Twitter’s Jack Dorsey just unfollowed Mark Zuckerberg on Twitter as the firm moves to allow its users to upload 8 Megapixel photos up to 16 Megapixels without loss in quality.
Twitter did not allow this previously as the images were compressed to save size and download latency. From now the JPEG quality will be maintained despite consecutive image uploads.
However, Twitter is far away from taking on Facebook and Instagram as this improvement is only applicable to images that are no more than 4096 pixels. The size of the image shouldn’t be more than 5MB.
Twitter has been transcoding the images and videos, as a result, the compression makes them load faster on web and mobile devices. To add on that, Twitter will be getting rid of the EXIF data which provides more details about user images.
Although this data helps photographers in mapping out the image aperture, ISO setting and other technical aspects of the photos. It also makes it easier for people with ill-intentions to retrieve location-based details.
By Twitter removing it, it will mean users information is secure.
“Support for 4096×4096 image uploads effected in 2018 to Twitter for Web. You can view them on, Twitter for iPad and Twitter for Mac when clicking/tapping to open the image.
Now the quality can be what you make it- keep your JPEGs crisp and clear!”, said Nolan O’Brien, Engineer for Twitter.
He added further that, other categories of images like Avatars will getting the same improvement in the coming year.
For photographers and cinematographers trying to showcase the prowess in the field. There is still a little bit of disappointment.
There will still be a difficulty uploading full-size high-resolution images from your DSLR. Images above the aforementioned limit will still be.
On the same tweet, Nolan notes a few steps to confirm if your image will undergo transcoding or not.
Such images that have an orientation set to rotate the image will still undergo the process. If images are over 4096 pixels in any dimension, they will be transcoded.
He as well adds that, if it is over 5MBs, it will be transcoded. Images inaccurately compressed worse than a pixel per byte will still undergo transcoding.
According to Digital Information World, transcoding degrades the photo quality. This is inconvenient for professional graphic designers and passionate photographers who like to share their work with the world via Twitter.
However, this is adventurous for people still suing phones to their uploads as the quality won’t be affected at all.
Image thumbnails will be transcoded and compressed. So, the images on your feed will still look the same. once you click through, you will be able to access the full image if it’s a JPEG.
Samsung has unveiled the Galaxy A51 and A71 as part of the 2020 A series galaxy phones in some of its markets globally.
Preorders of the begins began today and a major sale set for December 27th.
The starting price of the As1 series is projected at $345. The A71 series is set to go on sale towards end December or early 2020. However, the series is yet to be priced.
The phones are a successor of the A50 and A70 series of the Galaxy launched back in quarter three.
The phones are revamped into an Infinity -0 super AMOLED design as well as an L-shaped quad-camera at the rear.
Like its predecessor, The Galaxy A51 sports a 6.5-inch FHD= infinity-0 Super AMOLED. and a 20:9 aspect ratio.
The phone has a punch-hole camera at the centre that nests a 32 MP f/2.2. shooter for selfies.
It comes in three storage configurations comprising of 4GB +64 GB,6GB +128 GB and 8GB +128GB. It also features a dedicated micro SD card that further expands the storage to 512 GB.
The back of the device has a gradient finish with a plastic build prone to scratches.
The quad-camera set up includes a 48MP primary sensor- F/2.4 and a 12MP ultra-wide camera.
Also, the phone has an in-screen fingerprint sensor, 3,5mm headphone jack, and 4000mAh battery charging at a 15W rate,
Besides the features, the A51 series will be available in various hues, for instance, prism crush Black, White, blue, and pink colours.
The Galaxy A71 series is more like the A51 series, it is an Infinity-0 FHD+ Super AMOLED. A 20:9 display ratio and 6.7 inches. The phone also boasts of 32MP camera with f/2.2 aperture resides in the punch hole larger than the A70 series.
The phone is powered with a powerful snapdragon 730 coupled with 6GB/8GB RAM and 128GB internal storage.
It comes with a dedicated microSD card to expand the storage up to 512GB.
The phone features a shiny plastic build similar to its predecessor which is easily subjected to scratches. The L-shaped quad-camera setup is the same as the Galaxy A51 but instead of the 48MP primary sensor, it comes with a huge 64MP sensor with f/1.8 aperture. That means the other
Other components include a 12MP(f/2.2) ultra-wide shooter, One UI 2.0, an in-screen fingerprint sensor for authentication along with USB Type-C and 3.5mm headphone jack.
The device is backed by a 4,500mAh battery with support for 25W fast charging.
What to choose between Galaxy A51 and A71 series
The A71 series is better for gaming, especially the size allows for a larger view compared to the A51 series.
the A51 has a 48MP sensor (1/2”) and an f/2.0 aperture. The A51 series tops in a video shoot with 1080p which is a Super Steady feature that stabilizes video. The A71 offers 2160p/30fps which is not great for videos.
Galaxy A51 has a 4,000mAh cell that charges at 15W, the Galaxy A71 upgrades to 4,500mAh and 25W charge plus a 10nm chipset vs A51’s 8nm which gives it bigger battery life advantage over the A51.
However, the buying power will be determined by video gaming and video shooting on the phone will help buyers make the decision between these two easy.
Apple has released iOS 13.3 with improvements, bug fixes and additional parental controls for screentime.
The release is Apple’s eighth update since the release fo iOS 13.
The upgrade will support iPhone SE, 6S or later. iPhone 5, 6 and iPads have been cut off from the upgrade. iPads will stick to their dedicated iOs ipadOS.
These updates enable the creation of new video clips when trimming a video in photos. It adds support for NFC, USB and lightening FIDO2 Complaints security keys in Safari.
Other fixes include mail issues that may prevent downloading new messages Addressing an issue preventing deletion of mails from Gmail account, cursor not moving when long pressed
The fixes as well as resolve circumstances where the mobile data shows off when on, turning off dark mode, voice memo recordings fail to be shared with other audio clips.
Besides that, the screentime now has new parental controls. The control provides more communication limits over who their children can call, face time and message,
Users have access to Apple news. Users have access to several news stories from the Wallstreet Journal and other leading newspapers and can as well like or dislike with a tap.
Following the release of iOS 13.2 as a fix for iOS 13, the iOS could still not support FIDO2 security keys and new parental controls.
However, From a review by Gordon Kelly, a contributor to The Forbes notes that fixes through big issues still remain. For instance, several users have gone online still to lament about running into mobile data hitches.
A tweeter, @Jas88 wrote to Apple support complaining about his mobile data. He notes that after installing iOS 13.3 he no longer has mobile data on his device.
Just like the most anticipated iOS 13. The iOS came with a bunch of updates like dark mode, Apple photos. Other updates included location tracking, Apple maps, safari, Siri and keyboard among many features. Ios 13.3 has as well problems than the real fixes.
Gordon Kelly compiled list deal breakers for the iOS 13.3 from users who upgraded to the new iOS.
There is no battery improvement after upgrading to the new iOS. However, he notes that there are significantly fewer reports of general bugs concerning stability, user interface glitches and performance.
Rensource, a Nigerian renewable energy company, fresh from a $20m round, wants to connect over 1 million merchants in Nigeria to power.
Ademola Adesina, Founder and CEO of Rensource said, “We believe that simultaneously greening and decentralizing its power infrastructure is the only way to navigate Nigeria out of its current state of energy poverty. Pursuing this with a focus on the millions of small-businesses that drive our economy creates a massive multiplier effect whose benefit accrues to all.
Rensource will be used to expand it’s footprint of microutilities across Nigeria, as well as invest in additional technology infrastructure, as it rolls out new tech-enabled products and services for its merchants.
“Our push into O2O is a natural step that leverages our existing infrastructure to further empower the merchants we serve. We aim to connect over one-million merchants in the next 5 years,” Adesina added.
Founded by Ademola Adesina and Jussi Savukoski, the firm is bridging Nigeria’s power deficit through the delivery of renewable based decentralized energy, focusing primarily on SMEs.
The firm operates in seven clusters across six states in Nigeria including Lagos, Kano, Ogun, Ondo, Oyo and Edo, and builds and operates solar hybrid microutilities – a type of energy services provider that localizes energy generation, distribution, and customer service to each community it serves.
The company is active in marketplaces that serve over thirty-thousand SMEs. It expects to expand into 100 markets in the country over the next three years.
With the financing secured, Rensource is now expanding its offering beyond energy and entering Nigeria’s nascent offline to online (O2O) space, by offering technology enabled value added services to SMEs in the marketplaces it provides power for. With the launch of this new B2B platform, “Spaces O2O”, merchants will be able to access services that accelerate their productivity growth.
As Rensource has grown a leading foothold in the Nigerian market, it has identified gaps in the distribution value chain regarding lack of access to credit, expensive transportation and warehousing, inaccurate data and limited product availability, underpinned by a highly fragmented and multi-layered value chain.
Jonathan Kirschner of Omidyar Network said, “Ademola is a true renewable energy revolutionary. We are thrilled to be working with Rensource to deploy affordable and innovative energy solutions to traditional retailers across Nigeria who desperately need it.”
Rensource has historically worked with a variety of stakeholders including community associations, government, regulatory agencies, contractors, and private investors, to build renewable energy projects across Nigeria. In 2018, the company, through a collaboration with the federal government’s Rural Electrification Agency, developed a project in Sabon Gari Market in Kano which resulted in thousands of merchants connecting to Nigeria’s first solar microutility. This first project was followed up by several other as part of the Energizing Economies Initiative (EEI).
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, only has 12 gigawatts of installed grid capacity, with just one-in-four Nigerians connected to the national power grid. In contrast, South Africa has 50 gigawatts. Rensource launched commercially in 2016 to address this problem.
“Rensource’s goal is to offer solutions to the many challenges faced by SMEs in Nigeria, starting with power and expanding to other value-added services. It is a bold and worthwhile undertaking that is creating value for all stakeholders. We are excited to continue this journey with the hyper-competent team at the helm,” said co-founder and Managing Partner of CRE Venture Capital, Pardon Makumbe.
Glovo, Barcelona-based on-demand delivery firm has raised €150million ($167 million) in Series E funding led by Mubadala, with further support from previous investors Drake Enterprises, Idinvest and Lakestar.
Glovo’s investment comes Mubadala €400 million fund set aside to invest in leading European tech companies. The firm joins the unicorn club with the close of this round, making it only the second privately held business in Spain to surpass a $1billion valuation.
The everything delivery app- from food to groceries and drinks —raised €150M in April, SoftBank invested in the firm a few months ago and it also raised $134M in Series C in mid-2018 bringing the total raised to around $490 million.
According to Oscar Pierre, Co-founder and CEO of Glovo: “We’re very pleased to welcome Mubadala as aninvestor, as well as to further strengthen our position within the industry.
“To have achieved unicorn
status is something truly exciting and a testament to the talent within the
company, and their determination to keep innovating and disrupting the
on-demand delivery space. Despite our rapid growth and new status, we still
have the same vision we’ve always had: to make everything within the city instantly
available to our customers.”
With operations in Africa, Europe and Latin America, the firm will use the funds to bolster its engineering team, streamlining its user experience, reduce the waiting time for couriers and customers, and opening new dark stores and cook rooms.
The company recently entered the Polish market in a €35million deal that established a second technology hub in Warsaw. It plans to expand its global tech team by hiring 300 additional engineers by mid-2020, with 40 dedicated engineers and 50 tech and product experts to be based in its new Warsaw office.
In Kenya, the firm is pushing its everything delivery app, its grocery sections and other everyday items to edge out local competitors Sendy, Bolt Food, Uber Eats, SafeBoda among others. Recently the firm signed up Simbisa Brands and Carrefour.
Frederic Lardieg, Partner in the Ventures Europe team at Mubadala Capital, said: “Our investment is a testament to our commitment to the European tech market and we are excited to lead this Series E funding round to enable Glovo to grow their team and support the expansion of their offering.”
TECNO Mobile wants to take you home this holiday season and for the fourth time, the firm will break the rules by providing a way for you to escape the long queues at the bus station.
TECNO will be celebrating its customers with an array of amazing gifts to finish the year happily through the #TECNOTakesMeHomewithBuupass campaign. The campaign will start from November 25th to December 23rd 2019.
To take part in the campaign consumers will have to Purchase a TECNO CAMON 12 series smartphone. They will then have an opportunity to win a motorbike, or get 500 KES ticket coupon plus 250 KES Airtime.
By registering their mobile number, they will also get admission to the Facebook live lottery that will take place on Dec.20th to win the grand prize — a car worth 10,000 USD. This campaign will cover more than 2000 TECNO consumer 100 consumers winning a motorbike while 2000 consumers will be getting subsidized cost of 500 on their bus ticket+250 airtime.
TECNO will also find 100 lucky passengers on 50 buses and refund the ticket expense during the campaign.
With Consumer-centric Philosophy, TECNO is always interested in the consumers’ concern not only product wise but also services. TECNO strives to provide solutions that enable consumers to reach beyond the current limitations to a better life experience.
Initiated in 2016, the #TECNOTakesMeHomewithBuupass campaign has helped more than 5000 TECNO consumers. And TECNO Kenya has been 4 years –no Christmas without gifts.
This year, TECNO has partnered with Buupass – a ticketing platform that enables people to book their bus ticket at the comfort of their homes. Buupass is a market place that provides ticketing solution seamlessly for buses flights and train at the palm of your hand.
To book a ticket dial Dial *877# from your Safaricom line or visit www.buupass.com.
Follow us on our social media platforms to ensure you don’t miss out on these exclusive gifts Save the dates and dial *877# for more information or visit one of the two websites: www.tecno-mobile.com/ke or https://buupass.com to win the ticket and the jackpot!
Orange and GIZ are forming an alliance geared towards supporting the employability of the youth in Africa and the Middle East.
Present in the partnership agreement was, Alioune Ndiaye the CEO of Orange Africa and the Middle East and Kathinka Kurz, Head of The Development in Partnerships Program with the private sector at GIZ.
The two together signed the agreement aimed at benefiting 20,000 youths from 14 countries in both Africa and the Middle East.
Orange is a multi-service operator and a leading partner in digital transformation. Their focus in the partnership is to support the development of new digital services in Africa and the Middle East.
and GIZ has expert experience in supporting social development fo partner countries. In the project will act as the implementation partner for the German Federal Ministry for Economics corporation and Development (BMZ).
The partnership will help the two companies make digital a chance to everyone. This will be possible by helping the youth improve in digital skills.
Orange and GIZ Together, have contributed 30 million Euros to set up digital hubs in Africa and the Middle East–the Orange Digital Centres (ODC) which will help train young people in digital skills to reduce unemployment.
The centres will offer free training to young people in digital technology, speed up the creation of start-ups and support project leaders.
The ODCs have digital, state of the art equipment to train young people. It as well encourages them to find work.
Each country will have team representatives who will work with different stakeholders and the entrepreneurial ecosystem of each region to oversee the success of the project
Furthermore, the ODCs will extend their collaboration with regional universities to extend the skills sets to the university students.
In Africa, the program earlier launched in Tunisia and Senegal. it is set to launch in 12 other countries in no time.
Countries such as Morocco, Jordan, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Mali, Madagascar, Sierra Leone, Burkinafaso, Egypt, Guinea and Liberia are set to benefit from the program.
The ODCs are grouped in four programs that target a specific audience. The Center aims to create synergies between all these programs
The programs comprise of a coding school, FabLab Solidaire, a start-up accelerator ‘Orange Fab’ .It also includes Orange Digital Ventures Africa, an investment fund of the Orange Group.
The Coding School is a free access technology centre. It offers training, events and support for developers, geeks and project ideas.
The FabLab Solidaire offers digital manufacturing workshop for creating and prototyping with digital equipment. It also targets young people without diplomas and without jobs.
The FabLab Solidaire is also part of the worldwide network of 88 FabLabs Solidaires belonging to the Orange Foundation. Orange Fab and Orange Digital Ventures Africa target entrepreneurs. The first of such program a start-up accelerator that supports the most promising start-ups in their commercial
development. It also helps the entrepreneurs build business partnerships with the larger worldwide network of 17 Orange Fabs.
The second, Orange Digital Ventures Africa, is a 50 million Euro investment fund. The fund financially supports innovative start-ups in countries on the African continent and in the Middle East region.
WhatsApp‘s new update has brought three brand new features that will make it possible for users to get reminders about important events, see if they have calls coming in and also block group invites from people they don’t know or not in their phonebooks.
Whatsapp’s features might not roll out to all its iOS and Android users at once, globally, but we thought it’s good for you to know what has been rolled out and coming to you in phases.
The reminder feature allows users to set and receive alerts inside WhatsApp in collaboration with Any.do remider app which users are urged to download fror easy integration. The reminder is under Any.do’s premium features and costs around $6.
The WhatsApp and Any.do Reminder integration works straight from your ongoing conversations and is supported on any device. Users are reminded via WhatsApp as soon as tasks are due.
The second feature ensures that group-admins need your permission to add you. You can also block strangers and friends from adding you to groups without your permission unlike previously, where anyone with your phone number could add you to a group chat. To join any conversation you will have to accept a private invitation.
To set this up, head to WhatsApp Settings > Account > Privacy > Groups. Then select choice of who can add you into group chats: “Everyone”, my contacts” and “my contacts except”.
The last feature is WhatsApp Call Waiting feature which will allow WhatsApp to alert you when someone tries to call you while you’re already on another call. Unlike previously where you’d only find a missed call, this new feature will allow you to decline the incoming call, or end your current call and accept the incoming one.
WhatsApp has also been rumoured to be experimenting on dark mode versions for the last 18 months. According toWABetaInfo.com, WhatsApp is working on two different dark modes – with a third option possible on the way soon too.
As it stands, the new dark theme has three configurations only two have been implemented so far. The fist dark mode adopts a configuration of very dark colours for the table and background. The second theme uses softer shades of dark colours for both table and cells background.
However, there is no user information revealed on how the themes will be rolled out. Another source reveals that the two themes under development are for the iphone Operating system iOS.
Other sources add that the pitch-black colours will be used in the background while the grey lighter shades for all the menu items. Chances, this will be the most popular set up for smartphone users with OLED screens.
However, if WhatsApp goes with this approach, users will have both the pitch black and grey tones to chose from.
Twitter offers a similar choice to its users. The Twitter dark mode has the same tones as which WhatsApp is rumoured to have. A dark mode with same deep grey tones as well as its lights out that uses the deep blacks which boosts phone battery.
Besides twitter, Facebook-owned Instagram now supports the dark mode feature. Currently, the design is available for users who recently upgraded to the latest iOs 13.
The team is working hard to support Dark Mode across both iOS and Android platforms, with numerous references to the new option surfacing in beta updates.
Dark interfaces allow an infinite contrast which improves readability. Especially on OLED displays, It reduces the amount of strain that the retinas are subjected to.
The dark theme in dark environments especially in the dark or at night, it reduces the dilation of pupils which is strenuous when switched constantly to a darkroom and bright screen
Another thing is that dark themes have the advantage of holding battery power. The theme can turn off individual pixels thus significantly reducing power consumption.
Chinese telecoms giant Huawei has for months now been on the radar with the US-China wars.
Last month, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposed a bill to bar telecom service providers from using the government subsidy funds to buy equipment from ZTE and Huawei.
The ban is pegged on fears that Huawei and ZTE. The two telecoms have close ties with the Chinese government and military apparatus which makes make them a threat to the US.
In May, the current US President Donald Trump moved to block American companies from transacting business with Huawei.
Following the ban by FCC in November. The US House of Representatives has as well voted in favour of legislation to prevent the government from using funds to help carriers buy Huawei’s equipment.
According to the legislation, the move is critical to protect America’s wireless networks from malicious foreign interference. Companies like Huawei and its affiliates pose a significant threat to America’s commercial and security interests.
This is because communication providers rely heavily on Huawei’s equipment.
The draft legislation now faces a vote from the senate to prevent the FCC from providing funds to carriers to purchase equipment from suspect carriers.
According to The Hill, the bills require the FCC to establish $1 billion programs to help small and rural communication providers replace suspect equipment with more secure equipment.
However, Huawei is yet to comment on its position following the legislation.
Previously, the company had a petitioned a US court to help them overturn the ban. With this new legislation in place. It stands out that, Huawei might lose the battle.
Despite the company receiving several temporary reprieves, they are all in favour of giving time the local carriers to find alternatives to Huawei’s equipment and not in their favour.
Following the initial ban, Huawei has taken several survival strides to keep them afloat in the market.
From TechMoran’s previous highlights, rumours leaked out that Huawei Mate 30 devices contain no US parts. The company through its in-house semiconductor HiSilicon is working on alternatives to make its chip.
Additionally, it’s alleged that the company is stockpiling US components. This is in the event the ban happens whilst some services are still independent in the US.
Huawei as well announced the rollout of it’s proprietary Harmony OS come 2020. Several devices already operate on the OS, for example, the Honor TV and smartwatches.
The company foresees a big opportunity to scale the OS in China across Multiple device categories and build a robust developer community with the backing of the Chinese government.
The Chinese government is pushing for a ‘national OS’ become less reliant on foreign providers like Microsoft and Google.
There is a high possibility for Huawei to survive the clash.
Android 10 is now available on Samsung variants of the Galaxy S10, S10+ and S10e mobiles in the US market.
Android 10 gives control over the privacy of your device. Users can adjust all privacy settings in one place, decide what data to be stored and control when the location is shared with other apps.
The software as well allows you to opt-out of retargeting and personalized adverts. With the new software, important security updates and privacy fixes are sent directly to your phone.
The Android 10 software first rolled out to google pixels phones in the US by early September this year. Earlier on, the update had been scheduled for early 2020.
According to 9to5google, the update has come along with One UI 2 upgrade which upgrades Samsung and googles improvements to android as well.
However, the update is currently available in the US market region only. Other regions might expect the rollout to take place early January or in the coming days before the year ends.
Reportedly, most Android releases for users on none Google carriers often wait for their carriers to bring the software to their devices. For instance, In 2018, Samsung did not receive the Android pie until January this year.
However, users have to check for the update in the settings interface for a manual update.
According to the verge blog, AT & T and Verizon have confirmed that they indeed have the update.
T-Mobile did not respond but a website support document suggests that the software was released.
Verizon notes that the update is available in the settings but can be manually updated as well.
Notable features of Android 10
The software comes with the newest ways to control privacy, customize a phone and get things done more easily.
For instance, the software allows room for live caption, you can automatically caption media playing on your phone, videos, podcasts and audio messages.
The software suggests message responses. For instance, when someone asks you out for dinner the software generates a reply for you.
In addition to that, it will as well pull direction from google maps for the suggested venue.
The software comes with anew sound amplifier, your phone can boost sound, filter background noise and fine-tune to hear you.
Thirdly, the upgrade allows for gesture navigation.
Gestures are quicker and more intuitive. You can go backwards and forwards, pull up the home screen and swipe up to see other open apps.
Android 10 also supports a dark theme. Androids new dark theme uses true black to keep users battery alive longer as well as make it easy for your eyes to navigate through reads.
Google Calendar launched a standalone application for Google tasks in April last year, The app is currently under testing.
The new task buttons once rolled out, will allow users to add to-do list items more easily. The tasks give users a single destination to keep track of important tasks in G Suite.
The app aims to bring in all reminders from Inbox/Gmail, Calendar, and Assistant under one roof.
Tasks can be accessed from the right-hand add-on panel in Gmail and Google Calendar, Docs, Sheets, and Slides.
Users can set up tasks to repeat monthly, weekly and even daily.
According to an APK teardown by XDA developers. The integration is under testing for seamless management fo all aspects around personal and work diaries.
Additionally, Google calendar is bringing options to create repeating tasks, tasks descriptions and other task-related features.
9t05Google blogposts adds that tasks added on the task calendar will appear as in the standard calendar view. Users can add accent colours for each task as well as set notifications for each task.
If you get a notification of a task, it will act as a native Google Calendar notification rather than a Tasks notification.
The Calendar allows you to dismiss tasks after completion.
XDA developers tried out a manual integration on version 2019.4.7.2-284533606 release of the Google Calendar and it resulted out that the app has a new task button.
According to the developers, the tasks allows to quickly add task the same way you add a goal.
All you need you need to do is, tap on a new task button, select a date, select your task and choose if you wish it repeated.
For easier differentiation between the Google calendar and the taskbar, the app also lets you select different colours for tasks as well as set up different notification sounds.
The Google Tasks notification looks like any other notification pushed from the Google Calendar. Once you go through it, you can dismiss it by tapping on the Done button.
Additionally, the task button features can work without necessarily having the Google Task app. Users only have to launch the dedicated Tasks app if you open the task view from your calendar or a notification.
Alternatively, You can access the tasks. If you open the task view on Calendar or from task notification on the overflow menu.
Ahead of the rollout, the application from the XDA review sounds like a real hack for Google Calendar users.
However, It is not clear when the final rollout will be completed. Considering that it’s being tested, chances are it may be available on Google Calendar app in the nearest future.
Eaton Towers, a tower infrastructure firm last week switched off Telkom Kenya transmitters to resolve debt dispute it has with the telco, ahead of Telkom Kenya merger with Airtel Kenya.
Eaton Towers, on 7th December 2019, switched off TKL’s 49 telecommunications sites impacting 70 base transmitter stations affecting several customers in various parts of the country.
Telkom Kenya has been asked by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) to quickly address a commercial dispute with Eaton Towers.
‘‘The condition requires a licensee to seek and obtain written approval from the Authority, issue a reasonable advance notice to persons likely to be affected by the interruption or suspension of service,’’ CA said in the Directive signed by the Acting Director General, Mercy Wanjau.
The authority asked Telkom Kenya and Eaton Towers to follow the established dispute resolution mechanisms set in adherence to the Master Tower Agreement signed between them.
Though the Authority ordered Eaton Towers to restore the services by midnight 13th December 2019 or risk regulatory sanctions, it has directed Telkom Kenya to clear the debt owed to Eaton Towers Kenya fast.
‘‘The Authority remains committed to working collaboratively with service providers in order to seek solutions to consumers, and also ensure that the business of our licensees continues to grow and thrive,’’ the CA Ag. Director General noted in the Directive.
The Authority is scheduled to meet the two parties for a review of the progress on the matter 20th December 2019.
On December 13, 2019, the Competition Authority of Kenya said it was continuing to engage all the regulators as well as other critical stakeholders in the transaction process to facilitate receipt of the requisite approvals and appropriate conditionalities required to progress the actualisation of the transaction.
Telkom and Airtel are set to merge in the new year. With the merge, Eaton Towers will likely not get paid as there will be a new entity altogether. Eaton, just like Safaricom, is right to clear all its commercial disputes with Telkom ahead of the merger.
Rensource Energy, a Nigerian distributed energy provider has raised a $20 million Series A round co-led by CRE Venture Capital and the Omidyar network with participation from Inspired Evolution, Proparco, EDPR, I&P, Sin Capital, and Yuzura Honda.
Rensource Energy will use the funds to build an online platform for supply-chain services, business-analytics and working capital options for Nigeria’s SME.
Founded in 2015, Rensource provides tiered, subscription-based energy services freeing households and businesses from unreliable public energy providers and toxic diesel generators. Rensource has been positioning itself in the Power-as-a-Service renewable energy market in West Africa.
The $20 million round will help it unveil its B2B product to allow businesses in Nigeria move into energy independence. Rensource will finance installation of the systems and create billing tools and data for its merchants in Nigeria.
Rensource develops and manages critical infrastructure that powers the productivity of small and medium sized enterprises. Using the provision of solar-based microutilities an entry point, Rensource provides tools and services to support the digitalization and productivity growth of SMEs in West Africa.
Last year Rensource Energy raised €500,000 to contribute to solving Nigeria’s problem with electricity by helping small and medium-sized enterprises to replace the heavy usage of fossil fuel-powered generators with solar systems.
The loan from investors on Trine was to provide at least 4,000 shops in Nigeria access to electricity. Earlier, Rensource Energy raised $3.5 million in bridge financing to expand across Nigeria.
The round was led by Mauritius Amaya Capital Partners with participation from Omidyar Network and South Africa’s CRE Venture Capital. The firm previously raised a $1.1 million led by CRE Venture Capital and Sissili Limited and was also part of the XL-Africa acceleration program.
In total, the firm has raised $25.5 million in external equity since 2016 from shareholders, such as Bamboo Capital and Amaya Capital who both have made significant investments in the renewable energy sector.
The power-as-a-service subscription based energy service uses solar-hybrid systems that gets installed at the customer, generating and storing electricity.”
The firm works as power as a service on a subscription model where the customer pays a monthly fee and Rensource provides equipment, power and maintenance.
Rensource has been targeting the commercial market which will connect 6,000 shop owners to clean energy. It also sells large solar systems ranging from 1kWp which can support lighting, fans, a stereo, a TV and a fridge to the 3kW which can also support a microwave, a freezer and a water pump with greater storage. All products have a 25-year warranty. Payments are received through bank transfers or direct debits on a daily, weekly, monthly or annual basis.
Small- and medium sized enterprises which are one of Rensource target customers pay on average $4,000 per month using a petrol or diesel generator whereas they pay an average of $900 using the solar system from Rensource. This means a cost saving of over 70%.
With a population of almost 200 million people around a third of all Nigerians own a generator due to not having access to affordable and reliable electricity. The usage of generators cause several problems for the population. The petrol and diesel fueled generators are major sources for pollution. World Health Organisation estimate that 94% of the population are exposed to pollution levels that exceed the organisation’s guidelines.
Google Photos is rolling out messaging capacity for android, iOS and the Web besides the ordinary photo sharing.
The messaging solution lets you have an ongoing conversation in the app when you share photos and videos.
For long-time users have been able to share individual photos by creating an album for a single photo an sharing the link.
lately, the app has been on a revamp spree.
Among other improvements, google photos have recently rolled out a direct photo transfer from Facebook. In September, the app rolled out a new feature. The feature included story memories as well as more printing options for its users.
Some sources also reveal, there’s inherent cynicism in Google releasing another app-specific communication feature — RIP YouTube Messages,
The messaging update will support one to one conversations and allows you to create groups with selected users you know.
For instance, after selecting a recipient, with your image you can start a conversation thread. the thread will feature read receipts when someone sees your image.
Additionally, users are able to comment, save to library and well as use enhanced liking options like hearts emoji. Users can as well send in google photos carousel and extra environment-friendly than hyperlink sharing.
“This feature does not replace the chat apps you already use.” It joins existing first-party social features like live albums and shared libraries/albums”, according to google.
Additionally, “You’ve all the time been in a position to proportion particular person pictures during the app. By means of growing an album for an unmatched picture and sharing the hyperlink. But we’ve heard from a few of you that this is usually a more effective revel in”, added Google.
Users create a new chat by selecting the share button under the photo from the main library. existing chats retrieve from the same tab.
However, users will be able to share photos from google photos across other operating systems for example from android to Ios or the web,
The app now enables users to send messages containing a photo to any contact. This is possible provided they have google photos installed on their devices.
This was not achievable previously.
According to a blogpost by Info biz, Photos has a good track record of releasing useful functionality and is beloved by many.
However, it is questionable whether people will use a built-in feature. Rather most people may stick to where their existing conversations are.
Huawei has managed to narrow the smartphone market share gap just a few strides behind Samsung.
Research reveals that, in 2019, Huawei has supplied 251 million units whilst the Korean rival Samsung has shipped 323 units for the same period.
The two tech giants control the highest market share. Huawei controls a market share of about 17. 7 per cent while Samsung leads at 21.3 per cent.
The numbers reveal a high market growth for Huawei up from the 2018 14 per cent market share despite the US ban that has affected it’s market supplies in the region.
However, Huawei has significantly reduced reliance on key Us components.
The company has been the incubative stages of developing the Harmony Os and Huawei Mobile service. The OS has been rolled out in smartwatches.
Huawei Mobile Service is also underway to replace Android and Google Mobile Service in the future if the ban continues.
however possible it is, chances are Huawei might lose a huge market share to restructure before picking up again.
According to the latest forecast report from our Wireless Smartphone Strategies (WSS) service: global smartphone market will maintain the downturn track in 2020 if the US-China trade war and the ban of Huawei continues.
Thre is a high possibility for the global smartphone shipment volume to go down with a -3 per cent YoY in 2020.
The market might as well rebound to +3 per cent YoY. The likelihood of a global economic recession remains low,
Market Share Predictions
Besides, the gap between Samsung and Huawei is at 3.6 per cent and 4 per cent on the higher side which is a very slim margin. If the US lifts the ban against Huawei. The tech giant will stand a high chance of taking lead in the market share.
By comparison, Huawei finished 2018 with 5.6 per cent less market share than Samsung, which means the Chinese smartphone maker is soon closing the gap.
According to India’s money control blogpost, The hindrance from the US Government has significantly affected Huawei’s performance in western markets.
There seems to be a good chance that Huawei will get access to Google mobile services in the near future. If this closes down, the company’s biggest bottlenecks in the race to become the number one smartphone manufacturer in the world will be removed.
Citing from the blogpost, Huawei records a relentless growth. In 2015, it shipped over 104 million units worldwide. This took it up to number three position on the list with a 5.5 per cent market share. In 2016. The 2019 251 million record sets it high.
With a stable market, Huawei will achieve its goal to dethrone Samsung as the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer by 2021.
The 5 African startups are part of the 10 most promising human resources, fintech, civictech and edtech start-ups with solution-oriented products to improve migration systems that respond to labour market needs.
IOE Secretary General, Roberto Suárez Santos, said: “The Migration Challenge Competition is the first initiative of its kind. Rewarding innovative solutions to the information divide between employers and migrants through skills and technology is the first step towards promoting well-managed migration as a positive force for change.”
Through technology, the selected start-ups assist with better matching employment sectors facing skills shortages with trained regular migrants – expats, temporary workers, seasonal workers, intra-company transferees. Their products also offer ways for governments to share information and best practices to improve their policies, and provide migrant workers with access to financial, educational and labour mobility services.
The ten finalists will pitch for the prize at the first-ever “Tech Garden” of the Twelfth Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) Summit in Quito, Ecuador on 20-24 January 2020.
The winner will be announced on 23 January 2020 during the closing plenary session.
The winning start-up will take part in the Global Seedstars Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland to be held April 2020, and will benefit from 3-months acceleration scholarship for the Investment Readiness Program (IRP). The runners-up will be awarded with 2 months acceleration scholarship for IRP.
Out of the 10 finalists, 5 ventures will get the full Seedstars Summit experience in Switzerland in April 2020, where they will participate in the 3-day bootcamp with mentors and investors. One global winner will be selected and announced during the summit receiving the official Migration Entrepreneurship Prize.
iTunes Remote application controls music libraries and other content on the iPhone.
Apple has released the latest version 4.5 of the iTunes Remote application for iOS. The application update features dark themes with enhanced support for new music and TV apps.
The update follows a recent release of the macOS Catalina 10.15.2. The update has brought back support for controlling media playback remotely through the iPhone or iPad.
This had been previously discontinued in Catalina and the app was not working on the latest version of macOS.
The dark mode will support all devices running on iOS 13 and iPad 13.
According to a statement by the company, “iTunes Remote is the best way to control Apple Music. From the iTunes and Apple Tv application, you can control music from anywhere in your home by simply download the app to your iPhone, iPad or directly to Apple Music, iTunes or the Apple TV on your mac or pc”.
Reportedly, Apple has fixed some bugs and improved the overall performance of the application with the new update.
The dark theme has been a new trend for a while now. Applications such as Twitter, Windows 10, Firefox, Googles Gmail and Facebook-owned Instagram have since rolled out the themes for their users.
WhatsApp, on the other hand, has been rumoured to roll out by the end of 2019 or early phase of 2020.
Apple rolling out on its inbuilt iTunes app, chances are there will be an increased number of users rolling on the iTunes.
Sources reveal that most users are fantasized with the dark theme with most applications working on an inbuilt dark mode.
Notable Advantages of Dark Mode
The dark mode is great in low-light environments. for instance, If you’re lying in bed reading something on your phone at night. It’s easy to read white text on a black background rather than have your face illuminated by a lot of bright white light.
A dark black screen is a lot less disturbing to anyone else sleeping next to you, too.
People with vision or eye-related conditions such as photophobia which can cause brought light to trigger migraines have the dark mode to their advantage.
Howtogeeg blog post notes that. This is the reasons why the “invert colours” option has been part of operating systems like Windows, Android, and Apple’s iOS even before dark mode became trendy.
The dark mode is superior to light mode on devices with OLED displays. LTh devices consume little power to show a black screen with white text rather than a white screen with black text.
Huawei Kirin 1020 is the only flagship processor to use to the Cortex A78 architecture.
The chipset supports s a smooth transition of the evolving 5G network.
According to gsmarena.com, Huawei has introduced an improvement in energy efficiency and 5G connectivity.
Its predecessor the Huawei Kirin 990 has quite an impressive performance. Together with the Kirin 980 series, they have an equipped SoC with 10.3 billion transistors and 7nn Euv technology. which makes them the first to support 5G.
The 990 series operates on an A76 cortex chipset that is slightly slower than the current A78 series.
The Kirin 1020 code is called Baltimore. This is a normal trend with Huawei. The company names its chipsets after cities.
The chipset has a TSMC’s 5nm processor. The processor supports better power efficiency and more stable performance. The bigger change comes with the CPU cores,
However, The Kirin 990 according to Huawei. It is the world’s 1st Flagship 5G SoC with 7nm+ EUV3. The processor features breakthrough technology and advanced intelligence, inherited from Kirin and Balong.
It is compatible with different bands and frequencies. The single chipset allows users to connect with 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G networks satisfying various requirements easily.
As seen, the 990 series is a far much better performer. The 1020 series probably will offer more than beast performance, especially with the Cortex A78 chipset.
That’s a huge upgrade to what was already a fairly speedy SoC. On top of that, it gives Huawei the upper hand against other competitors like the aforementioned MediaTek, who still rely on Cortex-A77 cores for performance. Nothing has been leaked regarding the GPU, but we’re hoping we can expect similarly big upgrade according to gizmochina.
The 990 processor currently supports the Huawei Mate 30 series and chances are, the new Kirin 1020 processor will power the Mate 40 series to be released in the prime of 2020.
According to a tip by GizChina, there is a possibility Kirin 1020 will support Mate 40 series. The tip noted that the component will be manufactured using the 5nm process, and since Huawei is one of TSMC’s top customers, we have no doubt that the Kirin 1020 will be produced by the world’s largest independent foundry. TSMC will start delivering 5nm chips to customers during the second quarter of next year.
At 5nm, the Kirin 1020 could contain as much as 171.3 million transistors per square millimetre.
A footer is located at the bottommost part of your website. Typically, it contains links to other parts of your domain. It can also display copyright information to protect your intellectual property.
Because of its location, some assume that what you put in your footers won’t be read by site visitors. They couldn’t be more wrong.
Footers boost user experience. They provide your readers with shortcuts to get to more content and get the information they want. On your end, it continues engagement, which gives you more time to market to them directly.
Here are the elements that you should have in your website footer to maximize it:
1. Call to Action
The website footer design makes it the perfect location to encourage visitors to take the desired action. After reading through your content, you can compel them to sign up for your newsletter or download a free material with a call to action (CTA).
A CTA gives readers an idea of what to do with the information they collected on your page. For instance, if you’re selling products for hair growth, you can encourage your site visitors to try out a sample in exchange for their email address. You can even sweeten the deal with a discount once they purchase the full-sized item.
Some tips on how to write a compelling CTA:
Use Strong Words – Verbs are the perfect starting point of your CTA. Words like “buy,” “shop,” “download,” and “subscribe” are excellent tools to achieve your desired output from site visitors.
You can also take advantage of terms that elicit emotion or enthusiasm, such as “dream vacation” or “save 50 percent.”
Give Them a Reason – There are times, though, when you have to use logic. During these scenarios, you should provide potential buyers with the benefits that your product can give them.
Evoke a Sense of Urgency – Putting a deadline on your offer can hasten the process and push site visitors to grab the opportunity while it’s still there. You can say, “first 50 customers get a freebie at checkout.”
2. Social Media Accounts
Your footer is also an excellent place to display links to your brand’s official social media profiles. Putting this information in a strategic area of your page makes it convenient for your customers to follow you on these platforms.
The process of subscribing to your social media channels can be likened to signing up for your newsletter as they can get first-hand updates on your merchandise and promos. Moreover, you can start conversations with your current customers while reaching potential buyers at the same time.
3. Sitemap
A sitemap is a navigational feature that contains all pages in your domain. It’s typically in an XML format that search engine spiders use as a reference when crawling through your website.
While human visitors typically don’t have any use for this page, a few people may actually want to learn more about the structure of your site.
4. Latest or Most-Read Posts
If you’re a blogger, you can place the latest or most-read posts in your footer to give readers a chance to discover other articles that you wrote.
For brands that sell products and services, you can promote related merchandise that you think customers may be interested in.
5. Legal Stuff
Most websites also display legal details, such as copyright information, privacy policy, and terms of use. Copyright protects your intellectual property from plagiarism while the disclaimers inform users of the data that’s collected, its storage process, and how it might be used.
6. Contact Details
Make the process of contacting you more convenient and accessible for your readers by providing contact information at the bottom of each page. Don’t make them go back and click on the “Contact” or “About Us” page for them to place an order or schedule an appointment with you.
By putting your address and phone number at the footer of your web pages, you increase the likelihood that customers will contact you for more information on what you have to offer.
Conclusion
The website footer is probably one of the most neglected parts of a website. However, it’s a prime spot that you can maximize to boost engagement as well as the conversion rate for your website.
Add a call to action for every page to let your readers know what you want them to do with the information that you provided. You should also link to your social media accounts for site visitors to follow you on those channels and get first-hand updates on your products and services.
Other things that you can include in your footer are the sitemap, latest or most-read posts, copyright information, privacy policy, terms of use, and contact details.
SafeBoda, an Uber for Motorcycles in Africa has added food, delivery and payments to its platform, just weeks after launching in Nigeria, in a move that helps it complete the journey of becoming Africa’s super app, like its Asian counterpart Go-Jek.
SafeBoda, a safe and secure motorcycle-taxi experience began its life in November 2014 in Kampala with just 20 drivers and most people kept dismissing them (including us-yes, we were wrong) but the team’s less-press more-work attitude has seen them grow, beating global competitors such as Uber, Bolt who also have motorcycle hailing in their apps.
Living and working in Kampala for a few years, I saw the chaos associated with motorcycle drivers firsthand. Motorcycles aka Boda were the unsafest means anyone would ever use, yet the fastest to get around the city’s traffic jam.
Peace and safety in chaos
Away from the chaos, there was a ready market for safe motorcycle hailing services in Uganda, East Africa’s king of Motorcycle rides and ownership. And SafeBoda focused on that as its primary business. SafeBoda brought safety and security to a service seen as reckless, savage and precarious. Safety more than doubled the addressable market for both online and offline Boda users in a country that is estimated to have the highest rate of unemployment in Africa.
With around $380,000 raised between September 2015 and March 2016 from Development Innovation Ventures (DIV) and Global Innovation Fund, SafeBoda keenly trained cohorts of drivers in Kampala and its environs and helped train them to use its mobile application and with bits of customer service.
With its first batch of DIV funding, the firm deployed over 1,225 drivers and expanded across Kampala. The next phase was for safety measures by encouraging drivers and passengers to use helmets. Safeboda invested heavily in its drivers-trained them in first-aid, road safety, customer service, and motorbike maintenance. With that, it saw an increase in helmet adoption by 70% among passengers and 100% among drivers and a subsequent increase in boda drivers revenues by 50%.
East Africa, West Africa then India and LatAm
First-forward 2019, SafeBoda is not only operational in East Africa but has launched in Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, and is expanding across the continent like a bushfire for both Android or iOS users. In Kenya, it’s launching in the country’s coastal city, Mombasa.
Now, by going into food ordering, general deliveries and payments and soon loans and insurance, SafeBoda is completing the circle it started to be Africa’s biggest super app. The hint that SafeBoda was going all the way was when it raised funding and said it will be venturing heavily into mobile payments and insurance and a final launch in India and emerging markets. There is a likelihood that SafeBoda will take on LatAm markets from its Barcelona tech hub.
GO-JEK
Seven months ago, SafeBoda raising an undisclosed Series B round co-led by Allianz X, the digital investment unit of the Allianz Group, Go-Ventures, an arm of GO-JEK. During the investment, Oliver Ullrich, Corporate Development Director at Allianz X said: “SafeBoda has successfully established itself in the ride-hailing market in Uganda and we look forward to supporting the company’s expansion into additional countries and services.”
The additional countries and services are on course and this is SafeBoda completing that circle with the launch in Kenya and Nigeria and introduction of food, delivery, and payments and of course, insurance as Allianz said it intended to leverage SafeBoda’s Africa presence to transform transportation, logistics, and payment sectors in Africa.
“Our investment in SafeBoda underlines our continued commitment to growth markets. We are excited to participate in the development of ride-hailing ecosystems in Africa,” said Oliver Ullrich, Corporate Development Director at Allianz X.
Alastair Sussock, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of SafeBoda said collaborating with Allianz will enable SafeBoda to grow the business and impact the wider community across East and West Africa and, he meant it.
“SafeBoda is excited to have Allianz X join our investor group, particularly as we deepen our platform and add a number of important FinTech services for both SafeBoda drivers and passengers,” he said.
SafeBoda is not launching in a vacuum in Nigeria-but that’s a story for another day as Nigeria has all sorts of players, some after user data, some after really serving the biggest population in Africa.
Max wants the market and has a $6 million injection from Novastar Ventures, Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Zrosk Investment Management, and Goodwell Investments plus $1 million in grants. Gokada too wants a share of the market with a $5.3m Series A funding round. OPay, Opera’s fintech platform recently raised a $120 million Series B round to expand its product portfolio as well as expand across Africa. OPay in June raised $50 million to double down on Nigeria. CanGo can not be left out in this Africa super app race.
The SafeBoda Wallet
With these new products and new markets, SafeBoda’s new phase is insurance and loans via its SafeBoda Wallet is already being used by riders and passengers. According to Coenraad Vrolijk, CEO of Allianz Africa, “SafeBoda is a promising start-up with substantial growth potential, including the development of relevant financial services and insurance products.”
Facebook trained over 7,000 women-owned SMEs in digital skills across sub-Saharan Africa, according to its ‘2019 Year in Review’ infographic.
Facebook also celebrated 79 Community Leadership Circle meetups with over 2 ,650 people attending. The giant social media firm reached its 45th Developer Circle, with circles now in 17 African countries and representing more than 70,000 members.
Recently, it hosted its first-ever iD8 Nairobi Conference with over 400 African developers and startups in attendance and expanded Third-Party Fact-Checking across 10 African countries. In 2019, Facebook also announced the creation of population density maps of Africa and created by Facebook AI researchers to help humanitarian aid and relief agencies; and much more
According to Nunu Ntshingila, Regional Director Facebook Africa, commented: “Africa is important to Facebook, and we’re committed to investing in its youth, entrepreneurs, the creative industries, tech ecosystem as well as its many other communities. Our 2019 Year in Review highlights just some of these investments, and the impact we’ve been able to have here in the region. I’m excited about the future of Facebook and our family of apps here in Africa, as well as the potential of this young, mobile and dynamic continent, and look forward to creating partnerships in 2020 and beyond.”
Committed to giving people the power to build community and bring the world closer together, throughout the year this translated into significant support and investments into growing the ecosystem of developers, entrepreneurs, creatives, and many other communities.
Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative, set up by Chinese billionaire, Jack Ma, will be airing on StartTimes in Africa to help Jack Ma to share his experience with Africa as well as financially support young entrepreneurs to build their own business empires.
The Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative (ANPI) aims to support and inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs who are building a more sustainable and inclusive economy for the future.
Every year, 10 finalists will be selected to compete in a finale pitch competition. And the televised finale event called “Africa’s Business Heroes” will now be broadcast on StarTimes platform as seen below:
ST NOVELA E:
1st Episode: December 14, 08:50 PM – 09:50 PM
Re-run: December 15, 06:00 PM – 07:00 PM
2nd Episode: December 21, 08:50 PM – 09:50 PM
Re-run: December 22, 06:00 PM – 07:00 PM
ST SPORTS FOCUS:
1st Episode: December 15, 09:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Re-run: December 16, 01:00 PM – 02:00 PM
2nd Episode: December 22, 09:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Re-run: December 23, 01:00 PM – 02:00 PM
The competition for the top 10 finalists for the grand finale event took place in Accra, Ghana on 16 November 2019. The finalists were chosen from nearly 10,000 applicants from 50 African countries.
After months of judging and deliberation, the finalists were shortlisted and went on to pitch their business directly to four finale judges – Jack Ma, Founder of Alibaba Group and the Jack Ma Foundation; Strive Masiyiwa, Founder and Executive Chairman of Econet Group; Ibukun Awosika, Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria and Founder/CEO of The Chair Centre Group; and Joe Tsai, Executive Vice Chairman of Alibaba Group. The winners will receive a share of the $1 million USD grant prize pool.
“We launched the Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative to identify top entrepreneurs from across the continent, not only to reward them but to inspire a whole new generation of potential game changers for Africa. I have been inspired by the entrepreneurs I met in Africa, many of whom are dealing with the same challenges we faced when we started Alibaba years ago. I truly believe the potential of Africa’s business heroes is limitless,” said Jack Ma, Founder of Alibaba Group and the Jack Ma Foundation.
Lots of modern innovations have made the business world more efficient and productive. One such invention is ringless voicemail technology.
This tool, which is also referred to as a voicemail drop, allows you to send a recorded audio message to someone directly to their voicemail inbox. Most people in sales and marketing use this to promote their products and services.
You can even send one message to several clients, like a blast, which gives you time to focus on following up on those who reply to your voice note. You can use ringless voicemail by itself or supplement your advertising campaigns.
How Does It Work?
The innovation is quite a boon for businesses, no matter what industry you’re in. Before you go and try out this technology, you should first understand the steps involved in the process.
1. Record Your Pitch
There are companies like Drop Cowboy that have made the process straightforward for clients. First, you need to record a message that matches your objective for that particular campaign. You have the option to do it yourself or let your sales team take care of the task.
Some tips on how to make an effective sales pitch:
Do Your Research – Knowing the demographic that you’re sending your ringless voicemail to can help you create a script that addresses their needs and interests perfectly. Answer possible questions that they may have about your product before they even ask them.
Highlight Product Strengths – List the good points of your merchandise and how it can help potential buyers. The information you gleaned from your research will be valuable in matching the strength of your product with the needs of your consumers.
Focus on the Customer – One of the cardinal rules in sales is to let clients know how their lives will be made more convenient and less stressful by what you’re selling. While it can be tempting to drone on and on about the strengths of your product, always remember that buyers don’t really care how awesome it is unless it helps them one way or another.
Share Testimonials – Social proofing is also an effective strategy to use when creating your sales pitch. You can gather reviews from customers who’ve used your product and had great results. For prospects who were referred by a friend, you can use the experience of their peers to get them to try your merchandise.
2. Make a List
For general messages, like informing customers about your store hours, you can send the ringless voicemail to your entire call list. However, you should also create targeted lists to make it more convenient for you to deliver your sales pitch to a particular demographic.
You can group your existing clients by age, location, and job title. This way, it’s easier to build better customer relationships by personalizing your sales proposals to them according to their needs and interests. You can even group them by birthday so that you can send them an exclusive promo, discount, or freebie on their birth month.
In crafting a targeted list, you should know the persona of a prospective customer. To do this, you must go through your existing customers and determine their demographics. The information you glean from this research helps identify which age group, professions, and even organizations are most likely to respond to your sales pitch.
After this step, you can gather leads or potential customers. One excellent way to amass the contact information of prospects is through your website.
Create a concise form that collects only relevant details from your site visitors, like name, email address, and contact number. Asking for more than these three questions will need a logical explanation on your end, which is sensible because it’s never safe to give out personal information on the Internet without discretion.
3. Time the Drop
A convenient feature of ringless voicemail software is that they allow you to schedule when your message will be delivered to customers’ inboxes and how many you want to send for the week. You have the choice to distribute your sales pitch to all your contacts in bulk or limit it to two hours each day.
Another option is to have the program send voicemails every minute. However, you also have to consider the number of callbacks that your staff can handle. The best strategy for this process is to start small and work your way up to a manageable level.
You need to know when are the best times to call your customers. According to HubSpot, you should reach out to prospects in the middle of the week between Tuesday and Thursday. Research backing up this claim believes that people are busy planning their upcoming week on Mondays while, on Friday afternoons, they’re already thinking about what to do on the weekend.
Moreover, the best time to contact the numbers on your call list is between four and five in the afternoon. This is because most workers have finished their tasks for the day, which implies that they can accommodate and process your message. The next best time is during lunchtime since it serves as a midday break between morning obligations and afternoon to-dos.
You should also connect with customers who expressed their interest after opening your voicemail message within an hour. The rate of response increased within that timeline but dropped among those who received communication after two hours.
4. Monitor Their Status
After you’ve sent out your voicemail messages, you can track each one and determine if they have been opened or not. This is a crucial part of the process because you want to ensure that your sales pitch has been delivered to its intended recipient.
For ones that haven’t been listened to, you can resend it after a day or two. However, be cautious when doing this because the customer may have deliberately skipped your message and sending it again may damage their perception of your brand.
Is It Legal?
Ringless voicemail has gotten a negative association with spamming and debt collection, but this is because a few people don’t understand the regulations imposed by the government on voicemails.
In the US, voicemails fall under the legal umbrella of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). This mandate serves to keep companies from annoying their customers with promotional messages.
Here are the general rules from the TCPA and FCC or Federal Communications Commission:
Call Hours – Solicitors are only allowed to phone homeowners between eight in the morning to nine in the evening.
DNC List – Companies must create a Do-Not-Call or DNC list that contains the contact details of customers who explicitly requested not to be called again. Businesses must also honor the national DNC registry.
Transparency – Salespeople must maintain forthrightness and provide their name as well as the company they’re working with for each call. They should also give the contact details that recipients can use in case they want to communicate with the caller.
Emergency Lines – Solicitors are prohibited from using automated telephone tools or prerecorded messages to emergency lines, such as 911, hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare facilities.
Recipient Cost – Customers must not be charged for the call or voicemail that they received or opened.
Unsolicited Faxes – Sending faxes without the consent of the recipient are also not allowed.
What’s in it for Me?
There are lots of benefits to using ringless voicemail technology for your company, such as:
1. Avoid Interrupting Prospects
Cold calling is an infamous sales tactic that entails contacting potential customers and delivering a sales pitch when they answer. The practice has gained notoriety because of its disruptive tendencies.
Ideally, phone calls should only be used in urgent situations and emergencies. However, because your sales pitch isn’t life-threatening, it’s better to send it directly to their voicemail inbox rather than risk interrupting their workflow.
Your prospects may be in the middle of an important meeting or doing a task that requires their full concentration. The disturbance caused by your cold call will only make them more unwilling to listen to what you have to say, let alone purchase what you’re trying to sell.
2. Give Customers Time to Decide
Another advantage of ringless voicemail is that you allow customers to process your message. You’re giving them back the control over their buying decision. With this, you can be sure that they’re interested in your products and services once they respond to your sales pitch.
One drawback of cold calls is that some representatives harass the customers to get a sale out of them. You don’t need to force prospects to purchase your merchandise at every contact point.
The underlying objective for each call and message you send to prospects is to establish a relationship with them. Your ultimate goal should be to gain their trust and make them see the value of your products and services. Once you’ve accomplished this task, the sales will come effortlessly.
The reason why ringless voicemails have a higher open and listening rate is probably since this method doesn’t interrupt prospects from their busy workday and even gives them time to ponder on their decision. This ensures that they take the leap to try your product out of their own volition, which makes them better-quality customers than those who only bought an item because they felt compelled to do so.
3. Deliver the Best Sales Pitch Every Time
With cold calls, you shouldn’t be strict about sticking to the script because you’re talking to a live person. The flow of the discussion won’t always follow the outline that you have prepared. This factor makes it challenging to deliver the best sales pitch to the recipient.
Fortunately, with cold calling, you have the chance to create a script that includes all the information that you want your customers to know about. Moreover, you can keep on recording the audio until you find the one that has the right tone and flow. This ensures that you send a well-thought sales pitch to prospects every time.
4. Contact People at a Larger Scale
Ringless voicemail software has a blast function that allows you to send one message to multiple recipients simultaneously. This feature is valuable in today’s business world where you’re no longer just catering to local customers but, because of the Internet, potential clients in nearby cities and towns can discover your products and services.
At the early stages of your company, your contact list may consist of just a few numbers. However, your leads will also grow as your business expands to broader horizons, primarily if you’ve provided exemplary service to your customers. Word-of-mouth advertising is a powerful tool that can boost the promotion of your brand, like wildfire.
Prepare to scale your processes by investing in ringless voicemail software to make sure that existing clients and prospects can stay updated on regular promos and discounts.
5. Help Your Team Maximize Their Work Hours
Because ringless voicemail technology delivers the sales pitch directly to multiple recipients at a large scale, your team now has the time to focus on tasks that require higher-level thinking. They won’t have to go through the tedious job of dialing prospects and repeating the same script over and over again.
Instead, they can pour out their energy into responding to interested customers and answering their inquiries about your products. Not only will this result in better sales, but you’ll also have happier employees who contribute a lot to your company’s reputation and growth.
Conclusion
Ringless voicemail technology is a valuable tool for businesses in any industry. You just need to record your sales pitch, send it to your targeted list of recipients at the right time, and check their status after a day or two.
This practice is legal, with prohibitions that protect consumers from spam and fraud. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the Federal Communications Commission has regulations in place to monitor sales calls and voicemail messages being sent to American citizens.
The key advantages of investing in ringless voicemail software are that you don’t have to interrupt your prospects while they’re doing their jobs. Moreover, you also give them time to decide on whether to grab the promo that you’re offering or not.
You get to deliver the best sales pitch every time and send it to multiple recipients simultaneously, which helps your team maximize their time and boost productivity.
Google has rolled out Chrome version 79. The browser extension will alert users on leaked passwords.
The move is important because cyber-attacks are on the rise. The new chrome with better password protection will ensure a streamlined flow or work.
In 2018, the worldwide spending on Cybersecurity approximated to $114 billion an increase of 12.4 per cent from 2017 according to Cybersecurity Ventures market Report 2019.
However, the figures are gradually growing with businesses as the biggest targets of spending on Cybersecurity.
For instance, The largest cybersecurity budgets belong to Fortune 500 corporations, with financial institutions seemingly having the deepest pockets. In a 2018 letter to J.P. Morgan Chase & Co shareholders, The company roughly spends $600 million each year on cybersecurity up from a projected $500 million in 2016,
Companies will cut on password protection expenditures with Chrome enabled the extension.
Previously, Chrome has been warning about reused passwords once you check in on two separate browsers. The company is now rolling out away chrome can provide warnings as you log in on sites of the web.
From now on, Chrome will send notifications to users on leaked passwords and let them change to secure ones.
It will enable you to control the functionality in the sync settings in chrome and sent you warnings when your password is stolen.
Google now uses strongly hashed and encrypted copies of passwords to match them using layers of encryption.
Once you sign into a website, Chrome will send a hashed copy of your username and password. Google will then encrypt with a secret key only known to chrome.
Google will then turn your password into a hash. A chrome algorithm that turns it into a collection of letters or numbers.
According to Forbes, The hash numbers look like for instance, 855c3497ef6299c66733. If the same password has existed in Google’s strove of previously stolen passcodes, it will be easier for them to note a stolen password.
Chrome 79 now allows you to download a password manager. This will help you create unique passwords for each site you visit.
Alongside password warnings, Google is improving its phishing protection with a real-time option.
Until now, the company has been using a list of phishing sites that updates every 30 minutes but still, fraudsters have been quickly switching domains or hiding from Google’s crawlers.
the new and improved real-time protection will generate warnings for 30 per cent more cases of phishing.
Another thing is Chrome’s multiple profiles support. for people who use multiple profiles in Chrome or share PC’s with others, Chrome is now equipped with a better visual indicator of what profile is currently being used to ensure the right password and profile is used.
OnePlus 8 Lite has been leaked, set for release in the first phase of 2020. The phone will retail at Ksh36,000 only.
The smartphone producer first launched OnePlus One in India for Rs 21,999 as the company’s first flagship phone about six years ago.
The company is a flagship Android smartphone maker and has launched a series of affordable mid-range flagships in the market.
After failing on the OnePlus X the company has since then moved to produce premium devices.
However, as 2020 approaches. There is a number of speculations that the OnePlus is working on a mid-range, the first after OnePlus X. Name not disclosed yet but sources suggest the phone might probably be a OnePlus 8 lite.
In the lineup list, OnePlus 8 pro might as well debut in late 2020 with a possible launch by October.
As revealed by 91 mobiles, the phone has a likely flat display with a centred punch-hole cutout. Also, the device has a rectangular rear camera module that would comprise of two possible cameras and a few sensors.
The OnePlus 8 lite might have a design similar to the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite and the Galaxy S11 as well as the Galaxy A91 models.
According to OneLeaks, the phone is possibly between 6.4 or 6.5 inches approximately 159.2 by 74 by 8.6mm.
The reveals show a type C port on the bottom frame, an alert slider on the side with no presence of the headphone jack.
Additionally, the phone might have an LED flash and a foreseeable time of flight (ToF) sensor.
Renders according to 91 Mobiles, reveal that the OnePlus 8 Lite device has an in-display fingerprint sensor which means it also has an OLED display.
Definitely, fewer buyers are interested in such flagship devices. OnePlus 8 Lite might be one value for your money device.
This device, at just Ksh36,000, will offer top-notch features like the high-end market sellers like Samsung and Huawei who are at least double the price if not more.
With an OLED display projected. The phone might offer a 90HZ refresh rate as the as on the One plus 7T and OnPlus 7T pro premium models which are expensive.
There’s a fairly a good number of phones with of 90Hz or 120Hz display smartphones. The 90Hz or 120Hz technologies are the refresh rates at which the image redraws on the screen.
Displays with a 90Hz refresh rate render images 90 times per second. The 120Hz refresh rate will display images at 120 times per second. If truly the OnePlus offers a 90HZ refresh rate then the will be highly sellable.
Other phones in the market with the 90HZ refresh rate that might compete with the OnePlus comprise of: the Xaimi RealMe X2 Pro and OnePlus 7T series. Other phones include Nubia Red magic 3S and Oppo Reno ACE.
Huawei might upgrade P40 Pro with a 5500 mAh graphene battery according to highlights.
The phone is the successor to P30 and P30 Pro is projected to be released in 2020.
“Huawei may introduce graphene technology to the P40’s without increasing the volume and helping to speed up charging. The battery is equipped with a 50W fast charge system to recharge in only 45 minutes,” according to daily trends.
Companies are working to introduce the graphene batteries largely of their capabilities to reduce the operating temperature and cells lifespan.
Graphene comprises a sheet of carbon atoms bound together in a honeycomb Latin pattern that makes it a potential conductor of electricity and thermal energy.
The material is extremely lightweight, flexible with a large surface area which makes it highly admired for battery use.
Graphene can improve such attributes as energy density.
Chances are Huawei could be the among first companies to use the Graphene technology.
According to the Samsung Institute of Technology, using graphene ball material to make batteries will increase their capacity by 45 per cent and charging five times faster.
In 2016, Huawei unveiled new lion batteries enhanced with the graphene technology. These batteries support a higher temperature of 60 degrees than normal batteries with support up to 50 degrees.
The Huawei P40 Pro model will have a 6.5 inch OLED screen with a 120HZ refresh rate and a dual punch selfie camera and a similar waterfall look as the Mate 30 Pro.
The speculations reveal that the phone might have a five sensor camera produced with Leica on the back.
The main camera lens might have 64 megapixels with a 20-megapixel ultrawide lens. Other components are a 12-megapixel telephoto lens and a dedicated macro lens and a time of flight sensor too.
If these speculations are true. This will be Hauwei’s moment of shine with the compelling devices at hand.
Originally, Samsung has dominated the market with its OLED screens. Majority of other manufacturers adopted the alternative LCD panel but, Huawei might be a notch higher.
The 120HZ refresh rate is rare. Few companies like Asus have adopted it on their ROG phone 2 whose functionality is great.
Graphene is more stable than the usual liquid chemicals inside batteries.
With graphene, it is safe to cram more of the substance in the same space. This makes it ideal for smartphone batteries.
Many batteries and smartphone makers are looking for graphene as the next big step for the volatile power sources.
The service life of graphene batteries is 2 times that of ordinary lithium-ion battery, the base station energy storage business will bring innovation.
The future of this technology will allow mobile phone processor performance liberated, to make mobile phone control fluency faster.
“Africa is at the forefront of an energy revolution,” Azuri Technologies CEO, Simon Bransfield-Garth told TechMoran adding that Africa is leading in the adoption of solar energy just as it did with mobile money.
“Africa is leading in the adoption of solar, in the West, people already have the grid, just in the same way if we didn’t have petrol, we would be driving electric cars,” he said. “Africans don’t know they are technology pioneers but they really are.”
Though Simon might be more opportunistic as a solar entrepreneur, Africa really needs an energy revolution. In sub-Saharan Africa, almost 600 million people have no access to electricity and the electrification rate in rural areas is as low as 14% according to the World Bank. Expanding the dark continent’s access to electricity through grid, mini-grid, and off-grid solutions is a key element to not only governments but innovative firms such as Bransfield-Garth’s Azuri Technologies.
Age of free energy
Bransfield-Garth’s firm has so far connected over 260,000 households in Kenya and PAYGO technology, in general, is reaching 10 million people across Africa. These customers have fully paid for their systems and are now enjoying free energy. the real revolution, Azuri sees happening when paygo reaches 20 million people with free energy by 2022. The bulk of these free energy customers will be on Azuri’s 10W & 50W solar systems.
Azuri Technology’s entry-level product features a 10 watt solar panel and long life Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries, with LED technology to light a whole rural household for 8 hours per night and a USB port for phone mobile charging. The 10W package worth $230 and comes with four LED solar lights, a torch, a phone charging unit and an FM radio.
The second package is a 50W package with a 50W solar panel, a solar TV, 4 LED solar lights, mobile phone charger, a portable FM radio and a rechargeable solar torch.
Kenya is Azuri’s largest market since launch in 2012, but the firm has since expanded into Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Nigeria. Azuri sees potential in almost all countries on the continent with an unlimited potential of solar capacity (10 TW) according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
To catalyse the transition to renewable energy, the African Development Bank recently launched the New Deal on Energy for Africa with an overarching goal of universal energy access in Africa by 2025. in the Deal, the Bank aims to connect 75 million people to off-grid systems and provide 150 million households with access to clean cooking energy.
Azuri is moving fast and leaving no home in the dark using an agent network across its markets and appointing agents from among the villages who know the people’s energy needs and their buying power.
Replacing the functionality of the grid
“When we started in 2012, essentially you had a small light and the role of that light was to replace the kerosene lamp but now we’ve got a 32 inch TV running on 12 hours a night, so essentially you have a full day of power just as you would have on the grid,” said Bransfield-Garth.
The firm has moved from the functionality of the torchlight to replacing the functionality of the grid and has been adding more capability to support more household equipment using solar power such as TVs, phone charging, fans, fridges, shaving kits etc. Azuri Technologies is moving to a place where customers can power all their day-to-day items using solar power.
With an estimated 10 million people who have fully paid their solar PAYGO systems and are not paying for solar energy anymore, Azuri expects to see the number double by 2022.
In Western economies, the grid is popular than solar because people had the grid before solar technology existed and the grid has rolled out to more people there than in Africa due to cost.
The cost of connecting people to the grid is way more than connecting to solar and even governments are supporting solar technologies to connect as many people as possible instead of waiting for the grid unlike five years ago when governments thought solar was a kind of an alternative before they connected people to the grid.
With its recent funding round, Azuri says half of the money it raised will be going into Tech as it’s a very tech-centric business and there’s a lot of tech going on in the company.
“Azuri is one of the foremost companies using AI, we are the only company with AI in our yellow boxes, to make sure the customer gets energy all the time,” said the chief executive. “One of the things that make Azuri unique is because we have been able to manage to make progress without having to raise as much money as our counterparts. One of the ways of doing this working partners so that we don’t reinvent the way we do business again.”
Image:inhabitat.com
AI is important in two ways
For Azuri, AI is important in two ways. IA in the box means it can deliver affordable products and energy to the customers reliably. AI is used for its customer management such as customer payment behavior to see if a customer can move to a bigger system.
AI also helps Azuri monitor when there is no light in their systems to provide better energy management and lighting experience. AI is also being used in Azuri water pumps, crop insurance among others.
Using AI, Azuri is able to know a customer’s usage patterns, the variation of sunlight depending on region, season and cloud cover among others. Also using AI, Azuri gets to “learn” the customer’s power usage patterns and optimizes light brightness, battery charging, and load conditions to ensure the system delivers the best possible match to the customer’s typical daily requirement for a given level of available sunlight.
Azuri’s patented HomeSmart technology allows it to distribute its energy to appliances depending on usage. For example, if a customer typically uses the system in the morning as well as the evening, the system will automatically slightly dim the lights in the evening on days when there is less sunshine to ensure there is still power available in the morning.
Moving beyond solar
Azuri also works with microfinance institutions to provide finances for seeds. Azuri is also working with the government, through its recent-issued energy-efficient policy to make solar affordable and available to more people in the country. The firm also aims to push for a better tax environment, especially on imported solar devices and solar-powered equipment like TVs, fans, and fridges.
Eyal, a 44-year-old digital-asset entrepreneur, and former Springleap CEO, allegedly defrauded investors in an initial coin offering (ICO) that raised more than $42 million from hundreds of investors.
According to the SEC, from August 2017 to April 2018, Eran Eyal, a dual citizen of Israeli and South Africa and founder of UnitedData, Inc. trading as Shopin, conducted a fraudulent unregistered securities offering by selling Shopin Tokens in an ICO to create blockchain-based universal shopper profiles that would track customer purchase histories across online retailers and recommend products based on this information.
However, Shopin never created a functional platform and Eyal and Shopin repeatedly lied to investors in connection with its offering, including misrepresentations about purported partnerships with certain well-known retailers and about the involvement of a prominent entrepreneur in the digital-asset space.
The SEC also alleges that Eyal misappropriated investor funds for his personal use, including at least $500,000 used for rent, shopping, entertainment expenses, and a dating service. Eyal lives in Brooklyn, New York.
“As alleged in today’s action, the SEC seeks to hold Eyal and Shopin responsible for scamming innocent investors with false claims about relationships and contracts they had secured in support of a blockchain-based universal shopper profile,” said Marc P. Berger, Director of the SEC’s New York Regional Office. “Retail investors considering an investment in a digital asset that meets the definition of a security must be afforded the same truthful disclosures as in any traditional securities offering.”
The SEC’s complaint, filed in federal district court in Manhattan, charges Eyal and Shopin with violating the antifraud and registration provisions of the federal securities laws, and seeks permanent injunctions, disgorgement with interest, and civil penalties, as well as an officer-and-director bar against Eyal and a bar against Eyal and Shopin prohibiting them from participating in any future offering of digital-asset securities.
SEC is calling for investors in the Shopin ICO who believe they may be a victim should contact the SEC at its TCR page. The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy issued an Investor Bulletin on initial coin offerings in July 2017.
Fenix International, a Next-generation energy company and subsidiary of ENGIE, has connected 40,000 households to solar power in Benin, representing 200,000 people, within just one year of launching sales in the country.
Fenix International, which is 100% owned by Engie, surpassed its previous rapid growth rates and deployed its solar home systems to customers who pay for the kits via installments like in its other markets.
In October 2017, ENGIE acquired solar home system company Fenix International which was already present in six countries in Africa. This deal gave ENGIE an edge on solar energy in Africa, giving it access to over 500,000 customers, improving the quality of life for over 2.5 million people in Uganda, Zambia, Nigeria, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire and Mozambique.
Pay-as-you-go solar
Only 34% of Beninois have access to electricity, with rural residents still further behind at a 16% electrification rate.
According to Brian Warshawsky, CEO of Fenix International, “In 2019, it’s unconscionable that 600 million people across Africa still lack access to electricity. I’m thrilled that we’re making a difference in the lives of 40,000 Beninois households and 200,000 people, providing access not only to clean solar power, but also to financial empowerment.”
Power and financial empowerment
!It’s a testament to the strength of our team in Benin that we were able to grow so rapidly, and I look forward to seeing their accomplishments going forward,” he added.
Fenix is allowing customers to pay for the 10 to 50 watt solar home systems over time, with small mobile money payments making them affordable even for low-income families and opens a path to financial inclusion via a Fenix credit score and upgrades to larger systems and additional services.
Expanding energy access across Africa
ENGIE Africa, led by CEO Yoven Mooroven, is expanding energy access across Africa. ENGIE Power Corner provides mini-grids in Tanzania, Zambia and in Western Africa. The firm recently acquired Mobisol to sell larger solar home systems in East Africa while Fenix focusing on ultra-affordable PAYGO systems in six markets.
Fenix Benin has 140 employees in the country charged with bringing clean light and power to all those without electricity across Benin. Apart from solar lighting, Fenix systems allow customers to access an on-grid experience with TVs, radios, additional accessories, and financial and product upgrades.
Clean light and power
“We will continue to work tirelessly to illuminate the next 40,000 homes, then the next 100,000, until everyone across Benin has a clean, well-lit home free from the dangers of polluting fossil fuels,” said Philippe Robert, Managing Director of Fenix Benin. “Reaching 40,000 households in just a year is a huge milestone for our team to accomplish, but it is only the beginning for us.”
JUA Technologies International, a Purdue University-affiliated startup developing solar-powered crop-drying devices, is partnering with BrazAgro Ltd., a supplier of Brazilian farm machinery, to distribute its solar-drying tray.
JUA Technologies‘ Dehytray is a solar-drying solution for small and mid-size growers and food processors and home gardeners approved for food use and designed for drying of foods using natural solar energy. It is designed for drying grains, fruit, vegetables, fish, meat and more.
When they visited Nairobi during the summer to demonstrate the Dehytray at the 6th Agritec Exhibition and Congress, they received immense interest in the product from local farmers and processors, who quickly realized its benefits to the profitability of their operations.
Securing distributors across wide-ranging regions, four continents and counting, is a challenging endeavor. The company implemented this partnership with BrazAgro, which will distribute the trays in Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
Throughout East Africa, the Dehytray will be used to dry specialty crops like leafy green vegetables, okra, mango, bananas, guava, tubers such as cassava and sweet potato, coffee, and grains, among other food products. The Dehytray meets a high hygienic standard for sun drying of crops, is quite portable, and can be adapted into a wide range of processing operations for the farm or small to mid-size processor.
The Dehytray was developed at Purdue’s agricultural and biological engineering program. The research was funded partly by USAID and USDA. Field tests on drying specialty (horticultural) crops and grains using the Dehytray have been carried out in the U.S., Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Kenya, South Africa and Peru. The Dehytray has been shipped to customers on four continents since it became available on the market in December 2018.
