Hi guys,
Happy International Women’s Day!
Once again, we bring to your doorstep the Big 5 Daily. Your dose of the latest in African and World Tech.
To set things off, we have news that Visa has launched the first Visa Everywhere Initiative: Women’s Global Edition to celebrate women from around the world in celebration of International Women’s Day. This aims to tackle fintech and social Impact challenges for a chance to win $100,000 in each of the two challenges. The final event will hold during the kick-off of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in France, 2019. To participate, companies with at least one female founder are to submit solutions that tackle challenges facing the FinTech and Social Impact landscape through innovation. Open for submissions: March 6th, 2019. Applications due: April 14th, 2019, Interested? Click here.
There is also news that, MTN Group announced the launch of an instant messaging (IM) service akin to China’s “WeChat” and Facebook’s “WhatsApp”. This was made known by CEO Rob Shuter on Thursday. The app will be launched in MTN markets in West Africa first as part of a “beta-testing” phase. The plan is to introduce it to all the countries in which it operates, including South Africa. A key differentiator will be the ability for users to exchange messages who don’t have a data plan through interoperability with SMS.
See also: Taxify Rebrands, Announces Change of Name, MEST Africa Challenge announces Top 5 Finalist and More
Moving on, South Africa’s Cassava Fintech has expanded its services by launching an enhanced cross-border money transfer service from South Africa to other parts of the continent. Cassava is a specialized Pan-African Fintech company that delivers digital transaction solutions. They develop fintech services including mobile money, mobile micro-insurance, payments, and digital banking. They provide access to over 200 million mobile money wallets and 100 million bank accounts across Africa which enables payments from South Africa, EU and the UK. The Cassava Group also offers international payment services to all African countries under the brand name Cassava Remit Limited in the UK.
Next on the Big 5, Zoë Life and Keep A Child Alive in collaboration with the Qualcomm Wireless Reach Initiative has launched the KidzAlive Talk Tool App. It is an innovative mobile health solution that provides healthcare workers with age-appropriate HIV education for children, adolescents and primary caregivers. The KidzAlive Talk Tool App provides health workers with support they need to interact with children and caregivers in an age-appropriate way. They use the app to engage children in the animated journey of a frog named Sibusiso as he goes for HIV testing, learns his positive status and understand the importance of adhering to his treatment.
Finally on the Big 5, Nigerian Firm, Pan African Towers (PAT) has signed a $20 million infrastructure investment with Watt Renewable Corporation, a Canadian Firm. The Canadian firm will leverage on this to bring alternative energy solutions (SOLAR) to PAT owned towers in Nigeria. The partnership will also impact greatly by ensuring quality voice and data service in the country, considering unstable power supply is a challenge to telecoms operators in Nigeria. PAT manages about 1,000 towers in Nigeria, and it will be doubled by the end of the year. According to PAT CEO the firm also has footprints in Ghana.
That’s it for the Big 5 Daily.
Have a great weekend!