Hey Guys,
Happy New Week!
Its Monday and we have a juicy edition of the Big 5 Daily.
We have big news that, Thrive Agric, Nigeria’s agritech startup has been invited among a set of 23 companies that makes up the 2019 Winter batch of over 200 companies. YCombinator is one of the world’s most successful accelerators. They have crossed ₦36 trillion ($100 billion) in market value across all the startups in their portfolio since 2005 and the YC alumni include Dropbox, Airbnb, and Reddit.
Moving on, Emmanuel Macron, the President of the Republic of France has announced efforts to support the revolution of entrepreneurship and innovation in Africa through a new initiative, Choose Africa. Coordinated by the AFD Group and Proparco, France will devote 2.5 billion euros for financing African start-ups, VSEs and SMEs by 2022. AFD and its subsidiary dedicated to the private sector Proparco, will be mobilized to support nearly 10,000 companies at different stages of their development.
Next on the Big 5, MasterCard and the National Savings Bank (NatSave) have collaborated to enable the bank release MasterCard Chip, PIN prepaid and debit cards to give its customers a safe and convenient alternative cash transaction. This collaboration aligns with the government’s role to create an inclusive and modernized digital payment ecosystem in Zambia. The new cards will feature; the latest EMV chips and PIN payment technology that will grant customers a convenient and globally accepted payment solution with the highest security protection.
There is also news that, The Western Cape Department of Education has partnered with Edtech company, IDEA to enable a measurable outcome-based approach for learners and teachers in 2019. This partnership comes after a successful test phase of the programme that was in motion the past two years. The Western Cape Department of Education made this move to align with the SA government’s commitment to increase education in its next fiscal year.
Finally, on the Big 5, Ericsson and UNESCO are combining their respective strengths to create opportunities to scale up skill development in AI and other key digital skills for young people. The initiative was launched at Mobile Learning Week 2019, UNESCO’s flagship education conference held at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris from March 4 to 8. Education and technology experts from around the world with focus on AI and sustainable development gathered together at the conference.
That’s it for the Big 5 Daily.
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