growth - Afrikan Heroes

Kenyan Startup Ilara Health Raises $735k Seed Funding Round To Grow Business

August 8, 2019

2019 has proven a good year for health and ride-sharing startups in Africa. More funding is coming than ever before. Kenyan startup Ilara Health, which is bringing affordable diagnostics services to doctors, has just joined the wagon. The startup has raised a US$735,000 seed funding round to grow its offering in the East African country and ultimately beyond.

Here Is The Deal

The US$735,000 seed funding for the startup came from investment firms ShakaVC, Chandaria Capital, and Villgro Kenya, with the round also including angel investors such as Esther Dyson, Nijhad Jamal, Aadil Mamujee, Selma Ribica, and Shakir Merali. Several of the new investors will become strategic advisors to the business.

“Seventy per cent of patients need some form of medical test to inform their treatment, but many doctors across Africa have limited ability to perform diagnostics in their clinics. When a patient needs a test, doctors often refer them to a lab. Given the infrastructure challenges across the region — the time, the money it takes to get anywhere — patients frequently fail to attend and care breaks down,” said Emilian Popa, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) at Ilara Health.

This round of investment will be used primarily to grow Ilara Health ’s peri-urban medical clinic customers in Kenya, and ultimately beyond. It will also allow the company to build a flexible technology platform to manage and protect valuable patient health and clinic financial data.

A Glance At The Startup

Founded in 2018, Kenyan health startup Ilara Health sources tech-powered diagnostics equipment and makes it accessible to Africans who struggle to afford it, bundling the equipment and integrating the devices via a proprietary technology platform. Doctors pay a deposit to use the equipment and then pay off the remaining cost in installments determined by usage.

What Drew Investors In

Esther Dyson, angel investor and executive founder at Wellville, said she had invested in Ilara because she had watched CEO Popa explore the market to find the perfect, sustainable product-market fit.

“Moreover, the need is great, and the benefits of simple, cost-effective diagnostic tools will extend well beyond the patients and doctors, affecting first Kenya and ultimately the continent at large,” she said.

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.

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The OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) launches new strategy, sets sights on sustainable growth and maximum development impact

July 22, 2019

OFID’s highest policy-making body, the Ministerial Council, held its 40th Annual Session in Vienna, Austria, and approved the general principles of OFID’s new Strategic Framework. The new strategy affirms OFID’s commitment to providing support to developing countries – especially low-income countries – in an increasingly complex and challenging development landscape.

At the Ministerial Council meeting, OFID Director-General Dr. Abdulhamid Alkhalifa said: “OFID’s vision is to be a relevant, agile and efficient development finance institution that can deliver maximum development impact to its partner countries while becoming self-sustainable in financing its operations.”

Over the coming months, OFID will embark on a journey to diversify its financial resources and to implement a coherent and consistent set of actions aimed at creating greater efficiency throughout the institution and equipping it with more innovative and responsive operational and financial instruments.

As part of its new strategy, OFID will renew its focus on partnerships. OFID works closely with organizations such as the World Bank, regional development banks and the bilateral and multilateral agencies of OFID member countries, as well as specialized agencies of the United Nations. In addition to strengthening existing partnerships, OFID aims to form new relationships to revitalize the global partnership in support of sustainable development.

In keeping with previous years, a highlight of the Ministerial Council’s public session was the presentation of the OFID Annual Award for Development. The 2019 Award was bestowed on Vida Duti – Country Director of the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre in Ghana – in recognition of her remarkable work and engagement in ensuring sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services for the population of Ghana (see press release PR14).

The Ministerial Council also considered and approved OFID’s financial statements and 2018 Annual Report, which shows cumulative commitments to global development exceeding US$23.4 billion.

OFID aims to continue to support the global efforts to overcome development challenges, as it has done since 1976, by extending concessionary financial assistance; participating in the financing of private sector activities in developing countries; contributing to the resources of other development institutions.

Since it was established, the organization has improved its capabilities and operational reach to support South-South development and socioeconomic growth in partner countries around the world. Public Sector lending, including to low-income countries, will continue to represent the largest portion of OFID’s loan portfolio, going forward.

The Ministerial Council comprises the finance ministers and other high-level representatives of OFID Member Countries. It meets once a year.

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.

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You Can’t Fight Poverty Without Population Control

July 13, 2019

Africa has the largest expanse of arable land in the world. It has the highest number of young population. In fact, it is designated as the youngest continent in the world. Yet Africa cannot feed itself. The continent is filled with growing poverty, while the leadership waste time from one talk shop to another.

Why is Africa poor, and growing poorer and poorer? Because the poor produce their like; more poor people. Given that Africa is brimming with poor people mass producing poor offsprings with clueless governments with no concrete plans to address the issue. Africa will impede global efforts to eradicate poverty by 2050.

It is projected that the world’s population will continue to grow and will reach nearly 10 billion by 2050.

While population growth is slowing significantly in many parts of the world, Sub-Saharan Africa is witnessing the opposite as its population is projected to double by 2050, an expansion of nearly 10 times relative to 1960, from 227 million to 2.2 billion.

As a result, the share of Sub-Saharan Africa in the world’s population is projected to grow as well. In 1960, it was just 7%, but this has increased to 14 % in 2018 and is projected to reach 23 percent by 2050.

Globally, almost 1 in 4 people will be Sub-Saharan African in 2050, the ratio was 1 in 13 in 1960. This is a huge leap.

The global population was around 3 billion in 1960. By 1987, in less than three decades, it had surpassed 5 billion and there were around 7.6 billion people in the world in 2018.

This growth varies greatly across regions. Since 1960, the largest relative growth has taken place in Sub-Saharan Africa where the population expanded from 227 million in 1960 to more than 1 billion in 2018—a nearly fivefold increase.

This is largely due to continuously higher fertility rates in Sub-Saharan Africa compared to the rest of the world. Today, on average, women in Sub-Saharan Africa have 4.8 children per woman, compared with less than 3 children per woman worldwide.

The fertility rate in Sub-Saharan Africa is projected to remain substantially higher than in any other region for the next few decades. This can only be brought to check if governments embark on a massive campaign to achieve higher education rates for today’s girl child because the fertility rates of women drop with higher academic pursuits.

The interconnectedness between education and population growth cannot be overemphasized. The size of the world’s population is the result of fertility and mortality in the past years – births and deaths.

In fact, there is a strong correlation between fertility and mortality. Women tend to have more children where children are more likely to die and bear fewer children where their child’s risk of dying is lower. And maternal literacy remains a weapon against high infant mortality.

There is a clear correlation between rising population and a rising poverty rate. The poorer a society, the higher the population growth rate, bringing this down, you will also discover that even within a poor society, the poorest in that setting tend to have more children.

Another instructive but very curious correlation is between high population growth in Africa and security challenges. While a country like Niger has the highest fertility rate per woman in the region, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo are driving the population growth in the region.

And the two are also experiencing some of the most destabilizing security challenges in the country, leading many to believe that there is a correlation between unbridled population growth and growing insecurity.

A new study by Population Action International (PAI), suggests a strong correlation between countries prone to civil conflicts and those with burgeoning youth populations.

Social scientists label this demographic profile “youth bulge,” and its potential to destabilize countries in the developing world is gaining wider acceptance among the foreign policy community.

The theory contends that societies with rapidly growing young populations often end up with rampant unemployment and large pools of disaffected youths who are more susceptible to recruitment into a rebel or terrorist groups. Countries with weak political institutions are most vulnerable to youth-bulge-related violence and social unrest.

Also when you take into consideration, the fact that more kids are born in internally displaced camps than in a normal environment. The dangers we face becomes clearer.

Going through all acclaimed pro-poor policies of this government, one wonders how they plan to tackle poverty while romancing population growth.

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.

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Rugby Africa Helps Drive Record-Breaking Year for Global Growth of Rugby

July 12, 2019

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.

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Terrestrial fiber infrastructure investments key to enabling the growth of Africa’s digital economy

July 2, 2019

The dialogue centered on the notion that the development of the terrestrial network is key to growing the digital economies of all African countries.

Experts at the 2019 ‘Africa Panel Session’ of the International Telecoms Week (ITW), held recently in Atlanta, USA discussed the importance of infrastructure investments in local internet exchanges and terrestrial networks as being instrumental to facilitating the development and growth of Africa’s digital economy.

Presenting on the theme “Enabling Africa’s Digital Economy”, Principal Analyst at TeleGeography, Patrick Christian, evaluated the African digital economy, noting that the study of global trends show Africa maintaining its position as the fastest growing region in internet usage through data volumes remain shockingly lower than other parts of the world.

Mr.Christian, underscored the importance of the role content providers such as Google, Microsoft, and Facebook, play in driving Internet traffic and the expectation that their traffic on the continent will increase with the growth of Africa’s digital economy. It is expected that having more content beginning to reside and be exchanged within Africa, will add tremendous benefits to the ecosystem.

A panel that included high-level representation from MainOne, Google, Avanti Plc, Angola Cables, CSquared Africa, and WIOCC engaged in compelling discourse that highlighted these and other key factors for development in Africa’s digital economy. The dialogue centered on the notion that the development of the terrestrial network is key to growing the digital economies of all African countries.

A point further emphasized by MainOne’s CEO, Funke Opeke, who stated that the organization is currently working in Lagos State of Nigeria to enable digital transformation through the deployment of 2500km of fibre across the State, adding to the almost 1000km of fibre currently deployed.

Opeke stated, “Our immediate focus is to ensure we have fibre to the towers, fiber to schools, health care facilities, and other government agencies, fiber to the enterprise/business districts, and with a density to reach within 1km of the majority of citizens in Lagos. We envisage having network density whereby over 60% of the population is within 1km of fibre access with the planned deployment.”

The 2019 Africa Panel session at ITW co-sponsored by MainOne continues to provide a platform for key global players to share perspectives on the opportunities and challenges of telecoms development on the African continent. This year makes it the 8th time in a row that MainOne has sponsored the session.

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.