DCA Digital Digest: Data gaps threaten achievement of development goals in Africa

1. Data gaps threaten achievement of development goals in Africa

Data gaps across the African continent threaten to hinder the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union’s Agenda 2063, according to the Mo Ibrahim Foundation’s first governance report released on Tuesday.

2. Broadband: Africa Needs USD 100 Bn to Bridge the Digital Divide by 2030

Across Africa, where less than a third of the population has access to broadband connectivity, achieving universal, affordable, and good quality internet access by 2030 will require an investment of US $100 billion. This is according to a report launched at the Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group, which calls for urgent action to close the internet access gap while providing a roadmap to reach this ambitious goal.
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3. Digital lending apps are coming under scrutiny in East Africa for predatory practices

The uptake of digital lending has been on the rise. Yet increasingly, digital lending in Kenya—and across East Africa—has come under scrutiny, criticized as a “catastrophic” industry that’s pushing tens of thousands of users into debt, while commodifying their data and gaining profits from their woes.
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4. How technology is helping African farms to flourish

Africa has definitely grasped the promise of the 4IR. More than 400 tech hubs have sprung up across the continent, with Lagos, Nairobi and Cape Town emerging as internationally recognized technology centers. These cities now host thousands of startups, along with the incubators, accelerators, innovation hubs, maker spaces, technology parks and co-working spaces that support them.
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5. Developing trends that will define fintech in 2020

EU states that out of a survey of 27,000 consumers, up to 96 per cent of them indicated that they knew at least one fintech transfer or payments service. The most innovative fintech companies around the world are now banks. On the other end of the spectrum, smaller startups are focusing on the changing mindset of business. The gig economy, coupled with the tendency of startups to focus on the long-term financial security of their employees, had opened the door for a massive amount of innovation.
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6. Emerging trends in cyber security

Every day, the scourge of cyber crime affects companies across many industries. It has developed into one of the greatest threats companies face. The number and size of successful breaches is increasing. Between 2005 and 2017, significant data breaches, the type that affected millions of users, rose from about 200 per year to more than 1300, according to Experian.
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7. Rwanda opens ‘first entirely homemade’ smartphone factory in Africa

Rwanda’s President inaugurated what is being described as Africa’s “first high tech smartphone factory” in the country’s capital Kigali.
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