Africa suffers from inadequate access to education despite the governments’ efforts. To address the challenges preventing access in some regions, tech entrepreneurs create edtech tools but, they are sometimes inadequate to ground realities.
Genoskul is an edtech solution developed by a Chadian start-up. It allows access to online training courses, and tutors. It also allows users to get relevant answers to their questions, thanks to its smart assistant.
Through its Android app, users can register with an email or phone number to access services like virtual classrooms, where they can discuss with other learners.
"The virtual rooms interconnect learners from different backgrounds for an intellectual exchange. They are supervised by qualified teachers for effective preparation for national and international secondary and higher education exams and competitions,” the startup explains.
Genoskul offers courses in a diverse range of professions such as loincloth shoe making, shea butter processing, and rabbit breeding, as well as in public management and sustainable development, and civic action. According to Valery Kagro, founder of Genoskul, everyone should have access to the education and training of their choice, whatever their age or the type of training they aspire to.
To support its growth, Genoskul has raised CFAF5 million (around $8,149). It is also supported by Chad Innovation, an incubator that gave the start-up a stand at the Gitex Africa 2023 in Marrakech, Morocco.
Recently, it told We Are Tech Africa it has over 17,000 users in French-speaking African countries. It also indicated it was planning to create an English and Arabic version of its platform to expand to African countries where these languages are spoken.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
She leverages her expertise and experience in finance to contribute to economic and sustainable development initiatives on the African continent. Through Melanin Kapital, she provides financial support for Africa's green revolution.
Mélanie Keïta (photo) is a Franco-Congolese finance and investment expert. In 2020, she co-founded Melanin Kapital, a carbon financing platform that aims to become the leading fintech platform financing green transition in Africa.
Her Kenya-based financing platform funds the acquisition of clean energy equipment that SMEs need to grow and simultaneously reduce their carbon footprint. The equipment includes electric vehicles, renewable energy equipment, waste management facilities, and green kitchen equipment.
The platform empowers entrepreneurs by helping them access the capital they need to turn their idea into a business. It also trains and coaches them, focusing particularly on women and local entrepreneurs and promotes the use of digital tools.
Mélanie Keïta, who heads that platform as its CEO, is also the Head of Operations at Tuungane Foundation, the non-profit arm of Melanin Kapital that prepares SMEs to access credit and funding from its parent company and other lending partners. She is also a guest lecturer at ESCP Business School, where she graduated with a master's degree in development economics and international development in 2018.
The entrepreneur also holds a master's degree in finance and financial management services, from the ESSCA business school (2016) and an International Certificate in Corporate Finance from HEC Paris (2016).
Her professional career began, in 2015, as an intern in the SME finance department of France's Générale Electrique et Mesures Optiques (GEMO). Since then, she has worked for several finance and investment institutions such as Investisseurs et Partenaires (I & P), 2° Investing Initiative, and Finance in Motion.
A member of the NextGen committee of the 100 Women in Finance network of finance professionals, Mélanie Keïta was listed in Forbes magazine's 2021 Top 30 under 30. In 2022, she received the Top Africa award issued by GITEX, among others.
Melchior Koba
The agreement was signed on the sidelines of the digital summit GITEX Africa, which gave several companies the opportunity to bag agreements.
On Wednesday, May 31, Hicham El Habti, President of Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique (UM6P), and Safia Faraj, CEO of French company Atos signed a collaboration agreement on the sidelines of digital summit Gitex Africa in Marrakech. The agreement aims to strengthen collaboration in the fields of research, innovation, and education, and to support the development of digital talents in Morocco and Africa.
"The two institutions will collaborate on research and development projects, as well as on the organization of scientific conferences or seminars, or the sharing of material and human resources [...] Atos will organize events, open houses, and training courses for UM6P students. It will also connect them with Internship and recruitment opportunities. Similarly, Atos employees will be welcomed at UM6P for engineering and management training courses," reads the press release issued on June 1.
The Moroccan university is multiplying its partnerships to establish itself as a reference in fields relating to digital transformation. With its Stargate incubator, the institution facilitates the emergence of start-ups in the country. In that context, thanks to this new partnership with Atos, it can help the Moroccan tech sector address the tech skills and talent gap.
Let’s note that during GITEX Africa, Atos, a leading digital transformation player in Africa, also signed agreements with Togo to implement a national electronic identification system.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
The United Nations now considers the Internet as a basic necessity in the same category as water and electricity. For some governments, the tool, which demonstrated its importance during the coronavirus pandemic, can become a threat to national security.
On the afternoon of Sunday, June 4, Senegal decided to “temporarily” suspend mobile Internet access. According to the Ministry of Communications and the Digital Economy, access is restricted during certain timeframes due to "the dissemination of hateful and subversive messages in a context where public order is disrupted in some areas.”
Since Thursday, May 1, riots have been taking place in several Senegalese towns. Thousands of young people have clashed with the police and gendarmerie to protest against the two-year prison sentence handed down to Ousmane Sonko, leader of the main opposition party (Pastef). The main opponent to President Macky Sall is considered by the Senegalese youth as the favorite for the February 2024 Presidential election. He was convicted for “perverting the youth” although he was brought before courts over rape and death threats charges.
For his sympathizers, the conviction which renders him ineligible for the upcoming election is a conspiracy to prevent him from running in an election in which he has a high chance of winning with flying colors.
VPNs can no longer be used to circumvent the measure
The temporary suspension affects 17,227,783 subscribers -per the latest figures from the national telecom regulator ARTP. This represents 96.78% of Internet users in Senegal, where the service is essential for cabs, delivery drivers, hairdressing salons, restaurants, online clothing stores, and so on.
In a press release, the association of ICT businesses called on the government to lift all the usage restrictions on instant messaging platforms to guarantee economic freedom since those tools are used by thousands of entrepreneurs to seek “life-saving incomes.”
The temporary mobile internet restriction comes two days after social media access was blocked in the country. The social media ban was issued to restrict the publication of mobilization calls and videos of clashes in several districts of Dakar, Ziguinchor, etc. The restrictions did not produce the desired effect, with most youth using VPNs to circumvent it.
On Friday, June 2, Proton VPN, a virtual private network service developed by Swiss company Proton Technologies AG, noted a huge 30,000% and counting increase in VPN registrations from Senegal.
"This is in line with what we've seen during unrest or geopolitical crises in recent years in Iran, Turkey, and even Russia. The figures we're seeing are comparable to those we saw in Senegal in March 2021. At that time, similar censorship led to a 20,000% increase in registrations," said the company.
Muriel Edjo
The solution was developed by a Cameroonian doctor to offer a customized solution tailored to local realities for affordable access to home healthcare.
Clinic Home is an e-health solution developed by E-santé Cameroun. It enables users to book appointments for home or remote consultations with doctors, general practitioners, or specialists. It also offers home laboratory and online pharmacy services.
Based in Douala, E-santé Cameroun was founded in 2021 by Philippe Ohandja, a trained doctor. Its solution aims to smooth the care pathway. For that purpose, it developed a mobile app -available for Android and iOS users- through which users can register and start booking services. To book the services of a practitioner, they just have to fill a form informing of the type of practitioner they need, when and the type of service they need as well as their conditions.
"Few minutes after payment is made, a teleoperator will call [the user] and forward the call to a doctor who will make an over-the-phone assessment before going to the patient’s home. After the consultation, if necessary, the doctor will ask a nurse to go to the patient for further tests or nursing care,” Philippe Ohandja told We Are Tech Africa at Gitex Africa (May 31-June 2) in Morocco.
If needed, the patient can also buy drugs and directly request for tests right from the mobile app.
A consultation with a general practitioner affiliated with Clinic Home costs CFAF10,000 (around $16.41). The fee rises to CFAF15,000 for consultations at night time or at weekends. Consultations with specialists cost CFAF15,000 at daytime and CFAF20,000 for night and weekend consultations. Teleconsultation, on the other hand, costs CFAF3,000.
The start-up claims around 25,000 users. In 2022, it joined an acceleration program in the Sahel through I&P (investors and partners). Although it has not yet completed a financing round, E-santé Cameroun plans to expand outside Cameroon, starting with Côte d’Ivoire.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
He is a successful entrepreneur and talented computer scientist with a proven track record in several tech companies. With Eden Life, he helps middle-class Africans find competent people to manage household chores.
Nadayar Enegesi (photo) is a Nigerian computer scientist who graduated from the University of Waterloo, Canada, with a Bachelor's degree in 2013. He is the CEO of Eden Life, a start-up he founded in 2019 with Prosper Otemuyiwa.
His startup was born out of both his and his co-founder’s desire to improve the quality of life of middle-class individuals. In Nigeria and Kenya, the startup connects people who provide services such as laundry, cleaning, catering, and equipment maintenance with those in need.
“Eden is the single platform for all domestic services. It's a superior answer to the question of an inferior lifestyle. If you’ve ever wanted to be done with house chores or wanted better services for things like your laundry, meals, house cleaning, maintenance, etc, then you have silently prayed for Eden,” Nadayar Enegesi writes on his Linkedin profile.
The same Linkedin profile informs that prior to founding Eden Life, in 2014, Nadayar Enegesi co-founded Andela, an engineering platform that helps companies build remote teams quickly and affordably. He was also the director of Launchpad, Andela's in-house incubator from January 2018 to April 2019. Still, at Andela, Nadayar Enegesi was the Director of Learning and Development as well as the Director of Engineering and Training.
In 2013, the tech entrepreneur co-founded Fora, a marketplace for North American online courses targeted mainly at African students and emerging professionals. Nadayar Enegesi was the company's CTO until June 2014.
The computer scientist has worked as an IT developer for several technology companies such as Phoenix Interactive, BBS Securities Inc, and MKS. He was OpenText's quality assurance automation specialist in 2011. Between 2015 and 2016, he was an Udacity code reviewer.
Melchior Koba
Nowadays, social networks are no longer simple chatting tools. They can become powerful propaganda tools. Fearing the use some may make of it, governments have sometimes taken extreme measures like banning those networks.
Since the night of Thursday, June 1, access to the social networks Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Youtube is restricted in Dakar and several other cities across Senegal. By the afternoon, people were already experiencing difficulties in communicating easily on these platforms. Some users thought that it was caused by network disruptions. However, the social media block was confirmed by NetBlocks, an Internet governance watchdog, on its Twitter account.
The ban comes as clashes between security forces and youth groups have escalated in several districts of Dakar, Ziguinchor, Mbour, and Kaolack since yesterday. This conflict came after the announcement, on Thursday morning, that Ousmane Sonko, president of the opposition party Patriotes africains du Sénégal pour le travail, l'éthique et la fraternité (Pastef), had been sentenced to two years in prison for corrupting the youth. Ousmane Sonko has been on trial since 2020 for rape and death threats against one Adji Sarr. He was acquitted of the rape charges and sentenced for another crime, making him ineligible for the February 2024 presidential election.
On May 8, Sonko's eligibility for the presidential election was jeopardized by an initial six-month suspended prison sentence for defamation against the Minister of Tourism, Mame Mbaye Niang.
In a statement by Interior Minister Antoine Félix Abdoulaye Diome, the social network access restrictions were to prevent "the dissemination of hateful and subversive messages". In a press release issued on Thursday afternoon, the Pastef national office called on "the Senegalese people" to "take to the streets" and asked the army and national police to join them.
By blocking access to social networks, the government wants to prevent any mobilization by Ousmane Sonko. Indeed, throughout his legal battle in the Adji Sarr case, he used those tools to rally his supporters, claiming that the rape case is a plot by President Macky Sall's government to oust him from the race for power.
Facebook and Twitter were used on several occasions to relay the demonstrations and grassroots actions carried out by his young supporters. The videos published have sometimes contributed to escalations, resulting in deaths and material destruction during demonstrations.
Muriel Edjo
The 2nd edition of the African Startups and Digital Economy Summit (SASEN) will be held from June 8 to 9 in Abidjan, on the theme of "The digital economy, a tool to drive job creation for the African youth.”
Over 500 start-ups and decision-makers, institutions, investors, development partners, and delegations from 8 countries, including Benin, Senegal, and France, are expected at the summit.
The Baobab Network is one of Africa's leading accelerators. It supports tech start-ups by providing mentoring, acceleration, networking, and funding to help them grow and have a positive impact on their communities.
The Baobab Network is an accelerator that supports the best tech start-ups in Africa, providing entrepreneurs with funding, support and a global platform to grow their businesses.
Founded in Kenya, in 2015, by British Toom Fairburn and Toby Hanington, the accelerator invests up to $50,000 in early-stage tech companies. It has developed a unique, intensive program to ensure the success of each start-up that goes through its training. Each of the startups has access to a network of experts, mentors, corporate partners, and investors to grow their businesses.
Its acceleration program begins with two weeks of intensive consulting to address the most pressing challenges faced by founders, followed by 12 weeks of practical support for founders, during which an acceleration plan is created for each startup.
The acceleration program takes place remotely so that founders are not kept away from their companies for too long. Registrations for the next cohort of the program are already open.
The Baobab Network’s partners offer their expertise and services, run pilot projects, and explore early business partnerships. They also provide grants as well as equity and debt funding to the startups selected by the accelerator.
Over the past five years, The Baobab Network has worked more than 10,000 hours alongside budding entrepreneurs in Africa. Its portfolio of supported start-ups includes advertising agency Adafri, on-demand warehousing company Afrigility, and Alerzo, a platform that empowers retailers.
Melchior Koba
She studied civil engineering and urban planning. After working with various logistics companies, she founded her own company, Jumba, to solve construction challenges in Africa.
Kagure Wamunyu (photo) is the co-founder and CEO of construction tech startup Jumba. The Kenyan-born entrepreneur studied engineering at North Carolina State University, graduating with a Bachelor's in Civil Engineering. She also holds a bachelor's in mathematics from Meredith College (2013) and a doctorate in sustainable urban development from Oxford University (2022)
In 2022, she co-founded (with Miano Njoka) the construction tech company Jumba to ease the supply of building materials. The startup developed a business-to-business platform that seamlessly integrates the building materials supply chain, offering not only a marketplace for building materials manufacturers and suppliers but also a single, reliable source of materials for hardware stores and construction companies. It ensures item delivery and transparency, enabling customers to track their deliveries in real time. The goods marketed on the platform are affordable, as Jumba makes sure that buyers pay no extra charges.
In February 2023, the start-up raised $4.5 million to further expand in Kenya. "Kenya will remain our core market, the opportunity is massive here. We plan to scale in this market to acquire more customers before we explore the next market," said Kagure Wamunyu at the time.
The latter, apart from leading Jumba, is also the co-owner of Lava Latte, a women-run café that offers a conducive space for work meetings and relaxation. Before founding her company in 2022, she was the Global Chief Operating Officer of Kobo 360, a pan-African technology logistics company.
In 2015, she joined Uber Kenya where she worked, for two years successively as Operations Manager and Country Manager. In 2017, she was hired by Bridge International Academies as Senior Strategy Director in East Africa.
In 2018, she made it to the Business Daily Africa’s list of the top 40 Under 40 women.
Melchior Koba
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Zydii, a Kenyan platform that offers digital training in technical and soft skills useful for the development of businesses and their employees, has raised pre-seed funding for an undisclosed amount.
The company, which was co-founded in 2017 by computer scientist Joyce Mbaya, plans to use the funds to support its growth in Kenya and finance expansion in Nigeria and South Africa.
The Kenyan government is stepping up its efforts to accelerate the country's digital transformation. To achieve its objectives, the executive is counting on the support of international partners.
Korea Trade Centre (KOTRA) will support Kenya in the development of a master plan to guide the creation of the five digital cities selected by President William Ruto (Lamu, Dongo Kundu, Athi River, Sagana, and Naivasha). For that purpose, on Monday, May 29, in Nairobi, the Kenyan Ministry of ICT and Digital Economy and the KOTRA signed a memorandum of understanding.
The agreement also provides for the implementation of a smart mobility system encompassing an intelligent transport network using smart driving licenses.
According to ICT Principal Secretary John Tanui, the partnership is part of the government's strategies to create an enabling environment for innovation and emerging technologies. The Kenyan government "has played an enabling environment through various legal and regulatory frameworks to spur Kenya’s digital economy such as the National ICT Policy, Digital Economy Blueprint and National ICT Master Plan (2022-2032), among other policy interventions,” said John Tanui.
Indeed, when he came to power in September 2022, President William Ruto vowed his ambition to leverage digital tools for socioeconomic development. To this end, he planned various investments aimed at making the country a benchmark for digital transformation in Africa by 2027. Digital investments supporting this vision have been estimated at Ksh40 billion ($334 million).
The Smart Cities project should not only improve citizens' quality of life but also provide fertile ground for economic growth and job creation. It will offer solutions to the country's energy challenges by, among other things, implementing the Internet of Things (IoT) to strengthen ecosystems and enhance new technologies.
Samira Njoya
To grow and compete with their counterparts around the world, African businesses need stable, low-latency connectivity and digital tools to optimize their activities. Projects are being implemented to enable access to what they need.
Liquid Dataport, a subsidiary of connectivity company Liquid Intelligent Technologies, announced on Wednesday, May 31 the launch of its new fiber optic route linking Mombasa, Kenya, to Muanda in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) via Uganda and Rwanda.
According to the release announcing the launch, this is the shortest route between East and West Africa and will reduce data transmission latency by 20 milliseconds.
“We have a significant number of wholesale, enterprise, and hyperscale customers along this route, and we fully support them in operating their global networks. The availability of our latest and shortest East to West route brings many proven economic and social benefits – from providing access to online educational resources to creating more jobs and driving the adoption of new technologies,” said David Eurin, CEO of Liquid Dataport.
This latest fiber optic route complements Liquid's previous achievement, completed in 2019, linking Dar es Salaam to Muanda on the west coast of the DRC via Zambia. It will bring more reliable and affordable broadband connectivity to over 40 million people who live and work in all the major cities along the route.
The partnership is part of Liquid Intelligent Technologies' "One Broadband Africa" initiative. The company is pursuing its strategy of conquering the African and global markets for broadband connectivity and digital services. In recent months, it has strengthened its presence in Africa by expanding into Nigeria, Egypt, and Algeria. On Thursday, May 25, the company signed an agreement with satellite telecom services provider Viasat to provide high-speed Internet connectivity services in West Africa.
According to Hardy Pemhiwa, CEO of Liquid Intelligent Technologies, this east-west axis will promote digital inclusion by bringing global traffic to the continent, but also by reducing the cost of broadband Internet access across the continent.
Samira Njoya
Techstars recently opened applications for its ARM Labs Lagos Techstars Accelerator program. The program is aimed at start-up founders who want to grow their businesses. Successful applicants will receive up to $120,000 in funding, plus access to a global network of investors, hands-on mentoring, and several other benefits. Applications are due by August 9 at https://apply.techstars.com/?source=nav.