Showing 8 results for:
afriblocks
Popular topics
All results
The tech industry is increasingly supporting more and more innovative Africa-based startups. Techstars Seattle — a local accelerator a part of Techstars’ worldwide network — is now among the bunch giving these companies a push in the right direction. Back in January, Techstars Seatlle announced its 2021 class of companies joining its programming — including for the first time ever a Zimbabwean startup called AfriBlocks, TechCrunch reports. AfriBlocks is a global pan-african freelance collaboration platform that helps vet African freelance professionals. The startup was founded by entrepreneurs Tongayi Choto and Roger Roman in July of last year in an effort to address the high unemployment rate that plagues many African countries today. “It can be very hard to find African freelancers,” CEO Choto told TechCrunch. “If a customer is lucky enough to get past those hurdles and find a freelancer to work with, they often don’t have the proper collaboration tools to complete the project in...
While she’s only in her twenties, this Zimbabwean scholar isn’t letting it stop her from making historic wins. Meet Africa's youngest female PhD graduate. Dr Musawenkosi “Musa” Saurombe receives PhD in Industrial Psychology in SA. She's only 23! 🙌🏾🎓❤️ pic.twitter.com/yjwe6bYq7q — Ulrich Janse van Vuuren (@UlrichJvV) August 31, 2017
One mission Google has is to invest in initiatives that aid digital transformation, and their latest funding will go toward the continent of Africa. During its very first “Google for Africa” on Oct. 6, CEO Sundar Pichai announced that the company will invest $1 billion over the next five years in tech-led initiatives in Africa, according to TechCrunch. “We’ve made huge strides together over the past decade — but there’s more work to do to make the internet accessible, affordable and useful for every African,” Pichai said during the virtual event. “Today I’m excited to reaffirm our commitment to the continent through an investment of $1 billion over five years to support Africa’s digital transformation to cover a range of initiatives from improved connectivity to investment in startups.” The $1 billion investment will go toward “landing a subsea cable into the continent to enable faster internet speeds, low-interest loans for small businesses, equity investments into African...
When the Relief app announced that it had received $2 million in seed funding via a press release, people beleaguered with the burden of credit card debt breathed a sigh of relief. Led by Collaborative Ventures with participation from such prestigious investors as Brand Foundry Ventures, Interplay Ventures, Necessary Ventures, and The Fund, as well as backing from notable angel investors including Twitch founder Justin Kan, Elliot Tebele, and Ben Kaplan of Jerry Media, the Relief app is poised to usher in a new era of debt, well, relief . For co-founder Jason Saltzman, however, the focus is not necessarily on the debt relief itself, but on creating a holistic environment that benefits all users. “I consider myself a social impact entrepreneur who is deeply motivated to help as many people as I can,” he told AfroTech. “I am an adjunct professor at FIU in Miami where I also sit on the foundational board of directors as the Vice-Chair of Enterprise Growth. My latest venture, Relief, is...
This Senegalese woman knows what it takes to be a success. She’s so successful, in fact, that she runs the biggest poultry production company in Africa. Face2Face Africa features the story of Anta Babacar Ngom, who inherited Sedima from her father, Babacar, when he retired from work. Sedima is Senegal’s biggest poultry producer, and it is, in fact, one of the largest poultry producers on the continent. Ngom oversees the company’s production, distribution, and development. According to her LinkedIn page, Ngom is also the General Director of KFC Senegal, where she has been for three years. But the Senegalese woman isn’t just about the chicken. In fact, under her tutelage, Sedima actually diversified its portfolio. In 2014, Ngom oversaw the company’s expansion into flour mills. Two years later, Ngom oversaw the company’s expansion into two new factories. Both expansions required an investment of nearly $30 million, which Ngom was able to secure without a problem. According to Face2Face...
Ghana has just announced that it’s launching a new digital currency called the e-cedi. But this isn’t like your typical cryptocurrency — this is actually something quite different. According to Dr. Ernest Addison, the governor of the country’s central bank, the new proposed digital currency will go into effect after three pilot stages confirm it to be a positive thing to introduce into the local economy. “The Bank of Ghana was one of the first African Central Banks to declare that we were working on a digital currency looking at the concept of an e-cedi,” Dr. Addison said at a news conference in Accra. Currently, the e-cedi has completed the first phase of the process where the design has been made and finalized by a centralized committee. Right now, the digital currency is in a limited implementation phase, meaning that some online transactions will accept the digital currency if it’s applied to the payment. Dr. Addision said that the Central Bank of Ghana will then determine,...
Two Kenyan companies have joined forces. According to TechCrunch, Ajua — a Kenya-based consumer experience platform — has announced its acquisition of WayaWaya, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) messaging and payments company also based in Kenya. The outlet further reports that Ajua decided to acquire WayaWaya because the latter company has access to proprietary bot technology called Janja. The payment bots system — whose clientele includes such African-based companies as Airtel, Ezee Money, Housing Finance Company of Kenya (HF Group) — allows for “borderless banking” across platforms and social media apps (including Facebook and WhatsApp), making it easier to create a unified pan-African payment system that accounts for currency differences. As part of this newfound acquisition, Teddy Ogalo — the WayaWaya founder — will join Ajua as VP of Product APIs and Integrations. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. However, Crunchbase speculated that Ajua...