Zanzibar is known as one of the best tourist destinations in the world. The country wants to take advantage of this reputation to develop partnerships and become a technological innovation hub par excellence in Africa.
E-commerce platform Wasoko and the government of Zanzibar launched, Tuesday (August 30), the Wasoko Innovation Hub in Fumba. According to Wasoko, the hub aims to attract tech companies to the country and even woo them into relocating.
“As a Pan-African tech company, Wasoko has been looking for a location where we can bring together the best talents from across the continent and beyond to innovate and develop new products and services for our customers. While we considered more traditional centres such as Dubai and London, we were ultimately committed to the belief that technology for Africa should be built in Africa,” said Wasoko CEO Daniel Yu.
A few years ago, Zanzibar initiated efforts to accelerate its digital transformation. One of the initiatives taken was Silicon Zanzibar, which has Wasoko as a founding partner. Through the partnership with Wasoko, the government wants to create an attractive environment for technology companies, researchers, and industry professionals.
The Wasoko Innovation Hub will specialize in developing tools to personalize the customer experience, improve delivery metrics, expand financial service options, and collect key data and information across the value chain.
The new center will contribute to the development of Fumba, help create numerous employment and career opportunities, and establish the island as a leading center for pan-African technology companies. It will also enable the country to secure more than US$15 million in investment over the next decade.
The Wasoko Innovation Hub will focus on developing world-class technology solutions that will boost the African e-commerce sector. According to Zanzibar's Minister of Investment and Economic Development, Mudrick Soraga, the hub is to be an ideal and suitable setting "for all technology companies and their team members to be based in Zanzibar."
Samira Njoya
A few years ago, the African social media landscape was dominated by foreign messaging solutions. However, nowadays, local entrepreneurs are stepping in with local apps that integrate a set of useful features.
Dikalo is a digital platform developed by an eponymous Cameroonian startup founded in 2016. It allows users to discuss without sharing personal information.
It is available as an Android app, which incorporates features (like file sharing, voice, text, video messaging, etc) common to most instant messaging apps. It also includes packs of stickers dedicated to each African country. For instance, there is the “naija” sticker pack for Nigeria or the “zouzoukwa” pack for Côte d’Ivoire.
To register on Dikalo, users need to create a nickname, provide an email and create a password. The app then generates an authentication code to validate the registration. Dikalo does this to protect its users’ personal data in line with its transparent personal data management policy.
Currently, Dikalo, which plans to integrate a mobile money solution into its platform, claims more than 100,000 registered users, including 87,000 active users. "Most of our users come from Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire. Our main goal is to become the most used social media app everywhere. My ambition is to grow in countries like South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, Algeria ...," says Dikalo founder Alain Ekambi.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
After her studies in the United States, the young woman has occupied various positions in financial companies and renowned institutions. Nowadays, as a partner in a venture capital firm investing in tech startups, she plays many roles in the African tech ecosystem.
Andreata Muforo (photo) is, since 2013, a partner at Nairobi-based venture capital firm TLCom Capital LLP. Her work within TLCom includes assessing investment sustainability and managing the venture capital firm’s ESG (environmental, social, and governance) approach. She is also the executive director of TIDE Foundation, a TLCom-sponsored non-profit “focused on improving the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Sub Saharan Africa.”
Miss Muforo, who hails from Zimbabwe, is also a member of the board of several African startups, including B2B platform Twiga Foods and auto-tech startup Autochek. She is also a mentor for Endeavor network, a non-profit organization that helps grow ventures and supports entrepreneurs.
The strong advocate for gender equality in the African tech ecosystem started her professional career, in 2003, as an analyst for Citigroup. In 2004, she joined NERA Economic Consulting. Some five years later, she became AfDB Tunisia’s private sector investment officer. Barely months after joining the AfDB, she got employed as a Transaction Manager at Horizon Africa Capital Ltd, a mergers and acquisitions advisory firm based in Nairobi, Kenya.
Melchior Koba
The somewhat tense relations between Algeria and France over the past few months is gradually being normalized. The two countries now want to capitalize on their historical bond as well as development issues to boost those relations.
During his friendly and working visit to Algeria, on August 25-26 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron (photo, center) announced several cooperation projects between the two countries. In the digital segment, in particular, he unveiled a project aimed at creating a Franco-Algerian incubator. According to the French President, the aim of the incubator is to let the two countries share their knowledge and innovations.
“Algeria has so many talents, and so do French and Franco-Algerians. That is the reason I want us to join forces to develop a bridging system [...], develop training and facilitate exchanges and joint innovations by our two countries, why not in the whole region,” he said.
Besides a training and project maturation framework for tech entrepreneurs, Emmanuel Macron also mentioned the creation of a €100 million fund to fund startups since financing is a key factor in their growth and success. Public Investment Bank BPIFrance will set up the fund, allowing tech entrepreneurs to promote projects, he added.
During the working visit, business mogul Xavier Niel, who was also part of the French delegation, announced the forthcoming launch of Ecole 42, a free coding school. The school was announced in 2017 but its launch has been delayed up to now.
Muriel Edjo
The future bill will propel the DRC and its administration into a digital era that will greatly benefit every sector of the national economy.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will elaborate a digital law to oversee its digital transformation efforts. On August 26, 2022, during a ministerial council, President Felix Tshisekedi (photo) ordered his government to adopt a bill for the digitization of the public administration.
"While praising the significant efforts already made by some ministries in that matter, notably with the project to secure land deeds and digitize the cadastre, the President of the Republic stressed the need to digitize the whole public administration,” reads the release published after the ministerial council.
In the coming days then, Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde will accelerate the elaboration of a legal framework to ensure the appropriate supervision of the digitization efforts. He will also ensure the related bill is submitted to the National Assembly during its September session for review and adoption.
The new instruction is further proof of DRC’s commitment to upgrading its administration. In early August this year, Minister of Land Affairs Aimé Molendo Sakombi signed an agreement with Luxembourg company "eProseed" for the implementation of the "e-Foncier" project that aims to secure the cadastre and modernize land management. The digital bill instructed will allow an in-depth reorganization of state actions to make DRC a digital government, amid the ongoing digital and social revolution. It is in line with Horizon 2025, the country’s national digital strategy that aims to make the digital sector a tool for integration, good governance, economic growth, and social progress.
Samira Njoya
E-commerce has gained momentum in Africa since the Covid-19 period. Numerous platforms have emerged to help the population buy what they need online and allow sellers to sell more. With Kwely, the focus is now on selling more local products abroad.
Kwely is a B2B platform developed by an eponymous startup based in Senegal and the USA. The startup behind the platform was founded in 2019, by Birame N. Sock (photo). It aims to become the Alibaba of products made in Africa. For that purpose, it raised US$1.7 million to carry out its targeted projects.
According to Birame N. Sock, Kwely is a bridge between African producers, global consumers, and international buyers. “The goal is to be Africa's leading B2B e-commerce platform, redefining how African products are perceived and how African buyers and sellers transact with each other and the rest of the world,” she explains.
The best way to become one of Kwely’s suppliers is to enter its incubator program Tekki, which is currently in its second cohort. The program teaches producers how to improve packaging to meet international standards and gives tips to develop a scalable and adequate international business or marketing strategy as well as create effective product storytelling to enter the targeted markets.
Tekki helps producers create an export-ready brand while the Kwely platform offers marketing and distribution services. The products available on the platform include cosmetics, food, and home accessories.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
Recently, the e-commerce boom gave a new impetus to a concept that started in the 1970s: dropshipping. Although the popularity of that concept is growing among Africans, there is almost no local platform facilitating the process. Tendo is changing that.
Tendo is a digital platform developed by a Ghanaian eponymous startup, connecting local suppliers with dropshippers. Before Tendo, “people who want to sell online [had] to save money, visit hundreds of suppliers to find a trusted one, and risk losing their capital by stocking up inventory. [They also had] to incur costs for logistics and warehousing,” explained co-founder Felix Manford. With the creation of the startup Tendo (in 2020), all that changed, he added.
The solution addresses additional challenges, allowing any individual who so wishes to become a retailer. "Tendo enables anyone to start their online business without investing any capital," the platform indicates. All the retailers have to do is share the goods listed by suppliers with potential customers. When a buyer places an order with the retailer, the latter simply sends the order and buyer’s details and lets the supplier deliver the order. Once the order is delivered, the retailer will receive the profit he/she generated.
Tendo also has a mobile app (accessible for Android and iOS devices) that allows users to perform all the tasks they can carry out on the web platform. It also allows suppliers to register on Tendo and leverage the retailer network to quickly sell their goods.
From 2020 to date, the Ghanaian startup behind the platform has raised over US$220,000. This year, it expanded into the Nigerian market and got selected to participate in Y Combinator’s winter cohort.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
The African Digital Hub aims to take advantage of Tunisia’s geographical and geo-digital positioning to create a global digital hub.
During the TICAD 8, held in Tunisia last August 27-28, volunteer organization Tunisian Smart Cities (TSC) presented African Digital Hub, a pan-African project aimed at connecting Africa to the world.
According to the TICAD 8 whitebook published by the Tunisian-Japanese chamber of commerce and industry, the digital infrastructure offers an opportunity to establish a set of digital cardinals on the African continent, ensuring “the inter-connection of Africa with the rest of the world through a sovereign mesh of submarine cables.”
For Akil Sadkaoui, manager of the African Digital Hub project, the infrastructure will help boost connectivity in Africa, “therefore allowing residents to capitalize on new value chains in a context marked by growing e-commerce and mobile payment activities at a time when artificial intelligence, cryptocurrencies and soon quantum networks are constant discussion topics.”
The African Digital Hub will be implemented following a public-private partnership model. During its first phase (US$307 million), Green's Data Cities will be built, forming the building block of a large backbone network that will benefit allied cities.
The project is expected to create some 500 direct jobs. It aims to create a green digital sector that leverages green energy sources and an academic research program. For connectivity expert Damien Bertrand, thanks to the African Digital Hub, Tunisia could become the northern gateway of a sovereign and autonomous Africa while Bizerte will be the building block of that gateway.
Let’s note that the Bizerte governorate (in Tunisia) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) have already launched the feasibility study of the first phase of the African Digital Hub.
Samira Njoya
The solution was developed to help SMEs save resources and time by outsourcing some of their management chores.
Workpay is a digital solution developed by an eponymous Kenyan startup. It allows African SMEs to hire, manage and pay their employees. The startup, which developed the platform, was founded in 2019 by Jackson Kibigo and Paul Kimani. From its inception to date, it raised over US$2.4 million to support its African growth
According to co-founder Paul Kimani, the funds raised have provided an opportunity for Workpay to scale its “human resource management and payroll processing tools to SMBs and expand to enterprise clients across East Africa.”
“We are fortunate to have the backing of some incredible people on our mission to make it easy for businesses to manage and pay employees across Africa,” he added.
The digital solution has a mobile app, accessible for Android and iOS devices. The mobile app allows users access to the various web services offered by Workpay and also allows them to monitor team performance in real-time and hire the best African talents.
To let subscribing companies enjoy their subscription to the fullest, Workpay’s pricing is dynamic and tailored according to every company's need. “We believe not all companies are the same. Therefore, our packages and pricing are different for each company,” the Kenyan startup indicates. On its website, it claims over 500 firms are using its solution, including Nigerian unicorn Flutterwave.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
Uganda has a high internet penetration rate. However, internet costs are still high, making the resource less affordable for many. The current plan to half the costs aims to make it more affordable.
The Ugandan government plans to reduce internet costs to promote the use of digital financial services and increase financial inclusion for vulnerable groups.
According to ICT Minister Chris Baryomunsi, the country will reduce the price of the data it provides through the national backbone by more than 50%, from US$70 per Mbps to US$30.
“We are talking about purely government internet. Once we cut down the cost at which government is selling to service providers, then they will automatically also reduce the cost that the end user will be paying and we think this will help in our efforts to digitize our economy,” he said last Wednesday.
By reducing internet costs, the country will support ICT innovation, and the development of digital financial services, communication, and e-government, among others. Several projects are underway to complement that measure. The most important of those projects is the National Data Backbone and e-Government Infrastructure project, with an estimated cost of US$75 million. It will connect the country’s major cities to a fiber optic network and connect ministries and administrations to the e-government platform.
The projects initiated are part of Uganda's Digital Acceleration Program, which aims to fill the current infrastructure gap and accelerate Internet penetration in the country.
Samira Njoya
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From taking the risk of leaving a successful career at Coca-Cola for entrepreneurship to founding two successful fintech startups and selling one in an acclaimed deal, Hilda Moraa knows what it takes and how to achieve it. Some 12 years ago, after a few years of professional career, she decided to venture into entrepreneurship. Her two ventures were successful and she wants to help other Africans succeed by removing the main challenge that usually limits their efficiency: funding.
Kenyan entrepreneur Hilda Moraa is the founder of Pezesha, a fintech founded in 2016 to facilitate access to financial support for African SMEs. According to Moraa, financial aid helps SMEs improve their efficiency. That is why she launched her fintech, which connects fund seekers with investors (banks and financial institutions notably) through a digital financial marketplace.
“By resolving the issue of small and medium enterprises securing working capital and gaining a credit score, I believe we can equip business owners with assets so they can compete and trade on a national scale,” she told Google in Africa in March 2022.
In 2021, she was among the fifty recipients of Google’s Black Founders Fund Africa. Two years earlier, she was among the participants of the Obama Foundation’s Leaders program. This enhanced the leadership and innovation skills she acquired in the course of her professional and entrepreneurship career. Indeed, ten years earlier, in 2011, she founded WezaTele, a startup that uses data analytics to help last-mile businesses grow and scale their businesses. She remained the CEO of WezaTele till its acquisition by financial services group AFB (now Jumo World) in 2015.
The same year, she published her book, A Kenyan Startup Journey, sharing the key lessons she learned as the founder and CEO of WezaTele. In 2016, in recognition of her actions in favor of entrepreneurship, she was selected on The Guardian’s list of Africa’s top 10 pioneers, and Business Daily’s top 40 women that celebrate women who thrive in the tech sector. She also made it to Quartz Africa’s list of the top 30 African innovators. In 2019, she also received the DFS Lab’s Female Focused Fintech Prize.
The tech entrepreneur started her professional career in 2008 when she joined the IT company Techbiz as an IT intern in asset management and ERP implementation. The same year, she became coordinator of the Strathmore University computer lab. Then, in 2009, she was recruited, as a database analyst and innovation implementer, by Coca-Cola Kenya.
In 2011, Hilda Moraa became an innovation strategist and senior ICT researcher at iHub Nairobi. From 2017 to 2021, she was a board member of Station F, a startup campus based in Paris. Concurrently, in 2020, she served on Kenya's Covid-19 ICT and Innovations Advisory Committee established by the Ministry of ICT, Innovation, and Youth.
In June 2022, she was appointed a member of the Board of Directors of the Konza Technopolis Development Authority, whose mission is the development of a sustainable smart city and innovation ecosystem in Kenya.
Melchior Koba
The solution started in 2018 as an Instagram page offering educational assistance. It evolved to become the edtech platform, as it is known now, to allow students to help their peers in a quick and more conducive manner.
Stranerd is an edtech solution developed by a Nigerian startup Stranerd LLC, founded in 2021. It allows students to help themselves in various subjects by asking or answering course-related questions, with rewards for the best students who are most active on the platform.
"Our goal is to build the largest community of students where collaboration and innovation thrive, to create opportunities for the student to function at the highest level possible and bring the most value to the student community. We intend to do this by fostering peer-to-peer learning by giving students the tools to collaborate and solve their problems," said Stranerd LLC co-founder Jeremiah Godwin.
The solution is available as an Android-only mobile app. It helps students prepare for exams using flashcards and course notes and questions.
Through its gamified, sleek, and ergonomic interface, Stranerd encourages students to spend enough time on the app to better grasp course subjects. Peer-to-peer learning, as the startup calls it, is free on the platform. However, it is subject to registration (with a set of personal information). For those who wish for it, the startup also offers paid tutoring services and assignment assistance online.
In 2022, the startup, which started as an Instagram page offering educational assistance, was selected among the 45 participants that will take part in the second edition of the accelerator program Future of Work Africa.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
The digital transformation project underway in Congo will help the country address the numerous shortcomings of its education system and foster the development of a high-performance ecosystem.
Congo-Brazzaville disclosed Thursday (August 25), the key steps it will focus on to succeed in the digital transformation of its education system. The steps were presented by the Ministry of Pre-school, Primary and Secondary Education during a ceremony to validate the conclusions of the national consultations held on August 12-13 to discuss the transformation of the national education system.
The steps include training teachers on digital pedagogy, mastery of ICT tools, and distance learning management.
According to the United Nations, which is the government’s partner in the project, the ceremony held on August 25 helped identify the steps to take to build a stronger, more equitable, adaptable, and resilient education system.
"The United Nations, which is aware of the challenges facing the education system, reiterates its commitment to supporting countries in their bids to reorganize their education systems to achieve the fourth sustainable development goal,” said Chris Mburu, the UN resident coordinator in Congo.
In Congo, education is one of the sectors most affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Due to its poor readiness, the country’s education sector was disrupted with thousands of students being unable to continue classes since there were not enough technical and human resources to ensure continuity with distance learning.
The digital transformation project currently planned by Congolese authorities will safeguard the government’s ability to ensure education continuity in times of crisis that requires mobility restrictions. It will also allow students access to more educational resources.
Samira Njoya
Few years ago, the trained nurse entered the healtech sector with a solution that helps blood banks recruit donors. She later pivoted to focus on helping institutions and their likes find the right participants for their clinical trials in Africa. Her choices proved judicious as the startup has already won her several awards, testifying of the positive impacts she is having on the continent.
Melissa Bime (photo) is a Cameroonian nurse, tech entrepreneur, and co-founder of Infiuss Health, a “Unified Solution for Outsourced Clinical Research in Africa.”
Her startup was founded, in 2016, as an online blood bank aimed at reducing mortality induced by blood shortage. After a successful blood donation campaign, the startup partnered with several health centers in Cameroon and even earned several awards, including the 2018 Cartier Women's Initiative Awards (worth US$100,000) and the USAID Inclusive Access to Health Award.
In 2020, Melissa turned her startup into a clinical trial management company for hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, etc., in Africa.
“We are building highly study-specific and very flexible solutions that allow sponsors to find the right participants, sites, and primary investigators so that they can run fully remote, or hybrid, clinical research studies," Infiuss informs on its website.
“If you are a company working on a medical trial and trying to figure out how to diversify the participant cohorts, we are providing a cheaper alternative than recruiting in the United States,” Melissa explained in 2021.
In October 2021, she won the 43North Competition entitling her to a US$500,000 prize. In January 2022, she relocated her business to Buffalo, New York.
Melchior Koba