Solutions (543)
Developed in 2019, Smart Bra has the potential to save the lives of millions of women across Africa. Kemisola Bolarinwa, the young Nigerian who developed the app, wants to spare other families the sad experience she had.
Nigerian tech firm Nextwear Technology is set to release a smart bra in July 2022. Developed by robotics engineer Kemisola Bolarinwa (photo), the smart bra is aimed at helping fight breast cancer by improving early diagnosis. The bra is equipped with small, battery-powered ultrasound sensors. It scans the user’s breasts, synchronizes the result with a mobile app, and sends the data to a doctor for interpretation.
Dubbed “Smart Bra,” the technological tool is the result of four years of research. It’s an idea that Bolarinwa came up with, in 2017, after her mother passed from breast cancer, at the University College Hospital in Ibadan. The young engineer believes the tragedy could have been prevented if the cancer was diagnosed earlier.
"In her ward at the hospital, I saw women of different age groups, even teenagers, groaning in the pain of breast cancer," she said.
“The smart bra must be worn on the breasts for a maximum of 30 minutes for the result to show,” she explains. For the robotics engineer, women can screen for breast cancer from the comfort of their homes. The technology can also be used by health centers–which lack the funds needed to acquire radiology and mammography equipment–or by poor communities.
“We have conducted a local trial and got about 70 percent accuracy. We are working towards 95-97 percent accuracy,” Kemisola Bolarinwa informs.
With 129,000 new cases diagnosed in 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that breast cancer is currently the most common type of cancer among women in sub-Saharan Africa. In the region, less than 50% of the affected survive five years after they are diagnosed, according to the WHO.
Ruben Tchounyabe
The mobile app bets on its community to motivate users. Unlike other apps that are sort of gym directories, Welnes can turn any place into a gym.
In 2020, Egyptian startup Welnes launched an eponymous social media app for a virtual group workout. After registering, users can access the various services offered by the platform, share their experience, meet other users online, take part in fitness challenges–routines carried out over a set period with a fixed goal–prepared by coaches. They can also discuss with nutritionists to define personalized workout programs, share appropriate cooking recipes and images of the foods they cooked.
Amr Saleh (photo, left) and Amr Diab, respectively Welnes CEO and founder, explained that the social media app was developed to push many young workers, who are too busy in the daytime and not motivated to go to the gym, to work out right from their homes.
They expect group effects to boost users’ involvement. As per their figures, the app is currently used by over 15,000 subscribers who have already shared more than 500,000 pictures of foods they cooked.
According to the CEO, most users register on Welnes because of the nutrition and workout regimens but they stay because of the community.
In January 2022, the mobile fitness app started developing its human resources. It plans to expand in the North African sub-region by 2023, thanks to the US$300,000 seed capital it raised from investors like Samurai Incubate, and UI Investments under the leadership of Flat6labs.
Ruben Tchounyabe
The founder of Genity Sarlu has great ambitions for his solution. He does not only want to improve healthcare system in his country but across the whole continent.
Care for people with sickle cell disease in the Democratic Republic of Congo remains poor. Patients in remote areas have more difficulties. To bring a solution to this problem, Arnold Wogbo, founder of the startup Genity Sarlu, created AnemiApp.
The promoter, a graduate in Electronic Engineering, reveals that he got the idea for his application after working with the NGO "Réseau Drépano SS" as a communication officer. He says he noticed, while questioning sickle cell patients, that they had many needs but not enough specialist doctors to answer them.
The app is available on Android. It provides users with several health tips to limit disease-related crises and improve their daily lives. The information on medicines, vaccines, screening, blood transfusions and major health events, available on the application, comes from doctors, the Ministry of Health and nutritionists. It is also possible to have directions to pharmacies and health centers that provide such care.
People who do not have a smartphone can use the service via a USSD code. Anemiapp is currently operational in Kinshasa but Arnold Wogbo plans a national coverage in the short term. Anemiapp generates revenue through various user subscriptions and commissions from its services.
Anemiapp won the 2020 award of the Pierre Fabre Foundation's Observatory of e-Health in Southern Countries and the Orange Prize for Social Entrepreneurship in Africa and the Middle East in 2018 (Poesam).
Adoni Conrad Quenum
WeMove, created in 2018 by Mariem Sellami (pictured), Hichem Ben Hmida, Mohamed Khelil, and Mejdi M'barek, is a fitness and wellness marketplace that offers its users a wide choice of sports classes via a network of gym partners across the country. Various sports activities such as yoga, dance, and boxing are offered every week by the partners. The user can combine several activities depending on his desires and budget.
Mariem Sellami explains that "many people do not practice sports activities because access to gyms is sometimes expensive. Not only is the membership quite expensive, but it’s also not reimbursed if not used.” WeMove, therefore, provides an alternative that enables on-demand sports sessions without having to pay membership fees first.
The platform uses the "pay as you go" model like telcos. The user recharges their credit account and uses it to buy unique access to the gym of their choice via the platform. When the user purchases the credit, they receive a QR code that gives them access to the gym. The app is free and available on Android and iOS. “With our startup, working out is like going to the movies! Our customers have access to a multi-room and multi-activity platform with a payment per session and on-demand, " says Mariem Sellami.
The company currently operates in Greater Tunis and wants to expand to other major cities in the country. The founders also plan to diversify the offers by proposing independent coaches and organizers of sports events in addition to gyms.
The solution that was originally a simple graduation project was nominated for the 4th edition of "Samsung Fast Track", a support program initiated by Samsung Tunisia. The company has also been labeled "Startup Act" in 2020, a status on which it capitalizes to seek support funds for its expansion. Its selection last February to join Orange Fab Tunisia will give it more technical means to achieve its goals.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
The use of illegal drugs (also known as street drugs) has increased in Africa. Studies have found that people's limited financial means to seek medication from professional doctors are at the root of the phenomenon. With his solution, Adama Kane wants to enable poor families to have access to safe products without paying a penny.
Seven years ago, Adama Kane launched Jokkosanté, a digital community pharmacy solution, to allow more Senegalese to access quality medicines without necessarily spending money. Today, the service benefits thousands of people. It works on a system under which anyone who has leftover medicines that are still usable can deposit them in public health centers. Professionals in the centers will then sort the medicines and make them available to the neediest. The depositor must first have an account on the JokkoSanté mobile app, which, with each deposit, awards points that are equivalent to the value of the given medicine. The depositor can spend those points to acquire other medicines or transfer them to someone else.
For those who do not have medicines to exchange, JokkoSanté has set up a cross-funding mechanism. On the platform, companies, NGOs and associations can finance the donation of medicines to population segments of their choice. Recipients are informed by SMS of the name of their donating company. Such a system can enhance the visibility and social impact of companies.
JokkoSanté seeks to put an end to the waste of medicines; eliminate the illicit sale of medicines; and help the poorest populations to have better health. "I had my first child in 2013. A month before he was born, my wife and I were tidying up our room to make some space for him. I noticed when we were in the room that we had accumulated a lot of medicine boxes during the pregnancy, most of which we did not even use. So that’s how I had the idea of sharing my unused medicines with people who need them," Adama Kane explains.
The solution received seed funding from Orange to develop the beta application and launch the experimental phase. Orange also provided the startup with its service platforms for SMS and USSD exchanges. The service has won several awards, including the International Telecommunication Union's Recognition of Excellence certificate, the African Entrepreneurship Award for the best African project in an unexplored field, and environmental protection in 2015. In 2016, it won the Pierre Fabre Foundation's e-Health Observatory Award as well as the Grand Prize in all categories of the international e-Health Trophies competition organized by Castres-Mazamet Technopole.
Ruben Tchounyabe
Demand for delivery services increased during the coronavirus pandemic. In Guinea, where the sector remains underdeveloped, Sékou Lamine Coyah Bangoura founded a startup to meet demand.
The service is offered via the mobile app mycolismart available only on Android. Users can buy various types of goods such as food, medicine, clothing, school supplies, etc., and get them delivered. They can schedule the drop-off and pick-up of clothes at the laundry. The platform also allows them to book the shipment of goods depending on the transport schedules and benefit from discounts. Moreover, the solution integrates a service that allows users to donate items to the needy in orphanages.
Mycolismart has more than 21 independent motorcycle drivers for deliveries within cities, and more than 200 partner vans for inter-city deliveries. To access the solution, users are required to open an account that allows them to track all of their purchase and shipping operations. Mycolismart has partnered with Orange to facilitate service payments.
Six years ago, Mycolismart won second place in the Orange Prize for Social Entrepreneurship in Africa and the Middle East (Poesam). The prize is worth 30,000,000 Guinean francs (nearly 3,000 euros).
Adoni Conrad Quenum
Two Kenyan entrepreneurs, Brian Muriu (pictured, left) and Alistair Gould (pictured, right), have developed a solution to enable Kenyans living abroad to pay their bills back home directly.
The app -Tulix- allows better tracking of expenses and ensures the security of transactions. Often, the diaspora sends money for special purposes back home, but the amount ends up being misappropriated by the recipients. Tulix comes as an answer to this problem.
The app took part last March 10 in the Demo Day organized by venture capital fund Antler for early-stage companies. It provides access to over 100,000 businesses and institutions instantly and directly via the M-Pesa mobile payment service. It can also be used to pay for necessities such as hospital bills, school fees, etc. The Tulix wallet is reloadable with a bank card and users can define expenses and allocate the necessary amounts. They can also track their spending, which allows them to plan various financial allocations. When a transaction is completed, Tulix sends notifications via messaging and email to the originator of the payment about the status of the transaction.
Brian Muriu, who holds an Honors Degree in Electrical Engineering, explains that the idea for Tulix came from his own experience. "It usually started with me receiving a phone call from my relatives living and working in the United States late at night. They would call to inform me of the secret code I needed to use to retrieve the money they had sent via a service such as Western Union or Moneygram during their work break. The withdrawal process is often very tedious.”
Brian Muriu assures that the app keeps no record of payment information, including that relating to bank cards that may have been used to reload wallets. He claims that personal information is kept secure.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
People living in Africa, especially in rural areas, continue to face challenges in accessing energy and internet connectivity. This situation is a major barrier to the development of e-learning across the continent. Despite the various solutions developed to address the issue, a lot still needs to be done.
In 2020, Covid-19 affected education in several African countries. For several months, schools were closed and e-learning was the only way out. Unfortunately, the alternative distance learning solutions set up by the states were not always effective. To help governments in this strategy, Franco-Togolese Victor Agbegnenou (pictured) has developed an e-learning solution, Retice Renal Smart 80/20. The latter is a combination of digital tools, including a platform for management and synchronized exchanges with tablets and educational software, and offline infrastructure. It allows teachers to interact with each student via a connected tablet equipped with digitized textbooks and to deliver their lessons in person or remotely. Connectivity is provided by "PWCS" technology, a point-to-multipoint wireless communication system.
Lebon Ngounou, Managing Director of Retice Africa Sarl, believes that with this technology, students and teachers can stay at home and still attend class. The solution is adapted to rural areas and embeds energy storage units rechargeable with a solar lamp. Retice Renal Smart 80/20 received the 2018 ITBP Sorbonne Award and was recognized by Unesco and the International Organization of the Francophonie as a digital solution for education. It is also listed as one of the Top 40 digital technologies for education certified by the African Union in 2019.
KA Technologies, the company created by Victor Agbegnenou to deploy the solution, has been working to equip nearly 150,000 students in Togo since 2020. The solution is already deployed in Senegal in two municipalities and Nigeria in the state of Kano. The company has already obtained the formal agreement of the Ministry of Basic Education and the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of Cameroon. Talks are ongoing for an upcoming launch in the country.
Ruben Tchounyabe
The digital is bringing fish farmers the opportunities to improve their business and profit. It also allows them to own an essential part of the value chain.
When Dave Okech (pictured, left) started fish farming in Kenya in 2016, he immediately noticed the problems plaguing the sector, including low productivity and lack of technical assistance. Interested in technology, he develops digital tools to help address these obstacles.
He then created AquaRech in 2018. The solution is a package made of a mobile app, a connected thermometer, and a web platform. The mobile app incorporates a centralized database system that connects fish farmers, fish traders, and feed suppliers. It is available on Android and allows users to calculate the amount of feed needed by the fish population based on the water temperature. This data is collected via the connected thermometer installed in the fish breeding tank. Having an idea of the amount of food needed by their fish, farmers can directly contact producers via the web platform without going through intermediaries which made the process tedious.
Using Dave Okech's solution allows fish farmers to reduce the production period from 13 to 8 months, increase yields, reduce production costs by 30% and increase profits by 25%. The promoter has received numerous awards for his many efforts in the fish farming industry in Kenya. These include the Mandela Washington Fellow 2016, the Acumen Fellow 2019, and the Global Farmer Network Fellow 2020.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
The low bancarization in Africa has long kept a large part of the population away from traditional financial services such as savings and credit. Tontines have become the way for the unbanked to access these services.
To make this informal savings method more effective, given its proven social impact over many years in Africa, Nigerian Bernie Akporiaye launched MaTontine- a financial service platform that uses digital technology to modernize traditional savings circles. MaTontine, currently available in Senegal, provides access to small loans and a range of financial services such as micro-insurance to its customers. “We solve the problem by utilizing mobile phones and our platform to digitize the benefits of traditional savings circles (ROSCAs), thereby reducing the cost of borrowing by 75% or more,” explains Bernie Akporiaye.
The platform's members contribute to an online kitty and collect the amount in turns. According to Bernie Akporiaye, members receive a credit score based on their payment morality, from which partners can offer them small loans or contracts. The use of the basic service is free of charge, the startup being financed via the commissions taken from the services of its partners Cofina and Sunu Assurance.
The particularity of MaTontine is that it uses old-generation mobile phones, unlike most competing fintech companies that use smartphones; 90% of the platform’s members are women. Bernie Akporiaye stressed that the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted how vulnerable these women are, most of whom “live on less than $5 a day." MaTontine is therefore working on integrating other services such as financial education, to better prepare users for a possible future crisis.
The startup won the 3rd prize in Orange’s AfricaCom Awards competition in 2016 and a grant from the GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator innovation fund in February 2018. It was honored in 2019 by Inclusive Fintech 50 Fintech, an initiative by MetLife Foundation, Visa, Accion, and IFC. Since its launch, MaTontine has registered 6,000 customers and disbursed $200,000 in loans.
Ruben Tchounyabe
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Malian pastoralist communities now have a digital solution to help them identify good pastures for their herds. The solution -STAMP (Sustainable Technology Adaptation for Mali’s Pastoralists) - is the fruit of a public-private partnership between the Malian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Orange-Mali, the herders' organization "Tassaght," the international remote sensing service provider HSS, and the Netherlands International Development Organization (SNV). It was launched in 2017, the year in which the service won the 1st Orange Prize for Social Entrepreneurship Mali.
STAMP is a response to the grazing problems of pastoral populations in the Gao region, where industrial and agricultural activities, human and animal overpopulation, and climate change have reduced resources for livestock. The solution provides the beneficiaries with geo-satellite information on the availability and quality of biomass for feeding their livestock, the availability of surface water for watering, and also the concentration of animals around these resources. It also provides information on livestock and grain prices, as well as advice on animal health and financial products for livestock farmers. Users only have to call a center managed by Orange Mali or dial a USSD code on basic mobile phones to instantly obtain important data for their movement.
On December 17, 2020, during a press conference in Bamako, Thomas Sommerhalter, the STAMP project manager explained that the "producer surveys (carried out as part of the project, ed) revealed that reliability and the need for timely information are key to decision-making by pastoralists."
STAMP also integrates two other services to help farmers obtain information on weather, planting methods, seeds, planting time, fertilizers, etc. The head of the corporate social responsibility division at Orange Mali, Abdoul Malick Diallo, explained that the client advisors speak local languages, including Fulani, Dogon, Songhai, and Bamanankan to facilitate talks with the community.
Ruben Tchounyabe
Tech4dev announced it is launching a new edition of its women Techsters fellowship. The non-profit social enterprise wants, through this initiative, to bridge the digital divide between men and women in the tech sector.
The training combines theory and practice to give women the opportunity to enter the job market. It is specifically designed for technology novices who are encountering technology for the first time. Applicants for the scholarship must be between the ages of 16 and 40 and reside in one of the following countries: South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia, DR Congo, Tanzania, Uganda, Algeria, South Sudan, Morocco, Angola, Mozambique, Madagascar, and Egypt.
Successful candidates will be trained in the skills of blockchain, cybersecurity, data science and artificial intelligence engineering, mixed reality/3D animation, mobile application development, product design (UI/UX), product management, and software development.
The Women Techsters Fellowship Program aims to increase the number of girls and women with improved livelihoods and access to digital jobs. The program will begin in May 2022 for one year, including 6 months of intensive training, followed by a 6-month internship. At the same time, learners will participate in a mentoring program to help them build technology careers and technology-based businesses. Applications are due by March 22, 2022.
Vanessa Ngono Atangana
Household waste management has been a major problem in African cities for several years. A Malagasy startup has entered the sector using digital technology to protect the planet.
In Madagascar, like the rest of the world, as the population grows, the volume of waste produced also grows; 50% of garbage in the country still ends up in the streets according to the NGO Ran'Eau. In 2017, the local startup Greentsika launched its household waste collection service using digital tools. Tested and deployed in Tuléar, in the south of Madagascar, the solution is the result of a collaboration with the German NGO Welthungerhilfe, which handles the transportation of waste to landfills.
Greentsika’s service is accessible via mobile phone, email, social networks, or directly at the company's offices. The solution offers various means of payment, including mobile money transfers, bank transfers, checks, and cash. The monthly subscription fee for a household starts at 4,000 ariary ($1), for two to six pickups per week of a 50 kg bag of waste. The fee for businesses (hotels, restaurants, schools, government offices, etc.) starts at 20,000 ariary. The subscriber company chooses the days it wants to have the waste collected and the agent who is dedicated to it.
Subscribers are given a card with a barcode that Greentsika's agents will scan at each garbage pickup. The unique barcodes allow Greentsika to have reliable data on the number of pickups made in a household or business. They also enable the startup to know the coverage of its agents and track their routes in real-time, and identify the customers who have paid their subscription. Rajaofera Gaëtan, one of the four co-founders of Greentsika, said the entire system is cloud-based.
Greentsika, accelerated by Orange Fab Madagascar in 2019, already claims 2,300 customers, 160 garbage pickups per day for 7 tons of waste collected daily. The startup aims to cover the entire city of Tulear and enter other cities, creating more job opportunities. In 2020, Rajaofera Gaëtan estimated that 5 to 6% of households in Tulear were covered.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
Burkinabe startup AINO Digital SAS has developed a multi-faceted digital identification bracelet. Called SAUVIE, the device is equipped with a QR code where personal health information and contacts of important people to reach in case of emergency are stored.
With this initiative presented to the public on February 23, AINO Digital SAS wants to ensure that everyone has their personal health information in case of emergency. Scarlett Zongo (pictured, left), CEO of AINO Digital SAS, explains that the solution is "an application for first responders such as firefighters and doctors. Thanks to SAUVIE, the patient's relatives are alerted of the nature of the emergency and the health facility where he or she is being treated". AINO Digital SAS says that for personal safety, the QR codes are encrypted and can only be read by firefighters and health workers using a special device.
AINO Digital SAS donated nine bracelet models to the public when presenting the device. The basic annual cost of the SAUVIE system is $6.83 plus the price of the wristband on which it is mounted (between $1.2 and $1.71). Three billable options are also available with the basic subscription: Alerting the employer in case of emergency ($8.54), Alerting the insurance company ($3.42), and Alerting a relative ($1.71). If the bracelet is stolen, lost, or damaged, the owner must report it to AINO Digital SAS so that the QR code can be canceled. Another one is automatically generated and integrated into the new bracelet.
Supported by Orange Burkina Faso, which does not charge any data fees when reading the QR code, the startup is working with the Ministry of Health to get the solution to be used in health centers and local security services. Scarlett Zongo is convinced that her innovation can improve the health system in Burkina Faso.
Adoni Conrad Quenum