Tech

Rwanda’s Ampersand partners China’s BYD to electrify Africa’s transport system

Published

4 months ago

June 25, 2024

Kigali, Rwanda-based electric transport energy company, Ampersand, has entered into a partnered with Chinese multinational manufacturing company, BYD, which is aimed at a collaborating on the decarbonisation and electrification of Africa’s commercial motorbike transport system.

The partnership, according to Josh Whale, CEO of Ampersand, will “enable Ampersand to rapidly scale its electric fleet and its charging infrastructure, which is already the largest in Rwanda and Kenya.”

“This partnership marks a major milestone for Ampersand as we continue to lead the charge in providing sustainable, cost effective, mass-market EV solutions,” said Whale.

“BYD’s world-leading battery cells and manufacturing scale, combined with Ampersand’s deep customer insight and technical product knowledge will help fast track the electrification of Africa’s commercial motorcycles.”

Whale added that the partnership with BYD will see Ampersand purchase BYD’s high-tech battery cells to build around 40,000 electric motorcycles by the end of 2026, with the long-term goal of electrifying a large portion of Africa’s 30 million commercial motorbikes.

Ampersand is Rwanda’s leading assemblers and financiers of electric motorcycles that cost less to buy and operate, and perform better than the five million petrol motorcycle taxis in use across East Africa.

And since its commercial launch in May 2019, Ampersand’s fleet has grown to over 1,000 in size, and is expected to exceed 10,000 by late 2024.

“Switching the millions of taxi and delivery two-wheelers to EV energy tech represents one of the world’s best value-for-money decarbonisation opportunities,” Whale noted.

“At the same time, this transformation will save millions of hardworking motorcycle riders six hundred dollars each a year, driving clean economic prosperity,” he added.

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Tech

South African fintech Peach Payments partners Kenya’s Sukhiba for conversational commerce

Published

24 hours ago

October 10, 2024

Isaac Dachen

South African payments service provider, Peach Payments, has announced a strategic partnership with Kenyan commerce and CRM platform, Sukhiba, to offer its South African merchants a new conversational sales channel, and facilitate WhatsApp-based sales.

Peach Payments, which was founded in 2012, provides a complete toolkit to help businesses accept, manage and disburse payments through web and mobile, and is the second largest online payment gateway in South Africa, and has also expanded to Kenya and Mauritius.

Ananth Raj Gudipati, the CEO of Sukhiba who spoke on the partnership, said the platform was built on top of WhatsApp, and was currently active in South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Nigeria, Oman and India.

“Sukhiba is used by more than 35,000 SMEs dealing directly with manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors.

“Sukhiba’s technology lets merchants add their catalogues to WhatsApp and facilitates everything from product purchases to payments to scheduling deliveries.

“We are confident that the deep knowledge and network that Peach Payments brings to this partnership will accelerate WhatsApp commerce and payments in South Africa,” said Gudipati.

“This partnership effectively utilises Peach Payments’ platform on WhatsApp, which opens up a new sales channel for our merchants in the run-up to Black Friday and that gives their customers the flexibility of paying by card, EFT, buy-now pay-later and other alternative payment methods,” said Peach Payments CEO and founder Rahul Jain in a statement.

Tech

France’s VC firm Bpifrance launches in Egypt in bid to expand into Africa

Published

2 days ago

October 9, 2024

Isaac Dachen

France’s largest venture capital firm, Bpifrance, has partnered with Egyptian venture capital firm, Sawari Ventures, to launch a new base in Egypt in its strategic bid to expand into Africa.

In a statement by the VC firm, the move is to ease its entry into the North African region and enhance cross-continental collaboration.

It added that another key player in Egypt’s startup scene, Flat6Labs, will be actively involved in this new venture.

‘Together, we aim to support growth-stage companies and entrepreneurs by providing crucial access to funding, resources, and networks.
This partnership is consistent with Bpifrance’s desire to strengthen ties between Europe, Africa, and the Middle East,” the statement said.

“This partnership comes as African entrepreneurship continues to garner global attention. Startups across the continent are flourishing, and this collaboration will tap into this momentum by offering critical financial support and guidance to innovative businesses.

“This development provides better access to financing for French companies expanding into African markets and offers African startups opportunities to establish research and development (R&D) operations in France,” it added.