Covid-19 and African tech startups roundup [23/04/2020]

A leaked draft discussion document prepared by South Africa’s office of the presidency has revealed that businesses in the country’s tourism, aviation and creative arts industries will only be able to pay five percent of their staff at the end of next month, if the country’s lockdown is extended.

This, as The Delta, a corporate venture builder has partnered with UCT academics to develop and deploy a mobile app that aims to stop the spread and transmission of Covid-19 virus in South Africa.

With the coronavirus (Covid-19) headlining news all over the world, Ventureburn has launched a regular daily roundup on the virus and how it is affecting Africa’s tech startup sector.

Those with any news releases relating to Covid-19 and Africa’s tech startup sector can send these to editor@memeburn.com.

A leaked draft discussion document prepared by the office of the presidency forecasts that many firms will soon be unable to pay staff

Here then is the latest on the coronavirus and African tech startups:

Staff payments to dry up: A leaked draft discussion document prepared by the office of the presidency has revealed that firms in South Africa’s tourism, aviation and creative arts industries will only be able to pay five percent of their staff at the end of next month, if the country’s lockdown is extended, Fin24 reported in an article yesterday. A number of other business sectors are expected to fair nearly as bad.

Save your local: A group of SA entrepreneurs, funders and small business experts have banded together to launch Save Your Local, a non-profit online platform that allows small businesses to sell vouchers to housebound customers, which can be redeemed once the establishment is fully functional post-lockdown. Since its launch 10 days ago, 250 small businesses across the country have registered on the platform. The initiative was conceived by investors Silvertree Holdings and Team Africa Ventures, and fine-tuned free-of-charge by a number of industry experts.

SweepSouth fund at R8m: SA on-demand cleaning startup SweepSouth’s SweepStar Fund has raised over R8-million to provide relief for over 3000 domestic workers registered on SweepSouth’s online platform, the startup said in a statement yesterday. The fund, which is a partnership with the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, has begun paying out weekly allowances of between R150 and R450. The startup aims to raise R12-million for the fund through public and private sector contributions. It has also closed a partnership with online food delivery service Yebo Fresh, so that employers can support their domestic employees by ordering groceries on their behalf.

New app to track virus: The Delta, a corporate venture builder has partnered with UCT academics to develop and deploy a mobile app that aims to stop the spread and transmission of Covid-19 virus in South Africa. The application, Covi-ID, employs QR code scanning to track and trace citizens’ health status. The app operates on the blockchain in order to ensure the privacy of all users information, offering a decentralised solution. “Through blockchain technology applications like Covid-ID, we can assist in containing the spread of the virus without compromising the privacy rights of individuals,” says Louis Buys (pictured above), CEO of The Delta. “The intention is to track the virus, not the people.”

Innovative test kit: Two SA entrepreneurs have developed a fast coronavirus testing procedure, The Cape Times reported in an article earlier this week. The kit was developed by Allan Gray Orbis Foundation fellows Daniel Ndima and Dineo Lioma who claim their test can be conducted in 65 minutes, down from the usual three-hours it takes to get results from other such test kits. The two run CapeBio, which has received support from the Department of Science and Innovation’s Covid-19 response team.

Self-checker launched: Ghanaian startup FastRx has launched a self-checker as well as a contract tracing platform to help check the spread of the Covid-19 virus, Disrupt Africa reported in an article yesterday. FastRx allows users to access to affordable medication via personalised financing plans, and offers them free one-hour delivery for prescriptions and medications.

Read more: Covid-19 and African tech startups roundup [22/04/2020]
Read more: Covid-19 and African tech startups roundup [21/04/2020]
Read more: Covid-19 and African tech startups roundup [20/04/2020]

Featured image: Louis Buys, CEO of venture builder The Delta (Supplied)