TOPSHOT-SAFRICA-HEALTH-VIRUS

The COST OF CO₂VID

In many ways, Covid-19 has been Africa’s ‘light bulb’ moment. As an example, a roundup of the new wave of pandemic-inspired innovations being tried and tested in the marketplace in hilly Rwanda.



As countries relentlessly dip into their depleting arsenal to creatively respond to the raging pandemic as also deploy new ideas to tackle it, in many ways, Covid-19 has been Africa’s ‘light bulb’ moment.



The new wave of innovations on the continent has seen governments, universities, corporates and small business rally together to come up with rejigged solutions and find effective ways to combat the crisis. In Rwanda, the ‘land of a thousand hills’ known for its tech startups and encouragement of new enterprise, a raft of new ideas are emerging, from clever face masks to ventilator machines, and food delivery apps to contact tracing apps and robots. We examine a few:



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="400" height="400" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Clare-bio-pic-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42376" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Clare-bio-pic-1.jpg 400w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Clare-bio-pic-1-300x300.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Clare-bio-pic-1-100x100.jpg 100w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Clare-bio-pic-1-150x150.jpg 150w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Clare-bio-pic-1-80x80.jpg 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px" /><figcaption>CEO of Rwanda Development Board (RDB), Clare Akamanzi</figcaption></figure>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">&#8220;We have seen many exciting innovative responses from Rwandan entrepreneurs that have clearly demonstrated their great capacity to adapt and innovate for emerging situations.&#8221; &#8212; Clare Akamanzi, CEO of Rwanda Development Board (RDB)</blockquote>



Drones as loudspeakers?



With 30 employees and operating in six different countries in Africa, Eric Rutayisire’s drone company, Charis UAS, has worked on a number of projects in Rwanda, including spraying pesticides using drones on sites to quell mosquito breeding and malaria.



However, some of these projects came to a screeching halt when Covid-19 struck.



“Certain projects that were meant to kick off had to be stopped and we lost some revenue,” Rutayisire tells FORBES AFRICA.



The CEO says that he and his team had to quickly come up with an innovative way of joining the fight against the pandemic. They saw an opportunity to improve communication systems during the country’s total lockdown period.



“We identified gaps in the way information regarding the disease and the restriction guidelines was being passed to the community. The police would drive around in vehicles with loudspeakers communicating to people. So we approached them with the idea of using drones,” Rutayisire says.



The police quickly bought into the idea seeing as it would help limit human contact whilst also reach more people.



For this, the drones had to be slightly modified.



“We fitted the drones with megaphones and built a communication system that linked them to the police walkie-talkies, enabling them to broadcast messages from wherever they were.”



Three to four drones would be dispatched daily to various far-flung districts in Rwanda, with each drone operated by a team of two people.



Did the company make any profit for this new venture? “Our goal was not to make profits but to support the Rwandan government in the fight against this pandemic. Our company got increased visibility, but that was not our main goal,” says Rutayisire.



The use of drone technology in the fight against the coronavirus is not unique to Rwanda. Countries such as China used drones for crowd control whilst Australia developed a ‘pandemic drone’ to remotely detect and monitor individuals with infectious respiratory conditions.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/FABLAB-4-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-47050" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/FABLAB-4-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/FABLAB-4-scaled-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/FABLAB-4-scaled-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/FABLAB-4-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/FABLAB-4-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/FABLAB-4-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



Face shields as virus-busters



Never before has a commodity risen from ‘obscurity’ to becoming one of the world’s most coveted items of clothing. Face masks have instantly gone from exception to norm, and is the facial armor in the fight against Covid-19.



When the first case of Covid-19 was reported in Rwanda and it became apparent that masks would be essential in curtailing the spread, local garment manufacturing companies, and even neighborhood tailors, rose to the occasion to produce an array of masks to meet the rising demand.



Fabrication Laboratory, commonly known as FabLab Rwanda, which helps young innovators in the country turn their ideas into products, specifically in the hardware and electronics domain, saw an opportunity to produce a different kind of personal protective equipment – face shields.



According to FabLab’s General Manager, Danny Bizimana, his team decided to take a route that no one else in the country had taken before.



“There were too many textile companies in the country producing the face masks, so we decided to do the face shields because we knew that Rwanda ships them from China and they would soon be in short supply,” Bizimana explains.



Luckily for FabLab, the materials to manufacture the face shields are locally available.



“We chose simple, locally-available material to ensure that the production of the face shields can be sustained even through long periods of border closures.”&nbsp;



The company has been producing 500 face shields per day but with the re-opening of the economy, this number has risen.



“Our main clients were doctors, surgeons and dentists. However, now that the hospitality industry is operational, we are now supplying the face shields to hotels and have increased our production capacity to 700 units per day,” Bizimana says.



FabLab initially produced the face shield as its contribution to the national fight against the pandemic, but as demand for the product has been steadily growing, the company is now making profit. The mask economy is here to stay, with a study from Stanford University indicating that they are a crucial step in reopening the economy and can help ensure public safety in a post-Covid world.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/VENTILATOR-1-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-47051" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/VENTILATOR-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/VENTILATOR-1-scaled-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/VENTILATOR-1-scaled-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/VENTILATOR-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/VENTILATOR-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/VENTILATOR-1-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



Locally-made ventilators



With the Covid-19 pandemic causing an unimaginable strain on health systems, one particular medical equipment has been in short supply – the ventilator machine.



The machine helps critically-ill patients who cannot breathe on their own, and is literally the difference between life and death for Covid-19 patients with acute respiratory complications.



So dire was the shortage that in Italy, which was Europe’s center of the Covid-19 outbreak, doctors were forced to make the difficult decision about who uses the ventilator machines and who doesn’t, even as Covid-19 patients flooded hospitals.



Rwanda, like most other African countries, only has a few of these life-saving machines, which are imported and cost anywhere from $25,000 and $50,000 apiece.



It is against this backdrop that biomedical engineers at the Integrated Polytechnic Regional College Kigali (IPRC) resolved to make them. According to IPRC Kigali Principal Engineer Diogène Mulindahabi, the biomedical engineers partnered with doctors at some of the local hospitals to develop a prototype.



“Within eight days, the team developed a prototype called Rwanda Emergency Ventilator (REV001) using locally-available materials. The machine they made met the minimum requirements for a patient ventilator,” says Mulindahabi.



The team of engineers also developed a second portable emergency ventilator prototype (REV002), which can be used in an ambulance.



“Since these are sensitive equipment to be used on the human body, we have to ensure they meet the required standards. We cannot afford to make mistakes. So the prototypes are going through a rigorous certification process,” says Mulindahabi.



The team at IPRC Kigali knocked on several doors in search of funds and managed to receive $20,000, which will be used to finalize the second version of the prototype. The institution is however still open to receiving more support that would go a long way in the mass production of the ventilators. But what will the final product cost once it hits the market?



Between $4,000 and $5,000.



“The country will save millions of dollars and have a locally manufactured product that works just as well as the imported ones. We also hope to take this product to other countries in the region,” says Mulindahabi.



Rwanda is not the only African country to have manufactured its own ventilators.



A team of students from Kenyatta University in Kenya also devised a ventilator machine that has met the standards of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).



Ghana and Uganda have also joined their African counterparts in taking the lead to produce home-grown ventilators.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/F98A4732-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-47052" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/F98A4732-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/F98A4732-scaled-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/F98A4732-scaled-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/F98A4732-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/F98A4732-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/F98A4732-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



Blue-eyed caregivers 



In an age of social distancing, robots are now increasingly being used as frontline health workers in hospitals across the globe.



A study published in Science Robotics states: “Robots have the potential to be deployed for disinfection, delivering medications and food, measuring vital signs, and assisting border controls. As epidemics escalate, the potential roles of robotics are becoming increasingly clear.”



In partnership with the United Nations Development Programme, the Rwandan government acquired and deployed five smart anti-epidemic robots for use in two Covid-19 treatment centers and at the Kigali International Airport.



The blue-eyed robots, acquired through ZoraBots Africa Ltd, have Rwandan names such as Ikizere (hope), Ingabo (shield), Urumuri (light) and Akazuba (sun) that depict the country’s spirit and values.



The mobile robots also feature functions such as facial recognition, temperature screening, the ability to monitor patient status as well as save medical records.



According to Benjamin Karenzi, CEO of Zorabots Africa, the information collected by the robots can be used to inform policy-makers in case of future pandemics.



“The robots are able to capture and store all manner of data and this data can be used by decision-makers even in the future in case such a crisis reoccurs,” Karenzi said during an interview with CNBC Africa.



The pandemic has surely brought forth the crucial role of robotic technology and its power to safeguard and improve human lives. The fourth industrial revolution is surely here.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="885" height="1024" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/JEAN-HUBERT-2-885x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-47053" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/JEAN-HUBERT-2-885x1024.jpg 885w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/JEAN-HUBERT-2-300x347.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/JEAN-HUBERT-2-600x695.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/JEAN-HUBERT-2-259x300.jpg 259w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/JEAN-HUBERT-2-768x889.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/JEAN-HUBERT-2.jpg 933w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 885px) 100vw, 885px" /><figcaption>Jean Hubert&#8217;s company specializes in mobile applications</figcaption></figure>



Contact tracing app



After the partial lifting of the lockdown, restaurants, hotels and businesses such as salons in Rwanda were instructed by the government to record the basic details of their clients such as names and phone numbers. This information would then be used to trace those who might have come in contact with infected patients.



This sparked an idea in Nkurayija Ishimwe Jean Hubert, Founder and CEO of Favouriapps Ltd, a software development company specializing in mobile applications, for a digital solution.



“The idea to record the data was noble but the method used was archaic. I saw an opportunity to create a digital application that would store the data,” says Hubert.



It took him five working days to come up with the app, complete with safety features to ensure the data was safe from hackers.



The next step was to get the right people to look in his direction. He took to Twitter.



Much to his delight, Rwanda&#8217;s Minister of ICT and Innovation, Paula Musoni, replied to his tweet asking him to send his ideas on email.



Hubert says he is now in talks with the ICT ministry. If approved, the app can be used at banks, supermarkets, restaurants and commercial buildings to digitally record the data of every person that comes through the doors.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="759" height="1024" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/JAMES-NJUGI--759x1024.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-47054" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/JAMES-NJUGI--759x1024.jpeg 759w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/JAMES-NJUGI--300x405.jpeg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/JAMES-NJUGI--600x809.jpeg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/JAMES-NJUGI--222x300.jpeg 222w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/JAMES-NJUGI--768x1036.jpeg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/JAMES-NJUGI-.jpeg 780w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 759px) 100vw, 759px" /><figcaption>James Njugi&#8217;s Kikao was birthed out of the need to provide simple and affordable solutions.</figcaption></figure>



Ed-tech platform



Like many other industries, the education sector has not been spared by the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.



School compounds, which were abuzz with activity in January this year, stand deserted with an eerie silence. Others have been turned into Covid-19 quarantine centers even&nbsp; as learners, from primary school to universities, remain home.



Thankfully, there are now a number of free or low-cost, user-friendly digital communication tools that allow for a range of remote learning solutions.



Launched in Kenya in May this year, ed-tech platform Kikao, which is Swahili for ‘an important meeting’, is slowly gaining traction.



According to James Njugi, Co-founder, Manager, Partnerships and Strategy at Kikao, the platform was birthed out of the need to provide solutions that were simple and affordable.



“We did not want to reinvent the wheel, but just wanted to create a platform that was easy to use and would give the clients, whether six-year-olds or university students, a pleasant learning experience,&#8221; Njugi tells FORBES AFRICA.



So far, Kikao is being used by university students in Kenya, three civil service entities as well as Kenya’s National Defence College.



On the future of e-learning with schools slowly re-opening, Njugi says: “We cannot go back to how things used to be pre-Covid. The pace of learning has increased and knowledge is quickly increasing and learners, young and old alike, have been exposed to the numerous possibilities [of] ed-tech. E-learning should not be side-stepped in the post-Covid world, instead, it should complement the conventional learning methods.”



When all is said and done, how can this wave of innovation be sustained in the post-Covid world?



Robert Ochieng, CEO and Co-founder, Abojani Investment, Kenya, who is an expert on financial markets, innovation and technology, says that innovations need to leave the labs and hit the markets.



“An idea that has not been tested in the market remains just that: an idea. we need to focus on testing the innovations in the marketplace and making sales, that way, innovators will be encouraged to do more as they see their inventions put to good use,” says Ochieng.



He is also of the opinion that governments should increase their budget allocation for science, technology and innovation.



“African governments should increase funding for research and development to at least 1% of their national budgets and target to grow this to 3% over time. There is a direct correlation between investment in research and development at national level and the growth of GDP. This kind of vibrancy has seen the rise of tech innovation in countries like Israel,” Ochieng concludes.



– By Tesi Kaven

DRONE 2

What’s New And Exciting In The Land Of A Thousand Ideas

One man working alone at night using notebook during quarantine

Covid-19: The Ultimate Disruptor

They call themselves Geeks on a Plane and they landed in Africa with hope and money in the middle of uncertainty. Many of these investors and entrepreneurs are based in Silicon Valley, one of the biggest US business hubs, known for its start-up ecosystem, high-tech innovations and scientific developments. They have been touring Africa looking for investments.
“Successes are infrequent, maybe 20 to 30 percent of our investments will probably return some capital but the majority of the significant outcomes will be less than 10 percent of our portfolio and the really big outcomes will be under one and two percent,” says Dave McClure, the founding partner of 500 Startups, the venture capital and seed fund accelerator that organized Geeks on a Plane.
The company was launched seven years ago. It has created business opportunities for about 18,000 companies, making around 500 investments a year, says McClure.
“This is our eighteenth trip around the world. We usually take between 20 and 40 people to the different markets in the world and try to expose them to what is happening. We learn about the local market, we meet entrepreneurs and investors, and we tell them what is happening back in Silicon Valley. It’s a great way to get to new markets and meet new people.”
It has been four years since the first investment in Africa. Since then there have been at least 10 investments in sub-Saharan Africa, in payment infrastructure, mobile technology and services. The investment, per company, ranges from $25,000 to $100,000. McClure says some of their investments have failed, but they encourage companies to work hard to break even, as soon as possible, to attract other investors.
<div id="attachment_31484" style="width: 210px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31484" class="wp-image-31484 size-medium" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/3W0A0759-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/3W0A0759-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/3W0A0759-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/3W0A0759-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/3W0A0759.jpg 683w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />Dave McClure</div>
“To create the right risk appetite [is all] about hope and trust. When you think about trust, it’s when you sort of build a network of investors together… We have investors coming in and spending three weeks with us and we showcase some of our start-ups and what we have seen is that those people that are meeting for the first time are creative, so of a similar interest. One of the companies didn’t raise the money before, but with the class they raised $500,000,” says Bedy Yang, the Managing Partner at 500 Startups.
“You often see that intersection with a local founder and a local investor, it is not only among people on the same trip and same small circle, but the idea we open those circles. The reason we come to Geeks on the Plane is we want to map up those circles and narrow the trust quickly and say ‘I want to do something people believe in and write the cheques’.”
Monique Woodard, one of the first black female venture capital partners in the United States, says the best women in business are African women. Despite this, they are often rejected by banks and investors.
“I would say they need to start [considering women entrepreneurs] because I am coming to take those deals… The position of women in business in Africa is quite good when you look at large corporations or family run businesses. When you look at start-ups, we are still at the very beginning of seeing women entering,” she says.
Woodard says in a developing market they first look at telecoms, transportation, broadband, financial services, e-commerce and media.
“The sub-Saharan ecosystem is still emerging and developing market. There’s a playbook of how the developing markets of sub-Saharan Africa can grow and we have done it in other areas as well. I expected it to be different but not impossible,” says Woodard.
Woodard acknowledges fewer girls are taking science and mathematics at school but says she’s hopeful that will change. They have partnered with companies, like Andela in Kenya, to train and place women in the software development industry.
“That’s not something unique to Africa, that’s very much across the board. So, there are things we should be doing, figuring out how to encourage girls to continue with computers science degrees and then continue to be in the tech industry and start their own companies. When it comes to education, we play are role in investing in companies that provide education outside the public school system,” she says.
The company has helped many in Africa, including Hanan Abdel Meguid, an Egyptian businesswoman. In the early 1990s, Meguid, then a student at the American University in Cairo, took a leap of faith when she enrolled for a computer science degree despite not being familiar with computers. She discovered the field was male-dominated, but she stayed in the course.
“I started my first company with friends, right after university, because our dreams and our capabilities were much bigger than the opportunities in the market. A similar experience is happening for Arab youth this day. IT has become a catalyst for change,” says Meguid, who’s now based in Silicon Valley and mentoring in advisory and seed investment programs.
500 Startups has an appetite for risk – amid the turmoil of the week they landed in South Africa, it was just as well.

Risk? So What?

At’s a regular weekday in Kigali’s lively central business district where single-storied shop tenements, with tables heaving with African artefacts, jostle with gleaming commercial towers. On the arterial street by the high-rise Bank of Kigali, vendors hawk cheap clothing, and shops smelling of dust and sweat sell colorful jewelry and bric-a-brac. Most have a cash-only policy, a far cry from the bank next door, which, in its sprawling air-conditioned halls, doles out digital payment solutions for Rwanda’s consumers.
<div id="attachment_28650" style="width: 616px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-28650" class="wp-image-28650 size-full" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Daniel-Monehin-Division-President-MasterCard-Sub-Saharan-Africa.jpg" alt="" width="606" height="902" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Daniel-Monehin-Division-President-MasterCard-Sub-Saharan-Africa.jpg 606w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Daniel-Monehin-Division-President-MasterCard-Sub-Saharan-Africa-300x447.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Daniel-Monehin-Division-President-MasterCard-Sub-Saharan-Africa-600x893.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Daniel-Monehin-Division-President-MasterCard-Sub-Saharan-Africa-202x300.jpg 202w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 606px) 100vw, 606px" />Daniel Monehin Division President MasterCard Sub-Saharan Africa</div>
But the services-savvy Rwanda is proving it’s ahead of most African countries on innovations, not just in the financial space, but in general. As laid out in its Vision 2020 strategy, it aims to include 90% of its citizens in the financial mainstream. ‘Cashless Rwanda’ are the new buzzwords in the corridors of power.
At the World Economic Forum held here in May, Rwanda’s government signed a deal with Mastercard, the technology company in the global payments industry, to promote the move to a cashless economy. High on Rwanda’s agenda is digitization of school fees and national healthcare claim payments.
At the announcement, Francis Gatare, CEO of Rwanda Development Board (RDB), had said: “We are confident Rwanda’s partnership with Mastercard will be beneficial to the country and its citizens as we are implementing our vision of becoming a knowledge-based service-oriented economy. I believe this can only be achieved as we embrace the fourth industrial revolution.”
The MasterCard Center for Inclusive Growth has committed up to $1 million over the next three years to advance economic growth and financial inclusion in the land of a thousand hills.
The country, which famously triumphed over tragedy since the genocide against the Tutsi in 1994, is now up for the challenge of embracing technology to overcome concerns like financial literacy and inclusion of the rural poor, who are mostly still reliant on cash.
How big is the cash economy in Africa?
“According to a recent McKinsey report, two billion people remain outside of the formal economy. Various studies confirm over 90% of retail transactions in sub-Saharan Africa are in cash,” says Daniel Monehin, who leads Mastercard’s business across sub-Saharan Africa as Division President.
“In Rwanda, only 42% of adults own a financial account, whether formal or informal… We know that government cannot achieve financial inclusion alone, and neither can the private sector – we need to work together.”
In September, Bank of Kigali, RwandaOnline and Mastercard launched Irembo – an online payment solution to make online payments safer, simpler and smarter.
RwandaOnline developed Irembo, including six government engines, allowing Rwandans to make online payments to any of these government entities through the use of debit, credit or prepaid payment cards. Residents can pay for driver’s licenses, birth certificates, and identity cards. The portal also allows travelers to Rwanda to apply and pay for travel visas.
<div id="attachment_28649" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-28649" class="wp-image-28649 size-full" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Raghu-Malhotra-MM.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="499" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Raghu-Malhotra-MM.jpg 750w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Raghu-Malhotra-MM-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Raghu-Malhotra-MM-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" />Raghu Malhotra</div>
“At Mastercard, we don’t limit our thinking to ‘traditional’ versus  ‘new’ – we explore what is going to meet the needs of a market and its citizens as there is not one solution that can meet all needs. Rather our focus is on creating a ‘world beyond cash’, developed through partnerships and driven by advances in technology,” says Monehin.
Indeed, Rwanda’s aim for a cashless culture is good news for the city’s new innovators and entrepreneurs.
Afshon Wallace, the 26-year-old founder of 250 Taxi, a web-based transport solutions provider connecting riders and taxi drivers using a mobile app and website, launched earlier this year, says it’s encouraging. Wallace says he caters mostly to expatriates and is witnessing growth of up to 100%.
“The cashless payments ecosystem in Rwanda is still in its infancy. The government’s push for paperless payments through the smart Rwanda master plan has been a great boost and great sensitization programs are being carried out by many players,” says Wallace.
But there are myriad challenges.
“The population lacks the adequate financial awareness on cashless payments. We have had less than three percent of our users asking whether they can use cards.”
Wallace says compared to the M-Pesa service in neighboring Kenya that has seen great success, locally, mobile money is still to catch up.
Yet, products such as Tap&amp;Go (smart cards enabling cashless payments) on Kigali’s public buses are becoming popular.
“We have huge government support when it comes to e-payments,” says Patrick Buchana, the 26-year-old CEO of AC Group, who started Tap&amp;Go in 2015.
David Karuletwa, the Rwandan-Canadian COO of RSwitch, a financial interoperable solutions company, whose passion is financial inclusion using fintech, says Rwanda is primed to be a hub for financial services.
In 2010, RSwitch launched Rwanda’s first debit card issued by banks in Rwanda and later rebranded it to SmartCash card.
“Rwanda and the entire pan-African market are paving the way for financial inclusion using mobile banking and payment solutions,” says Karuletwa.
From paper to e-payments, cash to cashless, Rwanda’s bank notes are moving out of the wallet into the world of www.

From Wallet To www

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are one of the greatest financial innovations in recent years. ETFs, which are essentially investment funds traded like other securities on securities exchange, much like stocks, have enjoyed remarkable success since being introduced in the 1980s. The global ETF industry, and its related products, is now estimated to have assets worth $2.6 trillion listed on 61 exchanges. Not to be left behind, Africa has steadily been growing its share in this burgeoning industry. Currently, there are six nations offering ETFs: South Africa, Botswana, Ghana, Nigeria, Egypt and Namibia. South Africa, a long-time leader in this area, has 34 ETFs ranging from those based on indexes to those based on commodities.
Kenya, through the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), is seeking to become the latest entrant. In a bid to raise its profile, the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) of Kenya has been planning to launch the new product since July 2013. Partly aimed at attracting foreign investors, the expected launch comes at a time when the local equity market is increasingly attracting international investor interest. As the global markets become increasingly correlated, forcing portfolio managers around the world to become more familiar with frontier markets such as Kenya’s, it appears the new product is set to meet ready demand.
NSE’s Head of Market and Product Development, Donald Ouma, says that ETFs will be an affordable form of investment for retail investors as they give broad exposure to equities without having to spend a huge amount of cash. The new product promises to give investors the ability to track indices of various stocks spread out in various countries that would otherwise have been expensive or tricky to come by before.
Furthermore, ETFs are expected to improve liquidity of the overall market which currently spots turnover rates lower than 10%. The low fee structure also means benefits from the relatively lower expense ratios are passed to the investor. Locally, the average mutual fund charges an advertised management fee of 2%. The new product is also set to give easy access to alternative assets such as oil, gold and currencies. The latter could have come handy this year as the local currency lost nearly 5% of its value against the US dollar.
However, limited available exposure could leave potential growth opportunities out of reach of ETF investors. Since the NSE’s main index is still limited to a small number of stocks, ETF promoters may find it challenging to achieve a respectable scale. Another potential roadblock could be slow retail acceptance. According to the Ernst &amp; Young, EY Global ETF Survey: 2015 and beyond, outside the US, the ETF industry’s biggest long-term challenge is low retail adoption. With no way around this, acceptance by retail investors will certainly take time to realize despite huge potential for retail growth. Nevertheless, the benefits outweigh the challenges.
In the initial years, I see Kenya’s ETF industry dominated by very large funds and issuers such as the FTSE Group. The latter, which already has two off-shore NSE-based tradable indexes; FTSE NSE Kenya 15 Index and FTSE NSE 25 Index, plans to list its FTSE-based indexes. South African group, Absa Capital, is said to be in talks with CMA and NSE to list its gold-backed ETF, the New Gold ETF. More large-scale issuers are likely to enter the market. Ultimately, this will strengthen the industry’s outlook by giving investors a broader choice of ETF promoters and product range.
Moving forward, as the growing wave of international interest continues to focus on markets like Kenya, certain key factors will be crucial to ensure the success of the new industry; price transparency, education, investor engagement, patience, liquidity and technology. If ETFs are to fulfil their undoubted potential for long-term growth, all the stakeholders need to ensure that these building blocks are in place. If this happens, then NSE-listed ETFs could easily revolutionize the securities markets in the region.

Tag: Innovations

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