Africa Check in conjunction with Facebook, expands its local language coverage as part of its Third-Party Fact-Checking Programme.
Facebook’s reality checking project depends on input from the Facebook people group, as one of numerous sign Facebook uses to raise possibly false stories to certainty checkers for survey
Facebook), today with Africa Check reported that it has included new neighborhood language support for a few African dialects as a major aspect of its Third-Party Fact-Checking program – which surveys the exactness of news on Facebook and expects to decrease the spread of deception.
Propelled in 2018 crosswise over five nations in Sub-Saharan Africa, including South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Cameroon, Facebook has banded together with Africa Check, Africa’s first free certainty checking association, to grow its neighborhood language inclusion over:
Nigeria, in Yoruba and Igbo, adding to Hausa which was at that point bolstered
Swahili in Kenya
Wolof in Senegal
Afrikaans, Zulu, Setswana, Sotho, Northern Sotho and Southern Ndebele in South Africa
As indicated by Kojo Boakye, Facebook Head of Public Policy, Africa, stated: “We keep on trying huge interests in our endeavors to battle the spread of false news on our stage, while building strong, sheltered, educated and comprehensive networks. Our outsider reality checking system is only one of numerous ways we are doing this, and with the extension of neighborhood language inclusion, this will help in further improving the nature of data individuals see on Facebook. We know there is still more to do, and we’re focused on this.”
Remarking, Noko Makgato, official chief of Africa Check, said “We’re excited to grow the munitions stockpile of the dialects we spread in our work on Facebook’s outsider truth checking program. In nations as semantically different as Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya and Senegal, certainty checking in neighborhood dialects is imperative. In addition to the fact that it lets us actuality check increasingly content on Facebook, it likewise implies we’ll be contacting more individuals crosswise over Africa with confirmed, believable data.”
Facebook’s reality checking project depends on criticism from the Facebook people group, as one of numerous sign Facebook uses to raise possibly false stories to certainty checkers for survey. Neighborhood articles will be reality checked close by the confirmation of photographs and recordings. In the event that one of Facebook’s reality checking accomplices distinguishes a story as false, Facebook will demonstrate it lower in News Feed, essentially lessening its dispersion.
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.
Roche announced today the Global Access Program is expanding beyond HIV, to include Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), Hepatitis B and C (HBV and HCV), and Human Papillomavirus (HPV) for low and middle-income country programs where the disease burden is the highest.
The expansion of the Global Access Program highlights Roche’s commitment to improve access to cost-effective resources, implement scale-up programs, and contribute to the elimination of diseases in the regions with the greatest need.
“With effective treatment options for these infectious agents and improved patients access to diagnostics, early detection can help save lives and ease suffering,” said Michael Heuer, CEO Roche Diagnostics. “As the leader in infectious disease diagnosis testing, Roche is dedicated to supporting goals on eradicating diseases globally.”
“Access to cutting-edge, best in class diagnostic test results means more patients being appropriately diagnosed and well treated, resulting in lives saved,” stated Clinton Health Access Initiative’s (CHAI’s) Chief Science Officer David Ripin.
“We welcome Roche’s decision to expand access to tests for hepatitis, tuberculosis, and HPV (the leading cause of cervical cancer) to their Global Access Program, providing health systems with transparent and consistent pricing to these important tests in addition to the HIV viral load and early infant diagnostics already established in the program.
CHAI values Roche’s continued partnership in the effort to make diagnostics seamlessly available in well-optimized diagnostic lab systems throughout the world.”
“Accessible pricing can be the difference between a patient getting a quality diagnosis or not,” said Catharina Boehme, CEO of the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) – a global non-profit devoted to the development and delivery of diagnostics for diseases that include TB and HCV. “FIND is proud to have worked with Roche to expand the Global Access Program for these deadly diseases, leveraging our support for its TB assay.”
Access to screening, early detection, and prevention of transmission reduces the spread of disease. Tuberculosis is a major health crisis and is the leading cause of infectious disease deaths worldwide. Access to hepatitis diagnostic tests for HBV and HCV will improve the outlook of eliminating these chronic infections.
And screening with HPV DNA testing can more accurately identify women at risk for cervical cancer than other screening methods. With vaccination and proper screening, cervical cancer is a preventable disease. Importantly, infection with HPV has been found to increase the risk of HIV transmission for both men and women. Similarly, women living with HIV are four to 10 times more likely to develop cervical cancer. Screening for co-infection (HIV+ HPV) can significantly improve disease management decisions and enable appropriate patient care.
In total, the Global Access Program now includes molecular diagnostics for HIV-1 viral load, HIV-1, and HIV-2 early infant diagnosis, the cobas® Plasma Separation Card – an innovative plasma collection device, MTB, and MTB – RIF/INH, Hepatitis B and C, and Human Papillomavirus. All these assays run on the cobas® 4800/6800/8800 platforms for various testing volume needs to be enabled by the cobas® Plasma Separation Card that transports samples from remote areas/sites to the central lab for further processing.
About World Health Organization disease elimination goals
Optimizing the use of diagnostics will be critical to achieving targets for elimination. The UNAIDS HIV 90:90:90 goal by 2020 states that by 2020, 90% of all people living with HIV will know their HIV status, 90% of all people with diagnosed HIV infection will receive sustained antiretroviral therapy, and 90% of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy will have durable viral suppression.
For hepatitis, the World Health Organization defined goals aiming at a 90% reduction in new chronic infections and a 65% reduction in mortality in 2030 as compared with the 2015 baseline.
Cervical cancer is preventable with vaccination, screening, and treatment when necessary. The draft 2030 goals for cervical cancer elimination include 90% vaccination rate for HPV in girls by 15 years of age, 70% of women screened with a high-precision test at 35 and 45 years of age along with appropriate follow-up, and 90% of women identified with cervical disease receive treatment and care.
The WHO have established goals to end Mycobacterium tuberculosis by 2035 which includes a 95% reduction in death, 90% reduction in incidence, and 0% catastrophic costs.
About Roche’s Global Access Program
In 2014, Roche announced, the Global Access Program for increased access to HIV diagnostics. Roche partnered with national governments, local healthcare facilities, communities and international agencies, including UNAIDS, CHAI, Unitaid, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), Global Fund, and Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to establish programs that would go beyond providing diagnostic tests.
Since its inception, the program has expanded substantially in the menu and geographic footprint to provide increased access to diagnostics at affordable pricing for qualifying organizations in eligible countries with the highest disease burden. Most recently the Global Access Program included the innovative cobas® Plasma Separation Card to provide the only CE-marked plasma sample collection devise which meets the World Health Organization sensitivity standard of < 1000 cp/mL.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are over 36 million people living with HIV around the world. Just 21.7 million people are receiving antiretroviral therapy and of those, only 47% are virally suppressed.
Tuberculosis is a major global health problem and is the leading cause of infectious disease deaths worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that about 1.7 billion people are infected with MTB, with an estimated 10.0 million new TB infections, and over 1.6 million deaths in 2017.
Viral hepatitis remains a major public health burden killing more than 1.34 million people annually and mortality is on the rise. 71 million are estimated to be infected with chronic hepatitis C; whereas, 257 million are estimated to be infected with hepatitis B. The majority of disease burden is in low- and middle-income countries
According to the WHO, there are approximately 570,000 new cases of cervical cancer and 311,000 deaths globally each year, with close to 90% of these occurring in low- and middle-income countries. , Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is the cause of nearly all cases so screening for HPV DNA can identify women at risk; with proper vaccination, screening and treatment, nearly 100% of cervical cancers can be eliminated.
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 NBA today announced the 10 boys and 10 girls who will represent the African continent in the second Jr. NBA Global Championship, a youth basketball tournament for the top 13- and 14-year-old boys and girls teams from around the world that will be held Aug. 6-11 at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida.
The 20 youth players representing eight African countries were selected from Jr. NBA programs and clinics held across the continent. Bahati Mgunda (Tanzania) and Samba Fall (Senegal) were selected to coach the girls and boys teams, respectively.
*Africa Girls Team
Shaza Ayman (Egypt)
Badmus Mistura Bisola (Nigeria)
Fatou Cisse (Senegal)
Jana Ehab (Egypt)
Merit Atebe Innocent (Nigeria)
Sandrine Kamgain (Cameroon)
Ndeye Ndiaye (Senegal)
Aisha Nhantumbo (Mozambique)
Leslie Catherine Njukoua (Cameroon)
Kadidia Traore (Mali)
*Africa Boys Team
Hassan Amer (Egypt)
Badara Aliou Diakite (Mali)
Khadim Rassoul Diongue (Senegal)
Seydina Limamoulaye Faye (Senegal)
Mohamed Fofana (Guinea)
Dieu Merci Bolisomi Ilonga (DRC)
Ngeleka Kabeya (DRC)
Said Nkene F. Michel (Cameroon)
Marouf Moumine (Cameroon)
Emmanuel Owonibi (Nigeria)
In the inaugural event last year, the Africa & Middle East boys team won the international division to advance to the global championship game where they lost to the U.S. Central boys team and finished as the tournament runner-up. Marouf Moumine (Cameroon), who will be returning with the Africa boys team, was recognized with the Determination Award at last year’s event and is now a member of The NBA Academy Africa in Saly, Senegal.
He joins Said Nkene F. Michel (Cameroon) as the only other male player returning from last year’s team. Sandrine Kagmain (Cameroon) and Kadidia Traore (Mali) will make their second appearance in the Jr. NBA Global Championship after participating in the Africa & Middle East girls team in the inaugural event.
The Jr. NBA Global Championship will feature boys and girls divisions, separated into the U.S. and international brackets that begin with round-robin play and continue with the single-elimination competition. The winners of the U.S. and international brackets will play in the global championship games on Aug. 11. During the weeklong event, all 32 teams will participate in activities designed to reinforce the Jr. NBA’s core values and provide the players with development opportunities and memorable experiences off the court, including life skills sessions, Disney park visits, and a community service project.
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.
Trane, a global provider of indoor comfort systems and services and a brand of Ingersoll Rand, has entered into a new distribution agreement with JMG Limited in Nigeria, that will significantly expand and strengthen the distribution capacity of Trane in Nigeria.
The launch of Trane in Nigeria was at the MEGA CLIMA exhibition, dedicated to the refrigeration, air conditioning, ventilation, and heating sector, which took place in the Landmark Exhibition Center in Lagos from the 11th to the 13th of July 2019. JMG Limited and Trane exhibited the Trane brand and conduct a seminar for the professional in the HVAC market.
Under the agreement, JMG Limited will be the Authorized Distributor of Trane residential and light commercial systems in Nigeria through a dedicated team of experienced sales and services engineers. This Distributorship allows JMG Limited to complete its strategic development in the building infrastructure segment in order to offer a One-Stop solution to developers from power, electrical products, mobility equipment and now efficient air-conditioning systems.
Mr. Hazem Bouzaiane, Africa Distributor Management Leader, Trane, said “We believe in selecting a Distributor who reflects Trane’s commitment to environmental sustainability with a strong focus on understanding and delivering value to customers, and the region they operate in. We are pleased to begin this journey with JMG Limited and will be very proactive in working with them to deliver the Trane promise of energy efficiency and reliability to the region”.
Mr. Ramzi Dabaghi, Head of Power Solutions & HVAC Division Manager, JMG Limited, said, “The HVAC industry is a very large industry that covers system design, operation, and maintenance. Like most industries within the construction business, the HVAC sector has been gradually growing lately, with the end-user spending substantial business expansion plans and supporting new enterprises in the industry.
Our interest in the HVAC business arises after we have monitored the increasing market trend and identifying the areas/businesses that will benefit from our service. Add to this our concern to reduce energy consumption and to build a healthier environment.
We are quite aware that the success of any business lies in the foundation on which the business is built on, which is why we are confident enough that the JMG Limited – Trane partnership in the HVAC sector will succeed and develop rapidly.
JMG Limited has a dedicated team of professional engineers (Mechanical and Electrical), trained by Trane and specialized in Total engineering solutions and turnkey projects to delivering reliable and immediate results.
Thanks to the vast expertise and experience of our team, our aim is to provide the optimum solution, irrespective of category and scope of supply. We are always committed to providing high reliability with low maintenance, maximum safety, and great flexibility. With the expertise and experience of our team and the name Trane and not to forget the quality and innovation of Trane products, we simply offer the best solutions.
We can confidently say that our partnership will definitely be a success story within the HVAC business in Nigeria”.
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.
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.
For startups looking for funding, Antler VC appears undeterred in its quest to invest in as many new global startups as possible. In fact, the VC has set a goal to generate a total of 100 to 150 new startups around the world by the end of the year.
Since the end of 2018, the startup generator and early-stage VC has invested €5.4 million into launching 44 global startups. After receiving 13,000 applications for its programme, Antler selected over 450 individuals to participate and become startup founders.
A Look At Antler Venture Capital Firm
Since launching its first program in Singapore in 2018, Antler has expanded to eight locations, including Stockholm, New York, London, Amsterdam, Oslo, Sydney, Nairobi, and Addis Ababa.
Two programmes take place annually in each city, and in the first phase, successful startups receive $100k to $150k in funding from Antler for a minority equity stake.
Startups then leverage Antler’s global platform to expand and easily scale into other markets.
Aspiring entrepreneurs can apply now to join cohorts in Amsterdam, London, Oslo, Stockholm, Singapore, Sydney, New York, and Nairobi.
“In just six months, Antler has enabled hundreds of entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds to create outstanding companies that are already positively impacting global and local economies with the next wave of technology,” said Magnus Grimeland, founder and CEO of Antler. “What can take a young startup months and years to accomplish in a new market we can accelerate significantly with our experienced team and advisers. We are well on our way to becoming the number one platform for entrepreneurs globally by becoming a truly global company ourselves, however, our journey is only just beginning.”
SkyQraft, a system providing affordable and safe infrastructure inspections using drones and AI to detect risks to power lines. These risks are increasing because of the impact of global warming which has resulted in more forest fires and power outages around the world.
Sampingan, a task-based workforce platform connecting organizations with freelance employees in Indonesia. The startup recently secured $500k from Golden Gate Ventures. Since it was founded, the company has on-boarded 20,000 agents across 140,000 projects. As well, in seven months, the company’s value has gone up ten times.
Soma Sketch, a health tech app that allows patients to communicate mental and physical health symptoms by writing and drawing how their body feels. The app will help identify risks, educate users on their health and generate anonymous data for research.
One of Antler’s key missions is to break the barriers to entrepreneurship. Antler’s founders range from Cambridge graduates to self-made geniuses because, rather than focusing on individuals’ backgrounds, the team looks for applicants with spike, inner-drive and grit.
With programmes operating across five continents, Antler has already attracted an incredibly diverse range of people, with founding teams comprising over 50 nationalities.
The recruitment process has also generated strong female representation, particularly in the first European programme where 64% of the entrepreneurs presenting at the local demo day in June 2019 were women.
“In just three months, the Antler program has enabled Shamba to put together a team working across three continents by providing invaluable advice and pre-seed investment to our company in its early stages,” said Michael Wallis-Brown, founder and CEO of Shamba, a startup that is fighting world hunger by optimizing farming in Africa. “We simply could not have launched our platform in Kenya without the support of the Antler teams in Stockholm and Nairobi, under the guidance of the Antler Global team. With this support, together with introductions to key investors both in Europe and Kenya, we are set to grow exponentially, working collaboratively with local farmers to solve inequality and hunger on the African continent.”
How To Be Part of Antler’s Funded Startup Network
Since launching its first program in Singapore in 2018, Antler has expanded to eight locations, including Stockholm, New York, London, Amsterdam, Oslo, Sydney, Nairobi, and Addis Ababa.
Antler’s successful startups now operate across 15 different industries including fintech, space-tech, robotics, and health tech
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.
Glovo now exists in Kenya, Morocco and Cote d’Ivoire, with plans to expand to Ghana, Nigeria, and Tanzania. The startup which was co-founded by the 26-year-old Barcelona -based Oscar Pierre in 2015 has raised over $340 million since it was founded and is already displacing major players in the crowded delivery industry.
Here Are Quick Facts About Glovo:
Barcelona-based Glovo is the on-demand delivery app that allows customers to order anything — restaurant meals, groceries, flowers — from more than 1,000 participating businesses and have it delivered in less than one hour.
Simply put, the startup is known as the “anything” delivery app.
Glovo makes profit by charging a service fee, plus a commission on their partners, depending on the cost of the product or item.
The most interesting fact about Glovo may be that despite being founded only about 4 years ago in 2015, the company already has a presence in 178 cities across 23 countries.
The startup’s vision is to be a lifestyle app with all urban services available easily through its smartphone application.
Food delivery service remains its most popular service. Other services available on the app include Groceries, Pharmacy, Desserts, Courier, and Quiero (anything).
While most companies are very focused on food only, Glovo can, however, deliver everything.
The food business allows users to find and place orders with their favorite restaurants which is picked up when ready and delivered to the user’s doorstep. Today, more than 85% of Glovo’s orders in Europe are for food.
Unlike the other couriers — namely the UK-based Deliveroo and US-based UberEats — Glovo couriers don’t just pick up food for customers of the app. They’ll also buy them a particular dress in a size 12 from Zara, or grab some painkillers from a pharmacy if the customers so request.
While this model continues to be its flagship service, the company is reportedly experimenting with CloudKitchens and Grocery Darkstores.
In fact, the startup has become so successful that Bloomberg said Glovo could now be worth €650 million ($730 million)
The firm’s revenue jumped from €18 million ($20 million) in 2017 to €81 million ($91 million) last year.
Over 200 key players are defining the Barcelona startup tech ecosystem
‘‘We…Found Our Gap’’
Glovo is not the first delivery app out there. Oscar knew this. In fact, at the time of starting up Glovo, there was already the US firm Postmates (which inspired him) that delivers anything a city-dweller might need or want, as well as Uber and Amazon’s Deliveroo that do similar things. This means the startup is already in direct competition with those companies. Thus, it is rather surprising that Glovo would make such quick success.
‘‘It makes the market more difficult,’’ Oscar told Spanish online magazine Viaempressa. ‘‘We have found our gap; we are the only platform in Europe that supplies the user with anything in the city, and I think that this is the key; the offer is broad. It doesn’t scare us that the competitors are large, being small is a competitive advantage because it means we can react quickly to these monsters. They are very powerful, but they move slowly. A clear example is our partnership with McDonald’s, for which we competed against Uber Eats and Deliveroo. We got it because we were the quickest to come up with a model that McDonald’s needed, it is specific for them on a technological and logistical level. When you are a startup, you bargain more easily.’’
Pierre also said there are many differences between Glovo and other national or international startups.
‘‘Our freelancers will buy for you whatever you want,’’ he said . ‘‘Another major difference is that our service is based on immediacy. We have a totally different model compared to other apps dedicated exclusively to transport people or deliver food. In addition, we are not a logistics company, nor do we want to be. These companies are only dedicated to collect and deliver while we put a whole city open to anyone.’’
Getting The Timing Right is Crucial
Getting into a crowded market could be easy but staying successful would remain the toughest game startups will face. Oscar Pierre, however, said getting the timing right is crucial. Glovo doesn’t come on board a country where there are already two dominant players (which is the case in Mexico, Colombia, and the UK), he said.
‘If we went to the UK today it would be super tough or impossible to become one of the main food delivery companies. It’s a snowball effect; as you don’t have the volume, you don’t reach to the top chains or restaurants which doesn’t give you the growth,’ Oscar told Sifted, a new FT-backed website that launched early 2019.
Again, the startup succeeded in Spain mostly because it brought big brands such as McDonald’s and KFC onto its app and this led to ‘massive growth’. Before then, competitors like Deliveroo refused to meet the big companies’ demands. This was an opportunity Glovo held onto. ‘‘We literally built anything they wanted,’ Pierre said.
Today, Glovo is the biggest food delivery service in Spain (where it is profitable and takes around one million orders per month)
Oscar said: ‘Every single city needs between six to nine months to reach operational break-even. Structure-wise, it’s been super interesting You have to delocalize — otherwise the company stops. You need to find super strong regional teams. In Buenos Aires, Argentina, we have a very senior team, with almost a CEO and CMO, and they take all of the decisions.’’
‘‘We pitched to 118 funds, and all of them said ‘no.’ ’’
Oscar said building the startup did not come without a fight. He said the startup pitched to 118 funds before its current progress.
“For our series B round, we pitched to 118 funds, and all of them said ‘no.’ We were very close to going bankrupt, maybe a month away. All our competitors were huge. Two years ago, there was no way to convince investors that we’d really be competing face-to-face with Uber Eats or Deliveroo. There was very little conviction about food delivery back then.
Being from Barcelona was always very tough because when you only operate in Spain, you don’t have access to the VCs in London or in France. The Spanish ecosystem of VCs is very small and very risk-averse,” he said.
In 2017, Glovo raised $30 million in a series B funding round led by the Japanese tech giant Rakuten. Rakuten ended up being a company with a famous connection to Barcelona that came to Glovo’s aid.
‘‘One day, Rakuten came out of the blue and decided to invest in us,” Pierre said.
Since then, two other funding rounds have followed, the latest of which, totaling 150 million euros, or $170 million, was led by the early Spotify investor, Lakestar, in April, 2019 taking the startup’s total funding to $340 million.
Glovo renders delivery services for anything the city has to offer and is learning, growing and improving fast.
Remembering those periods in the startup’s story, Pierre said he didn’t know if he were doing a rational thing then.
‘I have to say, I don’t know if it was a very rational investment at that moment — when you have over 100 smart investors saying no, it might mean something,’ he said.
Oscar said the most important factor that has guaranteed the startup’s continuous growth is its quest to remain profitable.
‘‘Only those who focus on profitability get funding,” he said. “We make sure we are not only growing, but that the cities are not in negative numbers for many months. We know there are cities that need only six months to show losses and others, 12 months, because it all depends on size; but we know that sooner or later we will get good numbers. In Spain we have seen more than 10 proposals similar to ours and many of them have failed. The margins are small and if you do not look after them well, it will not work,’’ he said.
Focusing on profitability has helped the startup to steer clear of loss. In 2016 Pierre said the startup obtained 1.1 million net euros in profit, which represents the commissions from their partners and shops along with what the user paid for the service, and that meant tenfold growth. In 2017, barely two years and two months old, the startup took a millionth order. The number has since doubled.
‘When a sector is overfunded…investors disappear’
Pierre said the urge for startups to get funded almost always comes with a price — a sudden disappearance of investors.
‘‘Delivery is a complicated sector. Between 2010 and 2012, there was overfunding in Barcelona. It was new and grew quickly because it clearly had value. A lot of projects were funded that began to close down in 2014 and that went on for another couple of years. That was just the moment when we began looking for funding. The investors saw that the sector was in fashion, but that it had problems. And what happens when a sector is over-funded is that the investors disappear,’’ he said.
The Best Way To Confront Fund-Raising
Pierre said the best way to confront fund-raising is by being humble.
‘Our most important core value is humbleness. I tell it to the team a lot. I’ve seen companies burst because of lack of humbleness,’ he said.
‘Every time I go to the board, I’m like, “Oscar man, if you’re not taking big steps you’re not going to be the best CEO for this company.” So I just keep that in my mind all the time.’
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.
The Kwik app comes with an integrated geolocation system and offers an efficient transportation service for small packages (up to 25kg) or documents.
French start-up firm, Africa Delivery Technologies has launched an app on both Apple Appstore and Google Play aptly named the Kwik (https://KWIK.Delivery/) which aspires to quickly become the Number #1 of last-mile delivery services in Nigeria.
“Kwik aims to become the first platform for last-mile delivery in urban areas in Nigeria before extending its scope to neighbouring countries. We’re targeting 100,000 deliveries per day in three cities before 2021”, explains Romain Poirot-Lellig, Founder & CEO of Africa Delivery Technologies (ADT), developer of the Kwik app.
Kwik connects independent delivery partners, either owners and/or drivers of a vehicle, with customers who need reliable, affordable and flexible delivery solutions. The Kwik app comes with an integrated geolocation system and offers an efficient transportation service for small packages (up to 25kg) or documents, following the same model as Go-Jek, Uber or Taxify.
Kwik’s value proposition is simple and straightforward: to ensure the fast, reliable and efficient delivery of a package or envelope in Lagos, Nigeria’s business capital. Currently, Kwik’s competitors offer a service that takes 12 hours and costs between 2,000 and 3,000 nairas (4-8 euros) per delivery from Lagos to Lagos. Kwik promises to offer a service of higher added value within 2 hours and for a third of the price, with integrated geolocation and proof of a delivery system that offers the highest degree of security available on the market.
The service offered by the company is available through the Kwik app or via a web browser. The couriers are geo-located in real-time. The payment can either take place beforehand by credit card via the Nigerian fintech Paga’s system (12 million users) or in cash. Kwik focuses particularly on B2B clients and allows them to create tour deliveries on the fly, set up recurring delivers; manage users, and so on. Additional insurance services are currently under development.
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 startups are not looking back. Kenyan agri-tech startup Twiga Foods has received a US$5 million secondary investment from France’s richest family, the Mulliez family, to support its growth, making it one of the top-funded startups in Africa for the year 2019.
The startup is one of the best-funded on the continent, securing a US$10.3 million Series A funding round in 2017 and a further US$10 million last November, and has now raised an additional US$5 million from the Mulliez family’s investment firm Creadev.
As part of the secondary transaction, early investors in Twiga Foods including Adolf H. Lundin Charitable Foundation, Blue Haven Ventures, Crescat Limited, Omidyar Network, and Index Ventures have partially sold their stakes in the startup as it looks to accommodate later-stage investors.
“Having Creadev join our shareholding is a huge boost to our mission to deliver safe, affordable high-quality food to urban consumers, while providing reliable markets for farmers. It will support our efforts towards growing our ecosystem of farmers and retailers,” said Twiga Foods chief executive officer (CEO) Peter Njonjo, who recently joined the company after 21 years at Coca-Cola.
Sarah Ngamau and Pierre Fauvet, Africa heads for Creadev, said they were proud to enter into a long-term partnership with Twiga as the startup answers a massive market need — the structuration and formalization of the food logistics supply chain.
“We are impressed by Twiga’s fast growth, driven by an experienced and result-oriented management team. We believe the appointment of Mr Njonjo as CEO is another proof of Twiga’s ambitions and willingness to grow to the next level,” they said.
“We will leverage on Creadev’s international retail network and future funding capacity to support the team in executing this ambitious expansion plan and continue delivering their strong value proposition to small-holder farmers, informal retailers, and end customers.”
What The Startup Does
Founded in 2014, Twiga Foods is a business to the business food distribution company that builds fair and reliable markets for agricultural producers and retailers through transparency, efficiency, and technology.
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.
