Friday, November 22African Digital Business Magazine

Tag: technology

Downfall Of Money by Adeola Adejokun
Nigeria News

Downfall Of Money by Adeola Adejokun

“Oh  God! Power outage again?” “I don't know what's wrong with  PHCN these days,  we have not been having power between 6 and 11pm for over a 2 months now.?” “I don't know why everything is going backwards in this country, even when  I was growing up in the 80s, power supply wasn't bad like this.” “Daddy! Habba! That was like 30 years ago. Hope you're not exaggerating?” “Me?  Exaggerating?  Just give me 5 minutes, let me remove my shirt. Wait! Where's  your laptop?” “At the dining sir?” “Charged?” “Yes.” “Your sister?” “At the backyard, plaiting her hair.” “What of your mum?” “Church.” “Your mum  and Church. Which of the Churches?” “ The one at  Airport  road” “It's okay.”    ...
A Future Option for African Fast Intercity Coastal Transportation
Kenya News, Main, Tanzania News

A Future Option for African Fast Intercity Coastal Transportation

The recent redevelopment and upgrading of Kenya’s Mombasa – Nairobi railway line has revealed a market for faster, affordable intercity passenger transportation services between African cities. Following the recent tragedy of Ethiopian Airlines, the African passenger transportation market might be ready to consider an alternative technology capable of providing affordable, fast travel between several pairs of African coastal cities. Introduction: A transportation technology that is currently being developed in locations such as South Korea, West Germany and Singapore offers the promise of competitively-priced, fast passenger travel between such pairs of African cities such as Mombasa – Dar es Salaam, Lobito – Luanda, Maputo – Beira and Lüderitz – Walvis Bay. Unlike fast trains and airline ...
Tapping into Digital Technology Platforms  to Increase Agriculture Productivity in Africa
Agriculture, Main, Mali News, Nigeria News, Senegal News, Zambia News

Tapping into Digital Technology Platforms to Increase Agriculture Productivity in Africa

by Johan Burger Introduction Africa is a bit of an anomaly as far as agriculture is concerned. On the one hand, it has 65% of the world’s available uncultivated arable land, and it has the potential to feed the world. However, a country such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which has the potential to feed Africa’s 1.2 billion people, struggles to feed its own population of about 70 million. On the other hand, the continent is a net importer of food to the tune of US$41 billion annually. This figure is set to grow to US$110 billion by 2025 should nothing change. We also find that the average age of farmers in Africa is about 63 years, and 85% of farming activity takes place on smallholder plots of 2 - 3 hectares each. At the same time, the youth of Africa are fed-up with the p...
How new sensor technology opens up for smarter presence detection
Tech

How new sensor technology opens up for smarter presence detection

By Anders Jansson CTO, JonDeTech New sensor technology can bring about new and more efficient presence detection in, for example, the construction and real estate sector. The solution is a small, inexpensive, battery-powered and IoT-caged sensor that will also be able to be connected very quickly with the help of the upcoming 5G networks. Anders Jansson, CTO at the Swedish IR sensor company JonDeTech, explains how. A rapid technological development within what is known as the Internet of Things (IoT) means that more and more things in our everyday life will be connected. The connection is made with the help of a gateway or a hub, which can collect data from a large number of sensors, which it then sends to the cloud via, for example, 5G. IoT and sensors will be each other's preconditions i...
Friday@Noon on Agriculture in Africa – 2018
Agriculture, Angola News, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia News, Ghana News, Kenya News, Mozambique News, Nigeria News, Rwanda News, South Africa News, South Sudan, Tanzania News, Uganda News, Zimbabwe News

Friday@Noon on Agriculture in Africa – 2018

by Johan Burger This paper addresses events and trends in the agriculture sector in Africa for 2018. It is based on the media articles addressed in the Friday@Noon weekly newsletters of the NTU-SBF Centre for African Studies in Singapore. These are by no means meant to constitute an exhaustive list of developments. General Agriculture in Africa has been identified as a sector with the capacity to stimulate economic growth on the continent. What is necessary, is the industrialization of the sector, with a strong focus on improving the inputs, e.g. better quality seeds, fertiliser, irrigation and modern farming techniques. Transforming the sector into a lucrative one, is an important step to convince various stakeholders to see farming as a good business opportunity. The industrialisation of...
The future of cards, contactless and biometrics in payments
Tech

The future of cards, contactless and biometrics in payments

By Thomas Rex, SVP at Fingerprints It's an interesting time for the humble payment card. Card payments have steadily risen in the last two decades, but innovation of the card has slowed since the launch of contactless over ten years ago. Until, that is, the recent entrance of the biometric payment card. But what’s the value in updating the card further? Contactless cards have gained real traction in the last decade, especially in Europe. But with many markets across the globe still to take the leap to contactless, and others already looking beyond the card to mobile payments, how can we expect the card to continue to be a success? Limitless convenience Two major things concern consumers about contactless cards: security and convenience. For those already happy ‘tapping’ with contactless pa...
South Africa News, Tech

SA tech company tackles water crisis

“SAVING WATER GETS A SMART SOLUTION“ Cape Town’s drought has changed most South Africans’ thinking around water usage and the future of the country’s water supplies. Government tariffs and self-regulation has meant a re-think in our relationship with water and how we go about using, saving and re-purposing this scarce resource. A Cape Town company, recognizing the need for creating a sustainable home and a more empowered consumer in a future where resources will become increasingly under pressure, has produced a smart water management solution to answer the growing need for the monitoring of water usage at your fingertips. “GaugeIT allows for the evolution of a smarter, more engaged consumer, by empowering them with near-real-time water consumption information directly on their cell pho...
South Africa News

Konecranes presents the world’s first hybrid reach stacker

Konecranes is a world-leading group of Lifting Businesses™ offering lifting equipment and services that improve productivity in a wide variety of industries. The company is listed on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd (symbol: KCR1V). With over 12,000 employees at more than 600 locations in almost 50 countries we have the resources, technology and determination to deliver on the promise of Lifting Businesses™.   Konecranes is proud to announce the introduction of the world’s first hybrid reach stacker - the SMV 4531 TB5 HLT for container handling, with a lifting capacity of 45 tons. It features a hybrid diesel/electric driveline, electrified hydraulic lifting system, and a super capacitor based energy storage. This innovative lift truck will cut fuel consumption and emissions w...
African News

A company that knows how to make things look easy

By Thandisizwe Mgudlwa Alcatel-Lucent has a success story to tell. Its stories, references and activities in Africa in 2012 is a lesson for many other organizations who what to make it big on the continent. In a recently published document Alcatel-Lucent shares references, successes, achievement and activities in Africa; as well as vision of African Market and broadband according to Daniel Jaeger, Vice-President of Alcatel-Lucent in Africa. News from Algiers, Algeria reveal that broadband for Africa, realize the potential of a connected world and tackle rural inclusion. I – Alcatel-Lucent presence, activities and foot print in Africa. II- Broadband in Africa, vision and view according to Daniel Jaeger Vice-President of Alcatel-Lucent Africa. III - Alcatel-Lucent’s pres...
Energy, Green Energy

Dropping Solar Power Tariff Rates Spurring Indian Photovoltaic Generator Market

Netscribes launches report on the Photovoltaic Generator Market in India 2012 as part of Netscribes’ Energy and Utilities report series.   Mumbai, India, December, 2012 --(PR.com)-- Solar PV power generation has long been acknowledged as a superior form of clean energy technology with vast potential, assuming its cost component can be significantly reduced. It draws upon the planet’s most plentiful and extensively distributed renewable energy resource, the sun. The latest report from Netscribes Inc delves deep into this dynamic market propelled by the photovoltaic generator and makes a comprehensive study of the equipment’s market in the country and its ever increasing role in the solar power generation infrastructure.  The report begins with an introduction ...