Kenyan - Afrikan Heroes

AgriPitch Competition Winners at the African Youth Agripreneurs Forum Emerge

July 29, 2019

A veteran exporter of Kenyan fresh fruits and vegetables and a young South African farmer specializing in the design, provision, and management of indoor and outdoor hydroponic systems, were the winners of this year’s youth AgriPitch competition, organized by African Development Bank in partnership with the Western Cape Government in South Africa.

The event which is the 2019 youth AgriPitch Competition themed “Climate Smart Agriculture: Business and Employment Opportunities for Africa’s Youth” took place in Cape Town, South Africa from 24th to 28th July.

Kenyan Alex Muli, CEO, and Co-Founder of Goshen Farm won $25,000 for best agribusiness in the mature start-up category, while Paul Sheppard, from South Africa, Co-Founder of Future Farms, took the $10,000 prize for the early start-up category.

“It was a great event. I met many pioneers in the various agri-tech spaces with many potential and exciting projects, with the renewed hope of access to finance models coming to the fore. The prize money will help our company to upscale to the size we want to grow to, as well as meeting potential investors and learning more about the industry,” said Sheppard.

Muli, who co-founded Goshen farms with his mother in 2011, said it was exciting to be shortlisted as agripreneur in the Mature Startups category. “The boot camp was a great learning experience for me and helped me to know how to better tell the story about my business. I was humbled to meet fellow agripeneurs from other African countries who are doing great stuff out there hence rewriting our continent’s story, a story of hope, transformation, and sustainability by young Africans for Africa,“ he said.

Over 400 agribusiness proposals from across the continent participated in the AYAF competition, which culminated in an award gala dinner, where six winners from the two categories received a total of U$ 74,000.

This AgriPitch Competition was part of a larger forum, the African Youth Agripreneurs Forum (AYAF) an annual forum of the African Development Bank’s flagship, Enable Youth Program, which focuses on youth employment and food insecurity.

“At the African Development Bank, we believe that the future of the continent’s youth lies in more rapid and inclusive economic growth which creates quality jobs. This is why the Bank has developed a number of key programs, such as Enable Youth and the Jobs for Youth in Africa Strategy. To date, the Bank has committed over $350 million to Enable Youth investments in 12 countries on the continent, “said Dr. Edward Mabaya, Manager, Agribusiness Development Division at the African Development Bank.

The forum provided a platform for youth agripreneurs and key stakeholders to brainstorm with experts, business leaders, investors and policymakers on issues that affect youth employment and key solutions to addressing these.

It also served as a call to action to support innovative agriculture growth through intense engagement and mentorship for small and medium enterprises and emphasized that with greater support and opportunities to set up their agribusiness enterprise, youth can become the driving force of Africa’s agriculture transformation.

Sponsors of the 2019 AgriPitch Competition and African Youth Agripreneurs Forum include the Bank’s Youth Entrepreneurship and Innovation Multi-Donor Trust Fund (funded by The Netherlands, Demark, Italy, Sweden, and Norway); the Western Cape Government’s Department of Agriculture; The Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation Trust Fund; and The Africa Climate Change Fund.

“We strive to disrupt the African Agricultural ecosystem the way we do best by creating resilient markets for our agricultural produce. We will be there soon,” Muli said.

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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Kenyan Agritech Startup Taimba Raises $100k To Scale Operations

July 26, 2019

Kenyan agritech startup Taimba has joined the league of African startup fundraisers. US impact investor Gray Matters Capital is committing $100 000 in the Nairobi-based B2B agritech startup to help it scale its operations.

Here Is The Deal

The investment from Gray Matters Capital was made through its gender lens early-stage fund GMC coLabs.
The startup explained that the markets it wants to take on in Nairobi are Umoja, Kayole, Pipeline/Imara Daima, Kawagware/Waiyaki way, Kahawa west/Githurai, and Southlands/Langata.
Last year, Taimba was one of 15 startups selected to join the Make-IT accelerator.
The startup also emerged the winner of the inaugural Disrupt Africa Live Pitch Competition which was held in Nairobi last year.
Taimba also won $10 000 at the 2018 Food+City Challenge Prize at SXSW.
The deal also marks GMC coLabs fourth investment in Africam with investment ticket sizes of up to $250 000. The impact investor’s other investees include Rwanda’s African Renewal Energy Distributor (ARED), Ghana’s Redbird Health Tech and Nigeria’s Sonocare.
In addition, the investor has also supported two other start-ups from the continent — Kenya’s parent advisory turned e-commerce start-up MumsVillageand Sierra Leone based Mosabi as part of its global digital accelerator program — GMC Calibrator earlier this year.

A Look At Taimba

Taimba is a mobile-based platform that connects rural small scale farmers to urban retailers, restaurants, hospitals, and schools in Nairobi.
The startup was founded in 2017 by Dominique Kavuisya and Joan Kavuisya
Taimba aims to remove middlemen, shrink the agricultural value chain, cut wastage and make products more affordable.
Gray Matters Capital said the startup currently works with 2000 farmers as well as 15 farmer savings and credit co-operatives that sell products that include potatoes, tomatoes, cabbages, and carrots.
Informal greengrocers make up the bulk of Taimba’s 310 customers at 85%, this while restaurants and cafes make up 10% of its customer list, with schools and hospitals located outside of Nairobi making up 5% of its clientele.

“The funding is a shot in the arm for us to strengthen our warehouse infrastructure by setting up cold storage facilities and also our delivery logistics so that we can cater to six new markets within Nairobi,” noted Taimba’s CEO Kavuisya.

Outside of Nairobi, Taimba is planning to launch a pilot in Mombasa and Kisumu City by next year. In addition, the startup is also looking to produce new products that include fruits, nuts, and eggs as part of its farm product catalogue.
The startup also has plans to replicate its model in Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Rwanda over the next five years.
GMC coLabs portfolio manager Jennifer Soltis said Taimba has built a solution that can be replicated in other markets in East Africa “with minimal tweaks”.
The startup’s first deal which was signed last month marks Taimba’s first investment. The company currently employs a team of seven permanent staff and five part-time workers.

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.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/

Iddris Sandu: The High Tech Genius Behind Uber, Instagram and Snapchat Algorithms

July 21, 2019

When Iddris Sandu was in high school, he developed mobile software that would later gain the attention of former U.S. president Barack Obama and land him at the White House, where he received the honorary presidential scholar award. He was only 16 years old. Now 21, the Los Angeles-based young man is the unconventional tech guru who has accomplished many incredible feats, including being responsible for algorithms that have made Uber, Instagram, and Snapchat what they are today.

The software engineer considers himself a “cultural architect” and said he aims to “level the playing field” between Silicon Valley and young communities of colour. Born and raised in Harbor City, California with parents from Ghana, Sandu would never forget a harrowing experience he had when he was eight – his father had wanted to take him on a trip to Ghana.

“But on the fourth day of the trip, he abandoned me in this village, took my passport and came back to the States,” Sandu told Oxford University’s Music and Style Magzine, adding that he was abandoned for almost nine months before getting into contact with an NGO which helped him travel back home.

He got back to the U.S. when the first-ever iPhone was unveiled, and this started his journey into the tech world. “I just got super inspired. I thought – this device is going to change the world.

The reason why the iPhone was so important was that it was the first time when regular consumers could develop for other regular consumers. Before, you really had to work at a tech company for multiple years to be able to offer any sort of input or to create an app. But Apple made it so mainstream. I knew it was the future,” he said.

Just 10 years old then, Sandu started learning to programme on his own for the next two years at a public library and this was where he got spotted by a designer from Google, who offered him an internship opportunity at the company’s headquarters. At age 13, he got his first experience with programming and worked on many projects such as the initial Google blogger, Google Plus, among others.

Yet, Sandu was determined to affect change; hence, at the age of 15, he designed an app for his high school that gave students turn by turn directions to navigate their classrooms. Being the only school in California that had an app made by a student, Sandu received wide acclaim that would later afford him a meeting with former President Obama.

During that same period, Sandu wrote an algorithm that he would go on to sell to Instagram and by the age of 18, he was already consulting for Snapchat before landing at Uber, where he created a software (Autonomous Collision Detection Interface) for its self-driving cars. With the passion to bridge the gap between the informed and uninformed, and to inculcate into young people like him the need for invention and creativity, he left major tech companies to bring that change.

“Information is one of the highest forms of class. And that is what keeps people divided. You should be able to think on a higher level, instead of being strictly consumers. And people of colour, in particular, are more likely to be consumers than creators. It’s really hard to get out of poverty or to change the structure of economic power if you’re always going to be a consumer rather than creating. Shifting that narrative is what I’ve been trying to do. And thus far, it’s worked, it’s successful.”

From encouraging the study of STEM subjects in schools and at higher levels, Sandu, in 2017, met rapper Nipsey Hussle at local Starbucks, and in three weeks, they had transformed an abandoned storefront in Los Angeles into the Marathon Clothing Store. The smart store offers exclusive music and other content to customers who have downloaded an app said The New York Times.

The store leveraged Iddris’ tech and design background and Nipsey’s cultural influences, sparking the interests of many journalists as well as hip hop and cultural icons like Russell Westbrook, Vegas Jones of Roc Nation, among others.

In an interview with the CNBC, Sandu said the store has helped him bridge the gap between culture and technology, and would love others to do same.“We are living in the digital revolution,” he said. Although “we are all constantly exposing ourselves to content in real-time.”

The tech wizard has since partnered with Kanye West and Jaden Smith on some future businesses, clothing lines and disaster relief projects that are set to launch in 2019, according to CNBC. Having created his own music, putting together the sonics and instrumentals in just 3 days to form a full album, the creative technologist is working on a book about recent initiators, including Kanye West; Robi Reed, a casting director; and Edward Enninful, the editor of British Vogue.

With the drive to use all his networks to empower young people in America to make a positive impact in their communities, the unconventional tech genius is already on his way to become a leader for the next generation of influencers and entrepreneurs.

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.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/

Going Forward, Bank Directors Would Pay For Cyber Crimes In Kenyan Banks

July 17, 2019

The Kenyan Central Bank is taking the bull by the horns now. Cybercrimes by banks involving a breach of customer information and eventual stealing of funds will no longer only be thrown open to the court to decide who is liable or not, bank directors will have to pay for any breach of customer information going forward.

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has issued new rules to payment service providers including commercial banks and technology companies warning the boards of directors that they face “ultimate” liability in case of criminal breaches.

A Look At The Guidelines

In the guidelines aimed at stemming cybercrime, the CBK says boards will take responsibility for breaches of customer information.

“Payment Service Providers (PSPs) should carry out regular independent assessment and audit functions that shall be undertaken by the internal and external audit and risk functions … The board of directors is ultimately responsible for the cybersecurity of the PSP,” said CBK.

PSPs including firms like Mastercard, Visa, Safaricom, Airtel, and Telkom have 90 days to comply with the requirements published this month.

Most common vulnerabilities on the internal network (percentage of banks)

Firms working with PSPs are also expected to treat customer information confidentially.

“Outsourcing agreements should be governed by a clearly written contract, the nature and detail of which should be appropriate to the materiality of the outsourced activity in relation to the ongoing business of the PSP,”

“Some of the key provisions of the contract include controls to ensure customer data confidentiality and service providers’ liability in case of breach …”

Some financial institutions are required to collect detailed customer information for anti-money laundering, tax, and accounting reasons.

Privacy experts around the world have recently expressed concerns about how personal data is collected and used by companies.

In April, the government approved a tough policy on data protection, paving the way for it to be tabled in Parliament.

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.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/

Kenya: How Smallholder Farmers Can Benefit From The Newly Signed EU Bank ’s EUR 50 Million Deal For Smallholder Farmers

June 17, 2019

Good news for small-scale farmers in Kenya. This is a huge opportunity to benefit from the newly signed deal between the European Investment Bank and Equity Bank of Kenya. The two banks have signed an Sh5.7 billion (EUR 50 Million) deal to finance agricultural development in the country.

Here Is The Deal

In the deal with EIB, Equity Bank through the program termed Kenya Agriculture Value Chain Facility will provide smallholder farmers and small agriculture-based Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) with credit to expand their operations.
Working with Equity Bank across the country, the new Kenya Agriculture Value Chain Facility will help agriculture companies to modernize and harness the full economic, employment and export potential of agriculture as well as expand business with local smallholders.
The European Investment Bank aims to extend the project to other financing partners in the future with a focus on service providers expanding their reach to rural communities and smallholder farmers.
Agriculture is the leading source of economic activity, employment, and exports in Kenya. Agriculture contributes directly and indirectly to 51% of Kenyan GDP and accounts for 60% of jobs in the country.

Who May Get The Loan?

The loan program is strictly for agriculture companies and ventures that intend to modernize their ventures as well as embark on agriculture projects that are capable of creating employment opportunities for Kenyans. Agricultural businesses that are also interested in expanding their venture capacities may also apply. The enterprises targeted include Value Chain SMEs in agribusinesses that are supporting a smallholder farmer base.

“Equity Bank has aligned its strategy with the Big Four agenda, which includes agriculture, and our focus is on growing the agribusiness portfolio through servicing all segments from retail to SME to large enterprises and corporate banking customers,” said Equity Bank Kenya Managing Director Polycarp Igathe.

Is The Loan Attractive Enough For Kenyan Small Scale Farmers?

The sum of £50 Million has been budgeted to make this happen. This is the first ever dedicated support for long-term investment by agriculture companies in Africa backed by the European Investment Bank, the world’s largest international public bank.

When procured, beneficiaries will have up to seven (7) years to pay back. This is expected to take care of the highly risky agricultural sector mostly affected by adverse weather patterns.

The maximum amount of loan to be procured by the beneficiaries is 50% of the project cost as long as the beneficiaries are eligible.

Presently, the duration of most loans in Kenya is 12 months. 7 years to pay back the principal sum is a big edge. The new funding would be made available in Kenya Shillings. This will mitigate exposure to foreign exchange risks that currently hinder agriculture investment in Kenya.

“It is good to see the European Union’s bank, the European Investment Bank, partner with Equity Bank. This is the first time the EU funds the private sector in the agricultural sector in Kenya directly. There is a great deal of expectation on this new approach. The EU chose it in Kenya because we recognize that smallholder farmers do not need handouts: they need an enabling environment to be successful market operators. This requires access to finance and reducing the risk of investing in a difficult environment.” said Walter Tretton,Chargé d’affaires of the European Union delegation to Kenya.

Which Bank To Get The Loans From?

Equity Bank is the only Kenyan bank to get the loan from, in the meantime.

Equity Bank is the first Kenyan partner to participate in the Kenya Agriculture Value Chain Facility and other financial institutions are expected to join later. Equity Bank is one of the key financial institutions supporting the agricultural sector in Kenya and is a leading provider of financial services to rural communities and smallholders, the EU bank noted.

The EIB also noted that Equity Bank has identified the potential for growth, by adding medium size and large commercial farmers to the Agriculture portfolio as well as focusing on the financing of the Agri-Food processing companies.

Since 2007, the European Investment Bank has made available one billion euros (Sh114 billion) for private sector investment in East Africa through credit lines in both local and international currency in partnership with more than 25 banks and financial institutions.

Equity Bank Now Has Branch In Addis Ababa Ethiopia

Small scale farmers and businesses in Ethiopia may also now benefit from Equity Bank’s line of credit. This is because the bank has set up a commercial representative Office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia as it prepares to expand into the hitherto protectionist economy. The bank’s Ethiopia branch is expected to be fully operational next month.
The entry into Ethiopia, a country with a population of nearly 100 million people, follows the Government’s appointment of a privatization commission and the ongoing reforms which are aimed at promoting a growing private sector.

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.