Africa By Region
4 Ways Digitisation Can Unlock Africa’s Recovery from COVID-19
Four steps to achieve a digital society for all Africans and avoid the stalling of African digitisation: 1. Bridging the digital divide Broad-based digitisation, especially for those people at the bottom of the pyramid, is an effective measure to ignite and sustain economic growth, and it starts with ensuring access to digital infrastructure for all. A study by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) found that expanding mobile broadband penetration by just 10% in Africa would equate to an increase of 2.5% in GDP per capita. Yet, traditional models for investing in digital infrastructure do not stack up in many rural or remote areas, due to a combination of high deployment costs, regulatory barriers and poor returns on capital. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_101.td-a-rec-img{ text-align:...
Pulse Launches Dedicated Mobile Gaming Channel Across Africa
Pulse and Good World Games have announced the introduction of Pulse Games channels across all its African digital media platforms (Pulse Nigeria, Pulse Ghana and Pulse Live Kenya). The channels will feature hundreds of premium hypercasual games along with new engaging media content. “We couldn’t be more excited to bring even more entertainment to our audience with this new addition to our content categories,” says Yetunde Oyeleke, Director of Marketing at Pulse Africa. “With the Pulse Games category, we’re offering an even richer digital experience to our users and this is strongly in line with our mission to engage Africa’s young audience and to lead in digital media innovation in Africa.” /* custom css */ .tdi_3_884.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_884.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 ...
Why Africa Urgently Needs Affordable Broadband Internet, Especially Now
Sourced from Getty Images. The director of Technology, Climate Change and Natural Resources Management at the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Jean-Paul Adam, told journalists during a virtual press briefing on 10 June 2020 that Africa contributes less than 1% to the world’s digital economy, which accounts for about 15% of global GDP. He says the continent needs about $100 billion to achieve universal, affordable and good quality internet access by 2030 (according to the World Bank). Presently, only 17.8% of households in Africa have the internet at home and the continent accounts for only 21% of worldwide internet users. It is estimated that over a quarter of a billion school children in Africa have been affected by COVID-19 and most of them lack the digital tools to continue their e...
How to Fight COVID-19 in Africa’s Informal Settlements
Sourced from eNCA. The COVID-19 pandemic has cost hundreds of thousands of lives in the world’s richest cities but poses an even greater threat to cities in the developing world. There are now more than 150,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus across Africa, in all 54 countries, with South Africa and Egypt the worst affected. One of the most pressing concerns for Africa is that over half the population (excluding in North Africa) live in overcrowded informal settlements. In these areas where several people have to share one badly ventilated room, diseases such as COVID-19 spread fast and it is impossible to practice physical distancing whether in homes or outside. Other preventative measures are equally challenging. Only a third of households in Africa have access to basic handwashing facili...
Opportunities & Risks From the 4th Industrial Revolution in Africa
Sourced from Shutterstock. Insurance provider and risk mitigator Aoncyber has published a new report titled “Cyber Risks in Africa.” The report focuses on the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) which is ushering in a new economy and a new form of globalisation, both of which demand new forms of governance to safeguard the public good. This new chapter in human development is enabled by extraordinary technological advancements, and along with this progress comes inherent risks. African states need to equip themselves better when it comes to cyber resilience in order to actively participate in the global economy, by effectively managing and mitigating the effects of data breaches and cybercrime on their economy and citizens. The 4th Industrial Revolution brings many opportunities, as well as in...
African Union Forms Partnership to Accelerate COVID-19 Testing on the Continent
The Commissioner for Social Affairs, Amira Elfadil Mohammed, today rolled out the Partnership to Accelerate COVID-19 Testing (PACT) at the African Union Commission headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In his message to participants in the rollout event, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, says that “We have set four goals for PACT: to scale-up testing for COVID-19, to continue training healthcare workers on the continent, to establish a platform for pooled procurement at Africa CDC, and to deploy one million community workers who will help trace contacts of confirmed cases. PACT is a vital component of the continental response to COVID-19 and it is the key to ensuring that we unlock our economies in a safe manner.” Anchored on the African Union Joint Con...
Facebook and Red Cross Launch #AfricaTogether
Facebook and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement are partnering to launch #AfricaTogether – a digital campaign and two-day festival on June 4th and 5th featuring artists from across Africa to encourage continued vigilance against COVID-19. With more than 100,000 coronavirus cases confirmed on the continent and containment measures easing in many countries, #AfricaTogether combines musical and comedic performances with information from COVID-19 first responders and fact-checkers from across Africa. #AfricaTogether will include a festival with performances by artists such as Aramide, Ayo, Femi Kuti, Ferre Gola, Salatiel, Serge Beynaud, Patoranking, Youssou N’dour amongst many others, as well as a digital awareness campaign with prevention messages developed with Red Cross a...
Playfre Expands Music Streaming Service to the Entire African Continent
Playfre has announced that it plans on expands platform across the entire continent. Before this, Playfre – which launched in May 2019 – was limited to only 18 African countries and before that, only to 5 African countries. With a library of over 50 million songs and 2 million artists, Playfre is currently the largest African music streaming service in terms of catalogue size. It has grown steadily in the past few months; averaging around 250 streams per registered user. According to Playfre co-founder and CEO Chika Nwaogu, music isn’t limited only to the just over 20,000 registered users on the platform – it’s freely available to anyone who downloads the app. Although any visitor outside the continent of Africa who tries to use the service is taken to the “Playfre is currently not availab...
Will Crypto Enter The Mainstream In Africa?
Cryptocurrencies are garnering interest across the globe, and have been for the last decade, but it is in Africa in which many are starting to think that these new digital currencies will take off with vigour. The reason for this could well be that Africa finds itself in a rather unique monetary situation, along with an equally unique technological one. Mobile and crypto, the perfect combination Whereas in Europe and North America Internet connectivity took off mainly through fixed-line broadband, Africa has been at the forefront of truly mobile-first Internet infrastructure. While cities are indeed rolling out fixed-line broadband, the vast majority of Africans get online through their data connection solely on their mobile phone. This has lead to a situation where 5G is expected to...
Understanding African Markets During COVID-19
Sourced from iStock. We are living in unprecedented times. COVID-19 has swept throughout the world, and governments globally have taken drastic measures to stop the spread in an attempt to save lives. In February 2020, as African countries watched Asia and Europe begin the implementation of lockdown, a study by Survey54, an automated mobile-led data collection platform, found that approximately 80% of Africans interviewed felt almost immune to the virus as they were yet to hear of any confirmed cases on the continent. This did not last long and by Mid-March, lockdown procedures were initiated across Africa. Despite the swift response, lockdown came with many challenges that drastically affected a continent which heavily depends on the informal sector. With roughly 90% of Africans now conce...
MTN Ranked as the Most Admired African Brand
MTN has again been ranked as the ‘Most Admired African Brand’ based on spontaneous consumer responses in Brand Africa 100: Africa’s Best Brands 2020 survey. The survey, which was released on Monday, shows that MTN is also the only African brand in the rankings of the ‘Most Admired Brands in Africa’. Covering 27 countries, representing around 80% of the population and the GDP of Africa, the group is now also considered one of the continent’s most admired media brands. MTN Mobile Money – through which MTN provides more than 35 million Africans access to financial services – remains one of Africa’s most admired finance brands. The Group also maintained its top position in the telecoms provider category. “We are thrilled to receive these accolades as the continent celebrates Africa Day,” says ...
Is Technology Africa’s Biggest Undiscovered Gold Mine?
Technology has the potential to fundamentally transform societies. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and broadband are becoming central to the societal developments around the world – enabling rapid improvements to industrial production and societal services, positively influencing the way we live and interact with our environment. Africa is home to over a billion people and the population is expected to grow in the coming years. It is projected to grow from 17% in 2020 to 26% in 2050 and 39% by 2100 of the global population while the share of Asia will fall from 59% in 2020 to 55% in 2050 and 43% in 2100. It is also a continent with the most growing economies and many from a low base; 9 of the 20 fastest growing in 2020 according to the IMF with rates above 6% of GDP (not ad...
