Year 6 | Edition 3 | 27 January 2023
 
African tech ecosystem raised $6.5 billion in 2022, report

Partech Africa, the VC fund dedicated to technology startups in Africa, has issued its annual report on Africa Tech Venture Capital. The report, which aims to provide a practical picture of the state of the ecosystem, revealed that despite the global VC downturn, the African tech ecosystem grew faster than all other markets globally. 

Total funding invested into tech startups on the continent reached $6.5B, an increase of 8% vs 2021, spread across 764 deals - compared to 724 rounds in 2021. The report, consisting of disclosed and confidential deals, saw debt...

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Mama Money partners with AFC Commercial Bank for money transfers to Zimbabwe

Mama Money, a South African fintech that offers cross-border money transfer and banking services, has partnered with AFC Commercial Bank, to allow Mama Money customers to easily send money to any AFC Commercial Bank branch for cash collection at 45 locations across Zimbabwe.  

It’s estimated that the monthly remittance flows from South Africa to Zimbabwe range between $30 to $60 million US dollars through both formal and informal channels and accounts for over 10% of the country’s GDP according to the...

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Nigeria’s AFEX expands its Commodities Exchange business to Uganda

After expanding its commodities exchange business in Kenya in June last year, Nigeria’s AFEX is now expanding to Uganda. Similar to Kenya and Nigeria, farmers in the country will benefit from AFEX’s tech-enabled services for agricultural producers.

In its first year of operations in Uganda, the firm aims to reach 10,000 farmers and aggregate 15,000 metric tons of commodities, while extending its aggregation, storage, and financial inclusion services to Ugandan farmers and...

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Mitel, Mart Networks re-affirm technology investment in West Africa

Telecommunications company Mitel, and distributor Mart Networks, have re-affirmed their commitment to leverage on technology to improve the telecommunications sector in West Africa.

At a breakfast event and symposium held at Radisson Blu Anchorage Hotel, Victoria Island, in Lagos, Nigeria, the two companies told of their plans to continue improving the telecommunications sector in the region, and the continent. Mitel is a long-seasoned technology innovator in the...

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Vodacom lands 2Africa subsea cable in the Eastern Cape

The 2Africa subsea cable, the largest subsea cable system in the world, has landed at the Vodacom network facility in Gqeberha, South Africa.

This is the first submarine cable landing in the Eastern Cape region, promising greater internet capacity and acceleration of connectivity across the province and supporting South Africa's growing digital economy. The 2Africa Consortium includes eight international partners, China Mobile International, Meta (Facebook), MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, center3 (stc)...

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Azercosmos partners with CommsCarrier to bring internet services to government organizations in Africa

Azercosmos has signed a collaboration agreement on long-term projects with CommCarrier Satellite Services, the provider of satellite services in Kenya. Based on the agreement, internet services by Azerspace-2 satellite will be provided to government organizations in Kenya.

It should be noted that the CommCarrier Company will serve its partners in the East and Central Africa region by means of the Ku band of the Azerspace-2 satellite. "We are pleased that our satellite services are provided to governments and...

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MoneyGram joins forces with BOTIM to launch international money transfer to over 200 countries

MoneyGram International, a global financial technology company that connects the world's communities announced a strategic partnership with Astra Tech (Astra), a technology investment and development group based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the owner of BOTIM, the largest and most popular Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) solution in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) with over 90 million registered users.

Through this innovative partnership, BOTIM is the region's first communications platform to enable its users to seamlessly send money around the world in near real-time. "As we...

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Mastercard and ZoodPay join forces to launch the first virtual installment card across EEMEA

ZoodPay, a leading digital lending platform for e-commerce in the Middle East and Central Asia, has entered into a strategic partnership with Mastercard to launch the first-of-its-kind prepaid virtual installment card in the Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EEMEA) region.

This collaboration will expand financial and digital inclusion, benefiting the underbanked population and those with no credit data or limited access to finance. The introduction of the virtual installment card will allow ZoodPay to scale its...

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Mobility startup BasiGo and AVA to assemble 1,000 electric buses in Kenya

BasiGo, the Kenyan-based electric manufacturer has partnered with the Associated Vehicle Assemblers Ltd (AVA) to assemble its buses in the country.

The two companies aim to manufacture over 1,000 electric buses in the next 3 years, creating over 300 new manufacturing jobs and an additional 300 jobs in the ecosystem of charging, maintenance and financing. This partnership will also see the company assemble 33-seater...

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Fincra receives commercial licence from CBN to operate as a Payment Service Solution Provider

Fincra has received its commercial Payment Service Solution Provider (PSSP) licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The CBN first granted Fincra an Approval- in- Principle (AIP) to test its intended payment solutions for businesses before we received this full commercial licence, a significant milestone for the company.

Fincra CEO Wole Ayodele said, “we are thrilled to have received this license from the Central Bank. This license is a huge step forward for us, and it opens up many new opportunities for growth and expansion for our customers...

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[South Africa] BCX fully acquires software firm DotCom Software Projects to push cloud adoption

BCX, one of Africa’s largest systems integrators and digital transformation partners, has acquired 100% of the shares in DotCom Software Projects  (“DotCom”). The acquisition will see BCX enrich its cloud services and provide greater value to its clients across key verticals.

“With greater access to on-demand computing power, highly scalable platforms and more flexible ap-proaches to IT spending, cloud computing has gone from an emerging technology to an indispensable business resource, ”said Jan...

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11 startups selected for Cohort 3 of ASIP Accelerator Program

Eleven African startups have been selected to join the third cohort of the Africa Startup Initiative Program (ASIP). The accelerator program is powered by Startupbootcamp AfriTech together with its founding partner and leading telecom giant, Telecel Group.

The selected startups will receive an intensive three-month coaching and support program to accelerate their growth and benefits worth $750,000 USD.  The startups will also have access to the global Accelerator Squared platform which has...

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[Startup Interview] James Adebisi, Founder, Oruis Medical, Nigeria

Orius Medical is a Nigerian health startup that provides mental care and support through psychotherapy and mental health education.  The startup’s founder James Adebisi explains.

Tell us about your startup         

Oruis Medical is healthcare company that provides mental health services in the form of psychological assessment, psychotherapy, and mental health education...

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[Interview] Temitope O. Oguntosin, CTO, Femsin Technologies Solutions, Nigeria

Femsin Technoloigies Solutions Limited is an IT solution company based in Lagos, which was founded and incorporated in Nigeria in 2018. Temitope O. Oguntosin, the company's Chief Technology Officer, in an interview with Africa Business Communities talks on the state of the company as well as its future growth strategies.

Please introduce your company

Femsin Technologies Solutions is an IT Solutions company that provides digital solutions to businesses within and outside of Nigeria, from which we are based. Our services covers areas such as web development, digital marketing, digital...

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[Column] Hannah Kebble: Artificial Intelligence in Africa: Levelling the narrative

According to the World Economic Forum, artificial intelligence (AI) can contribute up to USD 15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030. However, in Africa, AI market growth has stagnated. Estimated at USD 870 million in 2021, with marginal growth forecasted until 2024.

It has been argued that continents in the Global South will continue to benefit less from AI than those in the North. Oxford Insights highlights this because governments require the appropriate environment to support AI development...

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[Column] Christopher Mwangi: Connecting Africa’s potential metre by metre, country by country

In the early 1900s, the Ugandan Railway was built, connecting Mombasa to Lake Victoria, and facilitating trade within the region. This milestone in Kenyan history connected many parts of the country and East Africa not only to each other but to the world and opened many economic opportunities.

So much opportunity that this railway led to the founding of Kenya’s now greatest city, Nairobi, which was originally established in 1899 as a railway depot specifically for the Uganda-Kenya railway. As always, great progress always...

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[Column] Tejpal Bedi: IoT innovation: Connected systems and opportunities for Kenyan businesses

Internet of Things (IoT) represents a fundamental shift in how we visualise and build the consumer and business technology of today. The modern-day enterprise is defined not just by the sum of its moving parts, but how those parts interact with each other and what output value (in the form of data) they yield.

With an estimated global market value of $478.36 billion this year, which is set to grow exponentially, IoT technology has the potential to become the next-generation business solution and enabler of new digital functions and services. And Kenya...

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[Column] Tridiv Vasavada: 3 Key Trends for Africa’s Informal Retail Sector in 2023

According to Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Africa’s informal retail sector accounts for more than 70% of food, beverage and personal care products provided to consumers across the continent.

However, despite their importance, local informal shops throughout Africa have been consistently held back for decades by a host of major challenges including frequent stockouts, limited access to capital and difficulty receiving goods from suppliers. But in recent years, the emergence of...

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10 best digital products to start selling in 2023

The importance of digital products is not in dispute. In today's economy, selling digital products can be a successful strategy for shop owners to bring in new customers and expand their businesses.

Just like you can expand your wallets with blackjack real money. You may want to know, What are the famous digital things to sell online? You're in the right spot. Now that we have your attention, let's learn about the most in-demand...

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