ICTs have many goals, including the reduction of time needed to collect and process data. The project, in this form, gives the State more flexibility in how it uses collected data.
Seychelles will start its first nationwide digital census on April 22, 2022. It will collect data on its population, households, and voters, said on April 5 the deputy director-general of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Helena Butler-Payette. Unlike previous years where the census was done using forms to be filled, this year it will be fully digital.
“One of the biggest changes in the way we do things resides in the digitalization of census,” said Butler-Payette while adding that training sessions, for about 500 door-to-door surveying agents, have already started.
Since it became independent, Seychelles has carried out six census operations; the first two in 1977 and 1987. The following censuses (1994, 1997, 2002, and 2010) focused on meeting national needs, especially the delineation of administrative borders. According to the NBS, Seychelles had 99,728 residents in 2021, 0.8% more than the figure recorded in 2020. This year’s census should have taken place in 2020 (it takes place every 10 years) but it was postponed to 2022 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In addition to data on the population and households, agents deployed will also gather voters’ data. Commenting on the operation, Helena Butler-Payette said it is better to use the same resources now to carry out the two surveys instead of wasting money doing both separately. Overall, the government plans to spend 904,000$ on the operation.
The NBS believes that conducting the survey digitally would allow results to be obtained more rapidly. “Before, it took us nearly a year to draw reports from the data we collected during the census, but this time, it will take us only weeks or months,” the NBS official declared.
Ruben Tchounyabe
Algerian entrepreneur Noureddine Tayebi, heads, from Silicon Valley, Yassir, a carpooling and home-delivery app. The platform, which works in Africa, Europe, and America, aims to diversify its offer and expand to french-speaking markets in sub-Saharan Africa.
After studying engineering in Algeria, Noureddine Tayebi (photo) flew to the U.S. in 1998 to pursue a master's degree in electrical engineering at the University of Urbana-Champaign, Illinois. After graduating, he went on to earn a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University. In the late 2000s, he moved to Silicon Valley where he started working for Intel. There, he spent over eight years acquiring product management and marketing skills. He also gained real start-up experience at the US microprocessor and semiconductor manufacturer.
However, his entrepreneurial journey started in 2011, after securing 23 patents. In 2014, he founded his first company called InSense, specializing in nano-motion sensors, launched with two grants totaling $1.6 million. He later sold the business to a Silicon Valley company. In 2017, he co-founded Yassir. Originally deployed as a cab app, the platform has since diversified into fast food and grocery deliveries with Yassir Express, and most recently, with Yassir Market into grocery delivery.
The startup claims three million active users across Algeria, Canada, France, Morocco, and Tunisia. Over the past five years, its turnover has been growing steadily (up to 40% per month). The app has helped, indirectly, create more than 40,000 jobs for drivers and delivery workers. In November 2021, Yassir closed a $30 million fundraising round with U.S. investors for its development. So far, the entrepreneur has successfully raised $67.6 million from 30 investors.
In the short run, Noureddine Tayebi's ambition is to develop Yassir in sub-Saharan Africa, especially in French-speaking countries like Senegal, Ivory Coast, Togo, Benin, Mali, and Cameroon. The Algerian affirms that the application is already working in Senegal, and other major markets on the continent such as South Africa, Nigeria, and Egypt.
"The goal is to create the largest technology company, not only in Africa but in the world. To achieve this, we need to be present in many markets," he says.
Aïsha Moyouzame
Robert Muoka Salim (photo) is a Kenyan techpreneur and sociopreneur. He is the CEO and co-founder of My Shamba Digital, an online legal platform selected on March 1, 2022, to join the Venture Capital for Africa (VC4A) program.
My Shamba Digital helps citizens complete their land procedures, and avoid scams and other bad decisions that can lead to disputes between individuals, companies, or the state. Its resource center and blog also provide users with access to important land-related information. Apart from its resource center and blog, the platform also has real estate and land listing pages, My Shamba Digital Property Listings, and My Shamba Sako.
Robert Muoka Salim launched My Shamba Digital in the first quarter of 2021. But, he got the idea several years back because of land dispute cases he came across during his professional career. In 2017, the Kenyan Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning signaled an increase in land fraud and related crimes over the previous decade. At the time, it indicated 7,052 land fraud cases costing the treasury Ksh60 billion (US$520 million) yearly.
Land affairs are not the only cases in which Robert Muoka is specialized. In 2020, he co-founded the digital platform Sheria Online, which specializes in legal coaching, and is currently responsible for business development and strategic partnerships.
For his digital solutions, he was listed in the Africa Law Tech and Lawyers Hub's Top 50 African Legal Innovators (2021). He also received the award for the best technological solution at the Africa Legal Innovation Hackathon 2021. He was also the finalist of the Global Legal Hackathon 2022 and one of the nominees for the Under-30 Techpreneur of the Year at the 2022 Founder of the Year Awards.
Melchior Koba
Presented as the first venture builder in Morocco and Africa, "Moroccan Retail Tech Builder" aims to help entrepreneurs develop innovative digital solutions tailored to the e-commerce industry.
Morocco officially launched Moroccan Retail Tech Builder (MRTB), a platform for the digitalization of the retail sector, on Thursday, April 7. The platform aims to support project leaders in the development of innovative, simple, and accessible digital solutions to help retailers upgrade their operations and create more value.
For Ryad Mezzour, the Minister of Industry and Trade who chaired the ceremony, the MRTB “initiates the digital shift of a vital sector, which played a crucial role during the pandemic and is also one of the strong segments of our economy.”
According to Hicham El Habti, President of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), qualitative changes are already observed in the operating methods of the retail sector, which is one of the backbones of African economies.
“The flow of ideas and the potential of that sector call for solutions to incubate, support, and accelerate startups and promising projects in that area,” stressed Hicham El Habti.
MRTB is part of the authorities’ plan for the recovery of the retail sector. One of the key points of that plan is to digitize the sector for enhanced competitiveness. The plan includes acceleration of the digital transformation, generalization of digital services as well as simplification of administrative formalities and procedures in line with the country’s economic and institutional reforms.
Ryad Mezzour believes MRTB will allow retailers to enhance their contribution to economic growth in Morocco by modernizing their operations, boosting turnover, and enhancing competitiveness while tailoring their offers to clients’ needs and requirements.
As far as Hicham El Habti is concerned, with MRTB, the UM6P will improve the support it provides through its startup campus, StartGate, for improved socio-economic development.
The venture builder will transform the national entrepreneurial ecosystem into a collaborative space that exposes startups to various knowledge sources. That way, it can help them implement creative processes for the development of innovative solutions useful for Africa, as a whole, indicates Abdelhadi Sohib, Secretary-General of the OCP Foundation.
For its initial operations, the MRTB has launched the recruitment of 100 startups that will benefit from its services till 2024.
Ruben Tchounyabe
The first phase of Ethiopia’s blockchain-based national student and teacher ID and attainment recording system will be launched in “the next two months,” announces IOHK, the U.S. firm that developed the blockchain platform Cardano.
The said system will allow the government to remotely monitor academic performance in secondary schools as well as verify students’ identities and grades. Ultimately, it will give authorities an idea of the impact of the national education policies on employment nationwide and allow employers to easily validate applicants’ credentials.
In its first phase, the system based on IOHK’s blockchain solution Atala Prism will target 800,000 students. Eventually, the recording system will include 3,500 schools, five million students, and 750,000 teachers, per the agreement between the Ethiopian government and IOHK.
“We have completed the first pilot and are beginning to train users at the Ministry of Education on functionality and usage,” indicates John O'Connor, IOHK Director of African Operation.
Launched in April 2014, the project is part of Digital Ethiopia 2025, the national strategy validated by the government in 2020 to transform several strategic sectors like public administration, health, agriculture, and education.
“We truly believe that this project could light the touchpaper for a wave of third-generation blockchain innovation across Africa and the developing world, bringing vital services to those who have previously been unable to access them,” John O’Connor commented.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
The expense management tools developed by Expensya, a Tunisian startup launched in 2014, have become some of the most trusted solutions in Europe.
While working as engineers in France, in the early 2010s, Tunisians Karim Jouini (photo, left) and Jihed Othmani (photo, right) realized that expense management -expenses recording and tracking especially- was manual and complicated for companies. Most of the existing tools were only accessible on computers even though there were some mobile billing and expense management solutions. Also, the government’s invoice processing policy was still inefficient.
They then started developing their own expense management tools. Back in Tunisia in 2014, they founded Expensya, a startup offering corporate expense management solutions. In 2016, 2017, and 2018, they completed funding rounds to develop their operations. Three years later, Expensya raised US$20 million from French and German investors, notably MAIF Avenir, Silicon Badia, ISAI, and Seventure Partners.
Once introduced in the market, Expensya’s management tools quickly became the legal digital invoice archive in France. The startup later expanded in Europe and Africa. According to Karim Jouini, the start-up is operational in more than 90 countries and serves nearly 6,000 companies. "In 2014, when Expensya started, companies still used Excel spreadsheets or some form of bespoke data entry solution—the ‘so-called’ existing solution—to record and track their expenses," he told TechCabal.
In February 2022, Expensya launched payment cards in the European market with plans to introduce that solution into its African markets. Thanks to the cards issued by Expensya (virtual or physical), clients’ employees can make sure the expenses they make comply with their company’s pending policy.
“Employees could only request to be reimbursed after spending before now but with our card, they can now spend in real-time (...) and our software ensures that they are respecting the company’s spending policy and that of the country they are spending from,” explained Karim Jouini.
Aïsha Moyouzame
Cameroon is currently moving to dematerialize and streamline civil service procedures. On Wednesday, during a press briefing in Yaoundé, Minister of Public Service and Administrative Reform Joseph Le (photo) announced a set of measures in that regard. According to the government official, the 2022 finance law includes a budget line dedicated to the acquisition of tech equipment specifically dedicated to the authentication of various diplomas.
The equipment will be a collaborative platform allowing collaboration between the Ministry of Public Service, the Ministry of Public Health, and the Ministries of Primary, Secondary, and Higher Education.
“With just one click, I can find all the information I need right from my office,” explains Joseph Le. He also announces the digitization of the documents that make up the integration files of graduates of teacher training colleges from the first week after the end of their training.
Few years ago, Cameroon acquired an IT system for integrated management of state personnel (SIGIPES). However, some civil servants usually spend the first years of their careers without some salaries and bonuses. For instance, from January to March 2022, a strike organized by secondary school teachers disrupted classes. The teachers were denouncing delays in the payment of their salaries and bonuses.
In response to this protest movement, the President of the Republic, Paul Biya, instructed the optimization of the civil servants’ management system. For the Minister of the Public Service, the challenge causing delays in the payment of the salaries and bonuses demanded by the teachers is the authentication of various diplomas as well as recognition and equivalence of educational qualifications. Also, the procedure for the integration of teachers who graduated from teacher training colleges is not streamlined, he adds.
According to the government, the reforms announced will reduce the time it takes for civil servants’ files to be effectively processed to reach the central administration. Currently, it takes 25 to 30 months. However, with the announced digitization, all the involved administration will receive the files at the same time and the processing and matriculation processes will start at the same time.
Once the procedures are dematerialized and streamlined, graduates from teachers’ training colleges will no longer have to wait for two to three years to be matriculated into the civil service. Instead, they will just have to wait for “45 to 90, maybe less than that,” assures Minister Joseph Le.
Ruben Tchounyabe
In Africa, governments have been on the move, since 2019, to accelerate digital transformation. For that purpose, they are putting appropriate frameworks in place to facilitate the shift.
Congo plans to create a digital development agency. The draft project was presented during the March 6, 2022, Ministerial council. The aim is to use the agency as a tool to accelerate the country’s digital transition. The agency will be created by transforming the Directorate-General for the Development of the Digital Economy into a public administrative institution.
For Léon Juste Ibombo (photo), Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and the Digital Economy, "digital transition (...) requires significant investments, particularly in infrastructure, networks, equipment, content…”
In that regard, the planned agency (which will be an autonomous agency) will support digital projects, optimize the digital transition models chosen by institutions and implement new technologies in the national territory. The bill consecrating the creation of Congo’s agency for the development of the digital agency will soon be submitted to parliament for review and adoption.
The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated digital transformation in the world. The pandemic prompted Congo, like many African countries, to take action for the development of its digital economy. Examples include the creation of an African Center for Artificial Intelligence Research (Caria) in February and the establishment of a legal framework governing startups’ operations.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
To improve health services in Uganda, Dr. Davis Musinguzi created a telemedicine platform called Rocket Health. His start-up recently raised US$5 million for its East African expansion.
Dr. Davis Musinguzi (photo) is a Ugandan HealthTech entrepreneur with a degree in healthcare management. Almost all of his career in digital health was spent with UNICEF, through which he designed, managed, and evaluated health informatics and technology programs for ministries of health, international organizations, and academic institutions. In 2006, he entered the entrepreneurial world with the sale of nutritional supplements. He later co-designed WinSenga, a mobile app that can be used to scan pregnant women for complications. In 2012, WinSenga won him and his co-developers the Microsoft Imagine Cup.
After his appearance on the TV Show Inspire Africa, he won US$50,000 startup financing from the Warid Entrepreneurship Fund to launch The Medical Concierge Group (TMCG), the startup managing Rocket Health Africa Corp since 2012.
His startup was created to improve the health services provided to Ugandans by developing a platform through which they could have an early prognosis. Partnering with John Mark Bwanika, Fiona Nuwamanya, Hope Achiro, and William Lubega, all from the healthcare industry, Davis Musinguzi launched Rocket Health, a telemedicine platform.
Using artificial intelligence, Rocket Health offers customized health services, teleconsultations with doctors, last-mile drug delivery, swabs collection, and lab result delivery. It also offers digital health consulting and research for health institutions and projects in Africa.
At first, clients and potential staff members were reluctant about Rocket Health since they were not familiar with the telemedicine concept, Davis Musinguzi indicates. However, through referrals, the platform quickly reached an extended client base. The entrepreneur now employs about 30 physicians who provide services to 40,000 clients registered on the Rocket Health platform. With the Covid-19 pandemic, demand for the services offered by the platform climbed to a record 400,000 virtual consultations yearly.
Dr. Davis Musinguzi’s achievement in the digital health space has been praised by Google, Microsoft, Ashoka, Alibaba, UNCTAD, the Commonwealth, Ericsson, ADB, and Deutsche Telekom, among others. In early March, Rocket Health raised US$5 million in Series A funding to expand its telemedicine service in Africa. The funding round was led by Creadev, an investment firm, with participation from African investors like Grenfell Holdings and LoftyInc Capital Management.
The new funding brings to US$6.2 million the overall financial resources raised for Rocket Health. For Davis Musinguzi, the next step in Rocket Health’s African expansion is East Africa, starting with Kenya.
Aïsha Moyouzame
In South Africa, mobile app Kena Health allows citizens to chat with health professionals remotely. Available on Play Store and App Store, the app helps registered users get advice, diagnoses, prescriptions, sick notes, and even get referred to pathologists and specialists if needed.
The health tech is developed by Healthforce, a South Africa-based startup whose stated mission is to improve health offers in the country thanks to a network of multidisciplinary health professionals in over 450 hospitals in the country.
On Kena Health, users chat with Linda, the virtual assistant that collects general information about the patient’s health. After that step, consultations can be booked either offline or online with a nurse to describe the symptoms. If the patient’s condition requires so, the nurse will transfer the call directly to a doctor. Kena's services are available from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. The first three consultations are free of charge and from the fourth onwards, the fee is ZAR160 (about US$11) per session.
Currently, Healthforce claims over 1.5 million offline and 135,000 virtual medical consultations in the past four years.
“Our goal is to improve access to quality care by lowering cost. (...) By creating an app that focuses on team-based healthcare, we’re able to do this, while actually improving the quality of health outcomes for each patient,” explains Saul Kornik, founder and CEO of Kena Health.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
More...
Credit card network VISA inaugurated its first African innovation hub in Kenya yesterday April 6. Based in Nairobi, the facility will serve as a framework for accelerating payment technology research in the sub-Saharan African region. It will be a mentorship hub for developers creating solutions that can revolutionize payments and e-commerce.
The studio will also help Visa clients and partners operating in Africa expand their services and access technological tools that will help them overcome some of the key challenges in their business environment.
VISA’s Nairobi innovation hub will now join the global network of innovation hubs operated by the credit card network since 2016. Currently, that global network is made up of hubs in Dubai, Singapore, San Fransico, and now Nairobi.
“Sub-Saharan Africa is a fast-growing region with a tech-savvy population. As we continue to grow digital payments adoption in the region, our aspiration is to deepen our collaboration with clients and partners in developing solutions that are designed around the unique needs of Africa,” says Aida Diarra (photo), Senior Vice President & Head of Visa in Sub-Saharan Africa.
In the past five years, the African fintech segment has recorded strong growth. Startups operating in that segment attracted the highest volume of investments, reflecting local populations’ interest in practical, customized, and affordable financial solutions.
For VISA, investing in that segment is a strategic move to consolidate its presence and market share. According to the credit card network, the Nairobi innovation hub will explore ideas that can support the growth of emerging payment systems such as contactless payment and cash on delivery. The hub will also explore the development of smart payment solutions that leverage blockchain, the Internet of Things, virtual reality, and biometrics.
Muriel Edjo
Egyptian healthcare startup O7 Therapy recently raised US$2.1 million in a seed round, according to a release issued Monday (April 4). With the proceeds, the startup plans to support mental health and expand in the MENA while developing new features and innovative products.
O7 Therapy is an online platform and network of hand-picked Arabic-speaking psychiatrists and psychotherapists. It is also a referral network of specialized clinics and hospitals that take care of people with mental health issues in the MENA region. The platform provides online psychotherapy in a friendly environment using reliable encryption and data storage protocols. In doing so, O7 Therapy revolutionized online health support and provides collaborative mental health services to Arabic-speaking people around the world.
It was founded in 2019 by Egyptian serial entrepreneur Ashraf Bacheet (photo) in partnership with assistant professor of psychiatry Dr. Ashraf Adel and software entrepreneur Nader Iskander. Ashraf Bacheet studied at various institutions such as the German School of Cairo, Cairo University, the University of Maryland, and the UK Chartered Institute of Marketing.
“Our Investment in mental wellbeing improves the lives of individuals in all areas of life; their student life, work, homes, family, friends, and even physical health. This in turn improves the performance of entrepreneurs, SMEs, corporate and government employees, positively affecting countries economically, ” says Nader Iskander.
According to an official release, their “Employee Wellness Programs for organizations are provided through a unique B2B2E model, prioritizing the impact of mental health challenges in the workplace, focusing on raising awareness and understanding, creating safe and supportive spaces, and implementing strategies that promote mental wellbeing.”
With several degrees and certificates in pharmaceutical sciences, tech entrepreneurship, and marketing and communication, Ashraf Bacheet runs a family business operating in the pharmaceutical industry. He also offers consultancy and mentorship services to startups.
In 2011, he started developing his passion for social entrepreneurship by joining a “global NGO as their Middle East Director.”
Ruben Tchounyabe
This year, Kenya’s National Council for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD) will roll out its new member identification system. Developed by the Ministry of Health, the new system is intended to correct the flaws of the old system. It will specifically curb fraud, improve reporting structure for accountability and generate adequate socio-economic data.
“Many people have discovered the support given to PWDs and they have registered as members of NCPWD, even those with no disability record, to enjoy the privileges like receiving tax exemption for life,” explained NCPWD Executive Director, Harun Hassan. The official was in Kisumu during the training of County disability medical assessment teams on how to use the new system.
The old system will become obsolete by 2023, indicated Daniel Njuguna, an NCPWD ICT expert, during the same training session. He added that it had no guidelines standardizing the medical disability assessment process, sometimes resulting in information discrepancy and inaccurate records.
According to Douglas Kitut, a representative of the Ministry of Health, there are approximately 600,000 people with disabilities in Kenya. The majority have physical, visual, hearing, learning, mental, and chronic progressive disabilities. In 2021, the country raised US$15.5 million to help them deal with the impacts of the coronavirus crisis.
Since 2009, the NCPWD has been implementing identification reforms to improve its services. The new system appears thus as a new milestone in the process. To migrate its members to the new system, the council is currently carrying out a mass identification campaign across the country. After the campaign, persons with disabilities will receive smart cards. To verify the authenticity of the cards, they will also have QR Codes.
The identification process will bring the services offered by the NCPWD closer to the population, explained Harun Hassan. According to the latter, it will allow stakeholders to generate real-time demographic data on different types of disabilities in Kenya. Then, county medical officers will be allowed to sign on behalf of the Director of Medical Services.
“This means that persons with disabilities will not have to travel to Nairobi to get their assessment reports signed before acquiring the card thus bringing this crucial service closer to the people,” he stressed.
The digitized system is also expected to streamline operations and ensure that only those who meet the required registration threshold are considered.
By digitizing its registration process, NCPWD plans to get integrated with other government agencies so that its members can access its services through Huduma centers or by visiting E-government and E-citizen portals.
Ruben Tchounyabe
In 2020, Ethiopia launched Digital Ethiopia 2025, its national development strategy. One of the focuses of that strategy is digital transformation to improve the efficiency of public services and facilitate access to online payment means.
On Monday, April 4, Ethiopia, through the Ministry of Innovation and Technology (MINT), signed a partnership agreement to integrate Mastercard’s payment service gateway into its e-services portal. Therefore, users can pay for public services using bank cards for the first time while Commercial Bank of Ethiopia will collect the payments on behalf of the government.
For Minister of Technology Belete Molla (photo), the partnership with Mastercard enables the country to “provide a versatile digital payments solution – customers with any bank card can use it. That means people can pay conveniently and safely wherever they are and at any time. It also enables us to improve revenue collection and achieve efficiencies—in turn, freeing up resources to improve service delivery.”
The partnership agreement follows a memorandum of understanding signed, in 2020, by the MINT and Mastercard. That memorandum aimed to support the government in digitizing payments and improving public services in line with Digital Ethiopia 2025, the national development strategy.
In the first phase of the project, only civil society organizations will be able to pay for operating licenses using any branded payment card.
“By supporting the Ethiopian government in the implementation of a world-class and innovative digital payments platform, we are collaborating to save resources, increase efficiencies, and deliver improved services to citizens. Soon, members of the Civil Society Organization will no longer need to carry cash, travel long distances, and stand in long queues at banks to pay for their licenses. Rather, they will be able to do it safely and conveniently online,” said Mark Elliott, Division President, Mastercard, Sub-Saharan Africa.
Muriel Edjo