News (1575)
Nigeria's ambition is to digitize its whole public sector and boost internet access across the country. For that purpose, it is building relationships with countries that share the same goals.
Nigeria's Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (photo, left) recently started a working visit to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. On Monday, December 5, 2022, he was welcomed by his Vietnamese counterpart, Madam Võ Thị Ánh Xuân (photo, right), at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi.
During that welcome meeting, the two parties signed a defense cooperation agreement and expressed their commitment to strengthening their long-standing bilateral relations by working together in the areas of the digital economy, and telecommunications, among others.
According to Prof. Osinbajo, “there are vast opportunities that exist for cooperation and collaboration, especially in the area of digital economy and telecoms.”
“We look forward to accelerating the process, ensuring that those agreements are signed because they are vital to the collaborations that we will see between our countries in the coming years,” he added.
Both countries have great potential in the digital economy and telecommunications in their respective continents. In its report "E-Government Survey 2022 The Future of Digital Government", the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) said that Vietnam ranks 86th out of 193 countries with a high e-government index. Nigeria ranks 140th in the world with an average e-government index.
The bilateral collaboration they plan to strengthen will therefore enable Nigeria to benefit from Vietnam's extensive experience in digitizing services, deploying telecommunication services, and profit Nigerians, who will benefit from public e-services.
“We have close 120 million of our citizens who have put to use telecoms equipment or devices. And also, broadband connectivity is vastly improved. We hope that by 2025, we will have broadband connectivity for all of our over 200 million people,” Prof. Osinbajo said.
Samira Njoya
The Dubai-based company can now offer its services in Ghana since it is now complying with the local law, which requires service providers to have a presence in the country.
Tech-enabled payment solutions provider Network International Holdings will open a new office and data center in Ghana. This was announced in a release, dated December 5, issued by the holdings.
“Ghana is an exciting market for digital payments and innovation, and we are delighted to launch our office and data center to offer customers, banks, and entrepreneurs smooth and secure payment services. We look forward to supporting businesses as they grow and reach new customers,” said Addo-Quaye (photo, left), Managing Director of Network International Ghana.
With that office, the holding is establishing a local presence to provide innovative solutions that drive customer and profitability and help businesses and economies thrive by simplifying commerce and payments in the Ghanaian market.
Network International's launch in Ghana comes against a backdrop of accelerated digital transformation and increased consumer preferences for convenient, frictionless payment options. In June, Ernest Addison, the governor of the Bank of Ghana, noted that the volume of instant payment transactions has grown from 420,000 cedis (about US$52,800) in 2016 to 31.4 billion cedis in 2021. In addition, cash in circulation in the country as a proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) has dropped from 6.8 percent in 2016 to 4.7 percent in 2021, while the number of checks used per capita has dropped from 25.67 in 2016 to 18.9 in 2021.
Network International wants to take advantage of these shifts and create more partnerships with companies in the digital payments space in Ghana to offer customers more payment options and boost financial inclusion.
The company has a presence in Africa’s largest markets, including Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, and Ghana. It also operates in almost all of the other African countries.
Samira Njoya
Henceforth, with this technology, Algerian companies will have to encode their information in barcodes stamped on the products manufactured locally.
Barcoding products has become a compulsory requirement in Algeria. The Minister of Trade and Export Promotion, Kamel Rezig (photo), announced this requirement last Saturday at the Bar code information day held at the National Agency for the Promotion of Foreign Trade in Algiers. According to Minister Kamel Rezig, the reform aims to facilitate exports and avoid falsifications.
The reform follows the interministerial order on technical regulations governing the stamping of barcodes on products intended for human consumption issued on February 16, 2021, by the Algerian Ministries of Trade and Industry.
In August 2020, the Minister of Trade announced the upcoming elaboration of a regulatory text governing barcoding in the country. At the time, he said that in the following five years, all the Algerian products manufactured and packaged locally for human consumption would be barcoded once it becomes mandatory.
To date, 11,410 companies operating on the national market have requested and obtained their barcodes, which they have stamped on more than 500,000 products destined for human consumption. The remaining companies are called to get up to date because “once the deadline passes, the products without barcodes will be considered illegal and banned,” Kamel Rezig says.
Samira Njoya
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
The project aims to encourage innovation, develop the local ICT ecosystem and contribute to the effective implementation of digital transformation.
In Senegal, the national ICT Observatory plans to develop an upgraded platform to promote the emergence and development of digital companies. Last Friday (December 2), the Ministry of Telecommunications organized a workshop to present the US$3 million project.
The project will be implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the UNESCO Regional Office for Education in Africa (BREDA), the UNESCO Regional Office in Dakar, and the Senegalese branch of the Internet Society (ISCO).
According to Isaac Cissokho, Secretary General of the Ministry of Telecommunications, with the digital sector growing steadily in Senegal, it is crucial to "create an environment that can inspire emulation among the various actors of the ecosystem.”
The future platform will allow a better understanding of ICT adoption in the country and provide harmonized and quality data to guide the formulation, implementation, and review of ICT policies.
Before the proper upgrading works, a study on the use of digital tools and services will be carried out to ensure that the sector creates value in Senegal.
Samira Njoya
Humanitarian institutions are usually faced with many challenges, including logistics problems, when working in unstable and insecure regions. Some parties are testing solutions to facilitate remote project management.
Last Thursday, the African Development Bank (AfDB) announced the roll-out of the RASME (Remote Appraisal, Supervision, Monitoring, and Evaluation) project in Angola, after a 3-day training.
RASME is a suite of tools and processes to collect data in real time. It was developed to enable AfDB, its clients, and development partners to better prepare projects, and progress reports, and assess impact openly and transparently.
According to the AfDB Group country manager for Angola, “this project can significantly enhance the data collection which we use to assess the effectiveness of our development work here in Angola.”
“It is significant that we are launching RASME in partnership with the Government of the Republic of Angola,” he added.
The data-gathering tool is the result of a partnership between the African Development Bank's Information Technology Department (CHIS), the World Bank's Geo-Enabling Monitoring and Supervision Initiative, and the KoBoToolbox Foundation, a non-governmental organization affiliated with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative.
With RASME, AfDB staff, including project and sector managers, country and regional program managers, and government officials will now be able to compile project-related information directly from the field, using a smartphone, tablet or laptop, drones, and satellites. Data can be collected in a variety of formats: text, video, graphics, and even survey responses.
To date, RASME has been deployed in fourteen African countries, including Gabon, Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, and Mozambique. According to Dra Rossana Silva, Head of the International Economic Cooperation Department at the Angolan Ministry of Finance, "ensuring open and transparent reporting of our development initiatives is central to our mission. RASME is an important enhancement of our capacity to do this.”
Samira Njoya
The startup has developed a fintech app that allows the secured purchase, and transfer of digital assets and also enables users to save in cryptocurrencies. Its goal is to promote financial inclusion and democratize the use of digital financial assets.
Cameroonian crypto fintech Ejara announced, Monday (Nov 28), it has secured US$8 million in Series A funding.
The round, led by London-based venture capital firm Anthemis and Dragonfly Capital, had the likes of Mercy Corps Ventures, Coinshares Ventures and Lateral Capital, Circle Ventures Moonstake and Emurgo Ventures as participants.
The additional funds will be used to further democratize access to investment and savings products in Francophone Africa and the diaspora, using blockchain technology. "Financial inclusion is my utmost concern and my role is to ensure that the financial products that Africans deserve are accessible to them with just a few clicks and the lowest entry barrier,” said Nelly Chatue-Diop, CEO of Ejara.
The fundraising comes exactly one year after the company raised US$2 million in seed funding, bringing its valuation to US$10 million. According to the startup, the financial resources were used to boost the use of cryptocurrency and investment services in Francophone Africa.
Despite the recent collapse of cryptocurrencies, Ejara has seen a 10-fold increase in revenue and a 15% monthly growth in transaction volume since last October. The startup expects to grow its user base to 100,000 by the end of 2022. Currently, it boasts users from Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea, Gabon, and Senegal, as well as French-speaking Africans in the diaspora (Europe, Asia, and the United States).
Samira Njoya
Through the project, the Burkinabe government and international partners aim to leverage digital technologies to strengthen the country's health system.
Last Tuesday, in Kombissiri, Burkinabe Health Minister Dr. Robert Lucien Kargougou launched the pilot phase of Mhealth-Burkina, a mobile e-health app developed to improve community health.
The pilot phase will be carried out in two health districts, the Boromo and Kombissiri districts namely. It is aimed at collecting and transmitting integrated disease management data.
According to Minister Robert Kargougou, improving community health is one of the key priorities to strengthen the health system. "In some areas without health workers, only community-based health workers provide care. So, it is important to digitalize their activities through Mhealth-Burkina, which enables us to collect data on all the activities those community-based health workers perform daily," he said.
In 2019, in partnership with UNICEF and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, the country developed a mobile data digitization application called "mHealth." The application aims to improve patient care and monitoring, as well as on-site drug stock controls.
The application, which works offline, transfers the collected data by SMS to a secure server. This server is accessible to community health center teams, health districts, regional health managers, and national health authorities.
According to the Health Minister, the pilot phase marks the beginning of the digitization of community health workers’ activities. About fifteen modules will be integrated into Mhealth-Burkina to allow the workers to instantly report the needed data.
By 2023, the app will be launched in seven regions covering about 7,500 health workers. Its ultimate goal is to cover every village located more than five kilometers from a health facility.
Samira Njoya
The Moroccan government is making continuous efforts to improve the country’s attractiveness and encourage value-added investments in tourism, which is a very promising local sector.
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) announced, Tuesday (Nov 29), that it has partnered with the Moroccan government to support 10,000 tourism SMEs in their digital transformation process.
A few days earlier, the two parties had signed an agreement in that regard, on the sidelines of the UNWTO Executive Council session in Marrakech.
"Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises are the backbone of the global tourism sector…[They] were hit hardest of all by the pandemic.[...] With the right support, they can grow to become true agents of change and help build a more inclusive and sustainable sector. UNWTO is proud to be supporting thousands of small businesses, in Morocco and across the world, to make the shift to digital and so become more innovative and competitive, " said UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili (photo, right).
The Moroccan tourism sector was indeed hit by the coronavirus pandemic, which caused a significant drop in performance. Nevertheless, according to Tourism Minister Fatim-Zahra Ammor (photo, center), it is recovering now. The figures disclosed show that in June 2022, the sector had improved by 173% year-on-year and 71% compared to the 2019 performances.
With 2.3 million tourists having so far traveled to Morocco since the country lifted its Covid-related travel ban in February, arrivals to the country are now up 52 percent compared to the 2019 arrival figures.
Let’s note that SMEs account for 98% of the country’s tourism industry. They are therefore the backbone of the industry, hence the importance of that agreement, which will allow their digital transformation, through expert and customized support.
Samira Njoya
The Egyptian start-up ecosystem has greatly flourished in recent years. To help its actors achieve better results, the government has committed to supporting it. This pledge has renewed investors’ interest in the ecosystem.
The Egyptian Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) announced, Friday (Nov 25), a memorandum of understanding with 500 Global, one of the world's most active venture capital firms. The three-year agreement will allow the company to open an office in Egypt- its first ever in Africa, build the capacity of 200 start-ups and create an investment fund to support Egyptian startups.
"We are thrilled to partner with ITIDA to bring 500 Global’s world-class programs, which have produced eight of our 49 unicorns, and a venture education program tailored for accelerator managers. [...] As long-time investors in the country, we have the utmost confidence in the potential of the Egyptian market and look to be a key enabler of its fast-growing ecosystem," said Courtney Powell (photo, left), COO and Managing Partner of 500 Global.
Indeed, in a very short time, Egypt's startup ecosystem has emerged as one of the four largest in Africa. In 2021, its startups attracted nearly US$500 million in venture capital funding, more than double the amount raised in 2020. They also enabled the development of key sectors such as public transport, alternative, and renewable energy, agribusiness, and e-commerce.
The agreement signed aims to provide the country’s promising startups with the tools they need to succeed, and to train managers of budding accelerators, creating the conditions necessary to foster a regional community of innovators.
According to Amr Talaat (photo, center), Egypt's Minister of Communications and Information Technology, the partnership is part of the ministry's commitment to establishing cooperation with key global players. This commitment aims to create an inclusive and robust network of experts and investors, to accelerate the growth of the local start-up ecosystem, and encourage innovation and entrepreneurship.
Samira Njoya
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Cybersecurity is now a global concern. To address cyber threats, countries are coming together to strengthen cooperation for effective actions.
Last Tuesday, the Arab Information and Communication Technologies organization (AICTO) presented its Cybersecurity strategy, on the sidelines of the "Regional Digital Trust Days" (November 29-December 1, 2022).
The strategy aims to help the 17 AICTO member countries, including 10 African countries, respond to cyber challenges and harmonize their legal frameworks in an increasingly digitalized economic environment.
For Adnane Ben Halima, Vice President in charge of Public Relations for Huawei Northern Africa, with every sector undergoing digital transformation and internet usage growing, data privacy and protection can not be assured as they should if systems reliability is not ensured. “Cybersecurity is an important prerequisite and absolute priority,” he said.
The strategy is presented a year after Arab League members and AICTO agreed to map out a common cybersecurity vision and strategy. It is developed in collaboration with experts and aims to promote joint actions and boost strategic inter-regional and global cooperation on the safety and security of ICTs.
The strategy, which will be adopted in the coming months, is part of a set of projects laid out by the AICTO’s 2023-2027 action plan that aims to spur uniform growth and close the existing cybersecurity gap within member countries.
Samira Njoya
For 2023, the Guinean government plans several projects including digitizing some public services and connecting over 300 schools and universities to the internet.
In the coming months, Guinea will record incredible advances in internet connection, Minister Ousmane Gaoual Diallo said on public radio RTG last Monday. According to the government official, the government has already invested over US$200 million to deploy 4,400 kilometers of fiber optics in the country. It is also moving to increase, to three, the number of optical cables it is connected to; to reduce telecommunications and internet costs from over GFr1.5 million to 500,000 (US$58) on average.
In recent years, the Guinean government has stepped up efforts to digitally transform the country. Several projects are underway including the national telecom company (Guinea Telecom), which is expected to launch in the first half of 2023 (according to Minister Ousmane Gaoual Diallo).
In 2023, the country also plans to digitize various administrations and public services, and connect 300 schools and universities to the internet. Last April, to facilitate the implementation of its digital projects, the country created its national digitization agency. The agency will oversee the government’s digital transformation projects and programs.
Samira Njoya
The move aims at ensuring the smooth operations of the park, which is a natural sanctuary for large mammals, in the digital age.
Yesterday, the Gabonese agency for national parks ANPN and fiber optic operator Axione signed a sponsorship agreement to equip the Lopé National Park with high-speed internet.
The agreement aims to connect the Lopé National Park to fiber optic, allowing the park’s scientific teams to instantly analyze the data collected by the connected objects (plotters, wildlife observation cameras, video protection, etc.).
"We are really pleased and proud to support the actions of the Lopé Nature Reserve, which works daily to protect biodiversity. Thanks to the expertise of Axione Gabon's teams, we are installing a fiber optic network in the park. This fiber optic connectivity will significantly improve the possibilities given to researchers, scientists, or students to transfer and analyze the collected data, which are necessary to observe and preserve the wildlife," said Jacques Beauvois (photo, right) General Manager of Axione Gabon.
The Lopé National Park is on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage List since 2007. It is one of the richest in Gabon and a priority for the country's government. It is particularly important because it hosts archaeological sites dating back 620,000 to 850,000 years. These are the oldest traces of human life in Central Africa to date. It is therefore important to connect its offices and training center to the national high-speed internet backbone.
Axiome will supervise the fiber optic installation works, supply, connect, and commission equipment, under this agreement, which is the result of three years of cooperation between several public institutions and Axione Group.
Samira Njoya
In Africa, countries are accelerating the digitation of public services. Every sector is undergoing reforms to make the services accessible to everyone via, digital tools.
The Chadian Ministry of Justice and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) organized a workshop in Koundoul, South of Ndjamena last November 24-26. The workshop was organized to review the country’s judicial system and lay the foundations for its digitization.
For Louise Bourkou Ngaradoumri, Secretary of State for Justice and Human Rights, this project is of great importance to Chad. "Digital technologies appear like essential tools to serve justice as we are far from one another. By using digital tools, we can identify problems as soon as possible,” she said.
The workshop comes after an experience-sharing session organized by Chad last August, with representatives of the Morrocan and Rwandan judicial systems as participants.
The workshop and the experience-sharing session are both parts of the process initiated by the government a few years ago to digitize the justice system. The process is supported by the UNDP in the framework of its project to support the penal system and institutions). Last June, under that same project, the institution handed computers and office equipment to the Ministry of Justice to improve access to quality justice.
According to Justice Minister Mahamat Ahmat Alhabo, in the digital age, only those who keep up to date with the advances can find a place in the justice system. "Not adapting [to the advances] means self-exclusion because, in Chad, the justice system will be digitalized to rid it of its evils,” he said.
Samira Njoya