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MTN Uganda Eases Mobile Money Transfer to All Networks

By
Boses Muhinda
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After shopping at Masters Supermarket, Ntinda, Elsa Muzzolini - General Manager Mobile Financial Services at MTN Uganda confirms her bill before paying using MoMoPay.

In the year 2017, Bank of Uganda directed all Mobile Money operations in Uganda to be interoperable between the telecommunications companies operating in Uganda. This move was aimed at ensuring that customers from different networks would be able to seamlessly send and receive funds directly across all networks.

MTN Uganda embarked on this integration with other operators starting with Phase 1 which involved the onboarding of Airtel followed by Phase 2 which involved the onboarding of Africell. MTN Uganda has today announced that it has completed (the final) Phase 3 which has seen UTL being switched on, making MTN the first telco in Uganda to fully comply with the Bank of Uganda initiative.

Speaking at MTN Nyonyi Gardens, Elsa Muzzolini, MTN’s General Manager Mobile Financial Services, expressed joy at the momentous move which was aimed at customers experiencing simplicity and efficiency in mobile money transactions across all networks.   

“Now that we have completed this third and final stage, we believe that the winner in all this is the MTN Mobile Money customer who will experience a seamless user experience because they will now be able to send money to all mobile money networks in Uganda without extra hustles” said Elsa.

“We further believe, in line with our group strategy, that this move will drive financial inclusion and ensure digitization of cash transfer in the ecosystem while also fostering efficiency of payments. Because everyone deserves the benefits of a modern connected life, mobile money transfers should neither be prohibitive or discriminatory.”

With this move, it means that MTN Mobile Money customers can now send and receive money from MTN Mobile Money, Airtel Money, Africell Money and now M-Sente customers, directly on their mobile phones.

In a related development, MTN Uganda has also integrated with regional operators in Kenya and Rwanda to enable MTN Mobile Money customers to send and receive money around the East African region – specifically to MTN Rwanda and Safaricom MPesa – with Tanzania to be on boarded in early 2019.

To send money the customer dials *165*1# and selects International Transfer. This is another first from MTN Uganda.

MTN Mobile Money has been at the forefront of driving financial inclusion in Uganda. As 2019 approaches, the popularity of mobile money transfer services will continue to rise amongst Uganda’s social and business population. This will largely be supported by increasing adoption of mobile payments as well as an increasing need for cashless transactions.

To send money to any network just dail *165#

Select Send Money

Select Mobile User

Type in any number irrespective of the network

Lenovo Launches A 12GB RAM Phone

By
Joel Osekeny
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0

The battles in the smartphone industry have just gotten better and better, amongst those being the struggle to produce the fastest smartphone on the market.

Lenovo, a telecommunications company has launched its latest smartphone, so far the fastest on the market with a 12GB RAM. Oppo phones have been winning the race with a majority of the phones they produce having between 3 and 8 GB RAM with none other on the market surpassing 8GB.

However with the Lenovo Z5 Pro GT, the winner is already known.  The device boasts of a 12GB RAM, and a ROM of 512 GB (one of the few phones with the internal storage that huge). The device is also the second smartphone after the rumoured OnePlus to have the Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 chipset.

It has a red metallic frame around the screen, a 6.39-inch 2,340 x 1,080 AMOLED display, a 16MP + 24MP dual rear cameras, 16MP + 8MP (infrared) front cameras, 3,350mAh battery, NFC, dual nano SIM slots and a 3.5mm headphone jack dongle for the USB-C port. Some of the features are identical with the previous Lenovo Z5 Pro.

The device is rumoured to be a gamers phone with sales to start in January next year when it hits the market. The device is not available on pre order.

Wefarm Launches Champion Farmer Award For Driving Agricultural Knowhow Countrywide

By
Boses Muhinda
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0
From Right - Asheri receiving his farm inputs rewards from a Wefarm Staff

Ahereza Asheri, a maize farmer from Busheny, Western Uganda, has been named by Wefarm as a Champion Farmer, having more than doubled his own output and led the way in raising the productivity of his fellow farmers on the Wefarm network.

Wefarm, which provides more than a million East African smallholders with a digital platform for share farming knowhow, launched the monthly Champion Farmer initiative to reward farmers who are individually driving forward Uganda’s agricultural productivity through information sharing.

The platform sent an SMS invitation to around 25,000 Ugandan farmers inviting them to enter the challenge, of which 695 participated answering questions from farmers countrywide on the price of maize, the causes of yellowing leaves, and the best fertilizer, varieties and spacing to use.

Asheri, who has won Ugx300,000 worth of farm inputs as well as his Champion Farmer title, had already learnt first-hand of the difference other farmers’ information could make in lifting productivity after he joined the Wefarm platform in February 2017.

He has since more than doubled his yields: this season harvesting five 100 kg bags of maize compared with two bags per season previously. Key has been the knowledge he has gained from other farmers on Wefarm about improving soil fertility, controlling diseases and pests, the best maize variety for his soil type, and the right spacing for maize.

 

In all of these areas, he has now changed his way of working, improving not only his own yields, but also helping his neighbours. “I want to thank Wefarm, because it has helped in fighting hunger in the community and in improving yields through accessing knowledge. It has helped me personally get some money to pay school fees for my diploma education, which I had paused on due to lack of funds,” said Asheri.

 

This has been particularly critical at a time when maize prices have fallen from Sh1500 per kg to just Sh300 per kg. “The maize prices have been so low for a while that it affected my morale. I am, however, hopeful that things will go better now in terms of a consistent market and better pricing so that with higher yields I can buy my own land and expand my farm,” he said.

Indeed, the change was so significant that Asheri engaged enthusiastically with the Wefarm Champion Farmer challenge when it turned to maize farming, as the monthly theme based on trending issues and crop seasonality. By the end of the month, Asheri’s contributions had brought in more new farmers and the highest levels of engagement of any of the participating maize farming contributors.

“Farmers are often the best and most relevant source of information and experience for their fellow farmers. It is for this reason that we have invested so heavily in creating a platform to facilitate cross sharing, through Wefarm and the Champion Farmer initiative,” said Kenny Ewan, CEO Wefarm.

Asheri Left being interviewed on his farm

Wefarm awarded Asheri the inputs of his choice, which were maize fertilizers urea, Di-ammonium phosphate fertilizer and NPK, all which contain elements such as nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium that are essential in plant nutrition.

“Transforming output across our staple crop with farming knowhow is actually a national contribution when our crops are plummeting on agricultural and market challenges, which is why we have moved to recognize farmers such as Asheri, who are emerging as game changers,” said Kenny.

His win was the second in the Wefarm competition, with Tom Baguma from Kyenjojo district named as the first Champion Farmer. Wefarm is now running the monthly competitions throughout the year with the aim of repositioning the earnings of farmers throughout Uganda.

The Champion Farmer competition is a month long challenge that takes part in three levels: ASK ME challenge, ASK ME + TIPS, and ASK ME + INVITE challenge spread across each week.

To participate in the competition, an individual first needs to be a member on the Wefarm platform joined by sending the text “Join Uganda” to the short code 6333. Then, members willing to participate in the competition can send the text “ASK ME about <Value Chain Broadcasted>” such as maize for instance, to the same short code. This, will trigger other farmers to ask the competitor their most pressing questions affecting their crop. Users with the highest scores proceed on to the next levels as per each stage’s guidelines.

Jumia And Buganda Kingdom Announce Online Partnership

By
Guest Writer
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Jumia X Buganda

Jumia and Majestic Brands Limited, Buganda Kingdom’s official investment arm, today announce a new partnership where all kingdom merchandise will be readily available on Jumia.

The Buganda Kingdom product assortment on Jumia includes, portraits of His Majesty – the King, Maama Nnaabegereka , marriage certificates, totems and memorabilia.

The items can be purchased online at www.jumia.ug or via the Jumia App on playstore and appstore.  All sales revenue will go to support the kingdom development projects.

The partnership was announced at a press event in Bulange, Mengo, and attended by Owek. Charles Peter Mayiga, the Katikkiro of Buganda, Majestic Brands CEO Mr Ronald Kawaddwa, and Jumia CEO Ron Kawamara.

“The Buganda cultural and brand products are highly appreciated by millions of consumers globally. Today we are pleased to offer a new distribution channel for our customers to own the symbols and memorabilia that make up the norms and culture of this great kingdom”, Jumia CEO, Ron Kawamara said.

Mr Ronald Kawaddwa, Majestic Brands CEO said, “ We hereby request our people to conveniently make use of this platform to get these products.”

The eCommerce space in Uganda is on the rise, with Jumia receiving an average of 500,000 visitors per month, a 120% increase from last year.

MTN Uganda celebrates “Ugandan connections” in new campaign.

By
Guest Writer
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MTN Uganda has today launched a new campaign that is a celebration of the twenty years it has operated in Uganda. The new campaign ‘Together, We Connect’, features a TV commercial, radio, print and billboards advertising, was launched nationwide on Monday 26th November 2018. An interactive digital campaign in line with the theme will also be launched later in the week.

Olivier Prentout, Chief Marketing Officer, MTN Uganda explained that the campaign celebrates how society connects and in turn shows the role MTN has played in enabling people to connect over the last 20 years.

“We are humbled by the progress made by MTN Uganda in connecting Ugandans over the last twenty years; be it connecting families to their loved ones, businesses to customers or enabling friends to keep in touch,” he said.

In the TV commercial, there are several scenes that depict how by people coming together, the country is a better place. Through this campaign, MTN Uganda aims to demonstrate the power of connecting and how beautiful life can be if we live beyond our perceived differences.

MTN continues to show commitment on how it will enable connections. For the next 10 years, MTN will ensure that customers remain connected by enabling an efficient cashless economy through MTN Mobile Money and facilitating a faster and more convenient digital life through providing reliable and affordable data.

“While our products like voice, data, SMS or enterprise solutions are technology driven, we believe every Ugandan deserves the benefit of a connected and digital life.  At the end of it all, our bigger success lies in what our services deliver and do in ensuring Ugandans are connected beyond social-cultural tensions or geographical ‘lines’, everywhere they go” Olivier added.

You can view the new campaign ad at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_8ZqT5K3Ho

**Editor’s Note: This is a Press release from MTN Uganda**

 

Telecoms Now Let You Pay OTT Tax Quarterly and Annually

By
Boses Muhinda
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0

Phone subscribers who have been compliant with payment of Over-The-Top Taxes (OTT) previously only had the option to pay daily, weekly and at most monthly.

As I was digging through the USSD menus for paying OTT tax, I realised that MTN had added the options for subscribers to pay their OTT quarterly and annually in addition to the existing options. The team at GURU8 also checked with various telecoms and confirmed that the options had been added.

Also, OTT validity is no longer up to midnight for any plan you choose but rather it ends exactly at the same time, you loaded it for the paid duration.

The quarterly and annual plans favour those who do not want to be reminded to keep paying the tax at midnight every after 30 days. This is also suitable for business and home internet users that pay for long duration data packages.

The cost of the quarterly OTT tax is UGX 18,000/- and the annual OTT tax is at 73,000/-. Well, not 72,000/- as per publication of this article. (There 12 months in a year which means 6000 x 12 = 72,000/-) But Oh well, URA, which is the tax authority decided to go with the number of days approach in calculating the Annual OTT tax hence multiplying 365 days by 200 shilling. (365 x 200 = 73,000/-).

Below are the prices of OTT tax in Uganda shillings.

Duration

Amount

Daily

200

Weekly

1400

Monthly

6000

Quarterly

18,000

Annually

73,000

First Brick Holdings to invest $50 million in 5 data Centers in East & Southern Africa

By
GURU8 Staff
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Raxio Data Center- Artists Impression

First Brick Holdings, a Roha Group company, today announced plans for multiple investments to boost the digitalisation of East and Southern Africa with the funding, and development, of several data centres across the region. These data centres will open up new opportunities for financial services, governments and small to medium enterprises (SMEs) by addressing their mission-critical needs for data storage, business continuity and disaster recovery and create a network of data centres able to accommodate international and regional customers in state-of-the-art facilities.

“Economic growth in East Africa is averaging between 5-10 percent across the region. When combined with parallel trends in digitalization and content consumption, we are seeing annual data usage and associated storage requirements increasing by 20-30 percent,” commented Robert Mullins, Executive Director at First Brick Holdings. “From mission-critical enterprise services to e-government initiatives, the digital transformation of East Africa is being held back by the lack of secure, scalable, reliable, low latency data storage solutions. By leading investment in, and development of, data centres in the region, we are unlocking this latent demand in the market and removing a significant barrier to the continued digital transformation of this exciting and vibrant market.”

Robert Mullins, Executive Director at First Brick Holdings (L) and Bhavik Pattni, Tech Analyst for Roha and Project Manager for Raxio (2nd R) with officials from China telecom at the just ended AfricaCom Conference.

First Brick Holdings’ initial investment is in Uganda, where the digital economy is accelerating at such a rate that there is an immediate requirement for facilities to store and process data safely and securely.
Raxio Data Centre Ltd. (“Raxio”) is delivering Uganda’s first state-of-the-art Tier III, carrier- neutral data centre in the Namanve Industrial and Business Park. Due to open mid-2019, the data centre will have capacity for up to 400 racks, delivering 1.5MW of IT power.

The Raxio data centre will be a key pillar to Uganda’s digital economy, reducing the cost of connectivity in the country and attracting global cloud service providers, content distribution networks and regional carriers.
“Data centre installations in East Africa are lagging behind other emerging economies, despite the region facing similar underlying trends in terms of the growth of data usage and storage requirements,” said James Byaruhanga, General Manager, Raxio Data Centre Ltd. “Businesses in Uganda are seeing their data requirements become increasingly more sophisticated and subject to data sovereignty compliance rules that necessitate local data storage and processing. These dynamics, coupled with the expansion ambitions of some of the world’s biggest

companies who are either already active in or looking to expand into the East African market, is driving the commercial need for data centres.”
The desire for fast, affordable and safe digitalisation in Uganda is reflective of a broader need for data centre installations across East Africa. First Brick Holdings plans to invest in several more facilities across the continent, expecting five Tier III data centres to be live by 2022. With a total project investment of approximately $50 million, First Brick Holdings will address the latent demand for data centre infrastructure in various local markets.

“Our commitment to invest in this much-needed infrastructure is a fantastic opportunity for all players in the digital economy, lowering the overall cost of storing data and of operating increasingly complex and mission critical IT equipment. These state-of-art facilities will also serve as enablers, bringing access to local cloud computing closer to enterprises, and content closer to consumers,” concluded Mullins. “Not only that, but it will also contribute significantly to skilled job creation and tax revenue generation. East and Southern Africa is primed for these data centres and they will allow the region’s businesses to better compete on a global level.”

 

Common Questions About The MTN Mobile Money API Answered

By
GURU8 Staff
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0
Some of the tech developers that attended the MTN Open API Launch that took place at The Innovation Village in Ntinda

MTN Uganda became the first telco to publically open its Mobile Money API to developers. Being a new API, some developers, business owners and investors have questions about the MTN API.

We have compiled a list of facts, answers, and questions (FAQs) to cater for those that might need extra information without having to make a call to customer care or visit an MTN outlet.

  1. What is the MTN Open API about?

The MTN Open API is an initiative in which MTN has exposed to the public API end points for accessing MTN Mobile Money services.  To access the exposed API endpoints, users simply sign up on the online portal at https://momodeveloper.mtn.com

  1. How does the MTN Open API benefit Innovators and Entrepreneurs?

The Open API will ease the process of integrating to MTN Mobile Money and also enhance value for innovators who want to use Mobile Money as a payment solution in their products and services. How is this achieved?

  1. a) Monetization of innovation; Exposing the API end points for Mobile Money to the public will make it easy for any innovator to consider monetizing their service collecting with MTN Mobile Money
  2. b) Empowerment and convenience; Users don’t have to visit MTN offices to initiate integration with Mobile Money. They can initiate and complete integration via the MTN Open API online portal
  3. c) More innovations; The Open API provides a sandbox environment for innovators to experiment concepts thus stimulating innovation. Access to API enables developers to innovate on transaction flow vs what a standard integration would provide
  4. d) Quicker access to Market; Once development of the service is completed and testing is done; integration to go live via the Open API takes approximately 10 days as opposed to over 3-4 months previously experienced.
  5. What is the MTN Open API Product offering?

The exposed API endpoints have been packaged to enable the partner/developer to build any or all the following products.

  1. Collections – For receiving payments for Good and Services
  2. Disbursements – Enabling a partner to make payments/disbursements to a list of specified recipients.
  3. Remittances: This enables the customer/partner to transfer and receive money across borders.
  4. Collection Widget: A user can download the widget and enable mobile Money payments off an E-commerce site
  5. What are the available APIs?

Endpoints for the following APIs have been exposed:

No. API Description
1 Debit same as Requesttopay Used to collect Mobile Money as payment for goods and services.
E.g.:
*A shoe seller offering purchase of shoes by Mobile Money
*A website collecting subscriptions using Mobile Money
2 DebitCompleted Because the Debit has user interaction, this API will allow a merchant be aware of the payment by imitating a notification to the Merchant when a user pays e.g. the shoe seller will get notified when a PIN is entered by the user
3 Sptranfser Used by a Merchant to pay out, e.g. a betting company paying from their pocket into a subscribers wallet
4 Gettransactionstatus Used to get the transaction status of a transaction, if the same shoe seller doesn’t get feedback they can query transaction status
5 GetBalance Used to query own balance, the shoe seller wants to know how much they have collected
6 ValidateAccountHolder Used to confirm before a transaction that the user is a Mobile Money user, In case they are not, a false will be returned to the merchant
7 Preapproval In cases where merchants / companies collect money automatically, this will request the user to enter a pin and the merchant can then collect money without the user entering a PIN, e.g. the Shoe seller sells the shoes in 5 installments, after the first installment the rest are auto deducted
8 PreapprovalCompleted Same as Debitcompleted, Merchant is notified if the user has agreed to the terms of automatically collecting funds.

 

  1. Are the APIs accessed only within Uganda?

The MTN Open API portal and endpoints are open to both local and international innovators to use as long as they comply with the terms and conditions of using the API which include among others compliance to regulatory requirements and policies including but not limited to ‘Know Your Customer (KYC), AML Act among others.

  1. If I develop a product on the MTN Open API, will my services be accessed in other countries where MTN is operating?

The Open API enables you to develop and commercialize services that are consumable within a specific market/country. Currently the Open API is only available in Uganda.  In the future, we intend to extend the scope of the Open API to other MTN operations.

  1. Can the Open API endpoints be used for services accessed via USSD?

Yes. Services created can be accessed via Web, App and USSD channels.

  1. How do I get to access and use the MTN Open API?

Visit https://momodeveloper.mtn.com and Sign Up. Sign Up is FREE

 

**Credit: MTN Uganda

MTN Launches Mobile Money API and Shs1bn Fund For Innovators

By
GURU8 Staff
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0

MTN Uganda has today become the first telecom company in Uganda and in the MTN Group to grant access to third-party access to its Mobile Money Access Programming Interface (API). An Open API platform enables developers and programmers to get free access to MTN mobile money proprietary software platform. MTN Mobile Money is the most widely used mobile money platform in Uganda. Developers can now access it, create products that ease payment options and leverage the 10M of MTN clients registered on Mobile Money.

“This is an exciting development for the Ugandan start-ups ecosystem. Innovators will now be able to develop applications that ease the customer experience in terms of mobile money payments. We do hope that this move will spur innovation in the developer community around the country because this is the first time this is being done here,” said Elsa Muzzolini, the General Manager, Mobile Financial Services MTN Uganda.

In January 2018, MTN Uganda and Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) entered a partnership intended to drive customer growth and activity by facilitating a wider range of mobile wallet applications for all customers through open APIs. According to CGAP, open APIs have the potential to further drive financial inclusion, which is already being accelerated by the usage of mobile money.


Wim Vanhelleputte CEO MTN Uganda handsover a Shs310m cheque to The Innovation Village as part of partnership that will see the telecom provide high speed internet and server for technology

“Our expectations are that this decision will enable innovators to monetise their products, ensure that there is fast turnaround of innovations to get to market and improve the value created for innovators and entrepreneurs, why not a Ugandan Ebay or Amazon in the next few months” Muzzolini added.

The MTN Mobile Money API will be accessed by developers online through http://momodeveloper.mtn.com/. This takes away the process previously where developers had to submit paperwork physically to MTN Uganda and to proceed to a lengthy standard integration. The online system provides an option where before developer’s product goes live, they can test it using a sandbox available at no cost on the website.

MTN also announced the launch of a Shs1bn Startup Fund that will be accessed by local technology start-ups in Uganda. The fund is expected to provide a financial boost to startups that participate in the MTN innovation challenge series.

The first of these is the MTN Open API Challenge starts on 3 December 2018. Participants will make their entries on the innovation challenge website.

“It has been 20 years since we started operating in Uganda and our role in this economy has been evolving. Today, opening the Mobile Money API further emphasises our ambition of being a digital company. Ugandan developers now have the opportunity to build products that will enhance financial inclusion, improved customer experience when making payments and improve the movement of virtual money,” said Wim Vanhelleputte, the MTN Uganda CEO.

Adding, “The Shs1bn commitment we have made towards the MTN Startup Fund also forms part of that ambition to continue supporting local innovators. I encourage as many startups as possible to participate in the several innovation challenges we shall be hosting in order to access funding from the MTN Startup Fund.”

At the same function, the MTN Uganda CEO unveiled a Ugx 310 million high speed internet connectivity package to the Innovation Village, courtesy of the MTN Foundation. The package includes free internet connectivity for use by young developers and innovators as part of its youth empowerment drive.

There has been a tremendous success in countries like Kenya where some telecom companies have opened up their Mobile Money APIs. MTN Uganda in partnership with several technology and innovation hubs around the country is facilitating the training of developers on how to use the platform. Free training program is available for registration on MTN website.

The Next Einstein Forum announces it’s 3rd Class applications for Fellows; Here’s how to Apply

By
Pius Enywaru
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0

The Next Einstein Forum, Africa’s global forum for science, launches the search for its third Class of NEF Fellows. Once selected, the new class will join 35 of Africa’s top scientists from all fields of science, Fellows from the two previous cohorts. The selected NEF Fellows will present their research and breakthroughs at the next NEF Global Gathering to be held in Nairobi, Kenya in March 2020.

The NEF, an African Institute for Mathematical Science (AIMS) initiative in partnership with the Robert Bosch Stiftung, is a global platform that connects science, society and policy in Africa and the rest of the world – with the goal to leverage science for human development globally.  In March of this year, the NEF organized the largest scientific gathering on African soil, the NEF Global Gathering 2018, with over 1500 participants from 91 countries, with over 65% under 42 years of age.

“After a successful NEF Global Gathering 2018, we are excited to launch the process to recruit the third class of Africa’s most brilliant young scientists. The NEF Fellows, through their research, continue to demonstrate to the world that Africa can be a source of scientific excellence and globally relevant breakthroughs. The NEF Fellows are breaking barriers and fostering global collaboration for Africa’s and the world’s development ambitions. Judging from the enthusiasm among African researchers globally, we have no doubt the next Class of Fellows will continue to raise the bar,” said Mr. Thierry Zomahoun, NEF Chair and President and CEO of AIMS.

Application to the NEF Fellows programme is open to Africans from around the world – including those who currently reside in the Diaspora – in all fields of science, including the social sciences and technology fields. Applicants must be under 42 years, hold a PhD and demonstrate a strong track record of research/findings that have a global impact.

Dr. Youssef Travaly, the NEF’s Vice-President for Science, Innovation and Partnerships who oversees the NEF Fellows Programme, said: “The Fellows Programme is unique. It gives incredible African scientists a global platform for scientific collaboration, science diplomacy and public engagement. NEF Fellows are role models for young Africans, making science cool and most importantly, making science relevant to Africa’s transformation. The Fellows, through the various NEF programs and their own research activities, will have an opportunity to chart Africa’s scientific trajectory.”

In addition to attending and presenting at the NEF Global Gathering 2020, NEF Fellows will participate in research tours, visiting scientist weeks with partners and other. Applications close on the 27th January 2019 and results announced in June 2019. Applications can be accessed at nef.org/fellows

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