October 25, 2021

Flutterwave Enables New Europe-Africa Payment Corridors via Stellar

Stellar ecosystem expands with more efficient cross-border payment and remittance flows from Europe to Africa

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Today, the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) announced that Flutterwave, a global payments technology company, has launched two new remittance corridors between Europe and Africa on the Stellar network. Working with TEMPO, Flutterwave is leveraging the Stellar network and Stellar USDC to simplify remittances in Africa.

Opening these new corridors will greatly benefit businesses focused on building more efficient, cost-effective remittance services, contributing to a stronger, more inclusive Pan-African digital payments infrastructure. Flutterwave plans to extend Stellar-based capabilities to additional African countries as it continues to grow the number of currencies it supports.

“It is more expensive to send money to sub-Saharan Africa than to any other region in the world,” said Olugbenga Agboola, CEO at Flutterwave. “Our new payment corridors on Stellar will allow us to continue expanding the Flutterwave network to bring all-important, cost-effective money transfer services to African business owners.”

Connecting Stellar-based businesses like Flutterwave and TEMPO — which also has a significant, complementary user base in Africa — creates an efficient and affordable Pan-African payments infrastructure, supporting the Stellar Development Foundation’s mission to create equitable access to the global financial system. With these payment rails in place, Stellar continues to establish itself as a mature, viable digital alternative to traditionally lengthy and expensive methods for sending remittances.

According to TEMPO CEO, Suren Ayriyan, “We’re excited to partner with Flutterwave to extend our service ecosystem into Africa using Stellar rails. Customers across Europe will be able to send funds faster and at a lower cost to support their families and conduct business in Africa, landing funds right into their local bank account. We hope to continue working with Stellar anchors to exponentially increase our currency corridors and offerings, providing cheap, secure and fast global money transfers to all TEMPO customers, both existing and new.”

“This partnership marks a further step in our efforts to harness the power of technology to make financial services more inclusive and affordable for underbanked individuals worldwide,” said Denelle Dixon, CEO and Executive Director of the Stellar Development Foundation. “Flutterwave is doing important work in a region that has been historically underserved, and SDF is committed to helping them create a tangible impact on financial access and inclusion across the African continent and beyond.”

About Flutterwave
Flutterwave is a global payments technology company that helps businesses all over the world expand their operations in Africa and other emerging markets through a platform that enables cross-border transactions via one API. Flutterwave has processed over 140M transactions worth over USD $9B to date and serves more than 290,000 businesses including customers like Uber, Flywire, Booking.com, and Facebook. The Company’s key advantage is international payment processing in 150 currencies and multiple payment modes, including local and international cards, mobile wallets, bank transfers, and Barter by Flutterwave. Flutterwave has an infrastructure reach in over 33 African countries, including Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, and South Africa. For more information on Flutterwave’s journey, please visit www.flutterwave.com.

About Stellar
Stellar is a decentralized, fast, scalable, and uniquely sustainable network for financial products and services. It is both a cross-currency transaction system and a platform for digital asset issuance, designed to connect the world’s financial infrastructure. Financial institutions worldwide issue assets and settle payments on the Stellar network, which has grown to over 5 million accounts.

About the Stellar Development Foundation
The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) is a non-profit organization that supports the development and growth of Stellar, an open-source network that connects the world’s financial infrastructure. Founded in 2014, the Foundation helps maintain Stellar’s codebase, supports the technical and business communities building on the network, and serves as a voice to regulators and institutions. The Foundation seeks to create equitable access to the global financial system, using the Stellar network to unlock the world’s economic potential through blockchain technology.

About TEMPO Payments
TEMPO Payments is a payment institution and the principal EU anchor for Stellar blockchain payments. As a cross-border transactions and settlements operator, TEMPO provides payment services for businesses worldwide and stands for the complete transparency of all operations, the immutability of records, high transaction speeds and highly competitive commission rates. The company’s mission is to build a unique payment ecosystem, allowing entrepreneurs to take their business to the next level of growth, by adopting disruptive fintech solutions and helping individuals to fully benefit from the next-gen financial services. For more information, visit https://payments.tempo.eu.com/whitelabel.

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1668284/Flutterwave_X_Stellar.jpg
Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1096150/Stellar_Development_Foundation.jpg

October 25, 2021

Unique Network Raises $11.3 Million For Next-Generation NFT Infrastructure

The first NFT chain for Polkadot and Kusama offers greater flexibility for anyone who wants to build their own gallery or video game

LONDON, Oct. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Unique Network, a next generation NFT chain for Polkadot and Kusama, announced today that it has raised $11.3 million in the second round of its pre-sale, bringing its total raised to $16M. The investment round was led by Web3 investment pioneers Outlier Ventures, who were joined by some of the most well-known NFT investors, including The LAO, Flamingo, Nalu Capital and over 200 other investors, including a number of follow-on investments from the previous round his funding round, especially with the quality and quantity of investors involved, has positioned Unique Network well for the upcoming launch of Quartz, its NFT chain for Kusama.

“Unique Network are trailblazing a new path for NFTs within Polkadot and Kusama’s ecosystem and we are incredibly excited to back them in their pursuit to increase the design space of NFTs.” – Chris Cable, FlamingoDAO

“Despite all the current buzz around NFTs, there is still a massive barrier to entry,” said Unique Network co-founder and CEO Alexander Mitrovich. “Gas fees, the need to purchase cryptocurrencies, storage, and even the fact that NFTs have limited features for artists to express their vision, all hold the industry back. Unique Network and our Kusama chain, Quartz, are built to solve the economic and storage problems with Ethereum-based NFTs and create new levels of interaction and malleability that will take NFTs to the next level.”

Unique Network will participate in the upcoming parachain auctions for Kusama, during which they aim to secure a parachain slot for Quartz, their new canary network for Kusama. Beginning on Wednesday October 27th, interested parties can participate in the crowdloan to help Quartz win the auction.

Quartz will be the first NFT infrastructure on Kusama, and is designed to enable the most powerful and advanced NFT functionality on the Kusama network. Quartz parachain on Kusama will allow anyone to build NFT marketplaces and experiences with interoperability between different blockchains, like Ethereum and EVM Based Chains and other notable NFT blockchains.

In the five months since its first investment round, Unique Network has announced various partnerships including with the UN-led DigitalArt4Climate Campaign with GloCha, RMRK, Art Curators Grid, Forever Has Fallen, and more. With the impending launch of Quartz, Unique Network will be able to help even more projects and artists develop their NFT marketplaces and experiences.

For more information, please visit Unique Network, and join us on Twitter and Telegram.

About Unique Network

Unique Network is a framework for the next generation of NFTs. The first NFT chain for Kusama and Polkadot, it offers developers independence from network-wide transaction fees and upgrades. The Unique Network team built Substrapunks, the first NFTs on Polkadot, won Hackusama in 2020, and created Substrate’s pallet for NFTs. Unique Network launched in July 2021.

For media inquiry, please contact: jo@serotonin.co

October 25, 2021

The people of Africa give the thumbs up to PowerChina

What did the Chinese engineering and construction firm do to earn such praise?

BEIJING, Oct. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — A news report from CRI Online:

The ceremony for the completion of Masindi barracks hospital, constructed and donated to Uganda by PowerChina, was held on April 16, 2021. In addition, two other projects, DiiCunyii Hospital and Amaji Elementary School, are under construction and expected to be completed and delivered this year.

This is just a snapshot of PowerChina fulfilling its corporate social responsibilities in Africa.

In March 2020, with the onset of the rainy season, many rivers in western Kenya overflowed. PowerChina’s Nzoia Flood Control and Irrigation Project Department moved quickly to evacuate people, raise and reinforce the dam, and troubleshoot dangerous situations by using droneswhich protected the lives and property of the local people.

In August of the same year, a Japanese freighter ran aground in Mauritius and then began to leak oil, severely contaminating the surrounding area and pushing the African island country into an environmental emergency. A team of volunteers from Sinohydro’s local subsidiary urgently set off to the heavily polluted area and undertook a 3-day clean-up. Local residents gave a thumbs-up and said “Chinese people are very good.”

On July 23, 2021, the Kafue Gorge Lower Hydropower Station in Zambia, constructed by PowerChina, was connected to the grid and put into use. During the four years of implementation, the project had created more than 10,000 local jobs. By building power stations, the people of China and Zambia have made progress together and improved cultural exchanges, pulling the employees from both countries closer and establishing a deep friendship with each other.

PowerChina’s East and South Africa regional department covers Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Angola, as well as several other countries. With its endeavors in Africa, PowerChina has joined hands with local people to practice the value of common development.

October 25, 2021

Government-Backed Cooperation | GAC MOTOR as Public Transport Vehicles in Nigeria

GUANGZHOU, China, Oct. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — After a successful recent meeting between Guangdong Governor and Lagos state Governer Mr. Babajid Sanwo-Olu, multiple forms of cooperation have been agreed. On October 11, 750 GAC MOTOR GS3s and 250 GA4s were shipped from Qingdao, China to Lagos, Nigeria, to be used by the Lagos State Government as vehicles for the public travel project “LAGOS RIDE”.

The signing ceremony between the Lagos state government and GAC MOTOR

Nigeria-Guangdong | A Strong Partnership
In recent years, the Nigerian government has increased its support for the automobile industry and is full of confidence in the development of Chinese brands in Nigeria. GAC MOTOR seized this opportunity and joined forces with CIG Motors, a local auto dealer, to introduce bestselling models including the GS3, GS4, GS8, GN8 and GA4 into Nigeria, attracting extensive attention in the local market. The implementation of this project is another major achievement for GAC MOTOR as the company works with overseas dealers to promote the steady development of the African market.

In order to improve local traffic and raise the living standards of residents, the Lagos state government officially launched “LAGOS RIDE”. The public transport project will provide ride-hailing services for locals. GAC MOTOR’s GS3 SUV and GA4 sedan, won the appreciation of the government with their excellent quality, comfort, appearance and performance. These two models were selected as the final models to be used in the project.

Babajid Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos State, and his party paid a special visit to Guangdong in November 2019, proposing to strengthen economic and trade cooperation between Nigerian and Guangdong enterprises. Before this project, GAC MOTOR had successfully promoted several major projects locally in Nigeria, including the construction of a GAC MOTOR car assembly plant, and the selection of GAC MOTOR vehicles as the official cars of Chinese diplomats in the region. With the strength of its brand and products, GAC MOTOR has won the recognition and trust of the government, and has become a form of “business card” for intelligent Chinese manufacturing in Nigeria. The brand embodies the spirit of Chinese craftsmanship; Nigeria is just one place this concept is shown to the world.

As the world moves into a new era of global automobile manufacturing, GAC MOTOR Nigeria looks forward to deeply cultivating this valuable region and working together to provide prosperity to the local economy and a better mobile life to Nigerian people.

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1668360/GAC_MOTOR_LAGOS_RIDE.jpg

October 25, 2021

GIEWS Country Brief: Malawi 25-October-2021

FOOD SECURITY SNAPSHOT

• Early production prospects for 2022 cereal crops favourable, supported by forecasts of average to above-average seasonal rainfall

• Large 2021 maize harvest boosts domestic supplies, with increase in national stocks and expected moderate growth in exports

• Maize prices rise seasonally, but remained lower year on year as of September 2021

• Food security improves in 2021/22, but concerns remain in southern districts

Early production outlook favourable for 2022 cereal crops

Plantings of the main 2022 season cereal crops is underway and is expected to continue until the end of December. Harvesting is anticipated to start from late March 2022.

Scattered and light rainfall has been observed since the beginning of October, which normally marks the start of the rainy season. Although early rains have been sparse, remote sensing data indicates average to above average soil moisture levels across the country, reflecting the effects of a good rainfall season in 2020/21 and, consequently, planting operations are expected to continue as normal. For the following months of the season, weather forecasts point to higher probability of average to above average rainfall amounts, underpinning a favourable production outlook for the 2022 cereal crops.

Large 2021 harvest boosts domestic supplies

Total cereal production in 2021 is estimated at a record high level of 4.9 million tonnes. The bumper output mostly reflects conducive weather conditions that boosted yields and encouraged farmers to increase plantings. In addition, the implementation of the government’s Affordable Inputs Programme, which provided access to subsidized seeds and fertilizers for 3.8 million smallholder farmers, also supported the production upturn in 2021.

Reflecting the record harvest, national maize supplies are estimated to exceed domestic demand by a significant margin in the 2021/22 marketing year (April/March). Consequently, national stocks are forecast to increase to a well above average level. Exports are also foreseen to rise, but only moderately, as the bumper outputs obtained throughout Southern Africa will limit the export opportunities within the subregion. Imports of cereals, mostly wheat, are forecast at a below average level in 2021/22, on account of the large domestic supplies.

Lower year on year maize prices

Prices of maize grain have been rising seasonally since May, but, reflecting the ample supply situation, the national average price in September 2021 was nearly 20 percent lower than a year before. Although the plentiful supplies are likely to curb inflationary pressure on food prices in the forthcoming months, the weakening national currency, which lost about 10 percent of its value against the United States dollar between November 2020 and October 2021, is expected to exert some upward pressure on food prices, particularly for imported commodities such as wheat.

Improvements in food security in 2021/22

Based on the latest IPC analysis, released in August 2021, an estimated 1.49 million people are projected to be food insecure and in need of humanitarian assistance between October 2021 and March 2022. This number is about 40 percent lower than the estimate in same period in 2020/21, reflecting the positive impact of the large harvest and the low prices of maize, the main food staple. However, the negative effects of the COVID 19 pandemic, especially the slowdown in economic activities and subsequent cuts to households’ incomes, have constrained improvements in the food security situation.

Most of the country has been classified in IPC Phase 2 (Stressed), except for the southern districts of Chikhwawa and Nsanje, where maize production decreased year on year in 2021 and 20 percent of the population is assessed to be facing IPC Phase 3 (Crisis). Households in these districts are likely to experience significant food gaps early next year, during the peak of the lean season.

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

October 25, 2021

Cameroon Says COVID Scare Drove Breast Cancer Increase

Health care activists in Cameroon are visiting homes, markets and farms this month, encouraging women to get free screenings for breast cancer. The central African state says the number of women diagnosed with breast cancer has risen sharply over the past year because many women delayed screenings for fear of COVID-19 infections. The push to increase screenings is part of this year’s breast cancer awareness month in October.

Civilians, mostly women, visit various neighborhoods in Yaoundé asking people to go to hospitals for free breast cancer screening.

Each group of a dozen people includes medical staff members, representatives of healthy living organizations, cancer patients and their family members.

Among those participating is 24-year-old Amin Ruth Tabi of the Noela Lyonga Foundation, a Cameroon-based NGO. The foundation’s main objective is giving hope to persons who have lost hope either due to frustration, stress or ill health.

Tabi says she wants to stop people from dying from breast cancer.

“Every female seven to ten days after menstruation is supposed to conduct a breast self-examination to look for abnormal nodules, redness, fluid coming from the nipples, orange skin appearance on the breast because breast cancer is treated well and quickly when it is noticed at an early stage,” she said.

Cameron’s Health Ministry said several thousand women came out in at least 11 towns including the capital Yaoundé, the commercial capital Douala and the English-speaking western towns of Kumba, Buea, Limbe, and Bamenda Kumbo.

Claudette Mani, 36, says she was diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2020. She says thanks to prompt medical intervention and assistance from NGOs, her life was saved.

“I was so isolated, I was so weak, looked very bad and I felt like it was the end of the world,” she said. “At first just from my looks you will know that I have a problem, but now I am healthy, strong, and looking good. They [humanitarian groups] brought in doctors, educated us on how to feed ourselves, how to do exercises, to stay strong, eliminate the fact from our heads that we have this breast cancer and be focused on our dreams.”

Cameroon’s Association of Cancer Patients says breast cancer patients suffer from prejudices. Family members often think breast cancer is some sort of divine punishment for wrongdoing. The association says because of either illiteracy or lack of financial means, families abandon members diagnosed with breast cancer.

Cameroon’s Health Ministry says screening programs with mammography can lead to earlier diagnosis, and that coupled with effective treatment, will lead to reductions in breast cancer mortality.

Cameroon reports that in 2019, 3,000 of the 5,000 patients diagnosed with breast cancer died. In 2020, the number of breast cancers diagnosed rose to over 7,000 with close to 5,000 deaths.

Professor Paul Ndom is president of Cameroon’s National Committee for Cancer Prevention.

Ndom says many people neglect going to hospitals for consultation because breast cancer is not painful at its early stages. He says people at high risk of developing breast cancer are women who smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol, women who are not physically active and women who refuse to visit hospitals for fear they will be exposed to COVID-19 infections.

Ndom said the government of Cameroon subsidizes treatment for people diagnosed with breast cancer.

The October Breast Cancer Awareness month campaign was launched by the American Cancer Society and Imperial Chemical Industries to encourage women to get regular screening for breast cancer. The month-long activities educate women to reduce their breast cancer risks, be screened and seek medical attention if a suspicious lump is detected.

Source: Voice of America