Africa Archives - Memeburn

Facebook outgrows JHB office as African userbase tops 170m
By Andy Walker: Editor on 5 April, 2017
Facebook South Africa has outgrown its original Johannesburg office and has expanded to a new location, the company announced Wednesday. "Facebook has moved its Johannesburg offices into new premises, creating a new home for the company to work with its partners to boost innovation and provide an African home for the Facebook culture," the company reveals in a press release. The new pad located in Bryanston "will continue to provide support to Facebook advertisers, application developers and other key partners across the continent". The social giant originally occupied an office in Melrose Arch, Johannesburg, which it held since its arrival in South...
Move aside .com: Africa will soon have its own top-level domain
By Staff Reporter on 30 March, 2017
Africa will soon have its very own top-level domain on the internet. ICANN, a non-profit better known as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers, has this week finalised dates and the launch schedule for the newly-approved .africa (or dotAfrica) domain. .africa will be a brand new top-level domain for the entire continent, and will aim to "forge a unique online identity which will associate your products, services and/or information with the continent and people of Africa", a press release reads. This is great news for the likes of startups, the African Union (who also endorses the move), and other African...
Q&A: Google’s Bunmi Banjo chats Africa’s digital skills growth
By Hadlee Simons on 15 March, 2017
Google's African operations have had a week to celebrate, following the news that they've hit their goal of training one million Africans. The training sees citizens using Google's Digital Skills Programme, covering everything from social media marketing/strategy to analytics, advertising and online video. Bunmi Banjo has been at the forefront of the initiative, being Google's Growth Engine and Brand Lead for Sub-Saharan Africa. We conducted a Q&A with Banjo, focusing on the programme, entrepreneurship in general and more. Memeburn: You recently held an AfricaCom talk titled, 'Why technology providers and OEMs should be the strongest contributors to initiating new start-up businesses in tech and...
Google hits one million mark in training Africans
By Hadlee Simons on 15 March, 2017
Google has announced that it has reached its goal of training one million Africans as part of its Digital Skills programme. The Mountain View company said it reached its goal a month early, having committed to training one million Africans within a year on 16 April 2016. The company has added that it's set a new target. The tech company also revealed that it will provide offline versions of its training materials to people and businesses in areas of low access where it's not possible to hold physical training sessions. "Additionally, Google will provide offline versions of the content in languages like Swahili,...
Cyclone Enawo in pictures: Madagascar laced by strongest storm in a decade [update]
By Andy Walker: Editor on 9 March, 2017
Update, 9 March, 10.24am SAST: More images are surfacing on social media from Madagascar in the wake of Cyclone Enawo's landfall. According to reports, at least five people have died as a result of the storm. "36 hours of stress, 24 hours of fear and 8 hours of hell", @CAREMadagascar colleagues describes the impact of cyclone #Enawo pic.twitter.com/3obLshOoFh — CARE International (@CAREemergencies) March 9, 2017 Just been out for the first time since #Cyclone #Enawo passed by #Tamatave. Rivers are very high and the road to #Antananarivo is cutoff pic.twitter.com/RL04OyNTAm — Mike deCoster-Milman (@mike_dc_m) March 9, 2017 Strong winds in the town of Sambava yesterday...

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Cisco Connect South Africa: company affirms pledge to Africa’s growth
By Andy Walker: Editor on 6 March, 2017
Cisco's SVP Hilton Romanski and country manager Cathy Smith today opened Cisco Connect South Africa with a joint keynote, expressing the company's acute focus on African technology growth and digitisation. Romanski, who is also the country sponsor for South Africa and China, pledged to focus on accelerating the continent's digital adoption rates, both at the consumer and business level. "Technology presents many opportunities and challenges for Africa as the fastest urbanising region in the world," Romanski explains. "Cisco recognises the pipeline of African talent and we are deeply involved in enabling the widespread emergence of tech ecosystems across the continent." Cisco Connect South...
Africa’s mobile growth: Opera publishes its State of Mobile report
By Andy Walker: Editor on 11 November, 2016
Norwegian internet company Opera isn't quite as well known in the desktop browser space, at least in terms of usage figures. Globally, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft's Internet Explorer still command the lion's share of users' internet tabs. When it comes to mobile browsers though, the firm has historically had a huge following in Africa. The company this week published its State of Mobile Web Report for Africa 2016, and with it, a slew of insights into Africa's voracious mobile device and web usage using its software and services as a lens. So, what are some of the key takeaways? More...
Rwanda’s now using drones to deliver medical supplies
By Hadlee Simons on 18 October, 2016
Drones are all the rage these days, but they're being put to life-saving use in Rwanda, in the form of so-called Zip drones. Zipline teamed up with the Rwandan government for the project, which sees the drones able to drop blood, vaccines and other medical supplies to remote areas. "Zip is a small robot airplane designed for a high level of safety, using many of the same approaches as commercial airliners. It can carry vaccines, medicine, or blood. A fleet of Zips is able to provide for a population of millions. No roads, no problem," Zipline wrote on its website. The Zip drones...
Weekend News in Tweets: Haiti recovers after Hurricane Matthew & #Khwezi dies
By Staff Reporter on 10 October, 2016
News moves at the speed of social media in today’s world, and that’s especially the case on the weekend. Take a look at the world news you might’ve missed this weekend through the 140-character lens of Twitter. Welcome to the Weekend News in Tweets (7 October – 10 October 2016). African news Ethiopia's crisis deepened this weekend after the government decreed a six-month state of emergency. The country, which has been experiencing ongoing civil uprisings and protests against the government. According to reports, over 500 people have died since the unrest began in early August 2016. "A state of emergency has been declared...
ShowMax launches two-tier streaming service in Kenya
By Andy Walker: Editor on 5 October, 2016
It's been a great week for African tech. After Pokemon Go was finally made available in 31 of the continent's countries, Naspers-owned streaming video service ShowMax has today launched in Kenya. Citing special requirements for the Kenyan online market, the company has unveiled a "two-tier service" which allows for budget and premium users to enjoy a largely similar service, albeit with a few key differences. "We don’t believe in one-size-fits-all solutions," states GM of ShowMax, John Kotsaftis in a press release. "Kenya has different needs and tastes to other countries and deserves something designed specifically for Kenyans. " the first to put strong...

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The growth of Africa’s ecommerce future lies offline
By Gil Sperling on 26 September, 2016
Ecommerce in Africa has experienced massive year-on-year growth. Despite infrastructure challenges, ecommerce is expected to see 40% annual growth for the next ten years. Africa, outside of South Africa, is a mobile-first, and largely unbanked economy. With mobile penetration reaching close to 70% on the continent, technology has shown extraordinary innovation, especially in the fintech sector. The link between digital media and ecommerce is well documented and easily trackable. For this reason, we’ve scrutinised case studies highlighting the role social media plays in ecommerce success, and have ploughed expertise, time, and energy into building campaigns. However, it is critical to bear in...
Quirk’s Justin Spratt set to join Uber in key role
By Hadlee Simons on 24 August, 2016
Prominent marketing executive Justin Spratt will join Uber from 1 September, TechCentral has reported. Spratt will reportedly lead business development for sub-Saharan Africa and will be based in Johannesburg. The executive told TechCentral that he would be reporting to Alon Lits, Uber's general manager for sub-Saharan Africa. Justin Spratt, once of Quirk, will join Uber in a business development role for sub-Saharan Africa Spratt joins the smart cab service from a prominent role at digital agency Quirk, where he most recently served as chief growth officer. He had previously served as managing director of Quirk Africa. Read more: Businesses can now arrange Uber rides with UberCentral The...
How Africa’s 1bn+ population will transform telecoms sector
By Myolisi Sikupela: Staff Reporter on 18 November, 2015
Africa has earned itself many titles over the years and one of which is that it is the untapped market, with much potential. During 18th annual AfricaCom 2015, which is currently on its second day of the three-day conference in Cape Town, the continent has been branded with another title -- that of being the untapped telecommunications market. Against a slowing subscriber growth around the world, Africa is showing a 47% market penetration and offers 500 million potential mobile subscribers. “Africa’s telecoms sectors will continue to undergo huge transformation. While over the last decade this has largely been fuelled by a series of...
10 of Africa’s most innovative apps of 2015 you should know about
By Nur Bremmen: Staff reporter on 18 November, 2015
Pan-African competition AppsAfrica has concluded earlier this week, announcing the continent's ten most innovative mobile applications of 2015. With entries stretching from Nigeria to Togo and South Africa, the awards recognised a variety of platforms, that include live video and radio streaming to e-readers and many more. "Our mission is always to promote and honour the fantastic innovation across the mobile and tech ecosystem in Africa," AppsAfrica wrote in a blogpost. "We had diverse entries from 21 countries and both the finalists and winners are a testament to how technology is being used to disrupt business models, empower people and drive...

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Africa is the new frontier of impact investing
By Vincent Molinari on 8 October, 2015
In the endless search for global development opportunities, the supply is limited for the first time in history. Africa is truly the last frontier. In fact, 44 percent of its population in 2006 was 15 or younger — and members of the Millennial generation synonymous with innovation — making sub-Saharan Africa the youngest region in the world.