African Countries Urged to Explore Blue Economy through Innovation

African nations have been urged to start exploring ways to invest in the blue economy through focusing efforts and investments towards healthier oceans. This was handed at the launching of OceanHub Africa during Africa’s Ocean Innovation Africa event in Cape Town, South Africa over the week. At the launch of the OceanHub Africa, fifty carefully selected stakeholders from various backgrounds including entrepreneurs, researchers, investors, ocean business owners, non-profits and local authorities gathered to co-create the initiative’s roadmap in a bid to shape a future where both humans and oceans can thrive.

OceanHub Africa is on a mission to inspire and support ocean-minded start-ups with the express aim of nurturing an environmentally conscious and profitable economy that effectively mitigates the effects of global warming as well as the overexploitation and pollution of the oceans.

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Set to begin the program early in the first quarter of 2020, OceanHub Africa will launch with the first cohort of six local start-ups. Leveraging its highly qualified network of stakeholders and facilitators it aims to deliver to the new initiatives the following services: an acceleration program that seeks out sustainable pathways yielding stable profits (ROIs) and avenues for scalable growth throughout Africa; it will provide a physical working space, access to tailored mentorship, business and scientific expertise; access to market leads; hands-on services from corporate partners (including cloud & IT services, engineering and software suite for prototyping and testing, to name but a few) and support along the fundraising journey, from pitching to structuring deals.

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OceanHub Africa is also offering a technology transfer support program that promotes collaboration between researchers and entrepreneurs for science-based innovation. By partnering with local universities, its objective is to find commercial use of scientific patents through the identification of transferable technologies and the incubation of selected projects. This program will strengthen the pipeline of ocean-minded start-ups and leverage the knowledge that lies within universities and research centres.

OceanHub Africa, currently hosted by South African venture fund and technology incubator, SAVANT Technologies, will inaugurate its Cape Town headquarters in February 2020. All interested parties wishing to take part in this dynamic revolution are invited to come forward! Calling all ocean-impact businesses looking for pathways to prosperity, all entrepreneurs seeking an equity-free acceleration program, or any impact investors interested in supporting the Sustainable Development Goal 14: Life Below Water.

 

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

Exponential Innovation: Why tech startups need to re-model their approach to innovation

Everyone is talking about it and everyone is promising it. You’re constantly surrounded by it, and sometimes you’re even worried by it — Innovation. In the corporate world, innovation has become one of the most used words of the decade. Sit in any boardroom meeting and industry seminar and you’re likely to hear this term being used repeatedly, and if you’re in the technology space you don’t really have a choice. Innovation is the name of the game.

But what does innovation truly mean? Both for my company and my audiences? This is a question that a lot of leaders today are forgetting to ask. More importantly, what measures do you put in place to guarantee your innovation is successfully driving your company forward, whilst in parallel creating a positive impact on the wider community?
In order to make true change, these questions must be addressed head on. If you do this successfully, not only will your business be at the top of its game, but your workforce will act as a force for good. This is where the concept of exponential innovation comes in.

Exponential innovation: redefining the value chain

When Uber was trying to solve the problem of taxi availability anytime, anywhere, it invented an entirely new concept and caused a paradigm shift. Now, every car on the road can potentially become a taxi, and the industry has changed forever. Airbnb in the hospitality industry, and Spotify and Netflix in the entertainment industry have done the same.

Similarly, in the payments industry, when tokenization technology was introduced, it was a conceptual shift in thinking. Should card data be compromised, the data became useless to fraudsters. This not only helped to protect consumers’ financial data, but also boosted consumer confidencein an industry becoming increasingly more digital.
This is the very definition of exponential innovation: it goes above incremental innovation to reimagine the consumer experience and create efficiencies within the industry’s value chain. It challenges the status quo, looks at pain points with a different set of lenses, with the aim to eliminate them, not just reduce them.

It is necessary to approach your product or service from the viewpoint of the end-consumer. Every organization today is a B2C organization, not a B2B or a B2G, because ultimately the work you do will have considerable impact on individual lives. It is that impact that you must look to positively transform, to achieve exponential innovation.
Three-pronged approach to exponential innovation: Build, Acquire, Collaborate
Build.

This is perhaps the most obvious one: design, invent and innovate. Building the right solutions requires looking internally and investing in those technologies and solutions that aim to disrupt existing technologies. In the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Machine Learning, Robotic Process Automationand Blockchain are ruling the roost in terms of their use-cases for commercial purposes. Gartner forecasted that the number of things connected to the internet surpassed the number of humans and is expected to reach 20.4 billion by 2020. The boundaries of technologies continue to increase, and there has never been a better time in history for innovators to experiment, build and test new solutions.

Complementing this is the growth of the knowledge economy, in which technology giants no longer work in individual silos, but rather encourage knowledge-sharing with each other in order for the world’s technologies to be able to talk to each other. Egypt recently announced plans to set up a Knowledge City in the new administrative capital that will include branches of foreign universities, research, innovation and entrepreneurship centers, in addition to a science park. The Knowledge City is part of Egypt’s Higher Education and Research Strategy that aims to promote science, technology, and innovation ,indicating that the region is ripe for further invention.

Acquire

Look at your landscape. The rise of fintechs and startups is disrupting virtually every industry, not just the tech sector. 2018 saw a record of 366 startup deals across MENA, amounting to $893m of total funding. Egypt was the fastest growing ecosystem, with 22 percent of deals in the region .Thanks to hyper-digitalization, these startups have far greater access to consumers than was ever possible before.

It is important to view these players not as competition, but as potential strategic partners that can help you achieve exponential innovation. Looking at the positive sentiment that Careem and Souq received this past year after being acquired is a clear indication that the region is increasingly becoming a hotbed of unicorn startups, and it makes business sense to leverage this opportunity.

Image result for exponential innovation
From exponential technologies to exponential innovation

Collaborate

Let me give you a world famous example. When Apple decided they wanted to launch the Apple Card, Mastercard didn’t shy away — we became their global payments network.

Similarly, many technology-based startups and consumer-facing apps only work thanks to established companies partnering with them. For example, popular apps in the region such as Zomato, Uber and Namshi enable consumers to purchase their food, travel and clothing anytime, anywhere simply from their smartphones. For this to happen, several stakeholders need to work together. The app itself needs to ensure that the consumer has an easy-to-understand user experience that allows them to make the purchase seamlessly. The telecom provider needs to ensure that a person has sufficient data capabilities to be able to process this payment via their phone. The payment provider needs to ensure they can seamlessly process the payment safely and securely. Collaboration is thus key in this process.

Read also: How 5G Connectivity Will Boost The Output Volume of African Startups

Overcoming the challenges

Trying to achieve exponential innovation comes with its fair share of challenges. In the payments industry for instance, our biggest concernis around misconceptions around security. Consumers take a lot of time to change behaviors and have concerns regarding cybersecurity and fraud. In 2018, the proportion of organizations in the Middle East reporting that they’ve fallen victim to acts of fraud and economic crime increased to 34%, up from 26% in 2016.

The key to addressing this is three-fold. First, it’s necessary to establish a dialogue involving knowledge-sharing with governments, and banking and technology partners to address these issues in a collaborative way. Second, deploy the technological tools available that minimize fraud concerns, and strengthen authenticity. Tokenization and Artificial Intelligence have been instrumental in achieving these goals. Lastly and most importantly, it is necessary to raise awareness on these issues to gain trust amongst consumers. Trust is the foundation of the digital economy, and consistent efforts must be made to ensure that trust.

Transforming industries, economies and communities

Every company that aims to innovate will have its fair share of challenges while trying to achieve exponential innovation. But keeping the larger picture in mind and addressing these concerns is essential not just for a firm’s growth, but also their sustainability and survival.

By executing a three-pronged approach and leveraging technology to achieve exponential innovation, it is possible to transform industries, benefit economies, and positively impact and enrich communities.

The world today is evolving at an exponential pace — disrupting technologies are changing the way people shop, travel, communicate, pay and much more.Exciting times lie ahead, providing companies are able to approach and harness innovation in the right way.

Gaurang Shah is the Senior Vice President, Product Management, Digital Payments & Labs, Middle East and Africa — Mastercard

 

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

Start-up Firm Set to Transform the Parcel Industry Through Innovation

Kwik

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

“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.

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