Marrakesh: Despite challenges like inequality and limited digitalization, African startups addressing neglected needs are drawing attention to the growing tech scene.
At this week’s GITEX Africa trade show in Marrakech, Morocco, climate change and innovation in health care showcased the growing industry.
One exhibitor, Charles Mendy, started the program three years ago with a business partner to give people working abroad better control over the money they send to their families.
Currently only available to the Senegalese diaspora, this application allows you to pay bills such as electricity or phone bills directly or convert them into vouchers to buy in supermarkets.
According to the World Bank, remittances to sub-Saharan African countries totaled more than $50 billion last year.
“If you’re not Senegalese, you can’t imagine this is a problem that people are facing.”
The International Finance Corporation, the private arm of the World Bank, says Africa’s startup ecosystem, especially mobile payments, is the fastest growing in the world.
But significant inequality weighs on the continent, characterized by extensive digitization and a difficult financial environment.
Private equity fund Partech Africa says the continent’s tech ecosystem was worth $3.5 billion last year, down 46 percent from 2022, and has lost half of its active investors.
Benny Mmbaga, head of investment at Maua Mazuri, a biotechnology startup focused on increasing banana production, said foreign investors “do not understand” the need for an innovative approach when it is set in 2020.
“In East Africa, bananas are used for everything,” and although Tanzania has some of the largest banana crops in the world, its harvest has lagged behind other countries since 2020 because of the widespread virus.
Today, the initiative helps 1,000 resistant seed farmers and generates $655,000 a year.
“Investors now understand the need,” he said.
According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, or UNECA, more than half of Africa’s 1.4 billion people live in poverty and lack access to healthcare.
“The government only spends six percent of GDP on health,” said Mactar Sek, head of innovation and technology at UNECA.
“We have to do something. Half of the African population does not have access to health care.”
Rene Ngamau founded CheckUps, a company that provides “technology-enabled” medicine and delivery services in remote areas of Kenya and South Sudan.
Through the mobile application, patients can access affordable medical care without age or medical record criteria, get a small loan from a partner bank or contact the nearest nurse.
The company also provides services to the relatives of the primary beneficiaries.
“We understand our ecosystem,” said Ngamau, 53. “African families are built differently, so we allow beneficiaries to share the benefits with their parents and neighbors who are important to them.”
Ulrich Kouesso, a doctor and entrepreneur in Kinshasa, launched the LukaPharma application, a map of nearby pharmacies in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Kouesso said the program solves three problems: finding a pharmacy in a city of 15 million people, the phenomenon of “fake pharmacies” that operate without a license, and finding needed drugs, especially cancer drugs.
“People don’t realize the potential that technology can bring to solving their problems,” Kouesso said.
