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The rise and rise of African agri-tech
Agriculture is big business in Africa. The sector employs 65 per cent of the continent’s labour force, and accounts for 32 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), according to the World Bank.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Can Amazon Go help the unbanked go digital?
From a turnstile entrance that identifies shoppers by scanning their smartphones to tracking cameras that know what is pulled from each shelf, Amazon Go bills itself as the shopping experience of the future.
But where do the working poor fit into such a future? Or otherwise underserved and rural communities that may not have access to internet connections, smartphones or even checking accounts?- Categories
- Technology
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Here is a look at the legality or illegality of uses of cryptocurrencies in India
The statement of the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the Budget speech on cryptocurrencies created quite a disruption, with many speculating that the statement implied that cryptocurrencies were banned in India.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- regulations
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Solar power pay-as-you-go projects in Africa are getting major funding
Services that allow customers to pay for solar equipment and service in small installments have picked up momentum in the past couple of years, particularly in East Africa. Two firms that supply solar power products with pay-as-you-go products have raised a total of $75 million in financing this month to back up that long-held vision.
- Categories
- Energy, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Jibu Announces Completion of $7 Million Series B Financing
Jibu, a social enterprise that has reinvented the traditional franchise model to equip emerging market entrepreneurs to build solutions that close infrastructure gaps and ensure access to basic human necessities, announces the completion of its $7 million Series B financing round, bringing its total raised to more than $10 million. The Company will use the funds to accelerate its launch of 1,000 drinking water franchises in at least a dozen new countries by 2022.
- Categories
- Environment, Health Care, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Melinda Gates Launches Initiative to Reduce Poverty With New Technology
Melinda Gates has launched a high-level international commission to spark new thinking on how developing countries can best harness new technologies to reduce poverty. The wife of Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates spoke at the launch of the commission in Nairobi on Thursday.
- Categories
- Technology
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J-PAL North America launches education technology innovation competition
MIT's Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) North America has launched a new Education, Technology, and Opportunity Competition that will support U.S. education leaders in identifying effective uses of education technology that can serve as models for how innovation can improve learning.
- Categories
- Education, Technology
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For India’s Farmers It’s Agtech Startups, Not Government, That Is Key
It’s been quite a challenge in recent decade in Indian agriculture, starved of financial resources and continuing neglect by the government, and is likely to become more difficult over the next few decades as weather patterns, available water and growing seasons shift further.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- agtech, climate change, data, startups
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