Search Results for: agriculture

Free calls and data as Safaricom turns 20

Editor

Free calls and data as Safaricom turns 20 Telecommunication giant Safaricom has announced to give away free calls and data for its loyal customers at its Safaricom 20 birthday celebrations at the Serena Hotel, Nairobi. Safaricom which enjoys about 35 million subscribers in Kenya said all its customers will be enjoying free calls of up to 20 minutes within the next 30 days as they celebrate 20 years of service. Ndegwa said, “Each customer will receive a notification a day before to alert them of their free calls. Customers who…

Chinese farmers use videos to reach consumers

Dianne Jacobs
Farmers

Creating videos has become a popular sales tactic for Chinese farmers: the clips show increasingly discerning consumers the origins of the product and provide a window into rural life that captures audience imagination. For some it has helped them find a way out of poverty, which the ruling Communist party hopes to eradicate by 2020. “Everyone said I was good for nothing when they saw I’d come back,” the 31 year-old says of his return to his village after a failed attempt at running an online clothing business. “They tell…

DEMS Volunteers lead nationwide awareness campaigns

Dianne Jacobs

A team of Nigerian media professionals has launched Digital Economy Media Volunteers’ (DEMS Volunteers’), with a view to leading nationwide awareness campaigns on the Digital Economy. A communiqué issued by the group at the end of the maiden meeting at the weekend in Lagos and signed by the Director of Communications, Mr. Peter Oluka, recalled that “Only recently, His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, renamed the hitherto Federal Ministry of Communications to include Digital Economy.  The incumbent Minister, Dr Isa Ibrahim Ali (Pantami), has on many occasions highlighted why this…

Microsoft 4Afrika pledges its support to farmers

Dianne Jacobs
Farmers

Microsoft, through its 4Afrika Initiative has pledged support to the One Million Farmers Platform through disruptive agricultural technologies. As part of the partnership, Microsoft will be providing technical and business support to 14 Kenyan innovators selected to build technology solutions for the platform, a World Bank initiative, that aims to improve the productivity, profitability and resilience of one million African farmers. “Agriculture is a priority area of investment for us, not only because of the enormous number of livelihoods it supports and the economic growth it drives, but also because it…

New off-grid and mini-grid technologies to extend energy

Dianne Jacobs
DPA

Investing in new off-grid and mini-grid technologies to extend energy access across Africa will be instrumental in helping smallholder farmers to meet rising food demand, according to a new report. Africa accounts for just six per cent of the world’s  demand, despite hosting 20 per cent of the global population, leaving rural areas relying on manpower for as much as 80 per cent of the energy used in farming.  In Energized: Policy innovation to power the transformation of Africa’s agriculture and food system, experts from the Malabo Montpellier Panel highlighted opportunities…

High Tech Solar pumps for underground freshwater

Dianne Jacobs
pump

High-tech solar pumps mapping underground freshwater reservoirs across Africa are collecting data that can help prevent them running dry, the project’s developers said on Tuesday. Manufactured by British social enterprise Futurepump, the solar pumps are being used by thousands of small-scale farmers in 15 African nations, including Kenya and Uganda, as a cleaner, cheaper option to diesel and gasoline-powered ones. The pumps’ sensors record real-time data such as energy usage and pump speed in each location, which is shared with the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) to calculate groundwater extraction…

Mali based insurtech startup OKO Finance helps rural farmers access crop insurance

Mali based insurtech startup OKO Finance helps rural farmers access crop insurance innovation

Malian insurtech startup OKO Finance has helped many rural farmers to access crop insurance for the first time ever. Founded in 2017, OKO develops affordable mobile-based crop insurance products to provide smallholder farmers with the financial security they need, regardless of unstable climate trends. CEO Simon Schwall, spoke to ITBusinessDirect about their plans and activites, here is the conversation What is the story behind OKO Finance? Before starting OKO I worked for a very successful micro-insurance provider called BIMA. I was their local CEO in Papua New Guinea and Fiji…

Mastercard puts a spotlight on gender diversity and female entrepreneurship

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Mastercard puts a spotlight on gender diversity and female entrepreneurship

As part of its commitment to supporting the advancement of gender diversity and inclusion in Africa, Mastercard hosted the second edition of its ‘Together We Lead’ event, bringing together celebrated women leaders to discuss the critical role of female entrepreneurs in Africa. Amanda Dambuza – entrepreneur and author, Lee Ann Lancaster – Chief Growth Officer of Mama Money, and Dr. Adriana Marais – physicist, technologist, astronaut candidate with the Mars One Project and founder of #ProudlyHuman, joined a panel discussion hosted by Shamina Singh, Executive Vice President, Sustainability & President,…

Google’s CSquared parnters with local firms to enhance Africa’s affordable broadband

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CSquared, a pan-African broadband infrastructure provider owned by Google and other partners, has said that one of its top priorities is ‘fiberizing’ Africa through affordable broadband internet connectivity. “Fiberizing Africa is about creating value by changing the way Africa perceives internet,” said Lanre Kolade, the newly-appointed CEO of CSquared. “The continent should transition from being just consumers of internet and move to the extra mile of generating its own local content.” Started as a project within Google to build and operate open-access broadband infrastructure in Africa and increase access to…

Role of Technology in efficiencies and food waste

Dianne Jacobs
Food

The 10-year framework of 6 programmes on sustainable consumption and production patterns (10YFP) is a global framework of action to enhance international cooperation and to accelerate the shift towards sustainable consumption and production (SCP), in both developed and developing countries. At the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in 2012, heads of state adopted the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on sustainable consumption and production patterns (10YFP), a global framework for action to accelerate the shift towards SCP in both developed and developing countries. One of the programmes within 10YFP…