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Econet’s Cassava spin-off wants to be the Tencent of Zimbabwe
Shareholders in Zimbabwe’s largest mobile phone operator are set to become owners of a company with ambitions to be an internet giant of Africa.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Women will be left behind by mobile education—just like everything else
Women globally aren’t afforded the same access to technology as men. Sure, there’s been progress: 830 million young people are now online, but there’s still a ways to go. Today, over half the world’s population is still offline, with global internet penetration only slated to break 50% by mid 2019.
- Categories
- Education, Technology
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The New Face of Poverty: Why Unemployment isn’t the Issue – And How Financial Inclusion Can Help
When you think about poverty, what does it look like? Many people might picture an undernourished African child, or an elderly beggar sitting in the street. But as Oakam CEO Frederic Nze explains, the reality can be far different. Poverty today often involves the struggles of the working poor, and it’s defined less by extreme deprivation and more by lack of access – to clean water, to power, to basic education, and increasingly to the internet. Nze explores the implications of this shift for the financial inclusion and development sectors.
- Categories
- Finance
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Making AI Work for Africa: Why Google Must Go Local with its New Research Center in Ghana
In June, Google announced that it would open an Artificial Intelligence (AI) research center in Accra, Ghana later this year – one more sign of Africa’s vast untapped potential for AI innovation. But since developing countries will be hit hardest by manufacturing job losses caused by AI-fueled automation, Google must avoid “merely creating an African outpost for its pre-existing research efforts,” says Ghanaian entrepreneur Timothy Kotin. He explores the transformation impact that companies like Google could make if they invest in regional talent to develop locally relevant AI solutions.
- Categories
- Technology
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Africans Fear Trend Toward Taxes on Data, Mobile Money
The telecom companies say taxes on mobile payments introduced by a string of countries hurt their revenues and threaten much-needed investment in infrastructure.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Report: Digital Will Influence $4 Trillion in Retail Purchases in Emerging Markets by 2022
Half of the population in emerging markets worldwide is now connected to the internet, the report says—a stunning increase from 2010, when fewer than a quarter of those in emerging markets were online. In addition, by 2022, nearly 900 million more emerging-market consumers will be online, versus just 80 million new internet users in developed markets.
- Source
- Press release
- Categories
- Technology
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Benin is the latest African nation taxing the internet
The new law has been denounced, with citizens and advocates using the hashtag #Taxepamesmo (“Don’t tax my megabytes”) to call on officials to cancel the levy. The increased fees will not only burden the poorest consumers and widen the digital divide, but they will also be “disastrous” for the nation’s nascent digital economy, says ISF’s executive director Julie Owono.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Press release: BBOXX pilots internet service to expand from off-grid electricity to additional utilities
In Rwanda, BBOXX has created internet connections via Wi-Fi Hotspots in a joint venture with Axiom Networks. So far, 10 fixed hotspots, powered by BBOXX solar systems, have been installed for the pilot.
- Source
- Press release
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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