Yesterday Orange announced the winners of the 7th Orange Social Entrepreneur Prize 2017 in Africa and the Middle East during the AfricaCom Awards in Cape Town, South Africa.
Each year this Prize rewards innovative projects based on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) which help improve the living conditions of local people through digital, in fields such as education, healthcare, farming, mobile payments or sustainable development.
These projects illustrate the diverse ideas from local entrepreneurs and the potential of ICT in the development of Africa and the Middle East. Amongst the 49 local winners, 11 projects were selected and submitted to a jury made up of professionals, investors, external organisations and Orange organisations. The three winners will receive bursaries of €25,000, €15,000 and €10,000 and the Special Content Prize winner will receive €5,000. The finalists of the Orange Social Entrepreneur Prize will also enjoy priority support for six months from the NGO Grow Movement and Orange experts.
The winning projects this year were:
First prize was awarded to Manzer Partazer in Madagascar. The objective of the Malagasy startup is to reduce food waste by sharing excess food from restaurants, hotels or supermarkets with partner organisations such as orphanages and disadvantaged populations. A collaborative platform will allow direct communication between different stakeholders.
Second prize was awarded to City Taps in Niger. CityTaps has developed a solution which bridges the gap between water services and the most disadvantaged citizens: a pre-payment service which includes a smart water meter and billing software.
The beneficiaries use their mobile to prepay for running water with any mobile phone, at any time, for any amount, which improves their household budget.
Third prize was awarded to eFret.tn in Tunisia. eFret.tn is a website based on the freight exchange principle. It links up senders, whether private individuals or companies, with transport and transit professionals in Tunisia. The senders publish adverts describing their needs and receive free quotations from carriers, movers, and international transport companies and customs forwarding agents.
Furthermore, this year a Special Content Prize was added, which was awarded by Orange Content. The Special Orange Content Prize was awarded to Génie Edu in Cameroon. This is an e-learning platform which aims to help students having problems by providing online video courses. The startup wants every student, including those in remote areas, to have access to high-quality courses at a very low cost, anytime and anywhere.
Internet users were also invited to choose their “User Favourite” project. This project automatically qualified for the international final.
This was the Malagasy project Majika which received over 2,800 votes out of 12,242 votes online. Majika is a social company aiming to facilitate economic development conditions in rural zones. It is based on two areas: access to renewable electricity and support for rural entrepreneurship. Majika works on an autonomous and ecological power plant in the village of Ampasindava.
New Entrepreneurship Portal, Venture Central, Launches
Venture Central, South Africa’s digital home for entrepreneurs is now live. Officially announced at LeaderEX on 5 September, Venture central is set to become South Africa’s premium portal community for entrepreneurs.
Venture Central is an entrepreneurial community-based platform with curated content from the entrepreneurship ecosystem. Various organisations and entrepreneurial supporters will be able to feed information, opportunities and important links into the portal. The portal will be managed, monitored and regularly updated for the latest tools, resources, events, workspaces and trends in the various industries.
Simodisa comments “Now more than ever has there been a greater emphasis on entrepreneurship, its impact and its ability to contribute significantly towards creating jobs and growing our economy.
“Entrepreneurship is vital for the growth of our economy and we believe Venture Central will become a focal point for information and resources for entrepreneurs and SMEs in South Africa.”
310 Million LTE Subscriptions In Sub-Saharan Africa By 2023
The latest regional appendix to the upcoming Ericsson Mobility Report forecasts that LTE subscriptions will expand by 47 percent from 30 million in 2017 to 310 million by 2023 in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The report also announces that mobile subscriptions in Sub-Saharan Africa are expected to grow by six percent, between 2017 and 2023, from 700 million mobile subscriptions in 2017 to 990 million subscriptions by 2023.
Moreover, mobile traffic in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) will increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 49 percent while mobile subscriptions for the total MEA region are expected to grow at four percent CAGR between 2017 and 2023, from 1.59 billion in 2017 to 2.03 billion by 2023. This equates to three percent growth in the Middle East and North Africa, from 890 million mobile subscriptions to 1.04 billion subscriptions between 2017 and 2023.
On the other hand, mobile broadband subscriptions are forecast to grow by 15% for the MEA region from 820 million in 2017 to 1.85 billion by 2023. This is broken down into a 13 percent increase for the Middle East and North Africa from 460 million mobile broadband subscriptions in 2017 to 980 million by 2023. Similarly, Sub-Saharan Africa mobile broadband subscriptions are forecasted to grow by 16 percent from 350 million in 2017 to 880 million by 2023.
When it comes to LTE subscriptions, the MEA region is expected to grow by 29 percent from 190 million to 860 million by 2023. This means that LTE subscriptions in the Middle East and North Africa will grow by 23 percent from 160 million in 2017 to 570 million by 2023. For the Sub-Saharan Africa region, LTE subscriptions will expand by 47 percent from 30 million in 2017 to 310 million by 2023.
Finally, the report mentions that in the Middle East and North Africa, strong growth is forecasted for both WCDMA/HSPA and LTE during the period. Combined, these technologies will see a rise from 50 percent to over 90 percent of total subscriptions by the end of the period.
The first 5G subscriptions in the Middle East and North Africa are expected from 2020, reaching around 17 million subscriptions by the end of 2023.
Further highlights from the regional appendix of the Ericsson Mobility Report include: The Internet of Things (IoT) is facilitating the digital transformation of industries, and providing mobile operators in the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa with opportunities to explore new revenue streams; Cellular IoT subscriptions in the Middle East and Africa are expected to grow from 35 million to 159 million between 2017 and 2023 – a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 30 percent.
For mobile service providers, traditional revenue sources are shrinking, and so new revenue streams are being explored. As the world becomes more connected, industries are experiencing an ICT-driven transformation. Industry digitalisation revenues for ICT players come from adopting or integrating digital technologies into a specific industry. 5G-enabled industry digitalisation revenues for IoT in the Middle East and Africa are predicted to reach $242 billion through 2026.
Afrimat Becomes Fourth Listing On A2X
Afrimat Limited (AFT), a leading black empowered open pit mining company providing industrial minerals, commodities and construction materials, listed on A2X this morning joining African Rainbow Capital Investments (AIL), Peregrine Holdings (PGR) and Coronation Fund Managers (CML).
Afrimat will retain its primary listing on the main board of JSE and its issued share capital will be unaffected by its secondary listing on A2X. Afrimat shares will be traded on both the JSE and A2X from today.
Andries van Heerden, CEO of Afrimat explained his rationale for listing, “Our board agrees that stock exchange competition is healthy for the entire market. We support the idea that reduced cost of trading will bring in additional investors. We look forward to being traded on A2X.”
Says Kevin Brady, CEO of A2X, “We are delighted to welcome Afrimat to our exchange and thank the board and the company’s sponsors, Bridge Capital Advisors for the confidence shown in A2X.”
Earlier this week, A2X announced the addition of approved SBG Securities as a broker member. SBG Securities is the leading stock broking firm in Africa and a wholly owned subsidiary of Standard Bank Group Ltd. Stockbrokers RMB Morgan Stanley, Peregrine Securities, Investec Securities and Avior Capital Markets have also been approved while Nedbank Securities and Sinayo Securities are to follow shortly.
