Nigerian software developing teen, Tomisin Ogunnubi beats 49,900 other prodigies in 170 countries to emerge one of the 100 Global Winners in the $1bn Rise Initiative.
Tomisin will get lifetime benefits of scholarship, mentorship,career development opportunities and funding.
Let’s celebrate this win.
The Apple company is working and developing smart wedding rings, which connect with the couple’s ring and let them know everything about the spouse’s trajectory and the places visited by him or her.
Better yet, if it’s deleted or locked it reports off on the other ring, so the other person will know if it’s been turned off!
In addition, it will have the ability to show the rhythm of the heartbeat, blood pressure, the amount of sweat and other extremely interesting data… 🥴😏🤭
Technology is advancing faster and faster and this wonder will soon be at the service of faithful husbands and loyal wives… 😃💍💍🍎….
If you’re not faithful pls don’t order it because your husband or wife fit come knock the direct door of your hotel room.
©Israel Joe
The Nigerian Communications Commission’s Cyber Security Incident Response Team (NCC-CSIRT) has independently identified two cyber vulnerabilities and advised Nigerian telecom consumers on the measures to be taken to get protected from the cyber-attacks.
The CSIRT, in its first-ever security advisories less than three months after its creation, has solely identified the two cyber-attacks targeting the consumers and proffer solutions that can help telecom consumers from falling victims to the two cyber vulnerabilities.
The first is described as Juice Jacking, which can gain access into consumers’ devices when charging mobile phones at public charging stations and it applies to all mobile phones. The other is a Facebook for Android Friend Acceptance Vulnerability, which targets only Android Operating System.
According to CSIRT security Advisory 0001 released on January 26, 2022, with Juice Jacking, attackers have found a new way to gain unauthorized entry into unsuspecting mobile phone users devices when they charge their mobile phones at public charging stations.
Many public spaces, restaurants, malls and even in the public trains do offer complementary services to their customers in a bid to enhance customer services, one of which is providing charging ports or sockets.
However, an attacker can leverage this courtesy to load a payload in the charging station or on the cables they would leave plugged in at the stations.
Once unsuspecting persons plug their phones at the charging station or the cable left by the attacker, the payload is automatically downloaded on the victims’ phone. This payload then gives the attacker remote access to the mobile phone, allowing them to monitor data transmitted as text, or audio using the microphone. The attacker can even watch the victim in real time if the victims’ camera is not covered. The attacker is also given full access to the gallery and also to the phone’s Global Positioning System (GPS) location.
When an attacker gains access to a user’s Mobile phone, he gets remote access to the User’s phone which leads to breach in Confidentiality, Violation of Data Integrity and bypass of Authentication Mechanisms. Symptoms of attack may include sudden spike in battery consumption, device operating slower than usual, apps taking a long time to load, and when they load they crash frequently and cause abnormal data usage.
The NCC-CSIRT, however, proffered solutions to this attack to include using ‘charging only USB cable’, to avoid Universal Serial Bus (USB) data connection; using one’s AC charging adaptor in public space; and not granting trust to portable devices prompt for USB data connection.
Other preventive measures against Juice Jacking include installing Antivirus and updating them to the latest definitions always; keeping mobile devices up to date with the latest patches; using one’s own power bank; keeping mobile phone off when charging in public places; as well as ensuring use of one’s own charger, if one must charge in public.
On the other hand, the NCC-CSIRT Advisory 0001 of January 27, 2022, warns that Facebook for Android is vulnerable to a permission issue which gives privilege to anyone with physical access to the android device to accept friend requests without unlocking the phone. The products affected include Versions 329.0.0.29.120 of Android OS.
With this, the attacker will be able to add the victim as a friend and collect personal information of the victim, such as Email, Date of Birth, Check-ins, Mobile phone number, Address, Pictures and other information that the victim may have shared, which would only be visible to his/her friends.
However, to be protected from the Facebook-associated vulnerability, NCC-CSIRT in the security advisory recommends to users to disable the feature from their device’s lock screen notification settings.
The NCC-CSIRT was inaugurated in October, 2021 to provide guidance and direction for the constituents in dealing with issues relating to the security of critical infrastructure in their possession, and periodically assess, review and collate the threat landscape, risks, and opportunities affecting the communications sector, in order to provide advice to relevant stakeholders in those regards.
As the telecoms-industry specific intervention, the objective of which aligns with the objective of the National Cybersecurity Policy and Strategy (NCPS) document published by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), the NCC-CSIRT ensures continuous improvement of processes and communication frameworks to guarantee secure and collaborative exchange of timely information while responding to cyber threats within the sector.
In recent times, NCC-CSIRT has raised series of cyber-vulnerability awareness based on security advisories it receives from the Nigerian Cybersecurity Emergency Response Team (ngCERT), which is the national body for the implementation of the NCPS objective. However, Juice Jacking and Facebook for Android Friend Acceptance Vulnerabilities are the two first-ever cyber vulnerabilities published by the NCC-CSIRT.
The National Information Technology Development Agency, (NITDA) in its aspiration to be closer to its stakeholders, today, organized a one-day Stakeholders Engagement Program to cascade its programs, projects, and policies to the grassroots people.
Speaking virtually during the first edition of the program, the NITDA Director-General, Kashifu Inuwa, CCIE, who was represented by the Director, Information Technology Infrastructure Solutions, Dr. Usman Abdullahi, disclosed that the Agency holds its stakeholders in high esteem and would ensure they derive value from all NITDA’s interventions.
The program, which would hold in eight different states across the country commences with the Gombe State’ edition today, January 25, 2022, at the Banquet Hall, Gombe International Hotel, Gombe, Gombe State with the theme ” Creating Opportunities, Breaking Boundaries: Towards Digitalisation and Entrepreneurial Evolution.”
The other States where the program would be taken place includes; Bauchi, Kano. Kaduna Lagos, Ogun, Rivers, and Bayelsa.
According to the NITDA boss, “Stakeholders’ Engagement Program is aimed at delivering values to our stakeholders and this is in tandem with our core values of people first, innovative and professionalism.”
He added that part of why the Agency is organizing the event is its strive to deliver value to its stakeholders. “That would not be possible without listening to you and speaking with you to get clarity on your perspective, aspirations, and needs,” he disclosed.
Inuwa noted that the meeting would serve as a veritable platform to pool knowledge, experiences, and expertise and to create solutions, articulate strategies, and extend the Agency’s services to all its stakeholders.
He emphasized that the engagement would constantly rethink its ideas, system, and processes. He maintained that the objectives of the program are; to offer stakeholders the opportunity to express their views and opinions on matters related to the Agency’s implementation of its mandate, establish a sustainable collaboration and consistent channel for feedback and exchange of ideas, and also share with the stakeholders the Agency’s vision, the regulatory instrument for national development and the Agency’s journey so far.
He assured the participants that the Agency is not oblivious of the fact that more still needs to be done and pledged the commitment of the Agency to make further progress with the stakeholders in the coming years.
The Gombe State Commissioner of Science, Technology, and Innovation, Dr. Aisha Umar Maigari in her goodwill remarks commended NITDA for the roles it is playing in ensuring that policies are also domesticated in states which she described as a better way to ensure uniformity in developing the ICT sector in the country. She stated that the Stakeholders’ Engagement Program is coming at the right time when the state needs more collaboration from NITDA.
She said NITDA has helped them develop a very ambitious state ICT policy and the state has since commenced implementation of some of the initiatives in the document after it has carried out need assessment analysis.
She said the present administration has ensured that civil servants in the state are using dot ng for government businesses adding that the state is building the capacity of the staff also in the area of basic computer operation for its staff and promoting digital literacy in the state especially among the underserved and unserved indigene of the state. She added that COVID-19 has also made them train over 60 persons in the area of digital and online marketing.
She added that most of the government processes have been digitized especially in the area of internally generated revenue to the government.
Participants at the event shared their observations on how they think NITDA could deepen its influence among the stakeholders, especially the rural populace.
UMallam Zakari Suleiman of the Computer Professional Council of Nigeria, CPN, was of the view that NITDA should constitute a monitoring team that would be inspecting all its interventions with a view of ascertaining there proper usage. He said the Agency should ensure that the end-users are trained on how to properly take care of those interventions.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), again, has been informed of a new high-risk, critical and Short Messaging Service-based malware, TangleBot, infecting Android mobile devices.
TangleBot employs more or less similar tactics as the recently-announced notorious FlutBot SMS Android malware that targets mobile devices. TangleBot equally gains control of the device but in far more invasive manner than the FlutBot malware.
The disclosure on TangleBot was made in a recent security advisory made available to the Commission’s New Media and Information Security Department by the Nigerian Computer Emergency Response Team (ngCERT).
TangleBot Android malware is installed when an unsuspecting user clicks on a malicious link disguised as COVID-19 vaccination appointment-related information in an SMS message or information about fake local power outages that are due to occur.
The aim behind both or either of the messages (on COVID-19 or impending power outages) is to encourage potential victims to follow a link that supposedly offers detailed information. Once at the page, users are asked to update applications such as Adobe Flash Player to view the page’s content by going through nine (9) dialogue boxes to give acceptance to different permissions that will allow the malware operators initiate the malware configuration process.
The immediate consequence to this, is that TangleBot gains access to several different permissions when installed on a device, allowing it to eavesdrop on user communications. The malware then steals sensitive data stored on the device and monitors almost every user activity, including camera use, audio conversations, and location, among other things.
Furthermore, the malware takes complete control of the targeted device, including access to banking data, and can reach the deepest recesses of the Android operating system.
The NCC, therefore, wishes to, once again, urge millions of telecom consumers in Nigeria to be wary of such wiles of cyber criminals, whose intent is to defraud unsuspecting Internet users.
In order to ensure maximum protection for Internet users in the country, the ngCERT has offered a number of preventive measures to be taken by the consumers.
These measures include an advisory to telecom consumers and other Internet users to refrain from opening Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) from unknown sources while using your mobile devices.
Additionally, telecom consumers should never respond or send reply to messages or call back a phone number that is associated with the text that they are unaware of. Should any telecom consumer or Internet user become curious and wish to ascertain the authenticity of any call or messages and wish to probe the incident, such persons may do a web search of both the number and the message content.
The NCC hereby reiterates that mobile users are under obligation to practice safe messaging practices and avoid clicking on any links in texts, even if they appear to come from a legitimate contact. Indeed, it is important to be judicious when downloading apps by reading install prompts closely, looking out for information regarding rights and privileges that the app may request.
Other risk-mitigating measures advised by ngCERT is for users to be cautious of procuring any software from outside a certified app store. Advisedly, it is safer to call the company directly rather than using the phone number on the message received, especially if the message is spoofing a company. Finally, telecom consumers and other Internet users should report any incident of system compromise to ngCERT via incident@cert.gov.ng for necessary support and technical assistance.
The Commission expresses its commitment to continuously inform and educate mobile telephony subscribers and Internet users in Nigeria, on cyber risks, however they may manifest. This is to insulate them from the dangers and losses arising from cybercrimes of any kind.
By: Steve Flynn, Sales and Marketing Director for ESET Southern Africa
After two years of unexpected events, how will 2022 stack against what is becoming a much more sophisticated approach to cybercrime? While cloud technology enjoyed an unprecedented increase in its adoption, entire industries were held back after major cyberattacks. To cap off an eventful 2021, many organisations entered the festive season with some form of threat from the Log4J vulnerability hanging over their heads too. Awareness is, in effect, a form of prevention and understanding the increasing trends, which set the tone for the year to come in cybersecurity can only help build appropriate defence mechanisms.
As the world continues to move towards the increasingly common distributed workforce and the steady shift towards the cloud, ESET, a global leader in cybersecurity, says that there has been a greater and understandable demand for reliable end-point security with increases in targeted ransomware attacks. Despite the concern that remote computing has caused, it does present an opportunity for many organisations to modernise their infrastructure and move more of the workloads into the cloud. The result, in many instances, is a more reliable, recoverable and scalable infrastructure set not only for its clients but for ESET too.
The cloud is the limit
Although more of a gradual upgrade rather than a dramatic shift, organisations are moving their infrastructure off-premise as they opt for more reliability, the scalability offered from Cloud solutions that can adapt to the needs of the business.
Employees are returning to work, but it seems more likely that the new workplace will be more hybrid, necessitating unique security requirements. A far greater emphasis on protecting end-point devices is required as security to The Edge is only reasonable in on-premise solutions. As a result, In 2022, it will be necessary for every organisation to evaluate their return to work policies and ensure that the security measures they have in place suit the needs of a hybrid workforce and the protection of their data. Many of the existing security technologies that organisations have in place are inapplicable.
Cyberattacks on small businesses had a massive impact in 2021. Upwards of 60% said they could not recover financially from a severe cyber or ransomware attack. And the massive cyberattacks on the Department of Justice and another South African parastatal, Transnet, in 2021, showed that even large organisations could suffer irreparable harm.
Consequently, there will be increasing demand for high-quality, reputable security software for laptops, which are the backbone for many SMBs and end-user mobile devices.
ESET LiveGuard is a feature that adds a layer of cloud-based protection specifically designed to mitigate threats that are new in the wild by intelligently moving to a protected cloud-based sandbox, virtually eliminating any threat of malware or suspicious scripts unknowingly being opened.
In the partner landscape, ESET provides efficient tools to enable how its partners solution their customers with the best support and cloud-based security products.
System-driven efficiencies
The pandemic continues to unsettle activities that partners and clients relied on previously: face to face get-togethers and engagements, training and other on-premise support. Support services and training – typically delivered in-person in the past – will continue to become the norm to facilitate online, but still, several systems at organisations need to be adapted to facilitate this move.
The benefit of this shift to online-based interactions is that many organisations, including ESET, have found new ways of providing customer support, training and business development, forcing a critical review of many systems and processes.
This fundamental shift will improve efficiency and efficacy in how ESET engages with its partners, clients and customers.
Recently IDC MarketScape acknowledged ESET for the continued reinvestment of its profits into software development, core threat research, and threat hunting. The acknowledgement is a cornerstone of why ESET remains Europe’s favourite cybersecurity brand and fast becoming a significant player in South Africa, too.
Partnering for success
ESET Southern Africa’s engagement with its partners continues to deliver results. Successful partnerships are the core of a vendor’s success. ESET’s re-imagined engagement platform increased support and dedication to helping managed services providers and resellers achieve their sales goals is expected to build on the success that the company enjoyed in 2022.
We expect this to be helped by excellent new products in the consumer and enterprise Cloud space.
Looking ahead
Organisations large and small saw – to some extent – the effects of not having adequate protection in place. Cyberthreats are sophisticated, and cybercriminals will stop at nothing to hold a business or individual to ransom, acquire data, or steal funds. And cybercrime is increasing unabated.
Sophisticated attacks are going to become more personalised, which will drive an even greater need to protect vulnerable proprietary applications from attack.
Organisations cannot operate today without some form of a protective solution in place regardless of where the infrastructure is located or what device it is on.

As we move further into the digital age, paperless systems are becoming a more appealing way to deal with document management and storage. Instead of physical filing systems and cabinets taking up space, a document management system (DMS) enables you to store and organise your important documents in an electronic archive that only permissioned users to access and edit.
The system assists in the generation of documents, electronic signing, authentication and verification, and it can also digitise your existing paper records, making them accessible to retrieve at any stage. By eradicating the need for manual, paper-based processes, a DMS reduces an organisation’s carbon footprint,and requires less human interaction, a key concern in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Carla De Abreu, Business Development Manager at digitalisation specialist e4, says that at a basic level, a DMS ensures that a contract between multiple parties is sound and can stand up legally in court if necessary. “The system allows you to manage documents from generation to validation through to storage and retrieval, seeing to it that all clauses are correctly and clearly defined so that all the parties involved can avoid disputes later in the process.”
While all this can be done manually, is that the most effective way? De Abreu outlines some of the benefits of an effective document management system:
Less paper, less storage space
No filing cabinets means more office space, an advantage at a time when commercial property costs are increasing. Paperless systems also mean less waste, a key consideration in the modern organisation.
Accurate records
A DMS ensures that a document is valid and authentic from the beginning of the contract process to the end. “For an electronic document to be valid and stand up in a court of law, you need to apply the right rules for that specific document and use the right type of digital signature, making sure it is airtight if you do need it at later stage,” explains De Abreu.
Enhanced security
It is essential for an organisation to keep its sensitive data secure. A DMS provides better control over and access to documents – allowing only permissioned members to view or edit them. The system leaves an audit trail of who has viewed a document, when it was accessed and if it was modified, which is traceable, and document tracking capabilities reduce the likelihood of documents being lost or misfiled after viewing.
Improved compliance
Compliance requirements for documents can be complicated, and non-compliance can lead to fines, revoked licenses and sometimes criminal liability. A DMS can reduce the risk of non-compliance. According to South Africa’s Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, a valid electronic signature can take the form of a name typed in digital format at the bottom of an email, an ‘I accept’ tick box, or an electronic or finger signature on a document. The correct electronic signature is critical to maintaining the integrity of a document throughout its lifecycle.
Better, remote collaboration
A DMS ensures that the right parties have access to and know what data is stored on their behalf. It enables all authorised parties to quickly find pertinent documents and collaborate easily as the data can be access from multiple locations.Electronic imaging makes sharing documents over a network via email or the Internet possible.
Easier retrieval
Filing, retrieving data and searching for misfiled documents can be time-consuming and labour intensive, costing an organisation money and can hampering productivity. A DMS, which can retrieve files by a word or phrase in a document – remotely if necessary, is a powerful, time-saving tool.
e4 offers four fully integrated products in the document management space, namely DocFusion, ProSign, AutoVerifiy and StorDoc. “Our system is vertically agnostic, so suited to any organisation sending and receiving sensitive documentation, where multiple parties need data traceability, including banks, insurance companies, cell phone providers and law institutions,” explains De Abreu.
DocFusion is a preferred document generation platform for South Africa’s banks, assisting organisations in the management of documents and data through digital signatures, dynamic barcodes and workflow. It allows for multiple templates of documents to be stored, filled in and generated for different parties. “As banks and other institutions have centrally managed documents, when a clause is changed, our system ensures that all parties get the latest version of the template.”
ProSign enables the user to electronically sign any document and includes the recording of forensic biometrics of each electronic signature. All documents are encrypted, authenticated and forensically audited to secure the contents and instantly detect any form of tampering. “We are in the process of introducing a video signing component, which will meet the ‘in the presence of a witness’ rule but can still be done in the comfort of your home.”
AutoVerify checks that data submitted is correct against a subset of rules from the organisation and authenticates documents such as proof of residence and ID. It allows you to scan and lift certain clauses from documents, ensuring it matches to third party and source data. “This product uses the latest in Machine Learning technology – Optical Character Recognition (OCR), which is the core technology for automatic text recognition.” This replaces a human having to verify documents and scrutinises data to a deeper level.
StorDoc is e4’s flagship product and currently all local banks are using this secure, online FICA and document management system to store documents and make sure that the right level of people has access to them. It includes a complete workflow system to review and approve (or reject) electronic documents.
In summary, a Document Management System can form a key component of a Business Process Improvement Initiative, lowering risk, improving auditability, enforcing workflow, electronically signing, and automatically verifying the contents.
De Abreu concludes by commenting that “Any medium to large business processing documents can benefit from our proven technologies.”
In an internet and data hungry ecosystem, Nigerian corporate space has shown promise and regarded as one of the biggest markets in Africa. With a lot of organization increasingly adopting modern technologies especially in the area of data analytics, cyber security and IT outsourcing to increase their productivity. Having seen this thriving ecosystem, Netcom Africa, one of the foremost information and communication technology (ICT) firm located in the Victoria Island, Lagos has brought a bouquet of services that will enable many Nigerian corporate organizations to scale and deepen their productivity.
Servicing many industries such as Financial Services, the company said that their solutions for this sector is crucial. In their words, they said “The financial services industry has its unique set of technology challenges owing to a complex set of regulations and industry best practices to which organizations must adhere. We deliver flexible technology solutions that will allow you to meet your organizational objectives while maintaining the strictest levels of compliance with security and fiduciary requirements.”
They added that “For a leading Nigerian Financial Institution, the contact center is a vital part of its customer-focused operations. The inbound side takes around One hundred and fifty thousand calls a month, while the outbound team makes over 30,000 calls per month. The outbound calls are a combination of sales activity and customer support follow up calls. To sell successfully, reaching a targeted number of customers at a time convenient to communicate effectively is the best way to close the sale.”
“Netcom Africa has been using the On-Premise Avaya (contact center) since 2012. While that delivered reliability and a range of features, particularly for the inbound operation, the Company’s felt they needed to outsource the infrastructure while giving their distributed contact center operators the ability to have equal access to inbound calls and customer information from a managed service partner. This facilitated their move away from On-Premise to IP based cloud telephony for internal and outbound calls”
“We were working in a single location and at the mercy of a single point of failure. Our Sales Agents were not able to respond effectively to local needs, while our customer data was disconnected from our customer service agents”, Charles Harrington – VP, Corporate Development & Marketing.
On the manufacturing sub sector, Netcom has robust solution for this sector. Netcom Africa added that “The frequent need for innovation and adaptability is amplified by strong economic pressures, resulting in the need for cost-effective and robust IT environments ready to meet today’s fast-paced changes head-on. our solutions provide the Manufacturing and distribution sector with the technology they need to support their business goals.”
Netcom Africa has been known to be the industry leader in various IT solution such as Managed Cyber Security, Disaster Recovery And Backup, Firewall, Enterprise technology/solutions such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Productivity Applications and Unified Communications.
Netcom is Nigeria’s leading Managed Service Provider. Since 2004, companies across Nigeria have been relying on Netcom to ensure that they are connected to the world. Over time, Netcom has transformed to meet their clients demands with a host of leading solutions by partnering with local and global experts and OEM’s. Today they are the leading MSP (Managed Service Provider) in Nigeria with hundreds of companies relying on our expertise and leading solutions to help them navigate their digital transformation.
“The technology landscape is complex and ever changing, and we have a solid understanding of the problems today and the solutions that will drive your business into the future. We not only have the expertise and solutions to bring about fundamental change in the way you do business, but we have also taken that journey ourselves.”
Netcom Africa has provided world-class solutions to various blue-chip firms in Nigeria such as Actis, Hennessy, BW Offshore, Dana, Air France, Emirates Airline, AMCON, Leventis and a host of others.
ANTHONY NWOSU .E.
“For a leading Nigerian Financial Institution, the contact center is a vital part of its customer-focused operations. The inbound side takes around One hundred and fifty thousand calls a month, while the outbound team makes over 30,000 calls per month. The outbound calls are a combination of sales activity and customer support follow up calls. To sell successfully, reaching a targeted number of customers at a time convenient to communicate effectively is the best way to close the sale.”
From better healthcare access to improved food security, machine learning could tackle a wide range of challenges in developing countries.
In 2020, a study published in Nature showed that Google’s machine learning artificial intelligence programme, DeepMind AI, outperformed radiologists in detecting breast cancer. After being trained on thousands of mammograms, the system was able to accurately identify 89% of breast cancer cases, compared to radiologists’ 74%. Just imagine what a difference the deployment of such a system could make in sub-Saharan Africa, where there are 0.2 doctors per 1000 people, according to the World Bank.
And that’s just the start. Marilyn Moodley, Country Leader for South Africa and WECA (West, East, Central Africa) at SoftwareONE, says machine learning can help with some of the region’s most pervasive problems, from reducing poverty and improving education to delivering healthcare and addressing sustainability challenges such as food demand. “Machine learning democratises access to innovative and productivity-boosting technology to fuel the growth the continent needs. It’s fundamentally reshaping how work is done, allowing for a more efficient allocation of resources leading to increased productivity and, in the case of government, improving the delivery of services to citizens.”
Agricultural improvements
The agriculture sector employs over 65% of Africa’s labour force and accounts for 32% of gross domestic product (GDP), says Moodley. “The World Bank estimates that African food markets will be worth US$1 trillion by 2030, up from the current $300 billion. Demand for food is projected to at least double by 2050, yet the sector is burdened with limitations. Land is degrading, soil is becoming less fertile, water tables are dropping, pests are becoming more resistant, and the climate is more vulnerable and unpredictable. All this could have disastrous effects on food availability in the future.”
Machine learning has the potential to improve productivity and efficiency at all the stages of the agricultural value chain, she says. “These technologies can empower small-holder farmers to increase their income through higher crop yield and greater price control. For example, analytics of crop data can help identify diseases, enable soil health monitoring without the need for laboratory testing infrastructure, and facilitate the creation of virtual cooperatives to aggregate crop yields and broker better prices with suppliers.”
Healthcare developments
Machine learning can not only analyse tests and images to suggest diagnoses, but also aggregate data and update patients’ charts. It’s also rapidly expanding into other healthcare areas, including early detection of diseases, treatment and research, says Moodley. “This would free up physicians’ workloads, allowing them to spend more time with patients and on actual patient care. Japan is already looking at augmenting their doctors with artificial intelligence to combat their doctor shortage.”
In Africa, machine learning could plug the same gap, but also address other challenges, she says. “Health systems in Africa face several structural challenges such as shortages of qualified professionals or supplies, resulting in divergent outcomes for patients. Even when facilities and staff are available, affordability and rural/urban disparities can put needed services out of reach of patients.”
Machine learning can enhance these outcomes in the following ways, she says:
· Improve healthcare delivery: Advanced data analytics can help practitioners identify potential problems early and tailor better preventive care. Early interventions make healthcare more affordable and easier for the patient, with better outcomes.
· Better diagnostics and detection: Analysing patterns in data, such as machine vision analysis of x-rays, can make diagnoses faster and more accurate.
· Improved access: Tools such as online conversation agents can extend access to millions of people and remotely diagnose various health conditions using images from the cameras of everyday smartphones.
Moodley concludes: “Machine learning is a powerful tool that can benefit multiple industries, including Marketing; Financial services; Transportation and Manufacturing. Possible use cases are boundless and clearly demonstrate the importance of innovative technology for ensuring efficient business processes.”
COVID-19 has propelled the adoption of digital payment platforms for millions of people across the African continent. The need for contactless methods of making transactions, transformed what was once a nice-to-have into a necessity.
Indeed, whereas the pandemic has bolstered the adoption of digital payments across industries, demographics and payment types on the continent, Africa has always been at the forefront of the payments space led by mobile money services since 2010.
As a company, serving thousands of businesses at varying growth stages across 35 African countries, we’ve witnessed firsthand the sheer drive and resilience that underpins this revolution in digital payments.
It’s the entrepreneurship spirit of the continent that inspires us to innovate for businesses, connecting people and their resources, aligning our strategy to bolster the adoption of digital payments by…
Deepening Our Presence in Existing Markets
Recently, we expanded into 8 new countries – South Africa, Egypt, Senegal, Côte D’Ivoire, Cameroon, DRC, Angola, Ethiopia – in a bid to accelerate the digitization of payments for global, regional and local businesses to build a more connected Africa. By creating seamless payment experiences for businesses and consumers, we’re opening up opportunities for millions to do business, access basic services and even connect with their loved ones when it matters the most. Whereas what we’ve achieved so far is impressive, with coverage across 220 million banking, mobile money and cards consumers, we intend to go deeper in the countries we’re already in. We firmly believe we’ve only scratched the surface and there is unparalleled opportunity in…
Mobile money accounts grew to 1.2 billion with 43% of new users all from Africa
Tapping into the Underserved Offline Payments Sector
In a report by GSMA released earlier this year, mobile money accounts grew to 1.2 billion with 43% of new users all from Africa. Inferring from this growth rate in just one year, it’s clear that the market size for offline payments is significantly larger than online payments. In coming years, we’ll be focusing on this space even as we continue to grow in online payments.
In sub saharan Africa alone, there are 44 million micro, small and medium enterprises providing the majority of jobs effectively serving as the backbone of the economy in their countries. Most of these enterprises and the individuals they serve or employ still use offline or cash payments. Whereas we’re keen on expanding access to these businesses, we can only scale by…
Creating a Win-Win Ecosystem through Partnerships
As a fintech company, we’re deeply connected with the banking ecosystem and view them as partners not competitors. Leveraging partnerships with different entities in the industry from banks, to mobile network operators and large enterprises is a fundamental aspect necessary for growth in the fintech space.
Why?
Because as consumers increasingly use digital methods for their payments – from peer-to-peer transactions to purchasing household goods, paying their bills and accessing fundamental services such as healthcare and education- this presents wonderful opportunities for retailers and businesses to grow their digital capabilities as people move from cash dependency.
Enabling businesses to adapt quickly to these changing demands by providing the right infrastrastructure and relevant value-adds is our driving force.
