Mastercard Launches 2KUZE Agtech Marketplace For Farmers In East Africa

Several well-respected voices we featured on the show last year predicted that we would see some major Agtech plays happen in 2017. 

Sure enough, Mastercard made headlines last week for launching a digital marketplace platform called 2KUZE which connects smallholder farmers, agents, buyers and banks in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The app allows farmers to buy, sell and receive payments for agricultural products via their feature phones.

If this initiative works half as well as we hope it will, it should make a heck of a difference to small-scale farmers looking to sell their produce to the right buyers more efficiently and at the best possible prices.

This week’s African Tech Round-up features a conversation I had with Katherine Liew. Katherine is the Head of Digital Disruption at Barclays Africa. Given what’s fixing to be an exciting year for fintech on the continent, I was keen to tap Katherine’s mind to get a sense of how one the continent’s largest banking incumbents is going about keeping up with the frantic pace of innovation within the financial services industry.

First published on AfricanTechRoundup.com.

 

Kenyan Agritech Startup WeFarm Secures $1.6 Million In Funding

How much of an over-achiever is Elon Musk fixing to become, though? In the last week, he’s added providing global internet coverage via a massive satellite network to his audacious To-do List. In this week’s African Tech Round-up, I reflect on how Musk’s latest ambition might upset net neutrality watchdogs around the world who might not trust SpaceX to responsibly execute on something they don’t trust the likes of Google and Facebook to do.

Also on this week’s show is more about perhaps the most publicised tech investment news of the past week, the $1.6 million investment haul made by the Kenyan agritech startup WeFarm. It’s exciting to see agritech startups start to excite the global VC community. It’s absurd how millions of people on the continent go hungry every year despite how well-endowed Africa is in terms of natural resources. It’s about time we harness tech to work smarter, improve our yields, and get food to hungry people not just on the continent, but wherever it’s needed around the world.

Finally, listen in to hear my conversation with Milena Taieb, Head of Video for France, Africa and the Middle East at Believe Digital Studios— the world’s leading multi-channel network (MCN) specialising in multi-platform distribution, audience development and content monetisation. Milena reveals how Believe has upended the traditional music and video production business, and how despite the plethora of self-publication platforms available to creators today, success is predicated on executing a killer digital strategy.

First published in AfricanTechRoundup.com