BD Insider, Letter 90: Octamile's launch, MTN shares, Deaf eLimu Banking

This is a blog copy of the 90th version of our weekly newsletter, BD Insider. Subscribers get to read it first and can take action based it.

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Make sure you take all COVID-19 precautionary measures as you go on with your activities for the week.

Today, we will look at:

• Octamile’s launch
• The innovation by Kenyan bankers to enable financial inclusion for PWDs
• What is Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Let’s dive in!

Octamile emerged from stealth with $500,000 pre-seed funding.
Only 5 out of 100 Africans have any form of insurance protection. Insurance as a risk protection mechanism plays an important role in Africa's achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals thereby allowing the world's excluded and underserved to take control of their lives and reduce their vulnerability against risks.

Last week, Octamile launched with the objective to provide digital insurance for Africans. The pan-African insurtech startup emerged from stealth mode with $500,000 in a pre-seed fund round led by Echo VC.

Find out how Octamile intends to enable non-insurance businesses to offer insurance as a feature in their existing products.

Kenyan bankers launched a Kenyan sign language self-training app
In Africa, less than 1% of the clients of microfinance institutions, dedicated to serving the world’s financially excluded people, are persons with disabilities (PWDs).

The Kenyan Bankers Association in response to the need has launched 'Deaf eLimu Banking', a Kenyan sign language self-training app developed in partnership with Financial Sector Deepening Trust (FSD Kenya) and software engineering firm Deaf eLimu Plus.

The app will train bankers on how to effectively communicate with hearing-impaired customers.

Tech Word for the Week: Infrastructure as a Service
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is the most straightforward of the four models for delivering cloud services. It is the virtual delivery of computing resources in the form of hardware, networking, and storage services.

When you have loads of files and data that you need to backup, store safely, efficiently and be able to access quickly. You need an IaaS (often for a subscription-based fee). Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services are some of the commonly used IaaS. Here’s an in-depth explainer that will help you understand more about this model.

We’ve got a gift for you! 🎁 Bootstrapped SaaS founders can get capital here!

🗓️ Events
Some events coming up:

• Today: Learn how to buy your first NFT. Register!
• December 9th: Register for Technext Coinference

💰 Fundraising
Recent startups fundraise across Africa that you should be aware of:

• Dataphyte, a Nigerian media startup raised $100,000 in seed investment
• Nigeria’s Flex Finance has raised an undisclosed pre-seed fund
• Egyptian fintech startup KlickIt has raised an undisclosed fund to further develop its platform
• Kenyan e-pharmacy startup MYDAWA secured $1.2m grant funding from Gates Foundation
• Kenyan agri-tech startup Shamba Pride raised a $1.1m funding round, to enable its expansion across Kenya
• Payourse has raised $600,000 in a pre-seed round to scale its products — Coinprofile and Simpa
• Sabi Am closed $6 million bridge round amidst record growth, expands to Kenya and South Africa

Tip: If you're looking to improve your take-home (salary) by moving jobs, companies that have just raised are a great place to apply. Companies almost always hire after a significant raise.

🧐 Interesting? Yes!
Here are some of the most exciting stories we've written/read in the past week:

• What Jack Dorsey said before he resigned from Twitter.
• Social media is more about identity than ideas. Is that true?
• Scared of codes? Here are tech skills that do not require coding.
• If you transplant a human head, does its consciousness follow?
• Create a growth culture, not a performance-obsessed one. Why?
• You can own part of MTN. Huh!?

💼 Job OpportunitiesWe've curated a few job openings for you, check them out and share with others too.

• Brass is hiring an Editor-in-Chief
• Team Apt is hiring a UX Product Designer
• Brass is hiring a Kenyan Country Manager
• Payhippo is hiring an Engineering Manager
• Zazuu is hiring a Growth Marketing Manager
• Brass is hiring a Head of Marketing and Partnerships
• Connected Development is hiring a Social Media Manager
• Future Africa is hiring a Finance Officer and a Back/Frontend Developer

Thanks for reading
Have a great week!
Written by: Johnstone Kpilaakaa
Edited by: Daniel Iyanda

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