In Africa, several cities are faced with rising and persistent insecurity. In South Africa, where the problem is ever-present, a startup has decided to leverage digital tools to address it.  

Namola is a digital solution developed by a South African start-up. It allows users to protect themselves and their families.  When a Namola user requests assistance for self or a relative, the startup calls “immediately [...] to confirm details and then dispatch help from Namola Communities, Emergency Services or Private Response.” 

Its mobile app -available for Android, iOS, and Huawei devices- has a “panic button” that can be pressed to request assistance. The app also sends notifications to members when their relatives safely leave or arrive whenever they are traveling. 

The startup uses GPS technologies to locate users or their relatives when there is an issue. It also uses the technologies for advanced monitoring to ensure safety when there are threats or any other situation that may endanger life.  With its national network, it can respond wherever the user or relative needing assistance is. 

Since its launch, the Android version of the application has been downloaded more than 100,000 times, according to Play Store. Apart from its free plan, it has a paying offer (Namola Plus that cost ZAR59 or US$3.47 monthly) that entitles to the free services and a range of private services for fast responses.

Adoni Conrad Quenum

Data security has become a concern in almost every industry with the development of digital tools. In Ghana, a startup has partially tackled the issue with a solution that allows microfinance institutions to build digital trust by letting their customers “know that their money and data are safe.”  

Fluid is a digital solution developed by Ghanaian startup Fluid Finance Technologies. It allows microfinance institutions’ field agents to collect data faster and more efficiently. 

“With Fluid’s software, Field Agents work faster and create trust with customers. Payment collections and account creation are now fully digital and video-traceable. This allows microfinance customers to know that their money and data are safe with you,” the startup indicates on its website.

Microfinance agents are thus equipped with the software to better perform their fieldwork. To convince potential customers to subscribe to the services offered, the fintech has created educational videos and various educational content to “upskill” both customers and microfinances’ field agents.  Also, the solution is designed to be used completely offline to allow field agents to reach remote communities and provide financial services.

In October 2022, Fluid was selected, along with five other Ghanaian startups, to participate in the first cohort of the MEST Express accelerator focused on sustainability. 

Adoni Conrad Quenum

Through Snode Technologies, the experienced cybersecurity consultant has developed several cybersecurity tools, receiving international honors and awards. 

Nithen Naidoo (photo) is a South African computer scientist who graduated from the University of Pretoria in 2002. He is the founder and CEO of computer security and networking company Snode Technologies, based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Snode Technologies -founded in 2016- is a cloud-based cybersecurity platform. Its algorithms process dynamic data -audio, video, and text- in real-time to help analysts identify behavioral trends, anomalies, and patterns that were previously impossible to identify with the naked eye.

“Snode was created to gain insight into prevailing patterns, not visible to the human eye, allowing our users to identify attacks before they happen,” Nithen Naidoo said in 2021. 

The said startup has more than 80 points of presence worldwide. It offers three services, namely Snode Guard, Snode Guardian, and Snode Panthera.

Snode Guard provides automatic protection against threats such as malware, ransomware, phishing, and disinformation. Snode Guardian provides valuable information about cybersecurity risks or threats that may be prevalent in a said environment to prevent cyberattacks. Meanwhile, Snode Panthera disables attacks and defends vulnerable systems with its real-time automated response system.

Its founder is the winner of the 2019 MEST Africa Challenge. He is also the winner of the SA Innovation Summit 2020,  the national finalist of the 2020 Entrepreneurship World Cup, and a finalist of the 2020 Pitch Live competition organized by Disrupt Africa and Africa Tech Summit. In 2021, he received the AfricArena Emerging Entrepreneur Award. His cybersecurity firm was selected among Slingshot 2020’s top 100 global deep tech startups. It was also a finalist for the AppsAfrica 2020 Innovation Award.

The honors and awards crown a professional career that started in 2003 when he joined Orange Cyberdefense as a penetration tester.  From 2005 to 2007, he was a senior security consultant for Deloitte. In 2007, he joined the financial services firm Investec as a senior security analyst. Then, in 2009, Absa Group hired him as a senior security architect. 

Melchior Koba

The solution aims to help law enforcement agencies help as many people as possible in some of DRC’s regions where residents are faced with numerous security challenges. 

SOS Secours is a digital solution developed by Congolese start-up Yangu. It helps users notify the startup and get help when their lives are endangered. It has an Android app that can send alerts or even report incidents. 

With the app, users can send geolocalized alerts by just shaking their phones. They can also “use the call and messaging options to notify the relatives they selected when activating the app,” Yangu explains. 

When it receives an alert, Yangu -thanks to a team of experts- analyzes the threat and sends support or emergency help as needed. The startup also analyses the various threats to pinpoint the locations where users can face such threats at a given period.  

Adoni Conrad Quenum

According to Interpol, Africa saw a sustained rise in cyberattacks in 2020, including a 238 percent increase in those targeting online banking platforms. As Internet use intensifies, cyber threats are becoming major concerns.  

Over the past decade, in Africa, investments in broadband Internet and digital transformation have steadily increased to match the needs. The investments helped boost internet penetration from 9% in 2012 to over 30% this year. They also enabled 48 countries to perform great in the e-government development index.  This growth in the continent’s digital adoption carries some risks, however. It did open up opportunities in health, education, commerce, and entertainment but it also heightened cybercrime risks.

In its upcoming report "The downsides of digital revolution: Confronting Africa's evolving cyber threats", the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime states that Africa is currently under threat from four main categories of dangers that are fostered by the development of a poorly controlled digital world. They are likely to have an increasing effect on conflict, peace, and security in Africa if the digital shift is not properly prepared. 

The first category is organized crime, which increasingly relies on digital technologies to enhance and diversify its activities. Then there is the risk of sabotage of critical infrastructure, including attempts to weaken or destroy national, governmental, or military infrastructure, equipment, or systems and penetration of the financial and energy sectors across Africa. The third category is cyber espionage and attempts to penetrate systems to extract sensitive information while the last is innovation in armed conflict or the use of digital technology to facilitate organized violence, such as the proliferation of fake news on social networks to incite a mob or the deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles.

These cyber threats have so far benefited from a fertile breeding ground due to the weak protection of African cyberspace. Only 18 of Africa's 54 countries have developed national cybersecurity strategies, which are needed to define the scale and scope of a country's cybersecurity challenges, assign government-wide responsibilities for monitoring and responding to threats, and guide external support.

On the continent, 22 countries have National Computer Incident Response Teams (CIRTs), which are groups of key stakeholders and experts that monitor major threats and help countries recover from significant security incidents. Only fifteen have ratified the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime or the African Union Convention on Cybersecurity and Data Protection, which strengthen international cybersecurity cooperation.

According to the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, to thwart the pitfalls of digital transformation, African countries need to raise public and private actors’ awareness of cybersecurity issues, develop a skilled workforce, improve the regulatory and technical framework and enhance regional and international cooperation. Otherwise, it says, they could miss out on the US$180 billion potential the digital economy has to add to GDPs (according to the IFC and Google) by 2030. 

Muriel Edjo

Digital trust is an important component to boost the adoption of digital services. In Morocco, where digital transformation is ongoing for years now, a legal framework was approved governing digital trust in the country. It paved the way for startups like DamaneSign to enhance trust in the digital sector. 

DamaneSign is a Moroccan digital trust solution. It helps users digitize their signatures and authenticate them. The solution was developed by a startup, founded in 2021,  months after a national law on digital trust. So, it was highly welcomed in the local tech ecosystem.

“The product is a SaaS (online) solution that allows you to sign and have documents signed securely. We act as the trusted third party between companies and their customers, allowing them to sign different contractual documents. We also help manage transactions with multiple signatories or sign multiple documents,” explains Zouhair Hamdaoui, founder of the startup that developed DamaneSign. 

When required, the startup sends emails to every signatory inviting them to sign required documents as needed. Those signatories also receive authentification codes via SMS. “An agent readies the documents (contract, quote, invoice...) for electronic signature on the DamaneSign platform. The signatories receive those documents in their e-mail, read them, and sign,”  Zouhair adds.  

The startup offers two subscription packs to its users. The first pack costs MAD 300, allowing the user to send 25 documents to signatories for signature. The second pack costs MAD3,999 allowing, the subscriber to send up to 500 documents for signature. 

Let’s note that DamaneSign stores users’ data in a data center located in Morocco. To sign documents, signatories must also have an account with DamaneSign or register one. For companies, the required information is the name of the entity, the number of the company, the professional information of the person registering the account on behalf of the company, and his/her professional email. 

Adoni Conrad Quenum

Ghana seeks to become the most cyber-secure country in Africa in the coming years. Speaking during the installation ceremony of the Board of Directors of the National Cybersecurity Authority last week, the country’s Minister of digitalization said “the government, within the last five years, has taken our cyber security development seriously.”

“The establishment of the Cyber Security Authority is one of the critical milestones achieved,” under this strategy, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful said. According to the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) 2020 Global Cybersecurity Index report, Ghana ranked third in Africa and 43rd in the world based on the preparedness of the legislative and technical environment for cybercriminal attacks. With a score of 86.69/100, the country was better ranked than South Africa, which attracts the main foreign investment in digital technology, including data centers and optical fiber networks. The top 3 consists of Mauritius, Tanzania, and Ghana.

“We cannot simply sustain our digitalization efforts without cyber security. Cyber-attacks could undermine our gains in digitalization. It could undermine our social and economic well-being and consequently, our national security,” Ursula Owusu-Ekuful said.

Adoni Conrad Quenum

The Ivorian government has made the fight against cybercrime one of its priorities since 2011. This crackdown has made it possible to shrink the financial damage due to cybercrime to $9.4 million in 2018 from about $24 million in 2010.

Digital security solutions can help Côte d'Ivoire save CFA2.5 billion (nearly $4.2 million) each year. This amount is how much the country lost to cybercriminals in 2021, according to Colonel Ouattara Moussa (pictured), director of information technology and technological traces (DITT) at the Ministry of the Interior and Security. Data released last January 31 by the anti-cybercrime platform (PLCC) showed that more than 5,000 complaints were recorded in 2021 compared to 2,408 in 2017, up 51.84%. PLCC reported that the main digital crimes recorded in the last year are threats of posting sexual images and sexual harassment on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, WhatsApp), e-transaction fraud, fraudulent use of natural person identifiers, damage to image and honor, and online scams. The platform says 50% of complaints were solved in 2021.

The data unveiled by the PLCC highlights the growing dangers in the digital world. In response, the government has taken several actions to further secure the national cyberspace. In 2020, it adopted a new cybersecurity strategy that extends to 2025. It also planned to invest $30.8 million to create a National Cybersecurity Council and a National Cybersecurity Authority.

While waiting for these investments to materialize, the National Center for Monitoring and Response to Computer Security Incidents in Côte d'Ivoire recommends that individuals be more vigilant online, that they regularly back up their data, equip their terminals with antivirus software, activate an antispam program on their e-mail, regularly update their operating systems and avoid installing software from unknown sources.

For businesses, the global IT consulting firm Accenture recommends, among other things, reducing data transfers, enabling full disk encryption on all devices, using cybersecurity operators, and adopting the cloud.

Adoni Conrad Quenum