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Uganda’s Ivory Pipeline: Connecting DR Congo’s Poaching Epidemic to Asia’s Demand

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Overall, despite what has been by many accounts a difficult year, startups received 42% more funding in 2020 than they did in 2019. That said, with 10,468 startup companies getting VC funding in 2020, it’s only 83 companies more than were funded in 2019.

Meaning, the average amount of funding each company received in the respective years has gone up dramatically. While in 2019, the average amount raised by a startup in one funding round was $17.8 million, in 2020, that figure was $28.0 – almost 57% higher.

The figures are taken from Crunchbase for all venture capital funding rounds, including seed, pre-seed, and angel rounds, but excluding IPO, Debt Refinancing, Credit Note, Crowdfunding, and other types of funding rounds.

Startup funding by industry

Among industries that saw the greatest increase in VC funding received by startups that operate in them, the top three are Science and Engineering (+329.7%), Biotech (+187%), and Manufacturing (+113%). Curiously enough, Agriculture – an industry few associate with startups and VC – came in fourth with +112% growth in funding raised. Artificial Intelligence – buzzworthy as it is – is more than a buzzword, as not only the AI startups were able to raise +82% more in 2020 than they did in 2019, there were also almost 150 more AI companies that were funded last year than the year before.

The study aims to inspire leaders and entrepreneurs by showing that a solid business idea can succeed in any environment – even a global pandemic. 2020 was a challenging year for many industries, but the pandemic has also presented fresh opportunities in the world of business.

Kenyans want IMF to stop giving its government loans

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Kenyans on social media especially Twitter, took to their timelines to protest. This is coming after the IMF last week approved a $2.34 loan facility for the East African country.

The three-year financing package will support the next phase of the authorities’ COVID-19 response and their plan to reduce debt vulnerabilities while safeguarding resources to protect vulnerable groups.

However, some Kenyans on social media are accusing the IMF of aiding corruption in the country, therefore starting an online campaign for the lender to cancel the most recent loan.

As of the end of November 2020, Kenya’s total public debt was $1.98 billion. Kenyans believe that the loan will increase if international lenders keep giving without demanding accountability.

Reports show that in the last year, Kenya’s public debt has gone up by over $9.19billion under the cover of fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.

Adding up the latest loans from the IMF, other development partners, and adds to the other loans taken between November last year to date, Kenya’s total public debt is likely to go up by an additional $11.02billion in just one year.

Most Kenyans argue that even though the government has borrowed so much they are yet to see any improvement in critical areas such as health.

Debt anxiety

This social media campaign comes at a time when a poll has revealed that the majority of Kenyans are angry about the government’s will for borrowing.

A study by Infotrak on Kenyans’ perception of foreign debt, showed that 81% of Kenyans are angry, fearful, or anxious because of the country’s increasing debt, while 62% do not approve of regular borrowing from foreign sources.

Meanwhile, 52% of Kenyans say the government’s handling of its borrowed funds is poor, while 76% believe Kenya gets most of her foreign loans from China.

Also, 38% of Kenyans are worried that future generations will have to pay these debts for a long time while 34% believe Kenya will be unable to repay the debt and could default.

24% are worried that if Kenya defaults on paying its debts, national and strategic resources and infrastructure facilities could be taken over by external creditors.

Is the UPE program breeding learning inequalities?

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Africa has attracted significant investments and has received an estimated $20 billion in direct investment from Japan between 2016-2018. According to a recent survey by Japan External Trade Organisation (Jetro), Kenya has been ranked first on top future investment destinations for Japanese investors.

In the overall rankings, Kenya took the top spot with an investment choice of 35.1%, followed by South Africa (33%), Nigeria (30%), Ethiopia (21.3%), and Ghana (19.5%), in the top five. Morocco, Mozambique, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, and Tanzania made up the top 10 of the survey.

The report showed that Kenya ranked top position due to Emerging startup companies and potential for collaboration, expanding demand for infrastructure, potential of geothermal power, the hub function of East Africa, economic stability, Japan’s ODA and investment projects, the growth of the automobile industry, market size and future potential growth.

South Africa is a mature economy with a certain level of infrastructure development.

South Africa came in second on the merits of being a mature economy with a certain level of infrastructure development; industrial power in the development of the automobile industry; abundant metal mineral resources; and enhancement of personal purchasing power as a result of economic development.

Nigeria has the largest room for development in sub-Saharan Africa

Nigeria ranked third for having population increase and market size; overwhelming market scale. The country also has the largest room for development in sub-Saharan Africa with high potential of consumer goods market, enhancement of personal purchasing power, abundant energy resources; oil and gas development; and growth of the automobile industry.

Ethiopia has inexpensive labour, cheap electric power

Ethiopia was ranked fourth due to its high growth rate and population size, inexpensive labour, cheap electric power, increase in companies in the textile industry, the development of light industry, ODA/investment projects, distribution in East Africa, and privatisation of state enterprises.

Ghana is the hub of West Africa/ECOWAS

In fifth place is Ghana for having stable politics, economy, and legislative system; relatively good security; energy development such as electric power; the hub of West Africa/ECOWAS; expansion of market size and future growth potential; increase in middle class; and the progress of automotive policy.

Protection or Abuse? Why Families In Masaka Region Take Disabled Children For Birth Control

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This is to help the country address urgent balance of payments needs, after floods and an oil price shock hurt economic performance.

In a statement, the IMF said that “The pandemic-related oil price shock and devastating floods have led to an economic downturn. The … downturn widened the fiscal and the balance of payments deficits, opening large financing gaps in the absence of concessional financing.”

It added that the economy is expected to contract by 4.2% in the 2020/2021 fiscal year. This is higher than the 3.6% contraction the IMF predicted in November.

This is the second financial assistance to South Sudan since it joined the fund in 2012.

The IMF Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair, Mitsuhiro Furusawa, said it is important to restore fiscal discipline while the authorities remain committed to executing the remainder of the FY20/21 and FY21/22 budgets without arrears accumulation and no recourse to monetary financing.

“Revenue mobilisation measures and expenditure rationalisation would ensure adequate resource allocation for priority expenditure, including vaccinations, salaries, and critical investments. To maintain debt sustainability, the authorities must remain committed to non-concessional financing and limiting external borrowing to only finance critical infrastructure and Covid-related spending.”

He added that it is crucial to strengthen governance for the efficient use of public funds.

“It will be important to accelerate public financial management reforms, including implementing steps that would strengthen the macro-fiscal framework and the budget process; implement the Treasury Single Account; and improve cash management. The authorities should remain committed to ensuring transparency in the use of RCF resources by publishing monthly reports on pandemic-related spending and making public quarterly audits by the Auditor General.”

The South Sudan authorities have embarked on reforms to restore macroeconomic stability. Since October 2020, the authorities have stopped monetary financing of the deficit which, along with the forex auctions, have helped stabilise the exchange rate.

In 2018, South Sudan ended five years of civil war that killed an estimated 400,000 people, but President Salva Kiir and Vice President Riek Machar’s disagreements kept the peace process from being fully finalised. They repeatedly pushed back deadlines to form a government of national unity, but in 2020 finally did so.

It expected the economy would contract 4.2% in the 2020/21 (July-June) fiscal year, it added. The forecast is deeper than a 3.6% contraction of the fund forecast in November.

Want to be a better fact-checker? Play a game

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In this newsletter, we spend a lot of time highlighting how misinformation is a global problem. To that end, fact-checkers and others are trying to promote more media literacy worldwide — and some of those efforts are quite fun.

In the past few years, several games aimed at teaching people fact-checking skills and how to spot misinformation have launched. They range from putting users in the shoes of fake news generators to simulating what it’s like to be a broadcast reporter deciding which sources to trust.

Why games? Kathleen Hall Jamieson, co-founder of Factcheck.org and director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania — which came out with its own media literacy game in October — told Daniel at the time that it comes down to how students learn.

“If what you’re trying to do is increase the agency of students, the interactivity of an online game is educationally or pedagogically useful,” she said. “The assumption was that it was a better way to engage them and do something important.”

Here are seven games we think anyone interested in media literacy should try.

1. Bad News

In this game developed by DROG, a Netherlands-based organization aimed at fighting misinformation, users play the role of a fake news writer. The goal: Get as many followers as you can while building up bogus credibility. You lose if you tell “obvious lies or disappoint your supporters.” A recent study from the University of Cambridge found that playing Bad News increases “psychological resistance” to misinformation.

2. BBC iReporter

The BBC launched this game in 2018 in a bid to help children ages 11-18 identify misinformation online. The choose-your-own-adventure game puts users in the shoes of a BBC journalist who has to decide which social media posts, political claims and photos they can trust. Tips on how to spot online fakery are included.

3. Fakey

Developed by a master’s student at Indiana University, Fakey is a game similar to iReporter. It simulates a social media news feed, where users are asked which posts they’d like to share, like or fact-check. Users score points by sharing content from credible news outlets and fact-checking questionable sources.

4. NewsFeed Defenders

This online simulation from the Annenberg Public Policy Center and iCivics, an education nonprofit, aims to teach people how to evaluate sources online. Users pick their own avatar and are tasked with choosing which posts to curate on their website and which to investigate.

5. Interland: Reality River

This game was developed by Google’s Be Internet Awesome Initiative, which aims to teach children the “fundamentals of digital citizenship,” and it shows. The top-notch graphics take users on a journey across a river guarded by a “phisher.” Users must answer questions about bogus phishing attempts to cross and win the game.

6. Factitious

Having made a splash with its debut in 2018, this game, developed by American University, clocked about 1.6 million articles played in the first three days of its existence. What does that mean? In Factitious, users have to read short news stories and swipe right if they think they’re real and swipe left if they think they’re fake.

7. Fact-Check It!

Finally, we’re partial to this role-playing card game developed by the IFCN for International Fact-Checking Day on April 2. It takes place in a fictional country where players have to operate a newsroom and verify 25 different news items that will inform editorials published on the day of an election.

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