mbps Internet network, and the deployment of 7,000 meters of optical fiber. The second phase of the project will integrate new services and add 12 universities to the interconnected network.
This first phase, which has just been completed, was implemented by the national information technology development agency (ASIN), under the supervision of the Ministry of Digitization. Active participants included the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research stakeholders and universities.
The establishment of the Beninese Education and Research Network is in line with the government’s strategy to make the country an ICT leader in West Africa by digitizing every socio-economic sector.
Samira Njoya