News (1795)
With digital transformation rapidly progressing on the continent, African countries are turning to space technology to accelerate the penetration of telecom services. Angola, which recently launched its second satellite, is already reaping the rewards of that choice.
In seven Angolan cities, hospitals, government offices, schools, and universities now have access to free Internet connectivity and the tools necessary for socio-economic growth, thanks to AngoSat-2, the country’s second satellite.
According to the National Space Program Management Office (GGPEN), the cities that benefit from the new satellite are Uíge, Cuando Cubango, Huíla, Luanda, Cabinda, Moxico, and Lunda-Sul.
The satellite launched on October 12, 2022, was commissioned in line with the national space strategy. Its goal is to help bridge the digital divide and exclusion in the country, in remote and underserved communities notably.
The AngoSat-2 satellite services are expected to cover the entire country, the African continent, and a large part of Southern Europe in the C-band. The satellite will also provide almost complete coverage of Southern Europe and Southern Africa in the Ku-band. It is expected to provide Angola with the means to reduce the digital divide, allowing Angolans equal access to information technology and communication (ICT) tools and opportunities.
AngoSat-2 was built by the Russian company Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems Company (ISS-Reshetnev) and put into orbit from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The spacecraft comes as compensation for the $327.6 million AngoSat-1 satellite that was lost in space shortly after its launch in 2017.
Samira Njoya
In recent years, the federal government of Nigeria has multiplied collaborations with local startups. The aim is to harness the youth’s tech expertise for national development.
The Federal Government of Nigeria has approved the use of the humanoid robot "Omeife" to enhance digital literacy in the country. A memorandum of understanding was signed to this effect on Saturday, March 11, between the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and Uniccon, the company that developed Omeife, the first humanoid robot in Africa.
According to Yau Isa Garba, national director of the NITDA’s National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, the “whole idea of the project is [...] to leverage Omeife to deepen digital literacy in Nigeria.”
“The plan is that we are going to use the robot- just like the way people use ChatGTP- for guidance, instructions, and so on,” he added.
Omeife was presented by Nigeria's vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, at the global innovation tradeshow Gitex, Dubai, in October 2022. The 1.80-meter-long female robot was manufactured with local components. It can speak Pidgin, Yoruba, English, French, Arabic, Kiswahili, Hausa, Igbo, and Afrikaans and understands different African cultures. According to Chucks Ekwueme, Uniccon’s CEO, Omeife is “not just multilingual, it can switch languages and interact with specific gestures—hand illustrations, smile, and other bodily gestures—that match the tone of the conversation.”
According to Barrister Emmanuel Edet who was representing the Director General of NITDA, Nigeria plans to develop an application that will allow everyone to take advantage of Omeife.
Meanwhile, according to Chuks Ekwueme, in a context where Nigeria targets 95% digital literacy by 2030, Omeife can lead the country and Africa in general into a digital future.
Samira Njoya
In Africa, despite authorities’ efforts, the number of missing children is not dropping the least. In that context, Morocco wants to capitalize on the decentralization of new technologies and ever-growing social media adoption to introduce a large-scale abduction alert system.
Morocco’s General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) officially launched "Tifli Moukhtafi" - translates to my child is missing- last Tuesday.
The system is a mechanism to alert and call for the search of children who went missing in suspicious circumstances. It was set up by the DGSN in partnership with Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. According to Ouafae Zouidi, head of international judicial cooperation and human rights at the presidency of the Public Prosecutor's Office, it leverages available databases and alert systems and capitalizes on the opportunities offered by artificial intelligence and tech tools in general.
In Africa, the issue of missing children is a tragic and often-neglected humanitarian problem, according to Patrick Youssef, regional director of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for Africa. In August 2022, on the sidelines of International Day of the Disappeared, a report published by the ICRC warned that more than 25,000 minors are missing on the entire continent. This figure represents 40% of the 64,000 missing persons cases in Africa, according to the report.
By launching "Tifli Moukhtafi", the Moroccan government wants to put an end to the phenomenon of child abduction in the kingdom. The system includes a feature similar to the U.S. "Amber Alert" which will allow the real-time publication of disappearance cases on Facebook, starting from the users within the geographical area where the disappearance was reported, before being gradually shared in neighboring areas.
To boost agricultural trade in Africa, in the current digital transformation age, changes are needed. In that context, the partnership aims to introduce the use of digital technologies to improve production.
Microsoft Africa Transformation Office (ATO) and OCP Africa recently announced a new collaboration to boost farmers’ skills and productivity. The partnership was announced during the 5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5) held in Qatar.
The partnership aims to improve smallholder farmers’ skills and boost their access to information through agri-digital services by building on OCP Africa programs such as the agri-hub concept, which aims to support millions of farmers.
“Technology is the key factor to enabling and increasing access to finance, equipment, and sustainability for rural farmers, empowering local farmers in Africa. Our partnership with OCP Africa will help to directly impact smallholder farmers and improve production,” said Wael Elkabbany, Microsoft Africa Regional Cluster General Manager.
Despite rapid urbanization, agriculture-related activities still provide a livelihood for about 60 percent of the continent's working population and account for 15% of GDP. According to UN agencies' forecasts, farmland is expected to expand and productivity to increase through better use of technology and the implementation of smart and precision farming techniques.
Thus, by partnering together, Microsoft and OCP also aim to develop a digital agriculture platform to improve farmers’ productivity and operation management. The partnership also includes the adoption and integration of technologies such as cloud, artificial intelligence, agricultural data platforms, and Azure application modernization in the agricultural sector, leading to precision agriculture.
According to Mohamed Anouar Jamali, CEO of OCP Africa, the collaboration will, among other things, expand OCP's reach and have an even greater impact on food security across Africa.
Despite the Tanzanian government’s efforts, the country is still facing a huge digital gender gap. Nevertheless, the country is upping actions to remove barriers that prevent women and girls from accessing digital tools.
The Tanzanian government and the World Bank have reaffirmed their commitment to supporting women’s access to digital technologies.
On Tuesday, March 7, at a conference on women and technology held in Dar es Salaam ahead of International Women's Day, Nape Nnauye, the minister of information, communication, and technology, said the government and its partners are working to build a more inclusive and equitable future for women in technology in Tanzania.
The government has established a broad ICT program to involve women in the digital sector, we learn. According to Nape Nnauye, the Ministry of ICT plans to provide short and long-term training to 450 ICT professionals employed in the government, mainly women, starting in the 2023/2024 fiscal year.
Also, the government will soon unveil the National Digital Economy Strategy which is almost completed. The said strategy will lay out the country’s 10-year plan to develop its digital economy while closing the digital gender gap.
According to the Tanzanian ICT Commission, there are 1,011 registered male ICT professionals in the country against only 170 women. So, much remains to be done, according to Nathan Belete, the World Bank's country director for Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
By funding Tanzania’s digital projects, the World Bank wants to raise the number of Tanzanian women engaged in the digital ecosystem.
Samira Njoya
Cabo Verde’s 2030 national development strategy places digital transformation at the heart of development in every socio-economic sector. In the finance sector, digital tools are expected to boost competition and improve financial inclusion.
Cabo Verde will soon adopt a bill governing the establishment and operations of digital banks. Indeed, the country submitted a draft bill that will be reviewed by the parliament during its parliamentary session scheduled for March 8-10, 2023.
According to the preamble of the government bill, digital banking institutions will have to comply with the requirements prescribed in the money laundering and terrorism financing prevention acts and other applicable regulations.
The government believes that digital banks can be highly beneficial to the country’s economy. They can for instance boost competition, expand the product offering with advanced and specialized products and improve access to financing for SMEs. In that regard, the draft bill wants to regulate the activities, make the funding processes more efficient, and keep the interest rates charged for loans to various clients in check.
In Cabo Verde, seven banks operate with a general commercial license, employing nearly 1,300 workers. They recorded historic profits of 42.5 million euros in 2022, up 26.5 percent from the previous year, according to Central bank provisional data reported by Portuguese news agency Lusa in late February.
Samira Njoya
Since November 2022 when he assumed office as Governor of Osun, Ademola Adeleke has initiated several projects aimed at anchoring his territory in the digital age. The latest move is the deployment of 64 kilometers of optic fiber.
The Governor of Osun State in Nigeria, Ademola Adeleke, announced on Monday, March 6 the deployment of a 64 km fiber optic cable in the state.
Speaking at a program held at the Adolak Events Center in Osogbo, the state capital, the governor said the NGN16 billion (about $35 million) project will accelerate digital transformation in various sectors and make the state’s digital economy one of the best in Nigeria.
“In line with the new National Broadband policy and the urgency of internet Fiber connectivity for Osun state, this government is waiving payment for Telecom Right of Way in return for free connectivity to our schools and health centers when the broadband project is completed,” the governor said.
In addition to the implementation of the fiber optic project, the Osun State governor disclosed several other projects ongoing in the state. Ademola Adeleke announced the inauguration of the first 15-member Digital Economy Advisory Board, whose mission is to support the state in its plan to transform Osun State’s economy.
The governor also informed the audience of a new partnership with ICT company Oodua Infraco, for the execution of the state's digital economy projects. The said partnership will identify and apply information and communication technologies in various sectors.
In the same vein, the Osun governor unveiled the recently launched Osun Google Mapping project, which aims to ensure businesses and landmarks are added to Google Maps. To date, the mapping coverage is over 50%, up 20% within four months, according to the governor.
Osun State plans to forward a Start-up Bill to the State House of Assembly for validation in the coming days. "This will be my first Executive Bill I will be forwarding to the State Assembly after this event. The Act is programmed to ensure that new start ups promoters and entrepreneurs secure desired mentoring and financing. The law once domesticated will enhance the goals of both the ICT and the Tech Innovation policy," governor Ademola Adeleke said.
Mining is a key sector in the South African economy. It is therefore important to digitize and simplify processes and provide new solutions for the sector.
Last Thursday, Swedish IT company Ericsson announced an agreement to provide its “Ericsson Private 5G” solution to global simulation software specialist Comsol in South Africa.
The combination of Ericsson's high-end connectivity solution and Comsol's mining and systems integration expertise will provide the mining industry with robust standalone 4G/LTE and 5G connectivity, and help Comsol's customers optimize and simplify business operations through data creation, collection, and analysis.
“We are thrilled to offer Comsol our pre-packaged and pre-integrated private network solution, Ericsson Private 5G. With its reliable, fast, and secure connectivity, Comsol’s customers will have the platform to enable innovative smart solutions for better operational efficiency and safety,” commented Todd Ashton (photo, left), Vice President and Head of Ericsson South and East Africa at Ericsson Middle East and Africa.
The agreement gives Comsol the right to resell the Ericsson Private 5G high-speed wireless network solution. It will enable Comsol to expand its corporate activity within the local mining sector, which is one of the key investment sectors in South Africa.
The country is the world's largest chrome and platinum producer. The latest Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) data on mining production shows that total production has increased by 11.2% in 2021 compared to 2020. In that key sector, “Comsol will utilize the PoC solution to experiment and test various use cases for mining and other industries, including Augmented Reality, Autonomous Vehicles, and Fixed Wireless Access.”
Samira Njoya
The Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the African countries with the largest rural-urban connectivity gap. In that context, the post-Covid-19 growth in demand for broadband connectivity coupled with the country’s large population is attracting local and foreign investments in the digital sector.
In the coming months, more than 2.5 million people living in the eastern regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will benefit from a faster, cheaper, and more reliable internet connection. A financing agreement to this effect was signed on Saturday, March 4, between the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Bandwidth and Cloud Services Group (BCS).
Under the agreement, BCS will receive $10 million to deploy 1,200 km of fiber optic cable out of the 20,000 km that it plans to install in Southern, Central, and Eastern Africa over the next three years.
The investment will help connect areas with poor or no access to broadband internet. It will create jobs and connect 319 schools and 70 hospitals and health centers. According to Yonas Maru (photo, left), founder and CEO of BCS Group, it "will go a long way to ensure implementation of the MOU between the Government of DRC and BCS to connect over 1,900 schools, 1,640 public hospitals and government institutions along the BCS backbone and metro fiber infrastructure."
“The Digital is such a powerful driver of equity, inclusion, and growth, that the EU has made it a pillar of our Global Gateway strategy. Expansion of the fiber-optic infrastructure will enable local communities, schools, and hospitals to benefit from mobile broadband, which ultimately means new opportunities for learning, business, jobs, and healthcare,” said Thomas Östros, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank.
The funding was officially announced last November at the AfricaCom 2022 in Cape Town, South Africa. It is the EIB’s first quasi-equity investment and its second cooperation with BCS. In 2018, the institution provided an $18 million long-term loan for BCS.
Samira Njoya
To accelerate the implementation of its 2021-2023 digital transformation strategy, Gabon initiated several projects including the construction of a national data center. The offer made by the Indian businessmen includes the designing, construction, and maintenance of those infrastructures.
Last Thursday, Gabon’s Digital Minister Jean Pierre Doukaga Kassa welcomed a delegation of Indian businessmen from the Shapoorji Pallonji group who expressed their interest in the Gabonese digital sector.
On social media, the Ministry of Digital Economy said that the businessmen "offered their expertise in the design, construction, and maintenance of digital infrastructure, including data centers.”
The group also presented the projects it completed in Egypt, Ghana, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. They also exchanged with the Minister on the extension of the national backbone to three of Gabon’s provinces. The backbone projects discussed include a 623 km network between Lambaréné, Mayumba, and Doussala on the border with Congo-Brazzaville.
The Minister of Digital Economy then instructed his collaborators both in the central administration and the state companies under his supervision to analyze the Indian businessmen’s offers.
The construction of a national data center is one of the Gabonese government's flagship projects for the management and storage of its data. According to the news website Le Nouveau Gabon, the Indian businessmen’s visit comes after a meeting between the Gabonese Ministers for Investment Promotion and Digital Economy to discuss the construction of that national data center.
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This officialization marks the beginning of a digital process announced in July 2022.
Last Thursday, Cameroonian President Paul Biya (photo) signed a decree updating the conditions of entry, stay and exit for foreigners in Cameroon.
According to the said decree, obtaining an electronic visa requires the prior submission of a visa application on a dedicated website that will soon be launched. The application can be made, regardless of the geographical area of the applicant, following established administrative and financial terms.
After the application, an online visa authorization will then be issued to the applicant who will then be able to go either to a diplomatic mission or to a border post to formalize the visa. This final phase will be completed with an enrolment process consisting of taking fingerprints and photographs. According to the decree, the visa is issued within three days after the online application.
The e-visa project is part of the Cameroon Digital Strategic Plan. In June 2022, the government received the computer equipment that was to serve in the project, which will be implemented by the Abidjan-based firm Impact Palmarès R&D SAS. The bill updating the legal framework for entry, exit, and stay in Cameroon was submitted to the National Assembly on July 2, 2022.
The implementation of the e-visa project will help centralize and protect data, control entries, and exits and monitor the revenues generated by the government from visa applicants, who will now pay the fees online.
In July 2022, Minister for Foreign Affairs Lejeune Mbella Mbella indicated that the e-visa will also save time and costs for users since it will address two of the grievances always pointed out by foreigners seeking Cameroonian visas. Namely, it will end both the long trips to embassies and the long queues involved.
Samira Njoya
Nigerian universities train thousands of talented young people every year. However, most of them lack the valuable experience and knowledge to engage in technology entrepreneurship after college.
Last Wednesday, The Nest Innovation Technology Park, a Nigeria-based community that fosters tech startup innovation, launched the “Netlings Playbook,” a program designed to give university students access to the resources they need to explore digital entrepreneurship.
By giving access to the resources, the pioneer program, launched in partnership with Campus Innovation Circles (CIC), wants to allow beneficiaries to gain valuable experience and knowledge without significant risks.
“We believe that student entrepreneurs have the potential to create groundbreaking solutions to everyday problems. With The Nestlings Playbook’s innovative program, we’re empowering them to unleash their full potential and make a real impact in the African entrepreneurship ecosystem,” said Joba Oloba (photo, right), one of the co-founders of The Nest Innovation Technology Park.
For Nest, the Nigerian student ecosystem has numerous talented individuals but, there is a need to provide those individuals with the tools and resources to transition into the digital economy as entrepreneurs and not as primarily working-class talent. The goal is to “contribute to Africa’s transition to a digital economy through youth engagement.”
According to Toyin Bamidele, the lead, and coordinator of the Nestlings Playbook, the program is “one of the biggest collaborations to support founders across university communities exploring digital entrepreneurship to create prosperity.” The flagship program will launch with university communities and a call for applications will open in March 2023.
Samira Njoya
In Africa, the development of mobile telephony has greatly impacted critical sectors, including healthcare. By leveraging its technologies, the GSMA and Africa CDC want to improve the lives of millions of people and improve disease control.
Last Wednesday, the GSM Association (GSMA) and the African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) signed an agreement to harness the power of mobile to fight disease in Africa.
Under that agreement, the GSMA will work closely with Africa CDC on HealthConnekt Africa, a bold new initiative to connect all health facilities and personnel in Africa to the Internet by 2030.
“Bringing together expertise and resources will help establish a powerful new infrastructure, providing African healthcare workers access to the information they need in a timely fashion and the intelligence necessary to help prevent the spread of disease across international borders,” said Angela Wamola (photo, left), GSMA Head of Sub-Saharan Africa.
HealthConnekt Africa will begin with a small group of pioneering African Union member countries and communities. In the pioneering countries, health facilities will be connected to the Internet, and health workers equipped with smart devices that will allow them access to critical online resources to improve the quality of care provided to patients.
Over the past two decades, Africa has recorded phenomenal growth in mobile adoption. According to the World Bank and the African Development Bank, Africa had 650 million cell phone users in 2013, more than the users in the United States or Europe. At the same time, Swedish telecommunications group Ericsson indicates that Africa’s smartphone penetration will reach 70% by 2024.
Samira Njoya
Last December, the Biden administration announced $55 billion of new investments in Africa, including plans to expand digital access on the continent. About two months after that announcement, some projects are underway.
Last Friday, U.S. tech company Cisco announced a memorandum of understanding with the Thabo Mbeki Foundation for the realization of several projects, including the construction of a technology and education center in Johannesburg, South Africa.
“Prioritizing digital skills in young people is the first step to realizing South Africa’s potential as a forward-facing, technological powerhouse. We must step up our efforts to give learners the resources and support they need to become digitally savvy and inspire them to explore the potential of the technology they’re using,” said Smangele Nkosi, General Manager of Cisco South Africa.
Under the memorandum, Cisco will digitize the center’s end-user experience, sustaining and automating the infrastructure, cloud operations, data center, and implementing a holistic technology strategy that will position the center as a world-leading information and training repository.
In December 2022, at the U.S-Africa Summit, Cisco Systems announced a $200 million in-kind contribution to Africa for resources such as programs, tools, schools, and instructors. The U.S. company said the contribution would, among other things, extend digital skills and cybersecurity training to 3 million Africans.
So, in addition to the technology center, Cisco will build a digital skills platform that will complement the Thabo Mbeki Foundation's education programs and offer international certifications in cybersecurity, an in-demand skill that is essential for South Africa's digital transformation.
Samira Njoya