The solution aims to make life easier for the population.
Breadfast is a digital solution developed by an Egyptian startup. It allows users to shop for food products. Since its launch in 2017, the solution has attracted US$29 million in funding for its expansion.
"We started out baking and delivering fresh bread, and today we are able to give Egyptians access to thousands of items of their basic supermarket supplies at the click of a button. Our mission is to change how people consume their daily essentials in Africa and the Middle East and, through our dynamic technology and deep understanding of the end-to-end supply chain process in the region, we are growing a simple idea into a product we believe can benefit millions of people across the MENA and Sub-Saharan regions," said Mostafa Amin, co-founder, and CEO of Breadfast.
The solution has a mobile app for Android and iOS devices. Using the app, users can sign up and start ordering the various products offered by the ecommerce solution. Currently, the startup delivers orders within an hour but, it is implementing strategies to bring delivery time to 20 minutes. One of those strategies is the extension of its store network.
In Egypt, Breadfast is really popular. Its Android app has been downloaded more than 1 million times on PlayStore and attracted over 20,000 (mostly positive) reviews. In 2019, it joined the Summer 2019 cohort of the American startup accelerator Y Combinator. After the program, the startup attracted more investors to improve its technology and establish itself in its home market.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
The tech entrepreneur has an extensive experience in the African tech industry with renowned software development skills.
Cossi Achille Arouko (photo) is a Beninese entrepreneur and computer scientist. He is the founder and CEO of fintech startup Bujeti, which enables African emigrants to plan, organize and track the funds they send to their relatives back home.
Though initially dedicated to emigrants only, the fintech startup (founded in 2021) was later expanded to cater to even Africans living on the continent because Cossi noticed that the diaspora was not the only group affected by the management problems he was addressing. Most African businesses were affected too.
"At the heart of Bujeti is the desire to bring transparency to financial transactions, to promote accountability, and enable control. [...] We wanted the Black Tax to be less of a burden on the diaspora, and then realized that we would have even more impact by offering this solution directly to African businesses. We decided to pivot to a full-fledged B2B budgeting and expense management for the African market," he said back in 2022.
His startup, Bujeti, is among the 94 companies that will participate in the Winter 2023 cohort of startup accelerator Y Combinator. The selection entitles the fintech startup to US$500,000 support and more exposure to international investors.
In 2018, the tech entrepreneur co-founded OyaPay, a fintech startup he served as the chief technology officer till 2019. He also co-founded Skylar Labs that enables helps SMEs build their cross-platform chatbots to engage clients.
He entered the professional world as a software development intern at Bénin Télécoms SA, in 2011 and 2012. He also did a 7-month internship at AREVA NP, in 2014, where he worked in the development team of a mechanical calculation and piping software. In 2016, he completed an engineering internship in the research and development department of the digital studio Oyez in Paris.
From December 2017 to July 2018, he was a full-stack developer at the artificial intelligence startup Smartly. AI. In 2019, he joined the Nigerian fintech company Paystack as a senior software engineer before becoming the tech lead in 2020.
Melchior Koba
The solution acts as a neobank and at the same time helps dealers manage their operations.
Shekel Mobility is a digital solution developed by a Nigerian startup to provide the tools and resources needed for emerging automotive companies to grow sustainably and optimally. It enables dealers using the solution to easily send and receive money and pay bills.
"Intending to empower businesses from around the world, Shekel provides financial services to local dealers as well as virtual dealers, enabling cross-border transactions and connections made easier by an ecosystem built with end-to-end security," the solution informs on its website.
Currently, it has no mobile app. Its services are accessible only through its website, after registration. The startup provides up to US$200,000 in unsecured loans to users who want to start selling cars.
Interest on these loans is calculated weekly and the principal is to be repaid 45 days after the cars are sold. The process can be repeated as many times as needed, allowing users to dynamize their operations and boost turnover.
Shekel currently claims 1,102 registered dealers, 3,400 cars traded and over US$19 million in transactions powered. It has been selected to participate in the 2023 Winter cohort of startup accelerator Y Combinator, which will give it access to potential investors. It also attracted a US$500,000 investment from the accelerator.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
The project aims to bridge the widening digital skill gap that is likely to affect digital transformation in Mali and Africa as a whole.
Last Monday, Danew Talla Electronics, the Malian joint venture between the French company Danew and the Malian company Talla Telecom, signed a partnership agreement with the higher education institution Complexe numérique de Bamako to train more young people in digital professions and accelerate the digitization of the country.
According to Hamed Salif Camara, general manager of Complexe numérique de Bamako, the partnership will help his institution achieve one of its objectives, namely unlocking the potential of ICT in Mali. He also invited Danew to not only partner with Complexe numérique Bamako but also with local startups to help build a better and brighter country.
On the sidelines of the signing ceremony, Malian authorities inaugurated the center of excellence CEDEX built by Danew Talla Electronics. CEDEX, which started its free training on November 2022, has already hosted a cohort of 47 young people from the Dutch NGO consortium of the Local Governance Accountability Plus Program (PGLR+). Between January and March 2023, it will train over 150 young people in digital professions.
Through all these actions, the participating companies are contributing to the implementation of "Mali Digital 2020," a national strategy that aims to position Mali as a technology hub in West Africa.
Samira Njoya
The entrepreneur has a great passion for e-sports. With GBarena, he is pursuing his goal of creating a comprehensive gaming and e-sports hub that connects gamers from around the world through daily tournaments, events, and activities.
Samer Wagdy (photo) is an Egyptian entrepreneur and gamer. He is also the founder and CEO of the online gaming platform and community GBarena.
GBarena, founded in 2015, connects gamers through global tournaments and challenges, providing tournament organizers with a tool to help them create and manage their tournaments from start to finish. It also helps businesses reach their target audience through gaming.
A few days ago, the start-up acquired the Tunisian e-sports and gaming start-up Galactech which had 200,000 active users. With that acquisition, GBarena continued its MENA expansion by leveraging its new acquisition's presence and capabilities in Riyadh, Dubai, and Tunis.
"Our goal has always been to provide our users with an unparalleled esports experience, no matter where they’re located in the world. With our acquisition of Galactech, we can now ensure that our users from North Africa will have access to identical features and content they have come to expect from us while providing them with extensive opportunities for growth and development within the esports community," said Samer Wagdy.
In 2014, the latter co-founded an IT firm Rackisland and developed a mobile app GEEXPAD (in 2013), which allows users to play PC games using their smartphone as a game controller and joystick. About three years earlier, he founded the IT agency Double Bridge.
Thanks to GBarena, Samer Wagdy was admitted to the French government incubation program at La Belle de Mai in 2017. In 2015, he was selected to be one of the finalists in the University Startup World Cup competition in Copenhagen, Denmark. With Rackisland, he won the Orange Social Venture Prize in 2014.
Melchior Koba
The partnership will contribute to the automation and digitization of the entire payment cycle to save time and reduce the various costs and efforts needed from grocers and small retailers in the country.
Last Monday, X-ERA Egypt, a leading provider of financial technology and logistics solutions in the Middle East, and Paymob, the leading financial services provider in the MENA-P region, announced a partnership agreement that aims to digitize B2B payments for tens of thousands of grocers and small retailers in Egypt.
"This cooperation aligns with X-ERA strategy to redevelop Egypt’s informal commercial market, by providing a package of diversified fintech tools and payment solutions to small grocers, corner shops, small and medium-sized merchants in different governorates throughout Egypt," said Mahmoud ELenani, CEO of X-ERA.
In Egypt, grocery stores represent 96.6% of the total outlets and account for 74% of overall sales in the food sector, according to data shared in January 2023 by BNP Paribas. With more than 116,000 grocery stores and stalls, this segment accounted for 73% of sales in 2021, or US$23 billion, according to the latest estimates from the USDA.
With the new partnership, Paymob's payment acceptance technology will now be integrated with X-ERA's fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) ordering application, creating an end-to-end digital commerce solution for merchants who previously only had the option to pay for their goods with cash on delivery.
According to a joint statement from the two companies, the partnership will digitize the operation of grocers and small businesses and fuel their growth in the digital economy. Using Paymob's technology, X-ERA merchants will also be able to pay their utility and telecom bills to further digitize their operations.
Samira Njoya
Like many African countries, Senegal is facing the thorny issue of electrical and electronic waste pollution. The situation recently worsened with the massive importation of electronic devices from other continents
The e-waste collection and dismantling center Senegal has been planning for years now will soon become effective, according to Cheikh Bakhoum, director general of state IT agency SENUM SA
" SENUM has decided to create a full-fledged entity that will be exclusively dedicated to this extremely important issue for our Environment and for our citizens. It will dismantle [...] electronic and electrical devices", said Cheikh Bakhoum.
"SENUM already has a section specifically dedicated to the management of electronic and electrical waste. It exclusively sorts them into green waste for recovery or red waste to be sent to a safe location for destruction," he added.
The e-waste (computers, phones, televisions, cables, batteries, etc.) issue is of great concern to the Senegalese government. In 2019, Senegal produced more than 4 million tons of e-waste according to the Solid Waste Coordination and Management Unit (UCG). Its average yearly e-waste production has surely risen due to population growth. From 16.3 million in 2019, Senegal's population was estimated at 17.3 million in 2022.
The dismantling center will significantly reduce the impact of electronic waste on the environment and health, improve income for informal collectors, and promote the creation of green jobs for the youth, among other things.
The country plans to recycle up to 90% of its e-waste by 2025. For that purpose, it is currently preparing a new legal framework for the activity.
Samira Njoya
Ridesharing has become a popular transport system since the onset of Uber, Yango, Bolt, and similar apps in Africa. In the sector, giant groups are trying to conquer the African market but they are faced with competition from rapidly expanding local startups.
Amigo is a carpooling solution developed by a Tunisian startup. The solution allows users to reduce transport costs.
"Amigo is a cab service based on the ridesharing model. It allows you to reduce waiting time and spend convivial moments with passengers taking the same route," the platform indicates.
The solution has a mobile application available for Android and iOS devices. To register for the services, users need to create an Amigo account. Anytime they are going out, they just need to input their destination and let the closest driver pick them up. They can also share the ride and its costs with users taking the same route in a 2-kilometer radius.
The solution often offers discounts to its users. Its aim is to help reduce costs and waiting time. It also helps reduce pollution by optimizing the number of cars circulating. The startup claims more than 500 registered cars, 10,000 trips, and more than 6,000 active users. On Playstore, its Android app has already been downloaded more than 5,000 times. The data confirms the claims made by the startup, which is set on growing market share in its origin country, Tunisia only for the time being.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
The award-winning entrepreneur is a tech enthusiast and civic activist. He is committed to education and financial inclusion, notably in rural areas that are usually hard to reach.
Charles Muhindo (photo) is a Ugandan computer scientist and the co-founder/CEO of fintech startup MamboPay.
His startup, founded in 2016, helps businesses and individuals make payments through state-of-the-art NFC cards designed to provide a Tap-andPay experience to recipients and enable real-time fund transfers to or from mobile money wallets. The startup addresses three major challenges in the everyday use of digital financial transactions. They are notably transparency, accountability and personal finance management.
In 2013, Charles Muhindo also co-founded BrainShare Ltd, an edtech startup that gives learners access to top-notch education content online and offline. It creates an inclusive learning environment by supporting the creation of content by local teachers for African learners. He served the edtech startup as CEO up to 2021.
Charles Muhindo's professional career began in 2011 at IntelWorld where he was a senior application developer. As such, he was "responsible for mobile applications with core emphasis on USSD, SMS, mobile and web applications." He developed a range of enterprise, e-commerce, and sports betting applications.
In 2012, he joined Orange Uganda where he worked on developing new applications to ensure better service delivery to customers.
In 2012, he won the bronze medal during the Orange Community Innovation Awards. The following year, he was among the top 40 African entrepreneurs selected by the US State Department's Global Innovation for Science and Technology (GIST). The same year, BrainShare was featured on CNN's list of the top 10 African startups.
He has been invited to speak at events organized by international institutions including the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
Melchior Koba
The project, which is almost completed, will reinforce Senegal's position as an ICT hub in West Africa and accelerate the development of the region's digital and innovative ecosystem.
Senegal Horn of Africa Regional Express (SHARE), the optic fiber interconnection project connecting Senegal and Cabo Verde will soon be completed, according to Cheikh Bakhoum (photo), director general of the state IT agency. The official made this revelation last Friday, during a press briefing.
"We have deployed nearly 95 % of the subsea cable SHARE connecting Senegal and Cabo Verde, two West African countries, [...] The cable will allow access to a better internet connection of up to 16 terabits in the future in Senegal. Once the cable becomes operational, 100 gigabits will be available for the administration and for operators who will need large internet capacities," he said.
The 720-kilometer cable will have landing points in Dakar and Praia. The broadband infrastructure, deployed by Huawei Marine Networks (HMN), will be the first direct link between Africa and Cabo Verde islands, which are located are located approximately 570 kilometers off the coast of Africa in the Atlantic Ocean.
The project funded by Senegal will introduce an upgraded international bandwidth route to West Africa. According to Cheikh Bakhoum, it will probably be inaugurated in the next few months as works are being accelerated.
Samira NJOYA
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After securing initial funding in 2020, the company wants to continue its expansion with additional capital.
Moroccan e-logistics start-up Cathedis recently secured US$735,000 in pre-series A funding from an investor cohort consisting of Afrimobility, a venture capital fund of AKWA Group, and CDG Invest.
According to Imad El Mansour Zekri, founder and CEO of Cathedis, the renewed support from CDG Invest, its old investor and partner, as well as the entrance of Afrimobility into its Cathedis' capital will help the startup consolidate its performance, develop its innovation platform and accelerate its growth.
In 2020, the startup secured MAD3 million (US$296,000) through CDG Invest's 212 Founders, raising the resources to achieve over 300% growth between 2020 and 2022.
In its four years of operation, the start-up has built a fully digital platform that manages all deliveries, based on a system that easily handles every operation from production to delivery, payment, and complaint handling with real-time or near-instantaneous tracking.
Cathedis has also deployed an automated 4,000-parcels-per-hour sorting center, thanks to which it serves more than 160 cities and regions in Morocco. To successfully achieve its goals, the startup turned to the association R&D Morocco, which promotes and drives innovation.
According to its CEO, it is one of the leading e-logistics operators in Morocco, with proprietary industrial and tech solutions. Its goal is to reach an annual flow of 3 million packages by 2024.
Samira Njoya
In Africa, proptech startups are not really popular as their peers in the health, finance, and agriculture industries. Nonetheless, entrepreneurs in that industry are developing innovative solutions to facilitate procedures.
Spleet is a proptech solution developed by a Nigerian startup. It helps users find the real estate properties (either for rental or acquisition) that suit them. Since its launch, in 2018, the startup behind the solution has raised over US$3.5 million to accelerate growth and enter the Ghanaian and Kenyan markets.
The solution is currently accessible only via its web platform. On the website, users can browse available properties, and create an account.
To rent a property they like, they need to register their interest, submit some personal information, and let the request be processed before payment is collected. Users can rent entire places for themselves or choose to share the spaces with other users.
The startup offers additional solutions, including low-interest and no-collateral loans to finance rent. With its service "verify", it also helps landlords and real estate agents perform proper tenant background checks before signing lease agreements. It also offers a service, "Collect," that automatically collects rent on landlords' behalf.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
The tech entrepreneur is passionate about robotics innovation. His startup, Nureab, is the first MENA company to go into rehabilitation robotics.
Bahy Elnesr (photo) is an Egyptian tech entrepreneur and the co-founder/CEO of Nureab, a startup that manufactures rehabilitation robots for the Middle East and African market.
The startup, launched in 2020, leverages new technologies to help people with motor disabilities improve their living conditions and quickly recover. The motor rehabilitation devices the startup manufactures optimize patients' recovery process with little pain and maximum movement functions that produce positive results.
Apart from Nureab, Bahy Elnesr is also the co-founder and CTO (till 2021) of The Flankers, an Egyptian startup and innovation center specializing in the robotics, artificial intelligence, and aerospace industries. Since 2015, The Flankers has launched over six products and developed 63 projects with more than 30 national and international partners. It is the first Egyptian company to develop a nanosatellite using tech tools like artificial intelligence.
Before his entrepreneurial career, he had traineeship experience with several international firms. For instance, in 2016, he was a trainee with German Auto Service Egypt, for two months. In 2017, he did a 1-month traineeship at oil and gas firm Bapetco and another month at EgyptAir. He worked at Belayiem Petroleum Company for two months and did another 1-month traineeship at Amal Petroleum Company.
In 2018, after another stint at Bapetco and Belayiem Petroleum Company, he also completed an internship at the Italian energy company Eni.
Melchior Koba
During the multi-month suspension, the California-based company, which entered the country in 2016, developed new offers and services.
U.S ride-hailing Uber announced, Wednesday, the resumption of its activities in Tanzania, marking an end to the dispute opposing it has with local authorities.
In the release announcing the resumption, it said it was delighted to relaunch its operations in the country after nearly 10 months of suspension: "We are excited to kick off the year on such a positive note by re-entering the Tanzanian market[...]It is our priority to provide a platform where drivers can make substantial earnings while providing convenient and reliable options for riders in Tanzania," the release read.
The U.S. company was forced to suspend its services in Tanzania in April 2022 due to changes in government regulations that capped commissions from drivers to 15 percent, down from 33 percent. After months of negotiations, last month, Tanzania's transport regulator allowed ride-sharing companies to charge up to 25 percent commission and 3.5 percent booking fee.
While relaunching operations in Tanzania, Uber has also introduced a new safety check-up technology that the company says will give passengers and drivers more confidence during their rides. "Based on research, most riders seem to be unaware of the safety features available to them. As a result, Uber is launching Safety Check-up across SSA which will encourage riders to complete their safety profile by turning on and utilizing the available features such as Trusted Contacts, PIN verification, and RideCheck," the company added.
The new safety feature also allows for direct reporting of sudden vehicle stoppages due to accidents or breakdowns of any kind, in which case a report is shared with the company, and assistance is requested.
Samira Njoya