Every fortnight we compile a list of important news updates and events covering the East African FINTECH, MFGTECH, CLNTECH, and AGRTECH sectors.

For a downloadable copy of Africa’s Issue #45

FINTECH

Jumia and Solar Taxi partner in Ghana
Africa’s top e-commerce marketplace Jumia Ghana has partnered with modern eco-friendly mobility company Solar Taxi to provide affordable and eco-friendly delivery of online orders for its consumers.
Tolulope George-Yanwah is the CEO Ghana at Jumia Group
Eugene Amponsah-Asiamah is the Operations Manager at SolarTaxi

Kwara a Kenyan fintech company has been selected for the Mastercard Start Path program
Kenyan fintech startup, Kwara, has been selected for the Mastercard Start Path program. Mastercard announced that Kwara is one of the 11 global startups selected to join the award-winning Start Path Program.
Cynthia Wandia is the Co-founder & CEO at Kwara

Ghana and Singapore to create Financial Trust Corridor to boost business support
The Bank of Ghana and the Monetary Authority of Singapore are working to create a Financial Trust Corridor (FTC), a dedicated ecosystem for mutual recognition and closer relationships between businesses, including SMEs, and financial institutions on the platform.
Ernest Addison is the Governor at Bank of Ghana

East Africa’s Pesapal Can Operate in Kenya, Tanzania After getting Approvals
Kenya-based Pesapal, a provider of payments processing services — primarily point of sale (POS) — is touting two recent approvals for conducting business in major East African markets. One approval came from the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA).
Mark Mwongela is the CEO at Pesapal

Airtel customers can now pay for KAPS parking via Airtel Money
Airtel Kenya, a subsidiary of Airtel Africa, has partnered with the Kenya Airports Parking Services (KAPS) to enable Airtel customers conveniently pay for their parking through Airtel Money. To make KAPS payments, customers can just dial *486# and select pay KAPS parking.
Dennis Limoh is the CEO at Airtel Kenya 

Kenya’s Wapi Pay raises $2.2M pre-seed for cross-border payments between Africa and Asia
Wapi Pay founded in 2019 and it provides a payment gateway for African companies to send and receive money from Asia via mobile money platforms and bank accounts. The focus on remittances is the flow of funds for remittances to Africa. Therefore, has been digitized in many cases Focus on delivery rather than building new infrastructure and payment processing models for African individuals and businesses to create Cross-border payments.
Paul Ndichu and Eddie Ndichu are the founders of Wapi Pay

Unitel Launches Mobile Money Service in Angola with Huawei
Angola-based mobile operator Unitel has launched a digital money service – Unitel Money – in the Central African country. The technology will be available in the 18 provinces of the country. The new service will allow users to make deposits, withdrawals, transfers and payments via mobile phone, all without needing a bank account. 
Miguel Geraldes is the General director at Unitel

Banks, CBK hold talks on return of mobile cash transfer charges
Banks are in talks with the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) to reinstate charges on customers’ transfer of money from bank accounts to mobile money wallets. The lenders have witnessed a fall in fees and commissions from such transactions and see the end of the freeze of the charges as the avenue to rev up non-interest income.
Joshua Oigara is the CEO and MD at KCB Group PLC

Nigeria’s central bank partners with fintech firm Bitt Inc for CBDC rollout
Barbados-based fintech firm Bitt Inc will be working as the technical partner for the Central Bank of Nigeria for its proposed e-naira digital currency. The partnership announcement comes the same day the CBN issued preliminary guidelines for its central bank digital currency, or CBDC, called the e-naira.

AGRTECH

Micro Insurance Company and Lofte Kesho to partner for Digital Solutions
The two are partnering to offer digital solutions to livestock farmers to improve their economic well-being. Lofte Kesho, an integrated FinTech and AgriTech player, was created to help farmers collateralize animals as assets for financial benefits such as loans, working capital, cow replacement loans, and investment loans.
Wairimu Njoki is the Country manager at Micro Insurance Company
Bernard Njathi is the Founder of Lofte Kesho

TMX’s online commodity trading boost prices of green grams, Sesame.
Online commodity trading introduced by Tanzania Mercantile Exchange has boosted prices of green grams and sesame which have almost doubled since last year, and enabled local commodities to get clients globally. The online
trading and communication has also made it easier to get local farmers produce and supply global markets.

Nigerian agri-tech startup Zowasel raises $100k financing from Guinness, Promasidor
Nigerian agri-tech startup Zowasel has received US$100,000 financing from Guinness Nigeria and Promasidor Nigeria, a leading pan-African consumer packaged food manufacturer, at the UN World Food Programme Zero Hunger Sprint.
Jerry Oche is the Co-founder and CEO at Zowasel

UNCDF Agritech Challenge 2021 open for innovative Agritech solutions
The United Nations Capital Development Fund has partnered with Atal Innovation Mission, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Rabo Foundation to launch the Agritech Challenge 2021. This should address issues faced by smallholder farmers
around climate change, productivity, and supply chains. 
Preeti Sinha is the Executive Secretary at UNCDF

Start-up, IBM put data in the henhouse
IBM has announced its backing for a small South African start-up called Omniolytics, to help transform poultry farming through the use of digital sensors linked to the IBM Cloud and its artificial intelligence platform, Watson.The poultry industry was valued at more than R46bn in 2019, and makes up more than 16% of the total value of agricultural production in SA.

New online market to boost small holder farmers in EAC
An online agribusiness market to help farmers in the East Africa Community sell agricultural produce has been unveiled. Agribusiness Confederation of East Africa (ACEA) has launched the online agribusiness market to help sellers in the region find markets for their green produce