Wingcopter, the German developer, manufacturer and operator of unmanned delivery drones for commercial and humanitarian applications, has secured $22 million in Series A funding. Wingcopter will use the funds to strengthen its leadership in drone-based logistics, with a special focus on healthcare-related applications, including the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. At the same time, Wingcopter is […]
UNEP’s Adaptation Gap 2020 report released last week found that with annual adaptation costs in developing countries alone estimated to reach $130-300 billion per year by 2030, public and private finance for climate change adaptation must be stepped up urgently. Financial institutions have the power to direct investment and project finance to help the world […]
In Africa, as in other parts of the world, Risk 360 is giving our customers real-time information to reduce the threats they face and optimise their resources. It’s taking our service beyond what our clients thought was possible, and helping to improve the international reputation for doing business in Africa. In a secure control room […]
Medicine, Nigeria News, Science
54gene unveils world-class scientific research laboratory in Lagos State, Nigeria
54gene has unveiled its new lab in Lagos State, Nigeria, capable of human whole genome sequencing and a variety of other scientific investigations. Hosting a suite of world-class molecular genomics capabilities, including the Illumina Novaseq 6000 and NextSeq 550Dx the lab is part of 54gene’s mission to enable Africans to conduct genomics research and will […]
While South Africa’s economy took a series of blows over the last year, business owners remain confident that things will slowly start to stabilise in 2021. This was reaffirmed with South Africa’s SACCI business confidence index rising to 93.4 in November of 2020 from 92 in October, above pre-pandemic levels. According to Trevor Gosling, Co-founder […]
Events, Tech
AVEVA’s Third Digital Conference Assembles Environmental Sustainability Experts to Discuss how Technology Is Helping to Lower Carbon Footprint
AVEVA World Digital Conference Convenes Industry leaders to Discuss Emerging Trends, Meeting Sustainability and Business Goals, and The Role of the Connected Workforce in Accelerating the Digital Journey AVEVA, a global leader in engineering and industrial software, announced its third AVEVA World Digital (AWD) conference, themed ‘Accelerate Your Digital Intelligence’ which will take place from […]
Endeavor empowers entrepreneurs for business growth Despite prolonged global market uncertainty, Endeavor South Africa has reported significant growth in their portfolio of disruptive tech businesses. The local chapter of the global non-profit organisation, which supports high-impact entrepreneurs in emerging markets, reported collective raises of R2bn in 2020 alone amongst the portfolio of 29 businesses, compared […]
For a long time, the most common form of industrial painting required the use of human specialist coating teams, and typically, these jobs included the painting of warehouses, machinery or automobiles. It is a large-scale process that demands high levels of safety measures and protective gear and is prone to errors that waste resources, time, […]
Of all the technology sectors to have prospered amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the online payment space has emerged as one of the most influential, following the call for social distancing and demand for contactless payment solutions. “In fact, the Global Payments Report for 2020 published by McKinsey & Co. found that the digital payments sector […]
Something is made, it’s used and then disposed of. Read that again. Something is made, it’s used and then disposed of. We go to all the effort of manufacturing objects, only to discard them as rubbish. Worse still, they end up as trash in landfill or incinerated. After some thought and repetition, the entire process […]
Energy, Mali News
How Optimized Energy Management Delivers Reliability, Efficiency and Sustainability at the Fekola Mine in Mali
Op-Ed By Luke Witmer, General Manager, Data Science, Wärtsilä Energy Storage and Optimization Since B2Gold first acquired the Fekola gold mine, located in a remote corner of southwest Mali, exploration studies revealed the deposits to be almost double the initial estimates. A recent site expansion has just been completed, and while the existing power units provide enough […]
Energy, Main
It’s Time to Rethink Licensing Rounds: For Africa’s Oil- and Gas-Producing Countries, Negotiating the Current Environment May Require…Negotiation
In late 2019, as the African oil and gas industry was looking to the future with optimism, an Offshore Engineer wrote that the continent had reason to expect a “more productive 2020.” Instead, the unforeseen happened, and the COVID-19 pandemic had a devastating impact on the oil and gas industry in Africa and around the […]
African News, Agriculture, Fintech, Main, Medicine
Five Tech Megatrends that can Transform African economies in 2021 and beyond
The world has been experiencing massive digital disruption with the relentless rollout and adoption of disruptive and innovative technologies. Embracing digital disruption is daunting, since it is extremely unsettling with the rapid change brought about within societies and the severe impact on unskilled labor. Even if the African continent will not be spared by digital […]
I won’t sugarcoat it: The situation in Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province is dire. Armed conflicts between security forces and the militant Islamic group, Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jamo (ASWJ), known locally as “al-Shabab” even though it has no connections to the Somali group with that name, have left dozens of people dead and displaced thousands since […]
2021 is set to be a solid year for DRC’s mining sector. The mining community is prepared to meet in Lubumbashi between June 15-17 for the annual DRC Mining Week expo and conference, according to Emmanuelle Nicholls, the Group Director, Mining and Natural Resources at Clarion Events Africa. She also said that DRC’s mining sector […]
Nigeria News
TradeDepot highlights smaller packs and increased food spending as top trends that will shape Nigeria’s retail sector in 2021
TradeDepot, the B2B eCommerce platform for consumer goods in Africa, has today released new insights from its market data that highlights the trends that will shape Nigeria’s retail sector in 2021. According to TradeDepot, the impact of the pandemic, rising inflation, border closures and other issues drove significant changes in behaviour for retailers, distributors and […]
By Hennie Kruger, Head of Commercial Print at Canon South Africa Print and communication service providers specialising in direct mail and transactional applications have come a long way in the last 10 years. To keep pace in our digital world, they have continuously evolved their services to meet the demands for shorter runs and personalisation. […]
The Private Investment Promotion Agency (APIP-Guinea), the organisation responsible for promoting private investment and implementing the Government’s policy for investment development today announced the inaugural Guinea Investment Forum (GUIF) to take place on 24-25 February 2021 at the Sheraton Grand Conakry. Given the current pandemic, this event will be a hybrid event with attendees joining […]
HONOR 10X Lite Combines Outstanding Photography with Stylish Looks and Long Battery Life to Create a Smartphone for the Always-On Generation Global technology brand, HONOR, has created the smartphone of choice for millennials, the feature-packed HONOR 10X Lite. With 48MP AI Quad Camera Camera, 6.67” HONOR FullView display, 128GB of storage and GPU Turbo 3.0, […]
Tech
AVEVA achieves Microsoft Gold Application Development competency and Silver Cloud Platform, Data Analytics, and Data Center competencies
AVEVA earns distinction and market leadership through demonstrated technology success and customer commitment. AVEVA, a global leader in engineering and industrial software today announced it has attained a Gold Application Development competency and Silver Cloud Platform, Data Analytics, and Data Center competencies, demonstrating a ‘best-in-class’ ability and commitment to meet Microsoft Corp. customers’ evolving needs in today’s mobile-first, cloud-first world and distinguishing itself within a small percentage of the Microsoft partner ecosystem. A […]
VPF & National Endowment for Democracy call for tech solutions to protect Nigerians’ human rights during COVID-19 response Ventures Platform Foundation (VPF), the social impact arm of Ventures Platform Hub, has launched a call for applications for its latest incubation programme, Gov Labs – a 12-week programme for tech solutions implementing accountability and transparency within […]
Angola News, Energy
Angolan Legal Reform Shows How Africa Can Use Oil and Gas As a Springboard Towards Job Creation— But Only if It Looks Beyond the Obvious Options
For decades, many of Africa’s oil- and gas-producing states followed a predictable pattern. They treated their oil and gas primarily as raw materials that could be sold abroad for a quick profit, rather than as a means of supporting efforts to make more lasting changes in the economy of the nation as a whole. This […]