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

FINTECH Roundup

Vodacom and Safaricom Acquire M-Pesa to accelerate Mobile Money Services in Africa, via Forbes.
A new joint venture of South Africa’s Vodacom and Kenyan Safaricom has recently acquired the most successful mobile money payment service, hoping it will spur the growth of this novel new form of payment on the continent.

Scrap money transfer fees to bridge financial inclusion gap, via Daily Monitor.
In amid to decrease spread of COVID-19, fees scrapped off mobile money transactions has raised questions. Did it have to take a pandemic for these players to realize that the multiple charges were anti financial inclusion?

Kenya’s Fintech revolution boosts e-commerce, via Kbc channel.
EazzyPay transactions and EazzyApp have been rising and its innovation strategies continue to drive payments and transfers. Last yeas EazzyPay transactions rose to Kshs 15.3B and EazzyApp grew by 24% to hit 321.5 million transactions.

Safaricom’s Bid for M-PESA To Ethiopia Gets Turned Down, via Gadgets Africa.
After years of success in Kenya, Safaricom’s most profitable product, M-PESA has been denied by the Ethiopia’s Central Bank saying they would not allow any foreign financial institutions to offer mobile money services.

Ethiopia opens its mobile cash to new players, via standard media.
New regulations under Ethiopia’s Prime Minister allows locally owned non-financial institutions to start offering mobile money services as it seeks to boost non-cash payments in the country and locking out any foreign-owned companies.

Fintech Credit Provider 4G Capital Adjusts Business operations to cope with Coronavirus outbreak, via Crowdfund Insider.
A firm supporting individuals and companies across Africa has introduced operational and services update for its business operations across Kenya and Uganda and shared its dealing with the deadly coronavirus outbreak.

MTN Rwanda Ramps Up Efforts to Support communities in The Fight Against COVID-19, via Taarifa.
MTN has rolled out a series of mobile connectivity, digital and mobile fintech solutions for its community and donated Frw 10 million to Rwanda Biomedical Centre to support them as they work tirelessly to stop the spread of the virus and has offered free MTN calls among health workers for 90 days.

Where to invest in Africa in the face of COVID-19, via African Business.
As Africa heads towards recession due to the high speed spreading of the coronavirus, some highlighted areas that are likely to fare better during the downtown and great investment areas are fintech among others.

How Africa’s tech innovators respond to the coronavirus pandemic, via Aljazeera.
Advanced and low-tech solutions take leading role in the efforts to meet the challenges posed by the unleashed COVID-19.

Nairobi, Kenya made M-Pesa brand’s Africa home, via The East African.
M-Pesa the largest payment platform on the African continent with 40 million users, is set to be hosted in Nairobi, Kenya putting the capital at a vantage position to oversee penetration of the money transfer and payments platform across the continent.

AGRTECH Roundup

Farmers in Nigeria, Tanzania to benefit from AKILIMO, via Premium Times.
Scientists are making progress to expand the prediction coverage of the AKILIMO App to regions in Tanzania and states in Nigeria for farmers to have access site-specific recommendations and agronomic practices in cassava farming systems.

How agritech is sustaining Africa’s food supply in the middle of a global lockdown, via Techcabal.
Agritech businesses and companies are coming out to support the farmers and those in agriculture business to gain access to markets for their produce, developing farmer-specific credit models, and others as a solution to sustain food supply.