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Safaricom Cautions Kenya Over Higher Taxes
Kenyan mobile operator, Safaricom, has warned the government that further increases in Excise Tax – a duty levied on goods or services for sale – will make mobile payment services less affordable for poorer citizens.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Phoning It In: An innovative way to make health care affordable for Kenya’s working poor
Changamka helps Kenyans save small amounts over time to purchase health insurance through a product called “Linda Jamii” (Swahili for “care for the family”). A mobile money micro-financing system makes it possible.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
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How Cell Phones Are Transforming Health Care in Africa
In a little over a decade, Africa has gone from a region with virtually no fixed-line telecoms infrastructure to a continent where one in six of the billion inhabitants now owns a cell phone. But as this mass adoption of technology continues to gather momentum, it is causing a fundamental shift that goes beyond merely connecting people; it is creating one of the largest, low-cost distributed sensor networks we’ve ever seen, one which has the potential to completely transform global health care.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Why New iPhone Isn’t Really for Developing World
When news of this release first bubbled up, many people—from investors and analysts to customers and app developers—excitedly predicted that Apple could finally bring its high-quality devices to customers all over the world. It looked like good business for Apple and good news for millions, if not billions, of people.
- Categories
- Technology
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Bank? What bank? Orange, Visa and the changing face of Africa’s mobile money
While relatively few Africans have a bank account, companies are finding new ways to offer consumers bank-type services just using mobile devices.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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NextDrop Uses Big Data, Texting To Improve Water Distribution
The proliferation of mobile-supported business models in India is substantial. Given its ubiquity amongst lower-income groups, mobile technology is recognized as a maximum impact tool, particularly for grassroots data collection. This “tech” model of social entrepreneurship has become the norm not only in India, but also in other emerging markets throughout Asia, Africa and South America.Case in point: NextDrop, a social enterprise launched in 2011, is simplifying urban water collection in India. With its “Smart Grid ‘Lite’” solution, the enterprise collects and shares water delivery information with city residents and water utilities. In this way, efficiency and transparency are improved upon.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Environment, Health Care, Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Why Did Mobile Money Flop In Nigeria?
Two years have passed since a mobile money service was deployed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and it still has yet to catch on with the masses.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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The Promise of eHealth in the African Region
Most African patients making repeat visits to a hospital or to their doctor are likely to have had at least one similar experience: they routinely see their doctor or other hospital staff digging through stacks of ancient manila files in search of handwritten notes of their medical records. The patients will even be lucky if their files are found with complete information. Must this decades-old practice continue in this information age? “No”, says Dr Derege Kebede, head of the African Health Observatory (AHO) and Knowledge Management Unit at the WHO Regional Office for Africa Office (WHO/AFRO) in Brazzaville, Congo. “A solution already exists: electronic health or eHealth – countries and people in our region should embrace, promote and intensify the use of eHealth.”
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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