2020 was a year of disruption!
Not only did we find ourselves in the middle of a global health pandemic, but we also had various existing problems being amplified on a greater scale.
The status quo was disrupted as we could not continue life and business as usual.
In an unprecedented way, OPEN INNOVATION became critical for fighting this pandemic. Practically everyone prioritized health and humanity, ahead of profits; making designs for various PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) available without Copyright, the sequencing of the virus was publicized and shared, producers of alcohol converted their lines to produce hand sanitizers and creativity abounded!
Everyone came to fight the disease, with everything we have in our hands.
The resounding message is – We will get through this!
African innovators were not going to sit out of this ongoing fight and have become part of the continent’s defense mechanisms.
Here are some example of how Africa’s Brightest minds showed-up to help us fight the Covid 19 virus:
- Drone Sprayer to be used to disinfect the air of open public spaces: The Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST) in conjunction with the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) has designed a Drone Sprayer to be used to disinfect the air of open public spaces in the time of COVID-19 Pandemic. The drone sprayer will help clean the air from the unseen coronavirus in these areas. The air disinfection by drone is intended to work in collaboration with manual disinfection by humans that target ground surfaces. The drone will target airborne coronavirus that is hard to kill from the ground.
- Solar-powered water and soap dispensers (Uganda) Students at the Islamic University in Uganda have developed a hands-free hand-washer to promote safe hygiene and save water during the Covid-19 pandemic. Their idea is aimed at using technology to minimize contact with potentially contaminated surfaces in low-income settings. “We thought of a way to draw water without having to open and close the taps. This is for people who use soap and water separately or those who do prior mixing of the disinfectant with water. This can be fitted on any water container; a jerrycan, tank, or tin, depending on what one can afford.” The invention works using sensors and a solar battery-powered controller. The device, which costs about $24 (£19.50) to produce
- Drone delivery – Zipline
- Rwanda – Delivering medical supplies to remote areas.
- Ghana – Is helping government officials in the African country of Ghana monitor the spread of the coronavirus by delivering test samples collected in rural areas to medical laboratories in two major cities.
- mPharma is a Ghanaian-based health logistics start-up that makes medicines available by providing innovative financing and inventory management solutions to hospital pharmacies and patients.
- Reliable Covid-19 Rapid Testing kit that gives a result in 65 minutes produced by CapeBio Technologies (South Africa): It usually takes up to three hours to obtain test results, but their groundbreaking kit has reduced it to 65 minutes. The qPCR kits are expected to have a positive impact on managing and curbing the Covid-19 pandemic in South Africa, reducing the reliance on expensive, imported testing kits. As a locally manufactured product, the qPCR could mitigate the reliance on overseas imports, ensuring that testing reagents could be accessed quickly and without a wait. They are also more affordable than international products.
- Wellvis is the Covid-19 Triage Tool (Nigeria), a free online tool to help users self-assess their coronavirus risk category based on their symptoms and their exposure history. Depending on their answers, users will be offered remote medical advice or redirecting to a nearby healthcare facility.
- Vezeeta (Egypt) is a platform allows patients to connect with the best healthcare providers and health services. The start-up recently launched a free medical service consultation service for anyone experiencing flu-like symptoms in an effort to speed preventive care. Vezeeta is also sharing information on knowledge about the COVID-19 through its social media platforms.
- Ventilators – Effective and affordable prototypes are being built across the continent by universities and other organisations in Zimbabwe, Uganda, Kenya, South Africa to name a few countries.
The Covid-19 global virus pandemic should be seen in context, a significant event and not a perpetual reality or life sentence for all humanity.
This is important, because we should not take our focus off of:
- The problems we were trying to solve.
- The opportunities we were trying to maximize and create towards an inclusive society.
- The most important – Continuing to build the integrated continent that we can be proud of.
In June 2020, AfCFTA (African Continenta Free Trade Agreement) was supposed to start coming into force, as various activities of the implementation plan began (postponed to January 2021).
It’s aim is to deliver on the promise of an integrated africa, that trades more with itself and becomes the engine for real and sustainable economic growth drivern by us.
There are 3 main issues to be addressed:
- LOGISTICS – Build connected Trans-Africa Highway links to facilitate increased intra-Africa trade. Building not only quality roads, railways, ports, and airports necessary, but also ensuring that we have the energy, ICT, human resource/soft, and infrastructure required to make all of this work.
- E-COMMERCE for inclusive growth and job creation – The aim is to exploit opportunities for expanded market access and cross-border trading, especially for micro, small and medium enterprises, which constitute over 80% of African businesses.
- FREE MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE in Africa to enable the mobility of labour and skills, as well as the capital, helping to power industrialization.
BC 2020 (Before Covid 19) and now more than ever, the importance of a well functioning supply chain has been highlighted.
According to 2020 Britter Bridges survey of logistics tech companies across the continent, 3 trends will shape the future of logistics in African markets:
- TREND 1: Closing the urban-rural divide – African logistics companies are going beyond megacities and are looking to connect Africa’s rural communities to regional supply chains. Closing this urban-rural (40% Urban, 60% Rural) divide is one of the next frontiers of African logistics.
- TREND 2: Digitalisation of logistics – The innovation lies in the development of digital platforms that match supply to demand, whether it be courier apps that deliver groceries or platforms that coordinate freight delivery.
- TREND 3: The continued rise of B2B logistics companies – While consumer-facing logistics players are seeing promising growth due to rapid urbanization and rising ecommerce penetration, enterprise-focused companies are expected to dominate Africa’s logistics sector in the short to medium term.
Two trends influencing the growth of the number of B2B logistics companies are the low demand for consumer goods due to low purchasing power in many African markets and the lack of reliable addresses for last-mile delivery. As a result, the most viable option for logistics startups will continue to meet the needs of businesses.
Some companies innovating in this Supply Chain & logistics space across Africa include:
- Logistify AI (Uganda): On-demand for warehouse marketplace. Matches warehousing and storage providers with those requiring their services.
- Twiga Foods (Kenya) is connecting produce supply from rural economies to urban consumers by linking farmers directly with vendors on an easy to access platform.
- Achete (South Africa): Online door-to-door delivery service for all your groceries (free deliveries, in response to the lockdown in South Africa.
- Yobante Express (Senegal) – Online marketplace (Web & Mobile) that connects local independent & casual couriers with local commerce to optimize domestic and cross-border last-mile deliveries (from point-to-point until the last mile (twice as fast and 40% more cheaply)).
- QualiTrace (Ghana) – Provides quality assurance for all imported products coming into Ghana, enabling farmers to verify using a simple USSD check. They provide traceability solutions across supply chains such as the agricultural, pharmaceutical, textile, and beverage industries.
- Binkabi (Vietnamese and Nigerian collaboration, https://blog.binkabi.io/) – Binkabi is a platform for issuing, trading, and financing commodities on the blockchain. Enables direct, secure, and cost-effective agriculture commodity trading in a decentralized manner through the use of blockchain technology. Barter Block incentivizes the automatic balancing of bilateral trade, empowering countries to trade internationally in their local currencies. The Binkabi name and logo are inspired by the West African symbol Bi Nka Bi for peace and harmony.
- Kobo360 (Nigeria) Is a technology company that aggregates end-to-end haulage operations to help cargo owners, truck owners, drivers, and cargo recipients to achieve an efficient supply chain framework. With only a click of a button on their mobile and web applications, cargo owners can simply request for any truck of their choice and have their goods picked up and delivered to the required location through an all-in-one robust logistics ecosystem.
One of the silver linings of the many lockdowns was that many people now were seriously thinking about starting their own businesses. This was either due to an opportunity that appeared, the additional time not being spent in traffic, personal reflection or as a necessity after being retrenched.
The above examples are not overnight successes but are due to the continuous effort of multi-disciplinary teams.
We had the pleasure to speak to one of the Co-founders of Achete Online (Stallone Siakam), who started a business during this global pandemic.
He was part of our great panel during the inaugural Moola Matters Series (Financing African SMEs) , joined by successful Co-founders Itumeleng Moagi (Growth Factor Technologies) and Lesego Holzapfel (Bokamoso Impact Investments). During the discussion, we tackled a familiar question that every professional and Business owner
Has to answer at different stages – How do you finance your Business at different stages to ensure that it remains successful?
We would find out that THIS question was secondary because the real question was – Do you have a viable product/service that the market wants and can you deliver it better than anyone else?
In 2021, we look towards having many other panel discussions and more importantly conducting various workshops to equip people to start their own businesses and sharpen their professional skills.
Unlocking Africa’s real potential and ensuring that we become resilient starts with a strong and dynamic skills base.
As Upside Africa we will continue to inspire all people on the continent and in the diaspora, to contribute towards building the continent that we
All can be proud of and have a bright future.