Mastercard released a whitepaper highlighting Africa’s readiness, opportunity, and roadmap for responsible artificial intelligence (AI) adoption. Harnessing the transformative power of AI in Africa shares insights into how AI can unlock significant outcomes across the continent’s major industries, including agriculture, healthcare, education, energy, and finance. The whitepaper also details the potential positive impact of AI on digital infrastructure, policy and governance, research and development, local language processing, and investment into Africa. Additionally, it examined how AI can create more jobs, with up to 230 million digital jobs projected by 2030 on
Google will invest $37 million across Africa to expand artificial intelligence developments on the continent. A majority of the funds will be allocated to enhance food security and expand digital access in local languages, with $25 million being invested in an AI Collaborative for Food Security. This initiative will help African researchers and nonprofits create AI tools that tackle hunger, climate-related crop threats, and farming inefficiencies, according to TechPoint Africa. The program aims to safeguard millions of smallholder farmers against damaging economic and environmental shocks by leveraging AI in early
The Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) has officially approved Moniepoint Inc.’s acquisition of a 78% stake in Sumac Microfinance Bank Limited. Sumac is a well-established Kenyan microfinance institution that offers a range of services, including lending, deposit-taking, insurance, and foreign exchange trading. This move will enable the Nigerian fintech to expand into East Africa. Moniepoint expanding in East Africa This acquisition is Moniepoint’s first official entry into Kenya’s financial services scene. “The transaction is unlikely to negatively impact competition in the market for provision of microfinance banking services in Kenya, nor
The US House of Representatives bill, which has imposed a 5% tax on remittances sent abroad by non-citizens, could significantly impact African countries, according to Techpoint Africa. “The One Big Beautiful Bill” was passed on May 22, 2025, by the US House of Representatives, backed by President Donald Trump, which includes a provision imposing a 5% excise tax on remittances sent abroad by non-citizens. The bill intends to create revenue and highlight immigration concerns by targeting outbound money transfers from non-citizens, including people with green cards and temporary visas. How the
A new dataset in the form of maps highlighted how many African workers are indirectly employed in the tech sector. These employees tend to do content moderation, customer service, and data annotation for AI models, as well as other jobs. Tech firms that provide outsourced digital labor for big tech companies tend to be discreet about their staff. This allows tech companies to distance themselves legally and ethically from their employees, experts explained to Rest of World. African workforces building AI The map shows the flow of data and knowledge
Meta is facing a lawsuit in Ghana as content moderators who experienced severe psychological harm caused by taking down disturbing social media content, including depictions of murders, extreme violence, and child sexual abuse. Lawyers are preparing for court action against a company contracted by Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, following a meeting with moderators at a facility in Ghana that allegedly employs approximately 150 people. This is the second lawsuit Meta is facing in Africa. Why is Meta facing a lawsuit in Ghana? Moderators working for Majorel in Accra claim that
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is facing a $2.4 billion lawsuit over allegations that its platform contributed to ethnic violence in Ethiopia. A Kenyan high court has ruled that the case, brought by two Ethiopian nationals and a Kenyan NGO, can proceed. Hateful content contributing to real-word harm The lawsuit was filed by two Ethopians, Abrham Meareg and Fisseha Tekle, and The Katiba Institute, a Kenya-based NGO. They argue that Facebook’s algorithms amplified hate speech and inciteful content, fueling violence during the country’s civil war. They claim
TikTok is profiting from young women and teenagers as young as 15 performing sexual livestreams, the BBC has been told. Three women in Kenya shared they started these activities as teenagers, using TikTok to publicize their business and negotiate payment for more risqué content sent on other messaging platforms. The app takes a cut of roughly 70% from all livestream transactions, according to a previous report by the BBC. Though TikTok forbids solicitation, moderators stated they are aware that it occurs on the platform. Sexual livestreams on TikTok Livestreams in
Ilara Health recently received a $1 million loan from the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to help improve private outpatient clinics in Kenya, according to TechPoint. What is Illara health? The company originally started by renting diagnostic equipment to clinics. Eventually, it expanded to offer health centres the choice to buy pharmaceuticals and items like hospital furniture on credit. The money will help underserved communities have better healthcare by investing in diagnostic devices, health tech, and pharmaceuticals. Last year, the company raised $4.2 million in debt-equity pre-Series A round
The Communications Authority of Kenya is ushering in new licensing rules and fees to crack down on fake electronics in the country. Distributors and telcos must now pay a one-off fee of KSh 250,000 ($1,933.49) for a 15-year licence. They will also be obliged to pay 0.4% of their yearly income as an annual fee, but not under KSh 120,000 ($928.07). There are also proposals to better regulate satellite internet service providers (ISPs) like Elon Musk’s Starlink. Why is Kenya introducing a telecom fee? The new licence, which is called
