News (1352)
In recent years, Senegal, like most African countries, has accelerated its digital transformation. To successfully implement that transformation, the country is relying on support from valued partners like the World Bank.
The World Bank recently approved a CFAF91 billion ($150 million) to support Senegal in the implementation of its Digital Economy Acceleration Project (PAEN). A financing agreement was signed to this effect on Thursday, April 6, between Mamadou Moustapha Bâ (photo, right), Senegal's Finance Minister, and Keiko Miwa (photo, left), Director of the World Bank Regional Office for Cape Verde, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, and Senegal.
"For the population’s benefit, it is essential to leverage digital technologies in critical sectors such as health where digital solutions, including electronic medical records, telemedicine, and immunization campaign management can have a tangible impact," said Keiko Miwa after the agreement was signed.
According to the Finance Minister, the funds will help improve the legal, regulatory, and institutional frameworks governing the digital economy. It will support the digital transformation of the public sector by strengthening the technical foundation and e-government services. It will also promote digital adoption by improving digital literacy and skills -particularly among women and youth- and increasing access to health information to improve the delivery of health services.
PAEN is the first axis of the Plan for an Emerging Senegal (PSE) adopted in 2014 by the government to make Senegal an emerging country by 2035.
Samira Njoya
Nigeria plays a key role in the African entrepreneurial ecosystem. To consolidate this position, the country is staking resources to further stimulate innovation, create jobs and promote economic growth.
Muhammadu Buhari (photo, left), the outgoing president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, inaugurated the National Council for Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NCDIE) on Wednesday, April 5.
The NCDIE, chaired by President Buhari, has 13 other members and its mission is to promote the development of the country's digital economy and create an enabling environment for entrepreneurs to flourish.
The council will also oversee the implementation of the Nigeria Startup Act 2022, a law enacted last December to stimulate the growth of innovative startups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country.
“The law, which was developed as part of a collaborative approach between the Office of the President and the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, with support from the technical ecosystem, provides incentives and support to start-ups, such as tax breaks, access to finance, ease of doing business, intellectual property protection and participation in government procurement,” said Muhammadu Buhari.
Nigeria's start-up ecosystem still faces significant challenges such as access to finance and the high cost of creating original products. Despite these obstacles, Nigeria has been at the forefront of startup growth in Africa in recent years with more than $4 billion raised between 2019 and 2022, the president reported.
Thus, the implementation of the Nigeria Startup Act will be an important step in addressing these challenges and promoting the growth and inclusiveness of the national startup ecosystem. According to President Muhammadu Buhari, this will help consolidate and develop the gains made in the digital economy.
Samira Njoya
In recent years, digital tools have proven important for socioeconomic development. However, most African countries are still lagging in terms of digitization, making them unable to capitalize on the opportunities offered by those tools. It is therefore urgent for international partners to support the countries to accelerate digital transformation, therefore facilitating development.
Last Monday, the Secretary General of the International Organization of La Francophonie (IOF), Louise Mushikiwabo (photo, left), and the Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Doreen Bogdan-Martin (photo, right), signed a Joint Declaration on Cooperation to strengthen the partnership between the IOF and the ITU.
According to the release issued by the IOF, "the actions envisaged through this declaration aim to contribute to ensuring connectivity for all and a sustainable digital transformation. The areas of collaboration taken into account are advocacy for digital connectivity and respect for multilingualism during international consultations and exchanges.”
The declaration also focuses on the acceleration of digital transformation in French-speaking countries, valorization of the expertise of French-speaking professionals, and letting populations -the youth and women notably- get a good grasp of digital issues.
For several months now, the IOF has been multiplying partnerships for the development of the digital sector in French-speaking countries, African countries included. In December, the organization signed a framework cooperation agreement with the West African Development Bank (BOAD) to support digital transformation in WAEMU countries, namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo.
The declaration is in line with the decisions taken during the last Summit of La Francophonie in Djerba, Tunisia -held on November 19-20, 2022, on the theme "Connectivity in digital diversity as a vector of development and solidarity in the Francophone space"- and the Strategic Plan for the ITU 2024-2027 adopted at the Plenipotentiary Conference held in Bucharest, Romania in October 2022.
Samira Njoya
East African economic powerhouse Kenya is facing its worst drought in decades. With Taifa-1, the country will be able to predict drought-related disasters and speed up the response of emergency programs.
The Kenya Space Agency (KSA) will launch its first operational Earth observation satellite, called Taifa-1, next week, the government announced Monday, April 3.
According to a joint statement from the Ministry of Defense and the Kenya Space Agency, "Taifa-1," or Nation-1 in Swahili, is scheduled to launch on April 10 aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Base in California.
According to Hillary Kipkosgey (photo), KSA's director general, "The launch of Taifa-1 is a moment of national pride, because it will play a critical role in decision support in several socioeconomic activities, including environmental monitoring, natural resources management, and agriculture."
Taifa-1 was jointly developed by the University of Nairobi and the Sapienza University of Rome, with launch support provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA).
For Hillary Kipkosgey, the satellite will help build the country’s capacities in space, systems engineering, space operations, data processing and analysis, services, and ground station operations.
With the launch of Taifa-1, Kenya joins a very closed circle of African countries that have at least one satellite in the orbit. The first African country to launch its satellite into orbit was Egypt. It was followed by a dozen countries and the continent now has more than 40 satellites in total, according to the platform Space In Africa.
Samira Njoya
A few years ago, Rwanda embarked on a massive digital transition that covers every sector.
The Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB), on Saturday, April 1, launched an innovative digital medical insurance system called RSSB KWIVUZA.
On Twitter, the institution explains that the platform will, among other things, streamline healthcare operations and simplify payment processes. According to Regis Rugemanshuro, CEO of RSSB KWIVUZA, the system was tested extensively during the pilot phase, with positive feedback from the 30 health facilities that were integrated.
Currently, the system covers healthcare mutual services with plans to include the Rwanda Health Insurance (RAMA) and high-level healthcare facilities such as district and provincial hospitals, private hospitals, clinics, polyclinics, and pharmacies, by the end of the year.
RSSB is expected to become the platform where 96% of healthcare mutual invoices are processed since it will be the standard invoicing platform of every healthcare institution. The platform will improve healthcare providers’ payment collection deadline, reducing it to a maximum of 15 days, compared to 80 days previously, which will significantly improve their cash flow and liquidity.
This platform is launched after another one introduced in early February by RSSB to give members an accurate idea of their pension contributions. It is one of the many innovations in the RSSB 2020-2025 strategic plan to transform RSSB into a high-performance, data-driven organization by 2025.
Samira Njoya
With the global development of tech giants like Amazon, Facebook, and Netflix, the importation of digital services has significantly increased in Africa in recent years. To enable every country to benefit from the development, a global tax framework was elaborated. It is expected to become enforceable in January 2024.
Kenya will align its digital tax with the inclusive framework spearheaded by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). President William Ruto (photo, center) announced this to investors on Thursday, March 30, at the American Chamber of Commerce Regional Business Summit.
“Following discussions with players in this sector, we have committed to review this tax regime and align it with the two-pillar solution currently being developed by the OECD inclusive framework,” President Ruto said.
The OECD finalized the reform of the international tax system aimed at solving tax base erosion and multinationals’ profit-shifting problems. The framework is based on two pillars, the first of which is to align tax rates more closely with local market engagement. To date, 138 jurisdictions have approved it.
Under the former administration, Kenya suspended its support for the global minimum tax rate, which would have seen the government suspend the collection of the digital services tax from tech giants such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon.
At the time, the country expressed its uneasiness with the terms of the agreement that would have seen the end of the digital services tax, which is currently 1.5% of sales made by foreigners in the country. After several negotiations, Kenya finally decided to align itself and sign the pact before its implementation on January 1, 2024.
According to OECD estimates, if Kenya joins, the tax authorities could collect between 3.3 billion shillings ($25 million) and 5.3 billion shillings in taxes, more than 10 times the 400 to 500 million shillings they currently collect each year in digital services tax.
In addition to Kenya, three other countries, namely Nigeria, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka have not yet signed the declaration.
Samira Njoya
In 2019, the Moroccan government launched a national strategy to improve financial inclusion across the country. To achieve the objectives set in that strategy, the executives are working with public and private partners.
Last Friday, the World Bank’s board of directors approved a third Development Policy Loan (DPL) of $450 million for Morocco.
According to an IMF release dated April 3, 2023, this DPL aims to support the Moroccan government in the implementation of reforms to improve financial inclusion, digital entrepreneurship, and individuals and businesses’ access to infrastructure and digital services.
“This third financing is in line with the recommendations of the New Development Model (NDM), which emphasizes the need for a paradigm shift to promote inclusive, private sector-led growth to improve public services and reduce social and spatial disparities,” indicated Jesko Hentschel, Country Director for the Maghreb and Malta at the World Bank.
The first DPL, amounting to $500 million, was approved in 2020. In June 2021, a second one -$450 million- was approved. Combined with the new one, the total DPL secured by Morocco amounts to $1.4 billion.
It is a continuation of the $700 million financing the World Bank approved, in 2019, to support financial inclusion and the digital economy in Morocco.
The various funding enabled Morocco to significantly push back the barriers to financial and digital inclusion. Today, 44% of Moroccans have a bank account compared to 29% in 2017, and 30% of them use digital payments compared to 17% in 2017, the IMF release reported.
“The infrastructure for digital payments has expanded with 31% of rural districts now covered by mobile payment networks and 19 mobile payment providers in operation,” the IMF indicates.
Samira Njoya
Government-owned postal company SOPECO wants to become a leading player in the digitization of the country’s services. To achieve that goal, it is joining forces with technology partners specialized in the field.
The Indian group ATDXT will support the Congolese Posts and Savings Company (SOPECO) in the digitization of its activities. A partnership agreement was signed, Thursday, March 29, to this effect between the two companies to create a digital finance platform promoting savings and microlending.
"We aim to popularize these inclusive products that range from digital savings and wallets to micro-loans, through a digital platform [that can be used from] a telephone. This will allow consumers to for instance make purchases without using cash and resell services, generating additional income to sustain their business,” said Ludovique Mbossa (photo, right), SOPECO’s general manager.
Thanks to that agreement, SOPECO joins the Senegalese and Djiboutian state postal companies that have already taken steps to digitize their activities. Under that deal, a digital savings platform, "Nova digitale", will be set up for SOPECO to improve financial inclusion by promoting access to financing for individuals and SMEs that are still left behind.
This partnership comes four months after the agreement signed between the Indian group ATDXT and the Congolese Minister of Digital Economy, Léon Juste Ibombo, to support the country in the realization of several projects, the most important of which is the digitization of SOPECO.
Samira Njoya
In Nigeria, only a few states have access to reliable and affordable Internet. To address this deficit, the federal government is stepping up actions such as setting up and funding digital projects.
The Nigerian government on Wednesday (March 29) agreed to provide free broadband Internet access in 75 public places, including 20 airports, several tertiary institutions, and six marketplaces in the 36 states of the Federation. The Federal Executive Council of Nigeria (FEC) approved two contracts worth N24.20 billion ($52.5 million) for that purpose.
According to Digital Minister Isa Ali Pantami, the cost of providing broadband infrastructure to tertiary institutions and airports is N18.95 billion, while the second approval to provide broadband to selected markets is N5.25 billion.
“We want to ensure that students and staff benefit from unlimited internet. For airports, we know the difficulty when you land without any connectivity,” said Isa Ali Pantami.
“[...] for markets, it’s to support innovation-driven enterprises that are being championed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where we try to give global visibility to our innovators, to our micro, small and medium enterprises, so that their market is not going to be narrowed and restricted only to our local communities,” he added.
The funding will finance the 2nd and 3rd phases of a broadband infrastructure project launched by the federal government. In 2019, the FEC approved a memo for the unlimited provision of Internet in 18 universities under the first phase of the project.
The said project is in line with the Nigerian National Broadband Plan 2020-2025, which aims to increase broadband penetration to 70% nationwide.
Samira Njoya
In Africa, poor access to financing remains an obstacle to the development of startups operating on the continent. VC Funds are being launched to address that issue and help them grow in underserved markets.
Dutch investment firm Goodwell Investments and Dutch foundation Oxfam Novib announced, Friday, the launch of "Pepea", a joint €20 million ($21.7 million) fund focused on financing early-stage East African startups, specifically in Kenya, Uganda, and Ethiopia.
According to the statement released by Goodwell Investments, the fund will focus on companies in the sustainable agriculture, energy, mobility, logistics, and waste management sectors.
"We acknowledge the challenges faced by SMEs in the region (especially those that are women-owned) in accessing fine-tuned patient capital and we now want to play a role to address those needs," said Tamara Campero, investment manager at Oxfam Novib.
In an analysis published on June 14, 2022, Africa: The Big Deal informed that East Africa was one of the regions with a sufficiently developed venture capital ecosystem on the continent. It attracted nearly 23% of the funds raised by African startups since 2019. Kenya alone attracted most of the funding, nearly $1.9 billion in two and a half years.
By launching "Pepea," Goodwell Investments and Oxfam Novib want to further develop the region and support startups that are generating revenue but have not yet raised funds. Pepea will ensure that the companies it selects have the right structures and systems to attract more financing.
Samira Njoya
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With African countries progressively moving towards the fourth industrial revolution, businesses need to adopt digital solutions in their development strategies since such tools are crucial to making them sustainable.
IT solutions provider ZTE Corporation and South African systems integrator BCX recently signed a strategic cooperation agreement to promote the deployment of digital solutions in South Africa.
The agreement, signed on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress 2023 (MWC 2023), was disclosed in a release published by ZTE last Thursday.
“BCX takes a deep dive into Africa and the Middle East, and has made great achievements in regional digitalization. The strategic cooperation between ZTE and BCX can achieve complementary advantages. ZTE and BCX will bring about more changes and market opportunities in the industry’s expansion and help accelerate the regional digitalization process,” said Zhang Wanchun, SVP and General Manager of the Wireless Product Operation Division at ZTE.
In recent years, digital solutions have become essential to pinpoint consumers’ interests and developing businesses. According to a McKinsey & Company report on the future of work, “digitization and automation could result in a net gain of up to 1.2 million jobs in South Africa by 2030.”
Through their strategic agreement, BCX and ZTE aim to cooperate to further develop the digital infrastructure in South Africa, including servers, storage, private 5G, data center infrastructure, and private clouds. With this agreement, BCX becomes an official channel partner of ZTE in the South African enterprise network market.
Samira Njoya
The Ugandan government has decided to digitize key economic sectors to combat widespread poverty. In that bid, it is supported by various partners.
The Uganda Development Bank (UDB), fintech company Ensibuuko, the European Union, the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recently launched "AgriConnect," a fintech solution aimed at facilitating access to digital finance for smallholder farmers in Uganda.
“The world is fast evolving, a result of the advancements in technology, and it is key that as a development finance partner, we recognize such changes and make a deliberate effort to back inventions that influence the growth of key sectors of the economy like Agriculture, which employs 68% of the country’s population,” said Patricia Ojangole, managing director of the Uganda Development Bank.
According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, Uganda's fertile agricultural land has the potential to feed 200 million people. Eighty percent of Uganda's land is arable, but only 35 percent is under cultivation. This is due to several reasons, including a lack of funding for farmers.
AgriConnect is set up to address the funding issue. It will provide both savings and loan options for Ugandan smallholder farmers. The platform will allow Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) to digitally access short-term seasonal loans and savings products at affordable prices.
For Evelyn Anite, Minister of State for Investment and Privatization, AgriConnect will reinvigorate and reshape Uganda. "With services like this, Uganda is indeed on a good trajectory to achieve its goals as stipulated in the National Development Plan and Vision 2040," she said.
Samira Njoya
The digital revolution offers great opportunities for Africa. However, to capitalize on those opportunities for socioeconomic progress, the continent needs to develop its digital ecosystem.
Egypt and Germany plan to enhance their digital cooperation. The issue was discussed by the Egyptian Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Amr Talaat, and the German Ambassador in Cairo, Frank Hartmann, during a meeting between the two parties in Cairo last Tuesday.
According to a release from the Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), the two parties discussed current and future ICT cooperation projects, including the "Supporting e-Government and Innovation in the Public Administration (InnoPA)" project, being implemented in partnership with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ).
“During the meeting, the ICT Minister highlighted MCIT's keenness to leverage the distinguished expertise of the German side in IT and research and development (R&D) based on modern technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital transformation,” the release informs.
Indeed, for some years now, Germany has been one of the most technologically advanced countries. According to the Digital Quality of Life Index (DQL Index), the global ranking of countries according to digital quality of life published in October 2022, Germany was the 3rd just behind Israel, and Denmark. The DQL index took into account 5 criteria, namely the quality of the Internet connection, e-government, cyberinfrastructure, Internet accessibility, and cybersecurity capabilities.
By strengthening its digital cooperation with such a country, Egypt wants to capitalize on Germany’s experience to successfully implement the projects planned in its 2022-2026 Country Strategy Paper while selling its outsourcing services and building a “talent pool capable of exporting ICT services.”
Meanwhile, the German ambassador to Egypt, Frank Hartmann said that his country wants to open its market to benefit from the pool of Egyptian freelancing talent working in the IT sector.
Samira Njoya
The Kenyan government has embarked on a vast digital project to let the population benefit from information technologies. To quickly achieve its objectives, it needs as many partners as possible.
Kenyan ICT Minister Eliud Owalo recently called private investors to join the government to modernize digital infrastructures.
While chairing a sector consultative meeting with the country's ICT community on Monday, March 27 in Mombasa, Eliud Owalo said the government has enough pilot projects that need funding to become operational.
The government official explained that the meeting was organized to facilitate discussions between the government and stakeholders on strategies to implement to boost ICT adoption and identify opportunities in the sector.
He indicated that several digital projects were underway in the country in partnership with the private sector. Such projects include the local manufacturing of smartphones and the construction of a smart university to train tech graduates.
To achieve all the initiatives planned in the "digital highway project", the state will have to rely on partnerships with the private sector and other development partners, he said.
Under the recently-launched digital highway project, more than 100,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable will be laid across Kenya; 25,000 public Wi-Fi hotspots will be created and digital villages and studios set up in each of the country's 1,450 districts, as well as the digitization of 5,000 government services by mid-2023.
Samira Njoya