LATEST TECH NEWS: Nigeria’s ColdHubs wins $100k Global Maker Challenge cash prize. 2 other things and a trivia you need to know today, September 30, 2020

These latest stories from the tech space will keep you updated with trends today.

1. Nigeria’s ColdHubs wins $100k Global Maker Challenge cash prize

The Global Maker Challenge has named Nigerian cold storage startup ColdHubs as the winner of the Sustainable and Healthy Food for All category, carting home US$100,000 in prize money. The challenge, which is an annual contest organised by the Mohammed bin Rashid Initiative for Global Prosperity, seeks to reward ideas focused on Innovation for Peace and Justice, Sustainable and Healthy Food for All, Innovation for Inclusive Trade, and Climate Change.

During the Virtual Award Ceremony, organised out of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), four winners and eight runners-up were selected to receive monetary prizes, mentorship, and access to global organisations worth up to US$1 million. Leading the pack, ColdHubs was selected as the Sustainable and Healthy Food for All winner, and was awarded a US$100,000 cash prize.

ColdHubs, founded in July 2015 by a young farmer and social entrepreneur Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu, produces cold rooms and sells them to smallholder farmers, retailers and wholesalers to store and preserve fresh fruits, vegetables and other perishable foods, extending their shelf life from two days to 21.

Tech Trivia:

Which of these digital tools doesn’t help monitor mentions online?

A. Google Alert
B. Awario
C. Agorapulse
D. AdWords

Answer: See end of post.

2. Kenya’s DukaPos launches MPOS solution for small-scale merchants

A Kenyan retail-tech startup, DukaPos, has launched a mobile point of sale solution for small-scale merchants. According to industry review, the new MPOS will digitise and automate most shop operations. Formed earlier in February by Isaac Sichangi and Evalyn Lwoba, DukaPos offers subscription-based access to its platform, which helps storekeepers with things like stock management, invoice generation, staff management, receipt generating, sales reports and mobile money integration.

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Speaking on the development, co-founder Sichangi noted that the initiative was born out of the need to help organisations with bookkeeping operations.

He said: “We observed that most small-scale business owners still rely on manual bookkeeping to manage their operations, and some do not keep records at all, which affects their business operations as they do not track the profits they are making. In addition, it prevents them from obtaining loans from formal financial institutions such as banks as they lack proper records.”

3. Biotech startup LifeQ launches Covid-19 tracking solution

To protect employees in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, LifeQ, a biotech startup, has developed an early warning and disease tracking solution. LifeQ’s solution provides early detection of a possible disease, as well as determines the users’ risk of developing complications as a result of Covid-19 infection.

In an official statement, LifeQ indicated that they plan to take their innovative solution to the next level, detecting other diseases aside from Covid-19. “The next version of LifeQ’s acute disease onset detector will monitor a greater variety of physiological streams that will make it even more effective for screening for the onset of a range of acute diseases beyond COVID-19,” the firm stated.

The 6-year-old firm was founded by entrepreneurs Franco du Preez, Laurie Olivier and Riaan Conradie. Since its global launch in 2015, the additional monitoring of the firm provides insight into any possible or developing complications. This is carried out through a thorough and continuous analysis of patient data by one of the medical advisors. Laurie Olivier, CEO of LifeQ explains that early detection in the workplace is critical to ensuring the safety of all employees and fellow South Africans. The firm noted that the solution has proven effective as it has been adopted by ESET Southern Africa, a global cybersecurity company.

Tech Trivia Answer: AdWords

While Awario, Agorapulse and Google Alert are web/social mentioning tools, AdWords is an online advertising platform developed by Google, where advertisers pay to display brief advertisements, service offerings, product listings, video content, and generate mobile application installs within the Google ad network to web users.

Monitoring tools, on the other hand, help users keep track of the digital mentions of netizens, brands, companies, and/or products.

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