Telecom
Mastercard, AfDB Partner to Accelerate Digital Transformation in Africa
Mastercard and the African Development Bank Group have launched the Mobilizing Access to the Digital Economy (MADE) Alliance: Africa to extend digital access to critical services to 100 million individuals and businesses in Africa over the next 10 years. The announcement was made on the sidelines of the U.S.-Africa Business Forum hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The Alliance will initially focus on supporting the agricultural sector and women. Among the first efforts will be a pilot program launching this year to support three million farmers in Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria by working with local banks to provide digital identities and access to high-quality seeds and agricultural inputs. The Alliance intends to expand to Uganda, Ethiopia, Ghana and the rest of the continent.
“Mastercard’s work leading the new MADE Alliance: Africa aims to provide 100 million people greater digital access to critical services,” said Michael Miebach, CEO of Mastercard. “Across Africa, people are driving new growth and opportunity, and Mastercard wants to support their success.
“This Alliance builds on the innovations and investments we are already making with partners in 45 countries to enhance Africa’s digital infrastructure and accelerate inclusive growth.”
As co-chairs, the African Development Bank Group will invest $300 million to support Alliance programs, providing funding for digital infrastructure and incentivizing ecosystem actors to enhance digital access, and Mastercard will register 15 million users in Africa onto its Community Pass platform within five years, with interoperable digital infrastructure to facilitate involvement from a range of ecosystem participants.
Launched in 2020, Community Pass is a social enterprise at Mastercard that digitizes and connects remote, underserved communities to governments, NGOs and the private sector for access to critical services.
“The African Development Bank Group believes that digitalization via Mastercard Community Pass can play a vital role in increasing the adoption of agricultural technologies to help feed Africa, as well as improve incomes of millions of African smallholder farmers. Joining the Mobilizing Access to the Digital Economy Alliance: Africa will amplify and multiply the impact of the Bank’s investments to build sustainable, climate-smart food systems across the continent.
“We applaud U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’ commitment to financial and digital inclusion in Africa,” said African Development Bank Group President Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina.
To enable more people to join the digital economy, an ecosystem of public and private sector partners is critical. The Alliance matches partners’ complementary strengths in key geographies to promote sustainable digital access. Together, the partners will deliver connectivity, skilling, employment and digital access to financial and other critical services.
More than half a dozen organizations have committed to participate in the MADE Alliance: Africa at launch, including Equity Bank, Microsoft, Heifer International, Unconnected.org and Syngenta Foundation. The African Development Bank Group and Mastercard will serve as initial co-chairs of the effort.
The efforts of the MADE Alliance: Africa will support the U.S. Digital Transformation with Africa Initiative (DTA) and the African Union’s Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa (DTS). It also ties into other business objectives announced this year focused on Africa, including:
- A memorandum of agreement with the International Trade Administration, a bureau within the U.S. Department of Commerce, to advance digital access and inclusion in Africa based on a mutual interest to support the aims of the U.S. Government’s Digital Transformation with Africa initiative and MADE Alliance: Africa. This collaboration builds on Mastercard hosting U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo during AmCham in Nairobi in April for a “Digital Showcase” on best practices and lessons learned for building and scaling digital solutions across the continent of Africa.
- EdTech Africa, a new partnership between the Government of Kenya, Kenyan President Ruto and the U.S., which builds on Mastercard’s existing multi-million-dollar investments with the Atlanta University Consortium (AUC) Data Science Initiative and Howard University’s Center for Applied Data Science & Analytics Initiative. This effort cultivates educational exchanges between Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and African scholars in the ever-evolving landscape of emerging technology and is an example of innovation, talent empowerment and cross-cultural connectivity across the African diaspora, poised to drive forward education and technology for young leaders of Africa and America.
- A new partnership involving Mastercard Community Pass, the Co-operative Bank of Kenya, the Shell Foundation, and the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office that gives smallholder farmers access to a digital marketplace and enables affordable credit to buy clean energy tools that support farmers’ incomes, such as solar-powered irrigation pumps. First announced in January, the effort aligns to Mastercard’s involvement with two USAID initiatives: the President’s Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience (PREPARE) and the Women in the Digital Economy Fund (WiDEF).
Bringing together public and private sector leaders will create and enhance accessible, affordable and trusted technology and digital tools that are scalable, enabling more people to join the digital economy.
As part of its commitment to driving innovation in the digital financial services sector, MoMo Payment Service Bank (PSB) and Vendy Ltd has teamed up with tech firm, Vendy Ltd to introduce WhatsApp shop, a platform which enables businesses to easily set up online stores, accept payments, and directly engage with customers through WhatsApp.
The announcement, made during the Moonshot by TechCabal tech conference, marking a new chapter in the integration of technology and commerce in Nigeria.
This partnership aims to redefine the shopping experience, leveraging WhatsApp’s widespread use to make access to products and services, simpler and more convenient for millions of Nigerians.
The collaboration merges MoMo PSB’s extensive distribution network with Vendy Ltd’s cutting-edge technology solutions to enhance financial inclusion across Nigeria. With over 19 million registered users, MoMo PSB has been instrumental in bringing digital financial services to underserved communities.
The newly launched WhatsApp shop allows users to browse, order, and pay for products directly within the app, delivering a streamlined and intuitive shopping experience for smartphone users.
Abiodun Odelola, Manager, Brand and Communications at MoMo PSB, emphasized the impact of the partnership, saying, “Our goal is to create an experience that brings financial services closer to the people while driving economic growth, and this collaboration with Vendy Ltd aligns with that vision.
“By integrating our payment solutions directly into a familiar platform like WhatsApp, we’re making everyday transactions more accessible to Nigerians.
“It’s about meeting people where they are and offering them a simple, secure way to shop and pay.
“We’re excited about how this will open up new opportunities, especially for those who may have been left out of the digital economy for too long,”
The WhatsApp shop taps into the platform’s global user base of over 2 billion, delivering a more convenient and accessible shopping experience.
As mobile communication continues to dominate in Nigeria, this strategic integration is expected to attract users from diverse backgrounds, further cementing WhatsApp’s role as a crucial tool for daily transactions.
Since its launch in April 2022, MoMo PSB has rapidly become a leader in Nigeria’s mobile money market, with a focus on accessibility and inclusion.
This collaboration with Vendy Ltd reinforces its commitment to bridging the gap for underserved populations, offering digital financial solutions that are as easy to use as sending a message on WhatsApp.
National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) through the Presidential Implementation Committee on Technology Transfer (PICTT) has awarded the sum of N70.5 million naira grant to six winners of the Developing Engineering Leaders Through Her (DELT-Her), via call for proposal, a project under Delta-2 programme of the Agency.
NASENI had on March 8, 2024, International Women’s Day celebration, launched DELT-Her project and call for Proposal, aimed at addressing gender imbalance in the practice of engineering and technology based Businesses in Nigeria, by sponsoring the innovative ideas and projects by young female engineers.
In his welcome address, during the grant award ceremony held at NASENI Headquarters on Tuesday in Abuja, the Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of the Agency, Mr. Khalil Suleiman Halilu, represented by the Coordinating Director, Planning and Business Development Directorate, Dr. Mrs. Nonyem Onyechi, said “DELT-Her initiative is aimed at empowering young women in engineering and technology.”
He emphasized the importance of providing women with the necessary tools, platforms, and support to thrive in the fields that have traditionally been male-dominated. He said the selected projects not only challenged the status quo but also have the potential to address real-world problems.
The EVC/CEO affirming that young girls belong in STEM fields and that their dreams are valid, said, “I encourage awardees to view their success as a beacon for others and the commitment to fostering environments where women can excel in engineering and technology.”
Also, speaking, Chairman of PICTT, Dr. Mohammed Dahiru, said after thorough evaluation process of over 120 applications received, six outstanding innovative ideas were selected for grant to the tune of each project cost estimate and other forms of support.
The event, he said, was to sow a seed that would change Nigeria in terms of technology transfer. “We are recognizing and celebrating our awardees for their amazing feats, while also recognizing the just concluded International Day of the Girl Child, with the hope to inspire the younger generation to embrace and thrive in science and engineering”, he further explained.
The awardees will receive grants to the tune of the project cost estimate, technical support, links to partners and commercialization of the R&D institutes outputs. Some of the awardees based on their project have also been selected to participate in the forthcoming AFRI. Lab Annual gathering in Cape town, South Africa.
The grant recipients with their projects are: Engr. Rukkaya Abdulmutalib, ‘Artificial Intelligence Censored Machine to Monitor Soil Health for Green-Houses N3m); Patience Ibrahim-Janda, ‘Automobile Brake Pads produced from Organic Waste’ N10m); Engr. Amina Ibrahim Khaleel, ‘Drone for Intelligent ReaL-time Security and Target Tracking’ (N17.5m); Engr. Dr. Kudirat Oyewumi Jimoh, ‘Electronic Training Board/Device for Science and Engineering Students’ (N16.5m); Engr. Dr. Ikechukwu Ijeoma Francisca, ‘Automatic Bambara Flour Processing Machine’ (N8.5m); and Engr. Abisola Ayomide Olayiwola ‘Solar-powered Snail Shelling Machine’ (N15m).
Also, in commemoration of Girl Child International Day celebration, four Junior Girls Secondary Schools exhibited their innovative and technological devices at the Agency. They schools included: Junior Secondary School Jikwoyi 1-Fueless Generator; and Junior Secondary School Pasali –Fabrication of Mini Refinery Waste Plastics into Home Use Liquids Fuels and Gas.
The rest were: Junior Secondary School Phase 3, Gwagwalada-Ultra Modern Solar Power Sea Planting and Chemical Spraying Machine; and Junior Secondary School Kuje-Conversion of Water and petrol into methane Gas by using Pressure and Junior Secondary School Area 11 – Archimedes Screw Turbines.
In keeping with its mission to raise awareness of mental health issues, 9mobile hosted an enlightening virtual X-space event on the subject: “Navigating Mental Health in a Digital World” on X-space in commemoration of World Mental Health Day.
This year’s theme, “Mental Health at Work,” shines a spotlight on the importance of ensuring universal access to mental health care. To drive this critical conversation forward, our esteemed lineup of speakers included: Dr. Olalekan Makinde, renowned Consultant and expert in Community/Public Health, Dr. Alexandra Odiari, a distinguished specialist in mental health, Dr. Olayinka Jibunoh, a seasoned Psychologist and Mental Health Advocate and Amara Esomchi, a Certified Mental Health Therapist and Counselor.
These health experts tackled the pressing issue of mental health stigma and explored the vital role social media can play in championing mental wellness.
Commenting on the initiative, Chineze Amanfo, 9mobile’s PR Lead, stated: “We’re honored to support this vital conversation. Mental health awareness is increasingly essential in today’s digital landscape, where connectivity can sometimes mask feelings of isolation. Through platforms like X-space and beyond, 9mobile is dedicated to fostering meaningful connections and discussions.”
“One of the core pillars of our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is health and we have made targeted interventions in the health sector. Looking ahead, we are committed to continuing this trajectory, leveraging every opportunity to drive meaningful impact through our direct efforts,” Amanfo stated.
Dr. Olalekan Makinde stated, “Health is a priceless asset, and it is one we cannot afford to take lightly. He emphasized that people must put a premium on their mental health. In the fast-moving tech world, caring for your mind is as important as advancing your career or business.
“Mental well-being is the foundation for lasting success and fulfillment.”
Therapist and Mental Health Advocate, Amara Esomchi, further emphasized, “Health is all-encompassing—it is not just about physical well-being but also mental and emotional balance”.
She discussed the crucial role of social connections in maintaining this balance. “On one hand, strong social bonds can provide support, encouragement, and a sense of belonging.
“On the other hand, if not carefully managed, unhealthy relationships or social pressures can lead to stress and anxiety. It is essential to build meaningful connections that nurture your well-being, both personally and professionally.”
Dr. Alexandra Odiari stressed the importance of treating mental health with the same attention as physical health. “By normalizing conversations around mental wellness and eliminating stigmatization, we create a society where seeking help is seen as a strength, not a weakness.”
Dr. Olayinka Jinunoh noted that in today’s digital age, we must be mindful of how we engage with social media and learn to practice digital hygiene. “The importance of social media detox is a way to maintain mental clarity and well-being.
“Constant online engagement can lead to stress and taking intentional breaks allows the mind to reset, stay focused, and remain mentally alert. It is essential to find balance and practice self-care in our digital habits.
The telecommunications company understands the importance of mental health in the fast-paced, technologically driven world of today, just as much as physical health.
Hence the need to raise awareness on the value of mental health among its subscribers, employees, and the larger Nigerian community by facilitating the conversations on online platforms such as X-space.
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