The Hummingbird Impact will support promising tech ventures in Africa. This project is a 24 million USD fund provided by the Engineer Without Borders (EWB), a registered non-profit charity in Canada.
Canada Launches 24 Million CAD Fund for Africa
EWB has been supporting people and ideas. It encourages them to help provide a solution to the causes of discrimination and poverty. According to the organization, this project would give support such as portfolio and capital to African ventures, whether it is an impact or profit-driven technological investment.
The mission of this project is to provide a change in a biased and undercapitalized system by bringing innovative and scalable solutions with few risks. It believes in female capabilities. That is why one of its main goals is to give women the opportunities they deserve and to fill the gas in funding.
Canada wants to help African countries in developing the digital economy. The biggest part of African countries relies only on offline business space. The digital economy is growing every year and Canada is known as the pioneer. Liberal Party is the ruling country since 2016 and the biggest changes happened since then. Canada’s focus on the digital economy was beneficial for many industries. Canadian iGaming space reaps the rewards from the government. In just two years, the Canadian casino industry has contributed 10 more billions of CA dollars to the economy. First of all, the Canadian government created a liberal approach to the iGaming industry. Secondly, online casinos were allowed to offer a wide range of games on the same platform. Unlike EU-based casinos, Canadian platforms offer online real money slots on the same platform where they can play roulette, poker, and other games. It turned out to be a game-changer and Canadian platforms got recognition from international gamers. Those decisions are just the peak of ice-berg. Canada decided to take a liberal approach and give digital companies freedom. The top ten economies in the world are already emerging digital-economy rules and guidelines. Tech-venture funds will help African countries to help offline-business based countries adapt to the digital world.
Aside from this mission, the Hummingbird Impact also aims to achieve growth in financial returns to prove the viability of this project. This venture leverage on the 10 years of experience of EWB Canada on providing capital and talent on the social ventures in Africa.
This project raises 20 million USD on blended funds to invest in technological ventures that are scalable even if these investments are still in their early stage. The 4 million dollars USD will be for the facility that provides technical assistance to facilitate the impact and growth of the ventures’ performance.
This project will operate independently, although the EWB will continue to support it.
The CEO of EWB, Boris Martin, thanked the individuals who made this project possible, saying that they are generous people. He also noted that the EWB Canada, foundations, and Global Affairs Canada were able to prove the efficacy of the model that will address the needs of the tech startups in Africa. He said that they have already shown proof that the model works, and this project will maximize its impact.
He added that this project allowed them to provide solutions toward a shared mission for a commercial and philanthropic cause.
Canada Will Help Africa to Get 5G
Aside from the Hummingbird project, according to TELUS’s chief financial officer (CFO) Doug French, Canadian enterprise TELUS stated that Canada would have a 5G network by the end of 2020. To make it possible, it will use the equipment that came from China’s Huawei Technologies.
He said that this project should need to work with the government’s standard. As of the moment, he added that no issues are slowing them down that might hinder the launch of this project. Its proposal is already on the way as the company continues to delve into diversification with its suppliers.
In 2020, telco companies have announced their plans to launch the 5g network services. However, the government still could not say if it will provide some restrictions because of Huawei’s involvement in the 5G network project. The government is still in the process of defining the possible constraints because of Huawei’s allegations when it comes to security.
Despite this issue, the French said that TELUS is ready to accept whatever the rules the government will bestow to them.
Aside from TELUS, Bell Canada also announced that it too would launch the 5G project in 2020. It said that it would start its construction using the equipment that came from Nokia. Mirko Bibic, CEO of Bell Canada, said that Bell would also try to collaborate with other suppliers like Ericsson.Canada has been active this year when it comes to technological ventures. There is the launch of the 5G project and the Hummingbird Impact.
