Tech in Africa: Internet access gets blocked while healthcare gets a boost

The big school news from continent in Jan was really round the lack of access to school, after the Cameroonian government shut down web property in components of the West African country.

Internet access in English-speaking regions was blocked following new protests against the marginalisation of Cameroonian anglophone communities. The shutdown remains in place in some areas.
Other African governments ar using a additional liberal angle to school. Kenya has been running a presidential digital talent billet, which has simply placed its initial eighty nine graduates in jobs. The Rwandan government, meanwhile, is lending its support to AN Uber competition set to be launched by Volkswagen. Uber is not yet gift within the geographical area country.

Expanding and developing
Another significant development in Rwanda over the last few months has been the progress of drone delivery company Zipline. The company raised funding late last year to expand operations, and has now started doing therefore with a launch in neighboring African nation.

Netflix competitor subscription video-on-demand service ShowMax partnered pan-African telecoms enabler Seacom in a move which will see the latter host ShowMax caching servers in national capital. This allows for peering to require place with native ISPs, and should facilitate ShowMax expand through quicker services.

Mastercard, meanwhile, has launched a digital platform connecting smallholder farmers, agents, buyers and banks in East Africa. The 2KUZE platform helps farmers buy, sell and receive payments via their feature phones.

Non-governmental healthcare development firm expert International launched a mobile app that helps improve post-abortion care in African countries. Launched in Tanzania and African country, the app involves a 23-point checklist that doctors will use to facilitate improve post-abortion care.

Shutting up search
It was not all excellent news, however. Nigerian classifieds marketplace Efritin announced it was closing down operations attributable to social control and operational problems. Management confirmed Efritin was spending additional than its sister corporations Bikroy were earning. The central team was disbanded and distributed to other sister offices.

In Kenya, meanwhile, e-commerce platform Rupu closed shop. Launched five years past, Rupu enabled small and medium businesses to provide discounts to teams of individuals, but parent company Ringier cluster has closed it down to launch P Promos.

Ringier said the new whole would give alternative routes for merchants to advertise their merchandise and services to an internet audience.

Boosting the startup ecosystem
Further developments in Africa’s technical school startup house, where South Africa’s customary Bank partnered with GE to launch a tending innovation center. Five East African hubs additionally joined forces for a regional accelerator for technical school startups beneath the auspices of the planet Bank.

A new report released in Jan found the amount of African startups that raised funding in 2016 redoubled by seventeen per cent from 2015, and there were further vital funding rounds to come out 2017.

There was a record round for AN Egyptian technical school startup, with recruitment startup Vezeeta raising US$5 million, while Kenyan fintech company BitPesa closed US$2.5 million in investment. There were also rounds for Cape Town’s Tagmarshal, Tanzania’s Jamii and Nigeria’s Asuqu, while a new French fund can make sure the investment simply keeps returning.