Uber is set to launch its new ‘Pool Chance’ service in Kenya, enabling riders heading in the same direction to share the cost on their journey. Riders have a chance of getting discounted rides if the driver picks up other passengers; otherwise, they’ll have to pay the regular fees they’d pay for an individual ride. UberPool negotiates a specific carpool rate for the rider regardless of who else gets into the vehicle. The Pool Chance trip option is available on the budget service, Chap Chap in Nairobi; in the populous Nigerian city of Lagos
WhatsApp announced on Monday that it’s expanding its joinable calls feature to group chats – which means family members will be able to connect with more than one loved one at a time. Joinable calls, which were first introduced in July, allow users to join an ongoing group call after it has begun. But with this latest expansion, users can now call a WhatsApp group and join the call directly from a group chat window. Users will be able to join ongoing calls with your groups anytime, effortlessly, and directly from the chat view
OneTen — a group of industry executives with a mission to hire more Black individuals — has just launched its inaugural scholarship program to spearhead 3,500 underserved students toward the tech industry. As a contribution toward OneTen’s commitment, Udacity and Blacks In Technology will lend a hand to support the initiative. Udacity, an American for-profit educational organization, will offer recipients the opportunity to partake in a flexible online program to allow them to pursue a full-time position or continue their educational pursuits. While Blacks In Technology will amplify students’ efforts by providing them
Google has just launched TaskMate, a crowdsourcing app that lets people use smartphones to do tasks and get paid, in Kenya after a year-long experiment in the East African country. This launch, however, is just the beta version. TaskMate joins a growing list of apps and services launched by Google that offer people local job opportunities such as taking a photo of a nearby restaurant, answering survey questions, or helping translate sentences from English to your local language. It also includes a rewards app that lets people get paid for filling out local services
Nzingah Oniwosan first created her 365zing App, which centralizes features found on individual apps into one location to help Black women get on track with their health goals, when she realized she struggled with her own self-care. Ms. Oniwason, the daughter of parents who immigrated from Haiti, found difficulty with staying on track with her self-care for 19 years, trying anything and everything to keep on track when it came to her mental, physical, and spiritual health. She found things that helped in one area but not overall, and that’s
B. Pagels-Minor was a program manager at Netflix before she was fired and accused of leaking internal numbers about Dave Chappelle’s show ‘The Closer’ to the media. Chappelle’s latest stand-up comedy special, which was released on Oct. 5, has been widely criticized for including anti-trans jokes and for “attacking” the LGBTQ community. But Pagels-Minor took it upon herself to help organize a protest to provoke change against attacks on the community. She claimed that by 4 pm on Oct. 14th a walkout protest was announced and around 7 p.m –
MPharma, a Ghanaian health tech startup is set to open 100 virtual centers across seven markets in Africa over the next six months. The company, founded by CEO Gregory Rockson, has the goal to deliver quality primary care in the communities they serve by providing medical examinations. MPharma already provides about 10,000 physician consultations to patients at the startup’s network of pharmacies. Its also managed to raise over $50 million since inception; this includes a Series C round of $17 million, led by U.K.’s development arm CDC Group last year. Other existing investors include
In the US, accelerators like Techstars and Y Combinator are the most active investors in Black founders, followed by early-stage investors like Backstage Capital and Kapor Capital that focus on diverse founders. As we already know, Black founders often get a small portion of the pie when it comes to investment – which is why it’s essential to highlight the VCs dedicated to investing in minority communities and those who have a history of supporting under-appreciated groups. We’ve sifted through a list created by the Black Founders list of VC firms across the US that
Cash App has launched Cash App Studios, which allows the mobile payment service to invest in creators’ projects. Creatives include artists, designers, directors, and musicians. In an official statement, Brian Grassadonia, lead at Cash App, said: “We’ve long upheld the importance of artistic expression at Cash App. With the introduction of Cash App Studios, we’ll continue to support the artist’s freedom, both financially and creatively. “In keeping with our guiding principle of economic empowerment, we are excited to support emerging artists who are limitless in their vision with this new program.” Artists
Clubhouse has added a new “music mode” on its app – giving musicians who play live on the social network their own special set of tools to optimize sound quality. The feature will hit iOS first before rolling out to Android. The company said the new feature would allow users to “broadcast with high quality and great stereo sound” — giving listeners a rich listening experience. It added that music mode will also make it possible to hook pro-level audio equipment like mixing boards and mics into Clubhouse. This is
