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Separating Hype from Reality in the Fizzy World of Africa Start-Ups – VC4Africa survey findings
The latest video clip interviews from Smart Monkey TV can be found at the bottom of this e-letter
It’s hard separating hype from reality in the current African start-up sector so it’s always good to get some facts to hang on to. VC4Africa’s latest annual study Venture Finance in Africa 2015 provides a useful look at a key part of this fizzy sector. Russell Southwood spoke to researcher Thomas Van Halen about what it all means.
VC4Africa is a site that promotes linking investors to African start-ups in that graveyard of all entrepreneur hopes, the so-called equity gap between US$50,000 and US$2 million. It has gone from being a rather unpromising looking LinkedIn group in Spring 2008 to becoming a significant investment “dating” mechanism.
Its annual survey is based on a survey of 1,300 entrepreneurs on its website platform, of whom a respectable 19.8% (257) responded to a questionnaire. It is as Van Halen puts it:”A nice snapshot of our target group…80% of our members have IT related products and services. Farmers producing agricultural product won’t be on the platform.” The sample is fairly well balanced between companies in the start-up and growth stages: 57% of the ventures are in a startup phase where 43% are in a growth stage.
It represents a very useful description of the sharp-end of the African start-up sector. Their start-ups are spread across 16 areas (in declining order): Computer Software (24%), Internet (21%), E-Commerce (17%), Agribusiness (17%) Education (14%), Media (12%), Professional / Diversified Services, Health Services, Clean Technology, Financial Services, Food & Beverages, Renewable Energy, Telecommunications, Computer Hardware, Leisure, Transportation, Import/Export, Retail Construction and Real Estate.
This represents an impressively wide spread of industry sectors and the fact that e-commerce is in the top 3 shows that it is firmly on the agenda to happen in Africa. Thirty percent of the registered ventures have an explicit social mission and could be qualified as a social enterprise. This represents both the laudable desire to address the development issues of the continent but also the impact of donor funding. The cruel question is how many start-ups would address these issues if that money was not on the table?
So where are the biggest geographic clusters of start-ups?:”Most of the companies come from Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa but there’s a growing number of them from Ghana, Egypt, Tanzania and Uganda.” And what does Van Halen think are the conditions that produce these clusters?:”Culture? Incubators and accelerators? It’s a hard question to answer. More and more success stories lead to new angel investor groups in these areas and this (in turn) makes people want to work on new products. It happens by example.”
Leaving aside North Africa, this geographic distribution of countries almost perfectly mirrors a listing that combines highest GDP per capita and population size. On that basis, the missing countries in terms of number of start-up respondents are Angola, Ethiopia and Sudan.
Angola and Sudan might be explained by the impact of oil on the expectations of the young and relatively unsupportive Governments. Ethiopia is constrained by the hopelessly unsympathetic environment of Government policy and an inefficient telecoms monopoly which makes anything online difficult. For me one surprise is Zimbabwe (only 2 respondents) which seems rich in certain kinds of cultural and media start-ups but again start-ups there operate in a difficult economy.
But the unsaid thing is that the start-up clusters happen in economies that are large enough to have three things1) significant numbers of mobile broadband and internet users; 2) a middle class of some significant size; and 3) larger companies that might support B2B type applications.
Smaller countries that lack these things find it hard to create the soil in which to grow start-ups. From my recent visit to Mali, the interview I did with Rene Gaudin of co-working space Jokko Labs describes some of constraints for start-ups working without these things.
Fernando de Sousa, Microsoft (which is significantly involved in this space) identifies the difficulty of trading across countries as a significant barrier and by implication one that affects smaller countries disproportionately. It may only be just over an hour by plane to Dar es Salaam and Uganda but it always surprises me how many Kenyan start-ups stick to their home turf. And this happens in one of the better-organized African trading spaces, the East African Community. Likewise, too few South African start-ups go north.
In terms of jobs, survey respondent companies had created an average of 5.7 jobs per company with a total of 1011 by the end of 2013. The projected jobs by the end of 2015 was estimated at 4,176, over four times the current level. 70% of the companies have generated revenues but they were not asked about levels of profitability, something that should have occurred with the earlier respondents who have been around since 2010.
On the investment side, the survey showed that US$26.9 million had been raised through a combination of founders, internal and external capital. The responses seem to indicate that those who went through accelerators or attended accelerator events had raised significantly more capital.
So what did Van Halen think caused African start-ups to fail? This was not in the research but on an anecdotal basis, he felt that there was often something wrong with the team that sometimes led to conflicts with investors.
Another barrier is not understanding what’s involved in getting investment, something that VC4Africa was set up to overcome:”There’s a gap between the moment when the venture registers and when it’s ready. We are working with Orange and Citibank to raise the quality of ventures through virtual incubation programmes. We provide help to them to tell their story and write investor briefs.”
To know more about VC4 Africa programmes, click on the link below:
http://vc4africa.biz/partners
Start-ups and Investment+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
MTN plans innovation hub at Cape Town business school
The MTN Group and the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business (UCT GSB) have announced a partnership to boost sustainable innovation in Africa. Under the new deal, MTN will invest ZAR 15 million over the next three years in the MTN Solution Space, an innovation hub at the UCT GSB. The collaboration will combine the research strengths of the UCT GSB with MTN's technological expertise and resources to create, amongst others, mobile apps and programmes for educational, medical and economic empowerment, as well as to promote entrepreneurship and small business growth.
The MTN Solution Space has already had successes in helping start-ups gain a foothold in the business world. It is home to social innovators like former UCT GSB MPhil student Francois Petousis who founded Lumkani, a proactive, early-warning fire detection system designed for shack dwellers. The concept won the People's Choice Award at the 2014 Global Social Venture Competition and scooped second place in two separate categories at South Africa's innovation summit.
Source: Telecompaper 23 February 2015
Spark announces SA accelerators
Non-profit organisation Spark South Africa, which assists early-stage startups with becoming sustainable ventures, has announced two accelerator programmes to run this year.
Spark will be hosting SHE in Johannesburg in August, aimed at accelerating female-led ventures that support women and girls in South Africa, while its Cape Town accelerator will take place in July, for early-stage social entrepreneurs.
“We are launching SHE because women are a safe bet and we believe that they are the best levers for change in South Africa,” Spark said. “When a woman is tangibly empowered, all of society benefits.”
The organisation’s Cape Town Accelerator, meanwhile, will select 15 changemakers for an intense six-day programme where their businesses models will be challenged.
“The changemakers that will be chosen will be on the premise that their ventures addresses social and environmental concerns in a way that is financially sustainable resulting in a cycle that benefits all involved,” Spark said.
Source: http://disrupt-africa.com/2015/03/spark-announces-sa-accelerators/
Village Capital Seeks To Promote Financial Inclusion In E.Africa
Village Capital, a Washington D.C. based international non-profit venture-lending fund that recruits and helps establish startups that address specific issues, last week closed application to a competition that will award $100,000 in capital to two startups that provide the most innovative solution to improving access to financial services by smallholder farmers in East Africa.
The fund said it received 129 applications for its inaugural FinTech for Agriculture East African accelerator, from which 12 applicants will be chosen to participate in the three month accelerator, with two startups securing $50,000 each in funding at the end of the programme.
AFKInsider interviewed John Mulqueen and George Omedo of Village Capital on their take on East Africa’s startup scene and here is their take:
AFKInsider: What is the Africa fintech startup programme all about?
Village Capital: The aim is to unlock innovations that increase access to financial services for smallholder farmers. At the end of the program, the two start-ups ranked highest by other entrepreneurs in the program will each receive $50,000 USD to help scale their businesses and impact.
AFKInsider: How is this programme different from others we have across Africa?
Village Capital: Our award-winning peer-selection investment model has supported 450 ventures in 30 programs across 9 countries. In this model the participating startups peer select, through a ranking system, the top two participants who will be awarded the $50,000 USD investment. This system help startups be able to develop evaluation skills, understand the way investors think and better understand the problems they are trying to solve.
AFKInsider: Is this a one-off competition or are we going to see more of these and an increase in the prize award in future competitions?
Village Capital: This is not a one off competition, as we are have run two previous programs in Kenya and plan to run a fourth program focused on Agriculture/Energy later this year. We recently completed an education-focused program in South Africa and have run 33 programs worldwide since 2009.
AFKInsider: How did you manage to bring all the sponsors together and do you have a history of working together?
Village Capital: [We] sources, trains, and invests in early-stage ventures solving major social problems through profitable business solutions. We put investors face-to-face with the best entrepreneurs in agriculture, energy, education, health, and financial inclusion, and in the last five years, we have been the most active small business development organization worldwide. Therefore we have a strong history of working with various partners to develop and manage accelerator programs worldwide.
AFKInsider: Why did you decide to focus on agriculture and most importantly smallholder farmers?
Village Capital: Most of the population in sub-Saharan Africa are rural based and are engaged in agriculture or in the agriculture value chain for their daily incomes. This population of Africans is also under banked and has difficulties accessing financial products and services.
AFKInsider: How will other participating startups who don’t win the final prize benefit from the programme?
Village Capital: At the end of each program, we hold a venture forum where the participating startups pitch to invited impact investors within our network. This acts as a formal introduction for engagement between the enterprises and investors. 80 percent of our graduates get investments in the first year after participating in our program. We will continue engaging with our alumni in order to help them develop their businesses and also connect with investors through different fora.
AFKInsider: How would you describe the startup landscape in Kenya, East Africa and Africa at large? And what do you think is needed to ensure more successful startups in the region?
Village Capital: The startup landscape in Kenya in particular is vibrant and many young people and enterprises are investing in innovation in various sectors trying to come up with new ways of doing things or improving on existing ones. These developments can be seen in agriculture, energy, health, education, transport, financial services and IT sectors. East Africa and African countries have also seen a major focus on innovation and entrepreneurship. Nigeria and South Africa stand out.
Source: http://afkinsider.com/90416/q-village-capital-seeks-startups-promoting-financial-inclusion-e-africa/?utm_source=AFKInsider+Newsletter&utm_campaign=11163dfe04-AFKInsider_Newsletter_3_5_153_5_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0aff70cb26-11163dfe04-138168477#sthash.vXyi4kiq.dpuf
Nigeria: Airtel set to fund 7 start-ups
Some of the initiatives span across various sectors ranging from of education, utility, business, games and leisure.
Airtel Nigeria has invested in seven entrepreneurs with exceptional apps and business start-up ideas with a sum of 1 million Naira each.
According to the company, this is to support entrepreneurship initiatives, empower application developers and start-ups, as well as integrate them into the Airtel network, to enable them to operate effectively and efficiently in their various businesses.
Nitin Anand, Vice President, Data and Product Services, Airtel stated that the initiative is to encourage young entrepreneurs to develop their business through application apps.
Anand emphasised that the platform aims to inspire innovation and assist start-up mobile app developers towards actualising their business goals and dreams.
Some of the initiatives span across various sectors ranging from of education, utility, business, games and leisure.
Source: ITNews Africa
In Brief
SimplePay's Chief Operating Officer Rich Tanksley has resigned from his role as COO. Rich, who joined SimplePay in June 2014 will retire into an advisory capacity as a member of the SimplePay Advisory Board. Rich is leaving the payments startup to head the Nigerian operations of Swiss media giant Ringier, at Pulse Nigeria.
Leti Arts, an interactive studio that develops mobile games and digital comics influenced by African history and folklore and the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) in Ghana made the Fast Company annual guide to the 50 most innovative companies.
Currently fundraising on VC4Africa: OMGGhana.Com believe that visuals speak a 1000 words, so it uses videos and still images to tell its story. Its website focuses on content by building content people can relate to and our strong hold is entertainment, lifestyle and fashion. It has a working version in Ghana, which has peaked at the #4 most visited website in Ghana serving 20 Million+ pageviews monthly, 130 million total page views in 2014 and 18 Million visitors in 2014. OMGGhana have registers 59,000 subscribers. It is already profitable. For more:
As part of looking at crowdfunding in Africa, I put small financial contributions into two things recently. Firstly, I put money into a South African computer game called Cadence on Kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/947738574/cadence
I also put a small financial contribution into the travel plans of Ivorian entrepreneur Bacely YoroBi on Indigogo:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/socialspot-au-mit-global-startup-workshop/x/5356288
Energy++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Genie in a Bottle: How Bottled Biogas Can Contribute to Reducing Kenya’s Dependence on Fossil Fuels
I first heard about bottled biogas when I visited a "green" slaughterhouse in Kiserian, Kenya. I was really impressed: My dream of a cleaner, more affordable and easily accessible fuel was right there before my eyes.
The Keekonyoike Slaughterhouse found an innovative way to produce affordable biogas and package it for distribution all around the country. Using a special bio-digester, this business can turn blood and waste from a community-based Maasai slaughterhouse into biogas for cooking. To facilitate transport, the firm stores the fuel in recycled cylinders and used tires, reducing even further the environmental impact of the operation. Just to give me a better idea of the "green" potential of his business, the manager told me that this first biogas plant is expected to cut methane emissions by more than 360,000 kilograms per year (the equivalent of almost 2,000 passenger vehicles).
Indeed, "bottled" biogas (biogas compressed into a cylinder) has huge potential in Kenya: Farmers can directly produce it, recycling the waste from their farms; can use it for their cooking needs; and, thanks to the bottling process, can sell the excess on the local market, generating income while saving the environment.
Keekonyokie is a company that began operations in 1982. It runs an abattoir that slaughters about 100 cows per day to meet the meat demand in Nairobi and its environs. In 2008, with the support from GTZ, the company constructed two 20-foot-deep biogas digesters that would help manage the abattoir waste, which was becoming a menace and a health hazard. Within a short time, the biogas being produced from the digesters was more than the company could absorb. The company managers started thinking of compressing and bottling the excess biogas, but they needed support to test the technical and commercial viability of their idea.
When infoDev’s Kenya Climate Innovation Center (KCIC) opened its doors in October 2012, Keekonyokie was one of the first companies to be admitted.
Thanks to the services provided by the Kenya CIC, Keekonyokie has refined its product and is now ready to enter the national market. The first cylinders will be available at the end of this month at an initial cost of Ksh 3,700 (US$44) for the 6kg-cylinder and Ksh 700 (US$8) for a single refill - exactly half the cost of a similar quantity of LPG.
The initial production capacity for the bottled biogas will be 100 cylinders per day which will be available through outlets in Kiserian, Ngong and Ongata Rongai. As it is, the indicative demand for the gas is much more than what can be produced. The good news is that Keekonyoike now has a 30-acre piece of land where they want to put up an abattoir that is five times bigger than the current plant, which will translate to five times more biogas production.
The potential of this locally relevant solution is great and goes way beyond the reduction in methane emissions. A group of talented women from Kenya’s largest slum produces yogurt to earn income. After hearing of Keekonyoike’s biogas, they are planning to replace firewood with bottled biogas in the sterilization process of their yogurt. They were so impressed by this innovative idea that they have dubbed it "okoa mama" ("save mothers") in recognition of its immense value to the urban poor, who struggle to gain access to clean and affordable fuel. The women are also considering partnering with Keekonyokie and becoming distributors of the bottled gas in the slum. They are sure that this affordable and portable form of biogas will be a big hit in their local communities.
Hopefully, with the support of the Kenya CIC, innovative clean-tech ventures like this can keep growing and can provide locally relevant solutions to climate change while creating jobs and improving lives. The center has been supporting local climate-tech ventures - there are already more than 80 - with financing mechanisms, advisory services and targeted policy support aimed at creating greater incentives for the adoption of clean fuels.
Thanks to bottled biogas and many other clean fuels being tested and developed with the support of the Kenya CIC, hundreds of women like my grandmother can finally cook for their families in a healthy environment, with no smoke, cough or tears in their eyes.
Source: World Bank
Electricity: Blackstone eyes opportunities in African power shortages
Private equity will play a key role in developing Africa given the massive needs for capital on the continent, says Blackstone Group, which is focusing on infrastructure projects involving power generation and transmission.
CEO Steve Schwarzman said he would continue to seek partners like Aliko Dangote -- Africa's richest man, with whom Blackstone has a $5 billion joint venture -- to ensure that Blackstone's experience and deep pockets are matched by local nous and relationships.
The global private equity and advisory firm has projects in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Togo.
It is working with Black Rhino, an African infrastructure company, alongside Dangote to identify, develop and operate large-scale investments.
Schwarzman told the Reuters Africa Investment Summit that the dearth of capital in Africa and a relatively underdeveloped private-equity sector presented "a very good opportunity".
"I think we will be seeing more and more private equity there over the intermediate term," he said by telephone.
"The reason for that is that there is a lot of real growth going on there and private equity is always looking for returns and areas where there is less competition for capital."
Blackstone's initial foray into major African infrastructure was a $116 million investment in 2005 through Sithe Global, its portfolio company, to revive the stalled Bujagali dam in Uganda.
Last year, as part of a U.S. push to ramp up African power production, it teamed up with Black Rhino and Dangote Industries pledging to invest $5 billion over the next five years.
Among the most advanced of Blackstone and its partners' new projects is a pipeline for refined fuel between Ethiopia and Djibouti.
Both governments have signed a memorandum of understanding with Black Rhino and a framework is expected within weeks.
Schwarzman said "time will tell" how involved Blackstone will become in Africa but he said the firm he founded in 1985 would, for now, remain focused on energy-related infrastructure.
"We take an approach to stay in types of investments that we are very comfortable with, where there is enormous demand for capital," he said.
"We think that focusing on this area, where we have already developed over $25 billion of electric plants, is a conservative way to approach the continent and is a win-win for everyone involved," he added.
In Uganda, Blackstone and its partners will operate and manage the plant for 30 years before transferring it to the government.
A similar model and timeframe is being considered for the Ethiopia-Djiboti pipeline but talks are ongoing.
Blackstone's partner in Uganda is the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, part of the global network run by the spiritual leader of the Ismaili Muslim community, which has a strong presence in East Africa.
With Aliko Dangote, Blackstone is working alongside a Nigerian who rose from selling sweets to heading up West Africa's biggest group of companies, which trades rice, refines sugar and includes a cement firm that Dangote hopes will one day be the world's largest cement company.
Schwarzman said partnerships and structures of arrangements will vary from deal to deal, but even a firm as big as his needs the 'primary relationship' the likes of Dangote provide outsiders.
"We need Aliko's judgement, experiences and relationships to be more effective than we would be just on our own," he said.
"Sometimes success in life is knowing one's limitations. Investing side by side with Aliko in areas of our domain expertise seems like the way to go," he added.
Source: The Africa Report (TheAfricaReport.com)
In Brief
South Africa's cash-strapped power utility Eskom may sell some of its assets to raise capital as it scrambles to light up Africa's most advanced economy, the company's chief executive said on Thursday 5 March 2015.
Zimbabwe is teetering on the brink of a general power blackout as all electricity generating plants are only producing 772 megawatts daily, a sharp drop from 1,200MW.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will lend Tunisia 200 million euros this year to finance energy and industry projects, state news agency TAP said on Wednesday 4 March 2015.
On Wednesday the European Union (EU) and international non-governmental organisation Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) announced a three-year programme to expand renewable energy access in Somalia.
South Africa: On Monday, South African government ministers joined project developers and financiers to officially open South Africa’s first solar thermal electric power plant near Pofadder in the Northern Cape. There was also the announcement that 77 proposals had been received at the close of the REIPPPP bidding round-4. With over 60 renewable projects procured in bidding windows one, two and three, there has been over ZAR140 billion ($12 billion) of private investments into the programme with a combined generation capacity of 3,900MW.
See video clip interview below for background briefing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7K4vBQan3Bk
3D Printing+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Smartest E-Scooter Uses 3D Printing to Get You Moving
After four years of intensive development and testing with Sculpteo‘s professional 3D printing capabilities, entrepreneur David Libault was able to launch an Indiegogo campaign which has already reached the initial funding goal of $50.000.
ELECTRICMOOD is a pioneering urban scooter that would be impossible to develop by such a small team, low budget, and limited time without the extensive use of 3D printing technologies used for prototyping.
Although 3D printing was the only manufacturing method Libault was aware of for his needs – and, by far, the most affordable, easiest, and quickest manufacturing process to produce such complex prototypes on a limited budget – David Libault discovered in the process of designing his scooter that creating 3D models to be printed can be tricky. The team at Sculpteo helped Libault to address and resolve those issues, so that the 3D printed prototype is now fit for injection folded mass production.
The main innovations in this electric scooter is its revolutionary brushless, high-efficiency, electric motor that keeps weight to a minimum, while offering enough power (500 Watts) for a seamless and effortless ride. Its performance is not exactly staggering, but it is more than sufficient considering its purpose is mainly that of urban transportation. It can move at a maximum speed of 26 kilometers per hour for a range of over 19 kilometers. After that, the user will have to recharge it, which takes less than an hour, and, thanks to the integrated charger, it requires nothing more than a standard plug, so that the scooter can be charged anywhere.
Although ELECTRICMOOD is a complete vehicle, with two 12-inch inflatable tires, two powerful disk brakes, a lithium battery, front, and rear LED lights, and a digital display, its total weight (including motor, charger and aluminum body) is only 10 kilograms. Add this to the fact that the scooter is foldable and you have one of the most handy pieces of urban transportation ever created. Moreover, it is almost completely silent and, since it produces no emissions, it is very environmentally friendly. Both factors are of key importance for urban transportation.
Last but not least, its price is very competitive, to say the least. This amazing e-scooter costs only $1.195, which is roughly the price of a low-cost and highly unreliable mass produced motorbike. Through ELECTRICMOOD’s Indiegogo campaign, you can take it home at the even lower price of $995.
Source: 3D Printing News
In Brief
According to Sketchfab’s blog post, “Just include a Sketchfab link in a Facebook post and it will automagically turn it into our sketchfabulous real-time 3D player. Everyone can browse the content in 3D without leaving their feed.”
ICT4D+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Curricula similarities make West Africa ideal fit for Rethink Education
Cape Town e-learning startup Rethink Education, which currently only operates in South Africa, sees Ghana and Nigeria as ideal targets for expansion due to similarities in the mathematics and science curricula in the three countries.
Rethink Education was formed in 2012, and is a web and mobile based platform that generates educational content specific for mobile phones. The platform pushes content to a number of different instant messaging platforms, such as Mxit, WeChat and Bambisa, while the web platform is used in schools.
Accessible on any device, Rethink aims to reduce the cost and difficulty of accessing quality education, while administration tools allow a parent to teacher to monitor a student’s progress and adjust future lessons based on how well they are doing.
It uses all media, including videos and interactive questions, to communicate concepts, with content designed to be engaging and enjoyable. The Rethink platform is aimed at individuals – for whom the cost is ZAR500 (US$43) per year – and institutions, who pay ZAR300 (US$26) per student per year, with a minimum of 30 students.
Founder Doug Hoernle told Disrupt Africa Rethink was planning expansion into Nigeria and Ghana, with the startup seeing opportunities to scale outside of South Africa because mathematics and science learning does not change drastically from country to country.
“Nigeria and Ghana have similar mathematics and science curricula to South Africa so they make logical sense for us to expand to include these countries. We are also exploring opportunities in Zimbabwe, but the curriculum difference is quite substantial,” Hoernle said.
The founder said Rethink had been formed at a time when there was very little academic content available for digital devices.
“The Rethink Education platform feeds into this preference by delivering educational content broken down into ‘bite-size bits’ and presented through a social network style, chat interface,” he said.
Initially funded by its founders, Rethink has obtained private investment, and is seeing revenue growth through sales of its content through various channels.
“We also have strong partnerships with local education trusts and corporates who share a similar vision. We’re finding more and more that the value of our maths and science content is finding a space outside of the traditional school driven context, but beginning to expand into other industries to create new value,” Hoernle said.
“We make it our priority to learn about our market in detail. Our biggest clients are corporates, schools, teachers, parents and students – so we have sales representatives that work to establish close relationships with schools that are on our radar, and to maintain relationships with schools where our content is being used. We feel that quality of the content we’ve produced speaks for itself and conducting demonstrations and providing students with trial versions of our contents has proved to be our most effective form of marketing.”
He said Rethink had made itself a success by realising that a new medium such as ICT warranted a new type of content.
“Just presenting textbooks electronically is like making the first car run on hay. It would not have moved. ICT is not a replacement for good old fashioned writing and conceptualising on paper. It must be seen as an add-on, not a replacement to paper learning.”
Hoernle believes the scope for education from within the electronic environment is “huge” once targeted themes get designed and presented in a manner that harnesses the strengths of ICT.
“Apart from easy, widespread content delivery to remote locations, the Rethink mobile platform lends itself to improved data capture of study and education take-up statistics, which, if efficiently harnessed and analysed, should direct educationalists towards improved methods,” he said.
“The Rethink content has been developed in a unique style. Instead of offering students traditional e-publications, PDFs, worksheets and videos, our content has been developed in a very specific “chat-style” which makes it more engaging and far easier to consume on mobile devices.”
Hoernle said, with the uptake of smartphones in South Africa, there is “massive potential” for a range of e-commerce.
“As education is one of the biggest issues globally, utilising ICT effectively to help solve the education problem across the country will, in our opinion, be one of the biggest opportunities over the next couple of years,” he said.
“The most exciting part about leveraging smart devices for educational purposes is that we can now reach almost anyone across Africa and give them the opportunity to access premium educational resources which will enable to them empower themselves and our economy.”
Source: http://disrupt-africa.com/2015/03/curricula-similarities-make-west-africa-ideal-fit-rethink-education/
University installs prototype 'pee power' toilet
Urinal at University of the West of England can generate electricity to power indoor lighting, which Oxfam says show potential for use in refugee camps
A toilet at the University of the West of England is proving urine can generate electricity.
A prototype toilet has been launched on a UK university campus to prove that urine can generate electricity, and show its potential for helping to light cubicles in international refugee camps.
Students and staff at the Bristol-based University of the West of England are being asked to use the working urinal to feed microbial fuel cell (MFC) stacks that generate electricity to power indoor lighting.
The project is the result of a partnership between researchers at the university and Oxfam, who hope the technology can be developed by aid agencies on a larger scale to bring light to refugee camp toilets in disaster zones.
“We have already proved that this way of generating electricity works,” said research lead Professor Ioannis Ieropoulos, director of the Bristol BioEnergy Centre, which in 2013 demonstrated MCF stacks generating enough electricity to power a phone. “The project with Oxfam could have a huge impact in refugee camps.”
The technology uses microbes which feed on urine for their own growth and maintenance. “The MFC is in effect a system which taps a portion of that biochemical energy used for microbial growth, and converts that directly into electricity - what we are calling urine-tricity or pee power. This technology is about as green as it gets, as we do not need to utilise fossil fuels and we are effectively using a waste product that will be in plentiful supply,” said Ieropoulos.
The urinal - conveniently located near the Student Union bar - resembles toilets used in refugee camps to make the trial as realistic as possible. The equipment that converts the urine into power sits underneath the urinal and can be viewed through a clear screen.
Andy Bastable, Head of Water and Sanitation at Oxfam, commented: “Oxfam is an expert at providing sanitation in disaster zones, and it is always a challenge to light inaccessible areas far from a power supply. This technology is a huge step forward. Living in a refugee camp is hard enough without the added threat of being assaulted in dark places at night. The potential of this invention is huge.”
An estimated 6.4tn litres of urine is produced by humans across the globe every year, so researchers believe it has great potential as a cheap and readily available source of energy. Ieropoulos said the unit installed at the university would cost around £600 to set up.
Source: The Guardian
Innovation in Africa+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ericsson and Coca Cola deliver connected kiosk to Rwanda
Ericsson and Coca-Cola have revealed a pilot project to bring mobile connectivity to Rwanda. The Ekocenter is a solar-powered kiosk developed with German start-up company Solarkiosk. Tigo Rwanda and Ericsson will provide connectivity for the kiosk. Coca-Cola Company plans to roll out the pilot project in six countries in Africa and Asia in 2015.
The kiosks will be run by local female entrepreneurs, and serve as a community centre where people gather and have access to free and fee-based services. The new connectivity services could include education, health care, mobile commerce, information and entertainment.
Ericsson will initially deploy its Managed Rural Coverage (MRC) solution to provide internet services to the Ekocenter in rural Rwanda. The company's TV Anywhere service will enable access to education and healthcare content as well as infotainment capabilities, enabling the kiosk to become a connected hub. Ericsson will also provide Ekocenter with its M-Commerce platform that enables people to make transactions using their mobile wallets.
Source: Telecompaper 5 March 2015 http://www.telecompaper.com/news/ericsson-to-deliver-connected-kiosk-to-rwanda--1069175
Innovation in Africa covers start-ups, ICT4D, education and technology, energy, technology innovations like 3D printing, improving Africa’s cities and a range of other issues. To look at past issues click on the link below:
http://www.smartmonkeytv.com/channel/newsletters/category/innovation_in_africa
If you would like to subscribe, just send an email to info@smartmonkeytv.com with Innovation in Africa in the title line.
Yours sincerely
Russell Southwood
Smart Monkey TV
PS For a good video clip interview for understanding the fundamentals of innovation, watch James Woudhuysen, Professor of Forecasting, De Montfort University on Open innovation, the linear model of innovation and risk avoidance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSHVDmBthh8
PPS To subscribe to our web TV channel Smart Monkey TV, click on the link below and press the red Subscribe button below below panel of faces on the right hand side: http://www.youtube.com/user/SmartMonkeyTV/videos
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