Hello!
We are in 2019, Happy New Year!
The African tech ecosystem is never inactive with new updates, tech innovation and start-up investment being announced every day. With that, we bring you the first African Tech News Roundup for the year.
United Nations’ Report Says Africa’s E-commerce Sector is Rising
According to reports, almost 21 million African shoppers facilitated a market drive valued at US$5.7 billion in online sales in 2017. Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa are reported to have accounted for almost half of Africa’s estimated 21 million online shoppers in 2017. Mauritius was also highly ranked in the E-commerce Index courtesy of a large banked population, valued at 90% financial inclusion. This shows how rapid Africa is adopting the Internet. Read Article Here.
Second Nanosatellite Goes Live in South Africa
Dubbed ZACube-2, the continent’s most advanced nanosatellite was taken into space last week with the Russian Soyuz Kanopus mission from the Vostochny spaceport. It left the Earth alongside small satellites from the US, Japan, Spain and Germany. The satellite is a technology demonstrator for “maritime domain awareness” that will provide critical information for the country’s oceans economy. Read Article Here.
Citron Research Says Facebook Shares Could Hit Record High in 2019
Facebook’s stock may possibly hit $160 in 2019 as the company’s income and user base have seen little effect from the reported data scandals and privacy issues this year. The company’s shares rose as much as 4.4 percent to $129.57 after Citron’s report. “We believe investors will be rewarded by the shift of user behaviour to Instagram shopping and the personalization of the commerce process,” Citron’s research note opined. Read Article Here.
Econet Group Acquires Video Platform, Iflix
Iflix sold its remaining shares in Africa to Econet Group’s, ‘Kwese’ in a bid to double down its efforts in Asia, where it has an upper hand over Netflix, Iflix had already sold a part of their shares and now, they have sold everything. What this deal means is that Iflix’s total market has been cut down to 23 countries – Southeast Asia, and the Middle East amongst other markets. Read Article Here.
BitPesa Grabs New $2.2M Fund
The Nairobi-based BitPesa was pursuing to raise a total of $2.5 million but came short of the target by $288,896. The new round brings the total disclosed amount raised by BitPesa throughout 2018 to at least $7.23 million. BitPesa now has branches in Lagos, Luxembourg, London, Madrid and Dakar. Read Article Here.
Application Now Open for Tony Elumelu Foundation Programme
Early stage start-ups from across Africa are now welcome to apply for the 2019 cohort of the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme as applications have begun for start-ups with innovative ideas across different sectors. The deadline is set at March 1, 2019. Read Article Here.
Subaru Pledges $50,000 to Abisoye Ajayi’s “GirlsCoding” Initiative
But there is a clause to the fund, that is — ‘voluntary individuals should raise $50,000 first so as to match up the donation.’ Abisoye, a computer programmer was recognised by CNN for her work in trying to alleviate one of Nigeria’s major predicaments – child education – especially for disadvantaged girls in Lagos. Read Article Here.
Sudan Govt. Shuts itself Off of Social Media
NetBlocks says the Sudanese government is attempting to block social media platforms like Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram on mobile networks. The internet had earlier been blocked on major telecom companies like MTN Sudan, Zain Sudan, Kanartel, and Sudatel amid crisis of protesters in major cities demonstrating against rising bread prices, rising inflation and fuel scarcity in their economy. Read Article Here.
Internet Blocked in DR Congo’s Major Cities
NetBlocks also said that the Internet was halted in some major cities in DR Congo while the country awaits the release of the election results held on the 30th of December, 2018. The internet shutdown, which affected the capital, Kinshasa, was reported to have been instigated by the Government so as to limit half-truths and forestall instability. Read Article Here.
Careem Launches Tuk Tuks Rides in Cairo
The service is currently available in select areas in Cairo and Giza. The Tuk Tuks rides in Egypt have a starting fee and minimum ride fare pegged as 3.5 EGP (0.2 USD), according to Careem’s app, for each kilometre, charges are 2.75 EGP and 0.22 EGP charged per minute for waiting. Read Article Here.
In a Special, we delved into the sustainability of Web Development and Design as a career choice in the face of ‘drag-and-drop’ platforms like Wix, WordPress and Squarespace. Titled ‘Web Development; a Dying Art?’ it is a must read for tech enthusiasts when regarding our current evolving ecosystem. Dive in!
And with this, we end our Weekly Roundup. Kindly follow @TechGistAfrica on all social media platforms for more updates and visit Techgist Africa to get the latest in African and World Tech as it happens. See you next week.