After launching ‘Megamix’ Tigo thrills customers with another data and voice bundle package.
Tullah Stephen
A Swedish delegation led by the Director General for Trade in the Swedish Ministry Foreign Affairs, Ms Karin Olofsdotter, and the Director General for International Development Cooperation, Johannes Oljelund and the Swedish Ambassador to Tanzania, H.E Katarina Rangnitt visited the Tunduma One Stop Border Post (OSBP) currently under construction. The border lies between Tanzania and Zambia. The visit was organised by the Swedish Embassy in Tanzania in collaboration with TradeMark East Africa (TMEA).
The visit provided an opportunity to assess the impact of different trade facilitation initiatives being supported by the Swedish government and other development agencies aimed at improving the lives of Tanzanians by strengthening the business environment. TMEA is providing funding to the Government of Tanzania through the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) for the construction of the Tunduma OSBP and is working with border agencies in Tanzania and Zambia to set up mechanisms for integrated border management and harmonization of customs procedures. This aims to reduce waiting times at the border post by 30 per cent within 18 months.
Congestion at Tunduma, the busiest border in Tanzania in terms of volume of cargo, makes Dar es Salaam Port unattractive to importers in East and Central African countries. Transit cargo traffic represents about one third of total cargo handled by Dar es Salaam but this could drop if urgent action to decongest the border town is not taken. Deficiencies in the existing regulation, management and administration and the poor state of physical facilities at the border also contribute to the congestion.
It takes 45 days (to and fro to deliver goods to Zambia, 15 of which are spent at Tunduma. 80 per cent of all transit containers destined to Burundi, DRC, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia are charged demurrage by shipping liners for the delay to bring empty containers to the Dar es Salaam Port. The demurrage charges are estimated to cost the Tanzanian economy about $10million annually.
TMEA and its partners have worked very successfully to reduce the costs of transport across East Africa, which has reduced the costs of imports and increased commerce and government revenues.
In his speech, TradeMark East Africa Country Director, Mr. John Ulanga remarked ‘’the support being provided by Sweden in supporting trade facilitation in areas of standards harmonisation and support to cross-border women traders is vital promoting cross-border trade and reducing poverty in Tanzania”.
The Director-General of TMEA David Stanton noted that TMEA in conjunction with Sweden and other development partners will replicate the success of other one-stop border posts in the region. He added that TMEA will work with the government especially to improve the treatment of women cross-border traders so they can trade without hindrance, and generate greater incomes for their families. Tanzanian women traders interviewed by the Swedish delegation were trading in Zambia and DRC.
Sweden has a long tradition of generous and ambitious development aid.
“Delivery of these trade facilitation projects including the construction of the Tunduma OSBP is expected to promote cross border trade which is vital for the many women cross border traders working in Southern Tanzania. A key outcome of these projects is increased Incomes, creation of jobs and sustained livelihoods for the people of Tanzania” Karin Olofsdotter, the Director General for Trade noted
Earlier in the day the Directors General and the delegation paid a courtesy call to the Mbeya Regional Commissioner, Mr Amos Makalla. Ms Makalla briefed the delegation on the economy in Mbeya and key development projects undertaken in collaboration with development partners, including Sweden. The delegation noted with satisfaction the impact they have had in building small business and improving the welfare of clients.
Sweden through Financial Sector Deepening Tanzania (FSDT) has supported The National Microfinance Bank (NMB) to develop a mobile banking service which has made it less costly for traders especially women in rural areas to gain access to financial services.
African data collection startup Bamba has announced today that it has closed its first seed investment round after raising US$1.1 million (Kes. 110 million) in investment funds, making it one of the largest and most successful seed rounds completed by an East African startup. At closing, Bamba is proud to have a global investor base that spans Silicon Valley, New York, Washington DC, Austin, London and many regions throughout Africa.
Bamba is a boutique data collection agency that specializes in innovative solutions for rapidly gathering cost-effective and high-quality consumer insights from emerging markets that can be otherwise challenging to reach. One such solution is Bamba’s unique tool that allows the building of highly targeted and responsive panels for data collection.
Clients hail from a diverse array of sectors, including market research consulting, private equity, agriculture education, health, finance, government agencies, NGOs and private companies. The versatility and effectiveness of Bamba’s offerings have resulted in numerous high-profile clients, such as Kantar, the Aga Khan Foundation, and IPSOS. “Bamba has made it possible to deliver panel-based projects a lot faster by providing access to highly targeted respondents,” says Arnold Nyakundi of IPSOS Kenya.
With humble beginnings in Nairobi, the company started with just its 3 co-founders, Al Ismaili, CEO Shehzad Tejani, COO (@Tejanishehzad) and Faiz Hirani, CTO (@FaizHirani) and had a core workforce of 7 full-time employees in 2015.
“Since then, we’ve further expanded to employ 21 full-time staff, along with numerous other field consultants around the world. It’s incredible; we’ve established a global reach, spanning Canada, US, UK, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa and Nigeria. This is in large part thanks to ongoing support from our investors,” says Al Ismaili, co-founder and CEO.
Bamba’s success in attracting investors was the result of a number of factors that created a perfect storm. First, in the past several years, consumers in emerging markets have become more engaged and connected through widespread adoption of smartphone or feature phone technology, presenting the opportunity to finally tap into the wants, needs and opinions of these consumers for companies agile and innovative enough to build the right tools.
Second, investors have become increasingly interested in opportunities to invest in the African market in recent years, and accelerator programs have stepped up by accepting greater numbers of African startups into their mentorship programs.
Finally, Bamba was itself accepted into the prestigious TechStars accelerator program in 2016, where they gained access to a well-established network that provided them with business development mentorship, customer acquisition, capital, talent recruitment, as well as a sizable initial financial investment as part of the accelerator program.
Rishi Varma, founder & CEO of AlphaDetail which was acquired by QuntilesIMS (formerly IMS Health), was introduced to Bamba during their time at Techstars. Rishi was based in San Francisco where he built the largest market research firm focused on primary research in the pharma/biotech industry in the US and was so impressed by the Bamba team that he became one of their initial investors.
“Since the first day I met the founders of Bamba, I knew they had a special team and product to tackle a challenging but large market opportunity. I had no reservations in backing them financially and as an advisor. Having built a highly successful market research practice myself, I can clearly see the Bamba team has what it takes to do the same,” he said about his investment decision.
Bamba’s cutting-edge data collection software also attracted some attention from within Africa. In November 2016, Bamba was invited to participate in Lions’ Den, the Kenyan equivalent to popular TV programs Dragons’ Den and Shark Tank, where Bamba pitched to the show’s panel of 5 venture capitalists (also known as Lions). They successfully won over Darshan Chandaria , CEO and director of the Chandaria Industries Group, who invested US$250,000 (Kes. 25 million) to be used to expand Bamba’s operations throughout Africa.
Other investors have been attracted to Bamba’s unique combination of positive social impact and real functional value;
“We are very proud to be investors in Bamba,” says Brett Hurt, founder of BazaarVoice and Data.world. “Not only are [they] providing a very valuable analytics service, but they are also providing jobs in countries that really need them. This is one of those rare businesses that has a combination of a massive market opportunity and a real social impact. Their focus just couldn’t be better.”
Having achieved its investment goal for the first seed round, Bamba now looks to the future with plans to put the US$1.1 million towards developing new innovative data collection solutions, supporting a larger number of clients, and expanding its team and geographical reach. Of course, this will all be done while continuing to lend a voice to people in emerging markets so that they can play a bigger role in shaping their world.
After successfully launching Windows Insider4Good program in Nigeria last year, Microsoft in partnership with GrowthAfrica, today announced that it will be expanding the program to East Africa.
The program according to Microsoft is designed to help entrepreneurs who have innovative social business ideas tackle local problems in their local communities and change how they live.
The Insiders4Good East Africa Fellowship program will be seeking to support 25 entrepreneurs from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda with mentorship and technology as they seek to turn their ideas into reality.
“Innovation is in the DNA of East Africans and we see this region as key area where exciting ideas are grown. We have been impressed by the growth we have seen in Nigeria and we are thrilled to expand in this area,” said Bambo Sofola Microsoft Director of Software engineering.
Successful applicants will be taken through a six months of tailored technical and strategic mentorship from local and international leaders. This is in addition to receiving a suite of Microsoft hardware and softwares. According to Sofola, the applicants for the East African Fellowship don not need to have a technology oriented idea.
The announcement was made during the ongoing NexTech Africa event in Nairobi, Kenya. The event is described as a “meeting of the minds designed to engage, empower and inspire” people from every walk of life across the continent.
Interested entrepreneurs can apply for the fellowship before March 31st with the boot camp set to begin on the 6th of June 2016. To apply visit http://Insiderfellows.com.
Rwanda woos private investors
African startups will have the chance to launch and promote their innovations to investors during the annual conference.
By Tullah Stephen
Early stage startups in Sub-Saharan Africa, are now invited to apply for the 6th edition of Demo Africa, an initiative that aims to connect African startups’ to the global ecosystem.
Through Demo Africa, tech startups in the region will have a chance to launch their products while they meet and interact with venture capitalists, investors and tech acquisition specialists from across the world.
Entry categories include Health, Education, Agriculture, Commerce, Hospitality, Manufacturing, Entertainment, Energy and Logistics. Thirty companies will be selected to launch their products at the main event that will take place in September 6th and 7th in Johannesburg South Africa.
The 30 companies will also receive mentorship and will attend a 2-day bootcamp in preparation for their launch and software and services worth more than USD150,000 each for the next three years. The annual event will be preceded by mini demo events in 14 different countries in Africa. The mini demos or innovation tours will commence on the 7th of February in Nairobi and will traverse across the continent till the 19th of May where the tour will come to an end in Cameroon.
DEMO Africa team and partners will engage with tech startups’ to share the DEMO Africa vision as well as coach and mentor interested startups in addition to sharing tools that can help them build and grow their businesses.
“We will be covering all the four corners of the continent and we have increased the number of countries that we will visit this year,” said Eng. Martin Obuya, projects director at DEMO Africa.
Some of the new demo stops according to Eng Obuya, include Botswana, Cote D’voire, Senegal and Morocco. “There has been a lot of innovation and entrepreneurship activities in these new countries and we hope to catalyze the ecosystems there in line with our mission.”
On his part, Harry Hare, the executive director at DEMO Africa said the events aim is to engage with the startups in the various countries. “We urge the startups to take the advantage the partner network created by DEMO Africa and its partners through the LIONS@FRICA partnership to create linkages and networks that can help them grow.”
According to Harry, Africa’s tech space is showing a growing potential to solve the numerous challenges the continent is facing. He adds DEMO Africa is actively participating in pushing technology in Africa to greater heights. Since 2012, DEMO Africa alumni have generated over USD54 million in both venture and angel investment or from unique mix of positioning and exposure.
To apply to launch at DEMO Africa, visit www.demo-africa.com