Timbuktu Chronicles

The Chemistry Development Kit (CDK) is a collection of modular Java libraries for processing chemical information (Cheminformatics). The modules are free and open-source and are easy to integrate with other open-source or in-house projects...[more]

African Capital Markets News reports:
The Nairobi Securities Exchange says the first trades on its new derivatives market NEXT went smoothly on 4 July, according to media reports. The NEXT market is set up to trade equity index futures and single stock futures. Initially trading is offered in 5 single stock futures and futures on the NSE 25 Index...[more]

From Agribusiness TV
In Côte d'Ivoire, INVESTIV, a technological start-up specialised in precision agriculture, has raised a fund of USD 400,000 to develop its services.

In 2017, just after his studies at the University of Laval in Canada, Aboubacar Karim returned to his home country, Côte d'Ivoire, where he created INVESTIV. Since then, the company has mapped and diagnosed about 8,000 hectares of plantation and set up more than 30 off-ground farms. INVESTIV has also won several prizes.

Today, INVESTIV reached a new milestone with the funds that they have raised. In this video, Aboubacar shares his experience about the fundraising process and the future plans of the company

From Ashesi University:
Twelve Ashesi alumni have been selected as inaugural fellows for Ashesi's new entrepreneurship support programme, the Ashesi Venture Incubator. The Venture Incubator is a one-year incubation experience for recent graduates and alumni of the university. Over the course of one year, fellows are provided with the opportunity to build their business; and refine their business models through the incubator’s provision of business coaching from local and global business leaders, business development sessions, support services, and financial stipends...[more]

From Hackaday:
Introduction

Diabetes is a serious disease which affects nearly 400 million people worldwide and is the 8th leading cause of death. Blood glucose meters play a very important role in managing diabetes as they provide the patient the ability to monitor their blood glucose levels from home and at any time of the day. The pharmacy provides a large number of blood glucose meters and accompanying test strips. Typically, the patients insert one of the disposable test strips into the meter, prick their finger, load a droplet of blood into the test strip, wait a few seconds and get an instant reading of the current blood glucose level...[more]

From AgribusinessTV:For six years, the Dryland Development Programme, DryDev, worked with communities in six dryland areas of Burkina Faso to help move from subsistence agriculture to sustainable rural development.

The Standard reports:
Winners of the Avic International Africa Challenge season 5 have secured export contract to China valued at Sh10 million among other awards.

Mr. William Mutuku, Masinga Technical College, Mr. Kennedy Keptoo, Technical University of Kenya (TUK) and Mr. Johnathan Kiplagat of Rift Valley Technical College emerged tops in the hotly contested Avic International Africa Tech Challenge season 5, winning cash prizes and scholarships. The top two teams namely TUK and the Rift Valley Technical Training Institute secured a manufacturing contract to supply spare parts to China worth Sh10 million...[more]

Spore reports:
The development of zones dedicated to organic farming in Madagascar is increasing local adoption of the technique and generating higher incomes for small-scale farmers...[more]

From AgribusinessTV

Ventures Africa highlights the work of:
Mavis Nduchwa – Botswana, Founder of Chabana Farms

Iriya Jona – Namibia, founder of Nam-Oceanic Kelp Production Enterprise

Nondumiso Pikashe – South Africa, the owner of Ses’fikile Wines

Tatenda Ndambakuwa – Zimbabwe, creator of Shiri, a comprehensive data science-based app

Sarah Kennan – South Africa owner of distilled liquor, Leonista,

Bupe Chipili Mulapesi – Zambia ,Owner Farm23 Strawberry

Afie Braimoh – Nigeria, Founder of SACFruits dried Fruits,

Assumpta Uwamariya – Rwanda , founder of Karisimbi Wines

More here

From the Unchained Podcast:

Gabriel Abed, founder of Bitt.com and Vice President of the board of directors, describes how he went from mining Bitcoin to persuading governors of central banks to not quash Bitt's goal to create central bank digital currencies in the Caribbean and getting the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank to pilot one starting next year...[more]

From Tech Review:
Isaac Sesi built a gadget he believes can tackle one of the biggest risks faced by farmers across Africa: the contamination of grains following harvest.

Sesi’s product, GrainMate, allows famers and grain purchasers to affordably measure moisture levels of maize, rice, wheat, millet, sorghum, and other staples...[more]

Food for Mzansi reports
She may have been inspired to become a winemaker by reading her mother’s romance novels, but it was her steely determination to succeed that drove her to become Mzansi’s first winemaker of colour.

Today Carmen Stevens (Founder of Amani Vineyards ) is an award-winning winemaker selling her own wines internationally. But she is still giving back to kids who are growing up in disadvantaged communities similar to where she came from...[more]

France24 reports:
Madagascar, renowned for its unique wildlife and vanilla production, has a new claim to fame -- the island nation is Africa's first and only source of caviar.

The business is an unlikely project in a country beset by grinding poverty, but its owners are determined that luxury foods can play a part in improving Madagascar's economy.

"A lot of people laughed at us," says Delphyne Dabezies, the head of Rova Caviar, admitting that the enterprise was a big gamble.

"But we took the time to prove that this is serious. Madagascar caviar is now the only caviar produced in Africa and the Indian Ocean."...[more]

Dr Ola Brown (Orekunrin) writes:
How to create world-class healthcare facilities for the poorest people of the world

Narayana hospital in India has made Dr. Devi Shetty the ‘Dangote of healthcare’. The Dangote group provides commodities like salt, sugar, pasta and cement to meet people’s basic needs at the best possible price point...[more]

Channels TV highlights the work of Cedric Simen

An update on Biotech Congo covered earlier. Spore reports
In response to high national demand for mushrooms, an agribusiness company in the Congo has developed easy-to-use, affordable production kits.

In the Republic of the Congo, it is now possible to grow and eat your own mushrooms all year round. Bio-Tech Congo, founded in 2015 by engineer Tsengué-Tsengué, produces and markets incubated growing kits capable of producing up to 3 kg of fresh oyster mushrooms in 3 months. Commonly known as mayebo in Lingala, and much loved by the Congolese people, oyster mushrooms were previously only available for a few months during the rainy season...[more]

Over at Linkdin a conversation with the founder of Sankore InvestmentsTiti Odunfa Adeoye:

KTN News reports on the work of Joseph Kipkorir maker of stone cutting machines

Coldlink reports:
With the right technology and backing, development body Food South Africa says that a number of young South Africans could have the potential to become international agro-processing centres.

South Africa’s young entrepreneurs and agriculturalists have the vision, enthusiasm and potential to become agro-processors with international reach – given the right technologies, funding and support...[more]