Tag: Zambia

Fintech company Digital PayGo partners Mastercard to launch mobile payment solutions for SMEs

Frank

ZAMBIA – Digital PayGo, a Zambian-based fintech company, has partnered with Mastercard to launch a new merchant mobile payments solution for SMEs in the country. Known as “SME-in-a-Box”, the solution will enable the SMEs to safely make and receive digital payments through various online channels. It will support the enablement of digital payments for merchants and their customers, by providing them with a convenient, easy-to-use, and safe way to perform cashless transactions from their mobile devices. Backed by Mastercard’s payment technology, SME-in-a-Box enables digital transactions through the use of a…

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Smallholder farmers, rural cooperatives secure US$34m from Zanaco to accelerate investment

Frank

ZAMBIA – Smallholder farmers and rural cooperatives across Zambia will benefit from a new €30 million (US$34.81m) initiative from Zanaco and Team Europe to accelerate agricultural investment launched in Lusaka and Luxembourg. The new initiative will improve agricultural productivity, upgrade agricultural processing, and support a sector severely impacted by COVID-19 challenges and is supported by a best-practice assistance program. The financing scheme will be managed by Zanaco and is backed by the European Union and European Investment Bank, as part of the broader Team Europe support for sustainable commercialisation of…

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Zambia Airways to commence operations from September 30, 2021

Frank

ZAMBIA – Zambia Airways is set to commence operations from September 30, 2021, having been in the works since late 2018 but has been delayed due to regulatory hurdles and later the Covid-19 pandemic. Zambia Airways will initially operate domestic flights to Livingstone, Ndola and Solwezi, using two Bombardier Q400s and regional flights to Johannesburg and Harare, using a B737-800. The airline will launch local and regional routes, at the new Terminal 2 at Lusaka Kenneth Kaunda International Airport and the new Ndola Copperbelt Airport. Zambia Airways is a joint…

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Qatar Airways debuts Harare-Lusaka route

Frank

ZIMBABWE – Qatar Airways has launched its first flight to Harare and Lusaka bringing connectivity and enhancing trade between the Southern Africa region and the Middle East The three-times a week Harare service will be operated by the airline’s state-of-the-art Boeing 787 Dreamliner featuring 22 seats in Business Class seats and 232 seats in Economy Class. Businesses and traders are set to benefit from the airline’s cargo offering carrying more than 30 tonnes of cargo per week. Qatar Airways group chief executive Akbar Al Baker said the coming in of…

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Zambia commissions 150MW Kafue hydroelectric power plant

Frank

ZAMBIA – Chinese company Sinohydro has commissioned the first 150MW unit of the Kafue hydroelectric power station and eventually add 750 MW of power to Zambia’s national grid. The Kafue hydropower project is being implemented by Sinohydro, about 50 kilometers south of Lusaka. The Chinese company has built an earth and rockfill dam with a concrete spillway with four radial gates on the Kafue River, a tributary of the Zambezi River. The dam is 139 meters high with a crest width of between 8 and 10 meters and a length…

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Cellulant introduces digital payments platform Tingg in Zambia

Frank

ZAMBIA – In a bid to foster growth for both the formal and informal sector in Zambia, Pan-African payments business Cellulant has rolled out Tingg, a digital payments platform enabling businesses and their consumers to accept and make payments seamlessly. Payment technology over the years has completely transformed how retailers operate as approximately thirty years ago, most retailers across Africa did not accept credit cards, and mobile money was still an idea but over the past decade and a half, mobile money has transformed how African consumers access and use…

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Zambia signs MoU with REEEP to improve rural electrification efforts

Frank

ZAMBIA – The Rural Electrification Authority of Zambia and the Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Partnership have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to monitor and support the country’s electrification efforts through data collection and analysis. The MoU outlines a joint effort to leverage the Edison data platform that was originally developed to monitor and support Zambia’s broader electrification efforts with advanced data collection and analysis on behalf of the Rural Electrification Authority (REA). The move underscores both organizations’ commitment to promoting and engendering access to modern, clean energy for rural…

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ICAC join hands with ITC to boost smallholder cotton yields in Zambia

Frank

ZAMBIA – The International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) signed an MOU with the International Trade Centre (ITC) to double the yields of more than 50,000 smallholder cotton farmers for the next three years in Zambia.   The effort, which is part of a larger agreement between the ITC and the European Union for support in Zambia, will see ICAC involve two of its most advanced technologies – the interactive, voice-based Soil & Plant Health app, and the Virtual Reality Cotton Training Program. “ICAC’s pragmatic approach to increasing yields complements our…

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Alliance for Rural Electrification and SIAZ sign deal to boost energy access with renewables in Zambia

Frank

ZAMBIA – The Alliance for Rural Electrification (ARE) and the Solar Industry Association of Zambia (SAIZ), have joined forces to improve global energy access for at least 500 million people, create over five million green jobs, and avoid at least one billion tons of CO2e emissions by 2030. The two bodies aim to achieve this by promoting renewable energy technologies, such as household and mini-grid solar solutions, especially in rural areas with little access to electricity. The Brussels-based ARE has also signed similar agreements in Benin, Nigeria, Zambia, Tanzania, and Cameroon.…

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Paratus Africa readies to open data centers in Zambia, Namibia

Frank

ZAMBIA – Pan-African telecommunications service provider Paratus Africa, has announced it is ready to open its data centre in Lusaka, Zambia. The company says COVID-19 has greatly accelerated the pace of reliance upon unlimited and quality internet connections. According to a 2020 World Bank study of 10,000 enterprises, including micro, small, and medium-sized businesses in 51 emerging and developing economies, around half of private firms had significantly ramped up their use of the internet to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19. Paratus Group says that with this increased shift to working…

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