• Artificial intelligence can help healthcare workers do more with limited resources.
• Artificial Intelligence platforms, increasingly utilised in public health, use complicated data systems as a crucial component for health emergency readiness.
• AI-powered diagnostic solutions in Rwanda and Ghana are enhancing medical imaging analysis, contributing to the early detection of diseases like cancer and tuberculosis.

Artificial intelligence in healthcare is the art of integrating human ability into machines programmed to impersonate human actions. AI’s application in healthcare primarily helps medical practitioners in many aspects of patient care, including administrative procedures.

As of 2020, the application of Artificial intelligence in healthcare in the USA and Canada slashed healthcare expenses by around 25 per cent and 13 per cent, respectively, giving healthcare providers time to give more of their limited resources to patient care issues. AI deep learning procedures have also saved many lives globally by decreasing the diagnosis-treatment-recovery cycle for patients, Africa …

• Generative AI can create original content such as text, images, and videos. 
• As an emerging technology, generative AI does hold transformative potential not only in marketing and the creative arts but also in healthcare, banking, and finance amongst other sectors.

Generative AI has made notable footprints in recent years, beaconing as one of the most recognisable advancements, AI can create original content such as text, images, and videos. 

AI fundamentally refers to systems capable of producing entirely new and original content, distinguishing it from other AI applications that primarily analyse existing data for decision-making. These models can generate original written articles, images, audio samples, or video footage based on training from extensive datasets.

Leading models like Gemini, GPT-4, Claude, and Bing AI are renowned for creating remarkably human-like text from given prompts. In contrast, others like Stable Diffusion, Firefly, and DALL-E are known for generating vivid images from text descriptions. …

• Xente, co-founded by Francis Nkurunungi, is a fintech platform that streamlines business payments, collections, and financial operations.
• Targeting medium to large enterprises, Xente offers a digital wallet and integrates with systems like VISA to facilitate secure, efficient transactions and manage financial documents in one place.
• Currently, the startup has onboarded over 500 businesses in Uganda and plans to expand rapidly into Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, and Ghana.

When you think about the next big thing in fintech, your mind might drift to Silicon Valley or China. But Francis Nkurunungi, the COO and Co-Founder of Uganda-based fintech Xente, wants to change that perspective. He believes that Africa is the next frontier for technological innovation and investment.

At the sidelines of the 13th edition of the AIM Congress 2024 in Abu Dhabi, Francis shared Xente’s entrepreneurial journey, the opportunities and challenges they face, and their ambitious plans for the future. This is …

• Founded in Uganda, Famunera is a tech-driven startup that digitizes agribusiness operations, providing farmers, cooperatives, and agribusinesses with easy access to financing, market access, and supply chain traceability.
• Initially a B2C model for farm inputs, it transitioned to a B2B platform to address the unique financing needs of agribusinesses.
• With growing presence in the UAE, and the Netherlands, Famunera has onboarded over 1,000 agribusinesses and indirectly employed over 50,000 farmers.

Imagine a world where farmers from Uganda can seamlessly connect with agribusiness financiers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), while cooperatives in the Netherlands can procure produce from African farmers without the usual hurdles of financing and market access. This vision is no longer a far-off dream but a reality, thanks to Famunera, an innovative agribusiness startup.

Famunera, founded by Naika Enock Julius in 2016, is on a mission to transform the global agribusiness scene. By leveraging technology, Famunera is …

• The Africa Fintech Accelerator program has increased the number of women-led startups
• The Accelerator program, launched in June 2023, is aimed at uplifting the digital economy in Africa
• The list, is majorly dominated by West and Central African states that command 11 enterprises.

Only one Kenyan fintech startup has made it through into the second cohort of Visa’s Africa Fintech Accelerator program.

Out of the possible 20 only CheckUps Medical Hub, an Embedded health Kenyan startup, made it to the shortlist. Tanzania got two representatives and Ethiopia also got one.

The list is majorly dominated by West and Central African states that command 11 enterprises. While Southern Africa only has three two from South Africa and one from Zambia.

According to the digital payments firm, Cohort 2 startups operate across 28 African countries, a 55 per cent increase from Cohort 1 where the representatives operated across 18 countries. …

• The cost of land degradation due to poor soil health is estimated to be between $850 and $1,400 per year for every individual, with a global cost of between $6.3 and $10.6 trillion annually. 
• African governments should invest in improving access to organic and mineral fertilisers to enhance soil health.
• The continent now produces approximately 30 million tonnes of fertiliser annually, twice as much as it currently consumes.

Soil health is vital in supporting food production and water filtration. Since the 1960s, land degradation in Africa has led to a significant expansion of agricultural land by about 300 per cent, compared to 25 per cent elsewhere.  This has happened at the expense of forests, wetlands, and other fragile systems. The expansion is driven by the need to reimburse for the decline in productivity caused by soil fertility decline.   

The cost of land degradation due to poor soil health is estimated …