News (1339)
The coronavirus pandemic accelerated digital transformation across the globe. In Africa, about 230 million jobs will require “some level of digital skills” by 2030, according to the International Finance Corporation (IFC). However, there is still a huge digital skill gap on the continent. Hence the importance of such programs.
Pan-African organization Power Learn Project (PLP) announced, Thursday (April 28), the launch of its "One Million Developers for Africa" program. As its name implies, the program aims to train one million Africans in software development by 2025. In its first phase, launched this year, the program will train more than 10,000 learners in six countries, namely Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi, and Zambia.
According to Ms. Mumbi Ndung'u, PLP Chief Growth & Operations Officer, the project’s “goal is to drive transformative change for the youth of Africa through technology skilling.”
“The program will offer online junior software development training, consisting of curated programming languages as well as a soft skills component in employability, and entrepreneurship to enable the learners to acquire entry-level smart technology jobs. Through support from partners, the course will be covered on full scholarships, so the learners’ only concern is to learn and absorb as much as they can, as they prepare to navigate the digital revolution with us, ” she added.
The coronavirus pandemic proved how important digital transformation is for Africa. However, there is still a shortage of digital skills required on the continent. Meanwhile, about 70% of the population in Africa is aged between 18 and 35 and 60% of that population is underemployed or unemployed. Digital skill training can thus become an important tool in addressing that situation and at the same time providing the skills necessary for digital transformation on the continent.
For John Kamara, chairman of the board of PLP, the pan-African organization is “working towards the Pan African dream of building relevant capacity to extract value from the fourth industrial revolution."
During the 16-week training, learners will be taught courses like Python programming, Dart programming with the Flutter framework, introduction to blockchain technologies, web technology (PHP, HTML, JAVA), databases (SQL programming), and employment and entrepreneurship skills.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
To boost efficiency and improve decision-making, Algeria has embarked on a digitization program covering all of its Ministries. The digital platform announced will provide accurate information on the ongoing, suspended, or completed housing and urban development projects.
In Algeria, stakeholders can now monitor the completion rate of public housing projects through the Ministry of Housing’s official website. On Sunday, April 24, 2022, during a meeting to assess the Q1-2022 performance in the social housing sector, Housing Minister Mohamed Tarek Belaribi (photo) announced the launch of the digital platform enabling the feature.
The platform is a sort of directory of the various urban development and housing projects launched, ongoing, or suspended in the country. Decision-makers involved in a housing or urban development project are therefore advised to regularly update project data to give an accurate estimate of progress. In that regard, the country plans to train focus groups on how to provide the required information.
The digital platform was developed to support the monitoring and evaluation missions of project managers, housing directors, property management agencies, and sectoral officials in the housing segment.
According to Minister Mohamed Tarek Belaribi, the platform is the result of instructions given by the President of the Republic to accelerate the digitization of institutions supervised by the Ministry of Housing and update the national housing database. For the government official, the platform is crucial for the government because it will provide quality information to guide decision-making in due time.
Ruben Tchounyabe
During the COVID-19 lockdown period, 79% of Ghana’s retail business was carried out online. The growth of this innovative means has attracted scammers. The program announced is aimed at weeding them out of the segment.
Ghana’s Postal and Courier Services Regulatory Commission (PCSRC) announced Tuesday (April 26) the upcoming registration of e-commerce and logistics operators.
The program aims to create a secure online profile for the said operators to “root out” frauds and scams in that booming segment.
According to an official release signed by PCSRC executive secretary Hamdaratu Zakaria (photo), “a free-to-use electronic portal has already been developed to enable (...) the public to obtain directory information on all registered e-commerce traders and logistics companies (including courier services) in good standing with the PCSRC before doing business with them.”
The announcement comes days after the publication of an investigation by a local media, The Fourth Estate. According to the non-profit media launched by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), crooks are forging the documents of duly registered companies to scam unsuspecting buyers. They also swindle goods worth millions due to clients’ inability to verify the authenticity of the documents they are presented.
For the PCSRC, the registration program will rid the segment of those shady practices at a time when domestic regulation is “complicated” by the “ongoing trade liberalization regime under the AfCFTA and ECOWAS.” The local platform is also integrated with the AfCFTA’s African Trade Gateway, a digital platform that provides market and due diligence information about counterparties. That way, Ghanaians can get information on whether foreign operators are legit or not while foreigners will avoid being scammed by selected legit Ghanaian operators.
The PCSRC release explains that in the future, the agency will work with other Ghanaian institutions to root out digital fraudsters wherever they operate.
According to conservative estimates by the Ghana E-Commerce Association, the country’s e-commerce market will grow from US$481 million in 2021 to US$674 million in 2025. Its size will also grow to 11 million users by that time.
Ruben Tchounyabe
Since 2020, most African governments are set on digitizing strategic sectors, including the public service. Within two years, Ghana, which has become one of the digitally-advanced countries, raised US$315 million for that purpose.
The World Bank approved, Thursday (April 28), a US$200 million loan to accelerate digital transformation in Ghana with a new project dubbed Ghana Digital Acceleration Project. The funding was announced in the same release published on the institution’s website.
According to the release, it will help “increase broadband access, enhance the efficiency and quality of selected digital public services, and strengthen the digital innovation ecosystem in Ghana to help create better jobs and economic opportunities.”
For Pierre Laporte (photo), World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, “expanding digital access and adoption, enhancing digital public service delivery, and promoting digitally-enabled innovation is essential for Ghana’s digital transformation, which will help drive a robust post-COVID-19 recovery.”
Likewise, for Maria Claudia Pachon -Senior Digital Development Specialist of the World Bank and Task Leader of the new Project- the digitization of public services will “result in significant cost savings due to decreased travel and processing time to obtain services, as well as transaction costs such as manual entry errors, fraud, and corruption.”
The Ghana Digital Acceleration Project builds on the ongoing e-Transform Ghana project, which allows Ghana to become one of the most digitally advanced countries in Africa. In its latest report on the e-government development index, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) ranked Ghana the fifth in Africa, in 2020. At the same time, the country jumped from being the 143rd out of 193 countries worldwide in 2004, to the 101st place in 2020.
The new digital acceleration project supports regulatory change to create an environment that facilitates access to mobile and broadband internet for six million people, in underserved rural areas notably. It will also favor the digital inclusion of women and people with disabilities, enhance the local digital entrepreneurship ecosystem, improve startups’ growth and survival rate, facilitate smallholders’ involvement in data-driven agriculture and promote advanced digital innovation skills.
Muriel Edjo
The online training platform has already convinced several investors with its innovative model. Its ambition is to enter new African markets and prepare millions of residents for the digital economy.
Malagasy start-up Sayna raised, Thursday (April 28), US$600,000 from Orange Ventures, Launch Africa Ventures, and MAIC Investors Club, to develop its operations.
The startup created Sayna Academy, a computer skills training platform, and Sayna Works, a micro-task platform. With the funds raised, it wants to upgrade its platforms to be able to host 257,000 microtasks and attract more than 3,000 active freelancers and 12,000 learners by 2024.
In 2021, its founder, Matina Razafimahefa, unveiled the startup's plan to enter the Ivorian, Ghanaian and Senegalese markets.
“This fundraising is both a crucial step for SAYNA’s international development and a strong symbol for the Madagascar tech scene. Our team is today composed of 25 people split between France and Madagascar. This is also a sign of hope for hundreds of thousands of young African talents who, until now, have not had the opportunity to become professionals to take advantage of the fourth industrial revolution underway on the continent,” she said commenting the fundraising.
Sayna was founded in 2018 and quickly attracted ambitious young people looking to acquire soft skills to improve their living conditions.
For Zach George, managing partner of Launch Africa Ventures, “Sayna, with its focus on soft skills training, mentorships, and a peer-to-peer learning environment, stands a good chance of becoming a direct gateway to projects, experience, and income for youth across the African continent.”
In 2021, the startup obtained over US$105,000 from I&P Acceleration Technologies, a program that funds startups in sub-Saharan Africa thanks to support from the French Development Agency (AFD), through the Digital Africa Initiative. To date, it claims 450 learners trained and over 609 corporate partners and clients served.
Muriel Edjo
With the digital library created, Moroccan authorities want to encourage reading and contribute to the development of new skills.
The Moroccan Ministry of Youth announced, Monday (April 25) the creation of a digital library with more than 36,000 books, freely accessible to every citizen. The books are categorized by age group and subject. Every week, the digital library will be updated with new books published by more than 400 authors, we learn.
According to the Ministry, the library is created to diversify the digital services offered by media libraries and contribute to the vulgarization of new information technology standards in the publishing sector.
With its digital library, the country wants to encourage the population to read, learn and acquire new skills. They can access it anywhere they are. As for users of media libraries and cultural centers supervised by the Ministry of Youth, they will receive a username and password to visit the digital media library anytime they are within the premises of those cultural centers.
The digital library is launched just days after World Book and Copyright Day (April 23) and just weeks before the national reading day (May 10).
In 2019, the Morrocan High Commission for Planning (HCP) revealed that only 0.3% of the Moroccan population read daily and the average daily reading time is two minutes. The HCP also stressed that 55% of the young population have never read a book while 33.8% reads occasionally and 11.2% read regularly.
Ruben Tchounyabe
In the past ten years, Morocco invested heavily in the implementation of its digital transformation strategy. With the experience and expertise of its new DCO partners, the country expects to bridge the gaps still remaining in its strategy.
The Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO) announced, Tuesday (April 26), Morocco’s membership in the organization. The constitutive act was signed by Mustapha Mansouri (photo), Moroccan ambassador to Saudi Arabia -DCO base country- raising the number of members of that organization to nine.
According to DCO secretary-general, Dima Al-Yahya, the new member has made significant progress in the implementation of its digital strategy and now makes public services more accessible to its citizens.
“Having a country that has so clearly prioritized digital transformation coupled with a thriving start-up and innovation ecosystem as a member state of the DCO will undoubtedly strengthen our collective strength and impact in creating a more inclusive global digital economy,” she added.
Joining the DCO is part of Morocco’s commitment to addressing socio-economic challenges, improving the business environment, and scaling up women, youth, and entrepreneurs' empowerment initiatives.
By adopting digital technologies, MENA countries can increase GDP per capita by at least 40%, manufacturing revenues per unit of factors of production by 37%, manufacturing employment by 7%, and the number of foreign tourists by 70%, a World Bank report estimates.
“Long-term unemployment rates could fall to negligible levels, and female labor force participation could double to more than 40 percent,” the report adds.
Ruben Tchounyabe
In the past few months, the volume of investments has grown significantly in Africa. However, gender-sensitive issues are not keeping up with the trend. The new funding round aims to reduce the existing gap.
The Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi), announced Tuesday (April 26), its fourth round of financing amounting to US$54.8 million. Part of the fund (US$15 million) will go to the African Development Bank's (AfDB) African Digital Financial Inclusion Facility (ADFI) to boost women entrepreneurs’ access to digital technologies and finance in Cameroon, Egypt, Kenya, Mozambique, and Nigeria.
According to Bärbel Kofler, Parliamentary State Secretary of Germany’s Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the fourth round comes at a “crucial time” marked by pressures on women entrepreneurship due to “conflict and insecurity, rising prices and the continuous fallout from the Covid pandemic around the world.”
“I am pleased to see our Implementing Partners preparing such strong proposals to support women-led businesses. Access to technology and financing will be key to unlock the potential of women entrepreneurs,” she said.
The funding round will benefit about 69,000 women entrepreneurs in developing countries, the African Development Bank (AfDB) explains. It will enable the African Digital Financial Inclusion Facility (ADFI) to develop and implement programs to improve access to digital technologies, reduce the US$42 million gender financing gap and improve beneficiaries’ operational efficiency for sound post-Covid recovery.
For Stefan Nalletamby -Director of the Financial Sector Development Department at the African Development Bank Group- the funding will complement the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa Initiative (AFAWA) program.
It will also “be used [...] to broaden access to finance for women, small and medium businesses” and “provide an avenue for their increased economic empowerment and resilience,” he adds.
The We-Fi initiative is a partnership between 14 governments, eight multilateral development banks (with the AfDB as an implementing partner), and various public and private sector stakeholders. As far as the ADFI is concerned, it was launched in 2019 to “catalyze digital financial inclusion throughout Africa with the goal of ensuring that 332 million more Africans, 60% of them women, gain access to the formal economy by 2030.”
Ruben Tchounyabe
Over the past few days, several Central African countries have expressed their intent to elaborate a national cryptocurrency framework. They see those innovative payment mechanisms as a means to create new opportunities and added value.
In the Central African Republic (CAR), the national assembly, last Friday (April 22), passed bill N°22 governing cryptocurrency transactions in the country. The bill officially approves cryptocurrencies as payment solutions in the country and chooses Bitcoin as the reference currency. On April 26, President Faustin-Archange Touadera (photo) praised the bill describing it as a decisive step toward new opportunities.
According to the cryptocurrency bill, economic agents are now required to accept cryptocurrencies as payments for their goods and services. The innovative payment mechanism can also be used to pay for public services and taxes. However, the official currency for accounting purposes remains the CFA Francs (XAF).
In the country, cryptocurrency transactions will be tax-free and official exchange rates will be floating (rates determined by market forces). Likewise, crypto miners are considered independent actors but they are required to report their incomes from such activities.
Crypto transactions will be regulated by ANTE, the newly created agency that will also manage all the ATMs installed by the government across the country.
For some analysts, CAR -which is looking for ways to revive its economy- shouldn’t have passed the cryptocurrency bill without even doing the base works required and addressing crucial issues. In 2020, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) pointed at the country’s weak legal and technical cybersecurity framework. The government is yet to address that issue because article 18 of the crypto bill informs that legal frameworks and agencies will be created to oversee cybersecurity and personal data protection.
Notwithstanding critics, State Minister Obed Namsio indicates that the cryptocurrency bill marks the beginning of a new phase in the country’s economic revival and peace consolidation plan in line with the government’s agenda, “ which aims for strong and inclusive growth that favors economic development.”
The central bank BEAC is yet to officially comment on the bill. However, the Central African government promises to ensure cryptocurrencies are automatically convertible into the legal tender by creating a trust.
Muriel Edjo
The Port Authority of Douala is set on making digital transformation its choice weapon to improve efficiency, security, and revenues. In that regard, in the past five years, it implemented several projects with more to go.
In Cameroon, the entrance fees generated by the Port of Douala rose fourfold thanks to digitalization. According to Lieutenant Colonel Bertrand Mekinda, deputy MD of Douala Port Security -the firm in charge of securing the Port of Douala- entrance revenues jumped from XAF250 million in previous years to XAF1 billion currently. The revenues may rise further to XAF2 billion yearly when new entrance booths become operational, he estimates.
To digitize the entrance fee collection system, the port created an access badge system for users, the official revealed during a press conference on Friday 15, 2022.
The badge costs XAF1500. It stores users’ information on a server allowing QR code readers to read it when they return . Therefore, users can not resell them once they are within the port and the 24 hours validity period is still on. Unlike the old system that consisted in selling paper tickets, entrance revenues are more secure with the digital system because port authorities now have a clear view of the number of people who access the port during a specific period.
In the past five years, the Port Authority of Douala (PAD) implemented several projects to secure its operations, and improve port security and efficiency. For instance, it installed more than 400 HD video surveillance cameras and built a security task force building that houses a data center and a CCTV operations and control room.
The PAD also plans to buy a management software that will facilitate the digitalization of all the port operations and services. Ten departments are concerned, namely customer relationship management, performance monitoring, incoming and outgoing ships’ management, and cargo tracking.
Ruben Tchounyabe
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The barcoding project is one of the 52 projects included in the country’s strategy to boost digital transformation by 2023. Launched in 2021, the project will help boost public revenues and improve the competitiveness of made-in DRC products.
DRC will soon start using bar codes to ensure the traceability of its commercial exchanges. During a workshop organized from April 18 to 20, by the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the national strategy for seamless implementation of that project was validated.
According to Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde, the strategy is the government's commitment to "build a strong, prosperous and united country” by controlling the local production, monitoring commercial exchange data, and efficiently curbing counterfeits.
During the December 24, 2021, ministerial council, Minister of Digital Transformation, Désiré-Cashmir Kolongele Eberande, announced that the DRC obtained its personal barcode prefix (605) that identifies where a product comes from.
"With 605 as the barcode prefix for every product made in DRC, we independently chose to join the global network of countries that implement the bar coding system. We highlighted our country in global supply chains to create a favorable environment for the digital economy,” indicated Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde.
According to the government official, a successful implementation of the national barcoding strategy will make made in DRC products compliant with international standards on security and traceability and boost their competitiveness in local, regional, and global markets.
Ruben Tchounyabe
Training is a crucial economic development issue in Africa. The continent currently has the highest unemployment rate, the youngest population in the world, and a high NEET population. The initiative launched by Trace aims to bridge the education gap.
French media group Trace launched, Thursday (April 21), Trace Academia, a free training platform for young Africans.
The mobile app was officially presented during a virtual press conference hosted on April 21, in Johannesburg. It offers technical and cross-cutting courses covering 15 industries and skills including energy, beauty, fashion, DIY, digital marketing, hospitality, creative arts, journalism, film, technology, entrepreneurship, public speaking, and well-being.
The courses are developed in partnership with well-known international groups like Orange Visa, and Google.
The courses already available are notably Entrepreneurship developed by Valued Citizens and the University of Johannesburg, Becoming a DJ developed by Trace, and Introduction to the Electrical Trade by Schneider Electric. There is also DIY by Leroy Merlin, Tech the Power by MasterCard, Sexual Wellness by Durex, and Introduction to Digital Marketing by Google. French telecom group Orange will also offer ten training modules to showcase digital professions in Senegal, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“To build Trace Academia, we’ve combined our expertise and experience in entertainment with cutting edge learning approaches adapted to the realities and cultures of Africa…We believe that Trace Academia has the potential to positively impact the lives of millions of young people in South Africa and across the continent,” indicated Olivier Laouchez, Trace Co-Founder and Executive Chairman.
With Trace Academia (available on PlayStore and AppStore), Trace wants to offer professional and cross-cutting skills to 26 million Africans by 2025. In its 2020 “Report on Employment in Africa (Re-Africa),” the International Labour Organization reveals Africa is the only continent where the labor force is expanding quickly. In 2020, 34.2% of the continent’s working-age population was constituted of young people aged 15-24 against a global average of 23.6%.
The ILO also estimated that the continent’s unemployment rate (6.8%) was higher than the global average (5%). Africa’s unemployment population was close to 34 million at the time, including 12.2 million people aged between 15 and 24. The organization added that between 2010 and 2020, the unemployed population aged 15-24 grew by 6.4 million in Africa.
At the same time, in Africa, the number of young people not in employment,
education or training (NEET) was four times (53.5 million actually) higher than the number of unemployed youth (aged between 15 and 24).
Ruben Tchounyabe
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, African countries have sped up their digital transformation plans. Demand for the internet is growing, as a result. However, though internet adoption is rising tremendously, millions of residents are still unable to access the service because of its prices. Yet, affordable and quality internet is one of the requirements for successful digital transformation.
The Internet now appears like a necessary service in the likes of drinking water and electricity. According to the GSM Association (GSMA), in 2020, global internet penetration was 51% with 4 billion users. However, some countries have lower penetration rates. In its 2022 internet poverty index, the World Data Lab identified Nigeria as the country with the largest number of people living in internet poverty, meaning the number of people who “cannot afford a minimum package of mobile internet.”
The World Data Lab based its index on three factors, including affordability, quantity, and quality. “Affordability refers to the price of mobile broadband service and is set with a person’s total expenditure. (...) quantity refers to the amount of data that can be sent or received per theoretical use” while “quality describes a multitude of factors such as download and upload speed, bandwidth, latency, 2G, 3G, and 4G coverage, as well as the number of servers per 100,000 inhabitants,” the data agency explains.
The World Data Lab estimates that 103.015 million people are internet poor in Nigeria out of an estimated 217.366 million people. In the world, Nigeria is followed by India and China, we learn. In Sub-Saharan Africa on the other hand, Burundi is the country with the highest percentage of the internet poor in 2022, that is 96.6% of its 12.026 million residents.
According to the latest broadband affordability data from the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI), in Africa, one-gigabyte bundles cost less than US$3 in ten countries while in 17 countries it ranges between US$3 and 5. In the remaining countries, it is over US$5. For the A4AI, broadband internet is deemed affordable when it is less than 2% of average monthly per capita incomes.
High internet cost is one of the obstacles to digital transformation in Africa because it prevents millions of residents from accessing the socio-economic opportunities it offers.
For the International Finance Corporation and Google, the digital economy can help generate up to US$180 billion of GDP in Africa by 2035. For that, however, affordable internet is needed.
Muriel Edjo
Large U.S. tech firms are increasingly investing in Kenya. A few days ago, Microsoft inaugurated its tech talent hub in the country. It is now followed by Google, the world’s third-largest tech company by market capitalization.
Google announced, Tuesday (April 19), the launch of its first African development hub in Nairobi, Kenya. The U.S. tech firm also launched the recruitment of various tech skills to endow the product development center with skills necessary to contribute to innovation on the continent.
“We’re looking for talented, creative, and collaborative people who can help solve difficult and important technical challenges, such as improving the smartphone experience for people in Africa, or building products that will help everyone to thrive together,” reads a Google blog post announcing the vacancies.
According to the post, applicants must have great technical knowledge, a “passion for solving hard problems together with others” and “understand how people across the continent use their phones every day and the challenges they face.”
The African Product Development hub in Nairobi is part of Google’s efforts to support digital transformation in Africa.
In October 2021, during Google for Africa, a virtual event, Google CEO Sundar Pichai (photo) unveiled a US$1 billion investment to be rolled out over five years. The plan includes projects to provide fast, reliable, and affordable Internet access across the continent, create useful local products, and support entrepreneurs and small businesses that sustain African economies.
Muriel Edjo