April 2019 – Africa Tech Digest

This South African-founded podcast startup has just been acquired by global podcasting company Acast

30Apr

By Africa Tech DigestNo Comments

Southern Africa, Start-ups

This South African-founded podcast startup has just been acquired by global podcasting company Acast

South African-founded podcast technology startup Pippa has been acquired by large global podcasting company Acast. Pippa provides people who create podcasts with a space to host their podcasts, and shares it to all the relevant outlets including iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and every podcast app. The platform also provides in-depth analytics on how their podcast is performing, as well as allowing them to place adverts in their content. ‘’Joining Acast represents an important, necessary, and extremely exciting leap forward for Pippa.’’ the company said in a statement. ‘’Acast’s reputation as the premier podcast company in the world is well deserved. We’re honoured to join their team and — with you — to continue crafting the future of podcasting together.’’ “We’re incredibly proud...

IT Professionals Leaving South Africa Cite Political and Economic Concerns

30Apr

By Africa Tech DigestNo Comments

Southern Africa, Trends

IT Professionals Leaving South Africa Cite Political and Economic Concerns

President Cyril Ramaphosa recently called on young white South Africans not to leave the country in a pre-election campaign drive in Stellenbosch. He said that the fears that many white South Africans have of not being wanted, “is entirely not true”. “There is a place, there is room for all of us,” the president said. The problem of professionals leaving South Africa, however, extends far beyond the young white population. Many qualified people are leaving the country in search for a better future for themselves and their families. IT professionals leaving South Africa MyBroadband’s 2019 IT Salary Survey revealed that 46% of IT professionals in South Africa are planning to leave South Africa permanently, or work abroad, in the near future. The survey was conducted in Apr...

South Africa Ranked Top Startup Ecosystem in Africa, But Drops in World Rankings

30Apr

By Africa Tech DigestNo Comments

Southern Africa, Trends

South Africa Ranked Top Startup Ecosystem in Africa, But Drops in World Rankings

South Africa may still have the highest ranked startup ecosystem for an African country, but it is no longer in the top 50 club, after dropping 13 spots, a new ranking shows. The ranking — developed by StartupBlink, a global startup ecosystem map with tens of thousands of registered startups, coworking spaces and accelerators — was released last week. It ranks 100 countries and 1000 cities for 2018. Startup Blink draws its data from what it claims is an algorithm that analyses tens of thousands of data points on registered startups, accelerators and coworking spaces listed on the StartupBlink global startup ecosystem map, as well as data received from its global partners such as Crunchbase and SimilarWeb. The report puts South Africa just behind Malaysia, Slovakia, Slovenia and C...

Liquid Telecom is hosting MIT’s Inclusive Innovation Challenge to address digital economy disparities across Africa

30Apr

By Africa Tech DigestNo Comments

Events

Liquid Telecom is hosting MIT’s Inclusive Innovation Challenge to address digital economy disparities across Africa

Liquid Telecom is hosting Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT)’s 2019 MIT’s Inclusive Innovation Challenge (IIC) in Africa to help entrepreneurs re-invent the way technology innovation is harnessed. Launched in 2016, the challenge is coming to Africa for the first time and Liquid Telecom will serve as the IIC’s outreach partner for Africa, where it will play an important role in recruiting African entrepreneurs and innovators to participate in the challenge. The 2019 IIC has four categories which include technology access, financial inclusion, skills development and opportunity matching, and income growth and job creation. The IIC will award a total of $1.6 million this year —including $250,000 to each of the four winning organisations. “We are happy to help IIC reach m...

Africa Tech Summit Accepting Startup Tech Pitches Until Tuesday

26Apr

By Africa Tech DigestNo Comments

Start-ups

Africa Tech Summit Accepting Startup Tech Pitches Until Tuesday

African tech startups looking to pitch their solutions at the Africa Tech Summit London, which takes place on 11 June, have until next week Tuesday (30 April) to apply for Pitch Live London. The Pitch Live London platform gives African startups an opportunity to pitch to top investors, corporates, innovators, the media and advisors. To be considered for the pitching platform, startups must either have one African co-founder or be based on the continent, as well as be less than five years old. In addition, the startups must have a minimum viable product with existing traction, must have raised less than $1-million in external funding and have a current “ask”. This year’s Africa Tech Summit London will take place during London Tech Week Africa Tech Summit London connects industr...

Kenya Parliament Approves Progressive Draft Data Protection Policy and Bill

26Apr

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East Africa, Tech Policy

Kenya Parliament Approves Progressive Draft Data Protection Policy and Bill

Amidst the hue and cry from Kenyans who have since faulted the Government’s plan to create a universal database for citizens under the NIIMs program that is popularly known as Huduma Namba, the State through its Twitter handle @StateHouseKenya revealed that Parliament had approved a progressive draft Data Protection Policy and Bill. The announcement was made by President Kenyatta. I assure Kenyans and all people residing in our beautiful country that we are taking additional measures to ensure the information they give is safe. Yesterday, the Cabinet approved a progressive draft Data Protection Policy and Bill ~President Uhuru Kenyatta | #HappyEaster— State House Kenya (@StateHouseKenya) April 19, 2019 The declaration was necessary because the Huduma Namba registration exercise had ...

What makes us African is our exclusive focus on African consumers, says Jumia’s co-founder

24Apr

By Africa Tech DigestNo Comments

ecommerce

What makes us African is our exclusive focus on African consumers, says Jumia’s co-founder

It’s been an remarkable couple of weeks for Jumia, the largest e-commerce operator in Africa, as it made tech history by listing on the New York Stock Exchange. The company’s initial public offering has been lauded as game-changing in African tech circles especially given previous concerns about a lack of exits for investors in tech startups as well significant operational challenges in e-commerce across the continent. Quartz Africa spoke to Sacha Poignonnec, co-founder and chief executive of Jumia, to discuss the company’s operations across African markets, the possible impact of its landmark initial public offering and the sustained debate over the company’s identity. How do you respond to the increasing furor around Jumia’s roots and identity as an African company? For us, it’...

World Bank to Invest $200 Million in Egypt Startups

24Apr

By Africa Tech DigestNo Comments

Start-ups

World Bank to Invest $200 Million in Egypt Startups

WASHINGTON, April 17, 2019 – The World Bank announced today a new US$200 million investment project to support the next generation of reforms in Egypt aimed at creating more opportunities for young people and women. The project will focus on expanding the amount and access to credit for small and medium enterprises, which have proven to be a major source of growth and job creation. The ‘Catalyzing Entrepreneurship for Job Creation’ project is designed to address the major obstacles that young people and women face when launching new businesses. In an economy where the financial system is dominated by banks lending primarily to mature businesses, the project will channel US$145 million mainly through non-bank financial institutions offering loans to small businesses. This pro...

The Rapid Growth of Digital Business in Africa

23Apr

By Africa Tech DigestNo Comments

Trends

The Rapid Growth of Digital Business in Africa

The latest technology firm to list on the New York Stock Exchange is not from Silicon Valley but from Africa. Jumia, an e-commerce platform with over 4 million customers in 14 African countries, saw its shares jump by around 70% on its NYSE debut day on April 12th. That put the company’s market capitalization at close to $2 billion, cementing its status as Africa’s first technology unicorn. Jumia’s successful NYSE listing is a timely reminder of Africa’s rapid digitization — a trend that has been hidden from the view of many global investors and executives. Africa already has 122 million active users of mobile financial services, more than half the global total. Its number of smartphone connections is forecast to double from 315 million in 2015 to 636 million in 2022 — twice the projec...

“Born to Code”: Rwanda launches first coding academy

23Apr

By Africa Tech DigestNo Comments

East Africa

“Born to Code”: Rwanda launches first coding academy

Rwanda has embraced technology and is now preparing its young population for the future by launching a coding academy. The school's motto "born to code" encourages young people interested in coding to pursue it as a career. The academy focusses on cyber security and software programming, and 30 girls and 30 boys enrolled in the first intake. The Rwandan government and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) recently launched the Rwanda Coding Academy in partnership with the Ministry of ICT, Ministry of Education and Rwanda Polytechnic among other institutions. The Rwanda Coding Academy, which opened on the 4th of February 2019 with a total of 60 students; 30 girls and 30 boys. A statement from the Ministry of Education said, “This model school will graduate its studen...