This accreditation signifies the company’s remarkable achievements in the field of food safety and testing, placing it among the top global laboratories.

Established in 2015, Nawah Scientific operates an online platform that facilitates high-quality research by scientists, regardless of their location or access to laboratory facilities.

The company receives experiment requests, collects samples, conducts thorough testing, and delivers results electronically.

This accreditation from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is a groundbreaking achievement for Nawah Scientific and for the African continent as a whole.

Previously, this accreditation was primarily granted to European companies.

Dr. Omar Sakr, the founder and CEO of Nawah Scientific, expressed his pride in this accomplishment and acknowledged the significance of this accreditation for the company’s growth and impact.

“Now, Nawah Scientific is firmly positioned on the map of global laboratories and research centers, impacting the company and the Egyptian food market. This opens up collaboration opportunities with international organizations such as the UN World Food Programme, saving costs and time for Egyptian exporters seeking to export to the US market by analyzing samples abroad before export,” he stated.

This accreditation is not only a testament to Nawah Scientific’s expertise but also holds immense potential to revolutionize the food safety landscape in Africa.

It will streamline the export process for Egyptian and African companies, eliminating the need to send samples abroad for analysis, thereby reducing costs and expediting export procedures.

Nawah Scientific is poised to leverage this accreditation to expand its reach into key African markets such as Nigeria and South Africa.

The company has already demonstrated its ability to attract investment, having secured a US$1 million pre-Series A round in 2021 and additional funding from the Cairo Angels Syndicate Fund in 2022.

With this groundbreaking accreditation, Nawah Scientific is poised to play a pivotal role in enhancing food safety and quality across Africa, contributing to improved health outcomes and economic prosperity for the continent.

The solutions are designed to improve efficiency, transparency, and patient outcomes.

The two digital solutions include:

1. Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) System

The CAD system monitors ambulance requests from when a call is received until the patient reaches their destination.

It incorporates a patient report form, ensuring electronic records of procedures conducted en route to a medical facility.

This system will help improve ambulance response times and ensure patients receive the care they need as quickly as possible.

2. Assisted Reality Medico-Legal Surveillance System (ARMSS)

The ARMSS, facilitated through RealWear wearable devices, offers frontline medical workers hands-free, voice-enabled collaboration for audio and visual recordings of medical procedures.

Additionally, it securely stores and forwards these recordings for reporting and investigative purposes.

This system will help improve the quality of care by providing documentation of medical procedures and identifying improvement areas.

As outlined in the statement, the solutions utilize telecom offerings, such as mobile devices, SIM connectivity, mobile device management software solutions, and other advanced technologies.

These technologies will help to ensure that the CAD and ARMSS systems are reliable and secure.

The introduction of these digital health solutions is a commendable effort to address the longstanding challenges faced by public health services.

By focusing on efficiency, transparency, and leveraging modern technology, Vodacom and the Free State Department of Health are steering healthcare in the right direction, ensuring citizens receive the quality medical care they deserve.

This announcement was made during a news conference held during the G20 Compact with Africa summit in Berlin.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz emphasized the importance of processing the raw materials used in green energy production within the African nations where they originate.

This approach, he explained, not only generates employment and prosperity within these countries but also ensures a reliable supply chain for the German industry.

The Compact with Africa initiative, launched by Germany during its G20 chairmanship, aims to enhance the economic conditions of participating countries to make them more attractive for foreign private investment.

Scholz underscored Germany’s commitment to establishing long-lasting and dependable partnerships with African nations.

The group of Compact with Africa countries comprises Egypt, Ethiopia, Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal, Togo, and Tunisia.

Germany’s pledge of $4.37 billion to boost green energy efforts in Africa represents a significant step towards achieving sustainable development goals on the continent.

This strategic move will enable Payment24 to broaden its reach and provide its comprehensive suite of payment solutions to a wider customer base across Europe.

Payment24, initially established as a digital fuel management and telematics platform, has evolved into a global platform developer specializing in payment and loyalty solutions catering to the financial, oil, retail, convenience, transport, and logistics industries.

With a presence spanning five continents and 18 countries, Payment24 is poised to make a significant impact on the European payments landscape.

The acquisition of Inergy 24 will further strengthen Payment24’s European presence, allowing the combined entities to offer customers throughout Europe access to a comprehensive range of payment solutions, including fleet management, mobile and retail, loyalty, electric vehicle (EV), and cloud payments.

“As a relatively new player in the European digital and fuel payments ecosystem, our platform provides customers bound to unwieldy legacy payment solutions with an entirely reimagined digital solution that is quick and easy to deploy,” remarked Shadab Rahil, joint-CEO at Payment24.

Payment24’s investment in Inergy 24 underscores its commitment to better serving and delivering solutions to clients across Europe.

Over the past three years, the Payment24 platform has transformed from a fleet management and petroleum payments solution to an all-encompassing payments and transacting solution.

Payment24 recently launched Cloud Switch, a cloud-based payment solution that significantly reduces time to market for businesses seeking to upgrade their transaction switching systems.

This fully integrated, versatile, hardware-less payment switch supports a wide range of payment methods, combining cloud technology, robust POS compatibility, and a suite of value-added services to deliver an all-inclusive transaction environment.

The program is designed to support the growth of Africa’s vibrant fintech ecosystem.

The startups will receive mentorship, training, and funding from Visa and its partners.

Nigerian startups dominated the cohort of selected startups, followed by Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, South Africa, Egypt, Uganda, Zambia, and Tunisia.

The selected startups include:

• Anchor (Nigeria): Provides APIs, dashboards, and tools for developers to embed and build banking products
• Dojah (Nigeria): Offers a comprehensive Know Your Customer (KYC) and digital onboarding solution
• Moni (Nigeria): Provides low-interest loans to mobile money agent communities
• OkHi (Nigeria): Allows banks, fintechs, and businesses to collect and verify customers’ addresses
• Orda Africa (Nigeria): African restaurant cloud operating system provider
• Traction (Nigeria): Builds the next generation of payment solutions and business tools
• OZÉ (Ghana): Provides digital recordkeeping tools with embedded finance products to medium and small businesses
• The Blu Penguin (Ghana): Delivers an in-store Point of Sale (PoS) system
• AgroCenta (Ghana): Runs a mobile merchant platform for smallholder farmers
• Affinity Africa (Ghana): Provides banking products to the underserved and unbanked
• Duhqa (Kenya): B2B platform for retail distribution of consumer goods
• Power (Kenya): Allows workers to take control of their financial health
• Workpay (Kenya): HR payroll provider
• Chari (Morocco): B2B e-commerce and retail startup
• PayTic (Morocco): Streamlines the back-office operations and risk control of digital payments
• Weego (Morocco): Offers a variety of transportation options and solutions
• Floatpays (South Africa): On-demand wage access platform
• Franc (South Africa): Allows users to invest in leading cash and equity funds
• OnLife (South Africa): All-in-one money management wallet
• Sympl (Egypt): Enables customers to shop and pay later, with no interest
• Eversend (Uganda): Payments platform offering cross-border payments, virtual cards, currency exchange, and crypto buying and selling
  PremierCredit
• (Zambia): Online microlending and investment platform
• Konnect (Tunisia): Offers payment links by SMS, email, Messenger, or WhatsApp

Visa is committed to supporting the growth of Africa’s fintech ecosystem.

The company has a history of investing in African fintech startups, including Paystack, Interswitch, and Flutterwave.

The Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator is another example of Visa’s commitment to supporting innovation and growth in Africa.

This is the first time that USAID has awarded a grant specifically to support electric bus development in East Africa, and it is a sign of the growing recognition of the potential of electric vehicles to help the region reduce its reliance on fossil fuels and improve air quality.

BasiGo plans to deliver 200 electric buses to Rwanda before the end of 2024 as part of a commercial partnership with the Rwandan company AC Group.

The fleet will be operated mainly by public transport operators Kigali Bus Service, Royal Express, and Volcano. BasiGo will also provide them with all recharging and maintenance services.

The grant from USAID will be used to support the pilot testing of the electric buses in Kigali and help BasiGo refine its business model and develop financing solutions for bus operators.

The expansion of BasiGo’s operations to Rwanda is a significant step towards the electrification of public transport in East Africa.

It is also a testament to the company’s commitment to making electric buses affordable and accessible to transport operators in the region.

The success of the startup’s electric bus operations in Rwanda could pave the way for the wider deployment of electric buses in other East African countries.

This is expected to have a significant positive impact on the region’s environment and public health.

The finalists will battle it out to represent Africa at the Startup World Cup in San Francisco in December, where they will have the chance to win a US$1 million grand prize.

The finalists are:

• AsaanaPay (Kenya) – a payments and rewards platform for minority-owned businesses
• Tausi App (Kenya) – a beauty startup that connects beauticians to clients
• Ukwenza VR (Kenya) – a VR-based educational content provider
• BenaCare (Kenya) – a homecare platform
• Kyanda Africa (Kenya) – a payments service
• Delta Scan (South Africa) – a specialist engineering inspection, digitization and BIM company
• Oneway Connect (South Africa) – a job matching and recruitment software
• Hippocampus Education (South Africa) – an adaptive tutoring Facebook Messenger bot
• Gradlinc (South Africa) – a platform that helps prepare graduates for the workplace and connects them with opportunities
• Bus54 (Nigeria) – a mobility technology company that provides a platform to aggregate intercity bus transportation in Africa

The AfricaIgnite Pitch Competition Final will take place at the Africa Tech Festival in Cape Town on November 16, 2023.

The winning venture will be selected to represent Africa at the Startup World Cup in December.

The AfricaIgnite Pitch Competition is a unique opportunity for African startups to showcase their innovative solutions to a global audience and compete for funding and mentorship.

The competition is also a platform to promote the African tech ecosystem and encourage investment in African startups.

The latest tranche of $130 million was secured through CI Capital, bringing MNT-Halan’s total funding to over $1 billion, granting it unicorn status.

Founded in 2018 to digitally bank the unbanked and substitute cash with electronic solutions, MNT-Halan has rapidly expanded its reach and impact.
The company’s digital ecosystem encompasses small and micro business lending, payments, consumer finance, and e-commerce, serving over seven million customers in Egypt.

The compansecuritizationtion issuances have been met with strong investor demand, reflecting the resilience of its business model, the high quality of its loan book, and the robust pay-back ability of its underlying assets.
“We are seeing very strong demand for off-balance sheet funding as we enter 2024,” said founder and CEO Mounir Nakhla.
“This is primarily a result of the high quality of our underwriting. This gives us great comfort as our loan book of US$650 million is growing at four-five per cent month-over-month. We are excited to continue launching new digital financial products in Egypt and beyond.”

All of MNT-Hasecuritizationsations have been rated Prime 1 for the short-term tranches, while the longer-term tranches varied between A and A+ by MERIS (Middle East Rating & Investor Service).
In addition to CIB and CI Capital, participating regional and local financial institutions included Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait, Al Baraka Bank, Arab African International Bank, Arab African Investment Management, Midbank, Misr Asset Management, SAIB Bank, ABC Bank, Arab International Bank, Banque Misr and the Housing and Development Bank.

MNT-Halan’s achievement of unicorn status marks a significant milestone for the company and the Egyptian fintech industry. The company’s success demonstrates the potential of innovative financial technology solutions to drive financial inclusion and economic growth in Egypt and beyond.