Browsing: Innovation in Africa

On 1^st of April, as I was publishing my Uniconization of African Fintech piece[1], Mastercard was busy announcing their $100 million investment into Airtel Money (Airtel Africa’s mobile money subsidiary) to acquire a minority position – half what TPG Capital did[2]. Even though I had gotten wind of the transaction knowing that Mastercard was already in bed with Airtel Money[3] – some part of me thought of it as an April fools joke…. On the 12^th of April 2021, Mobile Telecom Network (MTN) announced the valuation of their mobile money business at $5 billion making it the 7^th African fintech unicorn with plans to bring in minority shareholders before going public[4]. Given that Visa is already in bed with MPESA (Vodacom and Safaricom’s mobile money business)[5], it is a matter of time before Visa also invests. The unicornization …

A few years ago, Nigerian Jessica Mathews made headlines after she invented the energy harnessing soccer ball. The invention entailed soccer balls that harness the kinetic energy they gather when they are kicked around so that they can be used for lighting in the home.

This was an incredibly beneficial invention, given the challenges of electricity in most of Africa; 60 % of the population has no access to electricity. In several countries, those who do have access to electricity experience intermittent power cuts. Noisy and fume producing generators are widely used to power business and home lights. However, that is only for those with an advantage in terms of affluence. For those who do not have the same level of privilege, candles, or paraffin lamps akin to those used in 18th century Europe are still the primary source of lighting. 

Zimbabwe’s William Sachiti, the inventor of the driverless …

In what could easily be mistaken as a scene from the TV series Knight Rider, an autonomous bot delivery vehicle took to the streets of London. In its maiden journey, it delivered medical supplies for a Hounslow care home.

The vehicle named Kar-go is a brainchild of Zimbabwean serial entrepreneur Pasi William Sachiti. It uses artificial intelligence to learn from natural events, including the terrain, allowing it to use this learned knowledge in new situations. 

The bot also has a specialized delivery management system and is capable of delivering parcels completely autonomously. 

To fulfill safety regulations, Kar- go moves around with a driver who can step in, in case of an emergency.   

The car can deliver in any terrain whether rural or urban and can navigate both smooth and dirt roads. 

The bot was built by Academy Robotics, a startup founded by Mr. Sachiti. The vehicle works through an app …

Forty-three leading global investors from Africa, Europe, the US, and the Middle East have signed up to participate virtually in the 8^th Angel Fair Africa on 5^th November 2020.

The investors are from Angel Africa List (AAL), Africa Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (AVCA), America Capital Association (ACA), Women-In-Capital (WIC), Viktoria Business Angel Network, Brightmore Capital, amongst others. Anime Partners and MSM Property Fund are supporting the investor participation.

The ten selected ventures to pitch to these investors have gone through our one-month Africa Virtual Accelerator (AVA) @ https://www.africavirtualaccelerator.com/in.php. They are, ShopMeAway led by Racine Carr; Kalpay led by Ibrahima Kane; AgroInnova led by Amos Narh; Adi&Bolga led by Abimbola Oladeji; Kladika led by Muthoni Mwangi; Gift Pesa led by Pamela Muriuki; Ejoobi led by Simangele Mphahlele; Kweza led by Ropafadzo Musvaire, Afrijob Network led by Harriet Kariuki and Curacel led by Henry Mascot. Their participation …