One of Africa’s foremost writers, essayist, and author, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o has been honored by the prestigious University of Edinburgh. The activist writers were honored for much of his works which focused on the “exploration of language as an instrument of subversion of personal identities and cultures through colonization.
Throughout his career, Prof. Thiong’o has also used his writing as a form of resistance leading to his exile in the 1980s, first in Britain and later in the United States.
Dr. Molony of the University of Edinburgh said that the University recognizes Ngũgĩ’s significant role in leading a shift in the focus and language of African writing. We wish to acknowledge Ngũgĩ’s assistance in encouraging us to use words – written and spoken, in any language – to decolonize our minds.”
The Laureation highlighted some of his more notable work. One being the “Decolonizing the Mind” published in 1986 which was a key text in the University’s Centre of African Studies in the late 1990s. Prof. Thiong’o who was ahead of his time when he published the book, explains in it that it was an elaboration of statements made and viewpoints expressed over a period of 20 years.
A demonstration of his belief in this decolonisation can be found in his argument for the change of the University of Nairobi’s department name ‘English literature’ from ‘English’ to simply ‘Literature’, to better reflect world literature with African and third world literatures at the centre, when he began lecturing there in 1967.
“With colleagues, he co-authored the polemical declaration, ‘On the Abolition of the English Department’, setting in motion a continental and global debate and practices that later became the heart of postcolonial theories” Dr. Molony explained.
In his prison memoir ‘Devil on the Cross’ Ngũgĩ said at the time that writing “has been one way of keeping my mind and heart together,” he also wrote, recalling the brutality of British colonial life in Kenya: ‘a racist ruling-class culture of fear, the culture of an oppressing minority desperately trying to impose total silence on a restive oppressed minority’.
Lauding his effort, Dr. Molony said, “His experience, he shows in his prison memoir, was but one link in the manacle of African internment under the colonial and postcolonial regimes. He documents the terror of torture used by Kenyatta senior’s government as a weapon to ensure his fear and silence, and that of the 18 other political prisoners who suffered from beatings, starvation, and were denied outside contact during their incarceration.”
“In Ngũgĩ’s prison diaries he reminds us that freedom is about sustaining a spirit of resistance and freeing the imagination. As he put it to us last year: we must embrace ‘the power of imagination to free us from confinement’.”
However, it was made clear that Prof. Thiong’o contributions were far reaching and not limited to his literature alone.
“Ngũgĩ’s contribution has extended beyond novels – and essays – though. Professor Christopher Odhiambo, Chair of the Kenya National Drama and Film Festival Committee, recently summarised Ngũgĩ’s contribution as also having ‘transformed theatre not only in Kenya but globally by subverting the modes of conventional Western theatre through the privileging of African community theatre aesthetics, forms and content’.”
He finished off his speech saying, “The University of Edinburgh recognizes Ngũgĩ’s significant role in leading a shift in the focus and language of African writing. We wish to acknowledge Ngũgĩ’s assistance in encouraging us to use words – written and spoken, in any language – to decolonize the mind.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.
Perhaps not yet in the category of Spotify, the Swedish music streaming company that was once valued at $36 Billion, or Apple Music which is home to over 50 million songs and which was once quoted to worth $10 billion, Africa’s music streaming space has been growing steadily, and startups have since been fueling consumer interests in music subscription and consumption.
In fact, music streaming services in the world are so lucrative that according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI)’s Global Music Report 2019 (pdf), streaming now accounts for about 47% of global music revenue. But the question will still remain on whether African music consumers are really interested in paying to listen to music.
Music streaming in Africa was introduced as far back as 2010, following the launch of Simfy Africa, now a subsidiary of MTN Group in South Africa and Iroking in Nigeria. As the big global music-streaming services continue to mull their strategies for sub-Saharan Africa, it is very relevant to discuss the success of local players who are springing up to stake their claim to a piece of the nascent streaming market. Here are a few of the many music streaming startups scattered around Africa and how they are confronting the challenges of music streaming in Africa.
BOOMPLAY
Boomplay is not originally African. The startup is a joint venture between Chinese phone maker Transsion and Chinese consumer apps giant NetEase but is specifically focused on the African market. Although it has succeeded in raising $20 million in outside funding to invade more sub-Saharan countries and continue to build up its database of music tracks, the startup has refused to disclose its valuation.
Currently, it has some 5 million music tracks and videos on its platform — with a huge emphasis on African artists — with 42 million monthly active users, some 85 percent of which are on the African continent (primarily Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and Tanzania). Subscribers can pay much as $0.28 to $ 199.61 to have full access to premium items listed on the service. It is adding on average about 2 million users each month, a mix of paid and free subscribers, the latter seeing ads when they use the service.
Reviewing the viability of music streaming services in Africa, Phil Choi, Boomplay’s head of international acquisitions and partnerships said:
“The African music industry is not like in America or Europe where there is one big label who takes care of thousands of artists. At the moment, there are a lot of musicians that work independently or with small labels, so it takes time to build a catalog…
“Five years ago, no one was talking about this region,” Choi said.“Our team saw the potential at this time and now we have a good advantage. But everyone wants a piece of the pie.”
Last November, Boom play sealed its first partnership deal with a global music company following a major licensing deal with Universal Music Group for Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia. UMG’s catalog includes African artists, as well as global recording artists including Post Malone, Eminem, and Nicki Minaj.
“Chinese investors see Africa as the China of 10 years ago,” Choi said, “so they feel they can apply the same models to it, and bring it up to being a very prosperous region.”
“Africa is full of opportunity, from its young demographics to its vibrant culture, and Boomplay sits in the middle of all of that greatness,” said Tony Li, managing director of Maison Capital, in a statement. “Boomplay has incorporated NetEase’s experience in the music streaming business with Transsion’s expertise in local operations, and in doing so Boomplay became the dominant player in the region in a very short period of time. As more of Africa comes online, we are confident that Boomplay will continue to be a major force in business and culture.”
Problems:
“We’ve seen healthy growth, but one of the problems is that there isn’t really a sustainable or efficient mobile payment system,” Choi noted. Processing payments, he said, “takes really long and can be unreliable. For example, halfway through a transaction, errors may occur.”
He said the company already accepts Mpesa, one of the key mobile payment services that were originally founded in Kenya, along with other payment methods, but the plan is to add more to that soon.
“Anghami is music, but at core, we are a data company,” said Elie Habib, co-founder, Anghami. “We actually analyze how you like to listen to music when you like to listen to music, with whom you like to listen to music…Data helps artists and helps us target the right people.”
Mr. Habib said the success of the business has been quite something else.
In a recent interview, Habib said a significant number of over 1 million are paying for anghami, the first time the company is disclosing any number of paying subscribers.
“Our business case was for 300,000 users by the end of 2012,” said Habib. “We ended March 2012 with 1 million users, way more than expected…We see potential, we see high returns and that’s why we keep on investing. We haven’t scratched the surface of the market…For 2017 and 2018, really, our target is to grow more than just be profitable because we have a lot of investors who believe in what we are doing and that our unique economics make sense.”
Habib said music users so much loved the Anghami that they ‘‘have been noticing more traffic happening in Europe. And eventually, we were able to see that a lot of people leaving Syria into Turkey and Germany… those people have kept their Anghami accounts and music,” Habib said.
“The reason? Most of the people who connect and listen to music outside the region tell us Anghami reminds them of the ‘scent’ of their home, of their streets in the Middle East.”
He said it’s not ‘‘just about launching a service but providing an ability for the people to try it, taste it and then eventually commit to it.’’
Problems:
‘‘We realized that if [a streaming service was] going to fail it was probably going to be for not generating [enough] revenues, or if [it was] paying more to labels than it could afford. Those were the original points we built Anghami on, making sure that it would be fair for the artists but, at the same time, making sure that we launched on mobile because mobile would provide us with scale,’’ Habib said.
Habib said partnering with telecommunication companies is so important because credit card penetration is very low in the Middle East.
‘‘Let’s take an example,’’he said. ‘‘Amazon bought Souq.com, which is a big eCommerce service based out of Dubai. Souq had 70% cash on delivery three years ago. Last year, they had 75% cash on delivery. The volume grew but the percentage of cash on delivery grew even higher. The concept of cash on delivery, which is not available on Amazon UK, is available across the region [in the Middle East]. People are not used to paying by electronic payments. Putting that in terms of music services, obviously our biggest revenue stream comes in from mobile operators.’’
He said ‘‘being mobile first in an emergent market [also] means that a user should be able to purchase a subscription via a mobile operator wherever he/she is.”
“We provide this functionality across 29 mobile networks in MENA, allowing a daily, weekly or monthly subscription. As far as I know, Spotify has no coverage on any mobile network [in MENA] today. Also, we provide multiple pricing tiers on mobile that can go, with certain networks, down to $1/month. [Anghami works] on any browser, as many users in emergent markets have low-end devices.’’
Although launched in 2011 in South Africa through a partnership with South Africa’s eXactmobile, the mobile content company owned by Primedia, Simfy Africa was acquired by the MTN Group in 2018. MTN Group, in a statement, described Simfy Africa as having ‘‘ a fantastic catalogue of music, access to more than 42 million tracks, arrangements with all of the major record labels. The architecture has just been completely rebuilt to be cloud-based, micro-services-based architecture built on Amazon Web Services and we are going to use this as our first big foray into MTN group digital OTT-like services.”
MTN said it had historically operated as MTN Music and had different platforms in different markets. It also claimed it had been a partner of other OTT streaming services but think acquiring Simfy Africa is a fantastic vertical that would help MTN make its first big step in building out their portfolio.
Simfy Africa’s CEO Davin Mole noted that the growing competition in the music streaming service shows listeners are getting more sophisticated.
“When 2oceansvibe started some two years back, we predicted that the Internet would be the new platform for music and radio engagement, and Simfy in that respect proves our concept further,” he said. “It’s gratifying to see that streaming services such as these are finally reaching SA. We don’t see this as competition but further proof that SA listeners are craving something different to what the current commercial space is offering.”
Profitable?
“What we’re seeing so far is that a lot of people are making use of fixed Internet connections at home and in the office to load up their laptops with music and then listen offline,” said Simfy CEO Davin Mole. “We have one user who has already downloaded 2,000 songs, which for R60 is pretty good value.”
Of course, he’ll have to keep paying his R60 monthly to keep listening to those songs — this isn’t a way to build up a permanent music library.’’
However successful Simfy turns out to be, it’s not clear how much artists will benefit from revenues generated by the service.
“Initial payouts to artists from streaming aren’t that high. “ But artists have to be patient. In longer terms, it’s dependent on scale. If we don’t get a huge base, revenues won’t add up,” he said.
Problems:
David Mole said Simfy Africa ‘‘has been investigating the price of the Internet for some time, and it’s still not the best it could be — it’s still quite expensive. But the way the prices are tumbling encouraged us,”
“We think you have to shoot a bit ahead of the clay pigeon. So hopefully by the time we’ve got our marketing totally up to speed, and ironed out any glitches, those prices will have come down further,” he noted.
Simfy’s flat subscription model might have helped it avoid some of the other services’ financial pitfalls, till it got eventually acquired by the MTN Group.
Iroking
Jason Njoku, iroking founder was quick to declare that iROKING is not yet dead. ‘‘Not even close to it,’’ he said.
Founded in 2011, across the entire network of platforms, iROKING reached 5Mn unique visitation per month, 1 Million of those are on our own platforms alone, in 2013. Njoku said Irokotv has overshadowed iroking because the company makes huge amounts of money on iROKOtv and considerably less on iROKING.
‘‘There are strategic and industry structural issues which determine that. But, nonetheless, I would argue with anyone that month-on-month cash flow-wise, there is no other music startup which comes close our monthly cash flow. None,’’ he said. ‘‘Currently, iROKING has several hundred musicians on the platform. We distribute their music across third party channels (YouTube, Dailymotion, iTunes, Spotify et al) as well as our own platforms we operate too, including m.iroking and iroking.com and our Android, Asha and W8 apps. Today, the business in the last 2 years has easily paid out over $1Mn in minimum guarantees and revenue share to musicians. The business generates tens of thousands of dollars monthly for the music industry at large. We have done this by simplifying multi-platform digitisation and distribution at a scale which makes it almost free for us to do this.’’
Profitable?
Mr. Njoku noted that ‘‘iROKING is still unprofitable. It is something I don’t lose sleep over as typically when you are building and growing something you are usually happy to forgo short term profits for long term strategic and economic advantage. Then we plan for significant profits later. As a subsidiary of iROKO, iROKING still benefits from our super strong balance sheet and as the CEO of iROKO (and now iROKING) I have all the authority to do as I see fit to build the most awesome music startup in Nigeria. Patiently.
People talk about the threat of Spotify, Deezer how all the music startups are going to die. We see it differently. We already distribute, and for some time have been distributing, via Spotify. What the bloggers may see as competition, we see as something completely different. But time will tell whether I am right or wrong. That’s the great thing about the business of startups. You are either right or wrong.’’
Problem:
Mr. Njoku said one of the ways it can solve the numerous problems facing iroKing is to focus on monetization.
‘‘iROKO has the most awesome team at monetizing Nigerian content online. We have built a multi-million dollar business in 2 years, distributing movies on iROKOtv. In 2013 our largest source of revenue is iROKOtv PLUS, our $5/mth subscription service. We have institutionalised managing and taking tens of thousands of payments directly from fans globally. Of the overall revenue, iROKING represents a mere 15% of our annual income, whilst at a monthly reach of 4Mn, 75% of our 6Mn unique per month reach. That for me is opportunity. Again my focus is to bridge that gap. In the end I founded iROKING. I know what it took to build the business we have today. iROKING is no longer a startup. It has recurring revenues, several hundred artist relationships and a lot of potential to live up to,’’ he said.
Founded in 2011 by John Ajah, Spinlet is a digital media company, focusing on Afro-Centric content. Spinlet’s primary service is music streaming and downloads available globally via web browsers, and the Spinlet app on iOS and Android. The Spinlet platform allows the users to purchase, listen, share and discover music while offering integration and storage of the user’s music library on their mobile device. As at October 2015, the Spinlet app had been downloaded nearly 2 million times. In 2014, Spinlet acquired a Nigerian Communications Commission license that will allow it to sell value added services such as caller ring back tunes and short message services in collaboration with Telcos as a means of providing more avenues for content creators/owners to get paid for their content
Smubu
Recently launched Smubu is a music-streaming startup headquartered in Kenya, but focusing on a group of countries including Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda. The startup has just announced an early milestone too: 200,000 active users, and a catalogue of more than 100k tracks. “We are initially focused on East Africa. The music here amazes me and my team, and we genuinely believe that we can push it internationally,” CEO Jad Aizarani said.
Aizarani is also promising that artists whose music is being listened to on Smubu will be fairly rewarded. “Our vision is built on working closely with artists in providing them with a fair share of the revenue for every single download on our platform,” he said. “The platform is technically built to provide statistics, potential revenue, and track download numbers and streams.”
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.
Tunisian startups now have a huge pool of funds to tap from to support their businesses. The World Bank Group has announced a new US$75 million fund to support the Tunisian government’s “Startup Tunisia” programme.
A Look At The New Fund
The Startup Tunisia programme is led by the country’s Ministry of Communication Technologies and Digital Economy and aims to encourage the creation and growth of tech startups and digital small businesses.
The project is a seven-year Project which will provide a comprehensive package of financing, ecosystem and firm-level support, and project management and capacity building. It will run until 31 December 2026 and includes the provision of equity and quasi-equity investment in startups and small businesses.
“This project represents concrete support for a new generation of entrepreneurs in post-revolution Tunisia,” said Anouar Maarouf, Tunisia’s minister of communication technologies and digital economy. “It is a promise from the Tunisian government towards its young and innovative entrepreneurs to develop a stronger entrepreneurship ecosystem in which their ideas and businesses can thrive and grow.”
The project is led by World Bank senior financial specialist Fadwa Bennani and comprises three components, namely:
Component 1:
Equity and Quasi-Equity Financing for Innovative Startups and SMEs (US$62 million).
Under this component, the project will provide equity and quasi-equity financing through both Start-up Capital and Smart Capital. This component will finance the provision of the following equity investments:
(a) equity and quasi-equity financing through Startup Capital Fund (through “participating financial intermediaries” or PFIs, such as Tunisian banks) to eligible innovative startups; and;
(b) equity and quasi-equity financing through Smart Capital Fund to eligible innovative SMEs.
Component 2:
Ecosystem and firm-level Support for Innovative Startups and SMEs (US$8 million):
This component aims to strengthen the pipeline of innovative start-ups and SMEs, support the entrepreneurship ecosystem, as well as provide support for firm-level adoption of innovation and technology and investment readiness.
Component 3:
Project Management and Capacity Building (US$5 million):
This component will cover costs incurred by the CDC in its role as the implementing agency. Under this component, CDC will also provide needed support to Start-up Capital and Smart Capital to deliver activities under components 1 and 2 and additional outreach and capacity building activities.
Summary of Assessment of Environmental and Social Risks and Impacts
The majority of the projects are expected to be Low Risk, specifically for investments in startups and SMEs at low ticket sizes (USD200,000 — USD500,000) and/or at low tenors (1–5 years). However, maybe a small number of investments at higher ticket sizes/tenors, as well as projects which could potentially have some negative environmental and social impacts, particularly in the SMEs.
The final project beneficiaries will be innovative startups and SMEs.
The investment strategy and eligibility criteria, along with deal-flow activities, will ensure that funding is allocated to early-stage startups and high-growth technology-based SMEs.
In addition, particular focus will be made on increasing the participation of women-led startups and SMEs and on expanding project activities to lagging areas and the interior regions.
Intermediate beneficiaries will include actors that provide risk capital and business development support to innovative startups and SMEs. These actors will include private financial intermediaries, such as PE/VC funds; entrepreneurship ecosystem intermediaries, such as incubators, accelerators, and other Business Development Service (BDS) providers; and academic and research institutions.
In May last year, Tunisia passed a startup act which includes 20 measures that aim to encourage entrepreneurship, make it easier to start a business, as well as access funding and international markets.
The US$75 million Tunisia Innovative Startups and SMEs project aims to catalyze the creation and growth of digital, innovative startups and SMEs, and boost economic and employment opportunities for Tunisian youth.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.
MSMEs in Nigeria has grown to 41.543 million in 2017, according to the National Survey of Micro Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). The 2017 National Survey of MSMEs covered enterprises in Nigeria employing below 200 persons, which are MSMEs and was conducted in all the 36 states of the federation and Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
Here Is A Further Break Down And The Implication Of This Number
The figures represent micro, small and medium scale businesses as at December 2017.
Nigeria had about 37 million MSME in 2013. The 41 million MSME number shows an increase of three million new MSMEs.
The statistics came from Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which launched the National Survey of Micro Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) 2017 yesterday in Lagos.
The survey also showed that micro enterprises which employed less than 10 employees stood at 41.469 million, representing 99.8 percent, small enterprises employ 10 to 45 staff, 71,288 or 0.17 percent, while Medium enterprises with 50 to 199 staff were 1,793 or 0.004 percent.
According to the report, micro and small medium enterprises increased during the period under review, but medium scale enterprises dropped, which can be attributed to the economic recession the country witnessed in 2017.
From the statistics, most of the businesses are located in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest commercial city. While Lagos State had the highest numbers of enterprises across all classes, only three states, Katsina (36.4 percent), Rivers (21.7 percent) and Kaduna (18.l percent) recorded significant increases in enterprise numbers.
“There is a need for the government to pay a lot of attention to micro businesses because they have the largest share of employment, contributed to GDP growth and have the opportunity to create more jobs. During the period micro business grew to 41 million and if we can get half of them to produce one job, we will have 20 million jobs created, which is significant,” the director-general of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Mr. Umaru Radda, said.
The survey which was supposed to be released in the fourth quarter of last year was delayed as a result of the election, according to the Statistician General of the Federation/CEO NBS, Dr. Yemi Kale.
The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) set up in 2003, was Nigeria’s government’s major response to tackling the problems of MSMEs in a coordinated fashion.
The MSME sub-sector has huge potential and the government should pay more attention to them than on large organization, by initiating friendly government policy in the sub-sector.
The figure above is so important that businesses would need to begin to readjust their strategies in order to remain in business.
With over 41 million businesses in Nigeria serving a population of over 200 million, compared the United States’ 30 million small businesses serving a population of 327.2 million, this is a significant number, in terms of competition for loans, scramble for people with buying power and other limited resources. It would boost the economy, no doubt, but businesses should begin to look at more creativity in order to retain their existence. Of course, most of the small businesses may only be existing on paper. But until that is proved, the figures still remain the facts.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.
9.6 million players globally, including a 28 percent rise in registered female players; More than one million registered players in Africa – up 26 percent since 2017; Over 2.2 million girls and boys participated in Get Into Rugby around the world in 2018; South Africa tops global table for Get Into Rugby participation; Burkina Faso newest addition to World Rugby’s global family.
A record number of people are playing rugby worldwide as the sport continues to grow and prosper in Africa and across the globe, according to the World Rugby Year in Review 2018.
The sport’s unprecedented growth continued in 2018 with 9.6 million men, women and children playing the game around the world. This includes 2.7 million women, up 10 percent on the previous year and accounting for more than a quarter of the total global playing population.
In Africa alone, the number of registered players topped one million (1,004,674), an increase of 26 percent since 2017 as the sport continues to thrive on the continent.
This growth was underpinned by World Rugby’s development programme Get Into Rugby, which acts as a gateway for young people to try, play and stay in rugby. For the second consecutive year, more than two million girls and boys (2,280,200 with 40 percent female participation) enjoyed the sport and everything it has to offer. More than 4,000 Get Into Rugby activities took place from Kathmandu in Nepal to Kitwe in Zambia, hosted by 159 registered unions and expanding the sport’s global reach.
In Africa, 460,000 children took part in Get Into Rugby activities, 42 percent of them female, while South Africa topped the global table with the highest number of participants per country. South Africa also had success with its referee development programme as 261 young referees between the ages of 13-14 – 45 percent of whom were girls – took part in the ‘I also play referee’ initiative, a significant increase on the 2017 total.
In Asia, the popularity of Get Into Rugby helped World Rugby’s Impact Beyond legacy programme reach its goal of one million new participants nine months before Japan is due to host Rugby World Cup 2019, setting the stage for a game-changing tournament. Project Asia 1 Million is a central pillar of World Rugby’s mission to grow the game locally and ensure Japan 2019 – the first Rugby World Cup to be hosted in Asia – is the most impactful Rugby World Cup to date. Namibia will join South Africa in representing the African continent in Japan after winning the Rugby Africa Gold Cup in 2018.
Excitingly the total number of registered female players grew by an impressive 28 percent to 581,000 across all of World Rugby’s member unions. This comes during the first full year of implementation of World Rugby’s ambitious plan, Accelerating the global development of women in rugby 2017-25, which aims to support the growth and development of the women’s game and promote parity.
That success was matched off the field by increased engagement levels from female fans – 38 percent increase in video views by women and the growth of the World Rugby and Rugby World Cup female audience on Twitter to more than 30 percent. It was also reflected in increased diversity at the highest levels of the game in a year when World Rugby added 17 new female members to its Council and New Zealand was named as first-time hosts of Women’s Rugby World Cup 2021.
World Rugby was also pleased to welcome Burkina Faso, where rugby is now included on the school curriculum, as one of its newest associate member unions in 2018. Other highlights in 2018 included the second Youth Olympic Games rugby sevens tournament in Buenos Aires, won by Argentina (men’s) and New Zealand (women’s). Meanwhile, Rugby World Cup Sevens in San Francisco saw 100,000 fans across three days create an incredible atmosphere inside the iconic AT&T Park, with a US broadcast audience of nine million tunings in, many watching rugby for the first time.
This helped drive even greater interest in the sport, which now boasts a global fan base of 800 million worldwide, driven by young people consuming sevens digital content in emerging markets like the USA, China, India, and Brazil.
Thanks to a new partnership with the African Press Association (APO) coverage of African rugby also increased significantly in 2018. The Rugby Africa Gold Cup achieved just under two million YouTube views, while 196 press releases were distributed by member unions, helping to promote rugby across the continent.
Off the field, player welfare remains World Rugby’s number one priority with the international federation focusing on evidence-based injury prevention at all levels of the sport. Alongside its ongoing focus on research, World Rugby’s training and education programmes remain core to its strategy, with more than 2,700 training courses delivered worldwide in 2018.
World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont said: “2018 was another special year for rugby as we watched the sport continue to prosper and grow both on and off the field. Within a total playing population of 9.6 million it was fantastic to see our Get Into Rugby programme – run in partnership with unions and regions – continue to break participation records with over two million girls and boys worldwide getting involved for the second year in a row amid a growing global fan base of 800 million.
The 26 percent increase in the number of registered rugby players in Africa shows the sport is thriving in the region and I would like to thank Rugby Africa and its unions for the tremendous effort they put into growing the game in 2018.
“As Rugby World Cup 2019 fast approaches, it was particularly pleasing to see our Impact Beyond programme surpassing all expectations in Asia in 2018, reaching its target of one million new participants in the region a full nine months ahead of schedule. With the tournament expected to be game-changing in every respect, the stage is now set for the most impactful Rugby World Cup ever.
“From a women’s rugby perspective, 2018 was a breakthrough year as we began implementation of our groundbreaking strategy to accelerate the development of women in rugby at all levels. Progress was evident with increased participation and engagement levels as well as in the governance of the sport, where we welcomed the first women onto World Rugby Council. We will continue to strive for even greater parity in 2019.”
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.
The Governments of Angola, Portugal, and the African Development Bank have entered into a Country-Specific Compact designed to accelerate the inclusive, sustainable and diversified growth of Angola’s private sector.
The Lusophone Compact is a financing platform, involving the African Development Bank, Portugal, and the six Portuguese-speaking countries of Africa (PALOPs): Angola, Cabo Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and Sao Tome and Principe. It provides risk mitigation, investment products, and technical assistance to accelerate private sector development in Lusophone African countries.
The signing of the compact follows a Memorandum of Understanding of a Development Finance Compact for Portuguese-Speaking Africa, signed during the Bank’s 2018 Africa Investment Forum held in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The compact signing ceremony will be a highlight of various events to be held at the Luanda International Fair aimed at invigorating Angola’s private sector and promoting economic growth. The event will convene entrepreneurs, development finance institutions and partners, investors, key public and private sector players.
The Bank will be represented by Corporate Services and Human Resources Vice President and Chair of the Lusophone Compact Steering Committee, Mateus Magala, while the Angolan Government will be represented by Hon. Pedro Luís da Fonseca, Minister of Economy and Planning. H.E. Teresa Ribeiro, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, will sign for Portugal.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.
Temenos, the banking software company, today announces that Barko Financial Services selected Temenos software to replace its legacy systems, in both core and front office, to offer a compelling and personalized customer experience.
The microfinance institution will use cloud-native, cloud-agnostic Temenos T24 Transact, the next generation in core banking, and Temenos Infinity, the breakthrough digital banking product.
Barko Financial Services is in the process of applying for a banking license with the ambition to launch a retail bank that will challenge the status quo in South Africa by offering financial products aimed at better meeting the needs of lower-income South African consumers – Temenos will provide the technology to enable this strategy.
The microfinance institution has over 170 branches and caters for millions of modest-earning, but salaried South Africans such as government employees, mineworkers, and civil servants. Currently, it takes Barko Financial Services 25 minutes to onboard a client and 10 to 15 for a new loan application.
With Temenos’ packaged, integrated software, Barko Financial Services will dramatically reduce the time to originate loans, targeting re-loan applications to be completed in under two minutes and new loan completion in under seven minutes. The aim is to give customers, who are mostly located in rural areas, a compelling digital experience using mobile devices, thereby eliminating the need to visit a branch.
By selecting Temenos’ end-to-end digital banking platform, Barko Financial Services will benefit from accelerated project timelines and drastically reduced the cost of deployment. The microfinance institution is expected to go live in six months. Cloud-hosted Temenos Infinity will allow Barko Financial Services to gain product agility and take new products and services to market faster. Temenos T24 Transact will enable the business to benefit from operational efficiencies at a lower cost of ownership.
Temenos has more than 25 years of global banking expertise and a local presence in Africa. Temenos consistently invests over 20% of its revenue into continually enhancing its packaged software, to develop the richest and deepest functionality in the industry.
Kobus de Wet, Chief Executive Officer, Barko Financial Services, said: “We are delighted to be working with Temenos as our strategic technology partner. Temenos has a worldwide reputation for robust, scalable banking software and an extensive presence in the African region.
We selected Temenos’ packaged and open banking software to transform our customer experience, offer personalized products and services and drastically lower our total cost of ownership. With Temenos, we will be able to launch capabilities faster, if we get approval to establish a bank, and provide innovative products which are simple to use and tailored to add value to our target customers. We wish to offer lower-income customers a personalized experience that is typically reserved for private clients.”
Jean-Paul Mergeai, Managing Director – the Middle East and Africa, Temenos, said: “Technology is playing a pivotal role in making financial inclusion a viable option for everyone. We are delighted to partner with Barko Financial Services, which joins the Temenos family, and it can leverage our experience of serving over 220 microfinance institutions as well as our expertise in helping new banks to launch.
By selecting our cloud-native, cloud-agnostic packaged software Barko Financial Services will benefit from a fast implementation. Barko Financial Services will be best positioned to leverage technology innovation to offer an outstanding customer experience at a reduced cost. We look forward to working with Barko Financial Services as it transforms the services that it offers to its customers.”
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.
African governments must explore innovative technologies to drive transformation on the continent, board members at Africa50’s General Shareholders Meeting, held in Kigali heard on Wednesday.
Prime Minister of Rwanda Edouard Ngirente made the call at the opening of the shareholders meeting saying “let’s explore these digital opportunities to move our continent forward”.
In his opening speech, African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina, who is Board chair of Africa50, urged more African countries to join the institution, which he described as “the continent’s main investment vehicle.”
“Africa 50 is on track to launch a private sector third party fund to leverage $1 billion from private sector institutional investors. I encourage countries that have not yet joined Africa50 to do so. Join us as we move towards a future of great promise for Africa. Join us as we lay the foundations for a more prosperous Africa,” Adesina urged.
Chief Executive Officer of Africa 50, Alain Ebobissé, noted that the organization had made significant progress over the years, and built an effective partnership with several African countries.
Africa50’s current membership now stands at 28 African countries and the firm will launch a private sector third party fund that will be used to leverage $1 billion into infrastructure from private sector institutional investors.
“A game changer in the infrastructure space in Africa will occur when enough decision makers acknowledge that the opportunity cost of delayed projects implementation is very high. Doing nothing or slowing down projects costs money and deprives citizens of services and economic opportunity,” Ebobissé said.
Adesina also made an appeal to investors to attend the Bank’s 2019 Africa Investment Forum, stressing that Africa is ready for massive investments – and offers an attractive investment destination. The Forum’s lead partners include Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), African Export-Import Bank (AfreximBank), Trade and Development Bank (TDB), Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), Africa50, Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), and European Investment Bank (EIB).
“If you are an investor, do not miss Africa Investment Forum 2019. Africa is ready for massive investments – and the environment is getting more attractive for investors,” Adesina said.
“One such investment is the construction of the bridge that will connect the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo, a $550 million transaction being led by Africa50 in partnership with the African Development Bank.”
The recently launched African Continental Free Trade Area has opened possibilities for the world’s largest free trade area and an integrated single market for Africa, the attendees heard.
To enjoy the full benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, Adesina said the continent needed to be connected through roads, rail, ports, airports, ICT backbones, and energy corridors, “This will be crucial for spurring future economic growth in Africa,” Adesina stressed.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.
The drone industry is sitting and waiting for regulations and guidance that make sense across the globe. Take Kenya for example. Currently, drone operations are illegal within Kenya for the average person and extremely limited otherwise, leaving both businesses and individuals in great need of practical and adequate drone regulations.
While drone use is allowed in many countries, even in these places where they are legal and regulations are in place, current drone laws are often woefully inadequate.
Businesses are waiting for adequate drone regulations in Kenya and around the world.
What many entrepreneurs are seeing is that when it comes to successful drone operations, it’s not the technology itself that matters most, it’s everything else.
But with current regulations, we’re stuck relying on regulations that for far too long have focused exclusively on the size of the drone!
Whether you’re investing your time and energy in developing a robust drone delivery operation to deliver blood and save lives, or you’re just looking to fly your off the shelf drone to capture data, the difference between success and failure is in how you approach the operation, not what type of drone you’re flying. Unfortunately, drone regulations in many countries fail to recognize this, costing entrepreneurs and the public greatly.
With the need for enhanced drone regulations so apparent, what is holding us back from implementing them?
The biggest limiting factor for drones all over the world is a lack of trust. Government safety authorities don’t trust you to fly safely nor in a way that doesn’t compromise security. Business leaders don’t trust the role you’ll play in their work. All this mistrust expresses itself in regulation, where “unknowns” become “proposal declined.”
Take another look at Kenya, though the Kenyan Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) proposed drone regulations last year these efforts were shut down by parliament. This left entrepreneurs eager to integrate drones into their businesses still waiting.
What is it that an entrepreneur can do to overcome these barriers? Well, that question is precisely what the drone industry is trying to answer to drive adoption and change minds. Building trust is an outcome of spreading knowledge and successful community engagement, and building it is a core challenge in the fourth industrial revolution.
Despite the disappointment that previous regulations weren’t accepted, there has been recent progress on drones in the East African country. Kenya’s latest drone regulations are now out for comment, and they look promising. New regulation proposals from the KCAA consider more than just drone size but focus on operations and technology to get more drones in the sky; to save lives and create businesses without preventing any type of operation outright.
These are Performance-Based Regulations (PBR) and are much more robust than many other drone regulations currently in use today. First put into practice in Rwanda, Switzerland and then the EU more broadly, robust PBR implementation has found that your approach to the operation, not simply the technology, can open the sky to you.
Building Trust Through Performance-Based Regulations
Drone entrepreneurs and authorities all over the world are beginning to realize that technology maturation is not the silver bullet to regulatory blockage. Rather than focus on specific technology requirements certified through strict processes, governments are beginning to adopt and advance performance-based regulations (PBR).
This new approach to regulation turns the traditional aviation equation on its head; no longer is the certified technology the crucial element for approval, but rather it is one important component of the overall proposal to fly. How you approach a flight, the procedures you put in place, the training a pilot has, the environment for flight, and how you protect the privacy of the community involved are far greater variables that define overall success.
In other words, if all your thinking about is the drone, then you’re very likely to fail. Though PBR, as an operation centric framework, does recognize that if you create the right processes to protect safety and security you can find great success, it’s not a silver bullet. What’s often missing is the education, training, and business model that focuses on the operations, not the drone.
Drones provide a bird’s eye view with a low barrier of financial and technical entry. Business and government stakeholders must speak a similar language of access and ethics, where operational considerations balance technological ones.
Today, Kenya is set to reform its own regulatory approach to drone regulations in a way that is practical, yet visionary. The rules being considered will continue a harmonization effort across Africa that aligns with the performance-based approach that Rwanda pioneered, and now Europe and the US are beginning to implement.
At the World Economic Forum, we believe that countries with vision and agility can pursue and adopt new approaches to governance which will both protect its citizens from the darker outcomes of drone technology while enabling domestic market growth and the expertise necessary to lead.
Performance-based regulations, piloted in Rwanda and now scaling globally, supported by leaders from both established and emerging economies, promises to enable industries held back by overly restrictive procedures while mitigating risks to society more effectively.
POST WRITTEN BY
Harrison Wolf Lead, Drones and Tomorrow’s Airspace, World Economic Forum
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.
Women entrepreneurs in East Africa now get investment as high as $3 million in their businesses as Invest2Impact has just been launched. Invest2Impact is access to funding and women-led business development initiative sponsored by the development finance institutions (DFIs) of Canada, the UK, France, and the United States, in partnership with the MasterCard Foundation.
“There is no mountain that is too high for the African woman.” ~ H.E Graca Machel
“Success is to overcome your fears & insecurities and the courage to move forward. Celebrating the breaking of barriers and to prove it can be done.” — H.E Graça Machel, Founder & Patron @G_MachelTrustgiving her key note address at the official launch of #invest2impact
The current project focus is East Africa, specifically:
Ethiopia
Kenya
Rwanda
Tanzania and;
Uganda.
A total of 100 women participants will be chosen from all competition entrants to participate in one of the following four tracks. Each track will aim to include (subject to sufficient applicants who meet the criteria) 5 women participants from each of the participating countries. The competition will be open only to majority women-owned businesses, and detailed entry criteria will be on the competition website from the launch date.
The Four Tracks Include:
2Xcelerate
SDG-aligned growth funding above $3 million
Business competition open to women-led business in the participating countries with preference given to those that support or are aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. 25 Finalists will compete for cash prizes of $85,000 recognition at a gala winners’ event and participation in the invest2impact funding readiness program to maximize your chances of funding. This track is designed for revenue-positive businesses seeking sizeable investment usually greater than $3 million to scale
2Xcapital
Tailored SME growth funding access support
25 SMEs selected from the invest2impact applicants will benefit from a funding access program, including funding readiness assessments and customized assistance with building an investment case to access funding from funders other than the invest2impact sponsors. This track is designed for smaller businesses suitable for less than $3 million in funding.
2Xcrowd
Go global with a guided crowdfunding campaign
Another 25 social enterprise and innovation-focused businesses will receive customized tailored support and mentorship to implement an Africa/global crowdfunding strategy to fuel their growth using this platform-based approach. The program will include crowd-funding strategy development platform fees and ongoing funding campaign content and communication support to achieve an agreed funding target.
2XCatalyse
Network and be seen at major industry events.
Go to the heart of Africa’s energy, health, technology, agriculture and tourism sectors, catch up on the latest trends and build your network and a client base 25 women entrepreneurs will be selected, based on their own motivation to attend a major international expo, experience or event in their industry sector with sponsored travel, attendance fees and promotional material.
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.
