HelpSelf is a AI-assisted legal app that helps you deal with simple issues. Need protection against debt collectors? Need an expungement? Want to deal with domestic violence? This robot can help. The project is an “automated legal technology company” that automates simple legal procedures. They currently work in the above areas but are moving into […]
View More HelpSelf uses simple AI to help those in legal troubleCategory: africa
DFS Lab is helping the developing world bootstrap itself with fintech
Entrepreneurs have it rough in Africa, India, Pakistan — places where VC cash doesn’t fall from the sky and necessary infrastructure like reliable banking and broadband can be hard to come by. But companies grow and thrive nevertheless in these rugged environments, and DFS Lab is an incubator focused on connecting them with the resources they need to go global.
View More DFS Lab is helping the developing world bootstrap itself with fintechAfrican VC TLcom Capital invests $5M in Nigerian data analytics firm Terragon Group
Jake Bright Contributor Jake Bright is a writer and author in New York City. He is co-author of The Next Africa. More posts by this contributor Africa Roundup: Uber says it’s staying, Konga could be epic startup fail Harley Davidson’s EV debut could electrify the motorcycle industry The African venture firm TLcom Capital is betting […]
View More African VC TLcom Capital invests $5M in Nigerian data analytics firm Terragon GroupThis artist is building solar lanterns so kids can study and play after dark
Olafur Eliasson is an Icelandic-Danish artist, known for his large scale sculptures and and experiments with ephemeral elements.
In 2012, Eliasson started a foundation called Little Sun, which distributes thousands of palm-sized solar lanterns …
Rhino experts aren’t banking on unproven IVF technology to rescue threatened species
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Guards at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy, in Kenya, now only have to keep watch over two northern white rhinos — and their much sought-after horns.
The last male northern white rhino, named Sudan, died at the wildlife conservancy this week after succumbing to old age and failing health.
There are just two females left from the subspecies, Fatu and Najin, who continue to graze at the protected wildlife park. Unless a still unproven reproductive technology in rhinos — in vitro fertilization (IVF) — is used to sustain the subspecies, the northern white rhinos will soon go extinct.
SEE ALSO: Trump administration nixes ban on hunted elephant tusks being carried into the U.S. Read more…
More about Science, Africa, Conservation, Rhino Horns, and Rhinos
Teacher in Ghana who used blackboard to explain computers gets some Microsoft love
Teaching kids how to use a computer is hard enough already, since they’re kids, but just try doing it without any computers. That was the task undertaken by Richard Appiah Akoto in Ghana, and his innovative (and labor-intensive) solution was to draw the computer or application on the blackboard in great detail. His hard work went viral and now Microsoft has stepped in to help out.
View More Teacher in Ghana who used blackboard to explain computers gets some Microsoft loveThe U.S. secretary of state was fired. On Twitter.
President Donald Trump just fired his embattled secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, via Twitter this morning, replacing him with former Tea Party Congressman and current Central Intelligence Agency chief Mike Pompeo. Mike Pompeo, Director of the CIA, will become our new Secretary of State. He will do a fantastic job! Thank you to Rex Tillerson […]
Trump administration nixes ban on hunted elephant tusks being carried into the U.S.
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In November 2017, President Donald Trump called the hunting of elephants for their trophy tusks a “horror show.”
It appeared that Trump, who lacks stable policy positions on many issues, strongly opposed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) decision to allow African elephant trophies from Zimbabwe and Zambia to be imported into the U.S. Trump and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke then decided to put the decision to allow trophy imports into the U.S. “on hold.”
Nearly four months later, that hold is coming off. The Trump administration will now consider letting hunting prizes from animals listed on the Endangered Species Act (such as lions and elephants) back into the U.S on a “case by case” basis, the FWS said. This may please Trump’s two oldest sons, who have vacationed in Africa where they shot large game animals — like elephants and leopards. Read more…
More about Science, Africa, Conservation, Elephants, and Hunting
The intensifying battle for Africa’s burgeoning tech landscape
Long gone are the days when Africa was disparagingly regarded as the White Man’s Burden. Today, Africa is the continent with the youngest demographic in the world, on the brink of a technical renaissance — yet the world’s tech titans are floundering to understand and gain a foothold in this market. Read More
Women are taking charge in Senegal’s growing tech industry
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On a balmy evening in Dakar, seven young women were gathered in the basement of a local university, not far from the city’s Monument of African Renaissance statue. Lit by the white glow of a projector screen, they tapped eagerly at laptops as the speakers covered everything from how to market your business on Instagram, to designing a website and using WhatsApp to sell your products.
Taking furious notes near the front was Rosa Evora, who runs a small business baking and selling cakes. At just 21, the business world is new to her, but like millennials everywhere, she has a good grasp of the digital world — in fact, it was social media that launched her career. Read more…
More about Africa, Women In Tech, Women In Stem, Senegal, and Social Good
Africa Roundup: Partech Ventures launches $70M fund, TPG Growth acquires TRACE, Rensource raises $3.5M
Last month we characterized 2017 as the year Sub-Saharan Africa’s startup scene found its stride. Twenty-eighteen looks to be the year of numerous VC investments. TPG acquires TRACE January got the funding party started. U.S. based private equity firm TPG Growth acquired a majority stake (of an undisclosed value) in entertainment company TRACE. TRACE is a global multimedia giant… Read More
Want to learn about African immigrants? Mr. President, meet Africa’s tech sector
President Trump’s comments about immigrants coming from “shithole” countries are continuing to stir up a shitstorm internationally. And while the language itself is bad enough, the President and his advisors need to also reboot their assumptions about the African continent — not just for the immigration debate but for U.S. foreign policy considerations. Among other… Read More