With its training programs, workspace, and communities, ActivSpaces helps African innovators launch and grow their promising businesses.
ActivSpaces -African Center for Technology Innovation and Ventures- is an open collaboration space, technology innovation center, and startup incubator for entrepreneurs and innovators in Africa.
The Douala-based center was founded, in 2010, by Rebecca Enonchong, Valery Colong, Bill Zimmerman, and Tse Fua. Apart from that base, it also has offices in Buea and Bangangté.
It acts as a unique community that seeks to foster the growth of innovative tech startups in Cameroon. To achieve its goals, it initiated an incubation program that offers office space, Internet connection, personalized coaching, and expert support to entrepreneurs.
Its workspaces allow members access to a variety of equipment such as 3D printing, laser engraving, Arduino and Raspberry Pi systems, solar kits, etc. to bring their projects to fruition. By joining ActivSpaces' incubation program, startups benefit from the community's expertise and personalized coaching that helps them overcome the obstacles they may face while starting and growing their businesses.
The center is open to everyone. “We don’t want to be just for the elite and those that will succeed. Rather than [having] the best of the best coming to us, we wanted to reach out to the people who don’t even know they’re entrepreneurs,” said Rebecca Enonchong.
In 10 years of operation, the incubator has implemented more than 25 projects, supported more than 150 entrepreneurs, and created 10 communities. As a non-profit organization, it is supported by partners committed to entrepreneurship and innovation in Africa. These include AfriLabs, Afric'Innov, CIPMEN, Investment Partners, GIZ, Cusco International, Venture Capital for Africa, Orange, and Business France.
Melchior Koba
Despite being the continent that possibly contributes the least to carbon emissions, Africa is paying a heavy price. In that context, local entrepreneurs are devising solutions to help mitigate and address global warming.
Plstka is a digital solution developed by an Egyptian start-up. It allows users to exchange their solid waste and used oil with coupons entitling them to discounts on services.
The solution has a mobile app -available for Android and iOS devices. Through the app, users can register for Plstka services. Once they accumulate waste, users have to segregate them into the three available categories, namely plastic, aluminum, and electronic waste. Then they can notify the startup and get feedback on when the Plstka teams will collect the waste. After collection, users receive coupon codes that give them discounts in restaurants, bars, etc.
According to its CEO Ahmed Elnagar, the solution aims to collect some 1,500 tons of waste, helping more than 100,000 households monetize their waste while preserving the environment. In 2021, the startup behind the solution raised an undisclosed volume of funding to cover the whole of Egypt.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
The coalition was founded in December 2022 to bridge the digital divide in Africa. To achieve this ambition, it focuses on universal acceptance.
The Coalition for Digital Africa announced, Thursday (April 13), the launch of a new initiative to strengthen Internet infrastructure across the continent. The initiative aims to prepare the websites, applications, and email systems of African higher education institutions to support all domain names and email addresses.
It is supported by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and conducted in collaboration with the Association of African Universities (AAU). In its framework, the Coalition for Digital Africa will educate African higher education institutions on Universal Acceptance (UA), one of the foundations of a multilingual Internet that allows users worldwide to access websites in local languages.
It will provide training to help the targeted institutions configure their websites, applications, and email systems to make them AU-compliant and integrate AU concepts into their curricula.
The project is part of a series of initiatives announced by the Coalition for Digital Africa when it was founded, in December 2022, to ensure the safe and stable growth of the Internet in Africa and close the gap between communities and economies.
The initiative highlights an important step to building more useful and empowering websites and digital apps in Africa: expanding the choice of languages and scripts.
“This work truly lays the foundation for a more inclusive Internet. [...] By enabling the use of local languages and scripts, users here in Africa and around the world will be able to more readily access important content online – from within the continent and beyond – for academic purposes,” said Professor Olusola Bandele Oyewole, Secretary General of the AAU.
Let’s note that in Africa, some 1,000 to 2,500 languages are spoken, according to the Education for All Global Monitoring 2005 report published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Digitalization has proven to have positive impacts on socioeconomic development. In that regard, most African countries, Congo included, have placed digitization on the list of their key priorities.
This year, Congo will invest CFAF13.995 billion ($23.3 million) to strengthen residents’ access to the Internet and digital services. During the first meeting of the steering committee of the Digital Acceleration Project (PATN), several projects were discussed.
At the meeting, Minister of Digital Economy Leon Juste Ibombo explained that the activities to be carried out this year will help, among other things, create "a secure government intranet, a single portal for e-government services to citizens and many information systems to better manage the services offered to citizens.”
Of the CFAF13.995 billion budget set for 2023, CFAF5.720 billion will be used, among other things, to develop broadband connectivity, particularly in the universities Marien Ngouabi and Denis Sassou Nguesso in addition to some administrative buildings and isolated areas such as the department of Likouala. CFAF3.737 billion will fund the improvement of digital services offered to the population, civil registration services notably.
This session of the PATN steering committee marks the effective start of the 5-year project, backed to the tune of $100 million by the World Bank, €25 million ($27.5 million) by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and a €15 million ($16.5 million) loan from the European Union.
By trying to make the Internet and digital services accessible to everyone, Congo bets on the digital economy as a driver of socioeconomic growth, productivity, and good governance.
Samira Njoya
Small-scale farmers, for various reasons, are sometimes unable to sell their crops. To improve their conditions while supplying fresh products to those who need them, a tech entrepreneur has set up a tailor-made solution in Senegal.
Bayseddo is an agritech solution developed by a Senegalese startup. It is a business-to-business e-commerce platform that connects farmers who need financing with individuals who want to invest in their farms. By investing in farming projects, investors take shares valid for 12 to 24 months.
"When you leave one city for another on the African continent - from Dakar to Saint-Louis in Senegal for example- we [always] see roadsides littered with thousands of hectares of undeveloped farmland while news about famine, unemployment, or food imports abound. Whereas in Europe, when you leave a city for another (Paris - Havre), roadsides are littered with thousands of hectares of exploited, eye-catching green land. The alternative agriculture financing initiative Bayseddo 2.0 was born from that observation," said Mamadou Sall, founder of Bayseddo.
The solution has an Android app, which is not on PlayStore. Through the app and the web platform, users can register to access the services Bayseddo offers. Farmers can access financing through the startup's partner banks. Merchants can get fresh products at competitive prices, have them delivered timely, and pay via mobile money or cash on delivery.
The solution is always looking for ways to deliver more impacts in Senegal, the sub-region, and the African diaspora as a whole. Thanks to that approach, it has distributed more than 4,500 products and has over 275 resellers and partners with some 530 farmers.
Its assumed mission is to set an inclusive partnership framework allowing Africa to feed itself. In November 2018, It was selected among forty Senegalese startups for government funding via a funding vehicle designed to develop the local tech ecosystem. With $2 million earmarked for the entire cohort, Bayseddo was awarded $100,000 to support its growth.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
iLab Liberia promotes technology and innovation in West Africa. It helps build the technical capabilities of the Liberian youth and promotes ICT for the country’s development.
iLab Liberia is a tech training center and collaborative workspace based in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia. Founded in 2011 by digital champion Kate Cummings, iLab Liberia aims to build the technical capacity of Liberians and promote the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for social and economic development in the country.
Since its inception, the center has offered over 300 training courses and events to more than 3,500 students in areas such as web and mobile development, open data and visualization, data collection and analysis, geospatial and participatory mapping, physical computing and networking, coding, and other skills focused on open source technologies and relevant solutions.
It also offers entrepreneurship programs to help young Liberians start their technology businesses, as well as shared workspaces for technology professionals and innovators. In addition, it provides technology customization services for projects across West Africa, including mobile platforms for data collection and analysis, online reporting platforms for citizen engagement and good governance initiatives, geospatial mapping, and web and mobile solutions.
The center has overseen the customization and implementation of surveys with more than 30,000 respondents in urban and rural settings. It trained dozens of enumerators and helped data analysts working for governments and nonprofit organizations make the best use of the results.
For its previous activities, iLab Liberia worked closely with institutions such as USAID, World Bank, GIZ, Humanity United, Natembea, mySociety, and National Democratic Institute, among others.
In collaboration with Accountability Lab Liberia, it co-manages iCampus Liberia, a shared innovation, co-working, and community space dedicated to tech entrepreneurs and organizations. The campus it manages is both a physical and virtual space providing ICT and entrepreneurship training to the youth as well as a hub for networking and innovation. It also serves as a focal point for working with women, minorities, and digital changemakers, encouraging inclusion and promoting equitable access to digital opportunities.
Melchior Koba
According to UNESCO, investing in science, technology, and innovation (STI) is essential for economic development and social progress. But, it is all the same important to ensure access to the right information about the sector to enable effective and appropriate usage.
The Federal Government of Nigeria, on Tuesday, April 11, officially inaugurated the Nigerian Science, Technology and Innovation Television called "NSTI TV".
According to Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation, Dr. Adeleke Olorunnimbe Mamora (photo, center), NSTI TV is a multilingual science channel that will broadcast content in English, Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa and will be accessible on any internet-enabled device.
“As part of our plans for ease of access to information, we have developed an indelible and robust Television that is Terrestrial, Satellite, and Internet-Based Science Over-The-Top (OTT) TV channel dedicated to Science and Technology knowledge dissemination, with a strong commitment to spreading scientific awareness, especially with Nigerian perspectives, ethos, and cultural milieu,” the government official said.
Over the past few years, Nigeria has implemented several actions to advance STIs and integrate them into Nigerians’ daily habits. According to Adeleke Mamora, if effectively exploited, they can propel Nigeria into the list of the top 20 economies in the world by 2030.
This television station was thus introduced as part of the Implementation of Executive Order No. 5 For the Development Of Local Content In Science, Engineering, And Technology. To this end, it will focus on Nigeria's contributions to STI by publishing the latest results and products of all research institutions and the latest developments in STI in Nigeria and the world.
According to the Director General of the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), Dr. Halilu Shabba, NSTI TV is a milestone for the agency as 25% local content was used in the creation of the channel.
Samira Njoya
By providing workspaces, training, mentoring, and funding opportunities, CIPMEN has enabled many startups to turn their innovative ideas into successful businesses.
CIPMEN, Niger’s SMEs Incubator Center, is an ambitious and innovative business incubator that aims to stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship in Niger. The incubator, founded in 2014, has become one of the key players in the African startup ecosystem.
Led by Maman Rouffahi Koabo, an experienced IT consultant and agritech entrepreneur, it offers an extensive range of services to entrepreneurs, including workspaces, training, and mentoring. It also connects them to investors, partners, and potential customers. Startups selected to participate in its incubation program can receive personalized support to grow their businesses.
The incubator organizes events such as Café Numérique -an event initiated to discuss issues faced by local fintech startups, Hack the Goals Niger -the Niger chapter of hackathons launched by Belgian development agency Enabel to help identify innovative solutions for the achievement of sustainable development goals, and eTakara.ne -a national digital competition that aims to identify and support digital talent.
It recently issued a call for applications for a program aimed at supporting innovative projects in renewable energy, agribusiness, environment, and information and communication technologies. It also implemented several projects like CODELOCCOL, a coding academy, and CIPMEN EXPORT, a project aimed at funding agribusiness and manufacturing businesses with high export potential and good financial health.
It carries out its activities in partnership with institutions, governments, and organizations. Its partners include the Nigerien government, the World Bank, the French Development Agency (AFD), TOTAL, and GAMA Informatique.
CIPMEN has incubated 222 companies, trained over 7,901 people, and organized over 30 events. Companies such as AgriPart, Tout Azimut, City Links, and Niger Digital have all benefited from its expertise and resources to develop their businesses.
Melchior Koba
The solution was set up by local tech entrepreneurs to compete with large commercial groups in the b2b segment.
Kuzlo is a business-to-business e-commerce solution developed by an Egyptian startup. It allows retailers to source their products from wholesalers at competitive rates.
The Alexandria-based startup behind the solution was founded in 2021 by Ayman Elgarem, Mohamed Gebril, Yehia Elsaka, and Tarek Gamal. It aims, among others, to transform traditional retail into a digitally connected network. To that end, it has raised about $100,000 to accelerate its growth and develop new products.
“Kuzlo is helping small retailers shift into the new future challenges and support them to strengthen their business value using new digital trends of e-commerce and e-finance in the near future,” explained Ayman Elgarem in 2021.
Through its mobile app -available for Android and iOS devices, users can register for Kuzlo accounts and access the network of wholesalers and suppliers. The network features more than 10,000 fresh, dry, and frozen products while guaranteeing product availability, on-time delivery, and competitive prices.
Kuzlo claims more than 50 wholesalers and suppliers, which facilitates negotiations and guarantees good deals. It has more than 1,000 retailers in the three cities where it is present. It caught investors’ attention early but, its growth started recently. The Android version of its mobile app has been downloaded more than a thousand times
Adoni Conrad Quenum
Kenya wants to become a reference in digital transformation in Africa by 2027. To finance the projects it plans for that purpose, it seeks the support of the World Bank and private investors.
The World Bank will provide $390 million to finance the construction of Kenya’s digital infrastructure, a release dated April 5, 2023, informs.
According to the Bretton Woods Institution, the financial resources will fund the first phase of the Kenya Digital Economy Acceleration Project. That first phase focuses “on expanding access to high-speed internet, improving the quality and delivery of education and selected government services, and building skills for the regional digital economy.”
“Broadening access to digital technologies and services is a cross-cutting pathway to accelerate economic growth and job creation, improve service delivery, and build resilience,” said Keith Hansen, World Bank country director for Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, and Uganda.
A few weeks ago, Minister of Digital Economy Eliud Owalo announced that Kenya was in talks with the World Bank to obtain $600 million to fund its Digital Superhighway Project.
Phase 1, which has been financed, will run from 2023 to 2028. Phase 2 will run from 2026 to 2030, focusing on building a secure, data-driven environment to enhance digital service delivery and innovation for the regional digital economy.
According to Keith Hansen, the Kenya Digital Economy Acceleration Project aims to make the country's growth more equitable by reducing disparities in digital skills and connectivity, and expanding the digital marketplace.
Samira Njoya
More...
Senegal, through its digital strategy, aims to become an innovative leader in Africa by 2025. However, several projects are still lagging, two years before the deadline. Therefore, the country is multiplying partnerships to accelerate its implementation.
Last Saturday, the Senegalese Minister of Communication Moussa Bocar Thiam (photo, left) announced a memorandum of understanding with the UAE company Presight ai LTD.
On Twitter, the government official indicated that the new partnership aims to support Senegal in the implementation of various projects, namely digital identity and addressing and tax digitization projects.
Under the newly signed MOU, Senegal will receive financial support for the implementation of the digital projects mentioned. The digital addressing project was initiated in February 2021 to map the entire national territory and assign a digital address to each geographical location.
The digital identity project, launched on June 24, 2022, aims to provide an operational, reliable, secure, and accessible digital identity to Senegalese users by 2024. As for the digitization of taxes, the project was launched several years ago, to allow online tax filing and payment.
On Monday, April 10, 2023, Moussa Bocar Thiam also signed a memorandum of understanding with the company PANAMAX in Dubai. That MoU finances the development of a digital post solution and covers the company’s participation in the digital week "SENEGALCONNECT" - May 16-20, 2023 in Dakar- organized by the Ministry of Communication, Telecommunications, and Digital Economy.
Samira Njoya
Cameroon, like several African countries, has officially adopted online visas. The system announced months ago will become effective in a few days.
Starting from April 30, 2023, applications for Cameroonian visas will be exclusively made online, announced Minister of External Relations, Lejeune Mbella Mbella, through a release issued on Thursday, April 6.
According to the release, regardless of the applicant’s geographic location, visa applications must be submitted on www.evisacam.cm following established administrative procedures. After the application, visa fees will be paid via various methods, namely Mastercard, Visa, Paypal, Mobile Money, Orange Money, Moov, Wave, Safaricom, Airtel, Vodacom, and Africell.
An online visa authorization will then be issued to the applicant who will be able to go either to a diplomatic mission or to a border post to retrieve the visa within three days. In this final stage, applicants’ biometric data, fingerprints, facial images, etc., will be collected.
The Cameroonian government received the equipment for the project from Abidjan-based company Impact Palmarès R&D SAS in June 2022. The bill updating the legal framework was submitted to the National Assembly on July 2, 2022, and the decree updating the conditions of entry, stay, and exit of foreigners in Cameroon was signed last month by the President of the Republic, Paul Biya.
The reform prescribed by the President of the Republic is the first step toward the digital transformation of Cameroon’s diplomatic apparatus. According to Minister Lejeune Mbella Mbella, "the e-visa system [aims] to make Cameroon a more attractive destination, address the grievances of the Cameroonian diaspora and upgrade the consular system to international standards.”
Samira Njoya
In most African countries, foreign languages -French, English, Spanish, etc…- are the working languages. So, mother tongues are seldom taught. As a result, the number of children speaking or even understanding those mother tongues has shrunk and continues to shrink. In recent years, however, the government and even private actors are devising solutions to that issue. This includes Ambani.
Ambani is an edtech solution developed by a South African startup. It allows users to learn several local languages such as Sizulu, Sisixhosa, Sepedi, Setswana, Tshivenda, or Swahili by playing games or watching specific videos. The startup that launched the solution was founded, in 2018, by Mukundi Lambani and Nkulu Lambani. Based in Johannesburg, its goal is to provide interactive native language instruction to K-12 learners.
“Ambani is here to help educators find the right blend of tools, platforms, and components to fit both learners and teachers' needs,” the startup informs on its platform.
The solution has a mobile app accessible on Playstore and Appstore. Once registered, users can access the content available on the platform such as slides, videos, or even custom-made games that facilitate learning.
Ambani also offers online tutoring for children over six years old. These are individual lessons given by qualified language teachers. The courses are accessible with monthly subscriptions and learners can buy specific lessons to fill gaps in their learning if they don’t want to commit to monthly subscriptions.
The startup also uses augmented reality to make learning fun and especially experiential. "When you view the books through the app on your phone, they COME ALIVE in 3D," it says.
The Android version of its mobile app has been downloaded more than 10,000 times, according to Play Store data. In 2021, Ambani was distinguished at the MTN Business App Year Awards. It won awards for the best educational solution, best gaming solution, best South African solution, and best solution of the year. The edtech received $68,000 and plans to introduce other African languages such as Yoruba, Shona, and Xitsonga.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
Jokkolabs is a model in the African entrepreneurial ecosystem. Through its programs, events, and partnerships, it actively contributes to creating a dynamic and sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem on the continent.
Jokkolabs is a tech innovation and co-working network for entrepreneurs and startups. The network, created in 2010, has become a major player in the African entrepreneurial ecosystem. It was founded by Karim Sy, a Senegalese entrepreneur, to stimulate innovation and contribute to growth on the continent.
The first Jokkolabs was opened in Dakar, Senegal in 2010, and since then the network has grown rapidly. Presently, it has several centers in West Africa, Central Africa, and even France. The network offers shared workspaces, training, events, and mentoring services for startup entrepreneurs in Africa and the African diaspora.
The Jokkolabs model is based on collaboration and knowledge exchange. Its centers are designed to encourage interaction and cooperation between entrepreneurs, which fosters the creation of a dynamic and innovative ecosystem. Members have access to high-quality resources and services, as well as a valuable network of contacts that can help them grow their businesses.
The network organizes regular events, talks, and a wide range of activities. These include Jokkokids launched -in 2016 in collaboration with Help the Street Children- to stimulate creativity and collaboration among children aged 6-12 and Jokkofood which is a national food innovation competition geared towards young entrepreneurs.
In collaboration with Make Sense, Jokkolabs also launched Jokko Sense, a business breakfast for entrepreneurs with socially and environmentally impactful initiatives. It represents, coordinates, and federates the Global Entrepreneurship Week in five countries and organizes coding training sessions for teachers as part of the Africa Code Week so that they can train young people aged 8-18.
For its activities, Jokkolabs partners with several key players in the African entrepreneurial ecosystem. Its partners include Google, tuition-free coding academy Simplon, and French banking group Société Générale. These partnerships allow Jokkolabs to strengthen its impact and continue to offer high-quality programs and events to entrepreneurs.