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Smart Monkey TV / Russell Southwood

Smart Monkey TV / Russell Southwood ... Innovations in Africa

Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Combining to create scale: Kenya’s Savanna Sunrise merges with Nigeria’s HotelOga and is raising Series A round to fund African expansion

Two African online hotel booking companies have merged and will use their increased size to raise Series A funding for more expansion. Russell Southwood spoke to Savanna Sunrise co-founder Havar Bauck about what each party brings to the marriage and what they have planned together.

The latest video clip interviews from Smart Monkey TV can be found at the bottom of this e-letter.

I last interviewed Havar Bauck, Savanna Sunrise in April 2016 in our sister e-letter Balancing Act’s News Update: http://www.balancingact-africa.com/news/telecoms-en/36782/savannasunrise-opens-up-global-online-hotel-booking-in-east-africa-b2c-processes-drive-digital-take-up-and-data-use Savanna Sunrise was founded by Havar Bauck and Endre Opdal, both of whom had worked in the hotel trade and indeed set up and ran a budget hotel in the country they started in, Kenya.

The latest video clip interviews from Smart Monkey TV can be found at the bottom of this e-letter.

I last interviewed Havar Bauck, Savanna Sunrise in April 2016 in our sister e-letter Balancing Act’s News Update: http://www.balancingact-africa.com/news/telecoms-en/36782/savannasunrise-opens-up-global-online-hotel-booking-in-east-africa-b2c-processes-drive-digital-take-up-and-data-use Savanna Sunrise was founded by Havar Bauck and Endre Opdal, both of whom had worked in the hotel trade and indeed set up and ran a budget hotel in the country they started in, Kenya.

Since our last interview, the company has continued to expand:”We have increased dramatically the number of hotels we have and more than tripled both in terms of hotels and revenues. We’ve now got 450 partner hotels in 40 countries and we’ll turn over US$200,000 gross this month.” This time last year it had 300 hotels in 12 countries.

It’s also continued to expand its partnerships with other global bookers like Booking.com, hotelbeds, Expedia and most recently with Ctrip (the biggest OTA in China):”We’re in ongoing talks with others.”

All of this has generated 3,000 room nights per month, largely drawn from places like the USA, the UK, Germany, France, Australia and Kenya.

The Founder and CEO of HotelOga is a Pole called Marek Zmyslowski who between February 2013 and January 2016 ran Jovago in Nigeria, which has now been rebranded Jumia travel. HotelOga has around 450 partner hotels, making it approximately the same size as Savanna Sunrise, although the latter is more profitable.

Bauck says that the merger has been built on the strengths of the two companies:” The two co-founders of Savanna Sunrise built the company together and we don’t have large bank accounts. We had to think about profitability from day one. We created a sustainable business model based on gaps in the market.”

“HotelOga comes from being a travel tech start-up and know things from the entrepreneur side. They know how to get PR and visibility and we have largely avoided publicity. They will bring in some good PR talent. They have built great tech which is state-of-the-art and user friendly”. Zmyslowski will become CEO and Bauck Executive Chair.

“HotelOga has worked with a different business model and their focus has been on the technology. It doesn’t mean it can’t be turned around. We’ll need to sign new contracts with some of the hotels and offer a bigger and more interesting bundle for the hotels. It’s a win-win situation for the hotels. We’ll both make more money out of it.”

Based on a US$1 billion valuation for the merged company, it is now looking for US$8 million in a Series A funding round:”We’ve had strong traction from Scandinavia and interest from Turkey, India and some African countries. We’ve even had a visit here (in Nairobi) from a Scandinavian investment bank. We’re very energized by the response we’ve been getting”.

And what will you use the funds for?”We want to use the funds to create a self-sustaining company that makes rapid growth. We had complementary strategies. HotelOga was going to expand into East Africa and we were going to expand into West Africa. Instead of competing with each other, we can now open offices in North and South Africa. We can then start looking at parts of Asia, the Caribbean and the Middle East.”

“In most frontier and emerging markets, most hotels below 5 star are facing some challenges in terms of online marketing. By 2020, we want to get 50,000 partner hotels globally.”

Start-Ups and Investment+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

North African fintech startups can apply for this $15k challenge

Applications have opened for the first Fincluders Startup Challenge to be held outside of Europe, with fintech entrepreneurs from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) eligible for the US$15,000 competition.

Organised by the Technical Assistance Facility of the SANAD Fund for MSME, the event is modelled on a first installment of the challenge held in Berlin last year.

It will take place on May 3-4 in Amman, Jordan, and seeks to identify and promote fledgling fintech companies offering products for expanding access to finance in MENA.

The SANAD Technical Assistance Facility will offer finalists a trip to Jordan and accommodation during mentoring sessions conducted by fintech industry experts. Finalists will then present their products and services to a jury of finance industry managers and an audience of investors, regulators, and development finance specialists. For more information click here. http://sanad.fincluders.com/

Africa and Europe to connect at Africa Tech Summit London

The rapid expansion of mobile and internet penetration across Africa is providing global opportunities for tech ventures that previously did not exist. International investors will connect with industry leaders from across the continent at Africa Tech Summit London (www.africatechsummit.com) on April 20th to drive business and investment forward.

Over the next five years, 168 million new mobile subscribers will be connected across Africa, reaching 725 million by 2020 (GSMA). From artificial intelligence (AI) to hardware, transport to mobile education, tech is changing Africa rapidly. It was therefore no surprise that Mark Zuckerberg finally made a highly publicised visit to Nigeria and Kenya last year, opening global eyes to the rapidly growing tech scene.

Local and international players have been busy, long before Zuckerburg touched down in Africa. Uber is now currently available in 15 African cities across 8 countries, with Cairo being the fastest growing city in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). The scale of adoption in Africa means “Cairo could overtake London and Paris in terms of trip numbers in the next year or so” according to Uber's head of operations for EMEA - Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty. This has spurred indigenous ventures such as Safaricom, the largest telecoms operator in Kenya to innovate and launch a competing ride-sharing service called Little Cab, while in South Africa start-up, Taxify has also launched.

The fall in commodity and oil prices has resulted in a recession in Nigeria and slowdown in South Africa. However, African countries are diversifying beyond commodities and 2016 saw increased levels of investment in the technology sector. This is a clear indication of a gear change and that serious international money is now investing in African tech. iROKOtv, the mobile entertainment group dubbed the Netflix of Africa, secured $19m from investors including France’s Canal Plus to produce original content and expand across the continent, bringing its total funding to about $40 million. Andela, a Nigerian company training developers, completed a $24M Series B round led by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, joining

Google Ventures. Orange made a EUR75M equity investment in the Africa Internet Group (AIG). This followed hot on the heels of AXA’s EUR75M investment for an 8 percent stake in AIG. On the start-up front, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) will provide up to $2 million in equity financing to Flat6Labs Cairo, which will invest in about 100 Egyptian tech start-ups over the next five years.
While the funding tide is slowly turning, there is still a distinct lack of local investment for many African tech ventures to scale and is a major hurdle faced by the ecosystem. International investment and exposure is therefore critical for ventures to scale, partner and grow. London sits at the confluence of international investment, banking, media and tech while a new wave of African focused ventures built by the diaspora call Europe home.

“Our vision for Africa Tech Summit London (ATSLDN) was simple, to bring together leading tech companies, investors, and entrepreneurs to explore key sectors, connect relevant stakeholders and drive investment and business between Africa and the rest of the world” explains Andrew Fassnidge, Founder of Africa Tech Summit London.

“The positive response on last year’s inaugural event from leaders within the industry endorsed the need for such a platform in London. We are very excited to welcome back leading innovators, global investors, banks and mobile network operators from across Africa to connect in London for ATSLDN 2017, while also providing a platform for African ventures who want to expand globally” he added.

The Summit is organised by Appsafrica.com (www.appsafrica.com) and is supported by Linklaters LLP, International Finance Corporation (IFC), and VConnect. The event will feature over 30 speakers including Etisalat Nigeria, Safaricom Spark Fund, Orange, TechCrunch, IFC, RedCloud Technologies, EcoBank, VConnect, Draper Dark Flow, BitPesa, VC4Africa, Linklaters LLP, The Economist, Quartz Africa, TechCabal, Disrupt Africa, ABAN and other leading ventures will share insights on the mobile, fintech, consumer, media and investment opportunities across the continent.
To register please visit www.africatechsummit.com

Uganda’s MamaOpe wins Pitch@Palace 2017 competitions

Uganda’s MamaOpe, a biomedical application for diagnosis and continuous monitoring of pneumonia patients has been declared winner of the 2017 Pitch@Palace competitions beating Kenya’s Kuza Automotive and Nigeria’s Tuteria.

Established by the Duke of York less than three years ago, Pitch@Palace helps entrepreneurs to take their businesses to a global audience of influencers who can catapult it to the next level.Pitch@Palace has helped over 247 businesses grow, with some now enjoying huge global success.

Business selected to compete at Pitch@Palace, were invited to attend a Boot Camp, where they received support and guidance in developing and sharpening their pitches and their business needs. Pitch@Palace gives investments, introductions, strategic guidance among others.

MamaOpe designs a smart-vest and biomedical application for diagnosis and continuous monitoring of pneumonia patients. The vest is specifically designed for children under the age of 5 years who are most affected by Pneumonia which is normally misdiagnosed with malaria, asthma and tuberculosis.

MamaOpe promises a cheaper solution to most of the alternative solution available, is easy to use,  promises shorter time for diagnosis and supports telemedicine.
Source: Tech Moran

Lagos’ first timeshare co-working space

Real estate company 3Invest recently opened Lagos CoWork – the first timeshare co-working space in Lagos, Nigeria. In an interview with How we made it in Africa, Ruth Obih-Obuah, the CEO and founder of 3Invest, explained the project in more detail and touched on the reasoning behind its creation.

What was the motivation behind this project?

The co-working revolution is transforming real estate. The workplace strategy and operations has been in 3Invest’s pipeline for over three years, however, we wanted to get it right. So I went to Harvard Business School to study a short course on real estate management. Just before I left for Harvard, the space was at least 50% ready.

Harvard assured me that co-working and flexible spaces are the future and are fast becoming critical components of wider corporate real estate.

After one of my classes, I went to my professor and told her that I have had this business plan. She gave me some directions and I came back and dismantled our existing space and started all over. So, it took us 12 months to put the space together in terms of redesigning it, strategising and branding. This gave birth to our first Lagos CoWork.

Our corporate real estate strategy at 3Invest is to increase flexibility, productivity and satisfaction by providing flexible, modern workplace communities across Africa.

Lagos CoWork is ‘uberising’ the office market by providing an on-demand workspace for growing businesses and createing a sharing community where people can co-work and invest in timeshare opportunities.

The opportunity lies in the need to decrease operational costs, reduce the rigidity of long-term leases, increase cash flow, and explore collaboration as a new work culture. Our timeshare investment opportunity offers huge savings and flexibility for the community of small and growing businesses using our space.

According to Broll there has been a slowdown in demand for office space in Nigeria. Do you think this will affect you, given the country’s economic slump?

Working with the research and data we have about the recent economic climate; I doubt it would. Following the trends and challenges facing the sector, the issue is the rigidity of long-term leases and high cost of management fees. Organisations no longer want to tie themselves down to long leases, the flexibility of co-working makes it a better alternative.

How does a timeshare co-working space differ from a normal co-working space?

Following our vision at 3Invest, we aim to always provide valuable investments. We would never have a model that does not provide an investment opportunity for its consumers. Our timeshare investment opportunity offers huge savings and flexibility for the community of small and growing businesses using our space by giving them an opportunity to lease their spaces when not in use.

How is the space at Lagos CoWork priced?

Our spaces are customised to suit our tenant’s business goals. Membership starts for N5,000 up to N40,000 (about US$16 to $127 at time of publishing) to about per month depending on your plan. We have three types of plans Flexi, Standi and Residi.

Who is your target market?

We are investing resources in educating organisations on the need to adopt this new generational workplace strategy. However, we target mostly growing businesses and start-ups who need a presence in any location we operate.

Has any businesses bought or rented space yet?

We are yet to formally launch the community, but we have a good number of corporate firms who use our space on demand.
Source: How We Made It in Africa

Ghana The Workshed Story: Creating an Authentic Co-Working Space

Two years ago I knew nothing about co-working. Besides occasional imaginations of being a real estate investor, I did not have any intentions of being actively involved in real estate. I graduated from Ashesi University without taking a single class in real estate. However, I knew I wanted to venture into business sooner than later, writes Richard Bempong. What follows are extracts from his blog on setting up The Workshed with his business partner Andrew Bimpong.

With the help of our parents, we managed to secure a good deal for space on the Spintex Road. We began remodeling the space in February 2016 and by May 2016, Workshed’s first co-working space was ready for business. The company officially opened its doors on June 1, 2016.

Workshed was created for startup entrepreneurs, freelancers and independent professionals because we believe startup entrepreneurs and small teams should have the opportunity to work in a decent environment that promotes efficiency. Our thinking was to give startups and freelance entrepreneurs a comfortable and beautiful work space that has a premium feel and is affordable. A place they can call home, and use to nurture and grow their businesses – without breaking the bank. In creating our space, we envisioned a work environment laced with creativity to inspire productivity.

Workshed is not just about space; it’s also about community. We are a dynamic network of startup founders, freelancers, entrepreneurs and small teams who are working to build dreams. People who join Workshed become members. Members not only gain access to an enabling work space, they also get plugged into a collective of passionate people working toward their dreams. With GHS400 (approx $100)  a young entrepreneur can purchase a monthly membership that includes work space, internet and utilities. Members also have the option of paying on a monthly basis, thus eliminating the financial pressure of advance rent payments.

Being an early-stage entrepreneur can be a lonely walk. Workshed changes that for our members. Studying in Ashesi University thought me a thing or two about community building and engagement. Once the consciousness of community is established, there is no end to the creation of ideas and initiatives to further strengthen the community and add value.

Ghana has been hit by the startup wave. I hear of a new company almost every day. More and more, fully-employed professionals are setting up a ‘side hustle’. These companies need an address to operate from. Many of these companies really do not require a whole building for an office when the whole company is made up of one or two people. That’s where co-working makes sense; co-working makes financial sense.

After three months of operating, I think we are on course to building a pretty great community of entrepreneurs. Our membership currently includes a creative agency, tech startups, designers, freelancers and an educational consultant. I get asked a lot what our future goals are. In my mind, given the nature of our business, there is so much Workshed can grow into besides space. However, more than anything, our goal is to create the ultimate work experience for entrepreneurs and duplicate that system across Africa. With Workshed, we are looking to retell the story of how work is perceived and start a revolution in commercial real estate.

Kangpe is a mobile service connecting Africa to healthcare

Healthcare in Africa might conjure up an image of some physician working in a remote village via Doctors without Borders but mobile technology is rapidly changing the entire continent and Y Combinator startup Kangpe Health aims to cash in by providing Africans with a platform to contact doctors remotely through their mobile devices.

People access Kangpe’s platform by firing up the mobile app on either a simple or smartphone and typing in medical questions. Medical staff will then answer those questions for a small fee in what should be 10 minutes or less or refer the customer to a doctor who can help them further.

Friends Femi Kuti, Ope Olumeken and Matthew Mayaki launched Kangpe in Nigeria last year but Kuti came up with the idea originally while working as a doctor in the country. As he tells it, friends and patients would constantly hit him up over text about their symptoms and he thought it would be a good idea to turn the advice he was giving out for free into a startup.

Kangpe now operates in Ghana and Kenya as well, potentially serving a combined population of roughly 245 million people at the moment. According to Kuti, the startup has so far on-boarded 60,000 users.

Of course, it’s not the first to come up with the idea. Those in the U.S. can access similar remote physician platforms like Doctor on Demand or the text-based First Opinion for a medical question. There’s also MedAfrica in Kenya, Matibabu in Uganda and Hello Doctor, which currently operates in about 10 African countries.

However, with the fast-paced adoption of new technology and growth trajectory of several African nations, the field is still pretty wide for pulling in potential customers.

Kuti also points out the platforms working in the U.S. don’t exactly translate to care in Africa. “Google doesn’t know about African disease,” he says.

Kangpe has already sparked some social interest and has forged a partnership with Facebook as the top service on Facebook’s Free Basics program for Nigeria. You can see the promotional video Facebook put together to help promote Kangpe on Free Basics below.

But in the future, the founder says he’d really like Kangpe to become the “Oscar Health to Africa” by connecting people to initial consultations, health insurance or further medical care through the platform. “We’re really trying to give African people access to healthcare at a price point that makes sense to them,” Kuti said.
Source: Tech Crunch

In Brief

Mara Social Media, an African multi-channel platform of online and mobile tech innovations that are designed to connect people across emerging markets, has announced this week that it has acquired global platform Nimbuzz Assets. Nimbuzz, initially released in May 2008 is a powerful cross-platform mobile calling and messaging app. The app can be installed on computers, mobile phones, smartphones, and tablets. Nimbuzz offers its users the ability to make voice and video calls, enable chat and file sharing worldwide. The app has over 200 million users and is available for Android, iPhone, and Symbian, MIDP, Windows Phone, BlackBerry and PC & Mac clients.

Nigeria’s Covenant University has launched its own incubator, Hebron Start-Up Labs. Stephen Oluwatobi, the Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship Development Studies, Covenant University said this is very good for the University and they are looking at whether to allow the public access to the. His words: “The original intention was to see what we can do with our students. But since photos of the hub surfaced online a lot of persons have been asking how the external community can enroll. what we are looking out is someone who is passionate about what they are doing, has a solid team and a solution that addresses key problems in the society.”

Ghana: The Multimedia Group and Invest In Africa (IIA), have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, to support small and medium scale enterprises, SMEs. With the signing of the MOU, it is expected that IIA and Multimedia will push for Policy dialogue on local content and the promotion of SME competitiveness in Ghana. The will also share applicable lessons of SME development and good business practice from the African Partner Pool and leverage existing networks. This is to enable them to build capacity and promote the transfer of knowledge and skills to local businesses from the business linkage programme. IIA, a cross-sector partnership of companies with the vision to create thriving African economies, has been set up to give businesses access to skills, finance and new markets. This is done through its key initiatives the African Partner Pool (APP) an online business platform that connects international companies to quality validated local businesses. www.africanpartnerpool.com

1,000 African Entrepreneurs have been selected out of 93,000 applicants for the 2017 TEF Entrepreneurship Programme. They join  2,000 alumni from the 2015 and 2016 rounds. They are a diverse group of emerging business leaders -- over 93,000 entrepreneurs across 55 countries in Africa applied, more than doubling the number of applications received in 2016 (45,000) and quadrupling the number received in 2015 (20,000). 32% of all applicants were women, up from 36% in 2016. Meet all the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurs here: http://tonyelumelufoundation.org/programme/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/TEF2017_1000_NAMES-1.pdf

Egypt is set to adopt a new national e-commerce strategy which has been developed by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) together with Egypt’s Ministry for Communications and Information Technology (MCIT). It is hoped that this new strategy will spur growth of the e-commerce sector in the country.

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and the IFC Middle East and North Africa Fund, managed by IFC Asset Management Company, today announced a combined indirect equity investment of $30 million via the WP/GA consortium fund in Network International, a leading provider of payment solutions, to expand the payment infrastructure in the Middle East and Africa. IFC and the MENA Fund have each invested $15 million to acquire indirect stakes in Network International, which is jointly controlled by the Emirates NBD Bank and Warburg Pincus/General Atlantic consortium. The investment will help the company expand and modernize its banking client network in the Middle East and Africa, by helping them develop electronic channels, improve their level of service, and expand their reach into underserved segments, boosting financial inclusion.

FinTech Circle has formed a partnership with Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative (CiTi) to launch FinTech Academy Africa. The companies revealed that the new program is geared towards those interested looking more about fintech and the curriculum was designed to deliver a comprehensive understanding of the industry.

The sixth edition of the DEMO Africa startups pitching event will take place on September 6-7, and will return to Johannesburg, South Africa, for the second year running.

Payments firm Interswitch Group has started a $10 million (Sh1 billion) fund to be invested in tech startups in East Africa. The ePayment Growth Fund will take equity in tech innovations of the payments processing business, according entrepreneurs working capital to grow their businesses. “This fund is intended to serve as a catalyst for funding innovation and disruptive business concepts within the digital payment and commerce industry across Africa,” said Paul Ndichu, chief executive at Interswitch East Africa. Any African startup at any stage of growth that has disruptive concepts with a proven business model within the digital payments and commerce industry in Africa can qualify for funding, Mr Ndichu said.

Energy++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Wärtsilä supplies 15 MW solar plant in Burkina Faso

Technology group Wärtsilä has entered into an agreement with independent power producer Eren Renewable Energy’s 90%-owned Essakane Solar, in Burkina Faso, to supply it with a 15 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant.

The remaining 10% is owned by Eren’s development partner African Energy Management Platform, which will operate the solar PV plant and sell the energy to West Africa-focused miner Iamgold's 400 000 oz Essakane mine.

The offgrid gold mine, located 330 km north-east of Burkina Faso capital Ouagadougou, needs a reliable and sustainable around-the-clock energy source, with the plant enabling the mine to decrease its fuel consumption by about six-million litres a year. The plant will further reduce Essakane’s yearly carbon dioxide emissions by 18 500 t.

'This project represents a major breakthrough in the industry,' said Eren Africa business development VP Christophe Fleurence, noting that hybrid solar PV-engine solutions allowed energy intensive industries to enter an era of more climate-friendly operations, improve business and increase resilience to oil price variation.

The solar PV power plant will be built next to a 55 MW Wärtsilä power plant currently running on heavy fuel oil. The solar PV plant and the engine power plant will be controlled and operated in synchronization – forming the largest engine-solar PV hybrid power plant on the continent.

Wärtsilä's scope covers the EPC for the solar PV power plant, including the control system for the hybrid plant. The power plant is scheduled to be operational in late 2017. The order is booked for the first quarter of 2017.
Source: Engineering News

Rwanda: peat to power plant reaches financial close

According to a press release issued by the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), a $350 million deal to finance an 80MW peat to power project to be constructed in the Mamba Sector of Gisagara District, has reached financial close.

On completion, the peat-to-power plant is expected to increase installed capacity in the country by 40%.

The project is sponsored by Turkey-based energy company, Hakan Madencilik A.S, together with Quantum Power, a power and energy infrastructure investment platform.

According to the statement, AFC is the mandated lead arranger for the project debt, and has successfully arranged total senior debt facilities of $245 million, contributing $75 million in loans and providing an underwriting commitment of $35 million. Finnfund, a Finnish Development Finance Company, served as the lead arranger for total mezzanine debt facilities of $35 million for the project.

The other lenders are listed as follows; Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank, African Export-Import Bank, Export-Import Bank of India, and Rwanda Development Bank.

Rwanda aims to provide 70% of its 12 million people with power from the grid or off-grid by 2018, and the country intends to become a lower middle-income country by 2020, the release stated.
Source: www.esi-africa.com

Renewable energy in Africa: EUR24 million to develop innovative projects and boost electrification on the African Continent

GENEVA, Switzerland, 20 March 2017,-/African Media Agency (AMA)/- At the Africa CEO Forum which opened this morning in Geneva, AFD Group - in partnership with the European Union - unveiled the 'African Renewable Energy Scale-Up facility', designed to boost private sector investment in on-grid and off-grid renewable energy production in Africa.

In order to meet Africa's constantly increasing energy requirements, support must be provided for mass development of the renewable energy technologies - especially solar energy - that will play such a key role over the coming years, given the recent drop in prices and the emergence of new innovative business models.

The EU's electrification funding initiative, 'ElectriFI', helps to harness and stimulate private sector investment to enhance access to renewable energy. More specifically, it focuses on poorly-served rural populations and regions that suffer from an unreliable electricity service.

AFD Group has secured €24 million from the fund to deploy the African Renewable Energy Scale-Up (ARE Scale Up) facility. With the help of the European Union, AFD Group will use this lending facility to partner the early-stage development of innovative electrification projects. While priority will be given to solar energy projects, other technologies (biomass, mini-hydro, etc.) will also be considered.

ARE Scale-Up has been designed with a view to unlocking synergies between AFD and its private sector financing subsidiary, Proparco, and rallying stakeholders in both the public and private sectors. Of the €24 million allocation secured from the EU fund:

* €12 million will be used by AFD to provide technical assistance facilities to strengthen regulatory and institutional frameworks in the countries concerned and to prepare financing of private or public sector renewable energy initiatives in Africa.

* €12 million will be used by Proparco to fund back-stop facilities for venture capital investments in private off-grid electricity providers (i.e., solar power kits and mini-grids). This should provide around one million African households with access to energy and add additional renewable energy capacity of 50MW for the Continent as a whole. Over the next 5 years, Proparco will provide seed funding for between 5 and 10 businesses with innovative, high-potential projects.

As Emmanuelle Matz, Head of Proparco's Energy and Infrastructure division explains 'the ARE Scale-Up facility will provide us with fresh resources to partially cover our risk exposure in the new off-grid solar energy sector and allow us to partner other types of business models (such as mini-grids and small-scale distributed generation systems).

These types of models are growing rapidly in rural zones where they can provide solutions to the rural/urban energy divide and also address the needs of the poorer sections of the population. They significantly enhance living conditions for families thanks to the positive benefits in terms of health, productivity and education.'

ARE Scale-Up is part of the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI) being supported by a number of countries, notably France, within the framework of the climate negotiation process and it has two main objectives: improving access to energy for all and financing 10 GW of renewable energy generating capacity on the African Continent by 2020.

Grégory Clemente, CEO of Proparco, is delighted as 'this represents a first for us. By signing this convention, Proparco - which has been accredited by the European Commission since September 2015 - becomes one of the first DFIs to use the new resources being provided by the European Union to support private sector intervention.'
Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) for Proparco Energy.

In Brief

The African Development Bank (AfDB) Board of Directors has approved the conversion of the Africa Climate Change Fund (ACCF) to a multi-donor trust fund. On Tuesday, the AfDB stated that this conversion brings two new partners to the Fund, the governments of Italy and Flanders (Belgium), who are contributing €4.7 million ($5 million) and €2 million ($2 million), respectively. The Bank highlighted that the development now further opens the door to new partnerships with other donors interested in supporting African countries in their transition to low-carbon, climate resilient development and green growth. The ACCF was established in 2014 with €4.725 million ($5 million) from the government of Germany.

South Africa: The Loeriesfontein Wind Farm has announced the completion of all 61 wind turbine installations as well as having achieved over 1,25 million hours without a single lost-time-incident, as of 1 March 2017.

The Kenyan Government has received credit from the International Development Association towards the cost of the Kenya Electricity Modernisation project.

3D Printing and Makers++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

UK’s Royal Stoke University Hospital 3D prints new jaw for cancer patient

Daya Gahir, a consultant at the Royal Stoke University Hospital in Stoke-on-Trent, UK, has used 3D printing to help reconstruct the jaw of cancer patient, Stephen Waterhouse.

Speaking to the Stoke Sentinel newspaper, Waterhouse said, “I am so pleased with the results – you can’t tell the difference between the two sides of my mouth.”

Waterhouse was first diagnosed with throat cancer eight years ago. Through chemo and radiotherapy treatment he was eventually given the all clear, but the stress of the radiation started to cause his jaw to disintegrate.

As an oral and maxillofacial (jaw and face) expert consulting at the Royal Stoke University Hospital, Daya Gahir decided that 3D printing would be the best way of reconstructing Waterhouse’s jaw.

Speaking again to The Stoke Sentinel, Gahir explains,”We do at least 40 major head and neck reconstructions per year. Around 10 to 15 cases will be done in this way using the printer”. Adding that, “In each case of this we are saving about £11,000, but it’s the results that are paramount. If you put the bone in the right place, you can have dental implants and so on – the surgery has an impact on future treatments”.

The intricate procedure was done by removing sections of bone from Waterhouse’s leg. The 3D printed jaw gave surgeons a model to follow when reshaping the bone to replace the jaw. Skin was also removed from Waterhouse’s leg to patch the back of his neck.

The success of the operation affirms a drive with the 3D printing industry to install 3D printer facilities in every hospital. One of the main barriers to this progress is in the regulations surrounding the technology.

In December 2016, the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) shared “The 3R’s of 3D Printing” explaining the steps being taken towards 3D printing in medicine. Some 3D printed medical devices have already been FDA approved, including surgical guides developed by Belgian 3D printing software company Materialise.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School, MA, have also successfully performed the transfer of bone from one part of the body to another using guides made on a desktop 3D printer. However, generally speaking, process is necessarily slow, and stories like this one about Stephen Waterhouse are incredibly encouraging for the future.
Source: 3D Printing Industry

In Brief

The 1st Annual 3D Printing Industry Awards take place in just a few months time and to create trophies for each of the 20 winners, there was only ever going to be one possible solution: 3D printing. Sharing platform and 3D designer community, MyMiniFactory has teamed up with The Virtual Foundry to manage the competition and the winning design will be 3D printed in The Virtual Foundry’s bronze Filamet. It allows for FDM 3D printing of metal, and with a secondary sintering process can produce highly dense 3D printed metal components. The competition will see some of the thousands of 3D designers already using MyMiniFactory, joined by other designers who want to get their work into the hands of the most important 3D printing enterprises. For details: https://www.myminifactory.com/competition/3d-printing-industry-awards-113#

ICT4D++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Africa: Maize Breeders Benefit From Using Drones

Harare — Using drone technology could cut labour and costs spent in collecting data for maize breeding by at least ten per cent, preliminary findings of a project shows.

With increased demand for better seeds to adapt to changing climate, breeders have turned to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) also known as drones for precise gathering of data from the field to enable more efficient maize breeding in most of Southern Africa.

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Southern Africa has adopted UAVs to collect data as a critical part of successful breeding programme.

Mainassara Abdou Zaman-Allah, maize physiologist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Southern Africa regional office in Zimbabwe, says using UAVs has facilitated instant data gathering, adding that with the UAVs it is possible to collect data from 1,000 plots in ten minutes or less while it may take eight hours to do so manually.

'In the preliminary analysis that we made, we realised that with the UAV technology, we would spend 10 per cent or less on labour and cost respectively,' said Zaman-Allah.

Zaman-Allah told SciDev.Net in an interview on 8 February that preliminary analysis shows that greater savings could result if sensors with higher resolution are used.

'First tested in 2013, UAVs are now used in maize breeding by CIMMYT in Eastern and Southern Africa, Latin America and Asia,' Zaman-Allah adds.

According to Eric Yirenkyi Danquah, a plant geneticist and the director of the West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement at the University of Ghana, many African countries do not have trained plant breeders to conduct effective crop breeding, which makes it urgent for Africa to build human capacity to develop staple crops.

Danquah says technology will not replace humans in data collection, and thus it is urgent that Africa trains more plant breeders and field technicians needed to develop improved varieties of the staple crops to boost productivity in farmers' fields.

An increase in commercial farming as markets develop will attract multinational agricultural businesses to Africa that will rely on large crop breeding programmes, which Africa currently does not have, Danquah explains.

'This will call for technology and UAVs will certainly have a role to play in the future,' says Danquah. 'The use of drones to collect data may be an efficient way if you look at large acreages. So as field sizes increase, more efficient and effective ways [of data collection] will be needed.'
This piece was produced by SciDev.Net's Sub-Saharan Africa English desk.

Avanti Communications Group to provide schools in Kenya with broadband

Shares in Avanti Communications Group climbed on Wednesday after the provider of satellite data communications services announced it had won a two-year contract to provide 500 schools in Kenya with satellite broadband connectivity.

Working with its regional partner iSat Africa, a satellite solutions provider, the AIM-listed company will connect schools through its Hylas 2 Ka-band satellite and provide pay-as-you-go services to local communities.

The companies will focus on connecting remote areas in Kenya to increase educational opportunities for students and teachers at the 500 sites across the country.

Avanti Chief Executive David Williams said: 'The market for connecting schools around Africa is a high growth area and Avanti is pleased to extend its market lead with iSat in the provision of high quality connectivity to schools and communities in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.'
Source: Digital Look http://www.digitallook.com/news/aim-bulletin/avanti-communications-group-to-provide-schools-in-kenya-with-broadband--2585709.html

Google Trains One Million Africans in Digital Skills

Google has announced that it has reached the one million milestone in its digital skills programme for Africa. Google had last April said that it would train as many as one million Africans on digital skills within a year. The company has kept to its promise.

“We have reached our target early, and we have committed ourselves to train even more Africans in digital skills in the coming year,” Google said on Tuesday.

In addition, Google is extending its commitment to the digital skills programme by assisting local communities further in several ways. First, Google will provide offline versions of its online training materials to reach individuals and businesses in low access areas where it is unable to hold physical training sessions. Second, Google will provide offline versions of the content in languages like Hausa, Swahili and IsiZulu.

The digital skills programme offers 89 courses through the online portal (https://digitalskills.withgoogle.com/ ), and Google works with 14 training partners covering more than 20 countries to offer face to face training. The programme will also be addressing needs for small business owners, who are looking to better understand how to take advantage of the web across Africa. Google will add web-focused skills training for SMEs across Africa as part of this initiative.

Speaking on the development, Google Nigeria Country Manager, Juliet Ehimuan-Chiazor, said: “The Web is a driver of economic growth, and is transforming society as a whole. People must be equipped, through training and reskilling to make use of the tools, and take advantage of it for entrepreneurship, employment and e-inclusion.”
Source: This Day Live 16 March 2017

In Brief

Euphoria Telecom has announced that it has partnered with South African Broadband Education Networks (SABEN) to offer affordable VoIP to South African Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges and students. SABEN is an initiative tasked to solve bandwidth poverty at South Africa’s TVET colleges by working with these institutions to procure self-funded internet connectivity. Through SABEN, colleges will now receive internet and data networking services from SANReN and TENET. SABEN currently caters for 17 of the 50 TVET colleges in South Africa with approximately half a million enrolled students.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and its partners, have announced the launch of a new e-learning course entitled: 'Experience capitalization for continuous learning”, freely accessible through the FAO E-learning Centre: www.fao.org/elearning/#/elc/en/course/EXCAP

Education Development Center (EDC) and The MasterCard Foundation are set to announce a $15M, five-year project that will help more than 30,000 Senegalese youth develop the skills they need to secure jobs or start a business. The Projet de l'amélioration des performances de travail et d'entreprenariat (APTE-Senegal) will focus on 200 lower secondary schools and 50 technical and vocational education and training (TVET) schools throughout the country, providing students with career counseling and transition to work services, including entrepreneurship coaching and mentoring, job shadowing, internship and job placement. The initiative will further train 1,575 Senegalese teachers to roll out EDC's Work Ready Now! curriculum, a program that helps young people in emerging economies develop the skills they need to succeed in the workplace or in a livelihood.

Innovation in Africa+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

African hospitals adopt SOPHiA artificial intelligence to trigger continent-wide healthcare leapfrogging movement

Lausanne, Switzerland, March 24, 2017/ -- Sophia Genetics, a global leader in Data-Driven Medicine, unveiled, at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) (http://APO.af/Y5udP7) in Phoenix, the list of African hospitals that have started integrating SOPHiA, the company’s artificial intelligence, into their clinical workflow to advance patients’ care across the continent.

Medical institutions at the forefront of innovation already using SOPHiA in Africa include:

    PharmaProcess in Casablanca, Morocco;
    ImmCell in Rabat, Morocco;
    The Al Azhar Oncology Center in Rabat, Morocco;
    The Riad Biology Center in Rabat, Morocco;
    The Oudayas, Medical Analysis Laboratory, Morocco;
    The Center for Proteomic & Genomic Research (CPGR) in Cape Town, South Africa;
    The Bonassama District Hospital in Douala, Cameroon.

African hospitals are adopting SOPHiA to - no matter their experience in genomic testing - get up to speed and analyze genomic data to identify disease-causing mutations in patients’ genomic profiles, and decide on the most effective care. As new users of SOPHiA, they become part of a larger network of 260 hospitals in 46 countries that share clinical insights across patient cases and patient populations, which feeds a knowledgebase of biomedical findings to accelerate diagnostics and care.

Speaking about the adoption of SOPHiA in Africa, Jurgi Camblong, Sophia Genetics’ CEO and co-founder, declared: “Since inception, our vision has been to develop innovative technological solutions that analyze patients’ genomic profiles to offer better diagnosis and care to the greatest number of patients, wherever they live. Today, I am very proud that SOPHiA is triggering a technological leapfrog movement in healthcare across Africa.”

Jurgi Camblong added: “By joining our community, African hospitals are breaking down the technological barriers that prevented African patients from benefiting from the same level of genomic testing than patients from the best medical centers worldwide. This is a story about accessibility, democratization, empowerment, and hope.”

Among other diseases, SOPHiA will be a key partner for African hospitals in oncology. Breast cancer, for instance, has been described as a “serial killer” on the continent as lack of relevant diagnostics and personalized care means that 60% of women with breast cancer in Africa die versus 20% in the US and EU. According to a 2012 global report from the International Prevention Research Institute, an earlier diagnostic of breast cancer could increase life expectancy by 30%. Globally, on the continent, the number of new cases of cancer every year should jump to 1.6 million by 2030. As oncology expertise might be based in different places across the globe, SOPHiA, ensures that the knowledge of a specialist in Paris will for instance be accessible to save patients in Nairobi.

Speaking about the benefits of using SOPHiA for African patients, Dr. Reinhard Hiller from the South African Centre for Proteomic and Genomic Research (CPGR) commented: “In creating a first-of-its-kind Genomic Medicine offering in Africa, using SOPHiA has been beneficial because its analysis are used by a global community of genomic medicine practitioners, allowing us to offer a best-in-class service.”

Prof. Hicham Mansour, Geneticist at the University Mohamed 1st Genetic Department - Al Azhar Oncology Center in Morocco, added: “Using SOPHiA allows us to analyze genomic data quickly and with great confidence, to better diagnose and follow up with our patients”.

Jurgi Camblong concluded: “After Europe, Canada, Australia, Russia, and Latin America, the adoption of SOPHiA in Africa is perhaps the strongest evidence that the democratization of Data-Driven Medicine is changing scale to help the highest number of patients, wherever they live across the globe.”
Distributed by APO on behalf of Sophia Genetics.

In Brief

At the finale of this year’s Design Indaba the prototype designs of an arch to celebrate South African anti-apartheid activist and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, was presented. The arch is designed by the Norwegian architecture and design studio Snøhetta in collaboration with Johannesburg based Local Studio. The Memorial Arch is designed to celebrate Tutu’s tireless work in promoting democracy. It is composed of 14 intertwined strands of bent wood, each representing the 14 chapters of the South African constitution. It is commissioned by Design Indaba and will we built next to the National Parliament in Cape Town.
Read more here: https://www.dezeen.com/2017/03/06/snohetta-memorial-arch-archbishop-desmond-tutu-democracy-design-indaba-2017-cape-town-south-africa/

Over the past decade, Barcelona has made a name for itself as one of Europe’s “smartest” cities. Nearly 12,000 km away, another low-lying coastal city — Maputo, the capital of Mozambique — is also pioneering its own smart city initiative. What can the two cities learn from each other about smart transformation, and how does city-to-city development cooperation work in practice? Take a trip with Devex from the Catalan capital to the streets of Maputo. Along the way, hear from Barcelona’s Chief Technology Officer Francesca Bria, United Cities and Local Governments’ Sara Hoeflich, Maputo Council’s Head of International Relations Natacha Morais, and Frederico Silva, founder of Mozambican startup UX: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RK4sqecov0

28 year old Kenyan IT Graduate, John Mbindyo has started a business, FreshBox that might help save tons of food from going to waste. The solution? The FreshBox is a solar powered walk-in cold room that provides retailers with storage facilities to preserve perishable products - at a cheap price. According to the Rockefeller Foundation, one-third of all the food that is produced is never consumed, where one of the main causes is waste due to lack of refrigeration facilities. But many low tech solutions are helping to change this. Read about it here: https://qz.com/929817/we-could-stop-tons-of-food-losses-by-scaling-these-african-made-low-tech-cooling-units/

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, March 14, 2017/ -- Johnson & Johnson today named the winners of the first Africa Innovation Challenge at the Global Entrepreneurship Congress.  The Africa Innovation Challenge, launched in November 2016, solicited novel ideas with a focus on three critical health areas: promoting early child development and maternal health; empowering young women; and improving family well-being. The three winning concepts embraced these themes as well as the goal of creating ongoing, sustainable businesses:
1. Project Agateka (Burundi) – The development of a sustainable solution to support girls who are unable to afford menstrual pads and underwear is an important need for young women. Project Agateka will provide a direct health solution as well as the opportunity for women and girls to generate income in Burundi. With the inclusion of health information, the initiative also provides health education to support improved sexual and reproductive health;
2.Project Kernel Fresh (Liberia) – Project Kernel Fresh sources natural palm kernels from smallholder women farmers, increasing their income. The entrepreneur cold presses the palm kernel oil to be used in organic cosmetics. The project will also create jobs for young women by training them to sell the products throughout Liberia;
3. Project Pedal Tap (Uganda) – Seeking to prevent disease transmission, and a reduction of water use, Project Pedal Tap will develop hands-free solutions for hand water taps in Uganda. The entrepreneurs will create manufacturing capabilities, using mostly recycled materials, which will lead to an ongoing business.

If you would like to subscribe to Innovation in Africa, just send an email to info@smartmonkeytv.com with Innovation in Africa in the title line. If you’d like to see one of Africa’s innovators interviewed by Smart Monkey TV, just drop me a line on info@balancingact-africa.com

Yours sincerely

Russell Southwood
Smart Monkey TV

PS Watch Kenya’s Tosh Juma talk about teaching user-centred design at the newly-created Nairobi Design Institute: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GBMu9D_KzU

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