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Viewpoint: Poor policy slowing Kenya’s ICT sector as neighbors take lead
Today, much of the traction witnessed in the last seven years has slowed to a crawl. Growth in Kenya’s ICT sector has petered out and the country is now struggling to attract fresh technology financing and prove its competitiveness amidst competition from new emerging markets such as Rwanda and Ethiopia. A recent report looking into startup financing in the region found that local e-health startups barely managed to take two per cent of Sh1.9 billion in funding that went to the sector in the last three years.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- public policy
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The Curious Case of Myanmar: Can the Country Leapfrog to Digital Financial Inclusion?
Fueled by years of repressed demand, cheap Chinese phones, softening regulations and an aggressive push by the country’s mobile network operators, Myanmar leapfrogged from practically zero phones to almost exclusively smartphones. Looking at this stark contrast, a natural question arises – can Myanmar leapfrog from financial exclusion to "digital" financial inclusion, just as it did in telecom?
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Making it Rain: Solar-Powered Irrigation and the ‘Household Productivity Ladder’
Solar energy can be put to many constructive uses in emerging market households, but SunCulture focuses on helping smallholder farmers move water. Why? Because it has the greatest impact on a key area: household productivity. Their CEO Samir Ibrahim shares the story of a SunCulture customer, whose experiences highlight the value of solar-powered irrigation to 2.5 billion farmers living on less than $2 a day.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Social Enterprise, Technology
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Report: The African digital revolution is gaining pace
Consumers in Africa expect interactions with brands and businesses to be seamless, convenient and immediate and businesses across the continent are seeing the digital transformation as a way to develop new operational business models that can deliver on these demands.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Africa’s e-health start-ups rise, but not all are mobile-first based
Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa are early hotspots for e-health entrepreneurs, but research shows a rise in start-ups with substantial communities of e-health innovators emerging in Uganda, Ghana, Egypt and Senegal.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- startups
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The Longest Last Mile: Are India’s Poor Ready for Digital Financial Services?
With the Indian government working to transform the country into a digital economy, the focus of financial inclusion is heavily inclined toward digital financial services for all. But are India’s poor ready for this shift? Anoushaka Chandrashekar and Misha Sharma at IFMR LEAD argue that poor customers are far from reaching this stage, and that policymakers and practitioners should focus on access and usage, rather than introducing digital products that very few people use.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Data-Rich, Low-Cost Technology Helps Shut Down Malaria
DiSARM combines that data with satellite imagery – collected and sorted using Google Earth Engine – of conditions such as rainfall, temperature, vegetation, water proximity and elevation, all of which affect mosquito breeding and parasite growth.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Tags
- data
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Press release: World’s First Social Entrepreneurship Platform Moms Avenue Challenges Etsy by Gearing Up With Blockchain
As the world is at the doorstep of the blockchain disruption we're still tackling the gender inequality and the lack of women participation in entrepreneurship and the crypto economy.
- Categories
- Technology
- Tags
- blockchain, cryptocurrency
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