South African cryptocurrency exchange platform valr.com announced yesterday it has raised more than R750 million (about $50 million) in a Series B round to finance its expansion strategy. This deal represents the largest cryptocurrency fundraising ever in Africa, according to the company, which is currently worth $240 million,
Under its plans, VARL wants to expand into India, while strengthening its presence in Africa. “We believe that Africa’s future is bright for the adoption of cryptocurrencies for both asset diversification and payments. VALR brings an amazing product and service to onboard both retail customers and institutions,” said Paul Veradittakit, partner at Pantera Capital, the company that led the transaction.
Two years ago, in July 2020, VARL benefited from a $3.4 million Series A funding. The resources were used to develop new products and expand into new African markets. The cryptocurrency exchange platform claims to have processed more than $7.5 billion in transaction volume since its launch in 2019. It also claims more than 250,000 retail clients and 500 institutional clients on the continent.
According to an August 2021 study published by research platform Chainalysis, the African cryptocurrency market grew by 1,200% in value between July 2020 and June 2021. Despite this growth, the continent represents the smallest cryptocurrency economy of all regions studied by Chainalysis.
Chamberline Moko
Moroccan Nizar Berdai (pictured), 25, is becoming a model of student entrepreneurship. He owns two startups: WeMash Digital, which specializes in digital transformation, and Wsselni Maak, which is a ride-sharing solution. This year, the young entrepreneur who is currently pursuing a master's degree in strategy and finance at Sciences Po Paris wants to focus on expanding his car-sharing solution.
Before becoming an entrepreneur, Nizar Berdai obtained a bachelor's degree in Salé, Morocco, then moved to Canada in 2015 to study finance and political science at HEC Montreal and McGill University. He was very active in the community and was a member of the Quebec Youth Parliament.
The idea to create a business came up to him while he was preparing for his master's degree at ESSEC Paris. He then created WeMash Digital, a startup specialized in communication consulting and digital transformation. Very quickly, he landed contracts with clients including Moroccan public sector organizations and NGOs such as Oxfam Morocco. At the same time, he refined a carpooling project and launched in February 2021, Wsselni Maak.
The student currently enrolled in a Master 2 in Finance and Strategy, at Sciences Po Paris, claimed Wsselni Maak receives an average of 450 offers and requests per day. In less than a year, the startup has more than 20,000 users in Rabat, Salé, Témara, Casablanca, Agadir, and Fez.
Nizar Berdai is now working to increase the service’s user base through partnerships with companies that will be announced, he says, in the coming days.
Aïsha Moyouzame
Agritech investment remains low in Africa despite great successes by some startups. Egyptian agritech startup FreshSource Global announced last February 28 it has secured seed funding to finance its expansion. The B2B platform, which connects farms to businesses in Egypt and provides last-mile solutions, said it has raised an undisclosed “seven-figure” round in dollars from Wamda Capital, 4DX Ventures, and some angel investors.
“We are planning to use the funds to expand our team and invest more in our technology. Also, we are going to be covering all of Egypt’s governorates by the end of 2023. By 2024, we will start considering a global expansion plan,” said co-Founder Farah Emara. She believes the new resources will help "accelerate our mission to create more sustainable fresh food systems through data and technology to transform the lives of producers, businesses and consumers and improve the planet."
FreshSource acts as an intermediary between agricultural producers and businesses such as supermarkets. The company founded in 2018 and launched in 2019 relies on a digital platform through which it centralizes supply from farmers and demand from retailers. It ensures that customers' needs are met by reducing the number of intermediaries through which agricultural products pass. It also ensures the safety of agricultural products, particularly in terms of preservation and transportation to the buyer.
By 2020, FreshSource was already claiming 300 local farmers as users of its service, creating 1,500 jobs and also having prevented 200 tons of food loss. According to Farah Emara, "By reducing food waste, you reduce the cost of fresh food and enable a segment of the population that couldn't afford it before to live a healthier lifestyle. Also, this method increases producers’ income and thus improves their quality of life.”
Adoni Conrad Quenum
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
Demand for broadband connectivity is growing in Africa. So are the risks of cybercrime. Improving supply while protecting access has become a necessity to ensure the region's development.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced yesterday it will soon deploy two root server clusters in Africa. One is confirmed to be installed in Kenya. The two technical infrastructures will allow Internet queries from Africa to be processed locally, without depending on networks and servers located in other parts of the world. It will also improve network quality by reducing latency throughout the region.
According to the international non-profit organization - which coordinates the domain name system and plays a key role in maintaining a global, interoperable and secure Internet – the clusters “will reduce the time it takes for a website to load, particularly when there are spikes in Internet usage. This will bring immediate benefits for everyday Internet users across the continent.”
The root servers will also reduce the impact of a potential cyberattack on the continent. Distributed denial of service (DDoS) cyberattacks aim to overwhelm servers with a flood of queries. The technical infrastructure will allow for greater bandwidth and data processing capacity, reducing the risk of Internet downtime due to a cyber-attack.
ICANN's investment in Africa is part of the ambitions of the Partner2Connect digital coalition launched on September 20, 2021, by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The goal is to drive meaningful connectivity and digital transformation globally in line with the African Digital Transformation Strategy (2020-2030).
Currently, only 33% of the African population has access to the Internet, according to ITU. With the digital transformation accelerating and inducing high Internet consumption, the Union believes that the rate will increase rapidly in the coming months.
Muriel Edjo
E-commerce company Jumia has unveiled plans to upgrade its payment solutions in Egypt and Nigeria, where it is the most active. In the first country, the company said it has reached an agreement with vaIU, a financial technology services company, to develop a solution that will allow its local customers to buy goods and pay for them over time (BNPL, Buy Now and Pay Later).
In its main market, Nigeria, Jumia said it has added new services to its payment app. “On the JumiaPay app, we continued adding more relevant everyday services. In Nigeria, we set up an integration with Quickteller, the largest billing aggregator in Nigeria. This partnership allows us to offer over 70 additional billers on the JumiaPay app, including Government services, internet service providers, airlines, and many more,” the company said.
To comply with the Central Bank's requirements, Jumia agreed to partner with a third-party payment service provider to process card transactions via JumiaPay. “This change, which is expected to take effect in March 2022, may temporarily affect the payment experience in Nigeria and negatively impact payment volumes on the platform,” Jumia warned.
JumiaPay's technology enabled the group, now listed on Nasdaq (the main U.S. tech stock market), to channel $263.3 million worth of payments for more than 12.1 million transactions. This represents 34.7% of overall customer payments, up from 33.1% a year earlier. The value of goods purchased through the Jumia platform approached $1 billion in 2021, up 3.21% compared to that of 2020.
Jumia continues to grow its customer base, which was nearly 4 million in 2021. The improvement of its payment systems and compliance with regulatory requirements are important steps in its development.
Building on the general-purpose e-learning platform -Atingi- that it launched in November 2020, Smart Africa has announced the launch of a new platform dedicated to technology and digital literacy.
On the sidelines of its 5th ICT Ministers’ Council held last February 25 in Kintélé, in the Republic of Congo, the Smart Africa Alliance announced the launch of its academy designed to improve the digital skills of Africans. The Smart Africa Digital Academy (SADA) offers free online courses accessible on https://sada.atingi.org/.
SADA's courses are focused on seven areas: digital skills and transformation, management and leadership, agriculture, career guidance, entrepreneurship, health, and governance and decentralization. Currently, three courses are already available on the platform. These are "Economic Foundations of Regulation" developed by Laurent Gille, economist, professor emeritus of Télécom Paris; "ICT Infrastructure" developed by UNESCO, Cetic.br/NIC.br and the SDG Academy; and "Dimensions and Causes of the Digital Divide" developed by GIZ and Atingi.
Smart Africa has also scheduled a webinar for September 22 to discuss the "Agile Regulation for Digital Transformation" in Africa. The workshop will feature Patrick Njoroge, the head of the Central Bank of Kenya, Anna Pietikainen, senior policy advisor at the OECD, Edmund Fianko, the deputy head of the National Communications Authority of Ghana, and Roslyn Docktor, director of government and regulatory affairs at IBM Corporation.
"The Smart Africa Digital Academy – SADA for short – provides the courses, webinars, and opportunities for exchange to policymakers and regulators to promote digital transformation in Africa. With its various learning programs and formats, SADA wants to improve participants’ skills for drafting inclusive, gender-sensitive, and climate-smart ICT regulations,” according to the information available on the Atingi platform.
“SADA also reaches a wider audience from entrepreneurs to engaged citizens to improve their digital literacy, so that they can fully benefit from the new potentials offered by digital technologies.”
SADA’s access platform is fully responsive and adapts to a variety of screen sizes, including desktop, tablet, and mobile. Training courses are available in English, French, German, Spanish, Arabic, Vietnamese, Mandarin, and Portuguese. Courses are downloadable.
Muriel Edjo
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
Arielle Kitio is taking a new step in her ambition to develop the digital skills of Cameroonians, particularly women and young people. On February 22, she launched the first edition of the Techwomen Factory initiative, designed to train 179 women in various technological skills including coding.
Founder of the Cameroon Youth School Tech Incubator (Caysti), the young tech entrepreneur has stood out in recent years through various initiatives aimed at developing digital skills among youth.
In 2018, she launched a fun coding educational program for children "ABC Code". The program teaches young people between the ages of 6 and 15 to create digital applications in African languages. Arielle Kitio also has other programs on her agenda, including one for high school teachers. Today, Caysti claims to have trained nearly 29,000 children in Cameroon, as well as 350 teachers and more than 8,000 primary education officials in more than 6 countries in Africa.
Arielle Kitio's initiatives have earned her several international recognitions. The pedagogical tools developed by her organization have been certified by the African Union in its 2018 Education Handbook and by Unesco ICT. She received the 2019 Margaret Award for African Digital Woman and won the global quality education competition organized by Deloitte in 2020. She is a former ambassador of the Next Einstein Forum in Cameroon and a holder of the Techwomen Award from the U.S. Department of State.
Arielle Kitio promotes the inclusion of women in the fields of science and technology. She has been leading this fight since 2015 through her association WIT (Information Technology for Women & Youth). The lady has a rich academic background. In 2011, she obtained a Bachelor's degree in computer science at the University of Yaoundé I, then a Master's degree in computer science with a Cloud Computing option in co-direction with the Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse in France. She is currently preparing for a Ph.D. in Computer Science, Software Engineering at the University of Yaoundé I.
Ruben Tchounyabe
The Rwandan Parliament approved last February 21 the signing by the government of an €86.5 million loan agreement with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Rwanda wants to accelerate the use of ICTs in public administrations. The agreement was presented in detail by the Minister of Finance, Uzziel Ndagijimana (pictured), and discussed with MPs.
“The aim is to promote the use of technology in development, increase service delivery, and use of big data. This will also enable the innovation agenda and increase job creation in technology but also attract investments. The fiber didn’t reach all areas but this time it will be expanded to reach sectors, more government offices, and other organizations including religious organs,” Ndagijimana said, stressing that the 28-year loan will also be used to provide subsidized access to technology equipment for government agencies. This will make public services faster, more transparent, and more efficient.
The project will be piloted by the Rwanda Information Society Authority (RISA).
Muriel Edjo
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A former director of the McKinsey Global Institute and former advisor to Barack Obama, James Manyika is now the vice president of technology and society at Google.
As of January 2022, James Manyika (pictured) joined Google as its first-ever vice president of technology and society. This position makes the Zimbabwean responsible for assessing the impact of technology on society, the economy, and the world. Specifically, he helps shape Google's perspective on issues such as the future of work, AI, the digital economy, and IT infrastructure, among others.
“I’m thrilled that James Manyika will be joining Google’s leadership team [...] He’s spent decades working at the intersection of technology and society and has advised several businesses, academic institutions, and governments along the way,” Sundar Pichai. CEO of Alphabet (Google’s parent company) said in a statement. With this position, James Manyika will report directly to Sundar Pichai.
After a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering at the University of Zimbabwe, James Manyika was awarded the Rhodes Scholarship, allowing him to enter a University in England where he obtained a Ph.D. in AI and robotics, mathematics, and computer science. He joined the consulting firm McKinsey in 1994 and was appointed Director in 2009. He has advised many technology company leaders on strategy and growth, as well as business innovation.
The author of several books on AI and robotics, and most recently on global economic trends, was appointed by former US President Barack Obama as Vice-Chair of the Global Development Council at the White House, as well as by two US Secretaries of State to the Digital Economy Council and the National Innovation Council.
He also serves on the boards of research institutions at Harvard, MIT, Oxford, Sanford, and other leading universities. The introduction of James Manyika to the Google executive team comes in the wake of concerns about the impact of technology on societies worldwide. As a major player in the industry, the Silicon Valley-based company is directly concerned. With this mission comes enormous responsibility, and leveraging the vice president of technology and society’s experience should help Google better understand the issues surrounding the topic.
Aïsha Moyouzame
She is a pioneer in the webmaster industry in Congo. Her work earned her the nickname Mama Digital. And now, she is committed to putting digital technologies at the heart of Africa’s economic development.
Passionate about new technologies, Kriss Brochec is an expert in communication, management, and digital marketing. She made her debut on the Internet in the 2000s, thus becoming one of the pioneers of web mastering in Congo. Her mission: leveraging digital technologies to develop Congo’s economy. A Trainer, mentor, and entrepreneur, she also fights for women's rights and equality.
Kriss Brochec has a master's degree in international marketing and intercultural management and has professional experience in import-export where she has held important positions. However, after realizing that she was not cut for office life, she decided to devote herself entirely to the digital world. For the past 12 years, she has been passionate about CMS (Content Management System), especially WordPress, a content management system used for building websites.
She went on and founded the African Digital Academy, a space dedicated to digital training programs. The structure promotes the local production of digital platforms and content such as websites, mobile applications, MOOCs, white papers, and blogs, among others. Besides offering training, the academy creates special programs for target communities such as artists, entrepreneurs, women and youth, and farmers, to show them how they can benefit from digital technology.
With nearly 215 websites created and more than 240 people trained, Kriss Brochec does not intend to rest on her laurels. Beyond her various programs deployed in Congo and West Africa, she wants to bridge the digital divide across the continent, driven by the firm belief that the secret to success is to create your own market, dare to go where no one has gone before, and innovate.
Aïsha Moyouzame
The startup environment in Africa has been booming in recent years. Investments attracted by this sector continue to grow steadily, but several regional and national weaknesses still prevent the continent from unlocking its full potential.
Over the past seven years, the lion's share of investment attracted by startups in Africa has been captured by the Anglophone region of the continent. In its "Francophone Africa. State of Technology and Investment" report published in May 2021, Briter Bridges – a research firm focused on data on innovation and technology ecosystems in emerging markets- revealed that of the $8.8 billion raised between 2015 and 2021, Francophone Africa only captured $417.9 million.
"Our interviews showed that lack of clarity around regulations, scarce capital pools, language barriers, and limited networking opportunities remain some of the greatest challenges to consider when entering the francophone African market," the research firm said. Also, the majority of poor performers for the World Bank’s 2020 Doing Business report were Francophones. Although the continent continues to experience a lack of qualified human resources, governments and several international partners are working to close the gap through digital skills development programs. This issue is, therefore, less of an obstacle to attracting investors, especially since startups can recruit from other countries if there is a real need.
However, in the absence of a credible business framework that fosters the emulation of entrepreneurs, investors will venture very little in markets where the risk of loss largely outweighs the chances of gain. Even if the innovative community seems dynamic, its ease to organize and create wealth will always prevail in the decision of businessmen, venture capital funds, and other business angels.
Senegal has demonstrated the positive impact of a regulatory framework tailored to technological innovation. In 2018, the country ranked 140th in the Doing Business. Senegalese startups attracted $6 million the same year, according to the Partech report on the level of funding attracted by startups in 2018.
In 2021, after the government passed a Startup Act, a law that facilitates the framework for creating, funding, and growing startups, Senegal's rank in Doing Business 2020 improved significantly to 123rd. The 2020 edition of Partech's report found that the credibility of its startup ecosystem has strengthened the interest of tech investors, who have invested $353 million.
According to the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, “tech ecosystems drive economic growth. The digital economy will contribute an estimated $300 billion to African GDP by 2025, providing much-needed employment on a continent where three to four times more people enter the job market than actual roles are created."
In its report "Supercharging Africa's Startups: The Continent's Path to Tech Excellence" published on February 15, 2022, the research center estimates that African startups can raise $90 billion by 2030. It also emphasizes the creation of an appropriate business environment as one of the strategic reforms needed to avoid missing this opportunity.
Muriel Edjo
Africa had 716,000 professional developers in 2021, 3.8% more than in 2020. While this number continues to grow, demand has also reached a record level due to the growth in the hiring capacity of SMEs, which are more inclined to use technology.
Despite the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, Africa’s developer ecosystem is making progress. Google revealed, in its Developer Ecosystem Report 2021, that by 2021 the demand for web developers on the continent had reached a record high.
The report, published last February 21, attributes this increase in part to the rise in the use of Internet services by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); an increase of 22%. This has forced them to hire more developers to help them grow their online businesses. In Africa, SMEs hire more than half of the local developers. In 2021, SMEs raised more than $4 billion, 2.5 times more than in 2020.
Outside the continent, the demand for African developers has also increased due to the development of the teleworking system fostered by Covid-19; 38% of African developers work for at least one company based outside the continent.
The number of professional developers grew by 3.8% in 2021. This is 0.4% of the continent's nonagricultural workforce. Nigeria alone produced 5,000 new professionals in 2021. Overall, the continent reached 716,000 professional developers in 2021, compared to 690,000 in 2020. Wages and salaries have also increased, and more developers have secured full-time jobs.
To meet the growing demand for developers, the report calls on global technology companies, local educators, and governments to strengthen the industry. This can be done by investing in both Internet access and education.
“Junior and emerging talent, as well as under-supported groups including women, need vocational training and affordable internet access to benefit from broader progress. Tech companies are making headway through local partnerships,” the document revealed.
The Africa Developer Ecosystem Report 2021 was produced through a study of 16 countries in sub-Saharan Africa: Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, and Uganda. This report is the second in a series of studies on the state of the continent's Internet economy. The first, published in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), found that Africa's Internet economy has the potential to reach 5.2% of GDP by 2025, contributing nearly $180 billion to the African economy. The projected potential contribution could reach $712 billion by 2050. “To reach this potential, we have to provide better access to high-quality, world-class skilling on mobile technologies platforms coupled with increasing connectivity in Africa. Our effort to increase connectivity is focused on infrastructure, devices, tools, and product localization,” said Nitin Gajria, Google MD for Africa.
Vanessa Ngono Atangana