Philanthropists Richard Branson, Jeff Skoll and Strive Masiyiwa have teamed up to help African nations secure low-cost, urgently needed medical equipment as COVID-19 cases rise across the continent. Mr Masiyiwa, co-founder of Higherlife Foundation, has recently been named an African Union Special Envoy to mobilise the private sector response to the COVID-19
Technology
Four key priorities for Africa’s tech firms in the time of Covid-19
In the Business Beyond Covid series CEOs and other business leaders and experts in their sectors look to the future in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. What impact has the novel coronavirus and resulting lockdown had on their industries and SA economy as a whole, which parts will bounce
China Mobile and Facebook in joint project to build 2Africa submarine cable
Facebook has announced that it has joined a venture to build the largest submarine cable by capacity around Africa. The 2Africa project is part of a joint enterprise by China Mobile International, Facebook, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, stc, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone, and the West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC). 2Africa is
The need for health care virtualisation in a global pandemic
In times of a global pandemic, where human and physical resources are stretched to the limit, operators and service providers in the health care ecosystem need to find ways to virtualise the delivery of health care, while trying to sustain business as usual. Virtualisation in health care is in essence
Tradeshift links up with Danish ECA for supply chain finance model
Global ecommerce platform Tradeshift is working with Eksport Kredit Fonden (EKF), the Danish export credit agency, to ease liquidity pressures on businesses triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic through a technology-driven supply chain finance model. Under the programme, banks will be encouraged to offer “favourable” credit lines to large organisations in
TDB implements dltledgers blockchain solution for Afro-Asian sugar transaction
The Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB) has closed what it says is the first live end-to-end trade finance transaction using blockchain technology for an African development finance institution (DFI). The deal, a US$22mn sugar transaction, saw 50,000 metric tonnes of white cane sugar shipped to a buyer
East Africa: Students Use Tech to Increase Legal, Safe, and Profitable Trade in Africa
At Lambda School, up-and-coming software engineers have the opportunity to partner with for-good organizations on meaningful projects that are making a difference in communities across the world through a program called Lambda Co-op. These Co-op projects allow Lambda students and recent graduates to gain real-world experience, and provide web development services
