| Nigeria’s Interswitch has acquired a majority stake in seven-year-old healthtech company eClat. With 60% ownership of the company, Interswitch is firmly staking for a place in the healthcare sector and sees the acquisition as a step in addressing long-standing challenges in healthcare delivery in Nigeria. Alexander has more about the acquisition in this article. |
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| Nairobi-based payment and micro-savings platform Asilimia has raised $350,000 to help small businesses save for and access essential services such as insurance, bank accounts, and loans. The company is now looking to raise $200,000 in seed capital by March 2020 to expand its reach. Asilimia formalises payments and revenue collection for small businesses giving them access to a business mobile money solution enabling them to save as they transact and provides them with a formal proof of revenue to enable them access loans. The informal sector in Sub Saharan Africa contributes approximately 38% to its GDP and is the largest employer of labour in the region. |
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| Some trending news from across the Atlantic; Microsoft Japan, in August, began experimenting with a 4-day work week; 30 minutes-or-less meetings and online interactions over face-to-face ones. The organisation now says this experiment increased staff performance by 40% when compared with the same month in 2018. Due to a rapidly aging population and labour shortage, Japan has been trying to ameliorate a corporate system that is notoriously known for excessively long working hours. Will the technology company shorten its workweek to 4-days post-experiment? Not really. In another ‘experiment’ planned for winter, employees will take breaks on their own initiative and won’t get paid days off. |
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| Johannesburg-based startup Jamii Cities which connects tenants to landlords with safe and affordable rental apartments in prime locations has been awarded an additional R450 000 ($30,000) grant by Rand Merchant Investment Holdings’ (RMI) fintech incubator AlphaCode. The startup received a R1-million funding and R1-million in support alongside seven other startups incubated in AlphaCode’s year-long incubation programme. |
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Tickets are now available for the next edition of the TechCabal Townhall! TC Townhall: Edtech & the Future of Work will hold on November 29, 2019. We are bringing together regulators, government agencies, investors, entrepreneurs, NGOs, social enterprises and schools to set a strong agenda about how to use technology to leapfrog Africa’s education challenges and prepare our citizens for future jobs. Click here to buy your tickets. To enjoy our early-bird discount, click here or use the code TCEDTECH at checkout. Further discounts apply for companies/individuals buying at least 5 tickets. Please click here for corporate discounts or fill this form.
We are also putting together a map of the African edtech industry. If you have an edtech startup or you are a technology company doing significant work in the industry we would like to hear from you. Please fill this form. |
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| Some updates from our last townhall event. The event held on September 27 and brought together key industry players and decision-makers in the mobility and logistics sector. In case you were unable to attend or need a refresher, here are the panel sessions from the event:
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| Payments platform Flutterwave is looking for a Business Development lead to champion sales of its products and manage its growth in Ghana. Here’s more information about the role which you can apply for, if you meet the qualifications, by November 15. |
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| A gender equality entrepreneurship track event will now be incorporated into the upcoming Seedstars World pitching events in Bamako, Cape Town and Johannesburg. Seedstars last week said that it had partnered with the Swiss Association for Entrepreneurship in Emerging Markets (Safeem) and the German Development Agency (GIZ) to add the track to its pitching events with the aim of driving equality and providing support for women-led high growth startups in Sub-Saharan Africa. Up to 75-women led startups are expected to benefit from the new track events. |
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| The US Embassy in South Africa has launched an initiative under which it will host a series of hackathons aimed at providing digital solutions for real problems. The first hackathon in the Hackathons for South Africa: Digital Solutions for Real World Challenges series, digital innovators from all tiers have been invited to build digital solutions to tackle gender-based violence. South Africa’s rape statistics are amongst the highest globally, with an average of 114 rapes being reported to the police every day. During the hackathon, attendees will explore how to use technology tools to aid the safety of women, report cases in less intrusive manners and seek justice. There is a R25 000(US$1,700) prize as well as business and mentorship support to bring the idea to life. |
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| This is Guinea-Bissau. Or the apartment where the #JollofRoad team will be staying in. It looks beautiful, doesn’t it? The trip to Guinea-Bissau wasn’t. Fu’ad explains how and why. It is unlikely you don’t know what the Jollof Road trip is about but for the sake of our new subscribers; three staff members from our sister publication, Zikoko, are traveling through mainland West Africa for 80 days in Black, a sturdy vehicle proving itself, driven by Captain Taiwo and Tosin, a translator and handler. Visit jollofroad.com every day to catch up on all the stories from the road! |
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That’s it,
See you tomorrow!
– Kay
Remember to share TC Daily with your friends!
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