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As the fight against coronavirus continues, Rwanda has introduced a new solution to test and treat COVID-19 patients. According to CNN , the East African nation has enlisted the help of five anti-epidemic robots donated by the United Nations Development Program to the Kanyinya Treatment Centre treating sick patients in the capital city, Kigali. Today, at Kanyinya Treatment Centre, @UNDP_Rwanda handed over five (5) Smart Anti-Epidemic Robots to the Government of Rwanda, represented by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of ICT and Innovation. pic.twitter.com/PVeTMYJHQu — Ministry of ICT and Innovation | Rwanda (@RwandaICT) May 19, 2020 The anti-epidemic robots are said to conduct mass temperature screening, monitor patient status, and keep track of medical records of COVID-19 patients, according to Rwanda’s Ministry of ICT and Innovation . “These robots will perform temperature screening in our treatment centers. The robots will detect people walking in not wearing masks so that...
Bill Gates intends on allocating the majority of his wealth to Africa. As AFROTECH™ previously mentioned, Microsoft founder Bill Gates plans to donate the majority of his wealth by 2045 — an estimated $200 billion. Despite this massive philanthropic effort, he is still expected to remain a billionaire and may even stay the fifth-richest person in the world, BBC reports. “People will say a lot of things about me when I die, but I am determined that ‘he died rich’ will not be one of them,” he wrote in a blog post, per BBC. Gates intends to distribute his wealth through his foundation. The original plan was for the foundation to continue operating beyond his lifetime; however, he now has faith in the next generation of wealthy individuals to carry on his efforts, believing they will be better positioned to do so. “At the end of 20 years, the foundation will sunset its operations,” the Gates Foundation said in a statement, per BBC. In the meantime, Gates will focus on using his wealth...
There are clubs that no amount of charm or charisma can get you into. The kind where wealth isn’t enough if it isn’t old, where opportunity depends not on merit but on access, and where the real decisions are made behind velvet ropes and closed boardroom doors. For far too long, the world of professional sports ownership has been one of those clubs. This is where Jaia Thomas and Diverse Representation enter the chat. What started as a digital directory for Black agents and publicists has evolved into a movement to radically shift the face of power in sports and entertainment. Through events like the recent Black Ownership in Sports Symposium in Atlanta, GA, Founder and CEO Thomas is not just asking for a seat at the table. She’s building new tables altogether. The symposium brings together current and aspiring Black owners, investors, and leaders to discuss tangible pathways into one of the most exclusive spaces in business. Paxton Baker was one of the speakers at this year’s...
Luol Deng investment in men’s sports has led to a first in the Olympics. Deng was a former NBA player for the Chicago Bulls and committed 15 seasons, per Sports Illustrated, to the league before officially retiring in October 2019. Following his exit, Deng turned his attention towards his home country — the youngest country in the world — South Sudan, and became president of the South Sudanese Basketball Federation (SSBF), ESPN reports. “I retired and I always did my basketball camps. I know a lot of players from South Sudan and I knew that we could make it something special,” he told ESPN. “I want to help the growth of the game, but I want to use basketball to change the narrative and the stories of South Sudan, but also find a way to bring communities along and for everyone to get something inspirational behind it.” Fast forward to 2024, and South Sudan has made it to the Olympics, becoming victorious in their match against Puerto Rico on July 28, 2024. This marked the team’s...
Mr Eazi is taking greater control in the gaming sector. Music In Africa reports the Nigerian musician, born Oluwatosin Ajibade, has launched Choplife.ci, a venture that will offer casino games as well as cater to the sports betting industry. Responsible gaming practices and reinvestment in African creativity and sports development are also benchmarks for the company, the outlet notes. The launch of Choplife.ci will piggy-back off the strength of Mr Eazi’s knowledge since he first supported betting company betPawa as a brand ambassador in 2017. The company has involvement in countries such as Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, per Graphic Online. Mr Eazi’s role with the company eventually scaled to ownership through its parent company, with roles such as investor, shareholder, and licensed operating partner. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Choplife Côte d’Ivoire (@choplife.ci) Now, Mr Eazi is set to further...
J. Cole has garnered a reputation for being one of the most humble rappers of the modern era. This is due in large part to Cole’s insistence on wearing plain clothing and shying away from expensive cars and flashy jewelry. Given his down-to-earth style , it may surprise some J. Cole fans to learn that the 39-year-old rapper has amassed an impressive net worth of over $60 million, according to The Street. J. Cole’s net worth was mostly established from his career on the mic, as well as his penchant for producing beats, and on-stage performances across the globe. Unlike many other artists, Cole hasn’t invested heavily into material possessions, instead focusing his time and energy on his family and his craft. Let’s explore the many avenues in which J. Cole has ameliorated his net worth, and examine the state of his career and financial future. Early Life And Humble Beginnings One major contributing factor to J. Cole’s humility is his ongoing desire to avoid ever being broke again....
Nigerian transportation platform Treepz has now acquired Ugabus — a bus transportation service that groups inter-city bus operators in Uganda — due to an acquisition totaling $1.5 million in funding. According to TechCrunch, the funds served as an addition to a previous seed round from August, in which $1.3 million was raised. The contributors to the extension were Japan-based Uncovered Fund, Dubai-based Blanford Capital and Jonomi Capital and Egypt-based Jedar Capital. With recent funding, Ugabus — to be renamed Treepz beginning on Dec. 1 — currently houses 70 percent of the country’s bus operations and over 50,000 customers in Uganda, TechCrunch reports. Now the Nigerian transportation platform is one step closer to fulfilling its plans to expand throughout the continent. “We’ll be able to service most of the major cities in Uganda, but the good thing about East Africa is they have very seamless borders between the countries, so it’s easy to move from Uganda to Rwanda, Uganda to...
Awarded for their efforts in making the world a better place, two trailblazers have received a global award. Created in 2015, the Global Teacher Prize is a $1 million award granted annually to a teacher who is making a prolific impact in the lives of their students. This year a new sister award was launched to highlight a student who is making a difference for their peers and society. Jeremiah Thoronka — a 21-year-old Durham University student — became the first recipient of the inaugural Chegg.org Global Student Prize receiving $100,000 U.S. dollars. “Words can’t express how I feel about this,” Thoronka said. The master’s student stood out from a selection of over 3,500 nominations across 94 countries due to his work centered on sustainability. Growing up in a slum camp with his mother on the fringes of Freetown, they would burn charcoal and wood to be used for light and heat, SwitSalone reports. Here is where Jeremiah Thoronka’s passion for climate change advocacy was birthed. The...
Chipper Cash, an African cross-border payments company, has announced its new $2 billion valuation after its recent Series C extension. According to NairaMetrics, this new Series C extension raised an additional $150 million for the company. The funding was led by Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange platform FTX. SVB Capital, as well as other previous investors such as Deciens Capital, Ribbit Capital, Bezos Expeditions (owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos), One Way Ventures, and Tribe Capital, reinvested in this extension round. Chipper Cash, which was founded in 2018 by Ham Serunjogi and Maijid Moujaled, is a no-fee peer-to-peer cross-border payment service in Africa. Through their app, users can accept payments in Ghana, Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Africa and Kenya — to name but a few places that use the app. In 2021, the company expanded again — this time, into the United Kingdom. By using Chipper Cash, users can send money from the United Kingdom to their...
New York-based startup Andela is building up its remote engineering base to expand into other territory across the globe. Today, the global talent network — which connects companies with vetted, remote engineers in emerging markets — announced its global expansion efforts to accept applications from engineering talent in Latin and South America. By moving into these new regions, Andela’s client base will have an opportunity to lean on regional expertise and nuances to help bolster their international growth. Andela’s track-record has proven to secure opportunities for remote engineers with businesses all over the world. Its esteemed reputation is what will allow the startup company to continue supporting global talent moving forward. A press release shared with AfroTech reports that the startup has achieved a 750% increase in applications outside of Africa over the last six months, and a 500% increase within the continent. Now accepting applications from 37 countries across five...
African fintech startup Chipper Cash is on a mission to make money transfers more efficient for its consumers. Chipper Cash — a payments company founded in San Francisco in 2018 — was created by Ugandan software developer Ham Serunjogi and Ghanaian Maijid Moujaled to provide mobile-based P2P financial services that would allow its users to move their money freely locally, across the continent, and around the world. In addition to its app, the company also runs Chipper Checkout — a merchant-focused, fee-based payment product that generates the revenue to support Chipper Cash’s free mobile-money business, TechCrunch reports. With operations in Ghana, Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Africa, and Kenya, the startup company has scaled upwards of three million users on its platform and is working to operate in a global capacity. According to TechCrunch , Chipper Cash recently raised a $30 million Series B funding round led by Ribbit Capital with participation from Bezos...
NFL star quarterback Russell Wilson and Grammy-winning singer Ciara are investing their wealth back into their home base in Seattle to help underserved Black and brown students. The couple has shared that they’re the latest celebrity philanthropists to back a local charter school through their Why Not You Foundation — a nonprofit dedicated to education, children’s health, fighting poverty, and empowering today’s youth. According to the Associated Press , both are contributing approximately $1.75 million to rebrand an existing charter program known as Cascade Midway Academy and open Why Not You Academy , a first-of-its-kind high school set to open its doors in Fall 2021. Alongside founders @DangeRussWilson and @ciara , we are proud to announce the 1st @wnyacademy in WA State! Opening Fall 2021, this tuition-free charter public high school will increase access to high-quality education for systemically underserved students: https://t.co/6Pl1IjynmJ pic.twitter.com/O38ZTfhRru — Why Not...
The city of Raleigh is launching a groundbreaking drone program that could change the way hospitals approach transporting supplies. Getting medical supplies from one location to another can be a time-consuming task for some hospitals — especially those in large metropolitan areas — and when you’re transporting materials like blood or organs, every second counts. Hospitals are now turning to tech to save time. Recently, UPS partnered with Matternet , a drone tech company, to deliver medical samples at WakeMed’s Raleigh campus using unmanned drones. WakeMed is a group of healthcare buildings, including hospitals, with facilities throughout the city. Both the Federal Aviation Administration and the North Carolina Department of Transportation provided oversight for the project, according to the press release. Not only is this an interesting application of drone technology, but it marks a historical moment. Bala Ganesh, vice president of UPS’ advanced technology group, said, according to...
Andela, the engineering outsourcing company that trains African developers to work remotely for American corporations, has received $100 million in a funding round led by former U.S Vice President Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management. Andela builds engineering teams of software developers throughout Africa. So far, the company has 1,000 workers in Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, and Nigeria, and they work with more than 200 companies. “As the war for talent continues, there’s one macro trend that is both enabling Andela’s growth and powering many of the companies that have found a competitive edge: distributed work,” Andela CEO and Co-Founder Jeremy Johnson said in a blog post announcing the funding round. Bloomberg’s Joshua Brustein points out that one thing that makes Andela so attractive to firms like Generation is that there’s an argument that remote work can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and sustainability is a major mission of Gore’s firm. Other Andela investors include the...
African fintech company SimbaPay and Family Bank Limited— a leading bank in Kenya— have teamed up to launch an instant money transfer service from Kenya to China through WeChat. The companies report that small Kenyan businesses already use WeChat to communicate with their suppliers in China— Kenya’s largest trading partner . The partnership will help boost trade between the two countries as the new service is designed to help vendors overcome barriers in sending money to suppliers overseas. SimbaPay co-founder Sagini Onyancha told Techcrunch a little more about the market his company is trying to get into. “Kenya imports about $4 billion goods from China. That’s the total market that we’re getting into. We’re looking at a single digit market share of the transactional volume around that.” SimbaPay and Family Bank project over 7 million customers and businesses in Kenya will be able to perform money transfers to WeChat Pay through Family Bank’s PesaPap mobile banking application and...