All about Tech.
“I’ve always loved and wanted to wear African prints more here,” says Bami Adenike, who lives near alluring luxury boutiques in Paris but has a lasting fondness for African wear. Adenike, a 28-year-old Nigerian artist, moved to France in 2016 and has mostly purchased clothes from French fashion retail stores since then due to the…
Year after year, smartphone manufacturers release new models to keep the momentum going. While 2020 was a slow year for manufacturers due to the pandemic, 2021 saw the release of some exciting smartphones, such as Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 3 (Review) and the Galaxy Z Flip 3 (Review), as well as many promising ones that…
The year 2021 was a fantastic year for the technology industry as a whole. As much as this was true across the board, certain industries stood out. Of course, there was fintech, which raised mega-rounds of funding. Then there’s health technology, with Helium Health completing a major acquisition in far-flung Asia and 54Gene securing major…
Aircart, a Kenyan startup, has launched an online platform that allows users to sell any digital product using smart links. Aircart, like international platforms like Gumroad, is a storefront for digital content producers, allowing users to upload a product, select their preferred payment method, and immediately receive a shareable link from which they can directly…
Stranerd, a Nigerian startup, has launched a peer-to-peer learning platform where students can ask and answer homework-related questions, with the service designed to give the brightest students opportunities to help others who may be less skilled in specific subjects. Stranerd began as an Instagram page in 2018, but only recently became a standalone digital product….
Google Maps has begun to roll out a feature that highlights the busiest parts of your city or town. The new feature, dubbed ‘Area Busyness,’ is intended to help you avoid crowds by instantly detecting whether your neighborhood or a section of your city has more than the usual number of footfalls. The feature is…
Smartphone cameras are no longer just the most convenient option; they are quickly overtaking traditional digital cameras in terms of computational power and innovation. Users can capture more details and render images accurately in complex lighting conditions thanks to increased sensor size and resolution. Many aspects of image processing have been improved by artificial intelligence…
Drugstoc is a health-tech startup that offers hospitals and pharmacies a procurement platform for all medications, consumables, and small medical equipment. Chibuzor Opara and Adham Yehia founded the startup in 2017 with the goal of closing the supply chain gap in Nigeria’s medical sector. In November, the company raised $4.4 million in a Series A…
Life is returning to normal as Covid-19 vaccinations become more widespread around the world. However, this is not the world we knew before the pandemic. Because of the long-term nature of this global crisis, customer needs and daily lifestyles have changed. This, in turn, will alter my expectations for the world in 2022 and beyond….
KeyTec, a South African startup, describes itself as a “one-stop-shop for video telematics and vehicle data,” offering smart solutions to businesses of all sizes. KeyTec was founded just over a year ago after founder Michael Roberts saw a real need for maintaining and supporting assets and vehicles in the field, as well as the frustration…
It is difficult to comprehend the impact of technology on businesses and society as a whole. This year’s annual Thoughtworks Looking Glass report attempts to put a wide range of technologies into context so that business leaders can see where technology is leading them. The report examines the impact of 100 current and emerging technologies…
Instagram is introducing a new “Profile Embed” feature that will allow users to embed a mini-version of their profile into a website. Users will be able to further integrate their Instagram profiles into websites such as blogs and portfolios with the new feature. According to the social media giant, the feature is currently only available…
ATG Digital, a leader in identification verification software, has announced a new tool for employers and public establishments to use at access control points to verify visitors’ vaccine status. Vaccine mandates are on everyone’s mind this season, but ATG Digital’s R&D department had already completed their vaccine verification feature before the first fourth-wave headline. Visitors…
South Africans are big fans of televisions and home entertainment systems. In fact, according to Nielsen, the average citizen watches 165 minutes of television per day on top of working from home, home schooling, and other adulting responsibilities, and that doesn’t include time spent on mobile devices. With nearly three hours of viewing time per…
Treepz, a mobility startup, has announced a partnership with CMS Taxi and Motor Nigeria Limited (CMS T&M), a Lagos-based traditional bus company, just a few weeks after raising $2.8 million in seed funding and acquiring Ugabus, a Ugandan bus company. Through this collaboration, CMS T&M passengers will have access to convenient payment options and predictable…
Medicise, a South African startup, has opened a cutting-edge medical facility in Somerset West, Western Cape, that can measure and monitor a wide range of heart and lung functions and then present a complete clinical picture using complex diagnostic algorithms. Medicise, which claims to be Africa’s only such facility, uses highly specialized equipment to measure…
Wabi, an electronic commerce ecosystem, has launched Wabi2b in Nigeria to digitize traditional trade channels and empower women. Wabi2b, the company’s B2B arm, is a marketplace that allows all FMCG wholesalers and distributors to sell their products directly to retailers and traditional stores. According to a McKinsey report titled “Africa’s Growing Giant: Nigeria’s New Retail…
Entersekt, a South African fintech that has developed technology that protects millions of financial services customers worldwide, has received funding from US-based private equity firm Accel-KKR to accelerate its roadmap and fuel expansion into new markets. Entersekt, a global payment security company headquartered in Cape Town, is a global authentication market innovator, with recent market…
Autocheck Africa, the leading auto tech platform, has added a brand new cars section to its website and mobile app. Customers can now access digital financing solutions for brand new cars and trucks with repayment terms of up to 60 months and the lowest interest rates in the market from regional partners such as Ecobank…
Bento, Nigeria’s digital payroll and human resource management platform, is expanding to Ghana, Kenya, and Rwanda, with plans to open offices in six more African markets over the next year. Bento’s next phase of growth will take it to Egypt, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, Angola, and Ethiopia by the end of next year. Bento is…
Long before tech startups democratized stock market investing, anyone looking to invest in the stock market needed a substantial amount of money. However, with the entry of startups such as Risevest, Bamboo, and Chaka, this has changed. Nigerians could now buy stocks with as little as $10 (5,000) for the first time. Despite the fact…
Platform for financial services for gig economy workers ImaliPay has made South Africa its third major African market, following Nigeria and Kenya, with the goal of assisting more African gig economy workers in improving their financial security and shaping their journey to financial freedom. Tatenda Furusa and Sanmi Akinmusire co-founded ImaliPay in 2020 to provide…
Conciliating innovation and regulation is perhaps the single most significant source of concern for tech titan leaders and startup founders worldwide. This is more common in Africa, where regulatory cultures frequently stifle innovation. For example, in Nigeria’s fintech space, innovation has accelerated in recent years, with at least three unicorn startups launched during this time…
Over the last year, there have been several changes in the economies and structures of African countries. Due to the COVID-19 epidemic, several people were forced to stay at home and go primarily cashless. Africa’s Fintech stepped in to help, providing Africans with cutting-edge technologies that allowed them to access the best financial services available….
Gricd, a cold chain technology company that uses the Internet of Things to enable last mile delivery of temperature-sensitive products, has partnered with Nigeria’s National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) to distribute 4.2 million doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. This batch of Moderna vaccines…
Gmail’s Undo Send feature has been updated for both Web and iOS users. The feature that allows users to recall emails will now be available in a variety of time frames. Users can ‘unsend’ an email by tapping the send button 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 20 seconds, or 30 seconds before it is delivered to…
Panda, a South African startup, has launched a mental health support app that provides users with online tools, activities, and support to help them manage their mental health. Panda is the brainchild of Alon Lits, former GM and director of Uber South Africa, and Allan Sweidan, a mental health expert and clinical psychologist who co-founded…
eHealth Africa is a non-governmental organization that was founded in 2009 with a simple goal in mind: to provide access to healthcare to hard-to-reach communities and underserved areas in Africa. To effectively design, implement, manage, and evaluate health projects, the organization employs appropriate technology. With offices in Kano and Abuja, eHealth Africa has projects in…
Wages for formal-sector employees in Nigeria are paid monthly; however, wages for informal-sector employees are paid daily. When salaried employees are unable to make ends meet between paydays, they now have three options: borrow, take out a loan, or request a salary advance. However, most loans have exorbitant interest rates, and salary advance schemes can…
Thanks to cutting-edge 3D printing technology, a new neighborhood near Mombasa, Kenya, will be built in record time. 14Trees, a joint venture between Holcim and CDC Group, the UK’s development finance institution, announced today that it will develop Africa’s largest 3D-printed affordable housing project. The 52-house Mvule Gardens project will be built in Kilifi, Kenya,…