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Moroccan home services marketplace PrestaFreedom recently secured MAD11 million ($1.1 million) in financing from the Azur Innovation Fund.
The funds will enable the company not only to improve its logistics and technological infrastructure but also develop its activities and pursue ambitious expansion strategies in several African markets, beginning next year.
Gabon's capital, Libreville, will host the third edition of the audiovisual and digital career fair SAMEAU next June 6-8. The event whose theme is "Ethics and deontology of digital media during election periods in Gabon," will feature a number of journalism, TV and radio animation, digital communication, computer graphics, and photography workshops.
The 2nd edition of the B2B Digital Day, organized to let companies discover the latest digital trends and technologies in Côte d'Ivoire, will be held in Abidjan next June 22.
The event, organized by marketing and business development consultancy agency Yadec Consulting, builds on the objectives of the first edition, which was to encourage actors of the Ivorian markets to adopt digital technologies to transform and grow their businesses.
The theme chosen for the B2B Digital Day 2023 is: "Business Digitalization: Practices and Tools."
Last week, U.S. group META announced the upcoming deployment of the Metaverse in Côte d’Ivoire. At a forum in Abidjan, last Friday, Balkissa Ide Siddo, Meta Public Policy Director for Sub-Saharan Africa, said the metaverse could help medical students practice surgery. It could also make classes engaging and fun.
On Monday, May 15, 2023, Maurice Lévy, former head of French multinational communications company Publicis, inaugurated a new digital art platform called "YourArt" at the modern art museum Palais de Tokyo.
According to the former executive, YourArt wants to become the world's leading art and tech platform, allowing professional and amateur artists to showcase and sell their work.
In a statement released on Thursday, May 18, California-based OpenAI announced the launch of the iOS app of its artificial intelligence-based conversational agent, ChatGPT.
"The ChatGPT app is free to use and syncs your history across devices. It also integrates Whisper, our open-source speech-recognition system, enabling voice input. ChatGPT Plus subscribers get exclusive access to GPT-4’s capabilities, early access to features, and faster response times, all on iOS," the release reads.
Currently, the app is available for US users only but it will expand to additional countries “in the coming weeks.” The Android version is also coming "soon".
The Arab Administrative Development Organization (ARADO) will hold a forum on governance in the digital age from June 19-21 in Casablanca, Morocco.
The forum aims, among other things, to provide participants with the knowledge and skills needed for effective digital transformation and recent technical developments in this area. It will also help identify what institutions need to do and the challenges they must prepare for when the digital transformation process is completed.
The Moroccan Youth Ministry and UNICEF launched Tuesday (May 16), a digital platform for youth engagement.
The platform, dubbed U-Report Morocco, will allow young people aged 14 to 25 to express themselves and share their views on issues affecting them and their communities as a whole. The goal is to foster citizenship and make their voice count in policy-making processes.
The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) recently opened applications for its virtual mentorship program Women in Cyber (WIC). Applications are open to women residing in Africa, Arab regions, Asia, and the Pacific till May 22.
The program was initiated about three years ago to foster gender inclusion in the cybersecurity industry.
Last Monday (May 8), Alexandria Procter, co-founder of South African accommodation website DigsConnect, announced that the women-led investment firm Intaba Capital invested in his firm's ongoing Series A round. The investment amount was, however, not disclosed.
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Last Tuesday, UNHCR representative in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angèle Dikongue-Atangana (photo, right), granted an audience to Congolese Digital Minister Désiré-Cashmir Kolongele (photo, left).
The two parties agreed to strengthen their collaboration in the digital sector, particularly in the management of population data through the upcoming implementation of a unique identification system.
The system will allow the general identification of every resident, including citizens, refugees, and aliens.
Twitter CEO Elon Musk (photo) announced in a tweet published on Thursday (May 11) the launch of the first version of encrypted direct messages on the platform. The feature allows subscribers to communicate without the platform storing their messages, which will only be available on their devices. Musk also mentioned that other features, such as voice and video calls, will be added 'soon’.
The Ivorian Minister of SMEs Souleymane Diarrassouba (photo) launched on Monday (May 8), a mobile application to fight against the cost of living crisis and monitor market prices.
According to the government official, the app dubbed “contrôle citoyen” allows any resident to report illegal pricing practices, the sales of outdated goods, and merchants who fail to display their prices.
Adaverse, a Cardano blockchain accelerator focussed on Africa and Asia, announced on Tuesday (May 9) its investment in BitSport, a blockchain-based Web3 gaming platform founded by Victor Ogunshina and Charles Adenuoye. The amount invested was not disclosed.
"Bitsport’s AI-powered Web3 gaming platform represents the future of gaming, and we are thrilled to be a part of it. Adaverse’s investment in Bitsport highlights our commitment to supporting the development of cutting-edge technology that has the potential to revolutionize the gaming industry," said Vincent Li, founding partner at Adaverse.