ACCRA, May 29 (Reuters) &#8211; MTN’s Ghana business is seeking to raise 3.47 billion cedis ($743 million) in a 35 percent initial public offering to be launched on Tuesday, sources involved in the IPO said.
In what is expected to be the West African country’s largest IPO, telecoms operator MTN will sell about 4.63 billion shares in MTN Ghana at 0.75 cedis per share, the sources said.
The public offering, which closes at the end of July, is one of the requirements MTN agreed to with Ghanaian regulators in 2015 to allow for the introduction of its fourth generation, high-speed mobile data network.
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<div id="google_ads_iframe_/4735792/africa.reuters.com_1__container__">If successful, MTN Ghana will be the most valuable company listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange, analysts said.</div>
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MTN is the leading mobile operator in Ghana with 17.8 million voice subscribers as of September, ahead of AirtelTigo, Vodafone and Nigeria’s Globacom.
Last December MTN signed a 510 million cedi ($112 million) syndicated loan from nine banks and was oversubscribed by 590 million cedis. ($1 = 4.67 cedis) (Reporting by Kwasi Kpodo Editing by Aaron Ross/David Goodman/Alexander Smith)

MTN reveals details of Ghana listing

By the Ashburton Investments Africa fund management team
Talk of artificial intelligence (AI) and the advent of the fourth industrial revolution, has created fear in developed countries that many jobs will be lost to machines and robots, and that economic growth will be stifled by technological advances.
We, however, believe that the African continent may well be able to benefit from these technologies in ways that possibly aren’t envisaged in more developed economies. The continent should also be able to avoid the expensive roll out of outdated technologies and leapfrog to the latest innovations.  After all, as Naadiya Moosajee, a World Economic Forum Global Shaper said: &#8220;necessity is the mother of invention and in Africa it has been the mother of innovation.&#8221;
History shows us that people on the continent have been strong adopters of new technologies and that Africa has even bypassed existing developments. After skipping the roll out of land lines, mobile technology users were quick to see the benefits this could bring, especially mobile money. Sub-Saharan Africa, with just under half of all the mobile money platforms in the world, is leading the globe in rolling out financial products to masses of people who were previously excluded from this area of the formal economy. By the end of 2017, there were 122 million active mobile money accounts in the region, with users transacting $20 billion per month (63% of the value of all mobile money transactions in the world).
Even if changes are needed to localise software or technologies, there are enough expert hubs across the continent with strong information technology and engineering capabilities to do this.
Education will be key to making sure that the requisite skills levels are available so that Africa can benefit from new technologies. Although investment in education should be a driver for economic growth, and therefore an important focus for African governments, we have seen that the take up of services and the use of telecommunications has not been limited by current education levels. By way of example, almost 90% of Safaricom’s clients use its mobile money platform, M-Pesa, many of whom are rural and have not had much senior schooling.
Despite the concern that the relatively unskilled African workforce will be left out of the knowledge economy, advances in technology make it possible for niche businesses to access their clients efficiently.  The use of social media as a marketing tool for the myriad of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that Africa is well known for, can enhance sales without excessive costs. New applications also create new opportunities. Uber, as an example, has increased the number of people using taxi services and has also made it possible for entrepreneurs to start a small business, leading to more employment. Think of the increased marketing reach someone running a small bed and breakfast can achieve through a service like AirBnB, and with almost no capital outlay. We are already seeing mobile money platforms used to provide short term loans to SMEs to enable them to expand working capital. Support for and growth in SMEs will help to address Africa’s unemployment, promote inclusive growth and encourage gender equality. If SME’s are going to be the driver of jobs and economic growth in Africa, technology will be a key enabler in this part of the continent’s future.
But, it is not just at the level of mobile technology, mobile money and smartphone applications that the continent will benefit from new technologies. Some of the larger industrial parts of the economy are also being transformed. As advances in solar and other renewable energy reduce the capital costs of installing these systems and the storage of electricity (in batteries and the like) becomes cheaper, we will see the transformation of the electricity grid. In the past, low cost electricity meant building very large power stations (to get low unit costs for power) that used fossil fuels like coal;oil or alternatively very large nuclear power stations. These power stations were connected to a very large electricity grid that ultimately had to be rolled out across the country to connect individual households. A massive capital expense for a poor country before any benefit could be derived.
New and renewable electricity generating technologies will allow regional grids to be developed at a reasonable cost that don’t need to be connected to the national grid. New use of remote sensors will enable easy and remote management of these grids and smart meters will allow efficient and remote billing including prepayment for power to reduce bad debts.
These new technologies can even lead to the smallest grid, an individual home.  In east Africa, combining mobile payment technologies with solar power allows even the smallest home to be lit. The M-Kopa IV Solar Home System includes a solar panel, control unit, three low-energy LED light bulbs (one of which is a portable, rechargeable torch) and a rechargeable radio. The control unit also has a USB port for charging cellphones. Purchasers can make small daily payments using M-Pesa to pay it off over a year.
Although a stable, reliable and reasonably priced electricity supply is key to the industrialisation of Africa, rolling out regional grids into key hubs could avoid the capital cost of expensive country wide transmission networks. The benefits for agricultural processing in the continent with most of the world’s underutilised arable land would be immense. Electricity would also allow the implementation of a cold chain from farm to fork. Agriculture still employs and supports the largest percentage of Africa’s population and improving the productivity of rural farmers and providing a global market for their products. Bring on technology to the continent.

Op:Ed: Africa has the potential to benefit from 4th industrial revolution technologies in ways that aren’t envisaged, here’s how

BURGERSFORT, South Africa, May 16 (Reuters) &#8211; Technologies used to carve subways and clear landmines are being retooled to mechanise South Africa’s platinum mines, where an unforgiving geology has stymied such efforts at a huge cost.
The technologies may make new mines profitable and could provide a lifeline for some loss-making shafts in a sector battered by low prices and social unrest, but there are limits.
Innovations include a 60-cm-high bulldozer built by private Croatian landmine clearance company Dok-ing that can reach narrow reefs, and a machine engineered by Atlas Copco unit Epiroc to replace blasting.
The stakes are high in the world’s top producer of the metal: most of South Africa’s platinum shafts are losing money, while the handful of mechanised ones are profitable.
Used for emissions-capping autocatalysts, the price of platinum remains pinned below $1,000 an ounce, less than half the lofty peaks it scaled a decade ago. Little upside is seen with diesel car sales falling.
An unpublished report by South Africa’s Chamber of Mines says: “Under current price and cost forecasts, conventional (platinum) mining ceases to be economically viable in 2024.”
This risks tens of thousands of jobs on South Africa’s platinum belt, a flashpoint of social strife.
<h3>LANDMINES TO PLATINUM MINES</h3>
The South African platinum reef is generally too narrow and steep for machines to access, sparking a race to shrink machine size.
At Anglo American Platinum’s Twickenham R&amp;D mine, an operator with a videogame-type controller recently manoeuvred the Dok-ing bulldozer that sweeps away ore.
Dok-ing began by building robust dozers that cleared landmines &#8211; compact beasts with tank-like tracks.
Tom Sertic, managing director for Dok-ing Africa, said it caught the eye of Anglo engineers. In 2003, at Anglo’s request, Dok-ing built an 83-cm-high dozer and has since cut the size.
The dozers’ tank-like treads help to resolve a key mechanisation challenge: the inability of machines with traditional tyres to mine steep gradients.
“Most machines &#8230; cannot work above 14 degrees because their wheels simply cannot generate power at such steep gradients,” said Declan Vogt, a lecturer in mining automation at Britain’s University of Exeter.
The Dok-ing dozer’s design enables it to work on reefs at gradients of up to 22 degrees or more.
Amplats plans to use the equipment to boost the profitability of shafts at its Amandelbult and other mines &#8211; ironic, because it is a battery-run electric vehicle and Amplats has bet heavily on fuel cells in the EV revolution.
Lonmin Chief Executive Ben Magara told Reuters his company was using three of the dozers at its Saffy shaft.
But costs are a concern.
“The up-front capital is the challenge and given the constraints in the industry, that is not small,” Magara said.
Bringing the technology to loss-making shafts also depends on how long they are expected to produce.
“It is a complicated process to switch to mechanisation. You need to cut jobs, bring in new skilled workers, set up workshops, and make other adjustments,” said Johan Theron, spokesman for Impala Platinum.
Theron said Implats wanted to mechanise where it could but the time and investment would not be worthwhile in older shafts.
<h3>NO BLASTING</h3>
Another innovation is to dispense with blasting, allowing for continuous work as mines must be emptied for detonations, disrupting work.
At Twickenham, the Rapid Mine Development System (RMDS) designed by Epiroc churns the rock-face with a steel disk. Cutting technology has been deployed in coal mines for decades using mechanical picks, but this is the first used in a hard-rock platinum mine.
Walking through the tunnels, you see the difference.
The sides and the roof of the blasted area are jagged, presenting hazards including loose rocks. Where the cutter has been, everything is smoother, with just grooves &#8211; not unlike a subway, for which the technology was originally designed.
The RMDS also has a mechanical roof bolter &#8211; in conventional mines, a miner with a jackhammer-like device drills and inserts the bolts &#8211; and it carries the ore on a conveyer system.
<h3>MECHANISE OR DIE</h3>
“If you look at the bottom end of the cost curve, it is dominated by mechanised mines. Machines do the heavy lifting so productivity is significantly different,” Northam Platinum Chief Executive Paul Dunne told Reuters. Northam’s mechanised Booysendal mine is ramping up production.
Implats’ annual results show its conventional Rustenburg operations last made a profit in 2014 and have since lost around 14 billion rand ($1.12 billion). By contrast, mechanised Two Rivers is Implats’ lowest-cost operation.
Sibanye-Stillwater has acquired Amplats’ labour-intensive Rustenburg mines and its mechanised Bathopele mine. The latter generates over half its platinum profit in South Africa.
Amplats, now firmly focused on mechanisation, paid a dividend this year for the first time since 2011, underscoring the benefits of its pivot from conventional mining.
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$1 = 12.4963 rand Editing by Veronica Brown and Dale Hudson
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Could this be the solution for SA’s ailing platinum mines?

In 2015 the <a href="https://qz.com/352479/this-dress-of-disputed-colors-is-driving-china-crazy-too/">dress of disputed colours</a> caused a stir on the internet, now it is the below audio. Some hear &#8216;yanny&#8217; others &#8216;laurel&#8217;.
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What do you hear?! Yanny or Laurel <a href="https://t.co/jvHhCbMc8I">pic.twitter.com/jvHhCbMc8I</a>
— Cloe Feldman (@CloeCouture) <a href="https://twitter.com/CloeCouture/status/996218489831473152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 15, 2018</a></blockquote>
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According to <a href="https://qz.com/1278905/yanny-or-laurel-a-team-of-scientists-weighs-in-on-the-viral-audio-clip/">Quartz</a>, what you hear could be due to audio cognition. “The way you hear sound is influenced by your life in sound—what you know about sound,” neurobiologist Nina Kraus, who runs Brainvolts, told the publication.
In other words Quartz states: &#8220;Once you are trained to hear a sound, you’re more easily able to hear that sound. And sound trains the brain very quickly&#8221;.

Remember the dress rage? Now ‘yanny’ or ‘laurel’ are causing a stir

By Corine Mbiaketcha Nana, Managing Director Kenya Hub covering East, Central and West Africa at Oracle
Kenya has distinguished itself as a hotbed of technological innovation and creativity. The challenge now is how to consolidate these gains and leap forward as a country– to enhance the quality of life for all.
Cloud computing in layman’s terms
‘Cloud’ is a service you use every day, without even realising it. Whether with your mobile apps, email service (Gmail, Mozilla, Outlook) Facebook, online shopping services such as eBay/ Amazon- these are all services based in the cloud. Cloud computing is a general term associated with the delivery of services through public networks such as the Internet or private networks like corporate intranets.
Cloud computing enables companies to consume IT resources – Hardware, Software and Storage &#8211; as a utility &#8212; just like electricity &#8212; rather than having to build and maintain computing infrastructures in house.
With cloud computing, projects that took years to implement and action now take a matter of weeks or months, with predictable budgets. In such a context, more development and testing can happen at a lower cost and its effects can be seen on technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Machine Learning, Internet Of Things, Blockchain, Bitcoin and others.
Communities stand to benefit from the endless new services that can be launched, from financial services, healthcare and even manufacturing. We have seen manufacturers introduce products faster and cheaper than ever before, giving them the freedom to pursue real change and innovation across the entire supply chain.
Industries that are heavily regulated because of security concerns or full data access requirements should turn to unique models that combine the benefits of having data on servers in an on-premise data centre, with those of a pay-as-you-go model with a technology provider maintaining it all.
By having the ability to design their own map to cloud success, companies have almost limitless paths and roadways that they can draw – and reshape – to help drive their business growth.
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For Africa, by Africans
Kenya can lead Africa forward, taking the next step onward becomes critical. How can we leverage these ingredients of technological innovation to drive inclusive development for all?
The solution for Africa’s challenges will come from within Africa. Technology is the same all over the world; the difference lies in building solutions that answer and address local socio-economic challenges.
Presently, <a href="http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats1.htm">Kenya</a> is the clear leader in Africa when it comes to internet and mobile penetration, which stood at 89.4% in June 2017, with the next three lagging further behind: Morocco (58%), South Africa (56%) and Nigeria (54%). The continental average is 31.2%
The innovation ecosystem in Kenya is flourishing, drawing global interest. The most famous being mobile payment which sprouted from the need for efficient funds transfer by those working in urban areas to their kin upcountry. While the rest of the world is struggling to make mobile payments work for them, Kenya is already a global example. There is also significant goodwill from government as well as private sector players; business leaders are always looking for technology that gives them an edge in their industries. Individually, Kenyans are generally fast adopters of new technology and the youthful population is creative and not afraid of innovating.
There are a number of global innovations that have spread to Africa and are significantly disrupting lives. The challenge lies in taking this further. For instance, the impact of Uber in facilitating transportation in many African cities is massive; however, we need to consider how to make the concept work in rural areas too – which also have their unique transport challenges.
Technologies such as cloud computing have made this possible; by reducing the cost of access, we have the ability to scale solutions to meet these challenges and make a positive impact on people’s lives. Africa can play a strong role in the fourth industrial revolution and create heavy wealth out of it. This is only possible if technological innovations are used to address social challenges and the untouched market potential.
Cloud-led innovation
Cloud computing leads to faster development and quicker learning, therefore accelerates innovation as it drastically removes costly overheads when it comes to maintenance and updates, while localisation of technology to suit the circumstances on the ground also helps with data security and regulatory compliance.
The greatest value of technology is realised when it is applied across the value chain, leading to massive impact on people.
The backbone of many economies in Africa is the agricultural sector; deployment of artificial intelligence and robotics can help multiply agricultural production and productivity, and deliver more value to the farmer, the rest of the value chain, and the economy as a whole.
Similarly, in the healthcare sector, artificial intelligence and robotics can help enhance access to medical facilities, even for communities living in the hinterland. Using technology, people seeking medical attention do not necessarily have to travel to get to larger, better equipped facilities.
The same applies to the control of our finances with the urgent need for less human intervention if we want to collect more taxes and require more revenue to be redistributed with minimum loss.
In Kenya, such is easily achievable as the fintech and telco digitalisation speed is surely among the fastest on the continent.
Africa has a unique opportunity enabled by cloud technology; focus should be on using it in a manner that delivers maximum developmental impact. The secret is in unleashing the capacity to develop and educate with a focus on innovation and entrepreneurship. The onus is on Africans to make sure the best available platform and tools in the world are used to secure and get the most out of local data usage. Data tomorrow is what oil is today and the battle is on who will control it.

Op-Ed: How Kenya can use its technological innovation prowess to leap forward

By Opera
According to Opera’s State of the mobile web report Q1 2018, 35 percent of South Africans prefer to access social media through their mobile browser. One third of the surveyed internet users believe a mobile browser offers them more privacy features than a standalone social media app.
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As these users constantly browse the web and access it an average of 8 times a day, online privacy concerns seem to be on the rise: Thirty percent of South Africans consider that private browsing is more important for them than accessing social media.
According to anonymous information on Opera Mini usage patterns during the first quarter of 2018, half a million more people have accessed Facebook through their browser in comparison to the year before. This sudden spike may have been influenced by recent privacy concerns associated with the social media platform.
Despite recent news, South Africans remain loyal to Facebook with 71 percent of the respondents using it as their social media platform of choice. Instagram follows at 32 percent, while Pinterest, Twitter and LinkedIn trail at 17, 14 and 13 percent, respectively.
Women go shopping online and seek lifestyle information, while men seek sports and technology videos
The report reveals that almost half of mobile internet users in South Africa (45%), access the web on their smartphones more than eight times a day. Online shopping, lifestyle, travel and entertainment tend to be more relevant for women, whereas men watch more videos related to technology and sports.
High growth of Opera News App shows shift in news consumption
The report also shows a spike in news consumption with 2 million articles read per week on Opera News, which has become the favorite news app in the country. An analysis of the anonymous user data shows that news seekers in the country are mainly interested in categories such as crime, sports, politics, and entertainment.
Strong passion for the red devils
South African mobile users are interacting more and more with their favorite football clubs on Opera News. According to data gathered from the app, Manchester united remains the most followed football club in South Africa with more than 4000 followers. Every second user of Opera News who is interested in football is searching for information about Manchester United. Other popular clubs in the country are Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Manchester City, the current contestants for a place in the semifinals of UEFA Champions League.
Methodology
Opera used qualitative methodology to conduct the study. 49 percent of the studied sample of 600 respondents were women, while 51 percent were men. The participants responded to a series of questions regarding their behaviors and everyday use of the internet, as well as the functionalities they find most attractive in a browser. In addition, Opera used anonymous usage behavior data from the Opera Mini and Opera News apps.

How South Africans are using their mobile phones

Global music streaming provider Spotify is set to launch its services in South Africa on Tuesday, marking its entry into Africa, where there is a rapid uptake of smartphones and improving telecommunications infrastructure.
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The Swedish company, launched in 2008 and available in more than 60 countries, is the biggest music streaming company in the world and counts services from Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google Play as its main rivals.
The South Africa launch comes as Spotify prepares for a direct listing for its shares on the New York Stock Exchange, which will let investors and employees sell shares without the company raising new capital or hiring Wall Street banks to underwrite the issue.
Further details about the South Africa service, pricing and content will be announced on Tuesday, the company said.
An increase in connectivity across South Africa, helped by higher investment in infrastructure, as well as a growing uptake in credit cards and bank accounts has drawn global video and music streaming providers.
Its music streaming market is dominated by players such as Apple Music, Google Play, France’s Deezer and Simfy Africa, with only a few local operators such as mobile phone operator’s MTN and Cell C with MTN Music+ and Black.
Internet and entertainment firm Naspers also recently launched music streaming platform Joox, from China’s Tencent, in which it holds a 33 percent stake.
In its filing to list its shares, Spotify said its operating loss widened to 378 million euros ($465.32 million) in 2017 from 349 million euros.
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Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; editing by Jason Neely
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Music streaming service Spotify enters South African market

Sebuh Haileleul | Country Manager, Microsoft East Africa
If you are still struggling to grasp what exactly the cloud is and why it will completely change your business, here’s a simple explanation.
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If you’ve ever experienced the mind-numbing panic that comes with being unable to access important business documents stored on your laptop – perhaps your PC was stolen or damaged – then you’re already halfway to understanding the importance of the cloud.
In truth, the concept of cloud is much easier to grasp than you might think. Instead of storing your programmes, documents and data on your computer’s hard drive, you’re storing them on the internet. That’s it.
Looking at the benefits of the cloud, it’s easy to see why it has quickly become an invaluable tool for businesses, large or small.
It’s safer in the cloud 
While there was initially confusion around cloud safety, the reality is that your data is more secure when it’s stored in the cloud than it is sitting on your hard drive. Think about the example of the missing laptop – if your company data is stored in the cloud, you can continue to access it, with or without that laptop, because you can access the internet from anywhere on any computer.
In terms of the security of the cloud itself, established service providers like Microsoft have a wealth of resources at their disposal to ensure their cloud platforms remain safe. They can spend more money than people, small or large companies, and sometimes even governments can. In fact, <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/default.aspx">Microsoft</a> invests more than a billion dollars each year on security-related research and development.   
To understand the positive impact cloud can have on business, let’s look at South Africa’s <a href="https://customers.microsoft.com/en-US/story/gauteng-provincial-legislature-government-azure-hyper-v-server-system-center-r2-office365-en">Gauteng Provincial Legislature’s (GPL)</a> recent migration to the cloud. In 2015, auditors warned the GPL that its lack of reliability and security in its technology was a serious problem, leaving it exposed to potential loss of data. At the time, the legislature was working off old technology, making it difficult to accurately update and protect its assets.
To address the situation, the GPL made the decision to adopt Microsoft’s cloud platform, Azure. Through Azure’s cloud database service, the Legislature ensured all of its data was backed up, improving its governance and compliance controls.
All-round cost saving
Because you don’t have the expense of setting up an actual physical server to store your data, operating in the cloud can save you costs.  The best part is that you only pay for what you need. For example, Azure pricing is based on the service you use and storage you need, and is calculated as a per-hour fee.
Companies that have already made a significant investment in on-premises infrastructure can also choose to adopt a hybrid cloud strategy. This allows businesses to store some of their data and software on a shared public cloud infrastructure while still making use of their own existing servers.
There are also operational savings to be made, as in the example of the GPL, where the Legislature was able to cut down on thousands of annual software payments, such as those non-Microsoft packages used for security and operations management. Thanks to these savings, the GPL expects to save at least one million Rand over the next three years.
You’ll work smarter
What is particularly powerful about a cloud platform like Microsoft is that it can think for you. Not only is it able to store your data and draw insights from that data, but it can also help you foresee future problems and find ways of addressing them before they even occur.
The very nature of cloud also enables greater operational efficiency. For example, if you have multiple people needing to work on the same document, it can be difficult to keep track of which version is the latest and who made which changes. With the cloud, all documents are saved centrally, enabling you to work smarter. Similarly, team members can collaborate from remote locations as they are able to access, edit and share documents from anywhere.
The GPL found this element of cloud capability to be a significant advantage. Through OneDrive, the Legislature has been able to promote great information sharing and increased staff engagement, while cutting down on use of paper.
Grow your business with ease Most businesses absorb the cost of computing resources, such as additional servers and software licences, which are on reserve in anticipation of future growth. However, cloud solutions are scalable – this means you can increase your resource capacity as and when you need it.
For this very reason, the GPL has goals of moving completely onto the cloud, removing the cost of having its own data centre on site. The Legislature says its journey to date has been well worth it, providing a solid foundation from which it can keep on modernising and optimising operations.
There are many ways in which cloud can help your business. Taking the leap to transform your business can be scary but once you make the move, you’ll probably wonder why you didn’t do it sooner.

This Is How Cloud Makes Your Business Smarter and More Secure

By Steven Grin and Rob Eloff 
From London’s ‘Silicon Roundabout’ to Dubai’s ‘Silicon Oasis’, governments and businesses around the world are keen to brand their local tech industries as the next hotbed of innovation. With young, digitally-savvy populations, African cities are also joining in on the trend: ‘Silicon Savannah’, ‘Silicon Cape’ and ‘Silicon Lagoon’ have emerged as popular monikers for Nairobi, Cape Town, and Lagos.  While these names might boost visibility, approaching business in a Silicon-style may constrain African entrepreneurs hoping to replicate Valley-level output. While Nigeria has emerged as the top destination for venture capital (VC) in Africa, Lagos isn&#8217;t Palo Alto &#8212; and it shouldn&#8217;t be. In the Valley, too much innovation has become about vanity and convenience for the top 10%. in African markets, however, tech can have a significant impact by filling product and service needs for the emerging middle class in sectors from banking and health to transportation and energy. Aspiring to the structure and ideas of Silicon Valley is not a recipe for the long-term success of Africa&#8217;s tech ecosystem. Instead, recognizing differences in funding environments, infrastructure challenges, and regulation can help entrepreneurs and investors foster new kinds of solutions better-suited to Africa’s needs.
<ol>
<li>  The funding environment</li>
</ol>
Because the Valley ecosystem is not constrained by resource scarcity, startups often use<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/valley-unicorns-terrified-by-profits-2016-4"> growth as a substitute for profitability</a>. In contrast to the deep pockets of Palo Alto, founders in cities like Dakar or Douala are more likely to encounter predatory bank loans and an arduous road to secure seed capital given a short supply of<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-13/silicon-valley-missing-out-on-african-startups-techcrunch-says"> local and diaspora capital</a>. In 2017, African startups raised an estimated<a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/venture-capital-funding-peaked-in-2017-2018-1?r=US&amp;IR=T"> $195 million compared with $84.2 billion in the U.S</a>. Without the same access to venture capital, successful local entrepreneurs must reach profitability as soon as possible with viable commercial models. As a result, a founder operating in Lagos is often more entrepreneurial than her counterpart in the Bay. P2P payments app Venmo was acquired by Braintree for $26.2 million in 2012; the company has yet to report a profit despite<a href="https://seekingalpha.com/article/4136932-crypto-looms-paypals-next-earnings-report"> strong user growth</a> and<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/venmo-makes-moves-to-monetize-2017-5"> $30 billion in annual transactions</a>. By contrast, Zambia’s Zoona, also founded in 2009, has processed only<a href="https://ilovezoona.com/about-us/"> $2 billion in total transactions</a>, but has been<a href="http://www.itwebafrica.com/mobile/339-africa/235153-zambias-zoona-isnt-flustered-by-competition"> profitable since 2013</a>.
<ol start="2">
<li>  Infrastructure challenges</li>
</ol>
By 2050, 1 in 4 people worldwide will be African. As the region’s population soars and more people come online for the first time, entrepreneurs must design solutions better suited to the “next billion”. Transportation in Africa may be better addressed by<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/28/business/mellowcabs-taxi-south-african-transportation/index.html"> Mellowcabs</a> of Cape Town or<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/25/africa/the-smart-way-to-get-back-on-a-bike----safebodas-in-kampala/index.html"> SafeBoda</a> of Uganda than by<a href="https://afridigest.com/will-africas-challenges-solved-silicon-valley/"> autonomous cars from the Valley</a>. Similarly, startups like M-Kopa and Rensource may be better equipped to solve energy challenges than Tesla because they are entrenched in the environments for which they are building solutions. Customers, like entrepreneurs, develop unique ways to overcome infrastructure challenges that don’t necessarily translate to the Valley: in a region where your customer may not be found on Instagram, it’s the local founder who can understand the gap in the market and find opportunities to meet the customer where they already are. <a href="https://www.tulaa.io/">Tulaa, </a>for example<a href="https://www.tulaa.io/">, </a>is a B2B agriculture marketplace built to address the fragmented value chain for smallholder farmers. Tulaa layers a mobile-technology solution onto the last mile to aggregate farmers, suppliers and financiers.
<ol start="3">
<li> The regulatory environment</li>
</ol>
While investors may gripe about the regulatory obstacles to doing business in Africa, nascent legal frameworks are an opportunity to experiment in Africa’s tech ecosystem. Those who supported the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s decision to repeal net neutrality in December argue that deregulation forces innovation in telecoms and internet companies; likewise, many American cities are struggling to regulate<a href="http://thehill.com/opinion/finance/368382-cities-and-state-are-struggling-to-regulate-airbnb"> drone technology, Airbnb, and Uber</a> without alienating the tech companies that create jobs and tax revenue. In the absence of prohibitive regulation, however, startups in Africa have greater flexibility to experiment with new models. Benefiting from limited regulation of cross-border payments, Flutterwave, for example, connecting siloed payments systems to<a href="https://medium.com/@theflutterwave/bring-on-the-impossible-2018-89fe26517e9e/"> process $2 billion in 2017</a> &#8211; a 900% increase over the $200 million it processed in 2016. Similarly, despite Kenyan banks’<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielrunde/2015/08/12/m-pesa-and-the-rise-of-the-global-mobile-money-market/#19249c4e5aec"> attempts to contain competitor M-Pesa</a>, the company flourished thanks to a loose regulatory environment for mobile money.
&#8212;
But  for all their opportunities, African markets still  present major  obstacles, including lack of mentorship networks and difficulty recruiting talent. As a result, founders must be even stronger to overcome fundamental ecosystem challenges.
<ol start="4">
<li>  Mentorship networks</li>
</ol>
Silicon Valley boasts a massive mentorship network: from Y Combinator cohorts to the PayPal Mafia, serial entrepreneurs and founders-turned-VCs are an invaluable resource to up-and-comers. According to VC Brad Feld, a great tech ecosystem requires a non-hierarchical network of entrepreneurs committed to a full<a href="http://ventureburn.com/2015/02/cape-town-will-never-silicon-valley-thats-good-thing/"> generation of community-building</a> &#8212; a luxury African founders often lack. In the absence of homegrown unicorns beyond Jumia, founders on the continent are not exposed to the positive externalities commonplace in the Valley and often navigate their entrepreneurial journeys without experienced guides. As a result, even many eagerly anticipated successes from Kopo Kopo to Wakanow  have succumbed to mistakes that local advisors may have helped to prevent. This may soon change, however, thanks to the rise of hubs such as Co-Creation Hub in Lagos and MEST’s expansion from Accra to Lagos and Cape Town.
<ol start="5">
<li>  Talent.</li>
</ol>
As the youngest, fastest-growing continent, Africa boasts an enormous workforce full of potential. The challenge in Africa’s tech ecosystems is not a lack of talent but a shortage of talented people willing to risk the rocky road of entrepreneurship. This is a far cry from the Silicon Valley ethos, where ‘go big or go home’ is encouraged. The lure of startup glory and equity often pales in comparison to  dreams of<a href="https://medium.com/global-entrepreneurship-summit/silicon-valley-invest-in-africa-but-do-it-differently-80edacc6a8c7"> financial stability or a small raise</a> in markets like Uganda, where per capita income is $1,820. The experienced professional working at a mid-tier bank may not be willing to trade a pay cut for the chance to ride the startup wave. With a high supply of quality engineers, PocketGems and Dropbox don’t struggle to find top talent. Startups in Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa, on the other hand, must contend with education systems that<a href="https://afridigest.com/will-africas-challenges-solved-silicon-valley/"> do not produce enough high-caliber technical talent</a> and the flight of many gifted, promising minds to the West.
&#8212;
Ultimately, Silicon Valley investors looking to sub-Saharan Africa must leave their expertise at Immigration: the rules mastered in the Bay need to be rewritten for and by African markets. Social and structural differences should not deter those with an eye towards the continent: opportunities in these ecosystems are plentiful, but seeing them requires a little unlearning and contextual understanding.
Steven Grin and Rob Eloff are co-founders of Lateral Capital, a mission-driven venture fund  focused on technology ventures in Sub-Saharan Africa

Op-Ed: Five reasons why Lagos ain’t Palo Alto

Blockchain is to be used for the first time to try to track cobalt’s journey from artisanal mines in Democratic Republic of Congo through to products used in smartphones and electric cars.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-38901 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/blockchain_illustration_wikimedia_commons.jpg" alt="Op-Ed: Blockchain - Innocent Until Proven Guilty" width="1550" height="872" />
Sources close to a pilot scheme expected to be launched this year say the aim is eventually to give manufacturers a way of ensuring the cobalt in lithium-ion batteries for products such as iPhones and Teslas has not been mined by children.
Tracking cobalt presents many challenges as scores of informal mine sites would have to be monitored, all players in the supply chain would need to buy into the scheme, and accurate, electronic data would need to be transmitted from remote areas &#8211; all in a vast country plagued by lawlessness.
But companies are under growing pressure from consumers and investors to show the cobalt they use has come through supply chains free of rights abuses, just as they have for minerals used in electronics such as tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold.
Businesses in China, the main destination for Congolese cobalt from artisanal mines, have set up a Responsible Cobalt Initiative, which has been joined by tech giants such as Apple and Samsung, to address child labour.
The problem they face is that there are few sure-fire ways of tracing cobalt from the informal mines that produce up to a fifth of the cobalt from Congo, the world’s biggest producer.
“The demand to make cobalt more sustainable is going to continue growing, meaning there is a will to find a solution and blockchain will be part of that,” said a source with the project, who declined to be named because it is not yet public.
<h3>OPEN QUESTION</h3>
Blockchain technology is already used in the diamond industry. Gems are given a digital fingerprint that is then tracked by blockchain as gems are sold, giving a forgery-proof record of where the stones have come from.
The cobalt supply chain is far more complex but the developers of the pilot hope blockchain &#8211; a decentralised online database in the form of a distributed ledger &#8211; can at least track some of the stages that are a major worry for end users.
Sheila Warren, head of blockchain policy at the World Economic Forum, said it was an open question how well it could work in Congo given the prevalence of conflict, lawlessness and an opaque legal system.
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“We are prototyping, iterating, testing, scaling,” said Warren, who is working with experts to see how blockchain can improve mineral supply chains. “The technology is not the hard part.”
Amnesty International, which detailed the extent of child labour in cobalt mining in Congo in a 2016 report, said it was looking at blockchain, especially with a view to tracing payments to middlemen.
“You have to be wary of technological solutions to problems that are also political and economic, but blockchain may help. We’re not against it,” said Amnesty researcher Mark Dummett.
Congo holds half the world’s cobalt reserves and demand for the main mineral component of lithium-ion batteries is set to surge as electric cars proliferate. In 2016, Congo mined 54 percent of the 123,000 tonnes of cobalt produced worldwide.
Carmakers such as Volkswagen are trying to secure long-term cobalt supplies to sustain electric car production, and they are asking suppliers to ensure no child labour was used in the supply chain.
<h3>BAGGED AND TAGGED</h3>
The plan for the Congo pilot scheme is to give each sealed bag of cobalt produced by a vetted artisanal miner a digital tag which is entered on blockchain using a mobile phone, along with details of the weight, date, time and perhaps a photo.
At the next stage, a trader buying the bag would record the details on blockchain, and the process would be repeated until the ore gets to the smelter &#8211; leaving an immutable record of the cobalt’s journey for downstream buyers or third parties to view.
The pilot will involve organisations throughout the supply chain, from on-the-ground monitors checking that sites are not using child labour, through the refining process to end users, according to people helping to develop the scheme.
One potential risk in the supply chain is that cobalt mined by children gets mixed with “clean” cobalt before processing.
The industry is experimenting with options such as indelible marks that survive the refining process, a mass balance approach as used for Fairtrade certification of products such as cocoa, or bolting blockchain onto computer technology already used by refiners to monitor material as it moves through their plants.
“We are very bullish about the potential impact of blockchain in minerals and metals supply chains,” said Harrison Mitchell, director of RCS Global, which advises companies on responsible sourcing and audits supply chains.
“Blockchain-enabled supply chains will have the ability to deliver trust and transparency over the production of metals such as cobalt,” he said. “Ensuring that information from these mine sites is inputted correctly and transparently is difficult, but it is possible.”
<h3>INPUT DATA</h3>
Some institutional investors are also pushing mining companies and manufacturers to harness blockchain to help clean up mineral supply chains.
Christine Chow of Hermes Investment Management said tracking cobalt was far more complex than diamonds, typically involving 12 steps as opposed to five stages for gems.
“But the principle of recording key characteristics and then entering them into the blockchain, which is stored on the cloud, is the same,” said Chow, part of the Hermes EOS team that advises institutional shareholders on responsible investing.
“To make it work, the key players in the chain must agree a set of input data to define its features,” said Chow, whose team has $425 billion of assets under advice.
The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) said its members, which include all major mining companies, were well-placed to draw on blockchain’s potential to improve public trust in the industry.
“It does not solve the whole problem, but it solves a big part of the problem,” ICMM CEO Tom Butler said.
“Quality at entry to where the blockchain starts remains a challenge, but in that respect we’re in a privileged position as ICMM members are mining responsibly.”
Glencore, the world’s biggest producer of cobalt, declined to comment on the use of blockchain.
In its 2016 sustainability report, Glencore said when it sourced cobalt in Congo from outside its own production, it only dealt with third parties that did not use artisanal mines.
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Editing by David Clarke
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Blockchain to track Congo’s cobalt from mine to mobile

By: Disrupt Africa 
Investment into African tech startups hit the highest levels since records began in 2017, with 159 startups raising in excess of US$195 million.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-38845 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/technology_shutterstock_426836902.jpg" alt="Did data must fall lobby misrepresent the facts?" width="1536" height="1024" />
The <a href="http://disrupt-africa.com/funding-report/">DISRUPT AFRICA TECH STARTUPS FUNDING REPORT 2017</a>, released last week, reveals a record amount of funding was secured over the course of 2017, by the highest number of startups to date.
Total funding of African tech ventures grew by 51 per cent as compared to 2016, while the number of funded startups also increased by 8.9 per cent.
South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya remained the top three investment destinations for the third year running.  For the first time since tracking began, the amount of funding secured by Nigerian startups overtook South Africa in 2017, although significantly more South African ventures raised.
There are signs of increasing investor interest across less developed markets also, with the total percentage of funding received by these top three ecosystems declining to 74.7 per cent from 81.7 per cent in 2015. Ghana, Egypt and Uganda are unequivocally emerging as hotspots.
Fintech proved by far the most attractive sector for investors, with 45 fintech startups raising almost one-third of the total funding going to African tech ventures in 2017. Interest in e-commerce rebounded &#8211; spiking 350 per cent on the previous year to see startups raise over US$16.7 million. Meanwhile agri-tech raced to the front of the stage, with funding of the sector growing 203 per cent on 2016.
“We’re very excited to present this data on what has been a record-breaking year for African tech startups. More startups were given more funding than ever before, and the number of multi-million dollar rounds also shot up. There can be no clearer validation of the quality of innovation and businesses being built from within Africa. We’re extremely proud to document the story of our incredible ecosystem,” said Gabriella Mulligan, co-founder of Disrupt Africa.
“Through this annual report, which has established itself as the benchmark study of funding for African tech startups, we have been able to closely monitor the growth of the continent’s tech scene,” said Disrupt Africa co-founder Tom Jackson. “It is tremendously exciting to be able to report record investment figures, and see funding for African tech startups close on US$200 million. With investment also spreading to every corner of the continent, the future looks bright.”

Investment into African tech startups hit record high in 2017

South Korea’s Samsung Electronics plans to double the annual revenue contribution from its African markets to 20 percent of the firm’s global total in the next five years, the head of its business on the continent said on Monday.
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Sung Yoon said the electronics giant, which accounts for over half of the mobile handsets and televisions sold in African nations like Kenya, would set up shops and other retail channels in more African countries and cut product delivery times.
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“We think Africa is extremely important for the future,” he told Reuters after a news conference in Nairobi.
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Demand for Samsung products was being driven by growing African demand for bigger TV and mobile phone screens, he said.
Most customers were now buying 55-65 inch TVs, up from 32 inches about a decade ago, while mobile users were no longer content with three-inch mobile phone screens.
An increase in connectivity across the continent, helped by higher investment in telecommunication infrastructure, would further boost demand for devices in future, Yoon said.
Telecom executives say more African consumers are turning to smartphones for more basic models, helped by faster Internet speeds, to use social media and banking applications.
Yoon said Samsung faced competition in Africa from cheaper devices, undercutting even Samsung’s more basic smartphones.
“Those entry products are still slightly more expensive than our low entry competitors so it’s difficult to reduce the gap &#8230; We cannot sacrifice the quality,” he said.
Samsung’s rivals in Africa include China’s Huawei Technologies and Tecno, owned by Hong Kong’s Transsion Holdings.
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Reporting by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Edmund Blair
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Samsung aims to double Africa’s share of its revenues in five years

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BARCELONA, Jan 5 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) &#8211; In the picturesque Barcelona district of El Born, residents can get a better night’s sleep nowadays because garbage trucks pass only when bins in the street are full, thanks to high-tech sensors that detect when they need to be emptied.
Meanwhile, a few streets away, magnetic sensors under the road surface allow drivers to find out in advance if a parking space is free &#8211; saving them time and cutting back on vehicle emissions.
Other high-technology solutions for street lamps, traffic lights and parking meters have been deployed in Spain’s second-largest city in recent years.
One theatre is even decked with a smart vertical garden on its outer wall, which collects its own rainwater via a solar-powered system on the roof.
As one of Europe’s richest cities, most of Barcelona’s inhabitants already have good access to municipal services and a high quality of life.
But in poorer parts of the world, urban experts say efforts to improve cities with cutting-edge technology can run into challenges, particularly when applied in slums.
“A 24-hour smart water meter can only be possible if you’re connected to the water system in the first place,” said Ayona Datta, a reader in urban futures at King’s College London.
In developing countries, technology may be introduced across a city to make transport or water services more efficient, but will likely only work in its richer areas, she added.
The idea of giving the same thing to everyone in both middle-class and low-income neighbourhoods can be problematic, she said.
“IT companies will sell (smart technology) as a package without any kind of customisation at a grassroots level,” she said.
Smart technology installed like this is “giving the icing on the cake to people who are already connected”, Datta told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
In many cases, those who lack access to electricity or the internet cannot benefit from high-tech infrastructure, she added.
“You really need to engage with the social context (and) social issues first,” she emphasised.
<h3>INDIA CONTROVERSY</h3>
In India, dozens of smart cities are planned as the South Asian nation seeks ways of coping with rapid growth in its urban population.
By 2050, India will have an additional 300 million urban residents, according to UN-Habitat, the U.N. agency that deals with cities.
But one high-profile “smart city” strategy for Dholera, in Gujarat state, has sparked opposition.
It involves a new 920-km (572-mile) metropolis on the edge of the ancient port city, set to run mostly on solar power and intended to become a global manufacturing hub.
Critics say it will displace subsistence farmers, is at risk of inundation due to being built on a floodplain, and will cost more than planned.
“A lot of smart city projects are real estate projects,” said Nancy Odendaal, an associate professor of urban planning at the University of Cape Town.
“On the African continent this becomes particularly poignant as it is seen as the last frontier for property speculation and development,” she added.
<h3>GENTRIFICATION</h3>
In most of Africa, smart cities tend to be “top-down” projects to create satellite cities, like Konza Technopolis in Kenya and Eko Atlantic City in Nigeria, Odendaal noted.
Dubbed “Africa’s Dubai”, Eko Atlantic is being built on Victoria Island next to Lagos. Developers say it will become a new financial headquarters for Nigeria as well as solving chronic housing shortages in Lagos.
Detractors argue that shiny urban centres like Eko Atlantic are designed for a wealthy elite, and do nothing to help poor communities living on their doorstep.
Elsewhere, smart city strategies have received a mixed reception.
Rwanda’s capital Kigali was praised for becoming one of the first cities in Africa to roll out free wireless internet in some areas in 2013.
However, it has also been criticised for building new housing ordinary Rwandans cannot afford.
In South Africa’s Cape Town, some people see smart city projects as an excuse for gentrification &#8211; “just another way of turning old neighbourhoods into swish, consumer zones”, said Odendaal.
<h3>“KNOW YOUR CITY”</h3>
Some of the most effective schemes are those that harness technology but are not marketed by governments as “smart”, she said.
They include Map Kibera, which began as a free, open digital map of Africa’s largest slum in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. It has grown into an interactive project pinpointing local services and providing information about security in Kibera.
Its developers, Map Kibera Trust, say the initiative gives visibility to marginalised communities, with two other Nairobi slums replicating the idea.
Non-governmental groups like Slum Dwellers International (SDI) are also doing useful work at grassroots level, said Odendaal.
The network of community-based organisations representing the urban poor in 32 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America runs a “Know Your City” campaign.
Slum residents collect data and information about where they live, which is held in a central database and can be used by governments and other decision-makers.
SDI says the data is owned by the community, and gives an “informed and united” voice to the urban poor.
“Smart technology has very utopian intentions but it’s really about how it’s implemented on the ground,” said Datta. “It is very universal but has to be rooted in the context of a place in order for it to work.”
Community-led initiatives can function especially well, as in India where local people have started sharing photos of suspected sex offenders on instant messaging service WhatsApp, she said.
“Smart technology has had all sorts of unintended consequences,” she added. “What emerges can exist completely outside of state regulation.” (Reporting by Sophie Davies; editing by Megan Rowling. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, resilience, women&#8217;s rights, trafficking and property rights. Visit <a href="http://news.trust.org/">news.trust.org/</a>)
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Wi-Fi but no water: Can smart tech help Africa’s cities’ poor?

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/gina-porter-267322">By Gina Porter</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/durham-university-867">Durham University</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ariane-de-lannoy-333799">Ariane De Lannoy</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-cape-town-691">University of Cape Town</a>
Many in the international development community view technology –not least, mobile phones – as a possible panacea for Africa’s youth unemployment crisis. Their use is sharply <a href="https://qz.com/748354/smartphone-use-has-more-than-doubled-in-africa-in-two-years/">on the rise</a>. Mobile phones reduce the need for physical travel, allow rapid access to information about job openings and enable people to contact potential employers. They can be used to help run more efficient businesses.
<a href="http://www.dur.ac.uk/child.phones/">Research</a> my colleagues and I conducted as part of a study funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council and the Department for International Development found that some young people in Africa are using mobile phones successfully to access or create employment. But mobile phones are failing many more young people in their search for employment and livelihoods.
<a href="http://www.dur.ac.uk/child.phones/">The study</a>, conducted in Ghana, Malawi and South Africa, suggests some important reasons why phones may be unable to help young people fulfil their employment dreams. Our findings demonstrate that phone connections are not enough. Connectivity is only useful if it opens up access to employment opportunities that will pay a living wage.
That’s the crux of the problem: there simply aren’t enough quality jobs available. Ghana and Malawi have extensive informal sectors which have long provided at least some work for young people. Mobile phones have opened up some new opportunities in the informal sector – young people sell airtime or repair handsets, or may grow their service and trading businesses through the phone.
South Africa, meanwhile, has failed to grow a vibrant informal sector since apartheid ended in 1994. Its young people tend to be looking for work in the formal sector, and most do not have the employability skills that might make mobile phones useful to achieving this goal.
In reality the extent to which the mobile phone can support and sustain real improvement in young lives is depressingly finite unless significant interventions occur – particularly in the education and technology sectors.
<h2>Informal versus formal sector</h2>
Our respondents were aged between nine and 25 and came from 24 diverse sites from poor urban neighbourhoods to remote rural locations. We conducted more than 1500 interviews face to face and in focus groups, and followed this up with a questionnaire survey of about 4500 young people.
In Ghana and Malawi – as in much of sub-Saharan Africa – most young people are exposed to work in the informal sector at an early age. There are many problems with this. But limited inputs into the informal sector can bring significant benefits.
It can help children to build a repertoire of knowledge and skills that will later help them to obtain an income. It’s also a way to consolidate social networks young people can draw on when they are subsequently searching for paid work.
Over the last decade, mobile phones have brought potential and new flexibility into young people’s lives. This is especially true for those who are entrepreneurial. Some of the people we interviewed earn a living directly linked to phones: selling airtime, charging and mending phones. This is often short-term, low paid work but can help them to earn money for further training. They also used their phones extensively to build up personal contacts in key support networks while looking for jobs.
The situation in South Africa is very different. In the poor urban neighbourhoods where we conducted the study, virtually every household where we interviewed young people owns at least one phone and smart phone access is growing rapidly. But the devices have had remarkably little positive impact on young people’s livelihoods.
Work opportunities of any kind for low-skilled youth are very sparse, and especially so in the absence of a vibrant informal sector. This is a historical legacy stemming back to bans on informal enterprise during the apartheid era. Unemployed school leavers tend to concentrate on trying to find low-skill jobs in the formal sector. Most formal jobs, however, require higher skill levels; so competition for low-skill jobs is very intense and few young people succeed in their search for work.
Poor young people in South Africa also lack access to productive social networks that could provide them with information about the formal job market. Few have had the opportunity to gain work experience during their school days, which would help them to acquire the key skills and networking opportunities that might promote employability. Many look for volunteer posts which they hope will give them the experience and skills to find paid work.
All of this emphasises a fundamental difference in youth employment stakes between Ghana and Malawi on the one hand, and South Africa on the other: the role of the informal sector. In the first two countries the informal sector dominates. Despite its very many deficiencies, it provides a training ground for learning basic skills and a labour absorption mechanism.
In South Africa the near absence of informal sector openings arguably denies low-skilled young people any early work experience and limits their subsequent access to paid work opportunities.
Access to mobile phones cannot change this reality. Bigger changes at a societal level are necessary.
<h2>Moving on?</h2>
Both the overall basket and the scope of local livelihood opportunities open to young people will have to grow exponentially, across the continent, if mobile phones are to realise their potential in local employment arenas.
Researchers at the <a href="https://www.saldru.uct.ac.za/">Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit</a> and the Children’s Institute who were involved in this project suggest various interventions that might help, particularly in South Africa.
For instance, travel vouchers could help young people who currently don’t have enough money to move from deprived areas to areas with labour demand. And, given the stronger demand for skilled over unskilled labour, there’s obviously an urgent need for skills development and training at secondary, post-secondary and workplace level. There are some opportunities to build experience through the country’s public works programme, <a href="http://www.nyda.gov.za/National-Youth-Service-Programme/Pages/default.aspx">National Youth Service</a> and NGO volunteering. But these need to incorporate stronger skills training for young people from poor communities.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88786/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />South Africa could also consider extending social assistance to the chronically unemployed through a basic income grant or a comprehensive support package for poor youth. This would make sense when many young people are currently trapped in poverty, often exacerbated by the need to contribute to their family incomes – a reality which could hinder their ability to invest in training or business expansion.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/gina-porter-267322">Gina Porter</a>, Senior Research Fellow, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/durham-university-867">Durham University</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ariane-de-lannoy-333799">Ariane De Lannoy</a>, Senior Researcher: Poverty and Inequality Initiative, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-cape-town-691">University of Cape Town</a>
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/access-to-mobile-phones-wont-magically-fix-youth-unemployment-in-africa-88786">original article</a>.

Mobile phones are not a panacea for Africa’s youth unemployment crisis, these interventions might help

MTN Group, Africa’s biggest mobile phone operator, said on Thursday it had assigned a $231 million shareholder loan to phone tower group, IHS Holding Ltd, impacting its 2017 profits.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-10386 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/mtn_reuters.jpg" alt="Regulatory pressure impacts MTN Nigeria’s subscriber growth" width="677" height="400" />
MTN, which returned to profit in the first half of its financial year in the absence of one-off charges related to a $1.1 billion Nigerian fine, said the assignment of the loan to IHS will lead to a loss of 2.8 billion rand ($228 million) on transfer of the carrying value of the loan.
The loss on transfer will impact headline earnings per share (HEPS) for 2017, the main profit measure in South Africa that strips out certain one-off items, but not earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), the firm said.
MTN said the loan, which is due in 2024/2025, will allow its Nigerian unit to continue to invest in its network and simplify MTN’s interests in IHS.
“The agreement will enable MTN and IHS to mutually benefit from continued investment and commitment to the rollout of broadband and data services in Nigeria,” MTN said in a statement.
MTN formed a joint venture partnership with specialist tower company IHS in 2014 to own and operate MTN’s transmitter towers in Nigeria.
IHS has operations in Nigeria, Cameroon, Cote d‘Ivoire, Rwanda and Zambia.
($1 = 12.2576 rand)
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Reporting by Tanisha Heiberg; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle
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MTN assigns $231MN shareholder loan to African phone tower group

Lexi Novitske | Singularity Investments.  
A decade ago, mobile phones propelled the beginnings of Africa’s tech wave through the arrival of mobile money &#8211; today, the mobile revolution has applications across every sphere of modern life in the region. With a young population of early-adopters and an improving infrastructure from telecommunications to payments, investment in Africa in 2018 is likely to eclipse <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tobyshapshak/2017/01/19/african-tech-start-ups-raised-129m-in-2016/">record-breaking growth</a>, and be driven by more post-seed capital. Investors and entrepreneurs alike building on the foundation of a rapidly expanding tech ecosystem will tap into success in four key trends:
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-39086 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/technology2_shutterstock_426836902-1.jpg" alt="This is how to create inclusive growth for an Aspiring Africa" width="1536" height="1024" />
#1 Global tech brands adopt a local approach
Eighty-five percent of the world’s population now lives in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. As these regions emerge as the future of the world’s growth, global brands are now in a race to capture developing-world consumers. American and European companies vying for global-market dominance are fast understanding the products which work for Western markets may not always resonate with an emerging-market audience. Consumers prefer local content, while domestic influencers drive engagment from social trends to purchasing patterns – a trend that will only become more previlant this year. Google is one company focusing new products on Africa’s growth. Realizing that building an African consumer base will require data optimization in a world where 1GB costs 9.3% of average monthly income across the region, and following a launch in India, Google expanded its data-friendly YouTube Go app in Nigeria enable consumers <a href="https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/7525514/youtube-go-new-app-emerging-markets">to save videos for offline viewing.</a> The tech giant also <a href="http://fortune.com/2017/12/01/googles-new-android-app-will-help-curb-your-data-use/">recently announced </a>the launch of Android app Datally, which helps consumers see which apps consume the most data and provides suggestions on how to conserve data usage.
#2 Blockchain drives solutions across sectors
Cryptocurrency may be the most well-known application of blockchain, but the technology’s numerous applications from <a href="https://www.bitpesa.co/">cross border payments</a> to  <a href="https://thesunexchange.com/">energy investment</a> to <a href="http://www.benben.com.gh">land rights,</a>  is a promising tool to improve quality and reliability of data across emerging markets like Africa. Trust is hard to come by in Africa where citizens <a href="http://afrobarometer.org/press/trustworthy-institutions-play-vital-role-africas-development-new-afrobarometer-findings">express more faith </a>in informal institutions, like religious and traditional leaders, than formal ones like the state. As a shared public ledger, blockchain decentralizes processes so that the people can make exchanges without relying on a neutral central authority.  The secure, encryped technology not only tackles issues surrounding trust, but also fills data gaps by eliminating asymmetric information and increasing reliability. Over the next year, the greatest impact will likely be felt in sectors such as digital identity, fintech, and legal contracts across public and private players.
#3 Africa’s informal economy goes digital
From street vendors to artisans, farmers to taxi drivers, the informal economy represents nearly <a href="http://conference.iza.org/conference_files/worldb2006/verick_s872.pdf">72% of Africa’s economy</a>, and around <a href="https://blogs.imf.org/2017/08/08/chart-of-the-week-the-potential-for-growth-and-africas-informal-economy/">38% of regional GDP. </a> For investors and entrepreneurs in Africa’s informal economy, opportunities abound for those capable of uniting fragmented markets and using data to improve productivity. As large African e-commerce companies retrench in 2018, there is likely to be greater engagment and investment in large agent networks to bring goods and services to an underpenetrated informal market. Enhanced rollout of infrastructure also paves the way for startups marketing right-priced software-as-a-service platforms allowing informal merchants to have access to the same services as their structured retail partners: point-of-sale systems, simplified accounting portals, access to credit, and inventory management. Similar SaaS will also benefit farmers. Likewise, more companies will emerge to provide opportunities to tap an under-pentrated informal job market through digital platforms like <a href="https://lynk.co.ke">Lynk</a> or <a href="https://www.max.ng">Max</a> which provide access to larger customer bases.
#4 Corporate investment in African technology increases 
Africa’s late arrival to the digital economy is an opportunity in disguise. With a rapidly-expanding population looking to technology to solve an array of problems, left unmet by legacy players, the continent could be the first truly digital-first region — and more corporations are scrambling to be a part of the growth story. During 2017, a plethora of accelerators and incubators have emerged. Ecobank launched a fintech challenge in January to identify innovators across the continent. In June, French telecommunications giant Orange <a href="http://disrupt-africa.com/2017/06/orange-announces-56m-african-startup-investment-initiative/">pledged EUR50 million (US$56 million) </a>to the creation of Orange Digital Ventures Africa, a new arm of its early-stage investment program. In July,  Alibaba founder and executive chairman Jack Ma announced the <a href="http://disrupt-africa.com/2017/07/alibabas-jack-ma-launches-10m-african-young-entrepreneurs-fund/">creation of a US$10 million African Young Entrepreneurs Fund</a> during his first official visit to Africa. <a href="https://www.itanna.co/time-to-ignite/">Honeywell</a> in partnership with the African Economic Revolution Fund, <a href="https://developers.google.com/programs/launchpad/regional/">Google</a>, <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2017/11/22/africa/facebook-community-tech-hub-in-nigeria/index.html">Facebook</a>, and Nigeria’s <a href="http://nigeriafarmersgroup.org/access-bank-establishes-platform-to-boost-innovation/">Access Bank</a> have all announced their own accelerator and community-building platforms.  While start-ups gain access to mentorship and larger corporate customer bases, this expansion of investment in early-stage African tech is a play for talent and innovation among corporates, some of which may be seeking to acquire digitally-savvy newcomers. With such a wave of activity in the past year, 2018 will likely experience moderate growth in exits driven (at least partially) by these corporate players. Even smaller corporates will begin to think about their innovation strategy, or be left behind.

Top 4 African tech trends to look out for

Artificial intelligence (AI) is neither friend nor foe &#8211; It’s both!
This was the feedback received following a high level panel discussion held during the Science Forum South Africa (#SFSA2017) in Tshwane, were youth members from various African states exchanged their views and ideals as to how best they, business and government need to approach the digital age.
“There is a paralysing fear that jobs will be taken away and humans will become redundant and lazy”, said Barbara Glover of NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency.
Glover added that these fears need to be allayed by understanding how best AI can unlock enhanced potential for humans to deploy their skills in new ways.
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Ama Duncan of Corporate Training Solutions in Ghana agreed. “We need to educate our labour force in a different way that will allow them to grow and develop new talents and abilities to instruct AI and be the creators of the revolution.”
Education has been highlighted as a panacea to incorporate the culture of working with robotics, especially for a future job market which may see its employees changing careers at least three times.
However challenges remain as not all African’s are exposed to the same level of technology. Those who are often left behind in the skills gap and lack exposure to various technologies, are those who live in rural areas.
“Many children living in the outskirts of urban areas, only have cell phones and TV’s as their main touch points of technology and innovation we need government to investment in adequate infrastructure to ensure that members of the rural community can also compete with their urban counterparts,” said Dr Zamantungwa Khumalo of The Future Leader Youth Development Programme.
Digitalisation is not just an African problem; Admiral Joe Sestak of First Global believes that whilst developed economies have made some strides in incorporating technology in their day to day lives, emerging and frontier markets like those in Africa possess the potential to advance further than there western peers.
“There is an innate ability for Africans to innovate as they are not restricted by barometers regarding ‘how things should be done’. With the right education and development of skills African youth can be the pioneers of the digital revolution,” said Sestak.
These bold commitments were shared at the SFSA where several other government leaders were present. Deputy President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa together with representatives from the African Union, The Department of Science and Technology , NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency, as well as Ministers from Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Jamaica, Namibia, Uganda and Swaziland, once more cemented their commitment to strengthen Pan-African cooperation in science and technology to advance regional integration, peace, social cohesion, inclusive development and global partnerships.
The next industrial revolution will certainly be an inclusive partnership that will see leaders of the science community encouraging young people to be more empowered to participate.

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