5/5 (1)

Following the Corona Virus outbreak, the French government has been seeking ways to limit the spread of this deadly disease. Social distances, masks utilization, and drastic limits to the nightlife have been some of the government’s best allies so far. On Tuesday 2^nd of June, the government launched the application StopCovid in order to add an ally in this battle (StopCovid, 2020). However, the results have been far from satisfying, and here is why.

In the quest “to protect, protect others, and support the efforts of caregivers and the health system to stop the chains of contamination as quickly as possible and avoid a second wave of the Covid-19 epidemic” (StopCovid, 2020) the French government has released StopCovid. It is a mobile contact tracing application, which is intended to warn of a possible transmission with an infected person. As well, when tested positive, it is much easier to trace back someone’s contacts rather than collecting and contacting one by one these individuals.

As of September 4^th, the application only had 2,2 million active users (less than 4% of the whole population), making it incredibly hard to find its true utility (Bellier, 2020). Even the French prime minister, Jean Castex, has admitted on national television that “Yes, I (Jean Castex), encourage the French population to do it (download the app), but I haven’t done it” (Licata, 2020). In England and Wales, NHS Covid-19, the equivalent application launched on September 24^th, has been downloaded 12,4 million times in just 4 days. In Germany, it is more than 20 million active users (Licata, 2020). So where did the French government get it wrong?

On July 20^th, the CNIL (the French National Commission for Informatics and Liberties) has put on hold the application due to various GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) violations (Sfadj, 2020). The application’s users were therefore more reluctant to download and use the application. Furthermore, StopCovid has been described by its users as having “a poor and non-gamified interface” (Sfadj, 2020). In fact, for such an application to prosper, it is key that its users identify a kind of game in finding “live” who has tested positive or not, as well as being intuitive. Finally, the government’s marketing campaign has been described as “from another time”, as they poorly communicated concerning the use of data (Sfadj, 2020).

With monthly maintenances costs of 250 000 euros and with a successful purpose if at least 80% of the population is using the application (Bellier, 2020), the existence of StopCovid is being deeply questioned. It is an interesting example of unsuccessful innovation, proving that when an application is not user-friendly, not GDPR conciliant and poorly advertised, it is meant to fail.

 

References

Bellier, U., 2020. Stopcovid : Quatre Mois Après Son Lancement, Une Appli À La Peine.

Economie.gouv.fr. 2020. Stopcovid. [online]

Licata, D., 2020. Stopcovid : À Quoi Va Ressembler La Facture De L’Appli Anti-Épidémie ?.

Sfadj, R., 2020. Les Trois Erreurs Qui Plombent L’application Stopcovid. [online] Slate.fr.

 

5/5 (1)

Sub Saharan Africa is unfortunately known for its difficult and unreliable access to affordable food. In fact, Kenyans spend 55% of their disposable income only on food (My African Startup, 2019). As well, due to cosmetic standards and important order cancellations, Kenya’s post-harvest waste rise up to 30%, creating important wasted resources (land, energy, fuel…) and severe financial losses for the ecosystem (exporters, farmers and vendors) (Colbert, 2020).  For example, a banana bought in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, which was produced in Kenya, costs the same price as a banana produced in Guatemala and bought in London (Nsehe, 2018).

Founded in 2013 by Grant Brooke, in Kenya, Twiga Foods is an application based business to business company, which is revolutionizing the Kenyan fresh food supply chain, by connecting food producers (farmers and other producers) to informal vendors (Twiga Foods Revolutionizing African Retail, 2020). They source qualitative fresh food from these producers, stock it in their pack houses and then sell them at a fair price to thousands of vendors. Through this organized platform for an efficient, fair and transparent marketplace, Twiga Foods aims at overcoming the above mentioned challenges in Kenya.

By unifying over 4 000 suppliers and 35 000 vendors and by aggregating demand with the use of instant-data while cutting out the ‘middle men’, post-harvest losses have dropped from 30% to only 4% (Twiga Foods Revolutionizing African Retail, 2020). Thanks to this process, high food prices are lower in Kenya than in any typical African market.

Therefore, Twiga Foods is an innovation itself in different ways. First of all, suppliers are paid within 24 hours through a bank or through Twiga’s application. This is key as it allows farmers to access credits from financial institutions, allowing growth and prosperity. As well, when surplus of supply used to happen, the products were usually thrown away. However, today, thanks to Twiga Foods, this surplus is now being allocated, ensuring a consistent market throughout the year (Twiga Foods Revolutionizing African Retail, 2020).

Through all of these positive outcomes, it can be easily understood why Twiga Foods has raised 30 million USD (Bright, 2019) from lenders and investors (like the EIB, European Investment Bank) in 2019, and why, young entrepreneurship, with the great use of innovation and data can be so powerful, especially when helping those who need it the most.

 

 

References

2019. My African Startup. [ebook] Available at: <http://www.myafricanstartup.com/fr/myafricanstartup-100/startup/2017/180/twiga-foods/>

Bright, J., 2019. Kenya’S Twiga Foods Eyes West Africa After $30M Raise Led By Goldman. [ebook]

Colbert, E., 2020. Food Waste In Kenya: Uncovering Food Waste In The Horticultural Export Supply Chain. [ebook]

Nsehe, M., 2018. Kenyan Startup Twiga Foods Raises $10 Million.

Twiga Foods. 2020. Twiga Foods Revolutionizing African Retail. [online] Available at: <https://twiga.com/twiga-story/>