The Opportunities & The Reality: COVID19 & AfriTech

AfriTech Program Updates: 

• SeedLegals, the world’s first platform that lets founders and investors easily create, negotiate and sign all the legal agreements they need to do a funding round, has given our cohort three months of free membership. 
  
• Novel, one of our startups, was accepted into the Wimbart PR office hours program.
  
• Xpendly have launched their new app: a personal finance tool for millennials with income and expense tracking, budgeting and credit scoring. Access tailored financial recommendations from accredited institutions. 
  
• We are working on a full report of the impact of COVID19 on our 2020 cohort
  

New Programs, Investment funds & Diversity: 

• AfricaNXT: The Way Forward: April 30th & May 1st. Join the 2-day virtual gathering as key thinkers come together to explore the unprecedented times we are living in, that will without a doubt have a lasting impact on us as individuals and collectively as Africans. 
  
• Take your skills to the next level: Google, Andela and Pluralsight have partnered to provide a new program to support software developers in Africa on Android, Google Cloud and Mobile Web skills development tracks. Apply now for the Google Africa Developer Scholarship. 
  
• Build emotional intelligence to advance your success. The Icon Project is on a mission to help black and brown men. The team has several focus areas and programs, from wellness to culture to venture capital. 
  
• Diversity VC and Diversio are creating the world’s first industry standard for inclusive venture capital investment. The initiative, powered by OneTech, will
  Certify venture capital (VC) firms that exceed industry standards, providing a much-needed signal that a VC firm is ‘walking the talk’ on diversity & inclusion. Keep track of their progress, the investors and follow the opportunities to learn and pitch.
  
• The government has revealed a £1bn start-up support package amidst the devastating economic impact COVID19. But Francesca (Check) Warner argues that 
  diversity must not be sidelined in the distribution.
  

 COVID Facts & Podcasts:

• When a virus spreads, so does hardship: "Remittances are falling sharply across Africa. At one payments company, transfers from Britain to east Africa may have fallen by 80%." Get the whole story via The Economist. 
  
• Keep informed and head to coronafacts.africa for the latest statistics and figures, where recovery rates are front and centre helping us keep track of the successes. 
  
• The agricultural sector has a sizeable economic and social impact globally. A recent Mckinsey report noted that 60% of Sub-Saharan Africa population consists of smallholder farmers and around a quarter of its GDP is generated by agriculture. Meet EveryFarmer, a Nigerian agritech startup that has joined AfriTechXYZ and is levelling the playing field for subsistence farmers. We interviewed founder Luna Bawa, who was born into an agricultural communityand tells us that 90% of his family are farmers. 
  
• AfriTech Verified: New Podcast: How finance institutions tackle Africa’s fast moving fintech ecosystem, hear from Helen Lin, Head of Innovation and Strategic Partnerships at FINCA Impact Finance (FIF), one of the leading microfinance organisations in the world.
  
• Our founder, Bayo Adelaja, has shared a letter of positivity for everyone in our community. Bayo reminds entrepreneurs of the effect of our insecurities on our endeavours. ​