Compfix Data re-launches cloud backup service, Kenyan smartphone seeks to shake up market, Kenyan m-health startup Miti Health receives $100k Gates Foundation grant, to get more information on these and other stories from our wrap-up today, read on… Compfix Data re-launches cloud backup service Compfix Data Limited has reintroduced its cloud based backup solution. DataBank is a subscription-based solution for organizations that value their data. Organizations will subscribe for the space they need depending on the size of data they have and wish to backup. With the rampant cases of permanent data loss and data recovery, Compfix has re-launched DataBank to address the data loss menace that significantly affects organization’s day to day operations. In Kenya, over 45 terabytes of data is lost every year leading to financial and downtime losses to the economy. Airtel Africa, Facebook partner to launch Free Basic Services in 17 African countries Airtel Africa, which operates in 17 countries across Africa, has announced its partnership with Facebook which will see the launch of Free Basics in Africa. Free Basics is a set of basic websites and services to introduce people to the internet and demonstrate how it adds value to their lives. In the first phase, Free Basics will be launched in Airtel Nigeria, DRC, Gabon and Niger followed by other Airtel Africa markets. Airtel Africa had already been working with Facebook since 2014 in enhancing accessibility to the internet in an affordable manner through the launch of Free Basics in Zambia, Kenya, Malawi, Ghana, Seychelles and Rwanda. Kenyan smartphone seeks to shake up market A Kenyan company has come up with a new handset that promises top level performance at a fraction of the price of models currently in the market. Synergy Innovations, which developed its SILK Patriot phone model, promises that its offering will give users unparalleled performance at an affordable cost. SILK stands for Synergy Innovations Kenya Limited.. The phone is targeting the mid-market range and will spot a 5.5 inch screen and 8 megapixel camera. The phone’s operating software is based on Google’s Android KitKat platform and it comes pre-installed with the company’s applications. Asoko Insight Raises $1.35 Million to Deepen Market Intelligence in Nigeria, Kenya & Ghana Asoko Insight has completed a $1.35 million fundraising round to deepen its research and analysis of more than a thousand privately held companies in Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana, the company’s top markets, and to extend regional operations and build out the technology behind its digital platform. The round was led by North Base Media, CRE Venture Capital and exisiting investors Emergo Partners and J.E. Berman Associates as shareholders. Kenyan m-health startup Miti Health receives $100,000 Gates Foundation grant Kenyan startup Miti Health, which provides chemists with business management and supply chain software on the Android platform, has received a US $100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations Grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to research ways of expanding the use of mobile tools among Kenyan private health providers. Here is what Interswitch plans for the East African market Earlier this year, Nigerian payments company Interswitch Transnational Holdings acquired a majority stake in Paynet Group. Paynet Group has since re-branded to Interswitch East Africa with former CEO taking over as CEO Interswitch East Africa. Interswitch plans to introduce some of its product offerings into the East African market with a target at both businesses and consumers. From the B2c front, Interswitch recently unveiled the Verve Card a Prepaid debit Card in the market. From a Business to Business (B2B) front, Interswitch targets both businesses and government with its solutions.

The MasterCard Foundation today awarded its first “Clients at the Centre” Prize to BIMA. The US$150,000 Prize recognizes the company’s innovative work in providing mobile-delivered micro-insurance and health services to 20 million customers in 14 emerging markets

The award was presented at The MasterCard Foundation Symposium on Financial Inclusion, the annual gathering of financial service industry practitioners serving the needs of poor people in developing countries, being held from November 19-20 in Cape Town.

The MasterCard Foundation believes that putting poor clients at the centre of the design process greatly increases the effectiveness of financial products and services and helps to bring people into the formal banking system, improving their livelihoods.

“The benefits of access to finance for individuals, having the ability to save, borrow and transfer money, and also to insure themselves, are well understood,” said Ann Miles, Director of Programs, Financial Inclusion & Youth Livelihoods at The MasterCard Foundation. “We’ve seen significant progress recently but the world can only achieve universal financial inclusion if financial service providers truly understand the unique context and needs of poor people. BIMA is doing just that and stands as a model of what can be done.”

Research shows that access to the formal financial system can improve the lives of people living in poverty and small businesses. Financial inclusion can boost job creation, leading to poverty reduction and enabling more people to pay for important services such as health and education.

The MasterCard Foundation Symposium on Financial Inclusion is an annual event hosted by The MasterCard Foundation in partnership with the Boulder Institute of Microfinance. It attracts the world’s leading experts and practitioners in the field of financial inclusion, including representatives of financial service providers (banks, microfinance institutions), mobile telephone network operators, governments and regulatory agencies, national and international NGOs, and donors from the public and private sectors.

During the two-day event, they will explore trends in the sector and ways to move more quickly and with more impact to bring secure, affordable and convenient financial services to the world’s two billion people who lack access to them. This year, more than 325 people from 62 countries are attending the Symposium.