[Africa Tech Review] Duncan Mochama: Liquid Intelligent Technologies partnered with Orange to expand network reach across Africa

Africa has the lowest number of Internet connections—only 22 percent of the continent has access according to IFC. For this reason, a number of operators have been making massive investments to close this gap. This week, Liquid Intelligent Technologies partnered with Orange to expand network reach across Africa.  Recently,  the company also announced the launch of its shortest terrestrial fibre route between the East to the West coasts of Africa, connecting Mombasa, Kenya to Muanda, DRC.

This week, Mastercard appointed Gabriel Swanepoel as the new Country Manager for Mastercard in South Africa. This serves as a promotion from his current role as the Vice President of Business Integration for Mastercard, Southern Africa. Safaricom’s Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Stephen Chege  joined Vodacom Group. According to a statement by Safaricom, Steve will be joining Vodacom as a Chief External Affairs Officer, reporting to Vodacom Group CEO Shameel Joosub effective 15th November 2021.

African startups were also in the news this week. Autochek, the Nigerian automotive startup which recently expanded to Kenya secured $13.1mn in seed funding.RecoMed, the online healthcare marketplace and booking platform in sub-Saharan Africa concluded a highly successful funding round of $1.5 million with a strong and diversified group of leading local and international investors.South African fintech firm Ukheshe technologies, Telkom and Engen collaborated to create a QR solution that allows motorists to tip attendants and cashiers. In Kenya, Konza Technopolis Development Authority (KoTDA) announced a new venture with the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) to connect investors with viable tech start-up businesses that are being incubated by KoTDA.

Digital Realty announced plans to acquire Medallion Data Centres, Nigeria's leading colocation and interconnection provider. At the same time, Pan-African telecommunications services provider SEACOM announced that it has completed the 100% acquisition of Hirani Telecom’s metro fibre network.  We also shared a report by IDC on the trends shaping the public cloud market in South Africa that are setting the scene for business growth. Still in South Africa, Temenos partnered with Barko microfinance to launch digital bank for low-income South Africans. 

Africa’s leading e-commerce firm Jumia also released its Jumia Africa Index 2021 report this week. The most significant insight in the report is the strong shift of consumer online shopping behavior towards everyday product categories (FMCG, Beauty). These accounted for c. 57% of GMV in 2020, up from 44% in 2019. 

Samsung Electronics and IBM announced the Call for Code Honoring Everyday Heroes Challenge for enterprise developers to encourage the development of new technology solutions to help everyday heroes. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced it is investing about $74.5 million over five years to advance data science, catalyze innovation and spur health discoveries across Africa. 

Other top highlights of the week include African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) announcing its partnership and support to the African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS), LG Electronics East Africa (LG)  rolling out a campaign to educate consumers on emerging trends in TV technology in Kenya and Kaspersky launching a simulation game training for diplomats and non-techie cyber experts.

Duncan Mochama is the solutions consultant at  Incentro Africa.

www.incentro.com