African Tech Roundup

Mwihaki Mundia gives a perspective of how brachiaria grass is exceptionally suited for the Sub-Saharan African livestock farmers especially looking at what climate and soil type does it thrive in. She further weighs in on the dynamic “rivalry” with fodder options such as the popular Napier and Brachiaria grass.

On this instalment, Mwihaki Mundia argues that Brachiaria grass is well-suited for Sub-Saharan African livestock farming and unpacks which climates and soil types are best suited to grow the indigenous fodder.

Mwihaki Mundia is a Communications Specialist currently working at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) Nairobi where she advocates for different technologies that improve smallholder farmers’ livelihoods in the Africa region.

HAVE YOUR SAY: Click on the UNAJUA tab at AfricanTechRoundup.com (www.africantechroundup.com/unajua/) and leave us a 60-second voice note with your reaction to this episode. (We will include some of your audio takes in future follow-up episodes.)

PROMO:

African Tech Roundup has partnered with Socialstack to launch the $ATRU social token on the Celo blockchain. Listen in to hear African Tech Roundup Co-founder Andile Masuku and Socialstack Co-founder and CEO Andrew Berkowitz unpack the rationale underpinning the token (https://www.africantechroundup.com/unpacking-the-atru-token-part-1/)

SUPPORT US: Support our independent media-making efforts by becoming a Patreon. (https://www.africantechroundup.com/patreon/)

Image credit: Clara Beukes https://unsplash.com/@clarabeukes

This UNAJUA Series - presented by Kenyan die-hard environment advocate and comms pro, Mwihaki Mundia - offers a minimum actionable response to the question: "Could the adoption of Brachiaria grass be a game-changer for livestock farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa?"

As part of her Communications Specialist role at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) Nairobi, Mwihaki distils expert research into technologies that improve smallholder farmers' livelihoods in Sub-Saharan Africa. Her advocacy work helps farmers utilise limited space to grow crops and rear animals for sustenance.

In this episode, Mwihaki outlines the state of play in Sub-Saharan African subsistence farming and explains why she and the research scientists at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) Nairobi are bullish about the climate change-resistant potential of indigenous brachiaria grass. *pun intended*

HAVE YOUR SAY: Click on the UNAJUA tab at AfricanTechRoundup.com (www.africantechroundup.com/unajua/) and leave us a 60-second voice note with your reaction to this episode. (We will include some of your audio takes in future follow-up episodes.)

PROMO: African Tech Roundup has partnered with Socialstack to launch the $ATRU social token on the Celo blockchain. Listen in to hear African Tech Roundup Co-founder Andile Masuku and Socialstack Co-founder and CEO Andrew Berkowitz unpack the rationale underpinning the token (www.africantechroundup.com/unpacking-t…ken-part-1/).

In case you missed it, check out the press release (www.africantechroundup.com/atru-token/)

SUPPORT US: Back our independent media-making efforts by becoming a Patreon (www.africantechroundup.com/patreon/).

Image credit: Gio's Studio

In this bonus, episode (the second of a two-part conversation), Socialstack Co-founder and CEO Andrew Berkowitz joins African Tech Roundup Co-founder and Executive Producer Andile Masuku to discuss some of the technicalities of the $ATRU launch.

They discuss the merits of launching the token on the Celo blockchain and share details about how you can ready yourself to earn the token in the coming weeks.

PART 1: Unpacking the $ATRU Token with Andrew Berkowitz Part 1: Re-imagining Media Ownership (https://www.africantechroundup.com/unpacking-the-atru-token-part-1/)

CREATE A CELO ACCOUNT: https://celowallet.app

PRESS RELEASE: www.africantechroundup.com/atru-token/

RESOURCES ON SOCIAL TOKENS AND THE CELO BLOCKCHAIN:

Social Tokens: Get Ready for the Next Massive Crypto Trend by William White for Nasdaq (https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/social-tokens%3A-get-ready-for-the-next-massive-crypto-trend-2021-04-29)

Exploring the social token revolution by Andrew Steinwold for ZIMA RED (https://andrewsteinwold.substack.com/p/-exploring-the-social-token-revolution)

Social Tokens: A Potential Growth Opportunity For Your Brand by Loomly Blog (https://blog.loomly.com/social-tokens/#:~:text=Social%20tokens%20%E2%80%93%20also%20known%20as,cryptocurrencies%20like%20Bitcoin%20or%20Ether.)

You had me at “Celo” — Why build on the Celo blockchain by Celo (https://medium.com/celoorg/why-build-on-the-celo-blockchain-9ceab3d11b70)

SUPPORT US: Back our independent media-making efforts by becoming a Patreon (www.africantechroundup.com/patreon/).

Photo credit: Ilias Chebbi

This podcast is the second in the two-part UNAJUA series unpacking the question, "What does it take for a Ugandan research insights startup to become a commercial success?" presented by founder and researcher Peter Kisadha.

In this episode, Peter speaks on whether it's possible for an African research insights company to be commercially viable and puts forward why he believes the business opportunity tied to servicing Africa's research gap is hugely underrated.

HAVE YOUR SAY: Click on the UNAJUA tab at AfricanTechRoundup.com (https://www.africantechroundup.com/unajua/) and leave us a 60-second voice note with your reaction to this episode. (We will include some of your audio takes in future follow-up episodes.)

PROMO: African Tech Roundup has partnered with Socialstack to launch the $ATRU social token on the Celo blockchain. Listen in to hear African Tech Roundup Co-founder Andile Masuku and Socialstack Co-founder and CEO Andrew Berkowitz unpack the rationale underpinning the token (https://www.africantechroundup.com/unpacking-the-atru-token-part-1/).

In case you missed it, check out the press release (https://www.africantechroundup.com/atru-token/)

SUPPORT US: Back our independent media-making efforts by becoming a Patreon (https://www.africantechroundup.com/patreon/).

Image credit: Drew Wilson

In this special bonus episode (the first of a two-part conversation), Socialstack Co-founder and CEO Andrew Berkowitz joins African Tech Roundup Co-founder and Executive Producer Andile Masuku to unpack the rationale behind the launch of the $ATRU token—which the two organisations have partnered to launch on the Celo blockchain.

PRESS RELEASE: www.africantechroundup.com/atru-token/

CREATE A CELO ACCOUNT: https://celowallet.app

RESOURCES ON SOCIAL TOKENS AND THE CELO BLOCKCHAIN:

Exploring the social token revolution (https://andrewsteinwold.substack.com/p/-exploring-the-social-token-revolution)

Social Tokens: A Potential Growth Opportunity For Your Brand (https://blog.loomly.com/social-tokens/#:~:text=Social%20tokens%20%E2%80%93%20also%20known%20as,cryptocurrencies%20like%20Bitcoin%20or%20Ether.)

Social Tokens: Get Ready for the Next Massive Crypto Trend (https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/social-tokens%3A-get-ready-for-the-next-massive-crypto-trend-2021-04-29)

You had me at “Celo” — Why build on the Celo blockchain (https://medium.com/celoorg/why-build-on-the-celo-blockchain-9ceab3d11b70)

HAVE YOUR SAY: Click on the UNAJUA tab at AfricanTechRoundup.com (www.africantechroundup.com/unajua/) and leave us a 60-second voice note with your reaction to this episode. (We will include some of your audio takes in future follow-up episodes.)

SUPPORT US: Back our independent media-making efforts by becoming a Patreon (www.africantechroundup.com/patreon/).

Image credit: Uriel SC

This UNAJUA podcast the first of a two-part series highlighting ecosystem insight gaps that African research startups might help to address.

Presenting the series is Ugandan founder and researcher Peter Kisadha. Peter has just recently joined early-stage investment outfit Future Africa as an associate researcher. He previously worked for the mobility tech company, Eywa, and, before that, he interned at Jumia Group's classifieds arm in Uganda. He is also the co-founder of the tech innovation data and insights startup Digest Africa.

In this episode, Peter offers minimum actionable responses to the question, "Why would anyone launch a research insights business in Uganda?" by outlining the significant real-world problems local research businesses might undertake to solve.

HAVE YOUR SAY: Click on the UNAJUA tab at AfricanTechRoundup.com (https://www.africantechroundup.com/unajua/) and leave us a 60-second voice note with your reaction to this episode. (We will include some of your audio takes in future follow-up episodes.)

PROMO: African Tech Roundup is partnering with Socialstack to launch a social token ($ATRU) on the Celo blockchain to drive community engagement. Check out the press release (https://www.africantechroundup.com/atru-token/) then tune in on Wednesday, June 16th 2021, to listen to African Tech Roundup Co-founder Andile Masuku and Socialstack Co-founder and CEO Andrew Berkowitz unpack how the $ATRU token works.

SUPPORT US: Back our independent media-making efforts by becoming a Patreon (https://www.africantechroundup.com/patreon/).

Image credit: Yu Gu

In this final instalment of our UNAJUA learning series themed: "Is the African technology ecosystem at an inflection point?" Nigerian analyst and researcher Derin Adebayo unpacks what is driving the increase in capital flowing into Africa's tech ecosystem. Derin also suggests what the various types of money making its way into the market might signal and analyses the role local and international investors play in the space.

Have your say by clicking on the UNAJUA tab at AfricanTechRoundup.com (https://www.africantechroundup.com/unajua/) and leaving us a 60-second voice note with your reaction to this episode. (We will include some of your audio takes in future follow-up episodes.)

Image credit: David Rotimi

This UNAJUA installment features Nigerian analyst and researcher, Derin Adebayo's second "minimum actionable response" to the question:

"Is the African technology ecosystem at an inflection point?"

In this podcast (the second in a three-part series), Derin shares what he reckons the founders of Africa’s first generation of internet startups have learned and suggests what lessons might be gleaned from other emerging markets.

Have your say by clicking on the UNAJUA tab at AfricanTechRoundup.com and leaving us a 60-second voice note with your reaction to this episode. (We will include some of your audio takes in future follow-up episodes.)

Image credit: Muhammadtaha Ibrahim Ma'aji

Welcome to the first episode of African Tech Roundup's new learning podcast series called Unajua. The word 'unajua' is a word in KiSwahili that means "do you know?"

Here's how the Unajua Series will work... First, we'll crowdsource pertinent questions from you, The Village, and break them down into 3 to 6 bite-sized sub-questions. Then, we'll invite a revolving door of Villagers who know a little more than a thing or two about how things work in our ecosystem to offer what we're calling 'minimum actionable responses' to these sub-questions—in 15 minutes or less. From here on in, Unajua Episodes will drop every Monday.

To launch the series, we've sourced answers to the question: Is the African technology ecosystem at an inflection point?

Factoring in on this question in a three-part response is Nigerian analyst and researcher Derin Adebayo. Derin covers technology, entrepreneurship, and venture capital across emerging markets in his monthly Substack newsletter called Unevenly Distributed.

He formerly worked at the hotel booking platform Hotels.ng and the VC firm, Ingressive Capital. He now works for Endeavor— the global community of 2,000 odd high-impact entrepreneurs spread across something like 40 emerging and underserved markets.

In this episode, Derin tackles the central theme question by answering two sub-questions for the price of one. First, "How large is the opportunity for a tech company in Africa?" Then, "Should we be worried about a lack of exits?"

Image credit: Nupo Deyon Daniel

In this conversation with Andile Masuku, Jean Bosco Iyacu thoughtfully interrogates the sustainable impact of progressive development finance versus the sketchy outcomes of foreign aid.

Jean Bosco is a former banker and fellow of the Harvard Kennedy School. He is the director of programmes at Access to Finance Rwanda, an organisation which promotes financial inclusion for low-income clients. Listen to hear why he's not a fan of foreign aid and explain why a robust development funding market is key to disrupting the systematic issues with the global finance status quo.

Editorial Disclaimer: This podcast is part of a seven-part podcast miniseries interrogating the progress being made in advancing entrepreneurship and job creation in some of the world’s most fragile regions. The series was taped at the fringes of SPARK’s 7th Annual IGNITE Conference in Amsterdam— a premier gathering of refugees, entrepreneurs, educators, private sector actors, government leaders, academics and NGOs.

While SPARK is the presenting sponsor of the series, African Tech Roundup maintains complete editorial oversight. Opinions expressed by the host, Andile Masuku, and his guests, do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the presenting sponsor, SPARK.

Image credit: Riccardo Annadale