Author: Akin Naphtal

TRB Advisors led a $10 million bridge round for Africa-based healthcare startup CarePoint, with participation from Breyer Capital, Beyond Capital Ventures (BVC), M3 Inc, Asia Pacific Land/ Natural World Limited, and Alan Waxman. Dr. Sangu Delle launched CarePoint, which was previously known as Africa Health Holdings. “We began looking at healthcare because we knew that any socioeconomic development would need us to address healthcare issues as well.” To put it in perspective, we (Africa) account for around 16% of the global population, 26% of the global disease burden, but only 3% of global healthcare employees and 1% of global healthcare…

The use of technology or the internet to connect patients to doctors  goes as far back as 1994 (PDF) in the MENA region, when Egypt is considered that date is 2002. But wars, doctor and patient resistance, poor infrastructure, lack of funding, poor system quality, and lack of information technology training have hindered the adoption and growth of telemedicine in the MENA region. These challenges and the pandemic which force the world to rethink access to healthcare, has created an underserved market for online medical consultation in the region. Esaal, a health and wellness startup, which has enjoyed unprecedented success…

Nigerian cryptocurrency exchange Yellow Card has added Ivory Coast to the list of 16 countries in which it operates as it continues to expand across the continent. Formed in 2018 and launched in Nigeria in 2019, Yellow Card makes it easy for anyone, anywhere in Africa, to buy cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT Stablecoin using cash, mobile money, card, or bank transfer. The company claims to be “building a new financial infrastructure for the African continent”. Last year the startup raised US$15 million in Series A funding to ramp up hiring and continue its expansion across the continent, and…

Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami said technology-led with effective service delivery which puts citizens in the picture, is the key idea underlying public sector reforms in the country. Professor Pantami made this disclosure today Thursday while delivering his keynote address titled Emerging Technologies, Partnerships and Collaborations on Citizens-Centred Technology Governance at the 11th African day International Conference on collaborations on citizens-centred technology conference, organised by the Republic of Slovenia. Professor Pantami in his virtual address informed participants that “citizens-centred governance involves new ways of enabling citizens to prosper. It aims at providing an…

The recently launched Boris Bison Youth Empowerment Business Incubator (‘BB Incubator’) in Douala, Cameroon, together with pan-African video game publishing company Ludique Works and Finnish tech learning accelerator network Start North have announced an MoU to introduce their technologically advanced learning environments or ‘5G Mokki Tech Spaces’ across Africa. The new partnership comes just weeks after Boris Bison Youth Empowerment Business Incubator’s opening ceremony in Douala, during which Cameroon’s Minister for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts Bassilekin III Achille offered founder and CEO Boris Ngala his congratulations and personal support. According to a statement released to the…

Elon Musk, Tesla owner, has expressed the readiness of Starlink, his internet service company, to operate in Africa as the network provider looked to expand beyond the United States and European market. Musk sent Starlink representatives to Nigeria in May last year to meet with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on the launch of the network in the country. The meeting was to prepare the ground for the entry of Starlink in the Nigerian market to provide competition for MTN Nigeria, Airtel Africa, 9mobile, and Globacom, the four networks currently operating in the nation’s telecommunication industry. In a post on…

Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State has been appointed as a member of the Presidential Council on Digital Economy and E-government. This was revealed in a statement by Ibrahim Addra, Chief Press Secretary to the Governor. According to Addra, the appointment notice is contained in a letter signed by Isa Pantami, Minister of Communication and Digital Economy on Tuesday. He explained that the letter indicated the council was part of the effort to implement the National Digital Economy Policy (NDEPS) and the Nigerian E-government Master Plan (NEGMP) The CPS added that the minister described Nasarawa State as critical to the…

Egyptian e-health startup Doxx has raised a US$1.5 million seed funding round to continue building out its fully integrated digital healthcare platform, which connects medical professionals and institutional healthcare providers to support a patient’s medical journey. Founded in 2021, Doxx has developed a medical record compilation service, bringing together a network of 2,600 doctors, 52 pharmacies and 26 medical labs. Doxx allows users to book physical and virtual appointments, and track their consultations while choosing the best medical care through recommendations based on their medical history. The startup’s US$1.5 million seed round, which comes from Openner and Elevate Healthcare, will…

Merchants and consumers from Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Morocco, Nigeria, and South Africa now have another option to make payments worldwide through a Mastercard virtual payment solution powered by Africa focused Fintech firm OPay. Chinese-backed OPay is considered to be among the continent’s biggest payments start-ups. It has now joined forces with global payments company, Mastercard in a development the two companies say will “open up e-commerce to millions of people” across Africa. According to a statement released jointly by the companies, the new partnership enables OPay wallet holders to utilise the new Mastercard virtual payment solution to shop at well-known…

Towards promoting tech innovative talent for an enhanced digital economy, the government of Uganda has entered into a MoU with Huawei to provide adequate skills, training and certification courses such as 5G, AI, cloud, security, data communications and others that are required by employers to Uganda Institute of Communication Technology (UICT) students and ICT officers. Uganda’s Minister of ICT and National Guidance Chris Baryomunsi.Uganda’s Minister of ICT and National Guidance Chris Baryomunsi. Uganda’s Minister of ICT and National Guidance Dr Chris Baryomunsi launched what is described as a talent cultivation partnership MOU between his Ministry and Huawei. According to the…