Meet the Zambia startup using space technology to improve farm yields
Ignitos Space is a Zambia startups which uses space technology to bring more efficiency to the country’s agriculture sector. According to data by the World Bank, agriculture and agribusiness have contributed around 20% of Zambia’s gross domestic product (GDP) and about 12% of national export earnings in recent years. Zambia boasts a population of over 19 million people, and favorable weather conditions which encourage year-round farming. As such, the potential for agriculture to drive socio-economic progress in the country is high. To take advantage of this, startups like Ignitos Space are inventing products which have the potential to accelerate the growth of the country’s agriculture industry. Using space technology via orbital satellites, Ignitos Space provides farmers with insights about what kind of soil is on their land and what crops it is suitable for. Additionally, it equips farmers with information about their land’s water reticulation, the state of their crops, and so much more. TechCabal caught up with Ahmad Hamwi, founder and CEO of Ignitos Space, to learn more about the startup’s product offering. TechCabal: Please tell us more about Ignitos Space and the problem you are trying to solve through your product offering Ahmad Hamwi: Ignitos Space is trying to solve the problem of lack of farming data on the ground. When it comes to getting agriculture data, the usual modus operandi is to go measure, check your soil, do analysis, and then decide what you want to do with the land. But since the majority of the farmers in Zambia and Africa in general are small to medium-scale farmers, they cannot afford to do soil analysis every two weeks. So that’s when I came up with the idea to use satellite technology for that. Satellite technology in agriculture is nothing new. It’s something that’s been there for maybe 10 years now, whether you use remote sensing, to check for different indices from vegetation index to water index and other stuff. So what I did is come up with an AI that can get multiple satellite images from multiple satellites and combine them together based on the research that we’ve done. From that info, it can tell the farmer the state of his farm, if it needs more water, if there’s a problem with vegetation, what crop is the best for that area, and few other indices that will enable this farmer to have actionable insights on the ground. With that info, the farmer can do precision farming instead of just gambling. They can get all this data through a subscription which costs only $10 a month. TC: Majority of the people actively involved in agriculture are senior citizens who might not be very well versed in using technological tools like the one offered by Ignitos Space. How have you been tackling this challenge to increase adoption of your product? AH: That’s true, and that’s the main challenge that we are solving. You see, I can give you a username and password for one of the satellites from NASA, for example, and tell you to do what you want with it. But you will not understand how it works, what to click, where to click, for you to be able to reach your farm and understand what’s happening on the farm. And that’s someone who is into tech or knows about tech. So how can we expect a farmer who doesn’t even have a smartphone to understand that tech? So what Ignitos Space is doing is bridging this gap between the farmers who need the data, and the people who are offering the data. When we take that data from the satellite, and we combine it with different satellites’s data from different companies, our AI makes it into actionable insights that anyone can understand, even if they are tech illiterate. All they need to do is dial the shortcodes or click on the app, then it will triangulate them using GPS. So that’s how we’re working on it. And that’s why we’re also implementing USSD technology because most of the farmers don’t even have smartphones, or access to the internet. TC: Apart from that particular challenge, what other challenges has Ignitos Space faced in its operations? AH: Our biggest challenge, which is the challenge for many entrepreneurs, is the lack of funding. When we won some competitions in the US, for example, they told us to incorporate in the US, and then you can access funding. Even when we won a competition in South Africa, they said incorporating in South Africa will give you access to funding. But our ethos for the company is that this is a Zambian company, and we want to push Zambia to be on the world map. But I believe that one day, we will get funding or we will come up with our own capital by doing some other activities related to the same project. TC: In terms of opportunities, can technological innovations like Ignitos Space disrupt the farming sector in Zambia? AH: 100%. Zambia is very well positioned in terms of agriculture because first, we have 75 million hectares of land, and only 15% of that is actually used. So there’s a lot of potential for land to be used for agricultural purposes and technology can play a vital role in facilitating this. The second and very important part is that we have 10 months of good weather in Zambia. It’s not like other countries in our region where they have extreme weather for months per year. That allows our vegetation to grow very well, very fast, and with great results. Also, we don’t have many diseases compared to other countries, which is why we have a lot of good crops here. Combining all those factors with technology that provides data which facilitates is a great combination which can take the country’s agriculture sector through leaps and bounds. I believe we are well positioned to be the food basket of Africa, if not the world, if we can rightly incorporate technology
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👨🏿🚀TechCabal Daily – Nvidia joins the trillion-dollar club
Lire en français Read this email in French. 31 MAY, 2023 IN PARTNERSHIP WITH Good morning We’re out on the streets of Marrakech today. From now till June 2, you can throw hands with catch our CEO Tomiwa Aladekomo and editor-in-chief Adrian Ephraim at the GITEX Africa conference in Morocco. If you stop by and say hi, you may get some gifts and have your headshot in tomorrow’s edition of TC Daily. In today’s edition Nvidia is now a trillion-dollar company Users get creative at Eyowo Researchers against AI CardoO launches smartwatch The World Wide Web3 Event: Africa Tech Summit London Opportunities NVIDIA JOINS THE TRILLION-DOLLAR CLUB Nvidia has joined the trillion-dollar club and it’s thanks to artificial intelligence (AI). Bloomberg reported that the share price of the California-based firm shot past $412 on Tuesday, making the firm worth more than $1 trillion, like Apple, Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft currently are. All because of AI. Per Bloomberg, Nvidia’s shares have been on an incredible journey since last week when it dropped a bombshell AI-powered sales forecast of $11 billion in Q2. People are going crazy over Nvidia, and rightfully so! This isn’t one of those situations where AI is just a buzzword thrown around to excite investors. As the powerhouse chipmaker, Nvidia has been leaving its competitors in the dust when it comes to developing mind-blowing graphics chips. But here’s the kicker: while others were still scratching their heads about artificial intelligence, Nvidia had already placed some major bets on it. They were playing the AI game before anyone else even took it seriously. Now, with the mind-boggling demand for AI chips and software soaring to new heights, Nvidia’s stock is shooting through the roof. What’s got everyone in a frenzy? Well, Nvidia just dropped a bombshell announcement about an AI supercomputer platform that’ll let tech companies create their very own versions of mind-blowing language models like ChatGPT. They’ve also unleashed a whole bunch of cutting-edge products in the realms of robotics, gaming, advertising, and networking, all fueled by the power of artificial intelligence. And here’s the icing on the cake: Nvidia has also proven that their graphics chips are the ultimate champions when it comes to handling AI workloads. MONIEPOINT RANKED 2ND FASTEST-GROWING AFRICAN COMPANY Moniepoint is Africa’s second-fastest growing company, as shown in FTs latest report. We also processed 1 billion transactions worth $43 billion in Q1 alone. Read all about it here. This is partner content. EYOWO USERS GET CREATIVE Eyowo’s customers are making a way where there seemed to be no way. Nearly a week after the CBN revoked the digital microfinance bank’s licence, its users are still unable to access their funds in the bank. As a result, some users have resorted to buying airtime and cable subscriptions on the platform with the intention of reselling them in order to retrieve their money. How? Even though withdrawals have paused, options like airtime purchases and cable subscriptions are still active on the Eyowo app. So, some users are purchasing airtime with the money stuck in the app and reselling them to obtain cash. While some are advertising the airtime and cable subscription for sale online, others are simply selling it on fintech platform PalmPay using its Recharge2Cash option. Sound familiar? It appears that this strategy is not novel as a Twitter user also affirmed that he did the same thing when fintech platform Carbon experienced a similar downtime in the past. He tweeted, “Similar 5 days of downtime happened with Carbon, and I had to buy airtime to empty my account.” Why? Many Eyowo users have nagging personal needs only money can solve. Some business people need the money to fulfil their orders and find other operating activities. Others have nagging needs that only money can solve. Eyowo has assured its users that it is working with the CBN to resolve the matter and restore normalcy. But can things go back to normal for Eyowo after this? Only airtime will tell. MORE FROM TECHCABAL UberGo is gaining more traction in Lagos, but riders want more. South Africa’s central bank says load shedding is slowing down the country’s economic growth. RESEARCHERS SAY WE SHOULD BAND TOGETHER TO FIGHT AI Skynet is coming. Or at least some people think so. A group of top AI researchers, engineers, and CEOs have come together to issue a warning on AI’s potential threat to humanity, in a 22-word statement. The statement emphasises the need to view the risks associated with AI as a global priority, highlighting its significance alongside other societal-scale risks like pandemics and nuclear war. Who’s warning us? Prominent figures, such as Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, and Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, along with numerous other signatories, have put their names on the line to support this warning. The latest statement throws itself into the ongoing debate about AI safety, bringing in another high-profile intervention. A previous warning: Earlier this year, Elon Musk and top AI researchers called for a pause on “giant AI experiments”, in an open letter that reads: “We call on all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4.” According to The Verge,the letter faced criticism on multiple fronts. Some experts argued that it exaggerated the risks associated with AI, while others acknowledged the potential dangers but disagreed with the suggested course of action proposed in the letter. Dan Hendrycks, executive director of the Centre for AI Safety, told The New York Times that the brevity of today’s statement—which doesn’t suggest any potential ways to mitigate the threat posed by AI—was intended to avoid such disagreement. “We didn’t want to push for a very large menu of 30 potential interventions,” said Hendrycks. “When that happens, it dilutes the message.” CARDOO LAUNCHES IOT-ENABLED SMARTWATCH CardoO, an Egyptian startup focusing on Internet of Things (IoT) devices, has unveiled its first IoT-enabled smartwatch. This news comes shortly after CardoO secured a seed funding round of
Read MoreWhile Eyowo works to get its licence back, customers are using creative ways to move money out of the app
Nearly a week after the CBN revoked Eyowo’s Microfinance bank license, its users are still unable to access the funds in the digital bank. As a result, some users have resorted to buying airtime and cable subscriptions on the platform with the intention of reselling them in order to retrieve their money. A day after Nigeria’s Central Bank revoked the microfinance bank licence of the digital bank Eyowo, customers realised they could no longer receive or send money on the app. Despite assurances from Eyowo that it is working on the issue, customers have found another way to withdraw their money— buying airtime or cable subscriptions with the money in their Eyowo accounts and reselling them. A statement from Eyowo assured customers that it was working to resolve the situation and gave a timeline of 72 hours. But three days after that timeline, several customers told TechCabal that the situation persists. Eyowo told customers on Friday that it had “made significant progress in resolving some of the challenges you have faced due to the CBN directive. We are working to ensure you have complete access to your money. You will be able to send money to any bank through your Eyowo, however this will not take effect today, due to the administrative requirement that requires a couple of working days.” Nevertheless, the patience of numerous customers is wearing thin as their personal and business needs are being delayed due to the unavailability of their funds in Eyowo. In response to this frustrating situation, customers are exploring alternative methods to withdraw funds from their inaccessible Eyowo accounts. Even though withdrawal have been paused, options like airtime purchase and cable subscription are still active on the Eyowo app, so some users are purchasing airtime with the app and reselling them to obtain cash. While some are advertising the airtime and subscription for sale online, others are simply selling it on Palmpay using its Recharge2Cash option. “I sent out all my funds using airtime, [but I had to do it in batches because] the maximum amount of airline you can buy on Eyowo is N8000,” a user said. TechCabal has confirmed that the airtime option is still available andbut there is no limit to how much you can recharge. It appears that this strategy is not novel as a Twitter user also affirmed that he did the exact same thing when fintech platform Carbon experienced a similar downtime in the past. He tweeted, “Similar 5 days of downtime happened with Carbon, and I had to buy airtime to empty my account… The lesson here is never to keep bulk money with Fintechs.” Customers who use Eyowo as business accounts have tweeted about being under enormous pressure from customers. A young lady who sells indigenous clothing material Aso oke told TechCabal that she has customers who are awaiting orders she can’t fulfill due to the circumstances. “Eyowo is the only platform where I take payments for Aso oke production. All the money I’ve taken for production (about N350,000) is stuck in the account and I’m unable to meet clients’ orders,” she said. Another small business owner told TechCabal, “After saving and searching for a suitable shop in Lagos for my business, I am unable to pay because of the issues Eyowo is experiencing.” Under posts on the company’s social media accounts, some customers have expressed similar resolutions to stop using the digital bank. Speaking to TechCabal, Sandra, a social media manager, said, “I am done with Eyowo. It has been one issue after another. My money is still there but I have moved on.” Several users, including business owners, appear to be more understanding and patient with Eyowo, expressing their gratitude for its efforts to keep them informed. Lilian, an online vendor, shared with TechCabal, “While it hasn’t been a smooth experience, Eyowo has been diligent in providing updates.” Another Eyowo user told TechCabal, “I have not been able to access my money but yesterday I got a call from their customer care promising they were going to settle it.” It still remains unclear why the CBN revoked the MFB license of the digital bank. According to the apex bank, the licenses of the 47 microfinance banks were revoked because they had either remained inactive, insolvent, failed to render returns, closed shop, or ceased to carry on the type of banking business for which they were licensed for more than six (6) months. When asked which of the aforementioned Eyowo is culpable of, the CBN refused to comment. Eyowo has not responded to questions about it either.
Read MoreUber Go is gaining traction in Lagos, but riders want more
Uber’s cheaper ride-hailing option, Uber Go appears to be providing relief to Lagos residents. But riders say it can’t displace the market leaders because of some shortcomings. If you live in Lagos and you don’t own a car like me, chances are your biggest challenge is commuting. With about 24 million people scrambling to navigate their way around one of the busiest cities in the world, the absence of a reliable transport system has presented a market opportunity for ride-hailing behemoths such as Uber and Bolt which offer ease of getting a ride and comfort for riders. But the fares can sometimes cost an arm and a leg, depending on who you ask. Enter Uber Go, a cheaper ride-hailing option, launched by market leader Uber. According to the company, it promises to be more affordable than UberX—its main ride-hailing service—with fuel-efficient hatchback vehicles—Suzuki Alto or S-Presso—that are presumed to be more affordable to maintain for drivers operating on the Uber app and offers 35% lower cost alternative for riders. Uber Go riders who spoke to TechCabal stated while they are sold on the ride-hailing platform because of its affordability, there are still challenges that need to be addressed. Cheap, but not for everyone Lola, a rider who asked to be identified by only her first name, said that although Uber Go has become her go-to ride-hailing app because of its affordable fares, she mostly uses it when she goes to certain neighbourhoods on the Island. She complains that the availability of Uber Go in select areas in the state is a challenge on its own. “I started using Uber Go while I was in Lagos law school to places on the Island and the fare is mostly less than N1,000. But the service isn’t available everywhere in Lagos unlike other ride-hailing options,” she told TechCabal over a call. She isn’t wrong. Uber Go is currently operational in select areas in Lagos including parts of the Island (excluding Ajah), Yaba, Surulere, and recently Ikeja. On Monday, I tried to book a ride on the Uber app from Ikorodu, but the Uber Go option was missing—an indication that the service isn’t available in my area. Reports have it that Uber is planning to extend Uber Go to other parts of Lagos. A viable alternative? Val Adetunji, another rider, said he finds Uber Go as an alternative, though he uses Bolt more often than other ride-hailing apps. “I’m not overly excited about it [Uber Go] because I already have a preference. But in terms of pricing, Uber Go is cheaper, so I am often tempted to use it,” he said. Bayo Bankole says he uses Uber Go whenever he is looking for the cheapest fares. He, however, expressed concerns about some of the features of the vehicles. “Because the cars are small, it isn’t advisable for people who would like to carry loads, say photographers going for a photo shoot. If you are just travelling light, then Uber Go is okay. If you need to travel with luggage, then you might want to consider other apps,” he said. Chidera Okpara, another rider shares a similar view, saying: “I think Uber Go is good for solo trips. Also because of the sizes of the cars, the drivers can always find a way to beat traffic.” But, for Bankole, while the speed limit on the Uber Go vehicles is important, it could pose a challenge in certain circumstances. “There was a day on Third Mainland Bridge that I was travelling with Uber Go, the road was free but the driver couldn’t go beyond their speed limit of around 80 kilometres per hour else the car starts beeping. So in a situation where there is a security concern at night, the vehicle won’t be able to drive faster,” he narrated to TechCabal. Over a ride, an Uber Go driver claimed that the model of the vehicles has particularly made working conditions difficult and hence their recent protest against Moove, the automobile financing startup that rents out the cars to drivers. “These cars aren’t really easy to maintain and they make our work hard. Even with this, we still have to deal with problems of the number of daily trips and daily remittances,” the driver said.
Read MoreMeta targets comms teams in layoffs
Meta’s director of communications in sub-Saharan Africa has reportedly been laid off. In the coming weeks, the corporation will reportedly target additional comms teams in Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa. Meta’s latest round of layoffs was done last week after multiple former workers posted on LinkedIn that they had been let go. The firings were announced in March 2023, when Meta, the parent company for Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, among others, announced plans to trim its workforce following mass hiring during the pandemic period that saw the corporation boost its workforce twofold. The round has reportedly affected Kezia Anim-Addo, Meta’s director of communications in Sub-Saharan Africa. Anim, who joined Facebook in 2017 as Africa Communications Manager, grew through the ranks and was promoted to her now-former role less than two years ago. However, our source tells us that she might not be the only person who will be shown the door by Meta, which is known for its popular social media platforms. Reportedly, Meta will likely cut numbers in communications across the African market, particularly in South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya. According to sources, the adjustment will be made over the next month. The exact number of people affected is unknown, but they will be part of the 10,000 workers Meta had revealed it would let go. Kenya’s case is interesting because Meta has been battling a controversy with content moderation company Sama. Sama stopped working with Facebook due to the emotional toll and harmful effects of constantly reviewing disturbing content on the platform. Sama presented the challenges faced by content moderators, including the negative impact on mental health and the lack of adequate support from Facebook. Sama’s decision to leave highlighted the ongoing issues surrounding content moderation and raised concerns about the well-being of those responsible for moderating online content. Towards the end of 2022, Facebook joined the tech layoffs bandwagon, which saw the company fire 11,000 people. Once the current wave ends, it will have let go of more than 21,000 employees. Other companies which have since laid off workers by large numbers include Amazon at 18,000, Google at 12,000 and Microsoft at 10,000 employees.
Read MoreLoad shedding slowing down SA’s economic growth, according to reserve bank
According to the South African Reserve Bank’s (SARB) Financial Stability Review, load shedding is expected to detract two percentage points from the country’s overall economic growth this year. Furthermore, SARB also states that load-shedding may add 0.5 percentage points to headline inflation in 2023. This is because the high operating costs of running diesel generators are passed to consumers, and higher rates of wastage and spoilage, especially along food value chains, lead to possible goods shortages. The reserve bank also noted that load shedding will likely adversely impact other macroeconomic variables. These include causing a contractionary effect on growth that could hamper a sustained recovery in employment—causing unfriendly investor sentiment which would raise South Africa’s risk premium and pressure on the exchange rate. “The transition of households to alternative energy sources is likely to widen the already skewed income and development distribution in South Africa, as it is mainly middle- to high-income households that can invest in alternative energy sources, while poorer households are largely without recourse,” the bank said in the review report. A risk to financial stability SARB states that load shedding continues to act as a risk factor to the country’s financial stability. To start with, the prevalence of higher stages of load-shedding poses an immediate risk to the efficient functioning of infrastructure such as automated teller machines (ATMs) and cellular networks, which are crucial for the smooth functioning of the financial system. Load shedding also contributes directly to increased insurance claims and higher excess costs as outage-related claims from households and businesses mount. It has led to an increase in the number of insurers excluding load shedding-related claims from insurance policies. Despite the announcement of mitigation efforts for load shedding during the country’s budget review this year, SARB only expects the efforts to start bearing any fruit in the next 12 to 18 months. This means load-shedding will remain severe and impact economic activity negatively over at least the next 12 months. Getting ready for the worst-case scenario According to the governor of the central bank, Lesetja Kganyago, the bank’s Financial Sector Contingency Forum (FSCF) is working on a contingency plan for the ‘unlikely’ but not ‘impossible’ scenario of a national grid failure. “In line with the role and function of the FSCF, current efforts are centred on developing, coordinating and testing contingency plans to mitigate the impact of a national grid shutdown on the financial system and the economy,” said Kganyago. Earlier this month, Eskom warned that it might need to implement high stages of load shedding in order to meet surging demand during the winter months but refuted claims of a possible grid collapse.
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👨🏿🚀 TechCabal Daily – MultiChoice’s Moment
Lire en français Read this email in French. 30 MAY, 2023 IN PARTNERSHIP WITH Good morning WhatsApp is morphing into Zoom. It’s reportedly working on a feature that will allow users share their screens during video calls. WhatsApp is also testing out usernames for increased privacy, so users can share usernames instead of phone numbers. In today’s edition MultiChoice moves to fintech Nigeria’s new president wants a unified exchange rate Ghana launches new cybersecurity platform The World Wide Web3 Event: The Moonshot Conference Opportunities MULTICHOICE MOVES TO FINTECH The big screen isn’t enough for South Africa-based broadcasting company MultiChoice Group. Yesterday, the company announced its foray into fintech with the launch of Moment, an integrated payment platform for Africans. According to the company’s statement, “Moment offers expanded payment infrastructure for businesses across Africa to help them collect and make payments easier, quicker and more affordable in any manner that their buyers or suppliers prefer”. A joint venture: MultiChoice is not going for the moment alone, though. MultiChoice is sharing the spotlight with two other investors, London-based fintech Rapyd and California-based VC firm General Catalyst. While Moment’s short-term goal is to consolidate the $3.5 billion MultiChoice processes annually, the platform’s long-term goals are to provide payments infrastructure for millions of small businesses on the continent, and turn 90% of Africa’s cash transactions digital. “Investing in this venture is a logical progression for us, as we already process payments every month from 22 million households across 50 countries. Moment fulfils our strategy to expand our ecosystem by investing in adjacent businesses that provide scalable services, underpinned by technology,” said MultiChoice CEO Calvo Mawela. Zoom out: Since the proliferation of streaming services in South Africa, MultiChoice has struggled to retain relevance, losing thousands of subscribers to the likes of Netflix and Disney+. This has led to a revenue loss that has pushed the service to increase its subscription fees across several countries. A new fintech app could be what it needs to bounce back on its feet. MONIEPOINT RANKED 2ND FASTEST-GROWING AFRICAN COMPANY Moniepoint is Africa’s second-fastest growing company, as shown in FTs latest report. We also processed 1 billion transactions worth $43 billion in Q1 alone. Read all about it here. This is partner content. NIGERIA’S NEW PRESIDENT WANTS A UNIFIED EXCHANGE RATE Nigeria, yesterday, swore in its sixth democratically-elected president, 70-year-old Bola Ahmed Tinubu. It’s only been a day but Tinubu, who entered into power amidst claims of rigging, already has huge plans. In his inaugural speech, the president announced that he would implement a unified exchange rate in the country. What does that mean? People buying forex in Nigeria have three exchange rates: the official exchange rate given by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), a weaker one for investors and exporters known as the NAFEX window, and the black market rate at a 75% increase of the CBN rate. It means that while YouTube Premium supposedly costs ₦1,100—about $2.40 at the CBN rate of ₦460/$1—Nigerians pay about ₦1,800 at the black market rate because the country has a forex scarcity. While the president has not expanded on what he meant, we can infer that he wants to unify all these rates and ensure that all Nigerians have access to forex at the same rate. No more fuel subsidy: In his inaugural speech, the president also announced the end to the country’s fuel subsidy regime. Since 1970, Nigeria has subsidised the price of fuel for its citizens, costing the government millions yearly. Last year, the government spent around $10 billion subsidising petrol alone. This is not the first time a subsidy removal has been proposed with several attempts thwarted in the past. In April 2023, the federal government suspended the planned removal of subsidy on petroleum products by the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. MORE FROM TECHCABAL The power of equity in incentivising African tech startup teams. Nigeria’s YouVerify is on a global expansion drive. But first, Kenya. GHANA LAUNCHES NEW CYBERSECURITY PLATFORM Ghana needs scammers to go. This week, the country’s central bank, the Bank of Ghana, announced the launch of a new cybersecurity platform: the Financial Industry Command Security Operations Centre (FISOC). How it works: Per the Bank, FISOC is now integrated with all 23 commercial banks which the Bank of Ghana regulates. The platform will be used to send these banks reports and alerts on cybersecurity threats, so they can act fast. So basically an alarm? More or less. The platform will help banks coordinate cybersecurity efforts within Ghana’s financial institutions. The platform was built by a Ghanaian company, Virtual Infosec Africa (VIA). Zoom out: While cybercrime is on the rise in several other African countries like Nigeria and South Africa, Ghana ranked as the eighth most cyber-secure country on the continent in 2022, an increase from 2021’s 10th position. EXPERIENCE VIVA TECHNOLOGY Book your pass to Europe’s biggest Startup and Business event here. This is partner content. THE WORLD WIDE WEB3 Bitcoin $27,699 + 0.47% Ether $1,891 + 2.32% BNB $312 + 0.95% Cardano $0.37 + 0.36% Name of the coin Price of the coin 24-hour percentage change Source: CoinMarketCap * Data as of 21:00 PM WAT, May 29, 2023. Yesterday, bitcoin rose by 3.2% and reached a two-week high at $28,000. Per Bloomberg, a deal raising the US debt ceiling has boosted investor sentiment in the cryptocurrency. Indian crypto exchanges are in survival mode as they try to extend their runways. CoinDesk reports that several Indian cryptocurrency startups like WazirX and CoinSwitch are in cash chokeholds that have them desperately cutting costs, conducting layoffs and rebranding themselves. EVENT: THE MOONSHOT CONFERENCE This is Moonshot by TechCabal. Moonshot is a conference that will bring together Africa’s tech ecosystem to network, collaborate, share insights and celebrate innovation on the continent. Click here to join the waiting list to get more news and updates about this conference. OPPORTUNITIES Applications are open for the L’Oreal-UNESCO Young Talents for Women in Science Program – Maghreb 2023. Awarded doctoral
Read MoreAs DStv continues to struggle, Multichoice enters payments foray
As its other businesses continue to struggle, Multichoice is making a play at payments. Multichoice Group has announced that it is launching a new integrated payments platform in a partnership with Rapyd, B2B payment processing platform, and General Catalyst, a venture capital firm that provides early-stage and growth equity investments. The platform, to be housed under an entity called “Moment”, will aim to offer payment infrastructure for businesses across Africa to help them collect and make payments easier, quicker, and more affordable in any manner that their buyers or suppliers prefer. Additionally, the platform will offer additional options for consumers to spend and save money more wisely with an aim to “transform the African payments landscape by making digital payments more accessible and reliable for domestic, cross-border and global payments.” Multichoice’s stock was down by almost 2% by market close from its opening price , perhaps pointing to the shareholders lack of faith in the company’s ability to make a mark in an already extremely competitive payments space. “We are excited about our venture with Rapyd and General Catalyst. It will address the need for an accessible and reliable payment platform for many small businesses and millions of consumers in Africa. Investing in this venture is a logical progression for us, as we already process payments every month from 22 million households across 50 countries in Africa. Moment fulfills our strategy to expand our ecosystem, by investing in adjacent businesses that provide scalable services, underpinned by technology”, said Calvo Mawela, MultiChoice Group CEO. A necessary pivot? Multichoice’s core business, DStv, has been struggling over the last few years. According to Daily Investor, between 2015 and 2018, DStv Premium subscriptions declined from 2.35 million to 1.92 million and currently stand at 1.4 million in 2022. MultiChoice’s latest annual financial results also show a 6% decline in Compact and commercial packages. The platform’s average revenue per user (ARPU) has also been on a downward spiral, declining from R317 per month in March 2018 to R269 in March 2022 for 90-day active subscribers. The company’s other bet, Showmax, reportedly grew 68% last year and 50% the year before but because the service’s numbers do not get reported on Multichoice’s financial results, they cannot be put into context with regard to their impact on its bottom line. According to Multichoice, the long-term plan for Moment is to provide the infrastructure for pan-African payments for the 44 million small businesses operating on the continent. It is also to turn the 90% of retail transactions that are currently taking place in cash, into digital payments. “Moment gives MultiChoice another opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to the economic development of the African continent. It will play a key role in accelerating cash-to-digital payments for all consumers and businesses and making the continent more investment ready for global players, by connecting payments from Africa to the world,” added Mawela. Through its 20 million subscribers on its pay-tv DStv, Multichoice already claims to process over $3.5 billion annually in payments. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed entity also has majority shareholding in Showmax, a subscription video-on demand service, and a minority stake in Betking, an online betting service. Beyond just powering payments for its own services, according to Multichoice, Moment will in the long term also make a play in facilitating payments for small businesses, drive adoption of other real-time payment methods across all markets, and facilitate trade for importers and exporters using more than 40 currencies in over 130 countries. With entry into payments, Multichoice seems to be looking to divest away from its struggling cable television bets and streaming into an industry which is currently dominated by the likes of Flutterwave, Paystack, Chipper Cash and MFS Africa. Whether this will be the redemption of the company or prove to be the last kicks of a dying horse remains to be seen.
Read MoreIn first act as president, Tinubu announces an end to fuel subsidy
Moments after he was sworn in, Nigeria’s new president Bola Tinubu said the fuel subsidy regime is gone and pledged to unify the country’s exchange rate. On Monday, Bola Tinubu was inaugurated as Nigeria’s 16th president amid questions over his electoral victory. In a bold start, Tinubu while delivering his inaugural speech announced the end to the fuel subsidy regime—a contentious issue in Nigeria. Last year, the government spent around $10 billion subsidising Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly called petrol. In April 2023, the Federal Government suspended the planned removal of subsidy on petroleum products by the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. A much-needed move Battling with a humongous debt profile and economic challenges, Nigeria obviously can’t afford to keep up with the payments. However, the ripple effect is the likely increase in fuel and subsequent hardship for Nigerians. In his speech, Tinubu said the outgoing administration made no provision for fuel subsidy in the 2023 budget. “Subsidy can no longer justify its ever-increasing costs in the wake of drying resources,” he said. Instead, his government will “re-channel the funds into better investment in public infrastructure, education, health care and jobs.” Unified monetary exchange rate at last In September 2022, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommended a unified exchange rate to strengthen Nigeria’s economy and external reserves, as the country grapples with a foreign exchange (FX) shortage. Nigeria runs a multiple exchange rate regime, with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the forefront. However, the controlled nature of the exchange regime has now driven demand to the unofficial black market, leading to a wide discrepancy between the official and parallel markets. TechCabal recently reported the implications of a proposed 15% naira devaluation on Nigerians. For the new president, the monetary policy needs a thorough house cleaning, especially as the CBN recently raised the monetary policy rate (MPR) from 18% to 18.5 %. “The Central Bank must work towards a unified exchange rate. This will direct funds away from arbitrage into meaningful investment like plant, equipment and jobs that power the real economy,” Tinubu said. But everyone agrees with him, Kelvin Emmanuel, a financial expert tweeted, “Attempting to cap MPR as a monetary policy tool to slow down the acceleration of commercial lending rates, bond yields, is a bad idea. The thing to focus on is using the planned unification of exchange rate to bring back FX liquidity.”
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Intron Health is bringing AI superpowers to hospitals in Africa
In his final year as a medical student, Tobi convinced his university to create a learning management system for boring anatomy lectures. Now he is using artificial intelligence to help doctors in Africa process medical records faster. Africa does not have enough healthcare personnel. So healthcare workers are expected to take care of more patients per doctor than in more developed economies. Paperwork takes up a significant portion of time on the job. Healthcare workers need to take patients’ medical histories, fill forms and update these records with time. Modern hospitals are digitising how they take these records but a computer and some software do not necessarily make the job easier. Sometimes, it takes up too much time and doctors go back to writing their notes on paper. One Nigerian-trained doctor and AI specialist believes that artificial intelligence can help African hospitals digitise medical records faster and save time for doctors. Nigeria, Africa’s most populated country, needs 363,000 doctors to achieve universal healthcare coverage. But Nigeria only has 24,000 licensed medical doctors. In 2017 when Nigeria needed 237,000 doctors to meet the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommended doctor-to-patient ratio, the country had even more— 35,000 doctors. The number of qualified medical doctors has fallen by 31.4% despite the population growing by 2.46% on average between 2017 and 2021. 140312. Patients wait patiently during Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane and Gauteng Health MEC Ntombi Mekgwe surprise visit at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, Soweto. 156Picture: Dumisani Sibeko As a result, too few doctors see far too many patients. Doctors in Nigeria frequently complain of burnout and being “overused and underpaid”. The story is the same across much of Africa. With approximately 3.6 million health workers in the 47 countries, the WHO estimates that Africa has a ratio of 1.55 health workers (including physicians, nurses and midwives) per 1,000 people. The recommended threshold is 4.45 healthcare workers for every 1,000 patients. By 2018, only four countries (Mauritius, Namibia, Seychelles and South Africa) had surpassed the WHO health worker-to-population ratio. Digitising healthcare In the early 1960s, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester in the US state of Minnesota was one of the first major healthcare centres to adopt an electronic health record (EHR) system. It was expensive and basic and could only be used to manage patient appointments and billing. Since then, electronic health record software has become much more sophisticated, allowing for detailed information about the patient’s health to be collected and processed. EHRs are not widely used in African healthcare despite their much-talked-about benefits. Installing EHR systems and training healthcare workers to use them is expensive. It is also often blamed for the lack of adoption of EHR tools by hospitals. But there are subtler reasons. Tobi Olatunji, a University of Ibadan-trained doctor turned computer scientist, says even in hospitals where EHR systems are installed they are not always used because doctors find them cumbersome and time-consuming. Doctors may be computer literate, but “when you put a keyboard in front of people, then that’s a whole different problem that you are creating.” So Olatunji co-founded Intron Health, a startup that uses automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology to transcribe doctors’ notes while they speak. But Intron Health did not start out with speech-to-text software. Intron Health, which was founded in 2019, offered a regular EHR software solution to help hospitals digitise their processes. In 2020, as COVID-19 spread globally and healthcare workers worried that Africa’s frail healthcare system could easily be overwhelmed, Intron Health piloted its first software at a Nigerian hospital. “It was a busy hospital and they were all excited. They had electricity; we had installed a wireless network for them. Everything was great,” Olatunji recalls. “[But] the day we launched, the doctor spent 40 minutes just to type the notes for the first patient that came.” Seeing the next patient took 50 minutes and by this time patients in the waiting room were getting visibly frustrated. If a doctor cannot see patients because they need to use clunky computer software to create or update medical records, waiting patients will be tempted to seek help elsewhere. The hospitals using Intron Health’s early software asked them if they could simplify it by replacing text boxes with checkboxes. But that was a crude solution and it meant you had to predict every possible medical situation to create a robust enough checkbox system. That was impossible. During his days as a medical student at University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan, Olatunji had faced a similar frustration during an anatomy course where a lecturer struggled to explain how babies pass through the birth canal with only textbook pictures and hand gestures. He felt a video lesson would be better and students could repeat the lesson as much as they needed to. Somehow he was able to convince the university to build a rudimentary learning management system with hosted animated video lessons, with funding from the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the World Bank. From then on, Olatunji’s path began to diverge from medical practice. His university asked him to help train staff from other universities, and when he graduated, he was employed by the university to build technology tools, including telesurgery tools, a patient navigation app and clinical simulation software. From UCH Ibadan, Olatunji made his way to the United States where he got a master’s degree in medical informatics from the University of San Francisco and another in computer science at Georgia Tech. He was employed by Enlitic, a San Francisco Bay Area company, as a machine learning scientist and researcher to help build natural language processing (NLP) and natural language understanding (NLU) AI models to help translate English text to other languages. After leaving Enlitic, he joined the Health AI team at Amazon Web Services as a machine learning scientist. On the side, he was already building software to digitise hospital records in Africa, which became Intron Health. But his first rodeo ran into a snag. Doctors in Africa who saw too many
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