The multiplication, in recent years, of events dedicated to entrepreneurship and technology on the continent, seems to mark the beginning of an era of “made in Africa” innovation. Funding initiatives, although still insufficient compared to the existing potential, also seem to be following the trend. According to the African Venture Capital Report, $725.6 million was invested in African startups in 2018, up from $167.7 million the previous year. Science, economy, health, environment… These innovative tools or processes cover, on a small or large scale, various sensitive sectors, considered essential for the completion of the development process of the black continent. Here are five major innovations emblematic of Africa's take-off and its ability to conquer the world. M-Pesa: the Kenyan answer to the low bankarization of its population In 2007, Kenya unveiled a service that would revolutionize its banking sector several years later: M-Pesa. Launched by the Kenyan mobile operator Safaricom, a company partly owned by the British group Vodafone, it is one of the very first systems of microfinance and money transfer by mobile phone set up in Africa and in the world.

The service has already been exported to Tanzania, Afghanistan, India and Eastern Europe. The idea of the project was to create a service that would allow microfinance borrowers to easily take out and repay loans from Safaricom's network of communication credit resellers in Kenya. However, the Kenyan economic context marked by a very low rate of financial inclusion and banking, will push the service to change and move towards the transfer of domestic money in the country and the possibility of making payments. In twelve years, this tool, ranked among the 10 most influential financial projects of the last 50 years by the Project Management Institute (PMI), will propel Kenya to the highest continental level in terms of financial inclusion. In twelve years, this tool, ranked among the 10 most influential financial projects of the last 50 years by the Project Management Institute (PMI), will propel Kenya to the highest continental level in terms of financial inclusion. In eight months, M-Pesa had conquered 1 million users and this figure had already tripled in June 2008. At the end of June 2019, the service had more than 26.9 million customers, i.e. nearly 83% of the adult population with a “Mobile money” account, in a country with around 50 million inhabitants. During the same period, the value of transactions on the service was estimated at more than $16.4 billion, or around 21% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). According to a survey released by the Kenyan central bank this year, the rate of financial inclusion in Kenya increased from 26.7% in 2006, to 82.9% in 2019. The rates of informal financial inclusion and financial exclusion fell respectively from 32.1% and 41.3% in 2006 to 6.1% and 11% in 2019. This performance will earn Kenya third place in Africa in terms of access to financial services , behind South Africa and the Seychelles. “This evolution can be attributed to the introduction of mobile financial services in 2007, followed by an increased number of partnerships and innovations such as mobile banking, agency banking, digital finance and mobile applications. Mobile money has served as an “on-ramp” to formal financial inclusion, particularly through digital finance,” the report said.

In twelve years, M-Pesa has fundamentally transformed the Kenyan economy, which is increasingly digitalized, with fast, safer and above all traceable transactions. According to a study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2% of Kenyans were lifted out of poverty thanks to microloans subscribed by mobile. Safaricom also indicated that the platform had generated more than 860,000 jobs. This development, which allows many sections of the population to benefit from financial services from which they were often excluded, has pushed the service to be exported beyond Kenya's borders, particularly in Tanzania, Afghanistan, India and Eastern Europe. ballast. Cameroon: the cardiopad or tablet that saves lives According to the World Health Organization, Cameroon is one of the African nations going through a crisis in human resources for health. The institution estimates that the country's doctor/inhabitant ratio is around 1.1 doctors and 7.8 nurses and midwives per 10,000 inhabitants.

The Cardiopad has started to be exported with sales to Gabon, India and Nepal To fight against this phenomenon, common to several African countries and which leads to many deaths each year, Arthur Zang, a young Cameroonian engineer, will imagine a tool specialized in the detection of heart disease: the cardiopad. It was in 2009 that this idea was born. While studying computer science at the polytechnic school of Yaoundé, Arthur Zang did an internship in the cardiology department. Amazed by the use, in the 21st century, of paper electrocardiograms, he offered to design software that could be used on a computer. Amazed by the use, in the 21st century, of paper electrocardiograms, he offered to design software that could be used on a computer. The idea is to reproduce an electrocardiogram on a computer tablet, with the aim of making it accessible, via the Internet, to a cardiologist capable of analyzing the recorded data remotely. Pulse frequency or duration of the intervals between two beats, this information is calculated, viewed and recorded by this tablet and can be simultaneously transmitted remotely to a cardiologist so that the latter can establish a diagnosis. "The Cardiopad allows you to suddenly have a fairly large number of patients requiring cardiology care who find a solution to their problem directly, regardless of their distance from the cardiologists" commented to this effect. Alain Bala, cardiologist in one of the main health centers in the country. A revolutionary invention in a country which in 2017 had only 60 cardiologists for 22 million inhabitants. In 2016, at the head of his company Himore Medical, the 32-year-old engineer will launch the marketing of his cardiopad assembled in Cameroon, and sold at around $3,200. A project that has been made possible thanks to numerous crowdfunding and support from the State, which in 2017 represented 40% of the company's sales with an order of 82 million CFA francs, intended in particular to supply centers public health. This new tool has also started to be exported with sales to Gabon, India and Nepal, suggesting a bright future for this made in Africa product. Secure ID: West Africa's leading smart card company With an explosion in the use of mobile phones, and an acceleration in the digitization of means of payment on the continent in recent years, Africa has become a huge potential market for smart cards, used as a means of personal identification (identity card, health insurance card, SIM card) or payment (bank card, electronic purse). Aware of this challenge, a company will very soon launch into the manufacturing sector of these essential components for millions of users, in West Africa in particular. With production of over 200 million cards, the company has been recognized as the benchmark for innovation and creativity in the smart card industry in sub-Saharan Africa. Thus, in 2016, Secure ID became the first manufacturer of cards created in Nigeria and the first manufacturer of polycarbonate cards in Africa. The company not only manufactures for the payment industry, but also telecom SIM cards and biometric ID cards, etc. It has the only smart card production plant in West Africa, and one of six on the continent. In addition to Nigeria, the company serves 20 other countries in Africa.

SecureID is already exported to 20 African countries. With a production of over 200 million cards, the company has been recognized as the benchmark for innovation and creativity in the smart card industry in sub-Saharan Africa, helping to save money for a country like Nigeria. billions of dollars of SIM and ATM card imports from China. Behind this vast project, Kofo Akinkugbe, a Nigerian mathematician who made a career in banking before turning to electronic banking. Aeroview: a new way of seeing agriculture Four years ago, the company Aerobotics, founded by young South African engineers, decided to create a tool aimed at improving yields in the agricultural sector. In this country where the agricultural sector is vital for the economy, this start-up will offer solutions to enable farmers to identify the crops at risk in their plantations very early on.

Identify potential risk areas and "solve problems before they become a real threat" Aeroview, their online platform, brings together detailed analyzes of the state of their crops, thanks to images filmed by satellites and drones. For 4 euros per hectare per month, Aerobotics then offers farmers access to the Aeroview platform and mobile application, which allows them to consult these aerial images in order to identify potential risk areas and "solve problems before they become a real threat". Farmers can also buy their own drone and enjoy monthly access to the platform for 3 euros per hectare. For 4 euros per hectare per month, Aerobotics then offers farmers access to the Aeroview platform and mobile application, which allows them to consult these aerial images in order to identify potential risk areas. In fruit farms, "farmers can lose up to 50% of their crops due to diseases and pests", explains Timothy Willis, Administrative and Financial Director of Aerobotics to a French media. A situation, which has enabled the company to meet with great success in South Africa, with more than 500 arborist customers affected. "We have a network of service providers and offer our customers a set of three drone flights a year, as well as satellite images provided by Sentinel, the European space agency", underlined Timothy Willis, not without adding that the company was considering expanding to other countries, including the United States. M-Kopa: solar power to bridge the continent's energy deficit In 2012, two entrepreneurs decided to launch the M-Kopa start-up in Nairobi, Kenya, specializing in the supply of electrical energy. To do this, the company offers easily accessible services, targeting the most disadvantaged sections of the Kenyan population, while relying on the country's high mobile penetration rate.

Award-winning by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, M-Kopa is already expanding to East Africa. Thus, for 35 dollars, an individual solar collector is installed in each household. Then the customer pays 43 cents a day for a year until the solar kit is finally purchased, less than the $200 annual budget spent on average Kenyans on kerosene lamps. without access to the national electricity grid. The fees for this service are paid online, via the M-Pesa mobile payment service. Then the customer pays 43 cents a day for a year until the solar kit is finally purchased, less than the $200 annual budget spent on average Kenyans on kerosene lamps. without access to the national electricity grid. At the end of 2016, 450,000 homes or individuals were lit using M-Kopa solar kits. The company, which employed more than 500 employees in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania in 2015 and uses the services of more than 1,000 field agents, has also won numerous international awards: from the American Bloomberg New Energy Finance Award in 2014, at the Zayed Future Energy Prize awarded in January 2015 by the United Arab Emirates.

While the very low rate of access to electricity for the African population creates a huge potential market in the sector, the company hopes to completely conquer the East African market before expanding more and more to other countries, even to other continents